Fremch Laundry

Just got back from Napa, and of course, a blog about French Laundry is in order.

I had my expectations up really high, because it was such a bitch to get the reservation. Recap: I read on the website that they only take reservations 2 months in advance, no earlier than that. So I called on June 14th, at 10am, when they open their phonelines. Busy tone. Tried redialling till 11ish, till I got through, and it was fully booked! Booked TWO months in advance! I couldn't believe it! So the next day, I got Deron to try calling the same time I did, and he was also clicking opentable with his right hand, and redialling his phone with his left (which was kinda comical, but we were too annoyed to laugh about it). He got through at 1030, and it was BOOKED FULLY again!

Finally I called my Nordstrom Visa Signature concierge, and got them to take care of it. They said so many people called in, they dedicated a whole TEAM to doing that! Can you imagine working in somewhere as glamorous as Nordstrom, and your whole career is dedicated to calling in for reservations at French Laundry? Man, that would be sad. Not that I'm dissing them! I heart them cuz they got me that reservation!

So there was only one menu - the tasting menu which consists of nine courses. I was so stuffed at the end of the meal, I wanted to roll over and faint.

Did my hair 5 min before the meal. Ghetto style.
Calla lillies. My favorite!

Excited!

Le Menu!

Menu (according to me, if you want the precise description, look at the pic:
complimentary

1) small puff pastry with aged gyrere cheese
Kinda boring, but tastes good, sorta like a cheezit, hot.

2) salmon tartare with red onion marmalade and creme fraiche on a sesame wrap
Amazing, the flavors of the salmon blends right in with the sweetness of the marmalade, and buttered by the creme fraiche.

1st: Caviar with Pearls: sabayon of creek oysters and stuargon caviar with tapioca pearls in a butter chive sauce
Tastes straight from the ocean, but not overpowering, all thanks to the butter sauce

2nd: Foie gras terrine with white honey glaze and hazelnut puree in an aged balsamic with figs, served with a brioche and Jurassic salt
The hazelnut was amazing with the foie gras, the overall taste was great, but for 30 bucks more, I'd expected more foie gras. The taste of foie gras was very faint, and not very satisfying.

3rd: Cucumber-cured kanpachi belly
This was very refreshing, but

Deron's sauteed branzino fish was way better. It was just cooked to perfection.

4th: Sweet butter-poached maine lobster tail in a vanilla-saffron emulsion with wilted arrowleaf spinach. My fav! The tail was cooked to perfection, very tender and very sweet. It was heavenly. I thought this was the only dish worth of a three michelin star.

5th: Veal heart with swiss chard and comte cheese "pain perdu".
Meh. The veal heart tastes like gamey salami, but not as salty as salami. Meh.

Deron's white quail was awesome, but Whisk n ladle's quail was on par with that.

6th: Lamb chops with pearl barley, summer squash, marinated toybox tomatoes in a spanish caper sauce.
Good, cooked perfectly, but boring.

7th: Boho Bel cheese with griddled cornbread, with pickled blueberries and australian truffle.
Cheese was good, but not exceptional.

8th: Watermelon Sorbet with compressed summer melon and garden mint and persian lime.
Very refreshing, the compressed melon had a crisp juicy amazing texture.

9th: Peaches and Cream dessert: Very ripe peaches coated in a sponge like cake, served with vanilla bean basil ice cream.

Marshmallow brulee tart.

The peaches were AMAZING. Nice dessert.

I'm not saying that it's not high-quality food, just that Joel Robuchon was way more superior in the presentation, and the decor of the restaurant was so much prettier. The more important difference is that for Robuchon's food, you look at it, and you imagine how good it will taste, and it tastes far better than your wildest imagination. For French Laundry, the taste falls flat. There was no imagination nor surprise in the food. I loved the imagination and creativity in Joel Robuchon's foods. I will definitely bring my folks there when I graduate, that's daym certain!

P.S: Sorry some of the pics are so dark. My camera is dying. :(
Happy! :) It's not an engagement ring, if you're wondering. Just a lovely present from a lovely person. :)

Dinner tapas

Did a small party a few weeks ago, for a keg opening at my place. Wanted to blog about the food I made before I forget...

Did a fresh avocado and grapefruit salad with arugula, fresh corn (off the cob) and lemon zest, in a blossom honey dressing ...

Everything was made from scratch, cuz I hate pre-cooked foods...

Bruschetta, also made from tomatoes, and basil (from my basil plant) with tons of garlic for a punch!

Brussel sprouts (farm-fresh) in a lemon white wine sauce..

Sautéed (three kind) mushrooms, with caramelized onions and a shard of parmesan for kicks.

Finally, a 2 minute poached egg in tomato consumme, topped with tomato jam, parmesan cheese, and basil. My personal fav. :)

Celebritiez.

So, I have a closeted unhealthy love for trashy magazines, and subscribe to US weekly. I have to say, out of the trashy gossip magazines, this is at least honest (does not report fake pregnancies etc). I only read it when I'm on the elliptical at the gym, so when my magazines build up, I know it's time to hit the gym. Lately, I've been seeing a bunch of celebs pics here in San Diego! I feel so cheated cuz I NEVER see any celebs around! Have to get out more...

For instance, this week's copy, I have the following celebrities showing up here...

Who's wearing Dior in San Diego?


Eva mendes!

And Brangelina buying pillowcases in Solana Beach. I go to the farmers' market and restaurants there frequently!

Liv Tyler! I love her! :(

On a unrelated note, they did a feature of celebs with the beauty products they use, and I use two of them!

Kim Kardashian with the same brand of moisturizer, toner, and beauty goods I use.

And the Olsen twin with my conditioner!

Makes me feel like a celeb! :P I still remember the time when Jason drove me to LAX, and got me an obscenely big bouquet of flowers (for no reason), and the staff asked if I was a movie star. Hoho. Cheap thrill.

Just got my very weathered jeweller polished and cleaned (they had to send them to the NY office), and they're so pretty now! :D

And my new pair of shoes. Love!

My foodzzzzzz.

I have been really diligent about cooking at home this week! Lemme show yer.

I made tilapia with ginger and tomato garnishing in a soy sauce, and large seared scallops covered by a bed of fresh corn and tomatoes (and fried shallots), with tomato jam rice!

Also, I got HUGE colossal shrimps from Point Loma Seafoods, and so I cooked it in butter, and doused it with a stir-fry garlic soy paste with organic mushrooms. Even I have to admit they taste good. Hehe.

And tonight I made pan-fried tofu with ground pork, topped with sauteed parsley.

Okay I know this is my third blog post for the day. Will stop now and go to bed. Nights!

P.S: This made me laugh. Chanced upon it when I was walking by the beach. :)

Oh well...

I saw a youtube video of PAYCO performing at the Esplanade today... and it just fills me up with nostalgia. I wish I cherished the times more, all ten years I was with PAYCO. The most junior and youngest kids in our time have now emerged to be the leaders of the orchestra, and when I look at them, I remember how it was to be part of a big group of kids/teens from very diverse backgrounds. Saturday afternoons were nothing more than just hard core music practice, and Saturday evenings were spent having dinner at selected malls as a big group, and just sitting around and just enjoying one another's company. Nothing more. No pretense, just plenty of warmth. One can only get that sense of warmth and comfort when he or she is in the company of individuals who, well, grew up with him/her. I really miss the good old days... and wish I could go back to it, but I can't.

But I know that I'll look back onto my life twenty years from now, and ache as bad as I do now, to go back into the past. So, for the sake of the future me, I have to cherish and appreciate every single day.

"Today is the youngest you can ever be for the rest of your life."

Sometimes, I feel that people age too fast but the mind has a hard time of adapting to it. When I was 18, I thought people in their twenties were positively ancient. But now, I don't feel ancient, like I should. Rather, I just feel like a 18-year-old trapped in my body. I don't feel much older, but my ID says otherwise. Sigh.

I don't feel unhappy, really. I just get pensive sometimes... heh.

11 followers? And Vegas!

So I was just browsing my blog and I suddenly realize that I have 11 followers! Which is an astounding number considering that I didn't even know I had even one follower! Maaaan, makes me happy! :D Thanks guys!

So Vegas came and went. It was a pretty sweet trip, and worked out really nicely logistically. And the best thing is, us girls didn't have to pay NOR queue for entry into any of the clubs we went into, and 2 out of 3, we had free drinks, more than we could drink! It was ironic because the only time we had to get in line was the brunch buffet at Paris hotel on the last day. And the boys were like sniggering at us because I think secretly they were bored with all the bragging we were doing for the past couple of days (we all have gotten really big-headed.) Hehe. Who wouldn't!

First up we went to Tao. We stayed at the Venetian, so it wasn't hard getting on the VIP list and getting the guys in as well. It was reeeallly sweet, showing up and getting straight to the front of the line when you see the line go around and around, and people in the line looking fed up! Hoho!

The girls had free drinks, so we got the guys drinks too. It was really nice. :) Everyone was fascinated with the toilet doors that becomes opaque once you lock the door. Heh.

I think the highlight of my trip was when we went to XS. Seriously, the first time I went to XS last time, it was a feat trying to get in. You get on this promoter list (so you don't have to pay for cover, they only put u on if you're a big pack of girls), but you still have to get in line for like 1/2 an hour cuz well, there are MANY packs of girls in Vegas. This time was unreal. We got hooked up by this guy who knows the doorman of XS, and we showed up at midnight (which in any other case, you can forget about getting in), and we got to pass by hoards of people waiting in line right to the FRONT! Daym, if people can actually shoot daggers from their eyes, I would have died like twice. Hehe! And all this without paying a dime! :D

We went to Encore beach club (for free, no line too!) and went to watch KA. Got to see Deron drunk for the first time, and it was very entertaining, to say the least. He turns into this loud obnoxious drunk who yells across the craps table and waves wildly and bffs with everyone at the gambling table! Hehe.

Gonna post some pics up. Yay pictures!

The girls at Encore beach club. I am the whitest, cuz Diane was taking this picture. Hehe.

Deron (pretty drunk at this point) and I at Tao.

Me and Paula! Daym, those Brazilians are hawt!

Me and A-cakes! :D
The four of us (Jenn's taking the pic) in our suite.

Our room ( I swear this pic was taken 15 min after we reached the room, but it looked messy already. -_-).

Paula making herself at home!

People were dancing in the pool in XS! How cool!

Finally a good pic of Jenn and I. She's very fussy.

After KA! :)

Our sink was used for beer and mixers... :P

Our alcohol collection that would shame any modest bar.... :P

The water, which was only fit for the floor.

Inside of XS. Isn't it gorgeous?? My fav club hands down...

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Ahhhhhh, I love it.

Will update about food in the next post! :D

New post! :D Just updates :)

Time for my monthly post! :) It's about time now, you'd think. I know I've already attributed the lack of posts to the lack of time too many times now, so I'm just going to come clean and say it: I've been too lazy to write. Ha! Never been a big fan of writing, and there's no explosive news in my life that I would like to declare to the world, so it's just hard to find that motivation. Gonna upload some recent pics and snapshots of my life in recent times. :)

Last Saturday was Deron's sister's wedding. Never really did fancy the groom very much but since I don't predict him coming across my blog, I think I'm pretty safe about discussing my feelings towards him. Essentially, a good-for-nothing who was born in a stinking rich family, and never really amounted to very much.

Anyways, it was a beautiful wedding, and the best thing about it is that it brought a lot of Deron's family to town, so it was a party for the whole week of the wedding. Woohoo!

I was vain and got a headpiece for myself at freepeople.com for the wedding. Hehe.

Avella, the flower girl! She's Deron's niece and we like each other loads. She likes to hang out with me and her mum says she loves me. But of course. Woot!

My favorite toddler in the world, Oscar, and his dad. He's the smartest kid in the world, only 3 and he talks like a small adult. If you ask him what SCUBA stands for, he'll find the closest step to stand on (so he can look taller and more impressive), and yell out "self contained underwater breathing apparatus"! And his dad swears he only told him that one time too! Amazing memory. :)

His sister Ione and his mum Cindy! :) Cuteeee.

I asked Oscar to pose for a picture and he decided to start picking his nose to antagonize me. He's the sweetest thing, the last time we left him when we left Portland, he was wailing by the door. The cutest!

Deron and I at the vegetarian reception dinner. Everyone went home hungry and split our separate ways to get burgers and pizza after that. Ha ha.

Avella and I! She was very distracted at the wedding, so all we could get out of her was this very forced smile. Cute though! :)

Tomorrow's the 4th of July. Come to think of it, it's my first 4th of July here despite being here for sooo long ( I always am not in the country when it's July. Odd. :p) You know, I've always wonder why people always say 4th of July instead of Independence Day. Isn't it a mouthful to say the date? Anyways, gonna go watch the fireworks display. Woohoo! Prolly gonna take the bike up Mt Soledad, and watch many fireworks displays at the same time. :)))))

BTW, I managed to get reservations at the French Laundry for next month! It's only the other 3-michelin star restaurant on the whole of the west coast, if you're wondering. Hoho! I'll blog about it just like I did with Joel Robuchon. This place seems a little cheaper (250 bucks for 9 courses) but VERY snotty. It's ridiculously hard to get a reservation! You can only make reservations 2 months in advance, and if you call exactly 2 months in advance at 10am when they open, you can't get through till 1030am or so, when the receptionist will tell you the whole place is booked! For dinner and lunch! It's crazy! Finally I gave up and got Nordstrom concierge service to do it. Apparently they get so many requests for that, they set up a WHOLE TEAM dedicated to making reservations! No wonder I can't get through. Damn it. If you google how to get a reservation at french laundry on google, you get so many articles about it, it's amazing. Anyways, google French Laundry and read it up on Wikipedia. Hehe. Then envy me. Hohohoho! :P

I'll blog about it I promise. :)

Going to Vegas with the lab in a week. Happy! Research is not so great now, so it's time to bail and enjoy myself before I shoot myself in the head over research. Heh.