Unfortunately, the end of the holiday season means one thing- back to work, for me and everyone else on the road. How is it that people so quickly forget how to drive? Sheesh! At least I get to ease back into things a bit, as the UK office was closed today. Tomorrow, however, it should be full speed ahead.
I miss the Husband, and not being next door to him during the day.
What a delightful way to start the year! First off this morning was brunch at the Bernards Inn, as Elements had the weekend off. Honestly? It was good, but not for what we paid for it. A nice backup for when we need something more in that area, than Princeton, but definitely not something that will be part of our rotation. Then we were off to cruise around for something to do. We ended up in Princeton looking for desk chairs for the office. Husband had been researching and looking at some schmancy ergonomic chairs online so we found the place we could try them out, and decided that they weren’t as comfortable as we had hoped they would be for the money required to be shelled out. Even an Aeron knockoff would be an option at this point! Alas, nothing they had worked for us. So back out we went wandering around Palmer Square for the first time. Stopped into to Thomas Sweet chocolates and picked up some marzipan and chocolate orange peels for me, and some mint thingys for the Husband. There was also a store where we got some olive oil. We would have gotten some balsamic vinegar but it had sulfites in it! At least we found out before we bought some. But the fig balsamic was very tasty. We also found a kitchen stuff store, what Lechters used to be if you remember that, only more bigger and little stuff. I could get lost in there for hours and spend a small fortune (holy Le Cruset!). But today, it was actually the Husband who found a few things for himself. Then it started to rain again, so we headed back to the car.
We went for an early sushi dinner and stopped at the bakery on the way home for some fresh bread for the week and to go with the garlic olive oil we picked up.
Now to get ready to go back to work tomorrow, for the first time in the office in over a week and a half. Meh. Oh well. This too shall pass. And we have anniversary and vacation travel plans to make and look forward to.
May 2011 be a better year for us all, as individuals, as a country and as a planet.
We rang in the new year at Ninety Acres and the Mansion at Natirar. Fabulous and quite a spectacle. Fire pits and heat lamps made the outside terrace overlooking the valley quite a magnificent place to end out the evening with a glass of champagne. This was after a most delightful dinner at Ninety Acres. The duck three ways was outstanding, but the highlight- as low brow as it may be to say it- had to be the french fries. As always, they were extraordinary, and after seeing a couple of platefuls go over to the bar, we had to ask if the kitchen would be able to accommodate us. As usual, they were kind enough to do so.
New Years resolutions? I generally try not to make them. Be a better person and friend. Blog more. Worry less. Try to cook more, but stress less when I can’t. Take a little bit better care of myself.
May the best of the past be the worst of the future. May you get to spend time with your loved ones and love the ones you have to spend time with.
At the last minute we decided to try and get a reservation at Elements tonight, and they were able to accommodate us in the cube. I keep forgetting to bring a wrap when we sit in there. After dinner (which was fabulous) Joe comes in and asks us if we’re Star Trek fans, which we are, and asks us if we want to meet Avery Brooks who is eating in the dining room and always comes back to the kitchen before he leaves. Um, wow, yes. Avery Brooks. Captain Benjamin Sisko. A few minutes later it was just as they said, first his wife came back, then he did, to thank the kitchen, and then Joe brought him over to introduce him to us. He was genuinely nice, asked our names, where we lived. We chatted briefly about the food, “the man is BAD” he said referring to Scotty in the kitchen, and we had to agree. I’ve got to admit to being a bit awe-struck over this. OMG, we just met Avery Brooks!!!! So seriously cool.
Dinner was fabulous as usual. The fois gras was phenomenal, served with cherries and chocolate and granola. The skate was unexpectedly served with sesame seeds so I didn’t enjoy very much of it, but what I did have was excellent. Joe sent out three desserts for us to try- the tres leches, strawberries including a strawberry “pop tart” and some fresh blueberries , and banana panna cotta with chocolate peanut butter ganache atop a rice krispies disk.
We got to meet Avery Brooks. What a cool way to end the evening. Thanks, Joe!!
I’m still here. Hanging in and hanging on. It’s the start of summer already, and I’m not quite sure where the time has gone.
Yesterday was the first day of the Montgomery Farmers Market. It seemed a bit smaller than last year, but no matter. English peas are still in season- I should’ve gotten more than I did (’cause they’re all gone already)! Hopefully next week they’ll still have some and then I’ll get a pound or two. I got some blueberries too. I got an Olive loaf for the Husband and some local honey, and barely resisted the raisin challah. I’m not sure what bakery they’re from this year, I think last year was Witherspoon. The multigrain rolls looked good too. Fresh mozzarella from Griggstown. Next week I think I’ll get some mushrooms too, and some eggs. I’ve been getting the weird craving for eggs again so it’s time for the annual mushrooms and egg. I got some cherries from Tree-licious; turns out the spray them with grape juice to keep the birds away!
Then it was off to the Amish for more breads and snacks (chocolate chip whoopie pies!), some melon, cider and lemonade. Chocolate malt balls and some mints. A few chocolate orange peels to snack on. What can I say, I have a weakness for them! Quick run to the supermarket and then back home to do as little as possible for the remainder of the day.
We had a delightful brunch at Elements today, did a bit of laundry, tried to catch up on a few things and still rest.
How is it the middle of June already?
Work has been insane, more than 70 hours a week for me, ever since we got back from Florida. The guys at elements have been blogging and Facebook-ing and posting pictures. First it was the local chicken liver pate. Then it was the first of the season morels. There was also the sour cherry dessert, but that may have been after I made the reservation. Somewhere in there Mattias had made a rhubarb cooler and posted in their bar blog. The picture of the morels did it for me, though, or more accurately I knew it would do it for the Husband and I’d been jonesing for a good dinner out.
“Husband?”
“Yes, wife?”
“elements has first of the season morels….”
“when can we go?”
“I’ll call and ask.”
A day or so later I finally remembered to call and the young lady who answered was able to accommodate us at 5 pm on Friday in the Cube, which is their private room adjacent to the kitchen. The chef’s table in the kitchen was already booked so this was really just perfect for us. Score! It also meant I’d need to stop working at a reasonable hour to get dressed and ready to go because I really did want to try and relax and enjoy myself. To say it had been a hell of a week is an understatement.
We arrived a few minutes early and got to hang around with the staff out back behind the kitchen before service started. It was nice to be missed as much as we missed them. It seemed the NY Times review photographer was coming that night at 7 pm to take the pictures for the review they had just gotten. You’d think if it was just for pictures, they’d come at an easier time than Friday or Saturday night! After being seated, we looked at the menu and realized we were in trouble- there were just too many amazing choices! This was definitely one of those menus where there were more things up the Husband’s alley and I had a harder time. We ended up sharing a number of different dishes and everything was just incredible from start to finish.
We’re bad foodie bloggers. We completely forgot to write down or photograph entire courses, so most of the descriptions will be straight from their menu.
Amuse was a trio of interesting tidbits. Beef tongue wrapped around sushi rice with pickled carrots (yum); house cured something sausage-like fresh not dried with a grain mustard (which I liked), and a third bit with piquillo peppers and tasted fishy. This last one even the Husband liked!
chicken liver pate with pheasant egg, mushroom, leek with crispy toast points
What a way to start out the meal. I knew I had to have this first because if the Husband did I may have only found some mushrooms left! Seriously good.
short rib pierogi caraway, potato, leek, sour cream
These were outrageous. The short rib pierogi had the most amazing texture and I would definitely order these again.
spaghetti carbonara our bacon, peas, duck egg
I only had a bite of this but it was very good. How bad can it be with their own bacon and these fresh tiny peas?
sablefish romesco, marcona almond, charred scallion spaetzle, shrimp
romesco sauce shmeared across the plate. scallion spaetzle with Laughing Bird shrimp and spinach. oh yum. and the fish was good too.
Columbia river sturgeon local asparagus, osetra caviar, quail egg, garlic
We got two small portions of this, mostly so I could give the caviar to the Husband. This was outrageous. The fish was perfectly cooked. The asparagus was pureed into a soup or broth that we both sopped up with bread and a spoon. I don’t usually eat eggs but knew there was no way I was giving that one up to the Husband. Perfectly soft cooked,
local skate split pea & ham, spring onion, morels, carrot
We haven’t had skate in a long time and this was a perfect version of it. My only issue with it was that to me it tasted strongly like caraway, which I don’t really like. But otherwise it was fabulous. Came apart easily with a fork. Just so so good.
tilefish local morels, ramps, horseradish, spinach, quinoa, white asparagus
Yum, yum and yum. By this point I was getting full, and wanted to save room for dessert, so the Husband got most of it. This was just insanely good.
When we first looked at the menu I knew I was going to be in trouble with dessert. I have a weakness for anything cherry, and there happened to be two cherry desserts on the menu. So with a little encouragement from everyone we ordered both, plus the vanilla panna cotta for the Husband.
black forest cake. black cherry, chocolate, lambic granite, sponge
I’ve got to say, I’m often impressed and intrigued with the desserts and presentations that Joe and the team come up with here. I know enough never to get my heart set on an exact anything and have never been disappointed. Tonight was no exception. Black forest cake was almost like a devil dog without the chocolate coating, chocolate cake rolled with creamy frosting of some sort. Served with two griotes (I snagged the Husband’s), some tasty and really interesting chocolate sponge, and a bit of chocolate topped with the lambic granite, which the Husband loved. Next time, I would probably ask them to hold the granite but that’s just me.
vanilla panna cotta. shortbread, spring pea ice cream, peanut, bacon
Who would’ve thought pea ice cream? It was the most incredible shade of green and really tasted like spring peas! Not something I’d ever order at an ice cream shop but it really did work here. I wasn’t crazy about this dessert, as bacon so doesn’t do it for me, but the Husband was, and thought it was delicious.
sour cherry bar. nilla waffer ice cream, cookie crust, “cherries”
Yum. Nilla wafer ice cream. Sour cherry bar was outrageously good and the “cherries,” even the Husband’s eyes lit up when he ate one. I’m not quite sure what it was made out of but it sure tastes like sour cherry!
As always, our thanks to the staff for a fabulous meal, that was as much food for the Spirit and Soul as it was for the body. From Mattias hiding the bottle of sake from Joe and Scotty (sorry, guys!) so that it would be there for the Husband, to reassuring us that we could do whatever we wanted to make our own tasting menu, they went over and above for us, particularly for a busy Friday night. We kept saying to each other, “why has it been so long since we’ve been here?” From start to finish this was an extraordinary meal, and just what we needed.
We’re home and I’m back at work. Oh joy, oh Monday. I’ve already found out I need to be in NYC tomorrow for a 9 am meeting, which means I need to leave the house before 730. Ugh is an understatement.
I’ll post about Savannah to Raleigh to home over the next couple of days. At least the food was good.
We’ve got a reservation at Ninety Acres on Friday (woo-hoo!). No matter how good some of the food we had on the trip was, it just can’t compare to what they deliver. I can’t wait to see what they’ll have for Spring.
I’m not sure if being able to blog from the office is a good thing or not….
Tonight we went to see Manheim Steamroller at the Beacon Theater in NYC. We had front row orchestra seats on the aisle. It doesn’t really get much better than that. It was the Husband’s first time at the Beacon, and it was nice to see the venue through his eyes and really get to look around and appreciate it, instead of just rushing through to get to our seats. It’s a remarkable building.(Ok, so I looked at their website and it turns out they just underwent a $15 million restoration. And it shows.
We’d made dinner reservations at Ouest but canceled them because we didn’t think we’d make it in on time. Once we got into the city and parked we took a walk around and came across the Hummus Place and had dinner there. Wow. Just wow. I haven’t had humus with mushrooms like that since I was in Israel. Everything was just fabulous. They even had sangria so we had a bit. Ok, two carafes. They weren’t very strong but fruity and tasty. For dessert I got the baklava, which was actually three different kinds, and it was some of the best baklava I’ve ever had. Seriously. I would definitely go back there any time quite happily.
The show was really good. I’m not that big into Christmas music and really bought these tickets for the Husband but we had a good time. I’d see them again next year. I still think I liked TSO better (and we’re going to see them again next weekend) but that may have to do with how they have the story run through the first half of the show which to me makes it much more enjoyable than “just” Christmas music.
Oh, and Fairway. Drool. We stopped in at Fairway between dinner and the show. The Husband had never been and it’s been a looong time since I’d been to Fairway. It was as eye catching and drool worthy as I remember. He’s already suggested making a trip into the city to go again, to both Hummus Place and Fairway, and doing a -real- shopping there. I’d so love that. There was so much that we saw in just the brief few minutes we were there, I know it would be a small fortune of a shopping trip but so worth it.
Note to self: Paramus Fairway. May be an option on Sundays during the holiday season, when the rest of Paramus is closed. As much as I hate Paramus, it may be more viable than NYC.
Tomorrow, dinner at ninety acres, the new restaurant at Natirar. The chef is David Felton, formerly of the Pluckemin Inn. The restaurant manager is Richard I-always-forget-his-last-name, who used to work at David Drake and before that at The Stage House Inn. This should be a wonderful combination, and I don’t just mean that selfishly. We so, SO can’t wait for dinner tomorrow night!
I just reserved a seat at the “chocolate truffles and treats” class at the International Culinary Center in February!! They had offered it in Sept but I didn’t reserve in time. I’m so glad that I decided to have another look today and see if they were offering it again. I’ve always wanted to learn more about working with and making my own chocolates. Now I can justify asking for at least one of the chocolate books for the holidays this year. I just need to decide which one.
I also ordered a book from Amazon today on macarons, not the coconut ones but the French cookies, colorful and jammy.
Really should talk to my brother about both the above, too. I’m sure he’d have info on the chocolates for certain, if not the macarons as well. And Joe at Plucky.
Yay for doing something for me! And major thanks to the Husband for encouraging me to do so.
Today was Veteran’s Day so I had the day off. I had arranged to have lunch with the girls from my previous job who I’ve actually missed rather much. It was good to see them and catch up. Hopefully we’ll get to do so again soon when some of the missing can make it.
After lunch I made my way over to the new Trader Joe’s in Princeton. Oh, lordy. It’s a good thing it’s not closer or I would be there all the time. There were just so many things I wanted to try, it was very hard to restrain myself. Especially with tomorrow being the Husband’s birthday. So for dinner tonight I picked up a refrigerated chicken parm (which he likes) and brussell sprouts au gratin (which we were not crazy about). I also got some of their version of oreo’s, dark chocolate marshmallow creams, as well as mochi in mango and green tea. The mango mochi is just outrageously good, like worth-the-trip good. We haven’t tried the green tea yet, but both other snacks got a resounding yummy. As did some of the thinnest lemon cookies. I picked up a chicken pot pie and a sesame chicken noodle bowl to stash in the freezer for emergency meals for the Husband. I got myself a curry bowl, vegan pad thai, and a shrimp ettouffe. I want to start bringing lunch one or two days a week, both for cost and nutritional reasons.