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2002-10-28 - 6:44 p.m. Hello everyone! Can I tell you how much I love fine dining? How very, very much? For those of you who don't, I would recommend skipping the next part, in which I detail the meal Scott and I had on Saturday night. For the rest of you... Arrive at Aquavit, sit in cute booth, very Scandanavian in design and a jar of vodka as a centerpiece, going through the process of being infused by raspberries (yes, it was a very lovely rose color). Edward, our wonderful waiter arrived and... Order a trio sampler of vodka, one horseradish (yes, horseradish, and it was our favorite, too!), one plum and one orange/lemon/ginger. All dee-lish. I love vodka, by the way, and Scott could not wait to make our own horseradish stuff for bloody mary's. If it turns out, I'll pass on the recipe. Next, we order. We decided to do the taste menu, a seven course meal, with which Scott got the wine sampler (one of us had to drive home, so I just tasted a little of his wine). At first, adding in my head, I realized this was going to be a very expensive evening, but in the end, I must admit it was worth every damn penny! First course: square of herring on plate with tiny dollop of caviar infused whipping cream (not sweet!) and two tiny crunchy stick things on top. While I'm not a fan of fishy tasting fish, this was pretty good for an amuse-bouche (I love that term - means to entertain the mouth in French, or to steal a phrase from South Park - them things you eat before a meal to make you more hungry for the meal!). Second course: Cucumber soup (very small amount in bottom of beautiful bowl) with small pile of mango salsa and a piece of some "cooked" fish (with a marinade, not heat) wrapped around some creamy stuff with a little dollop of caviar and a piece of crisp fried prosciutto topping it all off. Creamy, salty, refreshing, delicious. Yes, all at once. The two white wines paired with this stuff were divine as well. Third: Foie-gras ganache (fancy term for thin-skinned and gooey filled center) paired with lobster lasagna (a layer of lobster with VERY thin sliced lamb for the "noodles" and some creamy stuff there, too). All I can say is WOW!!!! I could possibly eat nothing but this dish forever. Yes, it was that good. Fourth: Corncrumb crusted salmon on a carmelized piece of pork belly resting on a bed of beet risotto. Scott and I thought we could never top the salmon dish in Italy, but we may have found a tie. Fifth: Mustard crusted venison steak served medium rare with some root vegetables shredded fine and cooked until soft. Wonderful, just wonderful. I'm making my own mouth water. Sixth: Cheese course. Small piece of French bleu cheese (extremely mild) on bed of mixed greens and apple-shallot chutney. I was surprised how good this was. INTERRUPT: small added item before seventh course - called intermezzo - grapefruit terrine with vanilla frozen yogurt and mango sauce. Refreshing, and it DID clear the palate. Seventh: Chocolate soup. Who knew there was such a thing and that it could taste so good. In a bowl a pear, peeled and poached and cut in thirds, with chocolate dense ice cream in between the thirds, resting in a cool soup that looks like hot chocolate but is oh, so much better. It was out of this world. Now, the added bonuses, which earned Edward a mighty hefty tip... 1. Port was the wine tasted with the chocolate soup - he "accidently" slipped and poured two glasses by mistake. I absolutely adore port; this batch did not disappoint. 2. I told him at the end of dinner, after already handing him the payment, that he had made our anniversary fantastic, and he shows up with a second dessert - mango sorbet on bed of fresh mangos paired with a chocolate ganache, quite possibly the most decadently chocolate thing I have ever had the delight to taste. With a little candle, no less. 3. When the waitstaff kept carting around these little glasses of something to several tables I asked him what they were. He answered, "Aren't they precious? If you wait, I'll bring you one and tell you all about it." At the end of our coffees, he brought one to each of us. They were the evening's intermezzo if you ordered a la carte instead of the tasting menu. A deliciious raspberry/blueberry smoothee topped with mint-infused whipped cream. Perfect, just perfect. 4. When I asked about buying some horseradish vodka to take home, he let us know that the restaurant, due to liquor license stuff, cannot sell it except by the glass, but he then gave us the recipe. What a great place. We'll be heading back one day. Earlier Saturday we carved pumpkins. Sunday I went to church, had a church meeting, went to KitchenLogic's to do some beading (only to find her trying not to gag - no, she's not preggers, just food-poisoned), went to Target to buy jars in which to make vodka, then came home and lounged around with Scott. Normal work today. Normal work tomorrow. Wednesday should be fun - I'm making up beading day with K.L. and then we're picking up Carmelita and having lunch! Whoo-hoo! I'd better go. My husband is returning from Home Depot to put up lights on the outside of the house for Halloween (heaven only knows, we don't need to eat all the candy)! Until later.
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