Nacional 27

Day 3 of eating. I really need to get to a pool in the morning!

Bob treated us to dinner at Nacional 27 tonight. It's always a pleasure to try places I haven't been to yet. This restaurant is a little livelier - a DJ, some live percussion, lots of cocktails on the menu. Still, generous portions of good food. I rather liked it.

No wine for me tonight. Bob did have a glass of red with his dinner as well as a few other cocktails while Conrad stuck with the house classic margarita. I tried something called (I think) a Chicha Sour - purple and very tangy. I had two and it was getting too sour by the end, but enjoyable nonetheless.

We shared a ceviche platter, then Bob went on to the slow roasted pork, Conrad opted for olive oil poached salmon with some very tasty stir fry, and I had the slow braised lamb with white beans and greens (the photos were too blurry, sorry). I also asked for a side of the roasted pumpkin, peppers, and onions, which we all relished.

No dessert. Believe me, I'm full enough. A decaf au lait was all I finished with.

A successful evening, then. Decent food and good chat with RAD. I did some shopping - stocking stuffers for Conrad and a few things for me. One more day of work, then a weekend with much housework!

Avenues

I should get to bed, but....

Dinner tonight with CG at Avenues. Our big annual pre-Christmas splurge. My digestive system is praying for a break in the cavalcade of rich food, but there are several more nights ahead. Ah well. If yer gonna eat, eat good!

Avenues is good. Highly rated in restaurant reviews. Located at the swank Peninsula Hotel. Jackets for gentlemen. Oh, and the chef is pretty decent, one might say.

Champagne for us to start. Oh heck, why not? CG and I went for a rosé each while Conrad opted for the Bollinger. An amuse-bouche of an apple fennel pudding with chervil and caviar then arrived, and we were off and running.

There was much on the menu that appealed, but we decided to remove ourselves from decision making. Instead, we opted for the Chef's Palate menu: ten courses. With a little guidance from the sommelier on a half bottle of a French white (hints of smoke, then opening up to vanilla) and full bottle of a red Burgundy (candied violets, no kidding, that's what I smelled), we ate and drank quite well.

1. Avenues Deconstructed Caesar Salad. Gem lettuce, grated parmesan, house cured anchovy, and brioche twinkie. I am not making that up. Nice presentation. fine, but didn't bowl us over.

2. Carpaccio of Maine Lobster. Cucumber noodles, yuzu foam, soy caramel. Also nicely presented but not a stellar dish. So far, just nice.

3. Tartare of Venison Tenderloin. Parsley custard, cranberry chutney, juniper gelato. Ah, things get interesting here. The custard ended up being a bit much. I find it hard to explain, but the texture became too rich and overwhelming in the end. This was a dish where a little of everything in each bite was wonderful. Juniper gelato? Inspired.

4. Roasted Winter Chestnut Bisque. Pickled Bosc pear, candied prosciutto, sage marshmallow. Sage marshmallow. First thing that caught my eye on the whole darn menu, and I knew I wanted it. Tasting it melting into the soup, I knew that I was right in wanting it. Stunningly good course.

5. Truffle Scented Carnaroli Risotto. Pearl onions, black trumpet mushrooms, truffle creme. Did I mention, by the way, that with the bread there were three types of flavoured butter, and of the three, Conrad and I were going like mad at the truffle one? Anyway, the risotto was so good we seriously could have licked the dish clean. Really. Yes, I am a mushroom snob.

6. Pumpernickel Crusted Tasmanian Salmon. Celeriac mousse, savoy cabbage, sauerkraut bubbles. I actually think the foam thing can be totally over by now, but oh well. The salmon was good, and Conrad enthused over it a great deal.

7. Hudson Valley Duckling Breast. Cauliflower fondue, broccoli raab, squash purée. Also lovely.

8. American Kobe Strip Steak. Smoked potato beignet, mushroom fricassee, merlot reduction. When this was set down, the scent of freshly ground pepper on the plate hit us just right. The beignet was a terrific side dish, definitely evoking bacon (not at all a bad thing). Yes, I ate more mushrooms.

9. Cheeses with quince and currant preserves. Quince! Quince! No, I'm not drunk. I just really adore quince.

10. A pairing of chocolate pot de crème topped with gold leaf and a dark chocolate cake with tuile and caramel ice cream. Chocolate is an essential food group for Conrad, in case you didn't know.

CG and I each had a decaf au lait. Conrad got a little upset and went to summon some service when it took rather a long time for me to get sugar for my coffee. Though it steamed him a little, he was pleased by the response - sugar arrived and the bill did not include a half bottle of wine. In truth, some of the tiny things about the table service were a bit sloppy for a restaurant of that level - forks not changed right, for example, or the curious switch to still water from sparkling partway through the night. On the other hand, the little final treat of sage and blackberry jelly candies was a nice little delight.

So: ahhhhhhh. Very good food. And compay, of course. We exchanged gifts with CG quite happily and had an altogether super evening of trying some new foods and wines and seeing what elements really stood out for each of us.

Test run

So, Cornish game hens, brined and roasted, for Christmas dinner?

It just might work....

wrapping paper

We're off to dine with Kristina and Christopher tonight. Their tree is something to behold, I am told. 910 ornaments, and I think Kristina will gladly relinquish responsibility/blame for it all to her husband. I'm excited, however. Those who know me know that I start the Yule tunes back in October and that I'm so into the baking, decorating, cards, and all. I've got a full recording of the Messiah on now that was $4.99 on iTunes!!! Ahhhhh.



This short post (one of a series) is simply to show off some of my gift wrap, though. I love this paper. Cherries and pears - beautiful colours for the holiday season. Pears are winter fruit, and as for cherry trees, well there is a lovely carol called The Cherry Tree Carol that I seem to have 5 versions of in my Christmas music playlist.

Biscotti

Yes, more biscotti. I seldom eat them when I'm out - I have had some in coffee shops that I think are truly dire - but I love to bake 'em. Since I was home a little early and had some time before going out to dinner, I popped a batch in. These ones are scented with orange zest and are chockful of toasted slivered almonds and coarsely chopped milk chocolate. The kitchen smells seductively good now!

Cookie baking binge '06

Gosh, how much narrative need there be for this one? Just post photos of the cookies and be done with it!

Bradley and I have done this for a handful of years now - he's one of the few people (CG is another) whom I can work with in the kitchen. We get together on a Sunday before Christmas, mix and bake and frost and pack, get hopped up on far too much sugar for our own good, and end the day somewhere around 10ish.

This year we got smart. He and I each made a couple of batches of things on the Saturday separately. I also made up a bunch of dough that day and refrigerated it. Sunday morning it was up earlyish, a coffee from Starbucks, and then baking. By the time Bradley came over, we only had to roll out and bake the gingerbread and sugar cookies. Easy enough. Once the gingerbread was done, we ate lunch of sushi that Conrad had retrieved, and on to the sugar cookies. We kept the dough and icing eating to a mininum, and the happy result was that Bradley was gone and the kitchen was totally clean by 7. Conrad and I were at Yoshi's by 8.

We had a good mixture this year. Bradley brought over some brownies we cut into smaller bites and chocolate chip cookies (front and right front in the photo). On the Saturday I made some pistachio and dried apricot biscotti (tried a new recipe, and I'll do it again - lightly perfumed with saffron and clove) and my Mum's ginger cookie recipe that I so love. Before Bradley arrived on Sunday I also added white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies, chocolate chip cookie bars, and fig and orange biscotti to the bounty.

Frosting is time consuming, but it is a hoot. Neither of us will claim to be as good as, say, the NBF. Just a batch of royal icing and some Christmas songs in the background.

Conrad? He helped us organizationally but mostly stayed out of the way until it was time to pick out things for his office. Still, we'd be hard-pressed to do it so well without him, too.

Finally - and best of all - we are behaving. Nearly all the cookies are gone to co-workers and friends. We have enough dining to enjoy this week without some sugary stuff at home! Unlike our truly super dinner at Topolobampo last week where we just sat and ate and enjoyed the wines Jill was pairing with the food, we will take photos this time!

Tree

The adoring readers clamour for my return, and lo! Here I am.

Well, that's overstating it a little. A couple of guys on the team mentioned that they do like to see the blog updated, so perhaps I could get off my lazy butt and do so? Gracefully and graciously, I oblige. Not that my butt has been lazy, however. See those wrapped things under the tree? Picturing me taking a bow. Also, lotsa cards, a trip to Escanaba that I will assuredly NOT blog about even if I do have photos, and an orgy of weekend baking. See the next entry for that one.

Anyway, as a warm up, shots of the tree with and without us. One week until Christmas - I hope it snows!

quick chicken dinner

I managed to get most of this done before swim practice, so it was only a matter of having Conrad puree the cauliflower mixture, preheat the oven, and get the water for the Brussels sprouts a-simmerin'. Simple. Dinner tonight: baked chicken breast marinated in the raspberry, shallot, and mustard vinaigrette leftover from the salad on Friday; Brussels sprouts; and a cauliflower, black olive, pine nut, and two-onion puree.

Now it's back to playing with librarything.com!

Liver

One of the waitstaff at Yoshi's tonight put it well: liver is one of those things you either really love or really hate. The funny thing is that my life can be divided into two time spans: childhood (really hate liver) and adulthood (really love it). I was close to orgasmic when I saw it listed on the specials tonight? Oh, the cod with matsutake mushrooms smelled heavenly, fragrant with much garlic, but I didn't really look at any other options. Liver was it! Crusted with mustard seeds, served with some blue cheese mashed potatoes. Yum!

Good choice, Peter, and well done (though not well done in the shoe-leathery sense of cooking meat) Yoshi! It was a fine dinner, and paired with a bottle of a French wine (Morgon - new to us but one we'll go for again), it made for a contented me. Conrad rather liked his salmon. We caught up on things with Gil and Rakhael. Dessert suddenly appeared as well. And now we're home and propped up in bed. I've made solid inroads into the Christmas cards AND the wrapping as well (presents that have to be sent to Canada need doing early).

I should note that in among all the shopping we did today, Conrad bought a new digital camera. He spent a lot of his time at Yoshi's geeking out with it. Really, he is utterly adorable, you know.

Now for another 5-day workweek!