dinner and wine with Dion (and Korapat)

I am utterly wiped out. No, I lie. If I were wiped out, I wouldn't be blogging. Just the same, though, it's now two hours later than I've been up any other night this week. Worse (or better, in many ways), Dion and I shared too much wine this evening. Will I make it to swim practice in the AM?

Dion is in town for business, and it's a real treat being able to sit down and catch up with him over food and wine. Second opportunity this year, and he'll be back to spend the night at our place on Tuesday. Excellent! Conrad and I rank the New Zealand trip as, well, pretty much our best vacation ever, and we're keen to sow the seeds for a 2009 return.

Dion was accompanied by Korapat, who holds the same position Dion does in the Thailand/Indochina region of the company. I was dining with high level people tonight! But no, both Dion and Korapat were terrific dining companions. They've just spent the past few days in Kohler, and while that village is rather pretty, the dining is a bit, um, heavy/stodgy/hugely-portioned/well-intentioned/Wisconsonian. Sorry. It had to be said.

We had dinner at the Park Grill.
I thought it would offer a reasonable menu amidst some good Chicago surroundings. Too early in the year for the skating rink to be operational, but no matter. We had a good meal just the same. I was quite pleased with my scallops appetizer, with cauliflower (funny how I love that vegetable so much now but didn't care for it as a child) and truffles.The thyme-roasted halibut with lentils and oxtailwas not as good but still quite decent. We shared a bottle of a Pinot Noir and chatted amicably.

After that, the evening was ours. They were up for more wine or something, so I piled us into a cab and got us away from downtown. Both of them have seen the downtown before, so I got them up to Boystown and more wine and dessert at Yoshi's.
It's always a special thing to bring people to our regular place, and though we only had one dessert between us (while Korapat ate some edamame), Dion and I had a bottle of a New Zealand Pinot Noir that outshone the bottle at Park Grill.

I have a restaurant booked for Tuesday night, so stay tuned for that blog entry. Poor Conrad, due in at 10:30 that night. He'll barely get to visit with Dion on this trip, and he'll miss out on a nice meal. Ah well. He IS in Honolulu, remember!