In addition to the cassoulet and cake, we had a simple salad on my birthday: just romaine, vinaigrette and some grated Parm from my Zingerman's box. And I'm eating the salad and thinking it's one of the best I've had, but I can't figure out why. The flavor was full and mellow, almost thick and buttery. Then I realized it was the cheese.

Maybe it was some special alchemy with the sweet, thick balsamic I used in the dressing. I even felt weird about the combo, but it stood up. All that richness worked beautifully with the hearty, crisp romaine.

As a followup to my previous post: the cassoulet was good, and the cake was dense and moist, better than their sometimes dry cupcakes. As for the frosting, a little goes a long way since it is almost pure butter, too rich. Every plate always ends up with a smeary gob left on it.