The Small Family     

May 22, 2011: Foodie Weekend!

Well, I must apologize. For the first time in Small Family blog history, I have no pictures this week! That’s right--not a single one. I usually do almost all of my picture-taking on the weekend…and we were gone this weekend! So, no pictures, but I promise to make up for that next week. And I’ll make up for it with a descriptive post about our week/weekend…and some fun news at the end of the post!

This week was Chris’s birthday (on Wednesday), though unfortunately the poor guy took care of Theo from 7am to 9am, worked from 9am to 5pm, was at school from 5:30pm to 9:00pm, watched a couple of TV shows with me, and then worked from 11pm to 1:30am. So, he had a full, if not exciting, day. But my Mom came over to watch Theo at lunchtime, so Chris and I did go have a yummy seafood lunch on his birthday. All was not lost!

And, I will brag for a minute about his work in his accounting class: He ended up with the second highest grade in the class, the highest grade on the final, and the highest score (well, for his group) for his Vietnamese noodle house venture. Hmmm, maybe he does have a future career as the night manager at a Vietnamese noodle house! ;-)

Seriously, though, I’m very proud of him for accomplishing all that while working full-time and taking care of Theo about 40% of the time so I can work full-time as well. Not easy to juggle all that, but he did it admirably.

Theo was very excited about Chris’s birthday, and I took him to Target to pick out a small gift for Chris. When I asked him what he’d like to get Chris, first he replied, “Underwear! Daddy wears underwear!” (Indeed, this is true….) Later, he decided, “A calculator!” And on the day we went to Target to pick out Chris’s gift, he said, “A drill!” Well, Chris already has a couple of drills and isn’t really in need of a new calculator, so I steered Theo over to the boxer shorts and let him pick out a couple of pairs for Chris. (He picked a pair with acorns on them and a pair with doggies on them. Now you all have a fun visual of Chris--HA!)

Anyway, I thought it was cute how excited Theo was about Chris’s birthday. On his birthday morning, Theo walked downstairs and declared, “Happy birfday, Daddy!” to Chris, who had slept on the couch after staying up studying and working until the wee hours of the morning. I don’t think Chris was thrilled to be woken up at 6:30, but he sure did like the way he was woken up. :-)

This was a crazy work week--but luckily, both of our work schedules should slow down in the next couple of weeks. But the craziness meant that there wasn’t much remarkable happening during the week. However, we had big plans for the weekend--an overnight trip to San Francisco for Chris and me, while Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Tom watched Theo!

Grandma and Grandpa arrived around 11 on Saturday morning and watched Theo for about 24 hours, give or take. And we got good reports--apparently they all had a lot of fun. They took Theo to a park he really likes in Roseville, and he got positively covered in sand, so they had to practically hose him down before taking him out to dinner at our local Turkish restaurant. Sunday morning, the tiny blonde rooster woke Grandma and Grandpa up at 6am, and when we got home a little before 1:00, they reported that he had been going nonstop ever since 6. That’s my boy!

Chris and I had a wonderful time in SF. There was a ton of traffic getting into the city--it took us three hours to get there, instead of our normal 90 minutes. But since we didn’t have an antsy toddler wanting to “Get out! Get out!” of his car seat, it was no big deal. By the time we checked into our hotel, we only had 90 minutes before our dinner reservation. So, we just wandered around Union Square, looking at overpriced kitchen gadgets. $900 for a set of knives, anyone? The handles are carved out of ivory harvested from fossilized woolly mammoths. Good heavens, I can’t even fathom wasting money on something like that! But it was fun to look at all the crazy, overpriced items, anyway.

We had an early dinner reservation because I had my heart set on going to Fleur de Lys--Hubert Keller’s famous San Francisco restaurant. Yes, this was a trip for Chris, but he usually defers to my pick on restaurants, as he’s pretty happy to go try anywhere new. But by the time he finally decided that he wanted to go to SF for the weekend, nearly all the reservations were booked, so we ended up having a 5:15 reservation. It was us and the early birds! But oh, what a dinner it was….

I’m going to describe this in exhaustive detail (1) because I have a lot of foodie friends who read this blog, as well as friends who love Hubert Keller as much as I do, and (2) because it was, hands down, the most phenomenal meal I’ve ever eaten. Wow. The price tag would normally make me choke, but we left the restaurant feeling like it was a very worthwhile indulgence, because it was just that incredible.

For those unfamiliar with Hubert Keller, he’s a French-born and -trained chef who came to the US in the early 1980s. Since then, he’s won a lot of prestigious awards, and Fleur de Lys is ranked one of the top 25 restaurants in the U.S. But why I love Hubert is because he was featured on Top Chef Masters a couple of years ago, and he was just so happy and friendly and humble-seeming. His food looked outstanding, but if you’ve watched enough cooking shows (as we have!), you come to learn that chefs are often a very arrogant, rude bunch. Hubert never seemed to fall into that pattern--whenever we’ve seen him on TV, he’s just seemed like a genuinely nice guy. Plus, on Top Chef Masters, he was playing for the Make-a-Wish foundation, which is one of my favorite charities.

So, this explains why I was determined that we ought to someday try Fleur de Lys. But given that Hubert Keller is in his mid-50s or thereabouts, I sort of expected that the food would be outstanding--but probably pretty typical classical French food. That is, the food you expect from a fancy French restaurant. I admit that I was painting with a broad brush by thinking this, but somehow I just didn't expect a well-established, older chef to be turning out particularly fun, cutting-edge food. Chris and I were both really surprised at how creative and downright fun the food was. And yes, it was every bit as delicious as I expected--more so, in fact. Neither of us has ever had a better meal.

We did a four-course tasting menu. Before the meal, they brought out an amuse bouche of a quinoa salad and a “frappucino” of roasted piquillo pepper gazpacho with a basil crème fraiche as the “foam.” And it really did look like a tiny fancy coffee drink! That was one of Chris’s favorite parts of the meal, as he didn’t expect to care much for it, and he was pleasantly surprised by how delicious it was.

For our appetizers, I selected a sampler that came with Keller’s take on Caesar salad, a bite of duck on a tiny crostini, an ahi tuna emulsion of sorts with caviar on top, and a foie gras “lollipop.” All delicious, though the foie gras was my favorite! And the plate was actually beautiful. I so wanted to take a picture of it, but I thought I might look a little silly taking food pictures at such a fancy place. But it really did look like a work of art! Chris had a filet of sole with some sort of wonderful sauce--and if I could remember more about it, I would surely tell you!

For our fish course, I had the best salmon I’ve ever tasted in my life--it was cooked with some sort of potato-parmesan crust and served with broccolini and a wild mushroom “flan.” Chris had a sort of Hawaiian take on swordfish, served with a tiny cup of saffron soup. Again, he was pleasantly surprised by the saffron soup--although we agreed that my salmon was the taste winner on that round.

For our meat course, Chris ordered lamb prepared two ways--a small filet and a bit of lamb shank. It was served over Israeli cous cous and an eggplant confit. Chris truly hates eggplant, but he actually said that if he was ever going to eat eggplant, that was definitely the way he would do it! I ordered filet mignon with lobster mac and cheese. I actually don’t usually care for filet mignon, but I figured that if anyone could cook it to my liking, it would probably be the chefs at Fleur de Lys--and I really wanted that lobster mac and cheese! And I will admit it: The filet was fabulous, even for a non-filet person! The mac and cheese was, predictably, out of this world. It was baked in a tiny homemade brioche bread bowl…so yummy!

And, as if I wasn’t already in heaven, they brought us four desserts!! My eyes lit up, and Chris started laughing and said, “You’re in some level of heaven right now, aren’t you??”

So, let me explain. With our four-course tasting menu, we were entitled to each select a dessert. Which we did. But they also knew it was Chris’s birthday, and they brought him out a strawberry mouse with “Happy Birthday Chris!” written on the plate and some delicious homemade wafer cookie wrapped around it. And, they came by with a little three-tier tray of homemade cookies and tarts “just to thank you for dining with us.” Um, okay, sold!  You bring me four desserts, I’m a friend for life. ;-)

I’ll start by describing the little three-tier thing. On the bottom was a tiny cup of hot chocolate sauce to dip everything in. On the second tier were three types of homemade cookies, only made so tiny and beautifully that you would almost think they were doll cookies! There was a homemade meringue (I usually don’t like those, but it was delicious), a homemade nut cookie of some sort, and the most adorable tiny homemade Madeline cookies! The third tier had two tiny tarts--Chris had the fresh raspberry one, and I had the chocolate one.

Now Chris’s dessert! He ordered an apple-marzipan tart with homemade maple syrup ice cream. It was also served with a homemade chocolate “truffle” (read: slab of the most sinful chocolate ever!) with a beautiful little spun-sugar thing on top. Chris said the truffle was probably his favorite overall item of the night, and he’s not a huge chocolate fan (not as much as I am, anyway)--it was just that good!

And finally, my dessert. I always roll my eyes when we’re watching foodie shows and the judges describe food as “so whimsical!” but I have to admit, this dessert was completely whimsical, adorable, and fun. Not to mention the best dessert I’ve ever had. It was called the “Fleurburger,” and I knew it came with chocolate, a beignet (like a homemade donut), and a banana shake, but I didn’t really know what else to expect. Again, the plate arrived and looked so beautiful--almost like the food was sculpted for a dollhouse! My “burger” was a tiny three-bite affair, but so rich and wonderful! The “bun” was the homemade beignet--it was split in half, like a hamburger bun, and the “meat” was a round slab of that same sinful chocolate ganache Chris had. The slice of “cheese” on the burger was something else--I wish I could tell you what, but it was something sweet and creamy and wonderful. I’m thinking perhaps something made of mascarpone cheese. The “ketchup” was a strawberry gelee. Next to the “burger” were the toppings: tiny, perfect slices of “onion” made out of some white fruit; tiny, perfect slices “tomato” made out of a small red berry (and they somehow even sculpted the inside of each tiny slice to look like a perfect, tiny tomato slice!); and a “pickle spear” sculpted out of kiwi. It came with a side of “French fries” that were actually fry-shaped pieces of homemade fennel ice cream served in a fry-holder made of dark chocolate. Also on the side was a tiny, perfect chocolate-banana milkshake served in the cutest little frosted mug you’ve ever seen. It was, in a word, beautiful. Again, I wanted to take a picture but thought it probably wasn’t appropriate. (My Aunt Sally is wiping the drool off her face right now, by the way. She is one of few people who shares my level of love and devotion for delicious desserts!)

So, wow. We spent a wonderful and relaxing two hours just enjoying each other’s company and eating the most delicious, creative, fun food we’d ever eaten. What a treat! If you’re ever in need of a true “special occasion” restaurant in San Francisco, I highly recommend Fleur de Lys! Sadly, no Hubert Keller sighting, but that’s okay--I probably would’ve been rendered a babbling mass of mush if I’d actually seen him. ;-)

So all my non-foodie readers are probably fast asleep by now, but I just had to share our wonderful dinner with you all, because it really was such a treat! But now back to the rest of the weekend. After dinner we decided to see a movie, but the movie we wanted to see wasn’t showing until 10:30, so we just wandered around and then stopped for a nightcap while we waited. I had to laugh, though. Chris ordered an Irish coffee, and the waiter said, “Would you like whipped cream on that?” Chris said, “No whipped cream, thanks--but I’d love a side of regular cream.” So his Irish coffee came out with no cream, and Chris said, “Thanks--could I please have a side of cream with this?” The waiter nodded, came back out a minute later, and plopped an aerosol can of Redi-Whip next to Chris. For some reason, this just cracked me up! Here we were at this somewhat upscale bar in our hotel, and they plop a can of Redi-Whip next to him. There was just something so unceremonious about it. Chris, however, does like whipped cream, so he used it. (He’s technically allergic to it, but sometimes he just throws caution to the wind and eats it anyway.)

We went to see Bridesmaids, and before you think that was just my choice, it was actually more Chris’s. I wanted to see it, but I was rather surprised he did. But, it had gotten good reviews as a funny movie, and he was in the mood for a comedy, so that’s what he picked. And it actually was quite funny, in a raunchy-but-fun way. We both laughed a lot.

After falling asleep at 3am (I’m getting too old for this!!), we slept in until 8:30 the next morning and then took our leisurely time getting ready--a luxury we rarely have, since Theo is up and raring to go the minute the sun comes up. Before driving back home, we stopped at Dynamo Donuts to pick up breakfast for the road. We went there once before, some months back, and it was every bit as good as we remembered. It’s in a rough part of town, but the donuts are these fancy, gourmet-ish delights that are rather surprising given that they’re served from what is, essentially, a real hole-in-the-wall. Just goes to show that you never know where you’re going to find good stuff. We had seen it profiled on The Food Network months ago, or we never would’ve stumbled upon it.

We picked four donuts and shared. I’ll list them here in order of how we liked them (most to least): chocolate star anise, maple-bacon apple glazed, candied rhubarb, and Monte Cristo. All were good, but the Monte Cristo ended up to be just a glorified cherry-jelly filled, so not our favorite. The other three were fabulous!

And now on to the exciting news I promised. We’ve made our travel plans for our “big” trip this year, and we are once again headed back east! We’re sort of trying to re-create the trip my Mom missed last year, though we’re doing a bit of a different route. My Mom will be coming with us as long as she’s feeling up to it, and we’ll be flying into Pittsburgh (by far the cheapest place back there to fly--plus, we’ve never been there, so it’ll be a nice change for us), driving to Lexington VA to visit with my aunt and uncle for several days, then driving up to Buffalo to spend several days there (with a stop in Gettysburg along the way). Then we fly back out of Pittsburgh. I already set things up with my VA relatives, but Buffalo folks, I believe we’ll be there from the evening of Monday 8/15 to the morning of Saturday 8/20. I hope we’ll get to see at least most of you while we’re there, though I know weekdays may not be feasible for the family members who are still working. Anyway, we’ll get it all figured out--we can’t wait to see you all again!

Okay, next week, more pictures--I promise!