I haven't written to tell you what's going on, and really a lot has. Meanwhile you've sat here in the dark space of the internet just waiting to hear about my next adventure. You don't ask for much, just that I stop by once in a while and tell you what's going on, and encourage people to visit you. and I haven't really done much of either. Enough apologies, Lets get to the business at hand. What have I been doing since I last posted on April 2nd? Let's start with my Happy mother's day wish picture I meant to send out for mothers day. (These birds live rent free above our entrance, and crap on our stairs all the time, but they made a great mother's day grouping for me) What else have I been doing? A lot of saving, including giving up my daily cup of Peet's coffee in the morning. My co-workers miss me coming on the journey every morning, but the baristas who seemed so nice everyday never even noticed I stopped coming in. I've even learned to bring in my lunch everyday. I managed to get back to Florida for a weekend for the annual Cathryn Yvonne Herron memorial golf tournament and my grandmother's 90th birthday. We had another great year at the tournament, raising lots of money, and I came oh-so-close to winning a Blackjack II in the raffle on Friday night. ( I really, Really, Really need a new phone) I had to buy a ticket on my old friend Airtran Airways, and got a super cheap ticket, apparently right before oil and ticket prices went absolutely insane. Back in the good old days, I used to fly Airtran from Atlanta to Tampa for $96. The cheapest one I could find right now was $239. Grandmas birthday turned out to be a very nice event that included multiple cakes, and lots of friends and family in town to wish her well.
Mom Threw a great party at Grandma's place and then we had a big giant dinner at El Greco the special of the night was a spanakopita with grouper. It was awesome. Plus we got a chance to order some Saganaki and yell Opa!!!Since I've been home work has been... well... work, but I'm mostly putting my head down and fighting through. Oh, Did I mention W and I finally got engaged. Oh yeah, I guess you'd probably like details. The Frequently asked Questions
1. Have you set a date yet? No, we're working on that, details to follow.
2. Did she know it was coming? Sort of. Our schedules are crappy, so we had to pick a day and say we're going to do it on this day. So she knew what the final outcome would be, but didn't know how the night would play out.
3. Did you get down on one knee? Yes!
4. Did you go someplace nice? Yes, I decided to find us a table someplace nice in the city and found some room at Jardiniere in the city. I am now a big fan of the magic of opentable.com, my official new best friend.
5. How's the food? Amazing! We sprung for the 7 course tasting menu with the sommelier's pairings
6. Seven courses?
A. Seared Bigeye Tuna, Avocado, Jalpeno and Grapefruit Gelee, Tsar Nicoulai Caviar
B. Salade Riche: Lobster Foi Gras and Summer Truffles, Walnut Vinaigrette
C. Housemade Gnocchi with Devil's Gulch Rabbit, Porcini mushrooms and parmigiano-reggiano
D. Liberty Farms Duck Breast, Blackberries, Farro and Watercress, Vanilla Gastrique
E. Prather Ranch Lamb Corn and Bacon Bread Pudding, Rosemary Jus
F. Rabiola Due Latti, Brooks Cherries, Hazelnuts and Toasted Baguette
G. Apricot, Honey and Goat's Milk Ices, Pistachios, and Sea Salt Tuile
During the first course I found myself trying to get every last little bit of caviar off my plate. (there is no polite way to do this). I'd never eaten foi gras before, but already find it a new favorite) I can assure You I'd buy up a bottle of each and every bottle of the pairings that we had with each of these. It was a fabulous dinner, and our service was excellent. The waiter even asked us why we were there, and when our dessert arrived, "congratulations!" was written on the plates in chocolate. After dinner we went on a little trip. We boarded a miniature 747 and flew to Frankfurt, which looked a lot like our living room. We had a nice Riesling, and then took a little train ride to Brussels which looked a lot like our spare bedroom. I had some prints of some of my favorite pictures from Brussels, and had put them up around the room so it would look like the Grote Markt. I even reproduced the snack we ate there and served our favorite Belgian Beer, Stella Artois.
Frequently asked questions continued:
Did she cry? No
Did you cry? No
Finally, We manged to finally push W all the way through college, and got to celebrate all over the place. Saturday morning I cooked everyone pancakes, eggs, bacon, a fruit salad, and an Entenmanns pastry that we picked up from our new favorite place to shop the Entenmann's/Orowheat outlet. Then it was off to the graduation. It was outside in the stadium, and was the most casual graduation event I'd ever been to. It was essentially anything goes from umbrellas and balloons to walking around and talking through the entire event and tossing tortillas. We then threw quite a party at the Englander and had about 40 people come out to celebrate with us. Even my old friend Wayne who I ran cross country at Auburn with made an appearance. I managed to forget sunblock for the day and was absolutely beet red for the night. Sunday morning W's dad threw a brunch at the Spinnaker in Sausilito. The Eggs Juneau (Salmon and a poached egg on an English muffin with hollandaise sauce) were delicious. We also got a great view of the city from outside
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment