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Putting a line in the sand (esau remix)

26-Nov-08

I caught this meme from Simon’s blog Here’s my update.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo 
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse 
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

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Real chocolate? Everyday until Christmas?

25-Nov-08

Don’t tell me you wouldn’t like one of these.

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…and then after dinner

23-Nov-08

…because at the end of the meal, someone I took to be part of the front of house management came over and said: ”Would you like to visit the kitchen?”

I’ve seen a few kitchens, but this is the first time anyone has invited me into a Michelin-starred kitchen right in the middle of service.  I had a rush of pure, unconsidered, heady – ok, I’ll say it – excitement. What is the right analogy for such a moment? It may be like going backstage after the gig, but if feels more like standing at the back of the stage for the encore. My voice is saying “…we’d really like that, thanks…” but my inner child is going “ooh! ooh! ooh!”

And I wasn’t disappointed. Thirty-odd chefs work four different passes (meat, fish, veg, desserts), while a dozen wait staff, assorted plongeurs and others work the conveying. In the middle stands Atherton, dispatching. We’re introduced: he’s charming, funny and gives us some genuine time and attention – right in the middle of service  - and all the time calmly casting an eye over everything going out – adjusting a bowl here, a garnish there. 

And of course, I asked him to sign a copy of the menu – I can only contain my inner child for so long.

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Jason Atherton & dinner at maze…

23-Nov-08

Since we left London for the country some five years ago, we don’t eat in as many truly top-notch places as we once did. But last Saturday, we got a couple of seats at the bar at  Gordon Ramsey’s maze in Grosvenor Square. Actually it’s Jason’s Atherton’s maze, as he’s been head chef since the launch back in 2005.

Atherton was the first British Chef to work at El Bulli (think Fat Duck on steroids), but he’s also worked with Pierre Koffman and Nico Ladenis. Although you see some of Ferran Adrià’s textural deftness

The angle here is small ‘tasting dishes’ – a couple of dozen on the menu at around £10, or there’s the seven-course tasting menu for £60. We had the tasting menu. Unlike any other tasting menu I’ve seen, this actually had choices for four of the courses, so naturally we shared them out to have everything – which in hindsight may have marked us out…

The food was uniformly great. I’m not going to bore you with a bite-by-bite description, but three courses stood out as spectacular:

The first course of iron bark pumpkin latte – a foam topped-soup, drizzled with black truffle syrup and hiding morsels of brasied duck at the bottom of the bowl – was a heady, fungal, deep, complex dish and absolutley the most complete encapsulation of everything I feel about autumn in a bowl. The cep brioche (both flavoured with and looking like a cep) and cep butter on the side a terrific combination.

My favourite course from the middle of the menu was hake wrapped in Parma ham with the most intense puree of chorizo and pimento – deep brick red with notes of wood, charred pepper, garlic and paprika – but not so powerful that it unbalanced the plate. It was served with finely cubed, warm squid with a light herbed (parsley?) dressing and a bowl of creamy mash. It looked simple, but the balance of flavours was just so perfect.

The best of the desserts was a large shot glass containing fig jam (perfect, not sticky, cloying or any of those other crimes often committed against the fig), topped with natural yogurt, topped with grape must granita, with a eyedropper of 50-year old balsamic vinegar squeezed over the top at the table.

It’s been a long time since I tasted cooking that was so assured, so confident. A great evening. And that wasn’t the end of the evening…

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