littlelotte

Somebody posted this in literaryquotes and it's wonderful:

The Sum of our Days, Isabel Allende.
On a trip to India:

We didn't have our safety belts on because of the issue of karma: nobody dies before their time.

I think that is an amazing and perfect quote. Of course, I think we all know that I thoroughly believe in Fate.

Also, went up to Holland to visit amneria while she's in the state. madbillyblack was there, also, and we had a great time. We had lunch at an Irish pub, and I had boxty (and their boxty was amazing), and coffee, and we wandered around. I left early because I wanted to get back and see Dan for a little bit before we had to get to bed (we both open at our respective restaurants tomorrow morning). I happened to drive into town just as him and some of his coworkers were on their way to Fandango for tapas and drinks.

Fandango is amazing. We'd been there a couple of times before, but not in quite a while, so it was really, really amazing--especially going there with true Foodies. I had the Luna martini (which isn't listed on the site), and it was phenominal--it has vodka (I upscaled it to Belvedere), cucumber-infused water, mint, simple syrup, and cucumber in it. Heavenly. They also have sesame-crusted and marinated tuna cubes on top of cucumber slices which consist of THE most amazing sashimi-grade tuna I have ever had. Their flan was also amazing, and topped with a Licor 43 glaze and garnished with an orchid. Yum. I got three other people to try orchid (yay on me!), though I would have also loved to have the blossom all to myself. Note to all would-be cooks: never use a garnish unless it's edible, attractive, and adds something to the dish. Aside from the rasberry mimosas we created for NYE at the Brewery one year, I've only seen orchid used as a garnish one other time prior to this--on my sushi platter the first time I went to Pacific Moon in Newport, KY. People always look at me amazed when I start eating it...most people have no idea you can.

Okay...bedtime now. I have to be up way too early :-P

Apparently Hestia got bored and decided to have a way with me today. I actually accomplished doing dishes, going grocery shopping, and now I'm just finishing up dinner (with a small handful of modifications...acorn squash just sounded amazing to me today when I went shopping), and will be enjoying a nice glass of light red wine with it (pinot noir...red for the richness of the squash, but light enough for the fruit and sweet). Too bad Dan's sick and asleep and can't enjoy it with me.

Wow...really...I never cook. Apparently twelve hour days cooking at work make me want to cook on my days off? Strange.

Oh...modifications...like no mushrooms, no apricot because I didn't want to buy something I wouldn't eat later, added more cider than it said to and added brown sugar when I combined everything, plus added a bit to the tops before baking. It actually could probably have used a splash of cider in each half (or drizzled over the toppings before baking) and a layer of brown sugar inside the half before filling. It's not bad, but I think I prefer regular old acorn squash with lots of butter and salt and pepper.

Somebody slap me. Every day I realize how much more of a food/restaurant/liquor snob I become with every day that passes.

And on that note...a couple things I mentioned to our neighbors/Dan while we were out to eat tonight:

-I would have been better off ordering a Grey Goose martini than the specially named Grey Goose martini that DID NOT taste like Grey Goose at all (though the bleu cheese stuffed olives were yummy...but DAMNIT there were TWO of them in the martini and an even number of olives in a martini is bad luck). Damn everywhere for not serving my gin *pouts*

-Go out to eat on a Monday or Tuesday night (that's when all the serious food people go out). Never go out to eat on a Friday or Saturday night because the atmosphere is suddenly destroyed by the rest of the world going out to eat. Mondays and Tuesdays are the slowest nights so you get the best atmosphere, the best service, the best food, etc.

That's all of Lindsay's food rants for tonight, but it's more than I often post, so...enjoy and learn. And, Amanda? Apparently one of the cooks at Dan's restaurant used to work at Food Dance and it is cream they use in their scrambled eggs. I knew that was the only way they could be as creamy and as rich and as fluffy as they were...I'm getting decent at this identification stuff! Maybe there's hope for me in the kitchen after all! Nah...but it's cool that I can tell stuff like that.

...and now I sleep. I have the next two days off!