Michelin star meal

The main activity for today is lunch at Belcanto, a 2 Michelin star restaurant!

I let myself have a later morning, since Lisbon is not an early town. After breakfast I decided to walk to Praca do Commercio, since I heard it had a lot of shopping nearby. The Praca itself I'd seen from the boat cruise but the size is even more impressive on land. There is a giant column topped by a statue of King Jose. There's also the requisite giant letters spelling out the city name that we say everywhere now.

A giant arch leads to the shopping areas which are a combination of int'l chains, kitchsy tourist merch, restaurants, and artisan shops. I stopped in a few and made a mental note about some for later. I found a sardine shop near Praca Rossio where I was a couple of days ago, took a pic for Edie, sat and people watched a bit in a couple of different places before it was time to head to Belcanto. Before I'd even left for Portugal, they had sent me an email asking about allergies, food preferences and a couple of servers discussed with me again in person. They provided a little purse 'stool' and my single person table was right in front not hidden in the back.

At lunch, they offer a la carte (set price for choosing your 3 or 4 course options) or tasting menu. I felt like the tasting menu was a good deal. They started me off with water and I chose a glass of rose. There are also wine pairing and non-alcoholic pairings. 

Every course begins with a painted card with notes on the back. (There is also a welcome card showing the restaurant front door.) The food is then served with detailed information on ingredients and suggestions for eating when called for. Every dish was sublime and so varied. The bread included fresh sourdough, a crusty corn bread, 2 different butters and the most divine olive oil I've ever tasted.

Table was cleared and cleaned each time, water refilled regularly, new utensils as appropriate. There was an amuse bouche to start 

and a total of 6 courses following plus the bread course, then 2 desserts including a savory ham ice cream sandwich 

and a petit four serving to end. 

with tea or coffee (I got green tea). 

Truly a remarkable meal! They then provided in a wax sealed envelope the painting cards and a surprise (I haven't opened it yet) to take home. In my opinion, it was totally worth the price compared to what I would expect in a similar place in the US. 

After that meal, I needed a bit of a stroll so I headed to the Fado Museum in Alfama. It's a small place but with an audio guide and gives a little insight and history of this iconic Portuguese music style. After the museum, I uber'd back to the hotel where I'll be digesting for the rest of the evening.

Nashville

Our last stop of the trip is Nashville. The drive took us into another state and another time zone. On the way, we were fogged in through the Smokey Mountains, and stopped off at the craziest roadside stop called Buc-ees. Their mascot is a beaver and it's a combo of truck stop that doesn't allow trucks (there are a lot of RVs though), AMPM x 100, dollar store and fast food joint! 

After we arrive in Nashville and drop our luggage, Travis walks us to Assembly Food Hall where we have many options for lunch. Since we have a hot chicken dinner tonight, I selected the falafel stand which had a great baba ganoush. 

Our afternoon will consist of driving to some whiskey tastings. The location is a former car factory that has been readapted with food places, a concert venue and the whiskey distilleries. Our tasting started at Corsair, where our guide does a quick discussion of the process and then gives us tastes of a couple of their whiskeys as well as 2 gins, a spiced rum and an absinthe. 

Our second tasting is at Nelson's Greenbriar. This place has a great family story behind it. After viewing this distilling facility and the barrel storage area (where the scent of whiskey was strong), we sat at a long table for our tastings.

The first thing we were instructed to do was swish some whiskey in our mouth to prime it for what's to come. This made such a difference to cutting the harsh alcohol taste going down. We tasted 5 different whiskeys with different properties, all explained to us as we went. We were also instructed to blend a couple of the whiskeys to taste the difference. This was my favourite tasting experience thanks to a fun family story and true education about a spirit that I am not that familiar with. 

After we return to the hotel, we have a few minutes before heading out again for a walking tour followed by the hot chicken dinner. Travis is great at telling the story of the places we go to, in this case Ryman Auditorium, Printer's Alley and the history of country music. The chicken place is Prince's in Assembly Food Hall. They have options from plain to XXL! I decided to take a risk and do light mild on chicken tenders and with fries.😁 The chicken was very good, just enough heat to give me a sense of it and the fries were delicious. Tonight is our last night together and I've come to enjoy the company of Han and Fiona and really appreciated Travis' ability to keep us on track, on time and in good spirits. 

The next morning, I've got most of the day before transferring to an airport hotel (for cost). I ran into Fiona and Han at breakfast then off to Country Music Hall of Fame. Travis has suggested the audio guide which was a good idea for me. Not being a country music fan, I would've missed out on a lot of the details. The tour is very good and while it includes people I've never heard of, they also had Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and reminded me that at one time we watched Minnie Pearl on TV quite a bit! The display of gold and platinum records is impressive. 

The main facade of the building has windows made to look like piano keys 

After a very quick but delicious turkey melt and tater tots, plus a nice convo with a couple of ladies looking for a spot to sit, I ran around the corner to the Hatch Show Print tour, barely making it on time. The first stop on this tour is a room where the two young entertaining guides tell us about the letterpress printing process they do here. While the other guide tells us about the history of Hatch using examples tacked up on the walls around the room, each of us has the opportunity to finish a small letterpress poster! The variety of posters are amazing and beautiful. From this room, we are then walked to see the printing room where several staff are working different presses, many quite old. Seeing them all in operation is a treat. The final stop of the tour is the gallery, which was showing art by the guy who did Peewee's Playhouse. 

After a brief twirl around the shop, I headed to my final destination in Nashville, Ryman Auditorium. Travis had suggested this as an alternative to going to the Grand Ole Opry, which is quite a ways from center of Nashville. The Ryman is where the Opry started and is referred to as the Mother Church of country music. The hall was being set up for a Jason Isbell concert. The tour starts with a timeline of the hall, followed by a video telling the story of how it became such an important music venue, not just for country stars. 

Finally we got to go into the auditorium and get our photo taken on the stage! Extra points for having a full professional backdrop and set due to the concert! You can also record yourself singing but I did not partake to save everyone's ears. 

After that, I walked back to the hotel, surrounded by the music that poured out of every window. The hotel helped me call a cab to be taken to the airport hotel. 

Although inquired about other things to do close by, I decided I didn't need to spend $20 for rides to/from a fancy mall. I took it easy the rest of the morning and got to the airport early.

I thought I'd got out of Nashville without buying things but right past TSA screening was a whiskey store carrying Louisa's liqueur! Had to get a bottle of course. Then near my gate I saw Parnassus books! Had to get Ann Patchetts lastest of course. 😁

I looking forward to some Louisa's over ice cream when I get home. 

Your most precious appliance is your refrigerator

So apparently, refrigerators are a hot (😂 see what I did there?) and rare commodity right now. Sadly for me.

My fridge (which was here when I moved in) bit the dust. It died overnight with all of my freezer items pretty much melted in the morning. I had a repair guy come and look at it but there was no hope. 

When I tried to find fridges available to be delivered in the next few days-nothing. I thought I had some options but even those disappeared the next day. 

I was able to borrow space from a neighbour for a couple of days. I found a mini-fridge at Best Buy late on Thursday. Crossed my fingers that they actually had it and I could pick it up the next day. And they came thru! Thank you Best Buy!!

So now I've got the few things I could salvage from my fridge stored safely. A few things remain in my neighbours freezer for the duration. I took the weekend off from fridge hunting, I'll pick it up again this week.

One thing I found online that has been a wonderful salve for the soul is the LA Phil's Sound/Stage series. They are a series of 1/2 hr online concerts, filmed at the Hollywood Bowl in August. The musicians are spread apart on the giant stage, wind players behind a plexi screen. No audience. There have been 2 so far and they have been incredibly beautiful and poignant. 

Nature as a restorative

I took a half day on Monday and met Gigi at Huntington Gardens. It's been so challenging not being able to think about or plan travel so I was excited when Gigi suggested the Garden which had recently re-opened. The Library and other indoor spaces are still closed. 

It was a hot day in San Marino but I so needed the time in this beautiful garden. One of the silver linings from this pandemic is that open public spaces are more sparsely populated. The gardens are still beautiful despite the terrible disease ravaging humanity and the ridiculous way that the federal government is NOT handling it. 

It was nice to have extended time with Gigi to just chitchat and shoot the breeze.

This is an art piece by Lita Albuquerque in the bamboo grove of the Japanese Garden.

Heading to Edinburgh

The next day, we drove to Heathrow, returned the rental car, took the tube to Kings Cross station to catch a train to Edinburgh. We had a long wait at Kings Cross, so we grabbed some meat pasties for lunch (really good!), ogled the line at the Platform 9 3/4 display (which we didn't have to wait in having seen the 'real' platform) and finally hopped on the train.

The train was zipping along quite nicely, until we ran into locomotive problems. Unfortunately, we had to transfer trains and we lost a lot of time so didn't end up getting into Edinburgh until quite late. Luckily, it's the solstice and this being a very northerly city, sunset is at 10p. Mei, the kids and I went out to find a bite to eat. We decided on a place called Bread Meats Bread just because it was close to the hotel. We lucked out in that the food was really good! We ordered a plate of poutine (yay, Canadian food has come to Scotland!) and each got a different burger with amazing toppings.

We finally turned in quite late, the sun was barely setting but the hotels here all have blackout curtains.

Dublin day 2

In the morning, we had breakfast at the hotel (which had a pretty fancy spread, although the food was so-so), we walked back to Trinity College to tour the Book of Kells and the library. It happened to be graduation day, so we saw clusters of young people in robes and caps. We were lucky to have got the tip about the tickets, because we breezed right in. Even with tickets the place was packed. The first room has a lot of displays about the book, illuminated manuscripts and some of the meaning behind the images. Finally, we are let into a darkened room with a case in the middle that held two books. The larger one was clearer and looked better preserved and was easier to see. The Book of Kells is tiny and quite faded. Several people tried pressing their noses into the glass and lingered to get a longer look, making them particularly annoying. The idea was that we would all slowly circle the case (like Emperor penguins in Antarctica) allowing everyone to eventually get a look at both books and those people were mucking up the works!

While the books were indeed impressive and beautiful, the next stop in the tour was the highlight-the famous library! You could hear audible gasps as we filed into the room. This was possibly the most beautiful room I've ever been in. It's a long narrow room with a vaulted wood ceiling, both sides lined double height with bookshelves. At then end of each shelf was a bust of a famous philosopher or writer. Near the other end of the room was an Irish harp in a glass case, apparently the oldest in existence.

We discussed getting back on the hop-on, hop-off bus which then made me regret not getting the two day ticket yesterday. Luckily, the bus we caught had the same driver that I had yesterday and the guide let me on for free! As we went around the tour (again for me), we planned to get off at the National Gallery, since it had only just been re-opened after years of renovation. Stephen walked to find lunch while Mei and I and the kids headed for the Gallery planning to grab a bite. We hit some bad luck because the cafe had closed early to set up for a reception prior to the opening tomorrow of a Vermeer exhibit. So, we checked in with Stephen and met him at the cafe he was at, in a hotel off St Stephen's Green. I had a tomato soup and sandwich. They don't automatically put mayonnaise on their sandwiches (yay!) and instead use butter (double yay!!).

After our meal, Stephen and the kids headed to the playground at the park while Mei and I went back to the Gallery to check it out. The layout is quite interesting, with many of the rooms painted in strong dark colours, and one room with chandeliers and a grand piano, looking more like a ballroom (which it may have been in an earlier life).

On our way back to the hotel, we ran into some people celebrating Blooms Day! This was another of our serendipitous occasions, as we happened to be in Dublin on June 16th. People were dressed in Victorian outfits and straw boater hats making their way around the spots that were depicted in James Joyce's book Ulysses, following the story of Leopold Bloom. Although I've never read Joyce (and have no intention of doing so in the future), it was fun to see these walking anachronisms. We took a picture of a particularly adorable and well dressed older couple.

By the time we got back, we had to check out of the hotel, grab a cab to the airport to rent a car to drive to Stephen's dad, Michael's place (or Ye Ye as the kids call him). On the way, we stopped at Jack White's for dinner. I ordered a lasagna which came completely drenched in cheese (and not mozzarella either), and a side of 'chips' or french fries.

By the time we arrived at Michael's house, it was 9:30, however it was still light out. Michael's house is small but cozy. He added on a large kitchen, indoor bathroom and a solarium after he moved back to Ireland. Mei, Neve and I shared the small second bedroom while Stephen and Mason bunked in the solarium.

Biomuseo and Peruvian food

This morning we tried a different place for breakfast, Casa Sucre. I had a typical Panamanian breakfast​ tamale of chicken & raisin in banana leaf. We headed back to the Canal Museum again, which has some nice info on pre-colonial Panama and the American canal building efforts into modern times but is missing the French efforts entirely, which is strange. We met Vicente for the drive to the Biomuseo again. This is Frank Gehry's only building in Latin America and has a small but interesting exhibit on the wildlife interchange when the land bridge that became Panama emerged out of the sea. Thr staff are young and friendly staff but the exhibits are only partly complete. The museum has some nice gardens around it and a view of the Bridge of the Americas, which was the first bridge to connect North and South America, and the Pacific entrance to the Canal. 

Lunch today was at a Peruvian restaurant, Puntarena, where we had our best meal of the trip, mostly delicious seafood. Dessert was suspiro tres leches pudding (which definitely made us all sigh). On our way back we stopped to visit a small banking museum with stamps and coins (and also because Vicente needed to visit his lawyer in an office across the street). After a short rest, our evening stroll took us to the roof top of Barlovento for drinks and light snacks.

Keukenhoff

Our last day of the trip (my how time flies) was an afternoon trip to Keukenhof gardens to view the tulips. Since we had the morning free, I decided to take a relaxing morning stroll to the Amsterdam Flower Market. Many stalls were set up with various flowers, and a lot of bulbs and other strange looking seeds. There were also a lot of cheese shops where I finally found some delicious Dutch cheese in a decent manageable size to take home.
The bus trip to Keukenhoff took a couple of hours. We had been worried about potential rain in the forecast. The day ended up being sunny and beautiful. The first thing you see when approaching Keukenhoff is the fields of flowers that are grown for the bulb sales market. This year their spring had been quite cold, so the fields were not all in bloom but the ones we did see were magnificent. At the garden, we had an hour tour with a guide before some free time. She explained about how the garden is redesigned every year. There is a historical plot where the tulips are very short and close to the ground (and retain their scent). Everywhere we went was another spectacular display of beautiful bulb flowers. One area is called the Walk of Fame, where the tulips are all named after famous people. In one building is the displays of modern tulips. Here, all the flowers have really long stems, most of them are extremely uniform in colour and pattern. Some of them almost look like silk flowers, they were so perfect. There are also artistic displays in the center of the building. The far end of the garden is a mill where you can get a good view of the flower fields. On the way back to the main entrance, I passed the Inspiration garden, where they had set up many little vignettes, Delft pottery, sculptures, "Golden Age Amsterdam', beach and surfing, all surrounded by beautiful flowers. At one point, I just stopped taking pictures because there was just too much and I couldn't begin to capture it all.
In the evening, we were heading to Zwolle to see the DNB perform in an all Hans van Manen program. He is a choreographer better known to work with Nederlands Dance Theatre, one of my favourite companies. We had dinner at the theatre, our final wonderful meal of the trip. In this theatre, as at the Concertgebouw, the ticket cost includes a beverage at intermission. They served wine as well as soft drinks and juice. So civilized. We were thrilled to see our new friend Martin performing in Adagio Hammerklavier and again to see Michaela in the final piece.
Tomorrow, everyone heads off in different directions. A small group are going with Katherine to Berlin and Dresden, one person was heading to Provence, the rest of us going home. I definitely will be looking forward to joining Katherine on another of her trips soon.

Van Gogh museum

On Sunday I  started at the Van Gogh museum, this being one of the most popular attractions. I was able to get in with minimal waiting. The museum is well organized in telling the story of Van Gogh and his art. They have the advantage of his large output of painting and frequent letter writing. There were several works that I had never seen. I had a light lunch at the café, and noted the man sitting at the next table looked rather like Van Gogh's self portraits.
After lunch, I walked to the nearby Diamond museum, which is a commercial enterprise but had a nice demo of the mining and cutting process plus reproductions of famous diamonds. At the 'factory' next door, you could watch them polish and set the diamonds and then you are funnelled through shops where you can buy jewelry for thousands of dollars. I spent a few minutes in the garden at the Rijksmuseum, and because the weather was so good, a lot of people were out getting sun. The Van Loon museum was next on the agenda. This is a house owned by the family that ran the Dutch East Indies company so were very wealthy. They had a special exhibit of family fashion inside. The house was gorgeous and beautifully furnished with a lovely garden and coach house. In the evening, a group of us were going to the Concertgebouw to hear Mitsuko Uchida. We met to take the tram to a restaurant nearby called Solo eaten en drinken. Everyone loved their meal and we were conveniently kitty corner from the hall. The Concertgebouw is a shoebox style so the orchestra seating is flat. The piano was on a high raised platform. She entered from above and walked down the stairs to reach the stage. It was a really remarkable performance. We were in awe of her playing and the acoustics in the space. At intermission, we discovered that the ticket includes a drink! How clever!

Rijksmuseum & canals

I'm getting a little behind in my posts. On our first full day in Amsterdam, we started with a tour of the Rijksmuseum. They had recently (3 years ago) completed a full renovation. Our wonderful guide showed us a work by a Dutch artist showing a typical Street of his day that also told us about the class structure of the city. We walked up the stairs through the beautiful great hall, with beautifully restored paintings and mosaics, to the 3 of 4 Vermeers on display (the 4th is in Delft to celebrate discovery of the street it was painted of), and  of course the Night Watch. With its location at the end of the long hall, the center of the painting looks like it has a spotlight on it, even up close the effect of light is remarkable. From here we were on our own to explore. There are lots of beautiful still lifes and portraits that you would expect to find in a museum of Dutch art. There are also meticulously constructed doll houses, and the special collections area is a veritable treasure trove of surprising things-musical instruments, including some beautifully decorated pianos, jewelry, Delft-ware pottery, keys and locks! Every time you turn a corner down there, you never know what you're going to see! After the Rijksmuseum, I walked to Central Station to pick up my discount card (pre-purchased at home) and got on a canal tour. This was about an hour exploring the harbour and the various canals with their fancy houses. After the canal tour, I caught a tram back to the hotel and rested before we headed out to the ballet in the evening. The program was all Balanchine. They acquitted them selves quite nicely, although there was a sense of fatigue in the company. Katherine pointed out a young Canadian dancer among the group. The opera house is a modern building and not particularly memorable but there are beautiful views from the balconies of the canals.

Museums & magical dinner location

Today I had planned to be museum day, and the weather made that a perfect plan. It was cold and rained off and on all day. My first stop was Musee D'Orsay. Even without the art this building is special. I could just hang out in the main central sculpture hall all day. They have a special exhibition of Henri Rousseau, which was only vaguely interesting to me. I walked through the galleries of art deco and art nouveau furniture, pre-Impressionist art, making my way up to the 5th floor galleries of Impressionists. I feel like they rearranged this place since I was last here. At the top floor, the area around the giant clock face has definitely changed. I recall a narrow walk way and railing. For some security reason, the entry to the galleries is closed so there are a lot of people milling about. Eventually they open up the doors and there are all the greats. What makes this visit so wonderful is having had the visit to Monet's house and garden and the Caillabotte exhibit yesterday, the Palais Garnier the day before, and seeing works that reference those things here. I planned to have lunch here and a couple of tour folks come by at the same time for coffee!
After lunch, I walk to the Musee Rodin. I know this place was recently renovated. They have rearranged the rooms, in addition to repairs, and also gave the whole place a feel of what it might have been like when Rodin was living and working here, with the pedestals and a new paint colour highlighting the sculptures. It's raining so not the best way to view the garden but seeing the pieces with rain drops on them has a certain poignant quality. The third museum is Musee du Quai-Branly, under the Eiffel Tower, which collects indigenous art. The pieces are grouped geographically and many of them are quite beautiful. It would be easier to understand if there were more English language signs (or if I'd bought the audio tour, which is available in English). There is a lovely garden at the entrance. Since there are hours to kill before dinner, I head back to the hotel for a rest. Dinner is actually back at the Quai-Branly's restaurant, Les Ombres. It's supposed to have a fantastic view of the Eiffel Tower!
I'm joined for dinner by Katherine our tour leader and Annie from Texas. Our table is straight in front of the Tower! They have a patio which would be terrific in warmer weather. The view of the entire North side of Paris is incredible. We can see Sacre Coeur from here. The food and service are really good as well! After the sun sets around 8:30 the Tower is lit up. Dusk here is very long compared to LA. At 9p we get the show of sparkly lights on the Tower. It's just magical, such a simple idea but so brilliant. Great way to end a wonderful stay in Paris!

R&J at POB

Today was our intro to the hotel breakfast buffet. Excellent! They had something for everyone - yogurt and fruit, cereal, cold cuts and cheese, hot foods, even rice for Asian guests.
Today the morning is free. I decided to stick to the neighbourhood and headed to the Musee Picasso. Turns out it's free first Sunday for all museums! The museum is featuring sculptures and has been recently renovated. The house is as much reason to visit as the art, truly a beautiful place which showcases Picasso's art surprisingly well. I enjoy his sculptures more than his paintings so this show was a treat. I figured I'd take advantage of free day to check out two other local museums both located in houses. Musee Cognac-Jay is the personal collection of 18th c art by M Cognac. This house is small and cramped but the collection is well organized by theme. The Musee Carnavalet is located in one of the most spectacular homes. The courtyard itself is worth a visit! The collection represents the history of art in Paris although many rooms were closed so I got only a selection of eras. The sign galleries were fantastic, with many signs geared towards illiterate customers so were visually inventive. There is a breathtaking art deco room (about to close for renovation), as well as some beautiful portraits of people who look like could be your neighbour (aside from the wigs and fancy clothes). For lunch I hunted down a Breton cafe Steven recommended called Breizh cafe. After a little confusion over the reservation only dining room vs the vent à porter room with some crates serving as counter seats, I had a delicious buckwheat galette (what we would call a crepe) with cheese, ham, mushrooms washed down with a glass of hard cider. Very refreshing.
After lunch, the group is meeting for our first official outing, a performance of R & J by Paris Opera Ballet at Opera Bastille. The leads are Dorothee Gilbert (long time etoile) and newcomer Hugo Marchand (his debut). The choreography is by Nureyev and rarely seen outside this company. The dancing is quite extensive, the balcony scene did not include a balcony and there were sly touches of humour scattered among the senseless tragedy of this timeless story. Marchand did a great job, although stumbled a bit in his partnering. Gilbert was brilliant. The death scene was incredibly moving, almost brought me to tears. The theatre was completely packed and a little chaotic.
Dinner tonight is at Brasserie Bofinger, a well known Alsatian restaurant with beautiful marquetry panels and a stained glass dome in the main room. We had a delicious meal of seafood soup, salmon and a chocolate lava cake.

Broad Museum & Otium

Recently I had the opportunity to visit the new Broad Museum and dine at the adjacent restaurant Otium. This is my second visit to the Broad but the first visit was a very quick one that I spent mostly exploring the architecture. The one art piece I have yet to experience is Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Room. I've actually experienced another of this artist's installation before-in Denmark at the Louisiana Museum. In that case, they let people in 3 at a time. At the Broad, you go in one at a time for 45 seconds and have to sign up once you get to the museum. Unless you get there first thing, the line gets booked fast. The Broad's collection was previously on display at BCAM at LACMA when they teased the County museum with potential donation of their collection and then turned around and changed their minds. In addition to the previously seen Koons balloon dog, flowers and rabbit, there are Basquiats, Warhols, Rauschenbergs, all the big names in mid-century art plus a lot of recent artists. My favourite part of the collection are the Kara Walkers. I fell in love with her work when she curated a small installation at The Met in NY (combination of her own art with pieces she chose from the collection). Her work initially appears genteel and delicate (in the form of silhouette cut-outs) but then you realize what the cut-outs are representing (all the horrors of the slave era) and you just have to stop and think. The Broad includes a large series installed on a curved wall as well as steel cut outs in the form of a play house.

After our time at The Broad, we went over to Otium to have dinner. This is a new restaurant by Timothy Hollingsworth, formerly of French Laundry. We were at the Chef's table (unbeknownst to me until the end of the evening) which is a counter height giant polished single piece of wood with a live edge. The kitchen is open but in a way that is more open than any commercial kitchen I've seen. There is no counter separating the kitchen from the dining room. You can simply walk right into the kitchen. And several people did. I was with a group of design industry people and we were all in love with the counter stools that we sat in. (We never did figure out whose chairs they were.) The food was a pre-set menu consisting of a raw hamachi (with the most delicious little tomatoes), salad, roasted carrots (from the farmer's market so quite small and ugly but so good), spinach pasta with egg and clams (I could've eaten a giant bowl myself), fish with an amazing green sauce, chicken with the most tender meat and ridiculously good potatoes (despite looking quite ordinary), and a beef that was a bit rare for my taste but again with a delicious sauce. Dessert was a mille feuille with small blobs of hazelnut cream in the middle. I had a cocktail that ended up being way fancier than I realized-it came with a shot glass containing a tea ball with dry ice spewing out a tea scented smoke. The smoke really did smell amazing, and the banana cocktail under the shot glass was really good (if way too big for me) but I'm not sure how the tea smoke affected the cocktail.

All through dinner I had been observing the kitchen and noticed a few things. The staff were very calm and serene (unlike other open kitchens that seemed frenetic). It was also incredibly organized and clean. And there was one young man who appeared to be everywhere, directing, tasting and otherwise seemed in charge. I assumed he was an executive chef or sous chef because he seemed too young to be the main guy. As we were about to leave, I googled him and lo and behold, that was indeed Chef Timothy! As I blurted out 'hey that is the chef' to a fellow diner, one of the waiters came up behind me and asked if I wanted to meet the chef! Of course!! So he brought me to the chef, told him I was at the chef's table (which is how I discovered why our table was so special) and I blathered on about what a great meal it was and thanked him. I left him with a mention of how clean his kitchen is. I'm sure he was blown away by my eloquence! (Not.)

The menu prices ranged from $15 ish for the starters to $30 and up for the mains (including a really pricey steak). The portions are on the small side and the portions for the chicken, beef and fish were not much bigger than the starter items.

Here are a few pictures from our evening.

Boston and Cape Cod

I just spent a wonderful week visiting D and his family, including a weekend in Cape Cod. The house we stayed at is a guest house belonging to a family friend of Julie's and was quite palatial and beautiful! We were not strictly speaking on the Cape but in Marion, MA just on the mainland side of the bridge that the locals consider to be the official boundary of the Cape. The weather was perfect, warm and humid but with a nice breeze. The guest house is part of a private community with its own beach. D picked me up from the airport and we drove straight to Marion, meeting Julie and the kids at a local Thai restaurant. The Boston area is known for a lot of good ice cream places and we discovered Oxford Creamery nearby. The place was packed when we got there after dinner. It was hard to decide on a flavour but I went with Death By Chocolate (which seems like a popular flavour in this part of the world).  On Sunday, Julie's mom and stepdad joined us. We hung out at the beach and went to the local dock where people jumped off into the water, including one guy on a bike. Lots of people anchor their boats out past the dock (the tide level changes a lot) and with the beautiful grand beach front houses with their flag poles and Adirondack chairs the whole scene was ridiculously picturesque! For dinner we went to Turk's, which was recommended to us as the place to go for seafood. The place was densely packed with a restaurant on one side and a recently added sushi bar on the other. The food was delicious! After dinner we went back to Oxford. This time I got black raspberry, another iconic local flavour, basically an intensely berry flavored ice cream with a purple colour.

On Monday, Julie had to leave early for work so D and I took the kids to the dock one last time. Although the water was at low tide, Austin did quite a few jumps off the dock! We headed across the bridge to Cape Cod proper, to check out Woods Hole and Falmouth. We met up with a friend of D and Julie in Woods Hole and had more ice cream, at Jimmies. Both towns are really cute with a great New Englandy feel to them, lots of local shops with picturesque facades. Because we had Taco with us, everyone wanted to pet him and ooh and and ah over him.

Back in Boston, D and the kids and I went to see the Hokusai exhibit at MFA. The wood block prints were beautiful but we were all shocked at how tiny the Great Wave print is. Also that it was part of the Fuji series! At the end of the exhibit, there was an explanation of how wood block prints are made. 

I also went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum. Our book group read The Art Forger this past year and I wanted to see the setting of the story (and of the famous unsolved theft). The museum is completely unlike any other. The art was hung as Mrs Gardner desired, covering the walls or displayed on tables. Furniture fills the rooms in slightly odd ways. Where a stolen item was hung, the empty frame remains with a small sign indicating what used to be there.

On my last day, D and I took Taco to Arnold Arboretum. What a beautiful park! And the weather was perfect, sunny and not so humid. I then went to meet my friend Diane who had just moved to Boston about 6 weeks ago. She and her husband had finally got their furniture moved in a few weeks ago and were starting to explore the area. After lunch, I met D and the kids in Harvard Square. We wondered around a bit (including one more stop for ice cream) before I had to head to the airport for home.

Here are some photos from the trip,

Fancy box at the Hollywood Bowl

I was invited to the Hollywood Bowl with a seat to the center front row box last week! Very different ambiance than I'm used to since we are typically up in the cheap seats. Some photos. The sound is really quite good from down there. Wouldn't be as great for fireworks, though. :)

Nudes at the MFA

I was in Boston visiting D, Julie and the kids during Thanksgiving week, mostly hanging around their neighbourhood, but I did make one trip into Boston to take a look at the Degas exhibit at the MFA. The exhibit is focused on his nudes in various media (pencil, pastel, paint, etc.) and in various periods of his career. The first few items in the exhibit are examples of his academic nude model pencil sketches and they are astonishing in their detail and shading. Most of Degas' nudes aren't depicted showing their faces, being viewed from the back and most of them are in everyday settings, particularly dressing and bathing. One room of the show includes nudes in brothels and are of a more graphic nature than anything I've seen in previous shows. Several of the nude sketches are shown near a final work where you can see the way he has used the sketch in the context of a bigger work. Several sculptures are included of his dancers in various positions, including three versions of one my favourites of a woman contorting herself to look at the bottom of her foot.

The MFA also has a small exhibit on Aphrodite, which is interesting to see in context of the Degas show, as the Greek goddess is a popular nude figure in Western art, and there are many beautiful examples in the show of sculpture, vases etc. that can be contrasted with the more worldly women that Degas depicted. Both of these exhibits is on through early 2012.

The MFA has a beautiful new Art of the Americas wing. A large atrium space with a small restaurant and some contemporary art pieces joins the new wing to the main museum. This atrium space reminds me of a small version of the American Wing at the Met, which is one of my favourite spaces in NYC. The MFA has a terrific collection of American art and to see some of the paintings and other pieces related to Colonial times is particularly appropriate in this city. I didn't spend a lot of time here, but there is much to explore.

My latest NYC trip

I traveled to NYC for work projects and was able to squeeze in a few great eats and one fabulous museum show. I got in very late on Monday, due to a lightening storm shutting down JFK (3 hours waiting it out in Richmond, VA) so dinner the first night was a late call to room service. The Parker Meridien does a custom pasta dish, pick your own pasta, sauce, meat and veggie. I don't really recommend penne with pesto, italian sausage and mushroom at midnight, although it helps if your stomach thinks it's 9:30p.

We had lunch with our NY colleagues at Serafina, a nice little Italian place near one of our NY offices. We shared a nice pizza. They did a grilled squid on skewers that was delicious, and some tasty bruschetta.

Dinner on Tuesday was at Craft, Tom Colicchio's (of Top Chef fame) restaurant. This was a fabulous meal! The restaurant features ingredients sourced from local farmers and is organized by ingredient and preparation method. We had the crispy bacon as a starter, which was basically a large square of pork belly, with perfectly crispy skin, melting fat and succulent meat all layered together. The eggplant agnolotti was a nice non-meat starter with a creamy tomato sauce. For my main, I had the normandy duck. Wow! This may be the most perfect duck I've ever had (and I've had me some duck over the years). The breast was cooked just to a pink interior, with the skin slightly crisp and the meat melting in your mouth. I've so often had over cooked duck breast that this was a revelation. The leg was confited, and was so tender I barely had to chew, just letting the duck-y goodness melt into my taste buds. My dining partners had the suckling pig for two which consisted of taking the pig apart into about 6 different pieces, and cooking each section in a different way so as to bring out the best flavour and texture in each. For dessert we had the sugar and spice doughnuts, little baby donuts (plus their holes) served with an incredible chocolate sauce and peach jam, and the s'mores, which was my favourite, a chocolate peanut butter mousse topped with toasted marshmallow creme served with smoked salt sorbet. The saltiness of the sorbet combined with the mousse was just amazing (if you've never had chocolate with salt, go try a chocolate dipped pretzel). The wines were absolutely perfect with the meal and the service was impeccable. The room is dark, with just a minimal level of conversational hum so that we could talk to each other without shouting.

On Wednesday, we had dinner at Boqueria, a small Spanish tapas restaurant in Chelsea. This was a fun place, with lots of people stopping in with friends for an after-work bite. They've got some lovely jamon hanging in the window. Among the plates we tried were the quail egg on chorizo, garlic shrimp, croquettas (mushroom and jamon), lamb meatballs. They've got a nice selection of cheeses and jamons, of course we had to have some of the iberico. For dessert, the churros were very nice in a great chocolate sauce. The flan was a light version, not carmelized enough for my taste.

I was able to find some time to visit the Alexander McQueen show at the Met before it closed over the weekend. This show has been making news all summer due to the crowds that have waited in hours long lines to see it. I was able to get in with a friend who had a Met membership card, allowing us to skip the 2.5 hour line! As it was, the exhibition space was incredibly crowded. I'm pretty good about elbowing my way through a crowd, and we had the audio guides, which helped tremendously and included interviews with people who worked with McQueen or wore his clothes. I'd heard that the show had brought some people to tears and I found that interesting as I couldn't imagine clothing causing that reaction. Well, I will admit that I got choked up at a couple of points in the show. His clothes are impeccably tailored and that's not something that you can see in a photograph. But he takes his skilled tailoring and adds something slightly askew to everything. Perfect jackets have a tail on one end, or pants have a hem that flips at the bottom. Some of the clothes are very dark and disturbing but even in those, you see the skill in the craftsmanship. He puts together materials in the most amazing way, combining light and ethereal with rigid and shiny or feathers with satin. Some pieces were so beautiful they took my breath away, but the beauty always had a dark edge. The show included videos taken from runway shows which gave a sense of his brilliant theatricality. In one small box, you can see a hologram of Kate Moss floating in a stunning gown. The music in the show was all coordinated with the music that McQueen used in his runway presentations. McQueen's clothes are intensely emotional and the music adds to that effect. After we came out of the exhibit, it felt like we had been in a dark cave for a very long time, but the experience was unforgettable.

Lincoln Center, MAD, and Fela!

On Friday, I had only a few meetings, so I planned a tour of Lincoln Center.  The whole place has been renovated by Diller Scofidio+Renfro with a new fountain in the plaza and a new 'grassy knoll' on the 65th Street side.  The tour guide was an older gentleman with a very deep and dramatic bass voice.  He took us through David Kock theatre, where NYC Opera was doing a rehearsal for Intermezzo by Strauss.  There was no music, just people running around a stage with props.  In the Met Opera House, the Opera was rehearsing Carmen with full costumes and sets.  We were only allowed into the Director's box, but from there we could see and hear everything.  That place is huge!  The final venue we toured is Avery Fisher Hall, where the Philharmonic performs.  This venue was empty so we sat in there as our guide told us a little about the place.  Apparently Avery Fisher paid to have the whole thing taken down and rebuilt shortly after it opened because that was the only way to fix the sound problems.  They really don't make rich people like they used to, do they?

From Lincoln Center, I headed to MAD, the Museum of Art and Design.  I had read about the building that this museum is in in the New York Times.  The building now looks like it says 'HI' on the top. The museum was between exhibits and had only a jewelry show and a pottery show, but their open studio housed Ruth Marshall, who knits cat skins.  She has some small knitted wild cat skins on display (ocelot, etc) and is working on a tiger.  Her knitted skins are based on actual skins in the Natural History Museum collection.  The tiger is from a female from a zoo who was donated to the museum upon her death.  The knit work is beautiful (colour work, shaping, etc) and it was cool to talk to her in person about her project.

Since I was in Columbus Circle, I decided to have lunch at Bouchon Bakery in Time Warner Center.  I had their short rib sliders at the bar and a cookie with ice cream.

After lunch, I strolled down to Times Square to see what was happening at the TKTS booth.  It sure has expanded since the 90s when I visited D while he was at Columbia and we saw Metamorphosis with Baryshnikov!  The line was quite long, and the booth is now several windows wide and located under the glowing red stairs near the Father Duffy statue.  I was able to get a seat for Fela!, a musical based on the life of Fela Kuti.  He invented afrobeat music, but I had heard that the dancing, choreographed by Bill T. Jones was phenomenal.  I went back to my hotel for room service dinner of french onion soup (and the remainder of the cookie from lunch) and a bit of a rest.  I got to the theatre as they were letting the line in.  The crowd was heavily African-American and the theatre was plastered all over with hand painted signs to give it some atmosphere.  My seat was in the very first row!  The cast is all black, and the performer who plays Fela! is pretty much on stage the entire time.  He talks to the crowd as if we are all seeing one of his shows in Fela's nightclub in Nigeria.  The music is amazing of course, but the dancing was phenomenal and it was so cool to see it so close up.  I could have reached out and touched some of the dancer's feet.  The show includes a lot of audience participation and the dancers often move into the aisles as they are singing and dancing.

Broadway, Dance and Food

I think the title pretty much covered the evening activities during the week.  Our days were packed solid with meetings, and there were a couple of business meetings over dinner, but I made an effort to fill the rest of the evenings with seeing live performance. Our offices here are very well located for access to Broadway and City Center.

One of my evening meals included drinks and dinner at Rue 57 at the bar.  The bolognese sauce was delish and I should have take some back to the hotel, because I wasn't very hungry during east coast dinner time, but got hungry later, during west coast dinner time.

A second evening meal was at Mike's Bistro, a kosher restaurant on the Upper West Side for a group dinner that included Warner Bros., our design firms, ADI from NY and BDA from Los Angeles, our contractors, and MEP engineers.  The food was excellent, great service, fun company.  After dinner, a few of us stopped at a nearby Irish pub, P.D. O'Hurley, for a drink.  Pretty authentic too, the bartenders all had real Irish accents.  The food being brought out to fellow patrons smelled really good!

On the third evening, Holly and I went to see Billy Elliott on Broadway.  We got tickets at the box office in the front row of the mezzanine.  We had a little time to kill before the show (but not enough for dinner) so we headed to Times Square.  A couple of years ago, the city blocked off a chunk of street for pedestrians and people were hanging out all staring at the side of a building and waving.  Turns out one of the stores had a camera mounted pointing to the crowd, and people were waving at themselves, which seems like a pretty universal human response to seeing yourself projected on a large screen.  The show itself was great, the Billy I saw (Joseph Harrington) was exceptionally talented (I suspect all of the rotating Billy's are).  Apparently there is a special 'camp' for the various Billy candidates because they need to know ballet, tap, singing and acting, plus be able to speak in a Geordie (or northern English) accent.  After the show, the audience is let out at the back near the stage doors and there were several pre-teen girls waiting for Billy to come out, which he did and signed autographs and had pictures taken with girls and parents alike!  After the show, Holly's brother met up with us (he was at a dinner nearby) and we found a Greek restaurantm, Uncle Nick's, that Holly had been to before and enjoyed.  They were clearly getting ready to closed but there were some 15 to 20 staffers milling about.  They agreed to serve us so we ordered moussaka, pastitsio, flaming cheese and a tray of dips.  The food was excellent, we scarfed it down and Holly's brother had leftovers to take home.

By Thursday, I was exhausted, and I suspect our design team was as well.  We wrapped a little earlier, and I spent some time sitting under the Columbus statue at Columbus Circle.  We watched high school kids milling about.  We had a drinks meeting with our contractor and one of our subtenant contacts at Whiskey Park.  After a little bit of chit chat, I headed back to my hotel.  The day before Holly's brother told us the Thai restaurant, Topaz Thai, near the hotel was quite good, so I got in line and had myself a delicious plate of pad thai with seafood, plus creamy thai iced tea.  The restaurant was tiny and packed, with a line out the door.  The service was fast and pleasant and I paid and was out of there in plenty of time to walk down to the next block to see Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake at City Center. I've seen the touring company in LA, but I loved this performance even more.  I thought the dancers were superb and I love his choreography.  And odd thing happened just as the house lights dimmed though.  I was in the rear mezzanine, and there was a major stampede of people up in the rafters heading for empty seats in the front of the mezzanine.  They made a major racket and it was really unpleasant.

Sunday in New York

Today I took it easy in the morning as my knee was bothering me (probably a consequence of too much walking and my calf muscle still being weak from the injury in June). Wilson and Ming were heading home to Long Island, so I hung out while they got themselves packed up. I then headed to the Parker Meridien where I would be staying during the week. After a quick burger at the Parker's burger joint (a weird little shack like corner of the hotel serving only burgers and fries and taking cash only), I headed to MOMA. They have a show of Abstract Expressionism in New York. Turns out MOMA was kind of the epicenter of this art movement. This is not one of my favourite kinds of modern art, but there were some amazing pieces by Jackson Pollack, Philip Guston, Barnet Newman, and many others. The audio tour is free at MOMA and that always adds something to the experience, especially when viewing less familiar pieces. The sculpture garden had some new pieces, including a wishing tree by Yoko Ono which drew a lot of attention as participants could write a wish on a tag and add it to the tree. The second floor atrium featured a Kara Walker piece ("Gone...") which I've seen before. Another show that drew my attention was one called Small Scale, Big Change which showed several projects by architects designing to improve impoverished urban environments. Many of the projects were residences (either houses or apartments or rehabilitation of existing buildings) but there were also schools and community centers. Not only was the story of each project interesting, but the displays of models, drawings and other documents really added to the understanding of each project. This was one of those wonderful surprises that I love stumbling on when I visit New York museums.

Before heading back to the hotel, I took a quick stroll through the permanent painting collection and spent some time with Monet's Waterlilies. The audio tour talked about how these paintings were viewed with very little appreciation at the time they were created, but that a curator at MOMA discovered them in the 50s during the time when Abstract Expressionism was in full bloom in NY and felt a connection between Monet's works and the current art. Who knew that the Waterlilies were pre-Abstract Expressionist! I loved that the museum made that connection for me!

After MOMA, I headed back to the hotel and rested (including a quick nap). I waited for Lalida, who is our main contact at DCE in Burbank, to arrive from the airport so we could go out for dinner. The hotel recommended Trattoria dell'Arte which is right around the corner. As we walked there, I realized that we are literally next to Carnegie Hall! The restaurant was wonderful. Warm and friendly service, delicious food, and amazing desserts. We started with burratas (huge pieces!), tried two different pasta dishes (bolognese and a cacio e pepe) and cannoli and tiramisu. Everything tasted good and the cannoli really was the best I've ever had.

Tomorrow is the start of a busy week of work.