My work day started with discovering that artichoke season has returned; the telltale bag of 5-6 artichokes was hanging from my office doorknob when i arrived. (I'm lucky enough to be a recipient of fresh artichokes each year from a coworker's garden.)

I left work a little early, and took the train to San Mateo. I enjoyed Forrest's NYF playlist, courtesty of my iPod. Sat for an hour at the bar at Viognier, and nursed a cocktail for an hour while i read a book and wrote some letters. Around seven, Mike arrived, and i had a wonderful dinner & visit with him. (Three onion soup & halibut with tomatoes and eggplant for him; gratin of morels and polenta with teleme cream and lamb medallions with gnocchi and more morels for me; a cheese plate to share for dessert with the last of our Syrah.)

We meandered to the train station (it's changed in the last year! It's really nice, and another block down the road now), and chatted until my train came. My kind husbandkleetcha met me at the train station, and we came home and i finished my book.

So the scoreboard:
Fresh artichokes: 1 point
Rejuvenating cocktail hour at the bar alone: 2 points
Wonderful meal: 1 point
Great conversation with a dear friend: 3 points
Read an entire book (and it was good!): 2 points

Not a bad day at all. Just what the doctor ordered.