Wishes, Melodrama, Kincaids, Emotion et al

It's been a 'wave-knock-you-down" emotional few days of bittersweet, happiness and work. I wrote of my friend "lost" in 9/11. I had left a paper trail of HANSEL AND GRETEL crumbs for the family to get in touch with me if they ever wanted to. On Thursday, her brother "found" me. You can read about it here - or move on to food! It was one of those weekends where wishes come true.
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In between some manic e-mailing of memories and photos, the family did something we do not do much anymore - we went out to dinner! Getting the four of us home and home-free on the same date and time takes a lot of finagling these days. But we settled on a casual evening at Kincaids - a fish and chop house in St. Paul.
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When the four of us go out together - silliness happens. I can't imagine why! I will confess to being fussier and fussier about food. I noted the dinner wasn't perfect. (Do you do that - because you cook so much? Or maybe it is my (cough) advancing age.) But I also appreciate dinner out in all its imperfections, taste-delights, mix and match and fine company so a good time is guaranteed as soon as the reservations are set.
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We started with an artichoke dip - a must for the 20-somethings. I liked it - because it's laden with fat - I mean what's not too like - but it also had some crab in it which instantly got and held my interest.
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Please note in the photos that my family has no interest in me getting the camera ready. When your reservation is at 7 p.m. on a Sunday eve and you skipped lunch, the forks are in the dish before they are set down on the table!

What really was quite splendid - was the baked brie. Lightly crusted and fried, served in a sweet balsamic-honey sauce and topped with almonds and apple - it made me sing. (Inwardly. The kids cringe when I sing in public.)

Sitting on some lovely garlic bread, this was consumed with vigor!

Kirsten and I had the crab cakes. They were laden with vegetables which was a nice surprise. Kirsten appreciates her food - but seldom moves outside her "food box." As of late - she has. So crab cakes was a huge step for her. She is my hamburger-pasta-chicken girl and fish usually does not interest her. Of course, she did grow up eating crab legs at a young age - because I adore them and when they are on sale - I'm there. Hmmmm .... so maybe she didn't move outside her box after all ...

Do you have a child like that? Will eat tomato sauce but not tomatoes. No coconut. Shrimp cocktail but not cooked shrimp... however, she recently discovered shiitake and portabella mushrooms... so hope is not lost.

Paul has some grilled halibut on some herbal-lemony-shallot-butter sauce. Reminds me to make more halibut.

Matthew had Asiago-crusted halibut. I was trying to figure out the recipe. I will make my family crazy tasting and figuring out the ingredients so I can make it at home. Am I the only one who does that?

And we finished all with some creme brulee. (Does someone know how to get the accents on these words????!!) And came home sated and lived happily ever after. For now. And finishing my touches of Magic Fishbone where the wishes are not made, the melodrama reflects what is going on in Alicia's world and the family will live happily ever after. The melodrama has kept me awake nights. Having committed to it - I could not make it work. It is supposed to be a small "play within a play" that forwards the plot. Mostly it has me stymied and wondering, "What was I thinking?" So for now, happily-ever-after means getting a script out on time and savoring the day planning dinner with my family.