Dinner & Drinks c/o Farm

On my last night in Bloomington I wanted T, C and I to go somewhere nice. So we went to Farm. Which was very nice indeed.

We shared a side of the Parmesan, garlic and chili fries with turmeric aioli. C. said they reminded her of calamari. There was a drizzle of lemon juice over them along with the spices that really made them special. And they were kind of crispy and kind of not in just the right ratio. Good.
Then there was the amuse bouche. Its components were a beet mousse, goats cheese, basil olive oil, marinated cucumber slice and sprig of dill. The communication between waiter and server must have gotten momentarily wonky because we actually got two servings of mouth amusement. With no complaints. The second time around we knew how to make each bite have the ultimate combination of flavors. I thought the beet element could have had a little more of a sweetness or flavor to it. But what do I know?
C. had the peppercorn encrusted seared ahi. It was really quite great, from the one bite I had...I know she was pleased.
T. had the bison ribeye with mushroom gravy and cheese grits. The meat was really quite tender and good but the gravy and the grits were definitely oversalted. I found this to be true on the first bite I tried and T. seemed not to think so...but as the meal went on he agreed. I think the grits put him over the edge.
I had the 1/2 Hoosier Duckling with toasted hazelnuts, Big Belly barbeque sauce and warm potato salad. The hazelnuts didn't really do anything for me but the meat was exceptionally tender tasty and the sauce a great improvement over the one I had used for ribs a few days earlier. And the warm potato salad was great: one part mashed potato quality to one part traditional potato salad (if by traditional you understand me to mean not completely covered soaked or drowned in mayonnaise).
I know I was absolutely stuffed by the end of my meal so, though I asked the waiter to tell us what they were, I couldn't find it in my stomach to have dessert. Nor could T. or C. In the end there was still a little complimentary 'mud pie'. I liked it very much. It had the taste of cake but the texture of mousse.
Farm has a lot of elements to it. There's the take out waffle window, the local crafts area, coffee and lunchy stuff and then the sit down restaurant angle. There's also a bar attached to the restaurant area. And then there's The Root Cellar, which is in the basement and serves beer and bourbon.
I had Maker's Mark because I like Maker's Mark but they had quite a selection of other bourbons available. It was a nice, dark, cavernous space with lots of nooks and crannies. T. and C.'s friends were there, independently of us, so we sat in a back room with them at a long table surrounded by brick walls lined with old liquor bottles.

One goal of the night was to get a photograph of the three of us, seeing as I'd been in Bloomington for two months it seemed like an important thing to do. Somehow it was never managed. Instead I give you photographs of me with C. and photographs of me with T. I thought about doing some fancy photoshop thing and putting us all together but, well, I don't know how to do that. C. got a haircut and facial that day.



None of the photographs are quite right. But, the proof is in the pudding? What? I have no idea. When all you want is a good photograph of yourself with a friend it's very hard to accomplish if you have to have someone take it for you...there's the stress of posing as opposed to being caught in the moment. I often find that I have a moemnt where something is funny and the two participants are both laughing and I think to myself 'here, right this very moment, the photograph should be taken' but whomever I've handed the camera to never seems to be able to get it together and so what happens is that I try to keep the face I had when I was actually laughing or looking or whatever...but it's gone...so it doesn't quite work.

It was a lovely dinner with lovely friends. When Key West didn't work out I was really at a total loss. It takes me a longer amount of time to be able to process things, especially bad things, and I couldn't simply turn around and make something new happen to fill the void of that plan. The fact that T. and C. were kind, generous and thoughtful enough to welcome me into their home and lives is a very special thing. A thing I appreciate and value very much. What I like the most is that it went well. We're still friends. The older I get I think that the opportunity to spend such a long amount of quality time with others will diminish. Jobs, marriages and children will prevent it. This truth, as I understand it, makes it all the more lovely. Thank you, thank you, thank you. (I know I used the word lovely a lot).