Mrs. Delicious

Unmasked! Again!

Hello, Siobhan (and Jeff!) in Greenpoint! I promise I wasn't trying to keep this a secret; I am just embarrassed because I don't update often enough and am not as of-the-moment as these folks.

Speaking of Siobhan, she and I had some lovely -- if criminally overpriced -- drinks at the W on Saturday afternoon before my, um, "pampering" appointment at Bliss. She had a colorful and fragrant lemon and basil and Ciroc vodka Martini; I had something deluxe involving Hendrick's gin, rose syrup, and lime and lychee juices. Gin and flowers go surprisingly well together and, I promise, don't taste like perfume. Having a cocktail with her was a perfect antidote to my hellish week at work and upcoming further hellish week at work. Thank goodness I am off to Miami (for work!) next week. Some sun and beach will do me good. Anyone has any food recommendations, you let me know. (But do people eat in South Beach? Or do they only diet?)

And speaking of being unmasked the first time, Andy and Jen and I had a gorgeous lunch today at Le Petit Cafe with David Kamp and 48 other people who had paid good money to hear him imitate Julia Child's bizarre speech inflections while reading an excerpt from his book, The United States of Arugula. A book that I highly recommend, by the way, as an accompanying text to Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Many of the same players are discussed, but you'll see Alice Waters in a much different light after reading about the drug-fueled "Fleetwood Mac-style" pairings and unpairings that took place in the early days of Chez Panisse. But hey. It was the '70s. Hearing about those shenanigans makes me nostalgic for a time I never knew, a time before Guy Savoy started opening restaurants in Las Vegas.

Whoops, sorry. I will get off my high horse long enough to tell you about the glorious food Roy Ip made for us: a Parmesan and arugula (ha!) salad; arctic char in romesco sauce (so lovely!) with little vegetables, hazelnut-chocolate fondant cake (Jen had the creme brulee with passionfruit sauce), a large amount of homemade bread with ghastly amounts of black truffle butter, and blasphemous amounts of Chardonnay for a Sunday.

So. After my weekend of indulgence and mid-day inebriation, it is time to get back on the clean-living wagon so my saddlebags don't jiggle too much as I play beach volleyball in a thong at South Pointe Park.

posted by Mrs. Delicious @ 9:51 PM