I realized I may gripe a lot on this blog, as another post popped in when I started typing the title for this one (so I'm making a tag for "annoying"). Mr. D is not generally annoying, well, not more than any other husband, but this is getting to me.
Mr. D is NOT a "reader:" he professed to me that he only read one book in high school - he managed to fake his way through the tests. Not that he didn't read in college, or law school - he's really fast, but always claimed that he didn't like to read books for pleasure. I always took it for a short attention span, because he reads magazine articles and blogs like crazy. Though not "silly blogs" like I do - he reads one where people spew about government policy and law firms (yawn). Luckily he does this while I am asleep. Mr. D usually can't fall asleep for at least an hour after we go to bed, so he reads on his laptop after I'm asleep. When he wakes up in the middle of the night, he wakes up his laptop and reads some more until he falls back asleep.
As Mr. D loves new gadgets, I got him an Kindle for Christmas, thinking it might make it easier for him to read, because he could read at night (with the book light) and not lose his page. My plan has backfired.
Whereas I used to be the one in the couple who read, the one who would actually sit and read a book - Mr. D is reading all the time now. Not only when he reads normally, but on the train, on the subway, and on the stationary bike at the gym. He is reading so many more books than I am - I'm reading "In Defense of Food" because he read it first! So annoying - I've created a monster!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Birthday Dinner: Part 2
And now for the rest of our dinner at Eleven Madison Park. I realize that this would be better if I had taken pictures of our meal, but I think it would have been a little to cheesy to pull out the camera and take pictures at such a nice restaurant. However, I did find this blog, which has great pictures of the restaurant, and some of the dishes that we ate.
Our fifth course was a rich, spicy bouillabaisse, with black bass, octopus, calamari, scallops and prawns. So delicious, I think it also had a little chorizo in it, so just like a super creamy gumbo (but no okra ;) ). Unfortunately, this is where we realized that finishing this dinner was going to be a struggle. We were starting to feel full, with 6 (really 7 or 8) more courses to go.
A lovely lobster dish came next, which was excellent - lightly done, with carrots, a citrus sabayon, and vadouvan (no, I did not know what that was, but looked it up here - it's just a spice blend).
A small glass bowl came out next, filled with little juicy frogs' legs floating over a porcini custard. I had never had frogs' legs before, but if that was the only thing on the menu that I had not had, we were doing well - at least there wasn't offal on the menu. The legs DO taste like chicken, but teeny tiny dark meat chicken. This was the first dish that I did not finish - there were just too many little legs in the bowl (yes, I realize that sounds gross, but I'm leaving it like that).
The mini-meats continued with a portion of roasted quail served with dates and juniper. MMMMMMMM - tiny, perfect roasted bird. Very good.
The milk-fed veal cheeks were absolutely delicious - served with celery root and black truffles - like a perfect bite of short ribs. A perfect bite that I could only eat half of - I actually contemplated telling the waiter to call it off - just bring the dessert and we would be done. What I actually did was joke with him that we would be crawling across the finish line.
Next, our server brought around the cheese cart - mmm. Cheese. I normally like smelly cheese, and after the waiter told us about each of the cheeses I selected a couple and then Mr. D selected three, one of which was the "ripest" on the card. I tasted the ripe one, and then decided that I do not like all stinky cheeses - this one looked like earwax, which did not help. I will save the stinkiest ones of all for someone else.
Though you would think the next course would be the last (as it is number 11), but the chef had added a dessert amuse, so we would be having twelve courses. Aha chef, you are a worthy adversary, but we have come this far already - you cannot beat us now. The "Soda Pop" was a mix of flash frozen tangerine soda and pop rocks, with pieces of grapefruit, pomelo, and lemon beneath it. Now, I don't think the pop rocks added to much to the dish, or maybe what I thought was soda fizziness was actually pop rocks.
Our "last dish" was the Milk & Chocolate (with Happy Birthday delicately written across the plate), which had dehydrated milk solids, soft chocolate mousse, a crunchy chocolate something, and the most delicious ice cream ever - brown butter ice cream. It was so good I cannot explain it, except to say I want to try and make it (can't be that hard, right), but cannot yet make it, since I asked for a ice cream maker attachment for our Kitchen-Aid but did not get it. I will have to wait and get it when it warms up, or wait even later until our anniversary.
Finally we were done. Except we weren't, because they very generously brought us macaroons with our bill. A whole plate from which to pick - beautiful cream, yellow, green, purple, and brown macaroons. I was so full, I only asked for one, but Mr. D asked for three, at which point the server decided that I also needed to try the ones that my husband had chosen. I actually left the on the plate (though I think the hubs ate most of those, too). With the macaroons, the server also brought us over a bottle of cognac and poured us each a glass. Not that you should have to eat until you are literally brimming with food to realize this, but a drink after dinner does actually work to help your tummy feel better. :)
When they brought us our receipt, they also brought us each a box of pieces of fruit jelly to take home (tangerine, lemon, lime and I forget the last flavor). As I was the birthday girl (or actually just all the girls), I also received a box with what I dubbed my birthday macaroon, which was almondy deliciousness when I ate it for breakfast the next day. OK, ate it after my breakfast as a breakfast dessert, it's ok it was my birthday.
Our fifth course was a rich, spicy bouillabaisse, with black bass, octopus, calamari, scallops and prawns. So delicious, I think it also had a little chorizo in it, so just like a super creamy gumbo (but no okra ;) ). Unfortunately, this is where we realized that finishing this dinner was going to be a struggle. We were starting to feel full, with 6 (really 7 or 8) more courses to go.
A lovely lobster dish came next, which was excellent - lightly done, with carrots, a citrus sabayon, and vadouvan (no, I did not know what that was, but looked it up here - it's just a spice blend).
A small glass bowl came out next, filled with little juicy frogs' legs floating over a porcini custard. I had never had frogs' legs before, but if that was the only thing on the menu that I had not had, we were doing well - at least there wasn't offal on the menu. The legs DO taste like chicken, but teeny tiny dark meat chicken. This was the first dish that I did not finish - there were just too many little legs in the bowl (yes, I realize that sounds gross, but I'm leaving it like that).
The mini-meats continued with a portion of roasted quail served with dates and juniper. MMMMMMMM - tiny, perfect roasted bird. Very good.
The milk-fed veal cheeks were absolutely delicious - served with celery root and black truffles - like a perfect bite of short ribs. A perfect bite that I could only eat half of - I actually contemplated telling the waiter to call it off - just bring the dessert and we would be done. What I actually did was joke with him that we would be crawling across the finish line.
Next, our server brought around the cheese cart - mmm. Cheese. I normally like smelly cheese, and after the waiter told us about each of the cheeses I selected a couple and then Mr. D selected three, one of which was the "ripest" on the card. I tasted the ripe one, and then decided that I do not like all stinky cheeses - this one looked like earwax, which did not help. I will save the stinkiest ones of all for someone else.
Though you would think the next course would be the last (as it is number 11), but the chef had added a dessert amuse, so we would be having twelve courses. Aha chef, you are a worthy adversary, but we have come this far already - you cannot beat us now. The "Soda Pop" was a mix of flash frozen tangerine soda and pop rocks, with pieces of grapefruit, pomelo, and lemon beneath it. Now, I don't think the pop rocks added to much to the dish, or maybe what I thought was soda fizziness was actually pop rocks.
Our "last dish" was the Milk & Chocolate (with Happy Birthday delicately written across the plate), which had dehydrated milk solids, soft chocolate mousse, a crunchy chocolate something, and the most delicious ice cream ever - brown butter ice cream. It was so good I cannot explain it, except to say I want to try and make it (can't be that hard, right), but cannot yet make it, since I asked for a ice cream maker attachment for our Kitchen-Aid but did not get it. I will have to wait and get it when it warms up, or wait even later until our anniversary.
Finally we were done. Except we weren't, because they very generously brought us macaroons with our bill. A whole plate from which to pick - beautiful cream, yellow, green, purple, and brown macaroons. I was so full, I only asked for one, but Mr. D asked for three, at which point the server decided that I also needed to try the ones that my husband had chosen. I actually left the on the plate (though I think the hubs ate most of those, too). With the macaroons, the server also brought us over a bottle of cognac and poured us each a glass. Not that you should have to eat until you are literally brimming with food to realize this, but a drink after dinner does actually work to help your tummy feel better. :)
When they brought us our receipt, they also brought us each a box of pieces of fruit jelly to take home (tangerine, lemon, lime and I forget the last flavor). As I was the birthday girl (or actually just all the girls), I also received a box with what I dubbed my birthday macaroon, which was almondy deliciousness when I ate it for breakfast the next day. OK, ate it after my breakfast as a breakfast dessert, it's ok it was my birthday.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Birthday Dinner: Part 1
Last week was my birthday, so we went out to a fancy-schmancy dinner. I gave the hubs a couple of ideas for where we could go, and he decided on Eleven Madison Park. This restaurant had been on our list of places we want to go, and since we had already been to the other two restaurants, he chose this one (the hubs has a "thing" about going to restaurants more than once - so that we can experience more places while we are living in NYC).
Since it was my birthday, we decided to go whole hog and do the 11-course Gourmand menu. We usually don't go that crazy, but it was my birthday, and one of Mr. D's co-workers had essentially dared him/us to get the big tasting menu. I think it was one of the most amazing meals I have ever had.
The teeny appetizer tray that came out first was amazing - a row of delicious morsels, of all sorts of tastes and flavors. I cannot remember them all, but there were savory macaroon sandwiches, jellies, and a perfect crispy bite of braised meat in a won ton wrapper.
The first course was "Sterling Royal Caviar," which was FABULOUS. Two spoons were on the plate, each one had a sphere of either smoked sturgeon or salmon cream, nestled with a small dollop of caviar. Mmmm - a perfect way to start the meal.
A salad came next: Tardivo Trevisano. I really love salads which rely on cheese for the main ingredient. Four lovely bites of fresh mozzarella, champagne mango, with Italian olive oil.
A foie gras terrine followed, with pickled pearl onions and an amazing rum raisin brioche, which I believe was the beginning of our downfall, as it was a relatively huge piece of toast, and I wanted to eat every bite, which was not the best decision with 9 more courses to go (yes 9, because even though there are "11" courses, they snuck an extra one in).
The chef came to our table to prepare the next course, which was one of my favorites. A tribute to "Winter in Provence," which means: truffles! A truffle puree, served with potato puree, celery root puree, and chevre frais. OMG, gently placed in a bowl together, then stir them together to make a delicious soup. I cannot begin to describe how amazing this dish was; it was so comforting and earthy and tasty, I could have eaten it for days.
More tomorrow...
Since it was my birthday, we decided to go whole hog and do the 11-course Gourmand menu. We usually don't go that crazy, but it was my birthday, and one of Mr. D's co-workers had essentially dared him/us to get the big tasting menu. I think it was one of the most amazing meals I have ever had.
The teeny appetizer tray that came out first was amazing - a row of delicious morsels, of all sorts of tastes and flavors. I cannot remember them all, but there were savory macaroon sandwiches, jellies, and a perfect crispy bite of braised meat in a won ton wrapper.
The first course was "Sterling Royal Caviar," which was FABULOUS. Two spoons were on the plate, each one had a sphere of either smoked sturgeon or salmon cream, nestled with a small dollop of caviar. Mmmm - a perfect way to start the meal.
A salad came next: Tardivo Trevisano. I really love salads which rely on cheese for the main ingredient. Four lovely bites of fresh mozzarella, champagne mango, with Italian olive oil.
A foie gras terrine followed, with pickled pearl onions and an amazing rum raisin brioche, which I believe was the beginning of our downfall, as it was a relatively huge piece of toast, and I wanted to eat every bite, which was not the best decision with 9 more courses to go (yes 9, because even though there are "11" courses, they snuck an extra one in).
The chef came to our table to prepare the next course, which was one of my favorites. A tribute to "Winter in Provence," which means: truffles! A truffle puree, served with potato puree, celery root puree, and chevre frais. OMG, gently placed in a bowl together, then stir them together to make a delicious soup. I cannot begin to describe how amazing this dish was; it was so comforting and earthy and tasty, I could have eaten it for days.
More tomorrow...
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Annoying Morning Starts with...
Me: Holding Sasha in the elevator on the way downstairs for her morning constitutional.
Totally random, annoying guy, obviously not going to work: You spoil her too much.
Me (in my head): Hey butthead, you have no idea that my dog is terrified of elevators, which wouldn't be a problem except that she hasn't pooped in 10 hours, so if she runs into anything else "scary" in the lobby, she's not going to make it out the door and I consider it more embarrassing to pick her poop up off of the floor inside than the ground outside, so wipe the smirk off your face and get ready for your lunchtime class at FIT. Jerk.
Totally random, annoying guy, obviously not going to work: You spoil her too much.
Me (in my head): Hey butthead, you have no idea that my dog is terrified of elevators, which wouldn't be a problem except that she hasn't pooped in 10 hours, so if she runs into anything else "scary" in the lobby, she's not going to make it out the door and I consider it more embarrassing to pick her poop up off of the floor inside than the ground outside, so wipe the smirk off your face and get ready for your lunchtime class at FIT. Jerk.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Family craziness
My family is crazy - I know this because: a) they're my family and b) I have had this verified by my friends. Recently, the craziness has become more obvious, my college friends would listen to my stories, but say, "Oh, we love your parents, they're so nice." I didn't say they aren't nice, they're just nuts, which our friends-we-have-made-since-college agree with.
For instance, next month is a heavy travel month for us. Easter weekend we go to St. Louis for my grandfather's 90th birthday (where my family will meet us). The next weekend we go to Houston for a friend's wedding (seeing them, but staying in town so as not to put us in the situation of having a billion dollar cab ride back to the 'burbs). Then the first weekend in May, we head back to Houston for my other grandma's 80th birthday.
Despite all of this family time, my parents are really excited about their 5 hour layover at Newark airport next weekend and want us to come meet them for dinner. My dad is also requesting an Italian restaurant - which I'm pretty sure is the result of some sort of stereotyping, but also extremely ridiculous, as they are on a layover from ROME. Why would they want to compare ROME to NEWARK? Why don't they want tacos (although also not a great choice for Newark), or burgers or a steak?
Yargh. Getting to Newark is a bit of a pain (30 min on the train, plus then getting to the actual restaurant), but I haven't seen the fam in a while, it's nice to have a bit of time to see each other. Dinner at 3:00 in the afternoon when I'm seeing them the next week somehow doesn't seem so urgent.
I know, I know, I'm going anyway.
For instance, next month is a heavy travel month for us. Easter weekend we go to St. Louis for my grandfather's 90th birthday (where my family will meet us). The next weekend we go to Houston for a friend's wedding (seeing them, but staying in town so as not to put us in the situation of having a billion dollar cab ride back to the 'burbs). Then the first weekend in May, we head back to Houston for my other grandma's 80th birthday.
Despite all of this family time, my parents are really excited about their 5 hour layover at Newark airport next weekend and want us to come meet them for dinner. My dad is also requesting an Italian restaurant - which I'm pretty sure is the result of some sort of stereotyping, but also extremely ridiculous, as they are on a layover from ROME. Why would they want to compare ROME to NEWARK? Why don't they want tacos (although also not a great choice for Newark), or burgers or a steak?
Yargh. Getting to Newark is a bit of a pain (30 min on the train, plus then getting to the actual restaurant), but I haven't seen the fam in a while, it's nice to have a bit of time to see each other. Dinner at 3:00 in the afternoon when I'm seeing them the next week somehow doesn't seem so urgent.
I know, I know, I'm going anyway.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Random thoughts, but related
Earlier this week I was talking to a friend of mine and thought of a post, but it's not very long, so I added another random thought about groceries at the end.
1) I was walking past Williams-Sonoma earlier this week, and saw their window, which says "for serious cooks." Now, I love their pans and gadgets, who doesn't immediately want one of their panini presses or metal insert slow cookers. I can even see the virtue of the donut-shaped cake pans (very cute, but living in New York means I can't make that kind of storage commitment without baking at least a dozen donut cakes, which actually seems appropriate if you could put them in a box together).
2) Oh, FreshDirect, how I usually love you - I go online and pick out my groceries and you deliver quality products (most of the time) on time (with a few exceptions). Occasionally, FD, you do screw up. This time in the form of adding an extra item to my order, which wouldn't normally bother me, but what will I do with two cases of Diet Green Tea Ginger Ale? Eww, gross.
1) I was walking past Williams-Sonoma earlier this week, and saw their window, which says "for serious cooks." Now, I love their pans and gadgets, who doesn't immediately want one of their panini presses or metal insert slow cookers. I can even see the virtue of the donut-shaped cake pans (very cute, but living in New York means I can't make that kind of storage commitment without baking at least a dozen donut cakes, which actually seems appropriate if you could put them in a box together).
2) Oh, FreshDirect, how I usually love you - I go online and pick out my groceries and you deliver quality products (most of the time) on time (with a few exceptions). Occasionally, FD, you do screw up. This time in the form of adding an extra item to my order, which wouldn't normally bother me, but what will I do with two cases of Diet Green Tea Ginger Ale? Eww, gross.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
So Tired
Why am I so tired? We can attribute this to multiple reasons:
1) Work was exceedingly frustrating today. Everyone was tired, it seems, so that just made it worse, because we were testy with each other. And made me grumpy on the way home, especially when I had to watch some idiot vomiting in the subway station at 6:15 - St. Patrick's day fun!
2) Daylight savings time. I used to love it - and now I think it is stupid. My body has been under the impression that I am trying to wake up at 4:30 am every day (in the dark), so I should fall asleep at 9:00 pm. I do like that I have gotten out of work early, but then I get annoyed that I'm too tired to go to the gym because I don't want to get sick (leading to #3). My theory is that if I'm tired and go to the gym and am exposed to germs, my body won't be able to cope with all three (it makes me feel better).
3) The hubs is sick, which I could tell was happening on Saturday. His co-workers always go to work sick - silly lawyers, so this is the third time he's had a cold since the fall. Since I'm trying to make myself stay awake until at least 11:00, I stayed in the living room while he was asleep. Problem - I didn't not take my preventative NyQuil yet, so was not going to be sufficiently drugged to sleep through his snoring. Normally, I just say his name and tell him he's snoring and his subconscious self changes position and he stops, but when he's sick, he wakes up. I didn't have the heart to wake him, and I hate not being able to sleep, mostly because I just sit there getting more annoyed, so I grabbed my pillow and went and slept on the couch, which wasn't that much better of a night's sleep, but at least the snoring didn't keep me up.
1) Work was exceedingly frustrating today. Everyone was tired, it seems, so that just made it worse, because we were testy with each other. And made me grumpy on the way home, especially when I had to watch some idiot vomiting in the subway station at 6:15 - St. Patrick's day fun!
2) Daylight savings time. I used to love it - and now I think it is stupid. My body has been under the impression that I am trying to wake up at 4:30 am every day (in the dark), so I should fall asleep at 9:00 pm. I do like that I have gotten out of work early, but then I get annoyed that I'm too tired to go to the gym because I don't want to get sick (leading to #3). My theory is that if I'm tired and go to the gym and am exposed to germs, my body won't be able to cope with all three (it makes me feel better).
3) The hubs is sick, which I could tell was happening on Saturday. His co-workers always go to work sick - silly lawyers, so this is the third time he's had a cold since the fall. Since I'm trying to make myself stay awake until at least 11:00, I stayed in the living room while he was asleep. Problem - I didn't not take my preventative NyQuil yet, so was not going to be sufficiently drugged to sleep through his snoring. Normally, I just say his name and tell him he's snoring and his subconscious self changes position and he stops, but when he's sick, he wakes up. I didn't have the heart to wake him, and I hate not being able to sleep, mostly because I just sit there getting more annoyed, so I grabbed my pillow and went and slept on the couch, which wasn't that much better of a night's sleep, but at least the snoring didn't keep me up.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
I must be ill...
I really never thought I would say this, but we made a meal that had too much cheese in it last night. The hubs found a recipe for pasta with asparagus with a gorgonzola cheese sauce. YUM! What could go wrong - pasta, asparagus, and blue cheese, all great components. We even decided to add some of the duck prosciutto the hubs had made to add some solid protein.
The meal should have been fantastic, but it turned out to be a bit of a struggle. The sauce was too rich, too thick, and too much. Maybe if we had some really fat asparagus and thinned the sauce out with some milk (not cream, there was already enough of that in it), the dish would have ben bearable, but it was just too much. It makes me sad. :(
The meal should have been fantastic, but it turned out to be a bit of a struggle. The sauce was too rich, too thick, and too much. Maybe if we had some really fat asparagus and thinned the sauce out with some milk (not cream, there was already enough of that in it), the dish would have ben bearable, but it was just too much. It makes me sad. :(
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Baby Names
I know it has been a long time since I've posted, but I had a random thought today and wanted to share it with more people than my husband and J of J&R (our downstairs neighbors from Austin).
A client of ours sent out an email a birth announcement (though he did forget to use bcc instead of cc, so now people are hitting "reply all" with polite, but inconsequential responses). Apparently, our client and his wife have named their children with a hybrid last name, ie part of the dad's last name combined with part of the mom's last name. What would ours be (Mom, this is STRICTLY hypothetical)? Dunarty, Dundarty, Dunty, Fogdon, or my personal favorite: Fogartidon, pronounced Fo-GART-i-dun (mostly because it reminds me of a nickname a friend made up for me in college).
A client of ours sent out an email a birth announcement (though he did forget to use bcc instead of cc, so now people are hitting "reply all" with polite, but inconsequential responses). Apparently, our client and his wife have named their children with a hybrid last name, ie part of the dad's last name combined with part of the mom's last name. What would ours be (Mom, this is STRICTLY hypothetical)? Dunarty, Dundarty, Dunty, Fogdon, or my personal favorite: Fogartidon, pronounced Fo-GART-i-dun (mostly because it reminds me of a nickname a friend made up for me in college).
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