So Sunday turned out to be Couples Day. My husband and I have regular Date Nights (typically Wed night for Top Chef and Sun night for Mad Men … yes, TV is involved, but it’s regularly scheduled and easy to Pin On A Calendar), but somehow Sunday turned into Couples Day. We had lunch together at home (leftover Epic Fail), test drove a car (probably an Epic Fail itself), and then headed to this newish frou-frou shopping center to wander about before we saw the new Star Trek movie.

So in this shopping district I stumble upon a store devoted to olive oil and vinegar, Ah love Oil & Vinegar. There are about a zillion olive oils in these adorable metal tanks TO SAMPLE and another zillion balsamic vinegars also in these little tanks TO SAMPLE. OMG — almost as good as a chocolatier (there’s one of those at this shopping center too but it was a warm day so they have to wait for another trip). This stuff is NOT cheap, but I always love the chance to sample before I buy. So I tasted a few (maybe six I was being conservative and saving room for popcorn) and ultimately bought their black truffle olive oil (I’ve been wanting to buy truffle-infused oil but was very nervous about dropping big $ on something that wasn’t so good) and their fig balsamic vinegar (I have a THING for figs).

Have you ever slurped vinegar by the spoon? You can do that with a good aged balsamic — smooth, sweet, almost syrupy. Add some fig essence and you have a sauce fit for strawberries … ice cream … pound cake?

Tonight’s dinner is an ode to this Fig Balsamic Vinegar. I built a simple salad with Red Leaf Lettuce from New Jersey, tart strawberries (they’re big and pretty but not super sweet), crumbled blue cheese, toasted almond slivers, and garlicky croutons, drizzled with the fig vinegar and a few drops of extra virgin olive oil. Served alongside is my homemade crusty artisan bread and a glass of pinot noir … mmmm …

6/5 update: Just had a bowl of RIPE strawberries from the farm market, drizzled with some of this fig vinegar … OMG awesome