Answers to Questions

I've had a couple of questions to my posts and I thought I'd answer them here.

In June I posted about the Red Sox paint I bought. Hemarc asked what the colors are called because they didn't have them at the local Benjamin Moore dealer. The red is called Poppy, the green is balsam, the yellow is sunshine and the blue is symphony blue. I hope that answers your question and you are able to get the paint you need for your son's room.

Kitty asked me about our menu collection. Our collection is small at the moment but it will grow. DH and I are foodies. When we go on vacation we set two meal goals for ourselves:

1. Never eat a chain restaurant (unless it's in the airport). We want to sample the local fare and will often ask the concierge or staff at the hotel where they eat. I often spend a few hours before the vacation doing Internet searches about the restaurants or Chowhound. Chowhound is a great site to get advice from locals about restaurants.
2. We love Tasting Menus or Prix Fixe menus. That's where our collection comes in. We currently have three menus from Tasting Menus that we've enjoyed since we've been married. We always ask the chef if he will sign a menu for us. So far, we haven't been turned down.
   
   

Here's a photo of our collection. I need to get two of the menus framed so we can hang them.

The small menu in the middle is the first Chef's Tasting Menu meal we enjoyed. On our honeymoon in 2001 the concierge at the hotel recommended Canlis for dinner. What a fantastic restaurant. The view is outstanding, the food is incredible and the service was perfect. The tasting menu that night was:

• Miniature Wasyugyn Beef Tartare Burger (think mini cheeseburger)
• Mixed Green Salad with Bing Cherries, Carmelized Hazelnuts and Goat Cheese
• Dungeness Crab & Wild Fennel Ravioli
• Jellied Fresh Green Apple Juice
• Grilled Petite New York Steak with Oregon Blue Cheese and Walla Walla Sweet Onion Rings
• Napoleon of Summer Berries

The menu on the right is from The Blacksmith Restaurant in Bend, OR. What a fantastic restaurant. We were pleasantly surprised that they offer a Prix Fix meal and you can specify what you like and don't like. For me, that meant I could say bring on the steak and hold the seafood. We had six wonderful courses, each one better than the previous one. It took us two hours to enjoy dinner. Here's the menu:

• First Course - Watermelon Salad - mixed greens topped with minted goat cheese, watermelon and basil pesto.
• Second Course - I had steak adobo and DH had haddock and scallops in a Pinot Noir sauce
• Third Course - A small pasta dish with house-cured salami, onions, fennel, roasted tomatoes and pasta. This course was very, very yummy.
• Fourth Course - Pork tenderloin on white beans with grilled nectarines and prosciutto on grilled radicchio
• Fifth Course - Sliced Top Sirloin with Fried Potatoes with a truffle oil reduction.
• Sixth (and final) Course - an Almond Tulle Cookie Cup filled with fresh berries topped with a lemon sauce. Very light and refreshing.

Now this reads like a lot of food, but each plate was about a third of the size of a regular portion. That combined with the timing between each course you were able to enjoy each selection without feeling stuffed. I'd go back there in a minute.

The framed menu on the left is from our local favorite restaurant. When DH asks me where I want to go for dinner 9 times out of 10 the answer is The Chop Shop. I'm so happy we have a prime steak house in our town. We used to be able to walk to the restaurant, but now that we moved we have to drive 5 minutes. Chef Koz is a great cook and often has wine tasting dinners. The menu is from a Benziger "Reserve" wine dinner we enjoyed in October 2004. The menu that evening was:

• Chardonney Poached Chayote Tart, Grilled Curried Chicken with Adobo Sauce, assorted cheese and oils
• Roast Turbot (fish) with a Crab Duxelle (I did not eat this)
• Fall Harvest Salad with Country French Pate de Campagne and Cream of Squash & Sorrelle Soup
• Venison Sauerbraten, Marinated Bear's Head Mushrooms and Squash Gnocchi
• Chocolate Cannoli filled with Bing Cherry Ricotta

The meal was a little too "out there" for me. But it was a wonderful evening and I even received a bottle of Benziger wine signed by one of the Benzigers. I much prefer Koz's Filet Mignon, buttermilk mashed potatoes and carrots in pecan butter.

Now I'm hungry! I need to start cooking dinner and I have chicken breasts waiting to cook. Somehow chicken doesn't sound as yummy as all the above menus do. Oh well, I guess it's almost time for DH to take me to the Chop Shop for dinner.

Oh . . . honey . . .
Sweet P