I am getting married
sooooooooooo yesterday was my birthday.
Adam had a "surprise" planned, for which I had been looking for a fancy dress for a week. I bought one at Macy's - red, slinky, beautiful. I bought a long houndstooth coat to go with it, already owned the silver strappy shoes, the diamond necklace and earrings he got me....so I was set.
Day of my birthday, Adam had "errands" to run, so he took off on his motorcycle and I woke up slowly, cleaned the kitchen (which was a crazy mess from a birthday party the night before), and then went and got pedicures and manicures with my sisters. I got french tip on my fingers, and deep red sparkles on my toes, Rosie got bluehttp://www.livejournal.com/ and Roxana got pale pink. (yes I am writing down every single dang detail because I didn't take any pictures and last night was worth remembering fully). We dropped Rosie off at home, because she had to get ready to go to the USC/UCLA football game with my dad, and Roxana and I went to Supercuts where I accidentally got bangs. Side-swoopy bangs, but bangs nonetheless.
So thennnn we go back to their house, where Roxana helps me obtain the "smokey eyes" look with her makeup, then we go back to MY house so she can eat leftovers and zip me into my dress.
Adam is there, going back and forth about "tie, or no tie, tie or no tie.." - he is wearing the new pin striped suit that I picked up for him the day before, and a black shirt with white stripes that I bought him last year. He decides on no tie - I put on my heels to walk around the house in because it's a little too early to get ready but I really want to go! Adam takes a shower. I cave, and put the dress on a good hour before I should.
We finally leave - and Adam says that since we're so early, we should go through a carwash. "There's probably valet parking...you don't want to hand them a dirty car, do you?" heehee. In line for the car wash, I realize I forgot my ID, so we head back home, I grab that, and we head off again.
I have no idea where we are going, mind you. I know that it's dinner. He finally tells me that we're going to Pasadena. We miss the 110 exit, end up very downtown, he calls to tell "The Dining Room" that we will be a little late for our reservation. We pull into a very fancy looking hotel, (yes, with valet parking) and all of the lights are ambers and warm. We go inside the lobby, which has been decorated for christmas. We head towards The Dining Room, and get seated by the hostess. Immediately we have a drinks guy come and bring us water, and then our server, Ryan, comes through to ask us if we wanted a 4 course meal, a 5 course meal, or the Chef's tasting menu. Adam looks at me, grinning my head off, and of couuurssse we go with the Chef's tasting menu.
What that means is that I was going to get to live my Top Chef fantasies - I was going to get tiny little portions of fantastic food paired with really good wine!!! I was so excited.
The bread guy brought us rolls - I had olive, Adam had country french, neither one of us had the bacon.
They brought us a reisling for the first wine, and then an amuse bouche of squid soup with udon noodles, squid, and black squid broth. My thoughts were - it was light, very flavorful, threw me off a little due to the whole squid thing, so playful and fun, and good.
Then we had our "2nd bread course" with a brioche with goat butter. Incredible, incredible, incredible. It was my first run in with the fact that good food can actually *transport* you into feeling like you're in another time or place. I could picture where this dish came from, you know, the peasant roots to the refined now.
Next we had Japanese Shima Ahi - with a pickled baby peach, sea sponge, bonita flakes, and a little wasabi flavor. They served this with a 2006 Hans Wirsching Riesling. My thoughts: really good, had a really light flavor of the fish and then the other elements added the spice and the salt. This riesling was my absolute favorite - really really sweet.
Next on the menu was Langoustine, with young fennel salad with a lobster mushroom lasagna. Then they poured a bouillabaisse bisque over the whole thing, which was the part that made me want to lick the plate. This was Adam's favorite dish - and one of my top 3 for sure. There wasn't a discordant part about the plate. It was rich with the bisque, and then sweet with the langoustine, and yum yum yum. This was paired with a 2008 Terredora Dipaolo
It just got better and better - then we started getting served by Ryan, and the Executive Director of FOod and Beverage by the hotel. He poured us the next wine (no idea what it was, and it's not on the menu I found online) and then we had Halibut cheekswith scrambled cauliflower, and a lemongrass-scallion froth on top. AMAZING. AMAZING. AMAZING. Now, I love my halibut, I've caught halibut in Alaska - it's fantastic. And it's an oily fish, which if you cook well, doesn't leave you feeling greasy but gives you that great flavor. The cheeks are considered the delicacy. Holy cow this was good. You got the scallion flavor without it being overwhelmingly oniony, and the lemongrass was perfect. This was a tasting portion I savored for a while.
We were served Foie Gras next - there were two pieces of aerated brioche on the side, with some bits of what looked like clover (but I don't know what it was) on top, and a small pink cyllander of foie gras in between. The server said that the chef reccomended that we break open the foie gras to get to the concord grape inside, and eat it that way. So we cut open the foie gras -which was chilled - and out pours the concord grape! A little foie gras goes a long way - I ate some and was happy, but I could have eaten that aerated brioche and the concord grape forever. Again, it was another great example of taking really comfortable, comforting flavor profiles and side stepping you a little bit, knocking you just a little off balance. Yum.
We were next served a dark ale instead of wine, and the exec. director told us that we would understand when we got the dish. Pastrami Pigeon with cubes of sourkraut, and mustard greens on top. It's amazing - they really only give two-three little sprigs of the greens, but you get the perfect flavor! It really did taste like the best pastrami sandwich I'd ever had. The ale was a playful touch. Welcome to New American Cuisine, ladies and gentlemen.
At this point, despite them being small tasting portions, I was feeling pretty darn stuffed. Almost nothing would have made me eat more - except Wagyu short ribs "with the flavors of pot roast." This was a cute dish. This had the little square of wagyu beef sitting on top of a rectangle of "mashed potatoes." Then there was a little disc of a harder-textured potato, with a braised carrot on top. SO GOOD. SO SO SO SO good.
So I am sitting there totally stuffed, and the executive director comes up to our table, asks how things are, and asks if I want to see the kitchen! Adam had gone outside at one point, and this guy kept me company for a while and I had been blathering about how I've never been in a kitchen of a restaurant, and how I love cooking shows, especially Top Chef. He said "oh, well, I've never really seen that one but i love..." and so I thought this guy was just being nice to a girl on her birthday to let her go back to the kitchen. So Adam and I head back there, and I see somebody - but it can't be that somebody - and I turn to Adam and say "holy shi..." when I hear "Hi Roya, nice to meet you."
And there, ladies and gentlemen, is MICHAEL VOLTAGGIO from this season of Top Chef. He is the executive chef of the Langham Huntington, and had been cooking for us all night. He shook my hand, I babbled. He is just as intense as he is on the show. I couldn't believe it. Tattoos and all. I asked him if he won Top Chef, he said he couldn't tell me yet. I said I thought it would be between him and Kevin. I hope I wasn't rude. He asked what I thought of the food, I asked him what the definition of "confit" and "amuse bouche" were - then I asked if an amuse bouche had to be One taste, and he said "it depends on the message you are trying to send with the food. For this amuse bouche, for instance, it was more than one bite, because we basically just wanted everyone to eat black soup." Then I asked about the squid - and was surprised to hear that one squid fed the entire restaurant - he said "stay right there" and took off. When he came back, he brought me a dried out "squid feather" - the cartilage they pulled from the squid. I laughed about that for a minute, he said he had to get back to cooking, and Adam pulled a hyperventilatingly delirious girlfriend out of the kitchen.
They asked if we wanted to have dessert on the patio, and I said yes. They'd set up a fantastic table on the balcony patio, with a heater sitting next to it, looking out over the Japanese gardens. They poured another wine, and gave me a pashmina shawl to wear so I didn't get cold. I started to cry - I couldn't believe Adam had done this. I was teary and happy and not paying very good attention when he started to tell me some pretty amazing and loving things. I didn't notice where it was going until his hand went into his chest pocket, and he got down on one knee next to me. He was smooth, there was no fumbling at all - opened the little box, and there it was.
I both want to write everything we said, because I don't want to forget - and keep it for just us. We both laughed. I cried. He asked after a little while "does that mean you said yes? I didn't hear yes!" We kissed. Then the staff came out and congratulated us, and gave us dessert.
I have no idea what I ate, so I had to look it up. Apparently I had "Fools Gold" - Chocolate with a salty hazelnut praline on top, and a milk sorbet on the side. I vaguely remember it. Mostly I was mesmerized by the ring on my left hand.
They also brought out a plate of other dessert - two tiny little passion fruit candies that were wrapped in edible wrapping, two little bites of something else I don't remember, and a chocolate lollipop with pop rocks in the center!!!! They even wrapped up another dozen of those for us to take with us.
Adam and I left - got my coat, said goodbye to everybody, and I mock-yelled at the hostess for not letting me in on the secret when I asked her, on the way to the bathroom, "why would my boyfriend have chosen this restaurant?" - we walked around the Japanese gardens a little, where Adam told me the story of his buying the ring, hiding it from me, asking my dad on thanksgiving, and his 2nd choice of where to propose, how he had it hidden from me in his pocket and kept maneuvering me out of the way, how his errands today included picking up the ring and setting it all up with the restaurant - meeting Michael Voltaggio earlier - then we got in the car, and drove straight to my parents house.
Rosie and my dad were still in LA, so I had them on speaker phone when I walked in and showed my mom and Roxana the ring. We hung out there for a while, squeaked and squealed, and that...that was the story of when Adam and Roya got engaged.
oh, also, and the story of my 25th birthday.
dessert
Adam had a "surprise" planned, for which I had been looking for a fancy dress for a week. I bought one at Macy's - red, slinky, beautiful. I bought a long houndstooth coat to go with it, already owned the silver strappy shoes, the diamond necklace and earrings he got me....so I was set.
Day of my birthday, Adam had "errands" to run, so he took off on his motorcycle and I woke up slowly, cleaned the kitchen (which was a crazy mess from a birthday party the night before), and then went and got pedicures and manicures with my sisters. I got french tip on my fingers, and deep red sparkles on my toes, Rosie got bluehttp://www.livejournal.com/ and Roxana got pale pink. (yes I am writing down every single dang detail because I didn't take any pictures and last night was worth remembering fully). We dropped Rosie off at home, because she had to get ready to go to the USC/UCLA football game with my dad, and Roxana and I went to Supercuts where I accidentally got bangs. Side-swoopy bangs, but bangs nonetheless.
So thennnn we go back to their house, where Roxana helps me obtain the "smokey eyes" look with her makeup, then we go back to MY house so she can eat leftovers and zip me into my dress.
Adam is there, going back and forth about "tie, or no tie, tie or no tie.." - he is wearing the new pin striped suit that I picked up for him the day before, and a black shirt with white stripes that I bought him last year. He decides on no tie - I put on my heels to walk around the house in because it's a little too early to get ready but I really want to go! Adam takes a shower. I cave, and put the dress on a good hour before I should.
We finally leave - and Adam says that since we're so early, we should go through a carwash. "There's probably valet parking...you don't want to hand them a dirty car, do you?" heehee. In line for the car wash, I realize I forgot my ID, so we head back home, I grab that, and we head off again.
I have no idea where we are going, mind you. I know that it's dinner. He finally tells me that we're going to Pasadena. We miss the 110 exit, end up very downtown, he calls to tell "The Dining Room" that we will be a little late for our reservation. We pull into a very fancy looking hotel, (yes, with valet parking) and all of the lights are ambers and warm. We go inside the lobby, which has been decorated for christmas. We head towards The Dining Room, and get seated by the hostess. Immediately we have a drinks guy come and bring us water, and then our server, Ryan, comes through to ask us if we wanted a 4 course meal, a 5 course meal, or the Chef's tasting menu. Adam looks at me, grinning my head off, and of couuurssse we go with the Chef's tasting menu.
What that means is that I was going to get to live my Top Chef fantasies - I was going to get tiny little portions of fantastic food paired with really good wine!!! I was so excited.
The bread guy brought us rolls - I had olive, Adam had country french, neither one of us had the bacon.
They brought us a reisling for the first wine, and then an amuse bouche of squid soup with udon noodles, squid, and black squid broth. My thoughts were - it was light, very flavorful, threw me off a little due to the whole squid thing, so playful and fun, and good.
Then we had our "2nd bread course" with a brioche with goat butter. Incredible, incredible, incredible. It was my first run in with the fact that good food can actually *transport* you into feeling like you're in another time or place. I could picture where this dish came from, you know, the peasant roots to the refined now.
Next we had Japanese Shima Ahi - with a pickled baby peach, sea sponge, bonita flakes, and a little wasabi flavor. They served this with a 2006 Hans Wirsching Riesling. My thoughts: really good, had a really light flavor of the fish and then the other elements added the spice and the salt. This riesling was my absolute favorite - really really sweet.
Next on the menu was Langoustine, with young fennel salad with a lobster mushroom lasagna. Then they poured a bouillabaisse bisque over the whole thing, which was the part that made me want to lick the plate. This was Adam's favorite dish - and one of my top 3 for sure. There wasn't a discordant part about the plate. It was rich with the bisque, and then sweet with the langoustine, and yum yum yum. This was paired with a 2008 Terredora Dipaolo
It just got better and better - then we started getting served by Ryan, and the Executive Director of FOod and Beverage by the hotel. He poured us the next wine (no idea what it was, and it's not on the menu I found online) and then we had Halibut cheekswith scrambled cauliflower, and a lemongrass-scallion froth on top. AMAZING. AMAZING. AMAZING. Now, I love my halibut, I've caught halibut in Alaska - it's fantastic. And it's an oily fish, which if you cook well, doesn't leave you feeling greasy but gives you that great flavor. The cheeks are considered the delicacy. Holy cow this was good. You got the scallion flavor without it being overwhelmingly oniony, and the lemongrass was perfect. This was a tasting portion I savored for a while.
We were served Foie Gras next - there were two pieces of aerated brioche on the side, with some bits of what looked like clover (but I don't know what it was) on top, and a small pink cyllander of foie gras in between. The server said that the chef reccomended that we break open the foie gras to get to the concord grape inside, and eat it that way. So we cut open the foie gras -which was chilled - and out pours the concord grape! A little foie gras goes a long way - I ate some and was happy, but I could have eaten that aerated brioche and the concord grape forever. Again, it was another great example of taking really comfortable, comforting flavor profiles and side stepping you a little bit, knocking you just a little off balance. Yum.
We were next served a dark ale instead of wine, and the exec. director told us that we would understand when we got the dish. Pastrami Pigeon with cubes of sourkraut, and mustard greens on top. It's amazing - they really only give two-three little sprigs of the greens, but you get the perfect flavor! It really did taste like the best pastrami sandwich I'd ever had. The ale was a playful touch. Welcome to New American Cuisine, ladies and gentlemen.
At this point, despite them being small tasting portions, I was feeling pretty darn stuffed. Almost nothing would have made me eat more - except Wagyu short ribs "with the flavors of pot roast." This was a cute dish. This had the little square of wagyu beef sitting on top of a rectangle of "mashed potatoes." Then there was a little disc of a harder-textured potato, with a braised carrot on top. SO GOOD. SO SO SO SO good.
So I am sitting there totally stuffed, and the executive director comes up to our table, asks how things are, and asks if I want to see the kitchen! Adam had gone outside at one point, and this guy kept me company for a while and I had been blathering about how I've never been in a kitchen of a restaurant, and how I love cooking shows, especially Top Chef. He said "oh, well, I've never really seen that one but i love..." and so I thought this guy was just being nice to a girl on her birthday to let her go back to the kitchen. So Adam and I head back there, and I see somebody - but it can't be that somebody - and I turn to Adam and say "holy shi..." when I hear "Hi Roya, nice to meet you."
And there, ladies and gentlemen, is MICHAEL VOLTAGGIO from this season of Top Chef. He is the executive chef of the Langham Huntington, and had been cooking for us all night. He shook my hand, I babbled. He is just as intense as he is on the show. I couldn't believe it. Tattoos and all. I asked him if he won Top Chef, he said he couldn't tell me yet. I said I thought it would be between him and Kevin. I hope I wasn't rude. He asked what I thought of the food, I asked him what the definition of "confit" and "amuse bouche" were - then I asked if an amuse bouche had to be One taste, and he said "it depends on the message you are trying to send with the food. For this amuse bouche, for instance, it was more than one bite, because we basically just wanted everyone to eat black soup." Then I asked about the squid - and was surprised to hear that one squid fed the entire restaurant - he said "stay right there" and took off. When he came back, he brought me a dried out "squid feather" - the cartilage they pulled from the squid. I laughed about that for a minute, he said he had to get back to cooking, and Adam pulled a hyperventilatingly delirious girlfriend out of the kitchen.
They asked if we wanted to have dessert on the patio, and I said yes. They'd set up a fantastic table on the balcony patio, with a heater sitting next to it, looking out over the Japanese gardens. They poured another wine, and gave me a pashmina shawl to wear so I didn't get cold. I started to cry - I couldn't believe Adam had done this. I was teary and happy and not paying very good attention when he started to tell me some pretty amazing and loving things. I didn't notice where it was going until his hand went into his chest pocket, and he got down on one knee next to me. He was smooth, there was no fumbling at all - opened the little box, and there it was.
I both want to write everything we said, because I don't want to forget - and keep it for just us. We both laughed. I cried. He asked after a little while "does that mean you said yes? I didn't hear yes!" We kissed. Then the staff came out and congratulated us, and gave us dessert.
I have no idea what I ate, so I had to look it up. Apparently I had "Fools Gold" - Chocolate with a salty hazelnut praline on top, and a milk sorbet on the side. I vaguely remember it. Mostly I was mesmerized by the ring on my left hand.
They also brought out a plate of other dessert - two tiny little passion fruit candies that were wrapped in edible wrapping, two little bites of something else I don't remember, and a chocolate lollipop with pop rocks in the center!!!! They even wrapped up another dozen of those for us to take with us.
Adam and I left - got my coat, said goodbye to everybody, and I mock-yelled at the hostess for not letting me in on the secret when I asked her, on the way to the bathroom, "why would my boyfriend have chosen this restaurant?" - we walked around the Japanese gardens a little, where Adam told me the story of his buying the ring, hiding it from me, asking my dad on thanksgiving, and his 2nd choice of where to propose, how he had it hidden from me in his pocket and kept maneuvering me out of the way, how his errands today included picking up the ring and setting it all up with the restaurant - meeting Michael Voltaggio earlier - then we got in the car, and drove straight to my parents house.
Rosie and my dad were still in LA, so I had them on speaker phone when I walked in and showed my mom and Roxana the ring. We hung out there for a while, squeaked and squealed, and that...that was the story of when Adam and Roya got engaged.
oh, also, and the story of my 25th birthday.
dessert