This post is ostensibly about a flower, but actually starts with a heavenly wine we had at La Belle Vie.
First off, our meal at La Belle Vie -- which City Pages has called "the best restaurant in the history of Minneapolis" -- was one of the best I've ever had. It reminded us a lot of our wedding night dinner at Alchymist.
Mmm, Alchymist: saffron risotto, foie gras, Monrovian wine, chocolate truffles -- I could go on and on.
ANYway. La Belle Vie was meant to be a special treat for us to celebrate extending my contract at work. And because it was a celebration, we decided to go all out: the five-course tasting menu plus a foie course and the sommelier's wine flight. The cool thing about the wine flight was that all the pairing was done for us to match the courses, and all the wines were a surprise.
Really and truly, I can't come up with anything we ate or drank that night that didn't surpass all expectations, but out of everything we had, I keep daydreaming about two things: the seared foie gras (I really struggle with the ethics of foie, but it's just sooo heavenly) and the Muscat that arrived with dessert. I've definitely come across ports and other fortified wines (icewine comes to mind) that I enjoy, but this one left them all behind. It tasted and smelled of honey and sunshine, in the same way that good Irish cream tastes like honey and mists and heather.
The whole ride home, I kept thinking about that wonderful fragrance. It was still light out when we got back, so I stopped to check in on various new plantings in the garden. One thing I'd recently added was alyssum (Lobularia maritima) for edging, and as I bent down to make sure it was settling in well, I noticed something I'd missed before: its fragrance. It was just like the Muscat, that same warm, wonderful honey aroma.
Of course, while alyssum practically made for edging, I now wanted to put it somewhere I could enjoy the scent more. One of my gardening books suggests planting small fragrant plants/flowers (including thyme) near pathways so that they will "release their scent when brushed by a pantleg." But our backyard sidewalk isn't really where I linger to enjoy fragrant flora; that's what the veranda's for. So I added it to some new containers I potted up last weekend that will live near the veranda. The only thing better than reading the paper on the veranda with a cup of coffee is doing it amid the honey scent of alyssum.
Alyssum is the little white-flowered plant near the brick edging (right). This particular variety is "Snow Crystals," but I've also had good luck with "Carpet of Snow." Evidently, there are folks who don't like the smell, but to me, it couldn't be more glorious.
1 comment:
You're right muscat and alysum smell so much alike. I really had no idea and now that I've had a sip I may be switching from white russians to dessert wine.
Sarah
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