Hole in the Bone

Maria and Markus, friends from Sweden, invited us for dinner Saturday night. They had brought oysters with homemade BBQ sauce to our recent California dinner; we knew that Sweden had lent California some top-notch foodies, and we were not disappointed.

We started with an excellent bottle of Reserve Pinot Noir from Cambria, received as part of their wine club, and some hummus and tomato/olive spreads. The main course was Osso Bucco, which translates to "hole in the bone" - braised veal shanks where the hollow portion of the bone holding the marrow is considered quite a delicacy. Served with asparagus and mashed potatoes, the veal was outstanding - tender and juicy, and matched perfectly with 2 more bottles of wine. You heard me, the four of us drank 3 full bottles of wine.

I sent M&M an email thanking them for dinner, implicitly excusing myself for drinking too much, or making a fool out of myself. I uttered a sigh of relief when Markus replied that they too "weren't exactly the snappiest couple in the neighborhood on Sunday". I realize I hardly even tasted dessert, individual lemon pudding cakes I made with Steve Ross' homegrown lemons, swallowing it almost hole so I could get home to bed.