Photos of Ethan

Smells Trigger Memories

The B&B where we stayed had great hand soap.  They had taped a label to the hand soap that read something like this: We sell this hand soap at the front desk for $13, if you take the soap from the room we will charge you $20. The lavender smell reminds me of  the solar recovery spray that I bought in St. John.  I happened to see the soap at Sprouts (for 9 dollars) and so I bought it.  Now I can be transported to vacation every time I wash my hands.

Give Me Stuff for Free

Sometimes I get 10 dollar gift certificates and I really try not to spend more than 10 dollars when I go to the store.  I used to get a lot of them from Kohl's.  I've also gotten them from DSW and Victoria's Secret.  I recently got one from Eddie Bauer.  I really didn't want to drive out to the outlet to spend the $10, and when I saw that they were having free shipping I decided to spend the gift certificate.  I bought a pair of socks--less than ten dollars.  I've already received them.  I like the stripes and they might be my new favorite pair of socks.

Usually when I spend less than the amount of the gift card I forfeit the remainder.  I refuse to spend money at VS.  Eddie Bauer actually sent me a check for $3.23!  Not a gift certificate....a check.  Real money.  So they sent socks straight to my door (FedEx) and gave me a check.  Happy Holidays to me.

The Tea

Looking at the tea I bought it doesn't seem that much, but I sure spent a lot of money.

I bought Happy Kombucha Oolong from David's tea.  The man helping me actually made me a cup to go, and I liked the pineapple flavor.

From Imperial Tea I bought Mihong Jasmine--Ross picked this one the first time we went there and it is his favorite.  He really picked a good one--I will always have this one in the tea cabinet as long as they keep selling it.  I also bought Orchid Oolong--one for me and one for Tejal.  I had ordered a sample from them last year and really liked the light flavor--it tastes of Japanese plum.  I also stocked up on  Keemun--getting the Imperial grade this time.  I call Keemun Company Tea, cause that's what I serve when we have company.  Oh, and I got Imperial Milk Oolong.  I couldn't resist the smell.

From Tillerman Tea I bought 3 oolongs: Muzha Tieguanin, Dong Ding Hong Bei Wulong, and Alishan Dong. My tea cabinet is overflowing.  I don't know where I'm going to put some of these.  I need to drink tea more often.  Maybe I'll make a cup right now!

Rainy Sunday in Napa: Oxbow Public Market

It was rainy Sunday morning, so we spent some time indoors at the Oxbow Public Market.  I had sworn off these kind of places because they tend to be the same kind of stalls over and over again and I have trouble deciding what I want, but this was different.  Oxbow Market is small and each stall is different.

Tiffany and I bought specialty salts and spices at Whole Spice Company.

A very nice man at Tillerman Tea sold me 3 different kinds of Oolong.  He didn't look at me like I was nuts when I asked for Dong Ding Oolong--in fact he had many different choices.  Unfortunately they were out of green puerh tuo cha.  I would have bought one.  I could definitely work in a spice shop or a tea shop.

We had lunch from C Casa.  I had a taco with meat that tasted like tamale meat (beef of course) and Ross had a duck taco. I wasn't very hungry--still stuffed with lamb ragout and coffee cake.

Cupcakes at Kara's Cupcakes.  Ross and I split a passion fruit filled cupcake and Ross, Tiffany and I split a vanilla cupcake.  The vanilla frosting on the passion fruit cupcake was like buttah--no grainy sugar at all.  The vanilla cupcake had vanilla-bourbon frosting that was more like traditional butter cream and very flavorful.  I would have liked the buttah texture with the bourbon flavor.

I got a cappuccino from Ritual Coffee Roasters to go with the cupcakes.  Finally got that pretty coffee.  It was amazing to watch the guy pour these.  Ross's latte was pretty too.  I'm going to buy a different milk pitcher and practice making foam and pouring.  I want to be able to make a heart like this or a leaf one day.  Oh, and I had just bought some vanilla sugar at the spice place, so we used that in our coffees.

Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant

After the Castle we went to the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant, which is part of the Culinary Institute of America, for a late lunch.  The CIA is in a big stone castle-like building.

I guess because of the time of year and time of day the restaurant wasn't very crowded.  The ambiance was nice--although I think it was a bit chilly in the room. First, I want to talk about the food.  The most important part, right? So, as Nicole says, here is the food porn.

 I decided to have some butternut squash soup to help warm me up.  It had pomegranate seeds in it.  Odd combination, but as I bit into each seed there was a juicy burst of flavor.

 Ross started with the steak tartare.  The toast had blue cheese and carmelized onions.  It was very tasty.

I chose the lamb ragout.  Very good, except for one giant pappardelle ball.  It was a lot of food, so Ethan helped me finish.

Ross and Tiffany got the duck.  It was the clear winner.  The celery puree was so smooth and perfectly seasoned.  Ethan demanded steak, so he and Robert shared the steak.  It was a part of a prix fixe menu that included 3 other courses.

This is Robert and Ethan's dessert. A molten chocolate lava cake and vanilla bean ice cream.  We all had a taste.  We were stuffed at the end.

Now the service.  As Ross said---it was Rank: Amateur.  Easy things like water and bread...took forever.  The time between courses (and keep in mind we are very leisurely eaters) was excessive.  For being the wine spectator restaurant you'd think the'd ask if we wanted wine or make recommendations.  Nothing.  The service was very disappointing. It would have been disappointing anywhere, but the fact that we were paying 50 bucks a head somehow made it worse.  Even though the duck was exceptional the service was enough to deter me from ever going there or recommending it to anyone.

The Greystone also has a Bakery and Cafe that is run by the students.  We were disappointed that it was closed.  We were hoping to get some pastries for a late dinner/dessert.  The gift shop had lots of beautifully decorated chocolate truffles.  We bought two stout truffles, but haven't eaten them yet.

Since we still wanted sweets for later we went to Dean and Deluca.  We got an eggnog late that was divine.  Ross and I got slices of coffee cake.  His was much better (and bigger) than mine.  I was so stuffed at the end of the night that my tummy hurt--just from being so full.

#10

When we left the movies last night I didn't exactly notice this Whole Foods card on the driver's side window.  At the stop light I lowered the window and pulled it inside.

I think this is odd, but nice.