Singapore, Day 2

Marginally delayed (as usual), here is the account of Day 2 in Singapore. On the agenda:

• Singapore Botanic Gardens
• IT Malls
  
• SAM - Singapore Art Museum
• Beer (duh)
• Iggy's

First, the Gardens

Check it out at http://www.sbg.org.sg/

I was and still am very, very impressed with the botanic gardens.  The grounds are urban, in that the area is only a few minutes drive from the central business district, has connecting bus routes, and will soon have a subway station.  I arrived at the gardens around 7 AM, after waking up early (thank you, jet-lag) and then realizing that the gardens opened at 5 in the morning.  For reference, sunrise was probably around 6:45 AM, and the temperature was in the mid-80s, rising to the mid-90s by 11 AM.

What most impressed me was how much the gardens are used by people living in Singapore.  Entrance is free (with the exception of the Orchid Gardens), and there were hundreds of people out and about, running, walking their dogs, and particularly doing tai chi in groups of 1 or 2 up to 100.

The gardens are broken into several sections, including Swan Lake, the Ginger Garden, an urban rain forest, Palm Valley and Symphony Lake, and the spectacular National Orchid Garden.  Symphony Lake has a band stage in the middle of the lake, where the symphony presumably plays open air concerts.  Seating is on a grass hillside (Palm Valley).

The Ginger Garden is just what it sounds like...a garden of different ginger varieties.  Ginger is not a particularly spectacular plant, but it is obviously very important in Asian cuisine and to the regional economy.  Swan Lake has (you guessed it!) swans, both of the live and sculptural varieties.  The rain forest was where I started, and was really nice.  There are a few boardwalks wandering across a heavily wooded hillside, with some incredible trees...some with trunks 7 or 8 feet across.

I should set aside a special paragraph for the National Orchid Garden (NOG).  While I always knew that some people go nuts over orchids, breeding plants that might take a decade to produce a flower, I never really understood the obsession.  Having visiting the Singapore orchids, I get it now.  The NOG is about seven acres of orchids, bromeliads, and related plants.  I saw (no joke) thousands of different orchid varieties, some with flowers half the size of a fingernail, some with flowers bigger than my hand.

Ok, enough about the flowers!

So.  After a coffee and pastry in the gardens, I headed back to the hotel to cool off, and then popped out at noon to see the Central Business District (the CBD).  Sidebar: Singapore is obsessed with acronyms.  There is the CBD, the MRT (mass rapid transit), the SBG (see above), the CTE, PIE, and ERP (I don't know...something about roads).  So, I took the subway (MRT) on down there.  First stop: lunch.  I stopped into Ah Teng's Bakery, which is in the famous Raffles Hotel.

Lunch, and yes that is a coffee in the background.  Apparently coffee or tea is appropriate for lunch in Singapore.

Once that delightful sandwich was gone, I departed on a post-prandial tour, checking out two of the IT malls.  That's right...this is a city obsessed with shopping to an extreme.  There are many many malls in the city, including several (more than the two that I visited) that specialize strictly in electronics.  And I'm not talking about some wimpy American mall with 50,000 square feet of retail.  Both of these malls took up an entire city block, went up seven or eight stories, down one or two, and sold everything from cameras to laptops to chips to LEDs to specific cooling fans for a 1995 HP desktop that you can't even find online.  How happy was I?

Wanna know the weirdest thing about these two places?  In addition to all of the electronic goodies, they each had several sporting goods stores.  Because when I think of IT weenies, my mind immediately goes to athletics.

On to the afternoon!

One more stop before a quick run back to my hotel (I said I was tired!): the Singapore Art Museum.  The museum itself was quite interesting, as it is a converted colonial mansion.  There are open breezeways all the way around the building, which have been glassed in to protect the art.  The museum focuses on Singapore native artists, as well as regional artists from Malaysia, Thailand, China, etc.  No pictures inside, of course, but to the right is one of several sculptures in the museum courtyard...a wise man leaping over the mountain. 

On the plus side, I got in to the museum for free, but on the minus, the whole first floor was closed off to change out the exhibits.  Oh well...I leave you with the Buddha riding a dragon, with the museum building itself in the background.


My final activity of the day, after another visit to the hotel (I was still tired and sweaty), was to visit the waterfront and esplanade. They have built a large concert hall along with a long park, stretching many miles along the bay and coast.  The design of the hall was apparently inspired by fly eyes and durians...two things which I find particularly uninspiring.  Looking towards the hall:

And the other way, across the bay:

How crazy is that?  If I was in heavy construction, I would sure want to be in Asia.

It's been quite a day so far, but I'm not done yet.  Before the day was through, I found one of two brewpubs in Singapore and I had a late reservation at Iggy's restaurant, both of which I will save for another post.  The teaser is that Iggy's is on several "Top 50" lists for worlds best restaurants, and ranks #1 or #2 in Asia, depending on who you ask.  Yum!

Where am I again?

I'm in Singapore.  See, the thing is that I've always wanted to go to Asia, and then I found a pretty incredible deal to get over here while surfing flights and frequent flyer websites.  Strangely enough, even cheaper than just flying to Tokyo or Hong Kong, both of which I am flying through this week.  Cheaper than going to Europe.  In fact, cheaper (by several hundred dollars) than flying to Newark, NJ from Nashville.

So, I asked Dru if she wanted to go, but she was completely uninterested.  So then I asked what she thought about just me going, and I got an answer where she said "I don't have a problem with that" but the unspoken language (which boys can't hear, obviously), was pretty much "are you out of your mind?"  So I got my tickets.  Besides, Dru left me at home alone this year already, going to a frozen yoga retreat in the Smokies.  Basically the same thing, right?

Singapore, Day 0 (Travel)

Part A of this little saga is the journey from East Nashville to my hotel in Singapore.  I won't beat it to death, but let me point out that it is a LONG way...right about 10,000 miles and 29 hours.  I left for the airport a little before 6 AM on Saturday morning, for a flight to Chicago.  After sitting in O'Hare for a few hours, I got on a plane to Tokyo.  On a side note, it was my first time on a 747 probably since I was about 5 years old.  Big jets get me hot, and there is not much bigger than a 747 (okay, the A380, but I'll get to that).  So, ORD to NRT is scheduled at 13 hours in the air, and we used all of that.  Funny thing is, that is a heck of a long flight, but I wasn't even 2/3 of the way there yet.  I got off the flight and got on another plane for seven more hours.  Yikes!  At the end of the day, I had left home at 6 AM on October 31, and arrived in Singapore around 1 AM on November 2.

Singapore, Day 1

I was understandably bushed today, after a long journey and a short night of sleep.  I got up at 7:30 AM, showered and unpacked, and had a look at the guidebook.  The plan was basically to take it easy, see the city, etc.  I mapped out a route down Orchard road, which is probably the shopping mecca of this part of the world, and then over into Little India.  Little India was really neat.  While Singapore as a whole is very much "build it bigger, more steel, more glass", Little India consisted entirely of 2-3 story buildings that looked like they had been there for 50 years.  Every foot of street level space is shops, restaurants, and markets.  I did nothing but walk up and down the alleys for about 2 hours, soaking it in.

Finally I settled in at a place for lunch, serving Indian food, obviously.  I had chicken biryani, which was spicy and good.  Turns out that utensils are not par for the course, as everyone around me was just digging in with their fingers.  When in Rome....  Interestingly enough, napkins are also not standard, which left me with some greasy hands after lunch.  At this point, I decided to stumble on home, probably about a 2.5 mile walk.

Singapore is just one and a half degrees north of the equator, and I had heard about the heat, but I wasn't concerned.  Looking at the weather, the high was going to be mid to upper 80s, with humidity around 60%.  Ha! I said...I'm from Nashville, where we have 95 degree days with 95% humidity...mid 80s is a cakewalk!  Well, I set off on my trek, with my jeans and shoes.  After lunch, I needed a siesta, becase it was getting HOT!  The temperature may have not been through the roof, but that tropical sun was beating down.  I think the combination of the long plane ride followed by the heat got me pretty dehydrated and overheated, because I was litteraly stumbling down the hall by the time I got back to the hotel.  I drank about a gallon of water and went to bed.

After a nap and a cooling rainstorm, I hit the streets again, to find Chinatown and dinner.  Chinatown, interestingly, was not especially Chinese.  It was not like going to Chinatown in Boston or San Fransisco, where you have sudden culture shock walking in.  Singapore is extremely diverse, full of transplants from Malaysia, India, Japan, China, Britain, and many other places.  Hence, there are Chinese businesses all over the city, rather than being concentrated in one neighborhood.  The same is true of all those cultures...Chinatown is home to a number of very British-looking law firms, plus the Singapore office of Williams-Sonoma.  (Note that I have not seen a WS store, just the office.)

Dinner was at a hawker center, which I will write up in another post.  Suffice it to say that it was delicious and cheap.  Future posts will also include shopping mania and a strange observation on businesses here.  Sorry that there isn't much for pictures, but I am saving them for future posts.  With that, it is 9:15 PM here and 7:15 AM at home, so I think I'm tired.

Beer Review - Bullfrog Brewery, Williamsport, PA

Despite being severely delayed due to my laziness, I'm reporting today (October 14) on a visit to a Pennsylvania brewpub on August 20.

Williamsport

For work, back in August, I found myself in Williamsport, PA. For those of you not familiar with Williamsport, it is a) close to nowhere (about equidistant from Buffalo, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia, see map below), b) the home of the Little League World Series (which, incidentally, started the day I was there), and c) has some tasty tasty beer.


View Larger Map

The Bullfrog Brewery

The brewery is actually a brewpub, and it is pretty sweet. The pub is right on the main street in downtown Williamsport, which is an authentic small town business district. When you walk in, the copper kettle and mash tun are right in your face, just in case you didn't get the whole beer thing from the sign outside. Turn left into the restaurant and there are about eight big fermenters behind the bar. Check it out at bullfrogbrewery.com

The Beer

I had a sampler, as you can see above. I tried Apricot Wheat, Edgar IPA, the stout, an Oktoberfest, and several others.  Overall, pretty good beer, but the IPA was exceptional, as was the stout.  Oktoberfest and the Wheat were eh, but that was OK, because they have great atmosphere.  It was also extra delicious since I got to emailing with Dru and Bair, and because silly David chose to drive to Baltimore instead of having a beer and flying out of ol' Williamsport-Lycoming Regional. 

The airport, incidentally, is itty-bitty.  It is the kind of place with one airline (US Air), having one ticket agent, who is also the gate agent, who is also the ramp agent.  Seriously, she printed my ticket, went out an unloaded/reloaded the baggage on the plane, drove it around to "baggage claim" and then came back in to scan everyone's ticket and load the plane.  And she did all this in about 20 minutes.  Too bad you don't see that kind of efficiency in Philladelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, or any of the other dumb hubs that I have to fly through.

Alaska is Perty

Wow, it has been a while. Two main updates in my life:

1) Our house got robbed, but whatever.
2) I spent a (truncated) week fishing in Alaska. Sweet!

Alaska

So, my dad and I had planned all summer to go on a fishing trip in southern Alaska, Thursday to Wednesday. Wednesday night, I get home to a guilty looking dog, a broken window, and a half-eaten piece of pizza. The burglars broke a back window, took a piece of pizza out of our fridge to settle the big dog down, and proceed to burgle my Xbox, Dru's laptop, two bottles of wine, and a broken iPod. I understandably felt violated over the invasion of the fridge (for the pizza), really wanted to play some Halo to calm down, and had a "well, crap" moment. Several hours later, police report is filed, house is dusted for prints (really!), and Dru and I were trying the new Pho place in our neighborhood. In the end, our departure was pushed back to early Saturday morning, but we still had to come back Wednesday for a variety of reasons.

Up North

We traveled to Juneau via Salt Lake and Seattle and then took a float plane about 60 miles out to the lodge. The picture up top is the view from the dock...the peaks are the mainland and all the low hills and foggy area are islands in the channel. Alaska is totally awesome...where else can you see sea otters, whales, sea birds, porpoises, and sea lions in the same place? Here is a whole mess of sea lions, lounging on some very sharp rocks and hanging out in the water.

Just doing their thing

The fishing was fantastic; salmon, halibut and bass on the ocean, plus salmon and Dolly Vardens (a type of trout) in the rivers. The Dollies are probably the most fun, just because the salmon are swarming and everywhere...they literally bump into you in the river because they are so thick. The picture to the right is representative of a small group working up the river. All those dark marks in the water are fish. (Click to get a big version.)

Here's me in the river, waiting for a bump:

Like I said above...AK=perty.

Re: ocean catches, I brought back a fresh halibut (60 lb fish!) and several salmon. To the left , the partitioning of said fish.

Food on the trip, as you can imagine, was lots and lots of fresh halibut, salmon, bass, and crab. In fact, the folks we were with have several shrimp and crab pots in various places around the island, so our very last stop on the day we left was at the shrimp pots, for fresh shrimp to bring home.

All in all, I ended up with about three pounds of cleaned shrimp. It would have been more, except for a very happy octopus that was doing its thing in one of the pots...not too many shrimp in there.

So I leave you with an amused Ben and a floppy octopus:

Success!

I needed to post because we had a here-to-fore absolutely unheard of event occur. Are you ready? Ben uttered the words .... "I am a fan of this salad." Now, Ben is not one to praise any fruit or vegetable, and yet, here was unabashed enjoyment of several vegetables and one fruit. Again, normally it is a struggle to get this guy to eat anything that does not fall in the meat/potatoes/beer/cheese category and he complains if I make vegetarian anything. So as a public service to anyone out there in the same predicament, I offer this recipe for your enjoyment. It is a seriously good way to enjoy the summer produce and is all-around awesome.

Blackberry Vinaigrette Goat Cheese Salad

(serves 2 for meal or 4 as salad appetizer)

1 pint blackberries
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1 T vanilla sugar (or plain white sugar)
Small handful of lettuce leaves (your variety choice), torn into bite size pieces
2 "baby" yellow crookneck squash, sliced into thin coins
¼ cup roasted pine nuts
3 oz of a semi-soft goat cheese
4 oz of grilled chicken, diced (optional)
2 medium size tomatoes, wedged into 8 pieces

Toss the blackberries with sugar and vinegar; let sit while the salad is prepared. Place lettuce in shallow salad dishes, sprinkle with squash coins, and dot with goat cheese. Place tomato wedges around the outer edge of the plate. Sprinkle pine nuts across the top of the salad. Add warm diced chicken. Use a slotted spoon to split the blackberries between the salads leaving a dozen in the bowl. Crush the remaining blackberries with the balsamic vinegar and split the mixture across the salads. Enjoy!

Going Greek

Just wanted to put in a good word about a new restaurant I went to this evening - Zavo's, the greek place across from the Family Wash. This space used to be a sketchy biker bar, but they have cleaned it all up and put in sleek modern decor. I have heard good things about this place and they were recommended in the Scene awhile back, and heck, it is like, a mile away. Mari-etta and I went and shared the Mediterranean platter, kafeteres, and a salad. The platter came with warm "pita" bread - actually a flat bread with more oil than your normal pita - but all the better to sop up the hummus, babaganoush, tzatiki, feta, and olives. The kafteres (or something like that) were banana peppers filled with melted goat cheese - spicy and different! And the salad was tomatoes, shallots, cucumber, feta, and olives, a perfect accompaniment to the other tastes. To finish - baklava, and a big piece too. Not to cloyingly sweet, nice and nutty. Yum!

Reasonably priced, and they have a special every day. The only downside is that there is no wine, but I did enjoy a Fat Tire and they do have all the Yazoos. Four stars (Ben, make that 4.25). We'll be back for sure :)

Una epifanía de los tacos - Mas Tacos Por Favor!

Holy crap! I was in the midst of a new San Francisco post, when I had una epifanía (an epiphany) regarding tacos (los tacos). As many who hang out in East Nashville know, there is a taco truck that parks at 5 Points most nights, in the midst of all the bars over here. (Perfect business plan...drunk hipsters + 11 PM + hungry = $$$)

The truck & business is called Mas Tacos and you can find out all about them on twitter & facebook (twitter.com/mastacos, etc.). They tweet/post the menu every night. I've been meaning to try it out for the last few months, but I'm never hungry or around when the truck is parked out on the street. Also, Dru thought the idea of food from a truck is totally sketchy, even though she (thoroughly) enjoyed the Silver Truck and Haven Bros. up in Providence.

Tonight I had a 9 PM hockey game, which makes for a hungry ben around 11...a perfect storm. I convinced Dru to get dressed and walk over with me. On the menu tonight:

• Chicken with grilled onions & roasted tomatillo salsa
• Fried tilapia with lime-marinated red onions and a spicy yogurt sauce
• Quinoa with roasted potatoes, grilled corn, red cabbage, cilantro, sour cream & roasted tomatillo salsa

After much hemming and hawing we decided to try one of each, on the condition that sweetie had to have a bite. The tilapia was perfectly spicy, with the creamy sauce mellowing and melding the flavors. The chicken was falling-apart soft, almost like pulled smoked chicken, and was delicious.

The quinoa though, was the best by far. For those who don't know, quinoa is a grain from South America and is pronounced "keen-wah." It is cooked and looks like couscous, and works as a substitute for that or for rice, but it has a rich, nutty flavor and is much more nutritious than the alternatives. Below, I've shamelessly ripped off a picture of cooked quinoa from a blog I found on the web. (The post is at http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2007/12/quinoa-salad.html. Check it out, it is a food blog out of San Diego and they have some good recipes and reviews.) Anyways, the quinoa taco was sweet and spicy and smoky and was totally delicious...good for Mas Tacos for having a real vegetarian option.


So! I highly recommend and I think Dru is a convert too. Come over to East Nash some night to eat a taco and drink a beer.

San Francisco - Day 1 (and Day 0)

As you may have guessed from the creative title of this post, we took a vacation to San Francisco for the 4th of July weekend! Above, the canonical (that's for Gregg) SF picture. (Note: I'm going to write SF instead of the whole city name from now on...too many letters and C's that sound like S.) We spent three full days there, arriving very VERY late on Thursday and taking an 11 PM flight out on Sunday night. Getting there was a travail, as well as travel.

Arriving at the Nashville airport, we heard that all of the United computers at Chicago O'Hare had gone down on Thursday morning, and that the agents there were issuing tickets by hand...big mess that we avoided by going through Denver, which made us very happy. However, we ended up stuck in a holding pattern over Colorado, which the pilot neglected to mention. He finally did come on the intercom (and I hadn't realized that we had been in the air so long), and opened with this:

"Good evening everyone, this is the pilot speaking. We have a fuel issue."

Big oops. That's how you start a panic, right there. He then proceeded to explain weather in Denver, holding pattern, blah blah blah, and oh, by the way, we're going to Omaha. So we proceeded the wrong direction across the country for an hour, landed, gassed up, and went on our merry way, only arriving about 3.5 hours late. United was kind enough to automatically rebook us on the next flight, which we missed, being in Omaha, and we ended up sneaking on the last flight to SFO much later that night. All in all, instead of landing at 8 PM and getting to enjoy a nice late evening meal, we landed at midnight and got to enjoy Quizno's in Denver. Bleh.

In SF, Finally

Ok, so we get there and check in. I booked us at the W Hotel near the convention center (swanky, eh?). If you are not familiar with the W, take an ultra-modern-looking hotel lobby, add techno music, a DJ (the good kind, not the wedding kind), and a bunch of expensive-looking twenty- and thirty-somethings. When the cab dropped us off, Dru had to ask to make sure we were entering the hotel with our suitcases, and not some club.

If you have never been to San Francisco, it is TOTALLY AWESOME. It is certainly the most liberal city in the US and probably the greenest as well. Every shop, restaurant, and museum has at least three waste cans: Recycling for plastic, glass, paper, etc., regular trash, and compost! Even the little plastic spoons that you get with your gelatto (more on that later) are bio-degradable! Plus, in the "awesome" column, they have good beer, better wine, and great food.

So, what did we do, already?

Well, we got up late and had breakfast at the hotel. We decided to take a long walk, so we went north, up through Chinatown and into North Beach, which is an Italian neighborhood. We walked up a giant hill (betcha didn't know they had those in SF) to a building of the SF Art Institute, where we heard they had a Diego Rivera mural, which they did. The building was a converted mission, with a tower, a gorgeous courtyard with fountain, and a great view over the city and of Alcatraz.

The mural was really neat. It filled the end wall of a vaulted room with high windows and big wooden beams...looked like it might have been the chapel back in the mission days. The rest of the room was a gallery with a half dozen pieces each by two artists (students?). You can check out a bad photo of the mural here.

Bring on the food!

By now, we had worked up an appetite, since it was at least 11:30 and we hadn't eaten since 9 AM. We had a few places on our list, and we started at a small chocolatier called XOX Truffles (www.xoxtruffles.com). Sweet! In a bitter way! The shop was itty-bitty, and basically sold chocolate and coffee. We got a sampling to try. On the left are Caramel, Earl Grey Tea, and Vin Rouge, and on the right are Matcha and Cinnamon. All of them were spectacular. Dru's favorite was (and I quote): "The caramel was really good. The green tea was really good. I don't really have a favorite. I want chocolate NOW." The matcha was probably my favorite...it was a truffle that is actually covered in matcha (powdered green tea), which made it super bitter but also rich and delicious. We had a conversation with the owner, who had been there for 13 years (!), making truffles with her husband. She made sure to mention that you could order them online, so check them out if you need a Valentine or Sweetie-I'm-Sorry gift.

Next, we tried to get lunch, at a little pizza joint called Cinecitta (cinema city). Unfortunately, it was noon and they didn't open until 12:30 (what??). So we dropped into the outpost of the Rogue Nation next door for a well-deserved beer (hey, it was like 3 minutes past noon at that point). At 12:30 we headed back and got served fantastic Roman-style pizza by a sassy Roman lady. Dru elected spinach, mascarpone, ricotta, and pancetta, and I went for homemade meatballs and mozzarella.

Finally, we headed down to get some gelatto as a second desert. In the picture, gelatto plus happy-Dru with gelatto:

We wrapped up the day with a visit to SFMOMA, the SF Museum of Modern Art, which was conveniently located next door to our hotel. In addition to a spectacular permanent collection and a new roof-top sculpture garden, they were running a joint show with Ansel Adams and Georgia O'Keefe, both of whose works we love.

The two were apparently life-long friends who impacted each-other's works. For example, after meeting Adams and several other photographers in Taos, O'Keefe began playing with viewpoints and angles, and even went to the length of creating lens effects with light...painted effects that you can only see through a lens, not by eye. We got an audio-guide for the show, which was fascinating, as it featured interviews with the artists, Adams' son, and historians. I wish we had some pictures to show, but photos were verbotten. Definitely worth a visit if you go to SF this summer.

Dinner Time

For dinner, the hotel concierge got a reservation for us at a new restaurant called Waterbar, with a seat by the window with a great view of the Bay Bridge. They focus on raw bar and seafood, was was delicious. We went for oysters and a selection of appetizers, tapas style: Hamachi ceviche with coconut milk and lime, Australian Kingfish sashimi with golden beet relish, shaved fennel and snap peas (pictured), and octopus with cucumber and paprika oil. Epitome of class: knowing that we were splitting the dishes, they actually split them and served two plates, instead of putting the whole serving in the middle of the table.

Dinner was accentuated by a bottle of sancerre and wrapped up with a brown butter cornmeal cake, served with roasted apricots and sabayon.

Whew! Days 0 and 1 were epic! Tune it tomorrow for fish, butterflies, and hippies.

Sunday Dinner @ City House - Pork Snacks!

Hi! I'm pretty excited about this post, because I get to write about pork snacks and various offal. This is not a post for those with a fear of the swine or the parts of the animal that you don't normally consume.

Dru's parents took us to dinner on Sunday night for our birthdays at City House, where we sat out on the patio...beautiful summer evening with a multi-course meal to work through. If you are not familiar with City House, it is a great restaurant in Germantown with a modern-Italian flair. Every Sunday night, they do a custom menu with "pork snacks" and various experimental dishes. I enjoy eating with Dru's family, because they (especially her Dad) have a healthy appetite and like a WIDE variety of food (just like me).

We started the meal with one plate of each pork snack:

• Ciccioli sliders
• Braised pork belly
• Sausage stuffed pepper with pecorino
• Crispy pig ears with wing sauce

Wow! All four were great. Ciccioli, which I had never had or heard of before, is pounded pork meat and skin fat, with a consistency something like pulled pork. The sliders came on little sweet steamed buns and yellow mustard. The flavor was very much like a rich pulled pork sandwich.

The pork belly was a little chunk that had been braised, so a lot of the fat and tissue had been rendered out. For those that don't know, bacon is smoked and thinly sliced pork belly...think of a cube of that meat about 2 inches on a side. This was a little, tender, fatty chunk of delicious.

The stuffed pepper was also great, but was very tame and conventional compared to the other three dishes.

Finally, the pig ears were incredible! They were very clearly fried ears, but smaller than you would expect. They were rich and wonderful, especially with spicy wing sauce for dipping and celery sticks on the side. As Dru says, you could fry anything with hot sauce and it would be good. We have bought rawhide pig ears for the dogs before, which are these enormous flaps, so we were expecting big ol' chunks. The ears at City House were much more petite...maybe two or three bites each. I really wish I had pictures, but we didn't document until the next course, which was...

Pizzas!

• Pizza with Manila clams and marinara
• Pizza with salt cod and potatoes

Both pizzas were quite good, though the general consensus at the table was that the clam pizza was better. The clams are cooked right on the pie, and they specifically did not cut it before serving because they did not want the clams' liquor to flow off the pizza.

Plus...

• Fried squash blossoms
• Lamb's tongue with mashed potatoes

Now, the lamb's tongue is shown above. To the untrained eye (i.e., mine), it kind of looked like a well-done pancake served over mashed potatoes. I have had raw beef tongue several times and enjoyed it immensely, so I was looking forward to this delicacy. The tongue was seared and was actually quite good, though it had a very fibrous consistency. That is, it was very difficult to cut and it wanted to come apart along the grain of the muscle, but the taste and feel of the meat was succulent and smooth.

All in all, our waitress was pretty excited that we were ordering all of these things that most people wouldn't touch. I don't want anyone to think that City House is focused on fringe food items, because they really aren't. Even on this "experimental" night, there were a number of things on the menu that you might find at any nice restaurant.

All in all, City House gets four big thumbs up from us. The first two times that we ate there, the food was way too salty, but they seem to have corrected that...everything was well balanced, with the exception of the salt cod, which you (obviously) would expect to be very salty.

Our next post will probably be from San Francisco, where we are traveling for the 4th of July weekend. Foodie prospects: excellent!

Recipe - Pasta Sauces!

Tomatoes are one of the most wonderful vegetables (yes, it's a fruit, I know), because of their versatility and breadth of flavor. Cooking is all about bringing certain flavors to the forefront and combining those in harmony. Tomatoes are both sweet and acidic, which gives you a lot of flavor combinations: spicy, acidic marniaras, bright and clean tomato consume, sweet tomato tarts, and so on.

While there are millions of saucing possibilities, I am going to cover a few variations on a single good base tomato sauce. As always, you should experiment with your food. The marinara below can be the starting point for anything from rich, creamy sauces, to spicy arrabiata, to "funky" flavors. I've used this base and added cinnamon and other "sweet" spices, and used that as a savory sauce for chicken sausage.

This is one of those basic recipes that should be in everybody's repertoire. Stop buying jars of tomato sauce! They're full of sugar, taste bad, and cost a lot more than making the sauce below. This sauce can be ready in 15 minutes if you are in a hurry, or let it sit for 45+ minutes to thicken and bring out some depth of flavor.

Basic Tomato Marinara

1 - 22 oz. can of crushed tomatoes. Tomatoes ONLY. Don't get canned tomato sauce or tomatoes with spices added...that stuff tastes like crap.
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons (?) olive oil
Fresh (preferred) or dried basil and oregano

Peel the garlic, crush it with the blade of your knife, and then mince. Heat the oil in a sauce pan until it shimmers (but don't let it smoke). Turn the heat down to medium and saute the garlic for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until it is aromatic...if the garlic browns or burns, then the oil is way too hot.

Pour the can of tomatoes into the pan and stir to mix in the garlic. Immediately add a generous amount of basil and a few pinches of oregano, plus a pinch of salt and pepper. (You don't need much, or any, salt with canned tomatoes, because they have already added some.) Generous means 2-3 tablespoons of dried basil, or a good sized bunch of fresh basil that has been chopped up. I generally shake the container until most of the surface of the tomatoes is covered in basil. Stir in the spices and let the sauce simmer, stirring occasionally, while you prepare your pasta. The longer this sauce cooks, the better it will be.

That's it! How easy is that, huh?

Variations:

• Try sauteing a small onion (diced) or a minced shallot with the garlic.
• Try this with fresh tomatoes! Take about 2 pounds of fresh, and blanche them to easily peel. Discard the skins. Cut open the tomatoes, and seed them. Save the seeds, water, and goo that comes out, for thinning the sauce later. Dice the seeded tomatoes and proceed as above, adding some of the tomato water to the pot as needed. This will need to cook much longer (1 hour+), to break down the tomatoes. You can serve this as a chunky sauce or throw in a Cuisinart to create a smooth sauce.
  
• Try different spices...crushed red pepper for a spicy arrabiata, less or no basil, or marjoram and sage for a more savory flavor.
• Add a tablespoon of cream for a pink sauce...delicious, but more filling as well.
  

The New Hotness

The New Hotness is a favorite variation of ours, using spicy Italian sausage and red pepper. Start by sauteing about a pound of hot Italian sausages. I prefer to remove the sausage from the casing and crumbling it, but you could also cook them whole and then slice the sausage for the final sauce. (It's called the New Hotness because we came up with the recipe on a night that we watched Men In Black II, back in the day. Remember Will Smith saying he was going to drive? "Old and busted....new hotness.")

Once the sausage is cooked, remove and drain the grease (both from the sausage and the pan). Proceed with sauteeing garlic and onions above, adding just a touch of olive oil to the pan if needed. Add the tomatoes and herbs, but also throw in a dash of cayenne pepper, or a few dashes of crushed red pepper to taste, plus generous black pepper. Also add the cooked sausage back to the pot at this point.

So there you go! Easy-breezy-lemon-cheesey, right? (No lemons required.) Enjoy!

Recipe - Fresh Pasta

As promised from the Pre-Father's Day post:

Fresh pasta is extremely easy to make, is a specialty of mine, and is delicious with any sauce. (Next posting will be sauce options.) I'm obviously biased, but I think that this pasta formula make a noodle superior to any fresh pasta that I've ever bought (with apologies to Lazzaroli's). You can mix by hand, but it is much easier if you have a KitchenAid or similar stand mixer. I have heard of people using a Cuisinart for this, but I've never tried it.

The process below reads as being very long and complex, but it really isn't...I'm just detail oriented when it comes to food. Try making fresh pasta some weekend when you have an hour or two to play around. Worst case, you have to cook a box of dried pasta for dinner instead.

Ingredients

Makes pasta for 4 generous servings

2-1/4 cups fine durum semolina flour (buy in bulk at Whole Foods or similar store)
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt (1/2 teaspoon? I just give the grinder a few twists)
All-purpose flour as needed

Start by mixing all ingredients except for the all-purpose flour in the bowl of the mixer, using the paddle attachment. The dough will be very sticky and wet. Add the A-P flour by tablespoons while mixing, until the dough comes together and becomes very slightly tacky, but not sticky. Switch to the dough hook and knead for a few minutes. (The dough will get stickier as you knead it, because the flour continues hydrating. You may need to add more flour by pinches.)

To mix by hand, form a well in your flour for the eggs and slowly mix in with a fork until the dough forms. Continue adding flour until the right consistency is reached, then knead by hand for several minutes.

Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes (wrap it in plastic or put in a big ziploc bag overnight in the fridge for silky smooth noodles). Knead the dough by hand for a minute and then separate into 6 pieces. Let the dough rest again for a few minutes.

Next, flatten your dough balls with a rolling pin and then run through a pasta roller until you reach the desired thickness. Remember that the pasta thickens and expands when you cook it. Lay the sheets out on a flat surface to dry slightly (just a few minutes). Cut your noodles, either with the machine for spaghetti or linguine, or by hand for tagliatelle. Cut the sheets to length if they are for lasagna or ravioli. If you are not cooking them immediately, cover with a towel and let dry. If you plan to store your noodles, form them into "nests" before they get dry, let them dry for an hour or two, and then freeze in a sealed container (Tupperware, etc.).

Finally, to cook, plunge the pasta into salted water at a rolling boil. Stir gently to ensure that the nests separate. Very fresh noodles will cook in just a minute or two, and dried fresh pasta will take 5-6 minutes. As always, feel the noodles and taste when you are getting close. Either pour into a strainer or extract the noodles with a pasta serving fork if you are cooking in a few batches (which I do).

By the way: I will never forgive you if you rinse your pasta in cold water...you are literally washing away all the flavor. If you plan to leave the noodles without saucing immediately, just toss them with a tablespoon of olive oil while still hot to keep them from sticking together.

Sauce (or not), eat, and enjoy!

Notes:

I had a lot of trouble with pasta recipes in books until I developed this formula. The main problem was that most cookbooks don't want to spend much time explaining texture, moisture, etc., because most people won't even try to make pasta, and almost nobody will spend the time to understand the full process.

The first doughs I made either didn't hold together or were so wet and sticky that you couldn't work with it. This recipe will allow you to get a sheet of pasta that is paper thin if you want...one that you can literally see through. I've also tried to address the moisture issue; to get perfect noodles you do have to feel your way through the dough. Too dry and they won't hold together correctly. Too damp and you either can't roll them out, or you can roll them but then they form a big sticky clump after you cut them. Starting out you should err on the dry side, once your initial dough ball has formed, and you will do fine.

• You can roll out with a rolling pin if you don't have a machine, but it is a LOT of work. You are better off hand rolling thick noodles, like bucatini or pici.
• The amount of added flour that you need varies by a number of things, but is mostly dependent on how big your eggs are, the flour you buy (density, moisture level, etc.) and how humid it is. You will get the feel for the right dough after making it once or twice.
• Substitute 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the semolina with whole wheat flour for a nutty, grainier noodle. Alternatively, substitute the same or more with all-purpose flour for a silkier, creamier noodle.
• If the dough is not cooperating, just cover with a towel and let it rest. Come back in 30 minutes. The gluten in the flour has to hydrate and then develop...that is what gives the noodles their structure and substance. If you rush this, your noodles are going to fall apart. This is the same process that traditional bread dough goes through, to give the surface and crumb that solid, glossy texture.

Anyone can make good fresh pasta, easily, if you are willing to try. As always, eat well and enjoy!

(Pre-) Father's Day Dinner

I am going to use my post for the day to talk about a dinner we made last weekend. Dru and I decided to host dinner for our parents on Saturday in honor of Father's Day 2009. I will give the synopsis of the event and meal, but I particularly want to publish some of the recipes and formulas that we used...I have been asked by some people about some basic standby meals (and I have told others that they need these standbys...Chatty, I'm looking at you). While the meal was very nice, it really was composed of a few basic items.

First, the theme

This was not to be an epic 12 course extravaganza...we were short on time and manpower since Dru ran a 10 mile race in the morning, and I am lazy, leaving me from about 10 AM to 6 PM to plan and execute. I decided that four plates was a good number for the time I had, and if the menu was smart.

Because we are big on food and because I like to tie a good meal together (like the Dude's rug...it really tied the room together), the first task in planning the menu was to decide on a theme. I got thinking about Father's Day, and family, and siblings, and Dru and her sister Casey inevitably came to mind. Dru and Casey are very similar in some respects and very different in others, so I wanted to get that idea into the menu.

The final theme for the meal was "siblings" and was represented like this: Each course consisted of two items which were similar in ingredients or presentation, but which were also distinct and which could stand on their own.

Next, the menu

To open, two ravioli. No picture here, because we ate it up before we remembered to document.

• Fennel, sausage, and homemade ricotta with an arrabiatta sauce
• Kale, pine nuts, and feta with a (slightly) creamy tomato sauce
  

What a great start! I made fresh pasta, which made for nice toothy ravioli and which gives them an "exciting, abstract shape." We wanted to use veggies from our weekly CSA delivery, and we have a LOT of kale. I sauteed the kale with wine and lemon, and a touch of honey, then blended with the pine nuts to make a filling. As far as the first ravioli was concerned, well, I just like sausage and fennel (great combo), and fresh ricotta is a) delicious and b) super easy to make. The sauces here and in the next dish were simplified by making one base marinara and then adding a little extra before serving.

Next, rollatini, which is grilled eggplant wrapped around:

• Lemon and mint risotto with asparagus tips, topped with tzatziki sauce
• Basil risotto with diced tomato and broccolini, topped with traditional marinara

There is some debate over who came up with the lemon-mint flavor, but regardless it was awesome. That rollatini was probably my favorite item of the meal. Tzatziki is also really easy, and let me use half a cucumber that we had in the fridge.

The entree was fish baked two ways, served with sauteed lentils and fresh local peas (similar to black-eyed, not English peas):

• Salmon under herbs with lemon
  
• Salmon under spinach with mustard

This was a great contrast: the herbs and lemon made for a super flavorful and savory bite of salmon, and the mustad and spinach gave the dish some spice. For herbs, I used fresh dill, basil, thyme, and Italian parsley. (Side note: parsely is the most under-appreciated herb out there. It makes savory dishes so much deeper and can be so much more than garnish.) The other piece of salmon got a very light rub of dijon mustard and was covered in spinach with a bit of dill. Both were baked for about 15 minutes, leaving the greens slightly wilted and the fish perfectly rare.

To close:

• Buckwheat cookies with ricotta, drizzled with dark Tennessee wildflower honey
• Chocolate stout cake with whipped cream and fresh mint

Every dish was a hit and was interesting because flavors on the left and right side of the plate were contrasting. It was a good meal because each dish had some underlying ingredient that was presented in two ways, mostly visually and always flavor-wise. However, rather than wax poetic about how good it was (and it was), I would rather offer a few of the recipes that I used. If anyone wants info on a dish that I don't detail, just ask. I will add the recipes as separate posts, rather than making one giant post here.

Half of the meal was shooting from the hip, so don't take these recipes as gospel. For example, I had never made rollatini or these specific risotte before, though we have made all the components at one time or another. Whenever I cook, I'm just trying to have fun and experiment with something new. It (very) occasionally turns out poorly, but it is generally good. I've learned not to go off the deep end experimenting for a dinner party, but taking a known technique and changing flavors is not too risky.

Have fun and eat well!

Next up:

• Fresh pasta
• Fresh ricotta
• Simple marinara and variations (the new hotness)
  
• Risotto in all its glory
  

Home - and we still have food to write about!

So, we enjoyed blogging about all our delicious meals so much, that we are going to continue to write mouth-watering descriptions about our comestibles. We can't promise timely or consistent entries but you may get inspired, hungry, or ask us to invite you to our next dinner party!

A few notable dishes/meals since we've been back (and started our CSA! Yay Delvin Farms!):

Local sage sausage, grilled and served on baguette with sauteed peppers and onions, accompanied by remoulade coleslaw

Kale, tofu, and white bean enchiladas

Beet, apple, and orange salad with pomegranate vinaigrette

Greek kale pasta

Sourdough french toast topped with vanilla yogurt and blueberries

And a few dinners from elsewhere that were thoroughly enjoyed:

Ribs, beer butt chicken, baked beans, and salad with homegrown components compliments of Ben's dad

Scallop pasta appetizer followed by ginger and honey baby back ribs and parsnip/apple coleslaw, finished with a chocolate pretzel tart, courtesy of my parents

At Chachah with the girls I had (among other things) their version of guacamole which had edamame and ample lemon. Yum! Also, introduced another convert to the hot chocolate. If you haven't tried it, you simply must.

So, stay tuned for more descriptions, musings, menus, recipes, future trips, and possibly a soliloquy on the deliciousness of cupcakes!

Wrapping Up Belgium ... Day 8

For our last day in Belgium, we had big plans - buying chocolates for friends and hitting up some kitschy touristy stuff.

First though - brunch! We went to Le Pain Quotidian - the original. This restaurant has since expanded to the U.S. (NYC, not Nashville), and for good reason. They get it right - excellent breads and pastries, superb looking sandwiches and salads, and tons of jams/spreads/ accoutrements for the tables. I ordered the big breakfast and was absolutely delighted.

We shopped a bit, weaving our way around crowds attending both the jazz festival and the grand opening of the Magritte museum, where they were handing out apples and plastic bowler hats amid costumed tableau of familiar paintings. Rather than spending a long time in line, we decided to head out to a suburb to see ....

ATOMIUM! This was erected for the 1958 World Fair, in an effort to show everyone how progressive and futuristic Belgium was in the post-war era. Pretty neat in a big silver structure kind of way. They actually had an interesting exhibit of what the fair was like and the world situation at the time. Of course, the obligatory pics of us holding up monuments:

Next up was Mini Europe. We were a little dubious about how cool this could be (it was highly recomended in the guidebook) and balked at the 12 euro entry price, but it turned out to be AWESOME! These people have made 1:25 scale models of well known landmarks in all the European Union countries. They have moving parts (boats, trains, clocks) and interactive features. They have done detailed research into historical documents and blueprints to get accurate models - they are ridiculously precise! It was so neat to see places we have been ... and places we hope to get to! Here is Ben holding up the real Tower of Pisa ... and the teeny Tower of Pisa. Ha!


Heading back into town, we stopped in the part of the city known for excellent seafood. The restaurant wasn't open yet, so obviously, time for a beer. We almost had a disaster because I ordered "Witbeer", or wheat beer which is unfiltered and delicious. The man misunderstood and thought I said "coffee with milk". So I said, "no, beer" and he replied, confused, "oh beer! Beer with milk?". So I changed my order to "beer" and got that. Phew!

The restaurant we chose only had seating outside on the sidewalk - no problem for us. The amuse bouche was a croquette with ham and gruyere. For appetizer we shared a tuna carpaccio which was heavily gingered and very refreshing. For entree, I got a seafood linguine with roasted red pepper sauce. Ben got langoustines with a herb aioli. Tiramisu for dessert. A great way to end the trip!

We headed out to the airport that evening to be ready for an extremely early flight the next day, the start of a very long (but luckily this time, very uneventful) trip home. As you may have gathered, we highly recommend Belgium as a wonderful place to visit for culture, food, and beer!

Wrapping Up Belgium... Day 7 (Ghent)

Ok, only 3 weeks after the fact, we are finally (finally!) sitting down to finish up the Belgium blog! This is mainly because we have new and delicious things to talk about at home, but in the interest of seeing things through (ahem, Ben), we will delight your food imaginations with our last few days of vacation.

We left off being stranded in Bruges. We woke the next morning in the most luxurious bed and decided to hit up the same coffee shop we had eaten in the morning before. Espressos and pastry needs taken care of, we made our way back to the train station. Since the original plan had been a day trip to Ghent and the train back conveniently stopped in Ghent, things worked out. We just had to wear the same sweaty clothes from the day before.

Ghent is a neat little town - there is a university there, so overall it is kind of funky and a younger crowd, made all the more interesting by the centuries old bell tower and cathedrals. Also, Ghent was major port city with many canals and old houses where the rich traders and tax collectors used to live.

We arrived and walked a fair bit to a beautiful park near the south of the city, where the art museums are clustered. We were particularly excited to go to SMAK - a relatively new contemporary art museum (officially the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst). The main exhibit was entitled "Beyond the Picturesque" and focused on landscapes. Multiple artists contributed, some whimsical, some thought provoking, some just weird and annoying. All fascinating and very enjoyable. We were really hoping the museum would have gift shop shirts, but apparently they are too cool for that. A picture had to suffice.

We walked about a mile north to the center of town, working up a pretty good appetite. I know what you are thinking - time for some pork products of some kind? Of course! We went to a restaurant loosely interpreted as "The Butcher Hall", complete with aged pig legs hanging from the ceiling rafters. Beers to start, and Ben had his favorite of the whole trip, a Ghent microbrew. After much deliberation about what to order (it all looked good!) we settled on "A discovery of east Flemish meats and cheeses" and discover we did! A huge plate of charcuterie (for you non-foodies, basically glorifed bologna and salami) with a couple types of cheeses and this ridiculously spicy mustard. Paired with this rustic multigrain bread, more beers, and a leisurely afternoon, this made for a pretty perfect lunch. Don't worry, we got some carrot soup for a vegetable.


Stuffed with "cultural discovery", we headed over to tour the bell tower and cathedral. We learned many interesting things from a lovely woman who conducted our tour extremely fluently, alternating effortlessly between Dutch, French, and English. Luckily, these bells were much more in tune! Across the way was a cathedral with a beautiful pulpit and impressive collection of art.

By this point, we were pretty tired of wearing the same clothes and hopped back on the train to Brussels. After a nap, we decided to try the restaurant literally across the street from our apartment. It is maybe a good thing that we didn't make it there earlier in the week, because we may not have gone anywhere else! It was delightfully decorated in French farmhouse-ish style, menus on a chalkboard, dried herbs and lavender hanging from the ceiling. Everyone else in the place was speaking French (and as Ben pointed out, "food just tastes better when everyone around you is speaking French"). We started with an appetizer with shrimp in a sauce with citronelle and fresh coriander, topped with edible flowers.

For our main, I had a risotto made from spelt (interesting! nutty!) topped with perfectly cooked scallops. Ben had veal topped with the "best potato chips ever". For dessert we shared a lavender creme brulee and a pair of chocolate pots de creme - one straight up, one with a zesty marmalade type surprise. The meal was SO good that we asked if they would be open the next day, but unfortunately they would be closed for the long weekend. So goes it, we are happy that we got to go once!

After the trip home (about 15 steps), we turned in for the night.

Belgium - Day 6 - In Bruges

Side bar: We are back on terra firma as of this post, having made the loooong trip back home. Woke up around 4:30 AM Brussels time (+7 hours from Nashville) for the flight to London. Got to hang out at Heathrow for 4 hours, then the big plane to Chicago. We got lucky in Chicago and came home a few hours early, by getting standby on an earlier flight to Nashville.

We were literally handing our tickets to the gate agent when a couple came running up, having just got off the plane from Dublin. They hold us and give our seats to those two (who had booked them), leaving us fuming. Fortunately, there were exactly two more seats available on the flight, so we got to come home.

Well, well...day 6 in the lovely city of Bruges. Don't hold the movie (which I've never seen) against it.

Bruges is an absolutely spectacular medieval city which left us lost culturally, spatially, and habitat-ually. Read on for details.

We caught an 8 AM train from Brussels to Bruges with the intention of going on a bike tour. This is the same tour that Chatty and Heath (shout out!) tried to go on when they were here last year. We had signed up for the tour online the night before and glanced at the meeting spot. We knew it was "in the square" but I had intended to log on in the morning to get the exact location. Obviously, since I'm telling the story, I did not. Guilty as charged.

So, we wandered around the main square in town, looking for a bunch of people with bikes, besides the bunch of people that reside in the city with bikes. Nowhere to be found. We ended up asking in a bike shop where the meeting spot was, as the tour was supposed to begin, and it was exactly where we had been standing, in front of the belfry. As I found out the next day, the tour company had send me an email at 2 AM indicating that the tour would not be held. Too bad, so sad. However, at the time we assumed that they just didn't show (which they didn't), so we climbed the belfry tower (belfort in Dutch).

Apparently, playing bells, in a bell tower, is a big part of Belgian culture. There are a number of towns which have belfries dating from the middle ages, which have several dozen bells attached to a keyboard and to what is essentially a big player piano. A person can play the bells, which each town does a few times per week, but otherwise they have a machine play a different tune every 15 minutes. The big cylinder shown here has pins on the outside, which strike keys above the cylinder, which are wired to hammers that strike the bells. In Bruges, you can hear a particularly awful rendition of "Danny Boy" at 15 minutes past the hour. (It is actually 11 minutes past the hour...the old mechanical clock is not the most accurate.)

After all of that excitement, we wandered around until lunch time, when we finally got to eat some mussels! We went to a restaurant which was recommended by our new Belgian friends (see Amsterdam) for seafood and local fare. Dru ordered moules au bier (mussels in a beer sauce) and I got moules aphrodisiac, which was a spicy sauce with onions and chili peppers, among other things. Fantastic, though it is early in the season and some of the mussels were a bit small. And of course it all came with a big bowl of fries. Before (each pot is one serving)...


...and after...


Boo-yah!

After that we tried some postprandial chocolates, since we were on a mission to determine the best chocolatier in Belgium, and toured the De Halve Maan brewery, as part of our mission to determine the best brewery in Belgium. We went to a shop called Chocolate Line, which had some interesting flavors. We tried (among other things), Tea, Chili Pepper, and Lemongrass. Quite good, but the Saffron chocolate from Marcolini is the best so far.

Dru is chiming in: Yes, Marcolini, indeed the best so far! As for Bruges, it is beautiful and we should know - we traversed it several times throughout the day, between searching for the bike tour, the brewery, the chocolate shop, and art museum, back down to the train station to check what time the last train out was, and then a stroll through the park by one of the many canals. By then, it was time for dinner and we were excited to try another restaurant recomendation. Once we found the one we were looking for, we were dissapointed to find that it was closed on zonterdag (or whichever the word for Thursday is in Dutch) and we consulted the guidebook.

This is all leading up to a social gaffe OF EPIC PROPORTIONS. The stage is set - we are dressed for a 3 hour bike tour, sweaty and smelly from walking, sunburned, carrying a backpack. We arrive at De Karmelieat, knowing that it was a "gastronomic" (aka a rating of three euro signs in the guidebook) so we were expecting it to be a little fancy. However, the dinner that followed exceeded all standards for froo-froo, posh, fancy-pants, hoity toity, classy restaurants that we have ever known.

Where to even begin. The door man in a three piece suit ushered us in (and offered to take our back pack) to be greeted by the extremely suave maitre d' who offered us a cocktail and repose in the lounge. Of course, we declined, being quite hungry, which earned us a small frown for not following the formula. Beyond that though, the staff and service were impecable, despite our extreme hoi poloi-ness...i.e., it was such a nice joint that they wouldn't even raise an eyebrow at the sweaty couple in jeans.

We were shown to a table and proceded to be waited on by a staff of no less than 9, including the sommelier and his assistant, our official waiter, another assistant, a young server, a man whose sole purpose was to describe the food after it was delivered, and a fromagier (but we will get to her in a second). We were given menus - the "ladies" menu did not have prices on it, which we did not even realize until conferring much later. For those of you unfamiliar, this is a largely antiquated practice of obscuring the cost of the meal, the premise being that the lady should order whatever she wants, regardless of the cost.

Now, as this whole process is going on, we are making mistakes left and right. Amuse bouche were given to us and I put down the menu to eat them - which signaled to the waiter that I as ready to order, even though I was not. This seems minor, but trust me, in the setting, it was mortifying. I pretty much had a perma-blush the entire time. But our embarrassment aside ... the food was fantastic. We elected the 3 course menu, which ended up somewhere around 7...a plated three part amuse bouche, as well as a shared plate of amuse, the appetizer, the entree, a cheese course, the desert, and mignardises and coffee. They also had a 5 and an 8 course menu, which presumably also grow proportionately. The food just kept on coming, always with long descriptions of many ingredients and components (there was foam invovled), and impecable service - new silveware, crumb wiping, saucing and re-saucing (half-way through the plate, the head waiter returned with more sauce), wine refilling (even if it was down a sip), and even a new napkin rolled out at Ben's place to cover the errant splatters. (Ben: I was enthusiasic about the meal.)

Now, given our predicament, obviously I did not want to pull out the camera to take pictures of this meal. However, when the cheese lady came out with her cart, another table asked if they could take a photo and I seized the opportunity. Unbelievable ... and delicious.

So, we wrapped up this experience around 10:30, walking out about 10:40. The trains back to Brussels left every half hour and we were a good walk from the station. Rather than run (as we were rather stuffed) we strolled and enjoyed Bruges at night - the lit up square, an accordian player, very content.

Until we got to the train station and saw that the last train had left at 10:58. There was no 11:30 train. Now for those astute readers, you noted that we did check this earlier in the day. Though no one admits to any fault in the situation ... we were trapped in Bruges for the night.

We walked back into town, hoping to find a hotel with a desk clerk still there at midnight. I offered to pretend to be pregnant, if that would help us find "a room at the inn". We did find a very nice hotel (very nice) and we are pretty sure the man gave us a discounted rate (and offered us toothbrushes). The room was beautiful and the bed was extremely comfortable. All in all, an evening of unanticipated luxury. And we are not complaining.

Tune in tomorrow for: A direct train Bruges to Ghent! More walking! Hanging cured pork legs! And dinner across the street from our apartment!