man, those pistons didn't look good tonight. we must rally for game two! maybe if steve hadn't been stuck on a plane from detroit to peoria (!) they would have won.
and i think that dave matthews song that they're using to promote the finals sucks. ick.

this is crazy, crazy, but true. apparently, the ohio liquor board actually used a woman's identity (instead of making one up) to have a woman studying law enforcement to go undercover and pose as a stripper. i wouldn't believe it, but i'm actually connected by only a couple of degrees of separation from this poor girl whose identity was stolen.

...

steve and i took a mini-vacation this past week. we went to san francisco for my friend melissa's beautiful wedding (she looked awesome, too! you go, girl!), which not only was really moving and lovely, but which produced the best photo yet of my friend ann and me. there was also a a crazy fun dinner at a chinese banquet hall with all of the out-of-town wedding guests.
steve and i had a little extra time in the city, so we spent a lovely day walking around various neighborhoods (it was 80 degrees and sunny!) and touring alcatraz, which surprised me with how beautiful the vegetation was. we also loved going to the ferry building, which is my fave place in san francisco, and is a haven for foodies. we ate there two days in a row, and i bought a bunch of yummy stuff at the farmers' market, even though i had to shop carefully to buy stuff we could eat there or take home. :)
after our time in the city, we headed up to napa valley. i'd only spent a day there previously, and i have to admit that i was really anxious to get up there on monday morning, but it ended up being perfect that ann + andy weren't as antsy as i was (and of course, steve wasn't either). i think we only stopped at four wineries for tastings, and then we did the obligatory photo opps at hall winery (let me know if you want to see the photo album i've uploaded to snapfish.com).
then came the other (non-wedding) big event. it was the reason that we didn't drink more on monday (and THANK GOD). we had a four hour tasting menu dinner at the french laundry, which is one of the most awarded (and also probably one of the most expensive) restaurants in the country. we had to make our reservations exactly two months in advance, to the day, at 10 am pacific time. and even though we were calling for reservations on a monday night, it took two of us hitting re-dial for 25 minutes before we got through and scored a 6 pm reservation. (!)

soooo... you're probably wondering: was it good?

i couldn't sleep afterward.

i didn't eat until dinner the next day.

and yes, our credit card bill will hurt this month. other than taking out steve's brother when he visits this weekend, we can't eat out for awhile. and i mean that.

however, every single thing was amazing. i wasn't excited when i first read the menu that night. i was actually quite tempted by the vegetarian tasting menu, which ann had, and which also looked (and by her admissing, tasted) completely wonderful. i want to share the craziness with you, so here's the menu we ate, with my comments in italic. we had a few bottles of wine, which we took their full recommendations on. other than remembering that we started with a dry white, moved to a pinot noir, then had dessert wine, i don't have any idea what we had. i think the first two were from sonoma, and the dessert wine was definitely european. i was obviously really entranced by the food!

chef's tasting menu - june 6, 2005

"oysters and pearls": "sabayon" of pearl tapioca with point reyes oysters and russian sevruga caviar
i had no idea what to expect, since i've only had caviar as part of a sushi experience, and think of tapioca as nasty pudding or bubble tea. however, this was so creamy smooth and wonderful. the caviar added a lovely texture to the tapioca and the oysters were amazingly light.

salad of broccolini "florets", marinated gypsy peppers, daikon radish, navel orange "confit" and young ginger "aiger-doux"
i have no idea what "aiger-doux" is, or why they insist on using quotes in the description of each course, but this ruled. i don't really know what makes gypsy peppers any different than other peppers, and the pieces were very artfully carved out of some larger pepper shape, so i wouldn't recognize a gypsy pepper if introduced to one. however, the orange "confit" somehow brought it all together, and the ginger "aiger-doux" (whatever that is) just added a tiny bit of warmth to the sauce/dressing/marinade.

crispy skin fillet of japanese suzuki, grey morel mushrooms, sacramento delta green asparagus and white asparagus "puree"
i had no idea what suzuki tasted like, but it was a pink fleshy fish like salmon, and the skin was amazingly tasty and perfectly crisp. i probably could have eaten a plate of just the skin! the morels were lovely too. asparagus (when it's nice little asparagus and not creepy huge stringly stalks) is always good, and i guess they grow it just fine in sacramento.

"warm spinach and lobster salad"
maine lobster tail "cuite sous vide", wilted arrowleaf spinach, applewood smoked bacon "wafer" and hard boiled hen egg emulsion
mmmm... bacon

"aiguillette" of liberty valley duck, melted belgian endive, grilled field rhubarb and "foie gras"-garden mint "vinaigrette"
i'm not a huge fan of duck. i don't dislike it either, but i don't usually choose it. however, i do like rhubarb. it's best in pie, but it makes a damn tasty duck accompaniment, i've now learned.

snake river farm prime beef "serve en deux facons", heirloom carrots "vichy", marble potato "rissolee" and "sauce perigourdine"
i don't have any recollection of anything other than the beef, which was superb. especially the big "facon" that was served quite rare. because most of the tables were ordering the tasting menu (i have no idea how there could possibly be regulars that order anything else, and there probably aren't a ton of vegetarians willing to pay that much for dinner), we kept wondering what the butcher had done with all of the other jillion cuts of meat after the french laundry chef ordered just this one particular cut to be served that night. things that make you go "hmmmm..."

"brebis des pyrenees"
sweet basil "pain perdu", san marzano tomato "marmelade" and french laundry chorizo-infused extra virgin olive oil
holy crap, i have no recollection of this course. i will have to use a lifeline and get back to you all about this.

hayden mango sorbet, "yuzu scented genoise", goma "nougatine" and black sesame "coulis"
seriously, i am tired of typing these damn quotes, but they are all on the souvenier menu. sheesh. this was actually a really awesome dessert. ann (the aforementioned vegetarian at this feast) got a chocolate dessert delivered to her at the same time, so i was bit worried that we were getting the short end of the stick. however, the mango sorbet was so rich and smooth, and the little black sesame "coulis" were sprinkled all over as a lovely accompaniment. mmmm... i could go for a dish of this right now...

"tentation au chocolat noisette et lait", milk chocolate "cremeux", hazelnut "streusel" with madagascar vanilla ice cream and sweetened salty hazelnuts
wow, i vaguely remember something awesome that was chocolate, but i think i was pretty much in a coma at this time, and was trying to decide if i could fit in more food or dessert wine. i fit in a little of both, and ordered coffee. i decided that the meal had beaten me at this point, and decided to surrender.

"mignardises"
i guess this means petit-fours, because once i had given up and was sipping coffee so that i could walk the measley but difficult two doors down from the restaurant to our b-and-b, they brought out the most charming tray of petit-fours. someone at the table had one, and insisted that i try the shortbread. they were right.




so that's the scoop.

...fin...