I flew back from San Jose this AM, but not before learning of the very sad news in Japan and tsunami warnings along the California coast via airport monitors.
Once I arrived in Seattle, I worked a full day, then joined friends for the comedic reading of The Shining.
Up next in May, they’ll be doing Stand By Me.
On Tuesday, Trish and Jared told me about Psycho Donuts, so after my conference wrapped up, I took a walkabout before I could catch a ride to Mountain View. I’d be staying on Mr. T’s turf for the night — we ended up joining his bosses for an amazing izakaya dinner in Saratoga.
They are clever operators at that Psycho Donuts. I ordered two — the Tequila Sunrise with tequila cream filling and orange icing, and the Suicide Squeeze made with chocolate pudding filling and covered with crushed oreos. They have dozens of cool ideas listed on their site.
Mr. T arrived into SFO late this evening. We dashed to the nearest In-N-Out at 11 PM.
No regrets.
On a break, I ran an errand near the conference — check out that sunny sky! THRILLING! Made me very happy.
You know what else made me happy? Meeting up with Trish and Jared tonight — always a boost to see good friends in a foreign place.
I arrived in San Jose today, for a conference. Photos of retro technology = the latest in Silicon Valley hotel design trends (noticed in two establishments).
Valentina threw a hot sauce party at her place today. Pictured above — a random sampling of the international offerings.
V’s Venezuelan appetizer with chili-honey
Amanda Castleman shares a clip of our party here. She brought several kinds of Guyanese sauces, inspired by her recent eco-tourism there.
Karen, Mr. T, and I went in search of King Cake today at the Where Ya At Matt food truck. Only 3 days ’til Mardi Gras!
Sometimes you just end up needing lime green jello RIGHT AWAY on a Friday night. Then you relearn it takes houuuuuuurs to set.
Mr. T and his coworker did their first long ride of 2011. I joined them afterward at Liberty on 15th for sushi and cocktails. We sat at the bar & tried all sorts of goodies, including Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur and a few kinds of rye.
Their sushi menu is clever. We ordered several rolls, but I mainly chilled out with a Blackjack Davey (Gosling’s Black Seal Rum, Carpano Antica, Vermouth, Ramazotti Amaro, Orange Bitters) and a Point of No Return (Gin, Chartreuse, Absinthe, Lime Juice, Rosemary, Fire). It had been a long day, so having them light the Point of No Return on fire was satisfying.
Dancing — two nights in a row!
We went with motomotoyama and Ms. N to the Century Ballroom to see New Orleans singer Meschiya Lake and her Little Big Horns (warning: link plays music!).
Another Tuesday night, another dance class. These are our instructors at the end of class.
Tonight, we celebrated one year of marriage at The Book Bindery!
Our dinner menu:
Compressed Cucumber: grilled onions, basil, romesco sauce
Hamachi Crudo: avocado, watermelon radish, Dashi GeleÌe
Hand-made Smoked Cavatelli: Foraged mushrooms, pickled pearl onions, foie gras emulsion
Mishima Ranch “Flavor Curveâ€: horseradish potato gratin, foraged mushrooms, bordelaise sauce
Cattail Creek Lamb Rack: glazed rillettes, house made ricotta gnocchi, piperade
Notes:
-The cardamom cocktail was like a light cardamom soda. If you love that spice, try this.
-I found it hard to decide which entree to order, but went for lamb in honor of our wedding dinner, especially since it came with gnocchi (my favorite dish from our wedding).
-I’m generally wary of foie gras on menus lately as predictable foodie bait that lives up to hype far less than it should. But the smoked cavatelli dish with foie emulsion was my favorite in our set of great dishes.
-Stellar service — the cavatelli was a make-up dish for an early misstep. I’m grateful they made up for things this way!
Today was a double-hitter on the Food Front: Cookbook Club & tonight’s Oden Dinner at Joule.
Cookbook club this month featured recipes from David Lebovitz’s books and his blog posts. My contribution was gougères. My friend Nick brings these to parties often and I’ve long wanted to learn to make these myself. 3 batches later, I got the best results, but I have more ideas for the future.
Then, for dinner, I joined Rachel Belle, The Gastrognome and one other friend for a Japanese dinner of Oden — a good meal for a winter’s night. Check out the slideshow:
Tonight, at rather the last minute, we decided to attend Century Ballroom’s 14th birthday party. There were dance shows and every half hour, the dance format changed. We got a half hour of dancing in, after a visit to the Unicorn.
I’ve wanted to visit Unicorn for the last year to try Unicorn Balls (pork meatballs with a ginger aioli). They hardly tasted like anything. I’ve since heard Saturday is not their best evening and I’ll return, if only to have another Hellicorn — Fireball with ginger ale and lime! And maybe try the Narwhal Balls.
One long week left me craving sushi and superb cocktails by Friday evening. We beelined to our reservation in Ballard. I went for my usual spicy whatever – my weakness in such moments is whatever’s present on the menu with jalapeño or hot and spicy sauce.
The ginger-san roll (hamachi, red jalapeño, cilantro, ginger, & avocado) arrived for me first, followed in short order by shishito peppers with lemon and sea salt. Mr. T ordered and received an overwhelmingly gratifying udon of shrimp tempura with yams & noodles in broth. As this was basically my first meal of the day, we followed these with a late request of the Red Hot Roll (spicy snow crab, red jalapeño , cilantro, avocado & tobiko). I was less impressed with this final item, but the Death Poem cocktail soothed any disappointment. Aged guatemalan rum, rye, grapefruit, lemon, aperol, and cinnamon bark syrup with an orange twist cures quite a lot.
It snowed at the beach on Alki in West Seattle today!
While on an errand, I discovered a cool new-to-me space in Georgetown for events.
For dinner at 5 Corner Market Bar & Kitchen in Ballard (Burger of the Month!), check out the decor in the upstairs loft — Mother Mary on an ironing board! By the way, the burger this month was incredible, one of the best yet. Made to our specifications (medium rare). The Foie Chicken & Waffles was notable too. Our party was divided on the addition of peanut butter to the dish, but I think it worked.
We spied Frogger in the costume shop below our dance studio. And we’d just been talking animal costumes at dinner with friends.
I always love that day in February when I notice that it’s not pitch black at 6 PM.
My old co-worker and friend got married today! He married a great lady.
Scenes from the reception, an art studio in Greenwood:
