The potatoes were really sweet, mirabile dictu; the cress actually exciting, if  you can also imagine that; and the salsa had a fairly complex zing [zip?], probably because it included both a Basque paprika thing and some pepperoncino.

• two crab cakes from PE & DD Seafood (ingredients: crab, egg, flour, red & green peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, milk, celery, parsley), heated in a heavy cast iron pan, 3 to 4 minutes on each side, and served on a bed of 6 Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, which had been chopped and combined with salt, black pepper, a bit of homemade French Basque piment d’Espellate purchased in a small town north of Baie-Comeau, Quebec last year from the producer’s daughter, some crushed dried pepperoncini, and some chopped fresh oregano leaves from Stokes Farm, the cakes finished with a drizzle of juices from the salsa
• a total of 6 red potatoes (white flesh) from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, boiled, drained, dried in the pan, rolled in olive oil, scattered with sliced scallions and chopped parsley, both from Eataly
• more of the very tasty and very beautiful cultivated upland cress from Alewife Farm (which we had also enjoyed the day before), washed, air-dried, and dressed only with some good olive oil
• the wine was an Oregon (Willamette) white, Kings Ridge Oregon Pinot Gris 2014
• the music was [the first half of] a wonderful recording of Handel’s ‘Alcina’, Alan Curtis conducting Il Complesso Barocco, with Kobie van Rensburg, Vito Priante, Joyce DiDonato, Sonia Prina, Karina Gauvin, Maité Beaumont, and Laura Cherici [make sure you read the synopsis, even if you aren’t interested in the music of queer baroque Saxon composers]