use real butter

Last night I had trouble sleeping because I had clearly eaten beyond my physical capacity (but it was SOOOO good!). I had tremendous pressure in my chest in all likelihood due to gas. The lessons of the dairy-loving lactose-intolerant are never learned… I felt as if I was going to die, but taking a swig or two or three of mylanta helped some. It left me feeling pretty tired and pretty crappy this morning as I dragged my carcass into work.

On the way home, Jeremy drove me up the canyon and I recall passing out halfway - next thing I knew, we were home. I was going to take a nap, but figured I could get a jump on making dinner since the turkey meatloaf had to bake for an hour. I chopped onions, made the sauce, mixed the turkey - all in a haze. When dinner was ready, Jeremy was cutting the servings while I dished out the veggies. He noted that the meatloaf seemed to be missing some bulk. I looked at it, thought, and then realized I had forgotten the egg and the breadcrumbs. So we essentially had meat, without the loaf part. Damn. I didn’t consult my notebook because I knew the recipe by heart, except today. It tasted fine, but it wasn’t meatloaf.

I took a decent nap and then put together my review of The Kitchen which can be found here. It took forever because there were fourteen courses. Sheesh. Just recounting the food made me feel full. Is it possible to desire a man solely for his culinary skills? This shot was taken after 11 courses. Andrew always looks like that, but Nicole is clearly on her way to food coma…

andrew and nicole with the chef

Tonight was our January monthly restaurant review night! We invited some friends to join us for Community Night at The Kitchen. Most folks had plans, but Nicole and Andrew joined us and it was so much fun and so bloody incredible! Community Night is when the restaurant seats different parties together at one (or more) giant tables. Food is served family-style bringing several large serving dishes of each course for the patrons to dig into. They say it is 5 courses, when in reality… we had a lot more! They say to come hungry. They are not kidding. The menu is determined by 4 pm that day. You don’t get to pick, you just eat what they serve and for any foodie worth her salt, she’ll enjoy every damn bite of it.

lychee martini to start the night off with some buzz

Let me just state that The Kitchen has been featured in the New York Times, Food and Wine, and other lofty, high brow publications. What I love about The Kitchen is that the food is 100% solid goodness. They serve organic when possible, buy local, and maintain high standards for fresh ingredients. Additionally, The Kitchen serves up incredible food in a non-pretentious, simple, elegant, yet utilitarian fashion.

our table - at least one half of it

This was the mother of all dining experiences. It all started innocently enough with some wood-fire roasted beets, carrots, and squash. Next we sampled hot cod fritters with an aioli sauce. Then came the thinly sliced pan-seared tuna. Next was the savoy cabbage salad with crisp pork shoulder and apple jus, then baked cauliflower with capers, lemon, olive oil, and bread crumbs. The flatbread topped with eggplant and yogurt sauce was a hit. Next came the french fries which were fried to PERFECTION. By now I was starting to breath harder and wondering if we were near the last course. It was already seven dishes and people were feeling full. They came to take away our plates and then proceeded to replace them with larger plates. LARGER I tell you! What could this possibly mean? The hostess at our table told us that there were still two more courses. Two? I couldn’t figure out how they were counting all of this.

Meanwhile, we made friends with our neighbors and chatted up a storm all around. Folks inquired about my camera and what I was writing down on my scrap of paper. I was asked for my website address several times. I noticed all of the regular diners peering over one another at our table to marvel at the abundance of food that kept rotating in. A wild greens salad was brought out. Thank goodness! Something light! But what followed the salad was my favorite dish of the evening (and from all of the groans and moans I heard, it was everyone else’s top pick too) - the potato gnocchi with braised duck leg. That was totally to die for! Again and again. I’ve had gnocchi before, but not like this. This was sheer ecstasy. Then it came like a one-two punch - first the New Zealand salmon over a chick pea salad and then the roasted chicken over broccoli raab and roasted parsnips. I just didn’t know how much more I could take. But I still took samples of each dish for fear of missing out. The hostess mentioned any leftover food in the big dishes were fed to the staff, so none of it went to waste. That’s my kind of restaurant!

the gnocchi was a huge hit - the duck and sauce were perfection

Finally, for our last course, dessert, we had THREE courses! Homemade vanilla ice cream, panna cotta with rum soaked prunes (this is the bomb!), and the centerpiece was pear and white wine tart. I was full a long time ago, but I could have sat there eating the panna cotta forever. It was fourteen courses in total and one of the Best Dinners Ever.

feeling like this

A beloved Emile Henry baking dish cracked a few nights back. So I called reliable and overpriced Williams-Sonoma and asked what my options were. She said if I had my receipt, I could get a full refund. It’s a good thing I’m so OCD - I not only had a record of EVERY purchase made since 1997, but I also have every receipt in chronological order since 1997 too. I found it in late 2000. I got my refund, and instead of purchasing yet another (that’s the second that has cracked on me) I opted for something that doesn’t crack:

a digital scale

Of course, the first thing Jeremy did in the store was determine the scale’s statistical uncertainty. He told me he was unable to determine the systematic uncertainties in the store - not enough time. He also tested it’s calibration and gave me the thumbs up. On the way home…

jeremy: what are you going to use the scale for?
me: things that are difficult to measure, like grated cheese or shredded chocolate.
jeremy: oooh, that sounds delicious. i’m all for it. it measures in grams or that other funny unit.
me: what?
jeremy: ounces.
me: yes, with the gram measure, i can make those fancy european recipes.
jeremy: mmmm, european…