eclaire (what’s in a) name?

this weekend, we headed up to san francisco to celebrate laura’s birthday. we began by dining at millennium, an upscale vegan restaurant. i always get a little overwhelmed when we eat somewhere that offers vegetarian or vegan fare, because i can pick anything off the menu! after munching on delightful hummus and bread, we decided to start with roasted beets and hazelnuts. unfortunately, none made it into our iphone snapshot – they were too amazingly tantalizing!

for the main course, i had to go with the eggplant tagine after my recent education/obsession with tagines! the dish had five distinctly different and delicious components: couscous with mint, pistachio “pesto,” coconut lentils, sauteed veggies, and eggplant that was not doused in oil and still firm and very flavorful.

mike decided on the mediterranean wellington, which featured phyllo dough encased seitan, potatoes, and veggies, along with braised apples and fennel, sauteed mushrooms, a faux cheese sauce, and black olives marinated with candied oranges.

i can’t recount in detail the rest of our group’s amazing entrees, but everything looked amazing and all of us left the restaurant full and content and barely able to manage a slice of barbara’s mouthwatering apple pie.

after a brisk walk from our hotel in brisbane around the marina the next morning, we headed to the farmer’s market at the ferry building and enjoyed consuming and oggling all kinds of food under the surprisingly hot san francisco sun. what a celebration!