Saturday, January 17, 2009
Posted at 4:51:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Hahahahaha... just finished watching all our Miracle Fruit "Flavor Tripping Party" videos whilst LOLing. Unfortunately, I am a total mumbler in them so I don't know if you'll be able to hear me if I put them online! We ate the Miracle Fruit about 2 1/2 hours ago now, and my tongue still tastes good, although the effect has long since worn off. Report to follow, but I must say that the Miracle Fruit effect is not NEARLY as extreme as you read on the Internet. We were not gulping down vinegar like apple juice, scarfing limes and grapefruits, turning goat's cheese into cheesecake, or swigging straight cranberry juice. And rhubarb = "like a sugar stick"? Uh... no. But it was interesting and good.
Here's the first course of our experimental meal. Looks nice, doesn't it?
Friday, January 16, 2009
Posted at 1:28:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
So, Cafe Routier on my birthday, and no huge snowstorm to prevent it! I hinted to Dean that I'd really love to go there for my birthday... it's 40 minutes away, and they don't have much on the menu for vegetarians (although of course the chef makes up something inventive for Dean), so I wouldn't normally suggest it for dinner, but since it was my birthday and he wanted to know where I really wanted to go, that's what I picked. Good pick, as always. (I took the Gs there when they visited Westbrook the past two springs, and we all thought it was pretty clearly the best restaurant in Connecticut, food-wise.) The route there's nice and smooth and speedy, so it wasn't bad at all.
And I got to eat skate! (Remember my skate pal from Block Island this summer??) Okay, okay, it didn't really look like my drawing above. But I tried to snap a photo with my Treo and it didn't turn out very well in the dark restaurant. Plus, my picture is how I imagined it. :-) Here's what it really looked like (but, you know, more appetizing than a grainy dark photo where none of the colors show very well). The leafy dark stuff is spinach, the little round green things are capers (yum! there were lots!), and the plump citrusy things on top of the skate fillet were cooked lemon pieces. They were tart and juicy and very tasty. The skate itself was delicious. It was incredibly tender, moist, and good. (I whimpered when I ate the last bite. It kind of reminded me of shad. Pretty high compliment, huh?) I would love to eat it again.
Oh yeah, we also shared a side of Cafe Routier's famous fries, aka frites, which Susie has mentioned me to several times in glowing terms. They were insanely good, and I'm not even a fan of French fries usually. We ate them all. The best part was the dipping sauce. (It sort of reminded me of the sauce on a Dano's fresh catch sandwich!)
I also ordered, of course, creme brulée for dessert. I thought the creme brulée at the restaurant Diane, June, Sam and I visited in Raleigh was exceptionally good (and it was!) but when I tasted Cafe Routier's creme brulée again I realized that there's no contest. I didn't remember just how good it was because it's impossible to remember something that good. The texture and the taste (all the little black speckles from the real vanilla beans!) are just amazing. Best creme brulée ever! (Possibly best dessert ever.)
As I was finishing my creme brulée, a guy from the restaurant (not our waiter, but a more higher-up kind of guy) came over to our table and asked, "Laura?" I said, "Yes?" thinking Dean had told them it was my birthday or something. But no, he shook my hand, saying he wanted to let me know how much they appreciate my blog (that's what he said, "your blog") (!) and that dessert was on the house. I could barely remember what he said afterwards, I was so flattered and smiling and taken off guard. I don't even know how he recognised me! The reservation wasn't under my name or anything. I felt like Cafe Routier's own little celebrity. :-) Wow. He was very professional and also very very nice. I really don't see how my goofy stream-of-brain entries can influence anyone to visit Cafe Routier, but, if it's true, then that certainly pleases me very much. I've only ever written the truth!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Got the sea salt & vinegar chips (yeah!), cottage cheese, blue cheese, granny smith apple, and pineapple! I'm all tired out today, so the Flavor Tripping Party is set for Saturday when we'll have more time/energy to enjoy it. The lighting will be better then, too (I want to take videos of our reactions!). I felt really worn down and not-good this morning, but I'm a lot better now (typical; it's night!).
Posted at 6:02:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Too much excitement! Tomorrow's the Battlestar Galactica final-ten-episodes premiere!
Patrick McGoohan died, on my birthday! :-(
Posted at 12:12:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
I researched what to eat with Miracle Fruit this morning, and brought a list of ideas to Whole Foods. (Already had some of this stuff, natch.) Here's my list, redone to include both stuff I wanted to get and stuff I actually did get (some of which wasn't on the original list). The items without checkmarks are the ones I didn't get (yet). Tomorrow's supposed to be another snow day, but if it's not I'll try to get them.
Posted at 8:19:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I'd never had Humboldt Fog cheese before, and I asked the cheesemonger about it. (This was the first time I'd ever talked to the cheesemonger; he's scary!) He let me try a little piece before I bought it, and it was amaaaaaaazing! Wow. I only bought a tiny piece, since it's really expensive, and, plus, I don't want to gorge on it! The Bucheron cheese was also really good.
And yeah, they really did have rhubarb at Whole Foods, even though it's highly out of season! Apparently I'm super-lucky and the short rhubarb season of Holland is right now. When I paid for it, the cashier didn't know what it was, and the bagger commented, "Looks like tongues!" Hahaha!
I can't believe the miracle fruit is already here! I wasn't expecting it until tomorrow. (I'm not ready!) I am really tired today. (It's so so so cold; not sure if that has anything to do with it, though.) I think I probably overexuberanced myself with all those exclamation-mark filled posts yesterday. "You know what happens when you have too much fun." (If you recognize who that's a quote from, you win a prize.) I need to post about Cafe Routier but first I need some energy!
Posted at 5:46:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
The miracle fruit is here already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(that's a big hunk of dry ice, wrapped in brown paper, inside a styrofoam cooler, and the little ziplock of miracle fruit in my hand)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Posted at 5:07:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
My birthday jinx is so OVER!
Fantastic things from today:
- Numb eyeballs! I went to the ophthalmologist (aka Smart Dr. Eye), and he put these drops in my eyes, without telling me what they were or why he was doing it or the fact that they were going to make my eyeballs NUMB! I assumed they were just normal lubricating-type eyedrops and had to ask him a couple of minutes later, "Uh... are my eyeballs supposed be numb? Am I going to be able to see when I put my contacts back on?" He was like, "Yeah, it's the drops. They're not that strong." I have no idea why he even did it. Anyway, I liked the numb eyeballs. They felt cool. It lasted for about 15 minutes or so after I left, too...
- Good cream-colored pants at Uptown Consignment! and I wasn't even going to try them on!
- All three of my interlibrary loan books (incl. 2 FHBurnett!) were waiting for me at the library, even though I was only expecting one of them (I thought, "this must be my lucky day!" then instantly realized "!!")
- Two resplendent e-mails from Jan, and when I got home there were packages. Doorbell-ringing packages. Two birthday presents from my Gs (!) and a bunch of computer stuff for Dean. One of them was RAM for my computer, so now it's extra-extra-speedy.
- An e-mail from Wendy with a poem written exclusively for me! It's mine completely, and it's about ALB! I loved it SO much, it brought tears to my eyes. (My eyeballs weren't numb anymore by that point.) It's not just a poem, either; it's a good poem. A million thanks, my dear cousin.
[Edit: I took twenty-five thousand birthday self-portraits! It's a WangPaul of narcissistic photos!
1) Me in my afternoon outfit, all anti-linear, slightly crazy, and happy. This is the sweater that I took in at the seams this fall (I wrote about the zigzaggery on ALB), so the arms are super-skinny and the body isn't all too-big on me anymore. But I still didn't wear it because it was a little uncomfortable and just wasn't quite right yet. Yesterday I put this sweater in the washing machine on HOT and MEAN (it's cashmere, so you're not supposed to do that), using Dr. Bonner's Magic SOAP, then dried it in the dryer (also hot and mean cycle) and brushed it all over with a Magik Jeeves brush. It didn't felt, but it got super fluffy and soft and wonderful. (The sweater torture was inspired by an e-mail about felting/fulling from Susie.) Then I cut off the excess fabric next to the seam I'd sewed. (I was scared to do that before, but it didn't unravel.) Now this sweater is officially HEAVEN. I always loved the sweater for obvious reasons (it's ALB-colored!) but I haven't worn it in recent years because it was too big on me and I don't like my clothes oversized anymore. It is SO improved!!! And it is SO soft. So I wore the new phoenixed version of the sweater TODAY.
2) Me in my hanging-around-at-home outfit. It's my new PJ pants I bought yesterday at Anthropologie, my fishbone socks, and my Milo in Maine jellyfish shirt from Etsy! Two versions: 1) good view of jelly shirt and, B) good view of fish socks and pants (sort of; they actually have some nice details that you can only see standing up). Isn't my jelly shirt insanely cool?
3) Me in my out-to-dinner outfit. It's cold, so I didn't wear a dress. Instead I wore my persian lamb (aka "shorthaired poodle")- textured skirt (the one I made in September '06) and my alpaca sweater, with offwhite tights and sparkly stockings on top of the tights. It was a genius invention! Looked fancy but was still warm. (But my legs don't show up in the picture. Oh well.) I'm also wearing my crystal necklace that belonged to Grandmother Dreher. It's very sparkly and beautiful (a lot prettier than it looks in this dark grainy photo!). We went to Cafe Routier for dinner! (More on that later. Need time to write proper entry!) I really like my head in this picture; I look like me in it.]
Posted at 12:28:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Breakfast! 1) Sunnyside egg with crab, matcha salt, and the last of the caviar, and B) Pink grapefruit! Cut with my super-nifty heirloom grapefruit knife. I ate both halves, all by myself! (Usually I share one with Dean.)
!!! Just got this e-mail from FedEx:
Posted at 11:36:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
FERNANDO ARISTIZABAL of MIRACLE FRUITS EXCHANGE, INC. sent LAURA
For real????
PETIX 1 FedEx 2Day package(s).
This shipment is scheduled to be sent on 01/13/2009.
Wow! My birthday is officially off to a great start! I just got a Happy Birthday e-mail from Galactica Watercooler! How cool is that? (Very cool, let me tell you. I adore GWC.) The best part is that it starts off "Hello McGeeIsTheMan," since that's my username on the forum. Hahaha! McGee is the man. Speaking of which, I get to watch "Homecoming" today!
Posted at 1:28:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Laura: "Oh boy, I get to open this present tomorrow!"
Posted at 10:31:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Dean, in the next room: "What present?"
Laura: "From my sister! I wonder what it is? ...A new toothbrush!"
Dean: "Huh?"
Laura: "To use if you have toothpaste fondue!"
Dean: "I don't think she'd give you a new toothbrush."
Since I pretended my birthday was yesterday, today it felt like it was all over already (even though it's actually tomorrow). It was great! No evil birthday looming over my head! Actually I already had a great birthday this year, so I'm not even scared of the real day.
Posted at 10:12:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I even broke out of my huge can't-wake-up-until-1,000,000 o'clock vicious cycle and got up nice and early this morning, went to NEAC, and then drove to Evergreen Walk. I had fun putzing around Anthropologie and even got a new pair of PJ pants that were on sale. They're stripey. Afterwards I stopped at Staples on the Ber to get an item for Dean, and the cashier gushed about how cool our last name is. Ha! I'll admit Petix is a pretty cool name, although not quite as cool as Whaples. :-)
I just checked, and my next Friday the 13th birthday will be in 2012! That is fantastic, since Friday the 13th is my lucky day, and 2012 will be a significant birthday for me!
Posted at 9:25:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
We went to Novaki's for my fake birthday! It was perfect: cappuccino and hot chocolate, a slice of cappuccino cake, and two ricotta cannoli, no nuts. Dean's hot chocolate was beautiful. While we were there, some ham came in for their trib and Novaki faked being friendly to them. Poor Novaki! It snowed more last night, icy fingers on my chaise window. We brushed off the Beag after Novaki's, and it wasn't much; only four inches or so. But it's cold! My fingers nearly dropped off. I am wearing one of my modernist band-aids on my injured finger! I love them so much, but I hardly ever use them since when they're gone, they're all gone. Oh yeah, and I also put away the Christmas tree today, and Dean helped! I had sunnyside eggs with crabmeat and matcha salt and shovelnose roe for breakfast. And also grape juice. And crème fraîche on my English muffin! "Forever Night Shade Mary" has reached my Top 25 Most Played list already (52 times so far). I am also crazy about "Deep Water," as of last night.
Posted at 8:32:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Posted at 2:04:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
I sampled some of the birthday present I got at Whole Foods tonight, but first I tied it with red ribbon and took a picture. :-) The top is The Little Pearl's American Sturgeon caviar, second is a container of Vermont Butter & Cheese brand Crème Fraîche (since they didn't have the already-assembled gift packs with the tiny single serving cups anymore, I had to get a big one in the normal dairy section), and on the bottom is a package of Pearl Blini. Yummmmmm. I actually think the caviar is better without the blini, though; their taste overpowers the pure caviar experience a little. (Even though they are quite delicious on their own, like tiny pancakes.) Tomorrow I want to try some of my Hackleback Roe on a sunnyside egg with matcha salt!
