I think this dish of scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and pickled beets from Maverick's brunch looks like spring on a plate. It tasted as good as it looks. (My husband ordered the manly and hedonistic butter burger, which has a patty made with butter, ground beef and bacon, and made my breakfast choice seem like a nun in comparison.) I had to wonder if the chef took a note from Baker & Banker which uses pickled beets and salmon to make this gorgeous dish for their brunch. Last year, while researching this brunch story for 7x7, I had smoked fish and beets over at Bar Agricole too. It's fun to watch how restaurants riff on each other's ideas.

Speaking of trends, we were sent some mini, single-serving bundt cakes the other day from a new company in Marin called—snare drum roll—Nothing Bundt Cakes. I tried the red velvet with cream cheese frosting. It tasted and looked suspiciously like a cupcake. Just saying.

At a dinner party at my friends house the other night, her boyfriend made the fried chicken that's on the cover of the recent issue of Bon Appetit. It's done in a skillet and I think it might be the best homecooked fried chicken I've had. While a heated political discussion, fueled by some wine, lobbied back and forth across the table, I just keep my head down and focused on my dinner. I have to think that both liberals and conservatives can come together on one thing: Fried chicken rules.

Meanwhile in the world of booze, at home I'm enjoying a jug of Simi Winery's new jug wine Maiale Cieco (Italian for "blind pig), two liters of a nicely balanced red table wine blend. It comes in a cool bottle with a stamp of a pig on it and is available for $46 at the winery (a refill is only $36). It might make for a good excuse to get up to Healdsburg. Speaking of, I've been hearing great things about the Mexican restaurant Mateo's Cocina Latina up there. Has anyone been?

What are the best things you've eaten this week? Let me know in the comments and have a great President's Day Weekend!