Golden Beet Tops with Rice Noodles served with Aspargus, Pesto Potatoes, Arugula & Heirloom Tomato with Walnut Oil

Yesterday evening we went to a nice housewarming party of a young vegan couple nearby and enjoyed a variety of picnic foods, including amazing lime sorbet, "ice cream" cake, Binge Cafe's delicious "ice cream" cake, and super peach cobbler and chocolate cake. Vegans sure eat well!

My wife and I were out all day and ended up in Pittsboro, NC, where we took a look at the 1-year-old Chatham Marketplace cooperative. It was a good place with a nice renovated mill atmosphere. We had a salad and did some shopping, including finding an interesting line of products, blending Indian tastes with Italian, called InFusion Foods; we bought a tomato sauce with Indian spices that, though it looks quite runny, I'm anxious to try.

Anyway, we got home around 10:30p and my wife was tired and anxious to eat, so I got to work and put dinner on the table in about 40 minutes. I grilled asparagus spears in some Mongolian Fire oil then ceded the pan to a small Vidalia onion that I had diced (approx. 1/4" cubes); to keep it hot, I put the cooked asparagus in my toaster oven at a mild temperature.

I also added some olive oil to the pan and, a few minutes after the onions were cooking and when they were starting to clear, I added the stalks, cut into 1" lengths, from the Golden beet greens left from my Friday beet extravaganza. Once the stalks softened, maybe in 5 minutes or so, I added the hand torn-off beet leaves, coarsely hand-torn into quarters, as well as a small organic red seeded and diced (maybe 1/8" x 1/2") jalapeno. I had some rice noodles soaking in very hot tap water in a bowl till the noodles were soft (then I washed them with cold water and drained them); I added the noodles as well, plus Baja Lime marinade and salt.

I had some prepared pesto potatoes that I had purchased, and served them. The simple salad included a topping of walnut oil. Not bad for 40 minutes, huh?!

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Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary (the first of two - we had a small official ceremony on August 20, 2005, and a big one on October 15)! We were originally going to go out-of-town, but my wife had a business meeting that came up that is critical for her to attend tomorrow. So ... should I prepare a romantic dinner for us? I'd like that because we're going out to eat a fair amount last and this week. Or should we go to one of the area's best restaurants? Maybe
Café Parizäde, where they know us well and where we have our annual Thanksgiving? The area's only AAA five-diamond restaurant, The Fearrington House Restaurant? - no, they're closed tomorrow. Maybe the new upscale Herons at The Umstead Luxury Hotel and Spa? - but it looks like they have a decidedly flesh menu. Il Palio in Chapel Hill?