I’ve always gotten easily carried away with herbs, especially the less familiar varieties (and the choices continually broaden); I’m now totally addicted to micro greens, even if they aren’t always green.

• one duck breast (13 ounces) from Hudson Valley Duck, the fatty side scored in cross hatching with a very sharp knife, the entire breast then sprinkled with a mixture of sea salt, freshly-ground pepper, and a little turbinado sugar (in our kitchen, the bowl of sugar has been infused over time with a vanilla bean), the duck left standing for about 45 minutes before it was pan-fried, first the fatty side down, in a tiny bit of olive oil, over medium heat, draining the oil part of the way through, to be strained and used in cooking later, if desired, removed when medium rare (cut into 2 portions to check that the center is medium-rare), left to sit for several minutes before finishing it with a drizzle of organic lemon and drops of a very good Campania olive oil, and scattered with purple micro radish from Two Guys from Woodbridge [NOTE: the tenderloin, removed from the breast before cooking, and also marinated, was fried very briefly near the end of the time the breast itself was cooking]
• two small seasoned pan-grilled ‘black’ plum tomatoes (they darken as they ripen) from Berried Treasures Farm, finished with a dab of olive oil, a bit of balsamic vinegar, and sprinkled with torn leaves of New York CIty basil from Gotham Greens via Whole Foods
• two Kirby cucumbers, from Paffenroth Gardens, unpeeled, cut into 1/4″ slices, sautéed over a medium-hot flame in a little olive oil along with two very small red pearl onions from Paffenroth Farms until lightly browned, a very small red Calabrian pepper from Campo Rosso Farm, finely chopped added most of the way through, the vegetables seasoned with salt and a little pepper, divided onto 2 plates, drizzled with a little olive oil, and sprinkled with bronze micro fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was a California (Lodi), Karen Birmingham Reserve Zinfandel 2014
• the music was Johann Friedrich Fasch, ‘Orchestral Works Vol. 2’, perforemd by Tempesta di Mare, and the Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra