Throughout the month of December ((haha), I’ll be participating in #reverb13: Reverb is a way to reflect on the past year and project into the next year with a prompt a day for 31 days.
Day 18 – Wear:
What piece of clothing did you wear again and again all throughout the year? Why? Is it all worn out? Are you going to replace it or keep wearing it?
Nothing really comes to mind for this. I have way too much stuff in my closet in general, but at times like this (when I'm on the heavy side of my usual range), I'm happy for the variety of sizes. But even my favorite clothes I try not to wear too often.
If I had to pick my signature piece of clothing for 2013, it was a pair of neon pink pants that I bought at the Gap. I wore them to work once (slightly too casual for the office on a normal day), to book club, to dinner, and a few times in Europe. Unfortunately for me, I wore them on both Christmas card picture days in Europe -- the day we went to Neuchwanstein castle in Germany, and the day we rode on the gondola in Venice. We had a third picture this year that we used in a few cards and it was from the Ponte Rialto in Venice and it was the same day as the gondola ride. So I decided to choose my second favorite Neuchwanstein picture to use in our cards since you couldn't see my pants in it.
I thought the pants were done on the day I wore them in Neuchwanstein. That night, we had dinner in Liechtenstein. The place where we ate had a big salad bar where we made plates before our pizzas came. And as I was eating my salad, a very juicy piece of beet fell off my plate, missed my napkin, and hit my light pink neon pants. Ugh. But I used stain stick on them and it worked -- I wore them again in Venice!
So they are not worn out and if I can lose about 10 pounds and it gets about 40 degrees warmer, I will go back to wearing them.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Saturday, January 11, 2014
#Reverb13, Day 17: 30 Days
Throughout the month of December (errr... January), I’ll be participating in #reverb13: Reverb is a way to reflect on the past year and project into the next year with a prompt a day for 31 days.
Day 17 – 30 Days
They say it takes 30 days to make or break a habit. What did you start? What did you quit?
I'm not sure that the "30 days" rule for habits applies to something that you don't do on a daily basis, but my new 2013 habit was definitely running to work round trip about two days per week for the first 9 months of the year.
And I quit facebook for the year. That was actually a hard habit to break. During TV commercials, while sitting in my car waiting for someone, before I fell asleep, etc., my instinct was to reach for my phone and check FB (I didn't post often, but I liked to "like" and comment and just read). I still reached for my phone, but instead of FB, I played Sudoku usually, and occasionally browsed Pinterest.
But both of those were 2013 things. I haven't run to work yet this year (it doesn't help that it's bitter cold right now), and I have looked at FB twice in 2014 already (definitely nothing like the multiple times per day I was checking before).
Day 17 – 30 Days
They say it takes 30 days to make or break a habit. What did you start? What did you quit?
I'm not sure that the "30 days" rule for habits applies to something that you don't do on a daily basis, but my new 2013 habit was definitely running to work round trip about two days per week for the first 9 months of the year.
And I quit facebook for the year. That was actually a hard habit to break. During TV commercials, while sitting in my car waiting for someone, before I fell asleep, etc., my instinct was to reach for my phone and check FB (I didn't post often, but I liked to "like" and comment and just read). I still reached for my phone, but instead of FB, I played Sudoku usually, and occasionally browsed Pinterest.
But both of those were 2013 things. I haven't run to work yet this year (it doesn't help that it's bitter cold right now), and I have looked at FB twice in 2014 already (definitely nothing like the multiple times per day I was checking before).
Friday, January 10, 2014
#Reverb13, Day 16: 1000 Words
Throughout the month of December, I’ll be participating in #reverb13: Reverb is a way to reflect on the past year and project into the next year with a prompt a day for 31 days.
Uh yeah, I know it's January. I'm behind...
Day 16 – 1000 Words:
There’s the old saying that a photo is worth 1,000 words. Give us a photo with that impact that sums up some significant event of your 2013, or give us 1,000 words about a pivotal moment in 2013.
My husband had surgery in June. He basically felt like he'd been getting ongoing sinus and upper respiratory infections for a majority of the last several winters. His doctor recommended that he have balloon sinuplasty done, and that they repair a deviated septum while they were in there. It wasn't super-serious and it was scheduled in advance. So when a few friends offered to accompany us and stay with me while I waited, I said no, it was no big deal and totally unnecessary.
My husband is older than I am but not "old old" (he's in his 40s), and he works out A LOT, but he has had some heart issues before and he's my world. I mean, I know lots of people say things like that, but I really can't imagine wanting to live my life without him.
And for this surgery, there would be general anesthesia. But I still thought no big deal.
I went to the hospital with him. And being the good wife that I am, I waited until he was taken into the room to change until I ate my breakfast (he was starving).
Then they brought me back to see him one more time before the procedure and talked me through what would happen in the OR and with me (when I'd be updated, etc.). Seeing my husband in that hospital bed, wearing a gown, looking so vulnerable, it scared me. He wasn't even mildly nervous, but I was.
I returned to the waiting room, got the phone call indicating the procedure was underway, and then the waiting began. I worked for the first several hours, but then I started to get really worked up. I should have gotten the second call saying the procedure was over, he was going to recovery, and they'd call again when I could go back to see him.
Eventually, I texted a running buddy whose wife works in another department at the hospital. I told him what was going on and asked if his wife was busy. 7 minutes later a woman I've met only about twice in real life (at a couple parties with running friends). She sat with me and said she'd try to get some more information. She went back to day surgery and returned about 15 minutes later to tell me that it was taking longer than they expected but that it was going fine. She then proceeded to spend her entire lunch hour and breaks for the day sitting there with me as we waited another hour and change for the second phone call.
It finally came, the surgery was over, he was fine, he'd be in recovery and they'd call when he was awake. My running buddy's wife went back to work, and I got back to work on my laptop. When I was finally allowed to go back and see him, my heart hurt all over again. He was all disoriented, gown askew with shoulders exposed, bleeding through gauze taped under his nose, with betadine stains on his body, hooked up to tubes, wearing all kinds of sensors and monitors, with a puffy and swollen face. But he was okay. I hate to say that I cried with relief.
That day he seemed so vulnerable and it made me think about all those bad "what if"s and death and all that. If you'd asked me the week before his surgery, how I felt about him, I would have said that I loved him and in generally still felt like we were newly married. But after that surgery, as corny as it sounds, I feel like he's actually a piece of me. Like a vital organ, not an extra hand or something. It was a pivotal moment in realizing how much I've changed from the totally independent person I was 8 years ago when he was just one of a couple guys I was dating...
In some ways, I would still deny that I'm dependent on him. After all, I have a job that supports me well (and could support both of us). I have a strong family that I love. I have several really, really good girlfriends who are like sisters. And I have a pretty big network of friends that I regularly see for running or otherwise. But when I walked out of the hospital that day to go get the car and drive up to the door where they wheeled him out, there was no denying that my happiness is totally dependent on him. He's just such a big part of my life. I guess most people could say that about their spouses, but I guess his surgery is when it really hit me that he is my life, my happiness and my world.
So during his week of recovery, I worked from home. Even when he was feeling better, I wanted to be by his side, particularly if he was on pain meds. I didn't want him being alone and falling down the stairs in our house or something. And mostly, I just wanted to stay next to him in bed, cuddled close, even with my laptop there and work being done.
Uh yeah, I know it's January. I'm behind...
Day 16 – 1000 Words:
There’s the old saying that a photo is worth 1,000 words. Give us a photo with that impact that sums up some significant event of your 2013, or give us 1,000 words about a pivotal moment in 2013.
My husband had surgery in June. He basically felt like he'd been getting ongoing sinus and upper respiratory infections for a majority of the last several winters. His doctor recommended that he have balloon sinuplasty done, and that they repair a deviated septum while they were in there. It wasn't super-serious and it was scheduled in advance. So when a few friends offered to accompany us and stay with me while I waited, I said no, it was no big deal and totally unnecessary.
My husband is older than I am but not "old old" (he's in his 40s), and he works out A LOT, but he has had some heart issues before and he's my world. I mean, I know lots of people say things like that, but I really can't imagine wanting to live my life without him.
And for this surgery, there would be general anesthesia. But I still thought no big deal.
I went to the hospital with him. And being the good wife that I am, I waited until he was taken into the room to change until I ate my breakfast (he was starving).
Then they brought me back to see him one more time before the procedure and talked me through what would happen in the OR and with me (when I'd be updated, etc.). Seeing my husband in that hospital bed, wearing a gown, looking so vulnerable, it scared me. He wasn't even mildly nervous, but I was.
I returned to the waiting room, got the phone call indicating the procedure was underway, and then the waiting began. I worked for the first several hours, but then I started to get really worked up. I should have gotten the second call saying the procedure was over, he was going to recovery, and they'd call again when I could go back to see him.
Eventually, I texted a running buddy whose wife works in another department at the hospital. I told him what was going on and asked if his wife was busy. 7 minutes later a woman I've met only about twice in real life (at a couple parties with running friends). She sat with me and said she'd try to get some more information. She went back to day surgery and returned about 15 minutes later to tell me that it was taking longer than they expected but that it was going fine. She then proceeded to spend her entire lunch hour and breaks for the day sitting there with me as we waited another hour and change for the second phone call.
It finally came, the surgery was over, he was fine, he'd be in recovery and they'd call when he was awake. My running buddy's wife went back to work, and I got back to work on my laptop. When I was finally allowed to go back and see him, my heart hurt all over again. He was all disoriented, gown askew with shoulders exposed, bleeding through gauze taped under his nose, with betadine stains on his body, hooked up to tubes, wearing all kinds of sensors and monitors, with a puffy and swollen face. But he was okay. I hate to say that I cried with relief.
That day he seemed so vulnerable and it made me think about all those bad "what if"s and death and all that. If you'd asked me the week before his surgery, how I felt about him, I would have said that I loved him and in generally still felt like we were newly married. But after that surgery, as corny as it sounds, I feel like he's actually a piece of me. Like a vital organ, not an extra hand or something. It was a pivotal moment in realizing how much I've changed from the totally independent person I was 8 years ago when he was just one of a couple guys I was dating...
In some ways, I would still deny that I'm dependent on him. After all, I have a job that supports me well (and could support both of us). I have a strong family that I love. I have several really, really good girlfriends who are like sisters. And I have a pretty big network of friends that I regularly see for running or otherwise. But when I walked out of the hospital that day to go get the car and drive up to the door where they wheeled him out, there was no denying that my happiness is totally dependent on him. He's just such a big part of my life. I guess most people could say that about their spouses, but I guess his surgery is when it really hit me that he is my life, my happiness and my world.
So during his week of recovery, I worked from home. Even when he was feeling better, I wanted to be by his side, particularly if he was on pain meds. I didn't want him being alone and falling down the stairs in our house or something. And mostly, I just wanted to stay next to him in bed, cuddled close, even with my laptop there and work being done.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
#Reverb13, Day 14: Feast
Throughout the month of December, I’ll be participating in #reverb13: Reverb is a way to reflect on the past year and project into the next year with a prompt a day for 31 days.
Day 14 – Feast:
What was the best meal you had in 2013? Was it slurped standing over the kitchen counter? Was the menu written in a language you understood? Were you alone? Or at a table filled with family and friends?
This one is easy. There is a very clear winner for "meal of the year," and it also takes the title for "restaurant meal of my lifetime".
We went to the French Laundry at the end of October (or beginning of November?) when we were on vacation in Northern California.
I first heard about this restaurant in 2003 when my best friend and her husband went to Northern California for their honeymoon. I remember her telling me about trying to get reservations and how happy they were when they got in the very week they were there because of a cancellation. When she got back from their honeymoon, she raved about it. Their check had been over $500 but she said it had been the best meal of their lives. And when my husband and I got married in Italy, we had about 10-15 courses of food at our reception (typical Southern Italian style), and they said they'd now had two of those meals: The French Laundry and our wedding reception. While the food at our wedding was good, and while she didn't compare the two in any way other than shear number of courses, obviously the French Laundry would win out for quality (not to say I didn't love everything I ate at our wedding...).
In short, The French Laundry restaurant is small and takes reservations 2 months prior and always fills up on the very day reservations open. I tried calling in late August and early September to attempt to get reservations on any day we'd be there for vacation (a total of 6 days). After hundreds of phone calls each day, I'd finally connect and they'd be full already but put me on the wait list.
But a few weeks later I got a phone call indicating there had been a cancellation and asking if I was still interested. Uhhh, yeah!!!
I was glad we found out in September because it gave me time to make sure I could afford the meal. I'm totally anti-credit-card debt, and I knew our dinner check would be over $500 (little did I know, it would actually be over $1,000 for the two of us), so I was able to spend wisely in the months before our trip (unfortunately, we were in Europe for about 3 weeks of that, and I was spending money like it grew on trees!) (but the Europe money was in the budget, so it was okay, it was just a matter of being prepared for the spending spree to continue pretty much from late September until Christmas Eve!).
We planned to go to Napa and go wine tasting in the afternoon before dinner but we ended up scrapping that plan. We knew we'd be pretty dressed up for dinner, and we didn't want to wear that stuff wine tasting. We knew we'd drink a lot wine tasting, and we didn't want to be intoxicated (or buzzed) for a meal that special. And we didn't know how we'd kill the couple hours after most vineyards closed and before The French Laundry reservations.
So instead that day we did the sights of San Fran. We drove across the Bay Bridge and went to a lighthouse, we went for an awesome run, we saw the sea lions at the pier, etc. Then we drove to Yountsville for dinner.
Without further ado, photos of our meal at The French Laundry. We went with my brother and sister-in-law. For the record, both of them and my husband were appalled that I was taking photos of the food. I asked the waiter if other people did it and he said about 1/3 of their tables on any given night are taking photos of the food. So it wasn't as tacky as they thought -- well, maybe it was, but I had lots of company in my tackiness!
And feel special, this blog was about 80% of the reason I took the photos (my own bad memory is the other 20%).
Walking in:
Those little touches:
Hope you can read this, it's the menu I ordered:
And here is the menu that everyone else at our table ordered:
Not on the menu, but what we started with:
This was the "oysters and pearls", "sabayon" of pearl tapioca with island creek oysters and white sturgeon caviar, that everyone but me ordered:
The horseradish and la ratte potato "vichyssoise":
Roll 1:
What my husband and brother ordered -- musquee de provence pumpkin risotto, "castelmagno" mousse and shaved white truffles from Alba:
Jacobsen orchard persimmon salad:
The crispy garnet yam, one of my favorites:
Carmelized red fuseau sunchoke "potage" (one of the only courses that I didn't love):
Roll 2:
Sweet butter-poached Maine lobster (I believe, not something I ate):
And I think this is the "pave" of Atlantic fluke "confit a la minute" (again, not something I got so I'm not sure what it was):
I believe this is the devil's gulch ranch rabbit that everyone else got:
Hand-rolled whole milk ricotta "gnudi" (because of my nut allergy, this was my replacement for the chestnut ravioli course):
The white truffles from Alba, pre-shaving:
The all-day braised elysian fields farm lamb shank (not mine, obvs):
This was my favorite part of the meal -- the hand cut tagliatelle with shaved white truffles from Alba:
Not sure, but I think this is andante dairy "acapella", slow-roasted garden beets, young fennel, ruby beet essence, and English walnut jam (not for me):
"Terrine de bleu d'Avergne", riesling gelee, marinated grapes, garden mache, black pepper shortbread and syrah "gastrique" (insanely, insanely good, another favorite):
Wine, water, sister-in-law:
The beginning of the assortment of desserts:
Can't remember what this was, but looking at the picture now, there is a lot of extra saliva being generated -- it was amazing, another favorite:
The dessert truffle guy, showing us the options. I believe there were 7 different kinds and each person got to choose as many as they wanted to sample:
I got three kinds -- each one divine, another favorite part of the meal...:
Coffee and doughnuts, very, very good:
Some Halloween spirit, special shortbread cookies, we also got some to take home:
Apparently another coffee and doughnuts picture?:
And oh yes, the check. Because only 3 of the 4 of us ordered $175 supplement options, we decided not to split the check down the middle (plus it was a younger brother...), so I think our share was $1050.
More dessert:
There you have it. The priciest meal I ate in 2013. The priciest meal I ate in my life. The best meal I ate in 2013. The best restaurant meal I ate in my life! That's pretty much my The French Laundry review. It was quite the feast. Certainly something to experience once in a lifetime, and something we'll fondly remember.
Day 14 – Feast:
What was the best meal you had in 2013? Was it slurped standing over the kitchen counter? Was the menu written in a language you understood? Were you alone? Or at a table filled with family and friends?
This one is easy. There is a very clear winner for "meal of the year," and it also takes the title for "restaurant meal of my lifetime".
We went to the French Laundry at the end of October (or beginning of November?) when we were on vacation in Northern California.
I first heard about this restaurant in 2003 when my best friend and her husband went to Northern California for their honeymoon. I remember her telling me about trying to get reservations and how happy they were when they got in the very week they were there because of a cancellation. When she got back from their honeymoon, she raved about it. Their check had been over $500 but she said it had been the best meal of their lives. And when my husband and I got married in Italy, we had about 10-15 courses of food at our reception (typical Southern Italian style), and they said they'd now had two of those meals: The French Laundry and our wedding reception. While the food at our wedding was good, and while she didn't compare the two in any way other than shear number of courses, obviously the French Laundry would win out for quality (not to say I didn't love everything I ate at our wedding...).
In short, The French Laundry restaurant is small and takes reservations 2 months prior and always fills up on the very day reservations open. I tried calling in late August and early September to attempt to get reservations on any day we'd be there for vacation (a total of 6 days). After hundreds of phone calls each day, I'd finally connect and they'd be full already but put me on the wait list.
But a few weeks later I got a phone call indicating there had been a cancellation and asking if I was still interested. Uhhh, yeah!!!
I was glad we found out in September because it gave me time to make sure I could afford the meal. I'm totally anti-credit-card debt, and I knew our dinner check would be over $500 (little did I know, it would actually be over $1,000 for the two of us), so I was able to spend wisely in the months before our trip (unfortunately, we were in Europe for about 3 weeks of that, and I was spending money like it grew on trees!) (but the Europe money was in the budget, so it was okay, it was just a matter of being prepared for the spending spree to continue pretty much from late September until Christmas Eve!).
We planned to go to Napa and go wine tasting in the afternoon before dinner but we ended up scrapping that plan. We knew we'd be pretty dressed up for dinner, and we didn't want to wear that stuff wine tasting. We knew we'd drink a lot wine tasting, and we didn't want to be intoxicated (or buzzed) for a meal that special. And we didn't know how we'd kill the couple hours after most vineyards closed and before The French Laundry reservations.
So instead that day we did the sights of San Fran. We drove across the Bay Bridge and went to a lighthouse, we went for an awesome run, we saw the sea lions at the pier, etc. Then we drove to Yountsville for dinner.
Without further ado, photos of our meal at The French Laundry. We went with my brother and sister-in-law. For the record, both of them and my husband were appalled that I was taking photos of the food. I asked the waiter if other people did it and he said about 1/3 of their tables on any given night are taking photos of the food. So it wasn't as tacky as they thought -- well, maybe it was, but I had lots of company in my tackiness!
And feel special, this blog was about 80% of the reason I took the photos (my own bad memory is the other 20%).
Walking in:
Those little touches:
Hope you can read this, it's the menu I ordered:
And here is the menu that everyone else at our table ordered:
Not on the menu, but what we started with:
This was the "oysters and pearls", "sabayon" of pearl tapioca with island creek oysters and white sturgeon caviar, that everyone but me ordered:
The horseradish and la ratte potato "vichyssoise":
Roll 1:
What my husband and brother ordered -- musquee de provence pumpkin risotto, "castelmagno" mousse and shaved white truffles from Alba:
Jacobsen orchard persimmon salad:
The crispy garnet yam, one of my favorites:
Carmelized red fuseau sunchoke "potage" (one of the only courses that I didn't love):
Roll 2:
Sweet butter-poached Maine lobster (I believe, not something I ate):
And I think this is the "pave" of Atlantic fluke "confit a la minute" (again, not something I got so I'm not sure what it was):
Hand-rolled whole milk ricotta "gnudi" (because of my nut allergy, this was my replacement for the chestnut ravioli course):
The white truffles from Alba, pre-shaving:
The all-day braised elysian fields farm lamb shank (not mine, obvs):
This was my favorite part of the meal -- the hand cut tagliatelle with shaved white truffles from Alba:
Not sure, but I think this is andante dairy "acapella", slow-roasted garden beets, young fennel, ruby beet essence, and English walnut jam (not for me):
"Terrine de bleu d'Avergne", riesling gelee, marinated grapes, garden mache, black pepper shortbread and syrah "gastrique" (insanely, insanely good, another favorite):
Wine, water, sister-in-law:
The beginning of the assortment of desserts:
Can't remember what this was, but looking at the picture now, there is a lot of extra saliva being generated -- it was amazing, another favorite:
The dessert truffle guy, showing us the options. I believe there were 7 different kinds and each person got to choose as many as they wanted to sample:
I got three kinds -- each one divine, another favorite part of the meal...:
Coffee and doughnuts, very, very good:
Some Halloween spirit, special shortbread cookies, we also got some to take home:
Apparently another coffee and doughnuts picture?:
And oh yes, the check. Because only 3 of the 4 of us ordered $175 supplement options, we decided not to split the check down the middle (plus it was a younger brother...), so I think our share was $1050.
There you have it. The priciest meal I ate in 2013. The priciest meal I ate in my life. The best meal I ate in 2013. The best restaurant meal I ate in my life! That's pretty much my The French Laundry review. It was quite the feast. Certainly something to experience once in a lifetime, and something we'll fondly remember.
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