Today Boo! turns eight. That’s in regular people years. Boo! claims that he doesn’t feel a day over four. Who am I to contradict the birthday puppy? I am tempted to start calling him Old Man Puppy, but I think I will wait until tomorrow.
So far we have no plans other than a couple of trips to the dog park, weather permitting. Perhaps we’ll do a little more when Papa gets home.
On our last trip to Chicago, Scott and I stocked up on some of his hometown goodies: Vienna Beef Hot Dogs (food writer/blogger Michael Ruhlman waxes poetic about the dogs here), Sport Peppers, and Chicago Relish so we could have Chicago-style hot dogs whenever we want. Our celery salt comes from Penzy’s, another Chicago institution, which has a shop in Grand Central Station. The dill pickle spears, yellow mustard and fresh tomatoes are easy enough to find locally. Here is the result of our latest effort:
I kept checking the Cherry Blossom Watch at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, but I never managed to get there this year. Scott started traveling for work and so we would end up doing stuff closer to home on weekends. The last thing Scott wanted to do was travel more on his rest days, and I found myself pretty tired from running Boo! around three times a day.
I was also less motivated by the fact that the complex I live in has lots of cherry trees around and for three weeks I had many different trees to catch my eye.
It started with these lovely white blossoms.
As far as Scott (and Boo!) are concerned, today tomorrow is the first real day of spring. The White Sox are going to play their first game of the season. The game scheduled for today has been cancelled due to the threat of snow.
A couple of months ago my husband asked me if I’d like to go to Tom Colicchio’s restaurant Craft for my birthday. I don’t know if I answered, but I do remember jumping up and down and clapping my hands. I might have even squealed. So I figure that that counts as a “Yes!” Unfortunately for Scott, he came down with a sinus infection and couldn’t go. He urged me to go so I did. Of course, I took pictures. Too bad the iPhone doesn’t have an app that captures smells.
Everything on the menu, which changes seasonally, looked great, but I decided on the tasting menu. All seven courses were sublime. (This saves me the trouble of trying to find seven different adjectives for super yummy.)
The dinner started off with Raw Tai Snapper, American Caviar and Island Creek Oyster. I love really fresh fish and this was melt-in-the-mouth fresh and the oyster was very tender. Mmmmmmmmmmmm!
The second course was Brebis Blanche Agnolotti Matignon & Lamb Bacon. The agnolotti were filled with a creamy sheep’s cheese and paired with really smoky bacon. Everyone took an extra slice of bread to sop up the gravy except me because we ran out of bread. A very astute busboy asked if we wanted more bread and so I didn’t have to leave any more gravy behind on any other dish.
I was really excited about the third course: Olive Oil Poached Cod, Morels, Chickpeas, Fava Beans and Razor Clams. I’m a fan of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations and have heard him rave about razor clams so now it was my turn. Oh wow! I totally get it. The razor clam was cut up into tiny pieces, lightly breaded and fried. Somewhere in all that, was something spicy. It woke up the entire dish. The cod was tasty and mild. I kept filling the morels with the fava beans and chickpeas (Those were chickpeas?!) and mopping up the sauce and the foam, but I was really waiting for the next bite of razor clam.
When course number four, Guinea Hen Black Truffle Grits and Brussels Sprouts, came, we began to wonder how many courses were left. The waiter assured us that there were two desserts, which made us all smile. I like Tom Colicchio’s thinking (or is it the Chef de Cuisine James Tracey?). I’ve had a few tasting menus that had really small plates, but in this case I was really getting stuffed. The black truffle was delightfully woody and the guinea hen was perfectly cooked. The grits were creamy and the Brussel sprouts so tender that I think Scott would have eaten them.
The final savory course, Elysian Fields Farm Rack of Lamb Gnudi, Trompette Royale & Swiss Chard, was the best yet. I was surprised and delighted with every dish, but I was most surprised that each kept getting better. One of the thing that had been a mystery while watching the show Top Chef was lamb. Every time one of the judge raved about how the lamb was perfect when it looked shockingly pink, I wonder is it was almost raw. I now understand. That beautifully cooked pink meat was perfect. Despite my fullness, I kept wanting to eat more. Oh, and hidden in the Swiss chard was some braised beef.
After all the rich food, this sixth course was quite refreshing. I could eat big bowls of Meyer Lemon Sundae Hibiscus Syrup & Coconut Meringue although I didn’t have the room at the time. As you can see, it was served in a shot glass. There was a couple of layers homemade granola.
For the grand finale, we had Chocolate Ganache Tart Cocoa Nib & Creamsicle Ice Cream. Slurp, slurp! I refrained from picking up the plate and licking it although the thought did cross my mind.
As we were leaving we received chocolate muffins as a going away gift. I shared mine with Scott and showed him pictures in the morning.
What a difference a day makes!
Here the layer of snow is covering the “ice rinks.”
Do you notice the footprints in these pictures? They don’t belong to Boo! I didn’t fancy slipping on the ice below, but obviously someone else didn’t mind.
When I walked Boo! this morning, it was 58 degrees F, a welcome reprieve from this winter’s chill! The snow turned the park into a couple of big puddles.
With a little luck the dog park will reopen this week.
The current bitter cold has made an ice rink of the dog park, but no one gets to skate on it. For skating, you’d have to go here.
Poor Boo! has not been able to play in the park for days.
During the recent bitter cold (not to be confused with the current bitter cold), ice developed on the river. It’s been fascinating watching the progression of ice in the river.
As the temperature warmed up, the solid sheets fragmented.
Boo! occasionally likes to help me with my yoga practice, which in reality means that he’s not very helpful. Instead of doing a half lotus forward bend, I get to do a half lotus puppy hug. This is his idea of Up Facing Dog.
I’m bummed.
I just heard that Chanel’s Mobile Art Exhibit was cancelled. I guess with 200 layoffs in the Paris office, it was not feasible to keep the show going. I wonder if the show had been cancelled earlier if that would have saved any jobs.
In a small note of good news, it looks like the pod will be used for temporary shows. I don’t care it Karl Lagerfeld prefers the building as a sculpture and an empty space. I think it’s a beautiful space to show art. As long as it’s around, it should be used for the purpose it was intended: to show art.