Salad Is Slaughter

When we went to the grocery store last week, we decided to buy a pint of ice cream.  We hadn’t bought ice cream in quite a while since I’m trying to drop a pound or ten.  I picked out something called Ben & Jerry’s Vanilla Swiss Almond Carb Karma Ice Cream.

I like Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.  They have interesting flavors overall it’s really good ice cream.  Except for Vanilla Swiss Almond Carb Karma Ice Cream.  It was the nastiest crap I’ve ever tasted.  Covering it with Hershey’s chocolate sauce did nothing to disguise the flavor.  It was horrible.

If Vanilla Swiss Almond Carb Karma Ice Cream were the first ice cream I had ever eaten, I never would have eaten ice cream again; it was that terrible.  Caveat emptor.

The new season of Penn & Teller’s Bullshit! begins this Thursday (April 1) at 10PM ET/PT on Showtime.  I love this show.  In the past they’ve exposed the Pet Psychic as a fraud, did taste tests of bottled water, tested Feng Shui “experts,” revealed radical environmentalists to be know-nothing airheads, looked at chiropractors, examined the safety of genetically engineered food, and called spiritualist John Edward the biggest douche in the universe.

This week they look at PETA.  Penn and Teller promote science and debunk superstitions and I’ll be glued to my TV every Thursday.

See http://www.sho.com/site/ptbs/home.do for more details.

Technorati Tags: television

We got Rolfe back from the groomer on Friday, and contrary to what my father and sister have said elsewhere, he looks really good.  The only problem was that he now has an ear infection.  The groomer plucked the hair from Rolfe’s ears — a common event in a poodle’s life, otherwise his ears get clogged with hair — and now they’re infected.  Next time we’re going to tell them to NOT pluck his ear hair but to clip it instead.  Neosporin Plus Pain Relief seems to help a lot.  Rolfe cries when we clean his ears with it, but he’s a lot happier afterwards. 

We took Rolfe to the vet on Saturday to have them take a look at a lump on his back that we discovered on Wednesday.  We’re paranoid parents and were a bit concerned because Rolfe is a purebred, and sometimes they have medical problems.  The lump kind of felt like a fat lump you’d find on an old dog (Jake has lots of them) but they don’t normally occur on a puppy.  Or it could be something bad. 

Between Wednesday and Saturday the lump shrank quite a bit, and we happy about that, but we kept the vet appointment, anyway.  The vet took a sample and didn’t see anything bad, and the lump has now shrunk to almost nothing.  My theory is that he either ran into a rose bush — we’ve got 38 of them — when he was playing, or that a bee or a yellow jacket stung him.  We’ve seen a lot of them flying around lately and that’s what I think happened.  Rolfe now weighs 31.5 pounds.

We bought some extra lettuce to replace what critters, slugs, and snails ate.  The lettuce plants at Orchard Supply were a bit picked-over but we got a few anyway.  We also got a couple of extra pea plants because some of them were chewed-on as well. 

I think we had both critters and slugs and snails because some of the lettuce plants seemed to have recovered a bit since we put up the deer netting.  We surrounded each planting bed with copper tape and sprinkled some dog-safe slug and snail poison around.  Janet found at least one place where they live and put some extra down in that area.  I was thinking about getting a pie pan, putting it in the ground, and filling it with beer.  The snails like the beer and end up drowning.  I just never got around to it.

Whenever we stop by Orchard Supply Hardware, I should just assume that I’m going to be making a return trip sometime during the day.  We ran out of copper tape for the planting beds so I had to go get that.  I also needed some dirt so I could finish potting a Bleeding Heart that we bought.  Only two trips; better than last weekend.

Rolfe had his penultimate puppy class on Sunday.  This class isn’t as good as the one Lisa took.  Next week is graduation, and then we get our Sundays back.

We spent Sunday afternoon doing work around the yard then went to the hockey game.  Our trip to Las Vegas isn’t for several weeks, but it will be nice to get away.

We took Janet’s Montana coworker to Napa on Saturday to do some wine tasting.  There were a couple of new places that we wanted to try as well as stop by some of our favorites to pick up some wine varieties where we had shortages. 

I wanted to try a small winery called Nickel and Nickel.  They’ve gotten some good reviews in respected publications and have some kind of association with Far Niente winery, a place that Janet really likes.  You can’t just drop in; you’ve got to call for tasting reservations.  Janet called and was told that you need to call at least two weeks in advance, but we were welcome to drop by the winery store which opened at 10:00.

We got to Nickel and Nickel at about 10:15 and the place was locked up tight.  We returned at the end of the day and it was still closed.  I later found out that they close at 2:00 on Saturdays. 

I think I understand the Nickel and Nickel marketing strategy; it hit me this morning as I was brushing my teeth.  There’s an episode of South Park where Eric Cartman inherits $ 1,000,000 and he uses the money to buy a failing amusement park.  He then starts running TV commercials directed at Stan, Kyle, and Kenny telling them that only he, Eric Cartman can attend the amusement park.  Cartman eventually has to let a limited number people in to his park so he can pay for security, maintenance, food prep, and so on.  Because he limits access  — “Here’s my amusement park, and you can’t come!” — everyone wants to go.  Soon restaurants and stores around the country are employing the Eric Cartman method of “you can’t come here” to increase sales.  Nickel and Nickel is using the Eric Cartman method.  “Here’s our wine, it’s really good, and you can’t have any.”  Very clever.

We stopped by Cakebread next and we found out that they’re by appointment only now.  However, Janet belongs to their wine club so they took us back in the barrel room for our tasting.  It helps to be a club member because they know you spend money there on a regular basis so they take care of you, you get a club discount on purchases, and your tasting is free.

Our next stop was Dean and Deluca to pick up some sauces that we wanted.  I wish they had one here because they’ve got just about every kind of cheese there is.  The place is really expensive but they’ve got some nice stuff.

After our grocery shopping was done we headed up to the Charles Krug winery.   We’ve always been really fond of the Sauvignon Blanc and always buy several bottles.  Their reserve reds are also really good and I decided to join their wine club.  To make room for them, I’m dropping the Gundlach Bundschu club.  Gundlach Bundschu is very good wine at an affordable price, but they send two bottles of the same wine every month while Charles Krug gives you a variety every other month.  The only down side to the Charles Krug wine club is that they don’t send out their white wines.  It’s a reds only club because they believe that the white wine won’t survive the trip as well.

For lunch we headed to the Culinary Institute of America for lunch.  Of course we started with the “Today’s Temptations” samples.  They bring out about five or six different appetizers for you to try.  If you go to the CIA for lunch or dinner and don’t get the “Today’s Temptations” to start, you are stupid.

Janet and I split a couple of dishes.  We started off with Pan Seared Foie Gras with sparkling apple cider gelee, Jonathan apple compote and walnut toasts.  It was great.  We then split Pan Seared Day Boat Scallops with glazed asparagus and Meyer lemon risotto.  Janet’s friend had that as well.  It was wonderful.

We were sitting at one of the community tables — several parties at the same table with little dividers on the table to mark your territory — and we were talking about how I had a ticket to the Sharks/Edmonton Oilers game the next day and how Janet didn’t choose that as one of her games.  I pointed out that she would miss the signing of the Canadian national anthem.  I then started to recite it.

A few minutes later a woman sitting at our community table asked us where we were from.  She was from Canada, originally from Montreal but she had recently moved to Edmonton.  I thought that was pretty amusing.  She seemed pleased when I told her that I went to Edmonton and Calgary a few years ago to attend some hockey games, and that I really liked the people in Edmonton.  We skipped the final temptations dessert — they give you about five or six different desserts to sample.  Normally we wouldn’t miss the final temptations, but it was getting late and we had a couple of more places that we wanted to try. 

Our next stop was the Sterling Vineyards.  We went there because one of Janet’s coworkers who lives in Napa recommended it.  The Sterling Vineyards claim to fame is that you have to ride a gondola up the hill to get to the tasting room.  For $10 you get the gondola ride and four tastes of various wine.  The wine was crap.  We could have gone into the reserve room to taste the good stuff, but we didn’t want to shell out another $25.  If they could have had some kind of deal where you pay $10 for the gondola and 4 crap wines, or optionally $25 for the gondola and 4 good wines, then that would be OK.  Unfortunately, you don’t have that option and we left without buying anything.

Finally we went to Neibaum-Coppola.  I’m in the wine club there so we got to taste the good stuff for free.  That saved the three of us $75 total.The Neibaum-Coppola reserve wines are very good.  We did find out that they doubled the production of their Rubicon wine.  It’s excellent wine, but if they doubled the amount they made this year, shouldn’t they reduce the price from $100 per bottle?

After Coppola we headed home.  One of these days we’re going to have to drive all the way north then head back south and do our tastings.  The majority of the wineries we try are on the right (east) side of the road.  We hardly every try anything on the west side of the road because we end up finished with wine tasting before we get there.

We got home at twilight, and I decided to mow the front lawn.  It’s a good thing that I did, because I really didn’t have a lot of time on Sunday to do it, what with puppy class, shopping at Home Depot, and a hockey game that started at 5:00 PM.

Janet attended a bunch of meetings in San Francisco last week. She knew that one of her coworkers from Montana was going to be there and invited her to spend the weekend after the meetings. We would go out to dinner on Friday night then head up to Napa on Saturday to taste grape juice. We decided to go to Chez TJ for dinner; they lowered their price for the Menu Gastronomique to $65 for four courses, which is a pretty good deal.

I made reservations on Tuesday for the three of us and then took a look at the menu. They had a dish made with sea urchin. I was intrigued. I had seen sea urchin used on Iron Chef and I was curious about how it tasted because it seemed popular, at least with the Japanese tasters on the show. There’s someone at work that is somewhat of a food snob like we are, and I asked him if he had ever tried it. He had, and he reported that it was an acquired taste. At first he didn’t like it but now he does. I decided to give it a shot.

Friday rolled around. I took a look at the Chez TJ menu on their web site again. The sea urchin was replaced with something else. So much for that.

We got to the restaurant and the maitre d’ and the waiter recognized Janet and me because we’ve been there several times. They placed a menu in front of us. Then they placed a smaller menu on top of that. The waiter explained that Chez TJ now offers a chef’s tasting menu. Of course, everyone at the table has to order the tasting menu because otherwise you have some people eating and the others just waiting around. It was bit pricey but it was a nine-course meal so we decided to try it.

I think we were the first table to ever order the tasting menu. I asked if they had wine pairings to go with the various courses, and the waiter replied that they hadn’t thought of that. He would talk to the sommelier and see what they could do.

They began by giving us Tai Snapper Carpaccio topped with caviar. It had a very nice citrus sauce and was very good. Next up was the live scallop ceviche with melon broth, avocado, and lime leaf. It was one of the best scallop dishes I’ve ever had, and I’ve had some great ones. I don’t know if the scallops were lightly cooked, or if they used the acid in the melon broth to “cook” them, but it was fantastic. I would definitely get that again.

Following the scallops was another favorite: foie gras. This one was Foie Gras Roulade with rhubarb terrine, hazelnuts, and a hibiscus glaze. In the past I’ve always shied away from rhubarb, but this was great. It matched up perfectly with the grilled foie gras, and the hazelnuts gave it an interesting crunch. This was another dish that I would get again.

By now the owner stopped by to find out how we were enjoying the new tasting menu. We told him that we so far we really liked it, but thought it went a bit heavy on the seafood. Also, we thought that the portions were a little big for a tasting menu. I then mentioned that I had seen sea urchin on the menu earlier in the week and asked him what it was like. The waiter then came out with sea urchin for each of us. There were three or four pieces of sea urchin in a citrus sauce topped with caviar. It was complimentary. Yes, that means free; I hadn’t expected that. The flavor was subtle with maybe a hint of flowers. The texture was a little strange but not unpleasant. I don’t think I’d go out of my way to get it, but I would eat it again.

We moved on to other items, then the waiter brought out Japanese cuttlefish. There were three to a plate. They look like little squids, but the first impression is that someone put insects on your plate. I popped one into my mouth and it was crunchy with a fairly strong but not overpowering flavor. It wasn’t bad. The owner then told us that this dish was also complimentary. I guess they figured that if we were willing to try the sea urchin, we’d try the cuttlefish. He asked our opinion of the dish, and whether three cuttlefish was enough, or was it too many. We decided that three was a good number. Two wasn’t enough and five would have been too many.

We finished up with roasted moulard duck breast with native corn spaetzle, and wildflower consommé. I’m not really that much of a duck fan but it was good. Janet and I traded because mine was more rare than hers. I prefer duck that’s a bit more cooked while she likes the breast meat to be redder.

There were a couple of other dishes in there as well, and we finished with dessert. It was all really good. During the meal the chef came out to talk with us about the tasting menu – what we liked, what we thought should be different, the time between dishes, and so on. That reconfirmed for me that we were one of the first people to order it.

I would order the chef’s tasting menu at Chez TJ again. I think that the tasting menu at Manresa and at the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas is a little better, but the Chez TJ tasting menu is still very good. A soup course and a cheese course might be a nice addition.

The entire meal lasted about three hours. During that time we had the owner talk to us a couple of times, and the chef spent about 10 minutes talking to us. And instead of a nine-course meal, we got eleven courses, two of which were free. Not a bad Friday night.