When it’s not for avsya.
Jordan winery, one of many Many here in what they call ‘the valley’.
So there we are at the movies because it was HOT, watching Raising Victor Vargas at 6pm and my cell phone rings. I rush out of the theater. ‘We have an opening at 9pm if you can make it.’ Fine.
At Last, can it BE, we are Here at the Temple of the very God of American cookery. Here we are at, Yes it is true, The French Laundry.
Our perfect waiter. If you are Not a serious foodie, this is the end of the trip and you can now be done. If you Are a serious foodie and have some intellectual interest in The Temple, read on.
What follows is the Chef’s Tasting Menu on May 28. Before the first course comes this ‘traditional greeting’ of a four inch cookie folded into a cone. Inside is slightly thickened and sweetened cream and on the top is salmon tartar formed into a ball, like a little ice cream cone. As a first offering it rather set off the tone of the whole meal. You’ll see why.
Also notice how each dish is surrounded by an intensly rich sauce. Concoctions of local ingredients in richly flavored sauces is the signature of The French Laundry. And all the sweet? I have no idea.
‘Oysters and Pearls’. Sabayon of pearl tapioca with Bagaduce oysters and Iranian Osetra caviar.
Among the single most perfect tastes I have ever been blessed enough to enjoy.
Marinated Holland white asparagus, roasted baby beets and Perigord truffle syrup.
Alas, watery and boring.
Crispy skin filet of Atlantic black bass, roasted spring onions, medjool dates and black pepper gastrique.
The sweet onions and sweeter dates contributed to sweet being the dominant flavor and sticky being the dominant texture.
Sweet butter braised Maine lobster, globe artichokes, oven roasted Roma tomatoes, Picholine olives, fresh basil and spicy lobster broth.
Rather naturally sweet and all those ingredients did play nicely together.
This little chickie stole our hearts and so Nancy was of course obliged to buy buy buy. This wine chick was just Bursting with perkiness. Goofy ha! ha! silly gigglegiggle perky Perky girl.
We are indeed in wine country.
At this point I am starting to get twitchy about our potential dinner at The French Laundry. Less than a week before, when I decided to take this trip and Nancy invited me to join her here, I thought wow, The French Laundry, despite the legendary three month wait for reservations. So I asked Toni if he could use his endless connections to get us in. Sure he said, if the restaurant is open he could manage it.
And then when I called the restaurant on Friday to confirm (Toni did have the direct number, which of course I cannot reveal) the woman said yes we have you right here, number one on our priority wait list, we’ll call you for Tuesday or Wednesday if there is a cancellation. If there is a cancellation? Wait list?? Cancellation?? What’s With That?!?
Who could resist? And why is this guy out here at all anyway? We spotted two of them as we were driving by and had to make a special trip back for the photo-op. Notice that tail feather. You can surely see the hat-appeal.
And they have these giGantic bald legs. Imagine a turkey’s leg from the grocery store then stretch it waaay out and bulk it up so the thigh joint is as big as your head. There, now you have it.
This is our private entrance to our private cottage at Honor Mansion in Healsburg(sp?). You could Not think of Any hotel amenity that was not available in this place.
Wednesday, no call from The French Laundry, I call and they say this: all but one reservation has confirmed but we’ll let you know if anything changes. So I’m worked up all right. How can you say No Problem and then there IS a problem? I plot my speech to Toni. We make other plans.
After Desda cut up and attempted to burn her stash of credit cards she used the pieces to form this crown of shame and hung it in the dining room to create a constant reminder that she would never Ever find herself in such debt again.
Confessions were made, penance was done, forgiveness was granted.
At the first dramatic cord of Pomp and Circumstance there I was, hand to eye, wiping away the welling up of tears. Why? Maybe for the same reason I cry at the first downbeat of the overture to West Side Story – because you just know what is coming next.
In this case, all the cheers and tears, all the efforts of the past and hopes for the future of families from everywhere in every circumstance themselves, gathered in praise and grateful thanks and blah blah blah.
Lubi stayed with me at the Hotel Durant. Built in the 1920s, it’s a fine historic place one and a half blocks from the Telegraph entrance to campus. Proud, dressed up parents of Berkeley graduates have been staying at the Hotel Durant for generations. The staff looked like kids randomly chosen from the line at Top Dog next door but in fact everything about the service was a-one. So impressive in fact that I even filled out the comment form.
Melissa and Melinda and two of Travis’s friends met us at the hotel early in the am so we could walk over to the graduation all together.
Us at the gym. Julie is here doing all she can to make me realize how important fitness is to a long and healthy life and how important it is to Focus on a regular workout program and not be so Lackadasical about fitness and to Get With The Program. Ok ok ok…I’ll try…
