We woke up this morning to a good 3 or 4 inches of very fluffy snow. Nothing major to deal with this go round - no drifting, barely had to sweep the steps. Plus, the county had actually plowed the back roads by the time we headed into work! (I can hear the conversations on this one - "Honey, if I have to stay home with these kids one more day, I am going to do something rash! Get out there on your snow plow now and go really fast; we want schools open tomorrow!" Our road is never plowed this early in the game!)
What this is trying to say is - our parking lot is cleared, the sidewalks are shoveled, and by the time we open at 11:30 you should be quite able to get out of the house and in for lunch!
Kevin and I were in Miami this past weekend, celebrating the life of Kevin's Dad on what would have been his 97th birthday on Friday. While we were there, we had the opportunity to rekindle some family relationships, mostly while sitting around a table eating and drinking. It was most appropriate, since Bob Hamilton was always up for a meal out with family. He would have loved his "party", with its open bar, generous buffet and piano music tinkling throughout, and he was certainly a large presence, with many memories and stories shared at every table.
We had one night on our own, and we headed down to a food fueled hot spot that has one of the hardest reservations to score. That would be Jose Andres' South Beach outpost of Bazaar, in the trendy SLS Hotel on Collins Avenue. Ever since I heard about the original Bazaar in California I've been intrigued, and when I read about the Miami location, I tried very hard to get a table for us. No luck. But, we headed down there anyway, and did manage to get into the adjoining outside bar - Bar Centro - where they served 16 dollar mojitos and limited selections from the main menu. It was, as you can imagine, quite a scene. I was obviously not dressed the part, although my purse was acceptable. We sat on a comfy couch under a tented ceiling, with a heat lamp nearby - although at somewhere around 60 degrees, it was barely a necessity. Not when you knew what was going on back home in the frozen NorthEast. The highlight: probably the embutidos plate with the tomato bread, which included some very tasty ham.
Meanwhile, back in the real world last week, we did have a Wednesday Prix-fixe, about which I promised to report. As already noted, it was a sell-out, even with the quiet night. Despite the fact that the roads were still at odds with the weather, several of our regulars made the effort to come out and support us, and hopefully it was worth their while.
They started with a warming bowl of oyster bisque. I don't know if it was as good as the oyster stew they serve at the Fisherman's Inn on Kent Island, but the comments led me to believe it was right up there.
This was followed by a sort of Coquilles St. Jacques dish, involving scallops with a creamy sauce, baked in a scallop shell. Kevin used the broken scallops that he can't use otherwise, which made a reasonable cost for a rather luxurious dish. (Usually these scallop pieces are fed to the staff as a nice little fried snack...)
Dessert was panforte, treated as a cookie rather than a cake, and therefore delightful.
We had one night on our own, and we headed down to a food fueled hot spot that has one of the hardest reservations to score. That would be Jose Andres' South Beach outpost of Bazaar, in the trendy SLS Hotel on Collins Avenue. Ever since I heard about the original Bazaar in California I've been intrigued, and when I read about the Miami location, I tried very hard to get a table for us. No luck. But, we headed down there anyway, and did manage to get into the adjoining outside bar - Bar Centro - where they served 16 dollar mojitos and limited selections from the main menu. It was, as you can imagine, quite a scene. I was obviously not dressed the part, although my purse was acceptable. We sat on a comfy couch under a tented ceiling, with a heat lamp nearby - although at somewhere around 60 degrees, it was barely a necessity. Not when you knew what was going on back home in the frozen NorthEast. The highlight: probably the embutidos plate with the tomato bread, which included some very tasty ham.
Dessert was panforte, treated as a cookie rather than a cake, and therefore delightful.
Other meals came out of the kitchen, including the fluke garnished with sauteed shrimp,
the St. Brigid's veal cannelloni,
and the Langenfelder pork chop with sausage gravy.
One of the highlights of the recent week was the lobster dinner that Kevin prepared as one of our "Chef Dinner for Two" meals, which a guest had bought at a recent charity auction. This was certainly special! Nothing beats eating a whole lobster that has already been taken out of the shell for you!
We'll make it through this latest round of weather, although I think Ruby has the best idea for dealing with it:
It will be spring before you know it!
Even if we'd rather be somewhere else right now...
Peace out!
Great post!!! I am "somewhere else" and I'm shivering this morning.......albeit not like you. Still....just so you know its far from "toasty" in Central Florida.. Shari
ReplyDeleteWe were quite toasty in Miami. But I don't think I'd really trade places, although the single digit thing is getting a tad wearisome...barbara
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