Lots of yays (and one downer)

[sarea]

akscully! I have received your mix tape! <3 I can see it was made with love and a lot of insanity. It might have been more impressive if you'd written XQ's entire letter and announced, "Classmate Sarea, I like you!" but still, it was quite wonderful as it was. I shall treasure it always. Where did you get the songs? Are they just from a couple different albums, or are they all different? Sometimes I feel like I recognize the melody from a soundtrack or something, and then I realize that while it's familiar, it's not exactly the same.

I woke up several times in the night thinking about how tragic Natasha Richardson's death was ... I must've been thinking about it unconsciously all night. :/

I've gotten my April issue of Gourmet. I already have a method. I flip through the whole thing once, and read things here or there that catch my attention right away. Then I go through it again and read the stuff that I've bookmarked in my head as being interesting. Then I read through it a few more times more thoroughly, and catch all the stuff I've missed. It's been a long, long time since I read any magazine so avidly. I think the last time was when I was 14 and reading Seventeen magazine. I love how clean the magazine is -- at least on the subscriber copy. None of the big headlines trying to grab your attention as the checkstand versions have. I saw the cover of this issue and immediately started drooling and planning for when strawberries would be in season. I must share...



It's a strawberry mascarpone tart with a port glaze. I actually thought the port glaze was a balsamic glaze (did you know that balsamic vinegar totally complements and brings out the flavor of strawberry? I didn't until I had balsamic strawberry ice cream and it was so wonderful), and when/if I make this, I may actually use a balsamic glaze instead.

(Also, check out that cover price. $4.50 for one issue? Jeez. Definitely worth the $10 I paid for a full year.)

The actual recipe:



corianderstem and I went to Crush for dinner last night, and I must say, it lived up to its reputation. It was one of those fancy places that bring you a little "chair" for your purse. Given that our expectations (well, mine at least) were fairly high, it's kind of amazing that it was able to live up to them. I really, really wish I'd brought my camera. We were seated in a fairly secluded area where waitstaff wasn't passing by constantly (I'm less concerned about other patrons seeing me photograph food than servers), and the food was beautifully prepared. The restaurant is in a remodeled old home -- the restroom even had a bathtub in it! Speaking of the restroom, we both fell in love with the awesome soap they had -- La Compagnie de Provence - Liquid Marseilles Soap - Olive & Lavender. I may need to actually get it. Edit: I totally bought it, and also am trying their grapefruit version.

As for the menu...

Drink wise, A. had a vanilla bean DRY Soda, which I tried and was VERY good. It was barely sweet, but infused with vanilla flavor. Jason Wilson, the chef at Crush, was apparently partly responsible for creating the line of sodas. I had a Pinata Apple and Ginger Fizz, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It was served in a small glass approximately the size of one of those small Coke cans. Our soft drinks together cost $11. That was the most outrageous part of the tab.

The $30/person prix fixe was, however, worth every penny. Not only had gorgeous presentation but was delicious as well.

As a little appetizer, we were served little gougères with shaved Gruyère and chives. I've been thinking about making my own gougères, and this hit the spot enough that I can put it off for a little while longer.

We also had several small slices of bread that was flavored with garlic, rosemary, and Alaskan black salt (I learned from cooking Indian food that black salt is actually pink). It was served with soft, creamy butter. I love it when the butter is soft ... restaurants, even good ones, so often serve it completely hard, which makes it incredibly difficult to spread.

We both started with a creamy carrot soup topped with a grilled sea scallop and drizzled with crème fraîche. It was served in a rather deep bowl that made it a bit difficult to scoop out sometimes, but was yummy, sweet, and refreshing.

For our entrees A. had the seared cod with some kind of gremolata (which I'd just read about in the Zuni Cafe Cookbook) and lemon sauce. The cod was great but the lemon sauce was a tad overpowering. I had the flank steak (by default served medium rare, woot) with cipollini mashed potatoes. (Also from the ZCC I'd read that cipollini potatoes made great mashed potatoes, but I can never find them in stores.) They were both awesome. The potatoes were barely potatoes, they were so creamy.

We both chose the vanilla beignets with housemade jam, caramel sauce, and chocolate sauce for dessert, and boy did we not regret it. The jam and caramel sauce was so amazing that the chocolate was an afterthought (especially because neither of us are "MUST HAVE CHOCOLATE NOW" people). I had considered getting the Valrhona chocolate and chile cake, because it was served with crème fraîche ice cream, but I'm glad I got the beignets.

And as after dinner treats, they presented us with a plate of tiny, tiny, TINY sweets (seriously, they were miniature and then some), 1 each of a: fresh marshmallow, spicy pear macaron, rum ball, lavender shortbread, and sage madeleine.

The portions weren't huge but were enough to be filling, and the quality was, of course, top notch. Definitely worth coming back whenever they participate in the Dine Around Seattle promotion, every March and November!

There are still a few restaurants I'd like to try, but I may have to wait till next time.

My dad has found a promising property. I may actually have photos and more details to share soon!