Sam, Noah and cousins Jaimey and Dylann mug for the camera at the LDR Char Pit, a Rochester institution. Hope your 4th is as fun (and safe) as possible!
Here are the best-of from this visit to Rochester. Despite some periods of rain, the boys have had a BLAST with their cousins, aunts, uncles, granparents et. al.
We should all be this lucky. I’ll be 88 if I make it this far, so god-willing, it will happen for Amy and I as well! All the Handelman kids gathered to throw a party for Marty and Sherrie at Eric and Amy’s lovely place on Saturday – and a great time was had by all. What a spread! Overnight french toast from Julie, my attempt at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon quiche (the secret – a really deep shell and long slow cooking) as well as all the usual other brunch fare combined to induce a coma by the afternoon.
Leaving work after coming in to finish a presentation on a Saturday, a huge crowd had gathered outside CNN Center to raise awareness of the increasingly violent response to election protests in Tehran. I snapped a few images before heading home.
In NYC for a few days of meetings, I had a chance to try out Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto’s NY outpost of his long-standing Philadelphia flagship restaurant. Our omasake was, simply put, amazing. The first and among the more memorable of dishes was the Tuna Tartare, unlike any I’d ever had. Minced to a fine texture on a slab-like plate, it was accompanied by osetra caviar, crème fraîche, wasabi, dashi-soy and some tiny rice puffs. With the provided spatula-like utensil, we mixed the tuna with the condiments – sublime. Next up was the whitefish carpaccio with hot oil and micro-green mitsuba leaf. Very classically Morimoto and just a perfect taste combining cool fish with the hot oil. Next was a crave-worthy dish I will not soon forget – Oyster Foie Gras. Combining a freshly steamed oyster, uni, foie gras and a very light teriyaki sauce, the dish reached the pinnacle of unctuous decadence. Only comment would be that a raw cool oyster might work even better. Next up was a very refined maki/sushi course – I’ve had similar quality and frankly forgot to take a photo of this course. This was followed by a shot-glass of a very fine tea as an intermezzo. Next up was a ‘surf-and-turf’ of lobster in a fiery chili rub with kobe steak. I’m still not a fan of kobe beef – just seems to come out gray and unappetizing many times I’ve had it. But the lobster was great. The dessert was, I think, an apricot financier with a lovely house-made ice cream. A great meal all around I will remember for a long time.
After a superb dinner at the NY outpost of Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, I realized we were only a block from the just-opened High Line park. It was really amazing to see this innovative park which renovated a decades-long defunct elevated railway into a park as dusk settled on Manhattan. I hope to come back soon to see it in daylight as well.
Yes, we experienced an early Summer as we headed down to visit my mom in mid-June. Sam’s current obsession with battles, forts and the like led us out to Fort Pulaski which I love, then my own cravings for fresh-off-the-boat seafood took us to The Crab Shack. Ah, I remember when they had all of ten tables and no kitsch. Finally, we went to the ultimate tourist attraction – The Pirate’s House. Again, influenced by Sam’s biggest fascination these days, that was a big hit. And the food was not as bad as I feared. I think that was due to the large mug (shaped like a skull, ‘natch) of Chatham Artillery Punch.
Joel and Rachel were the usual hosts with the most this past Memorial Day. I don’t think I’ve had a cocktail that early in the day in a long time. Or was that a high-gravity beer? I can’t remember now. But we had an awesome time as usual. And got some terribly cute photos of Mira and Noah hanging out, too.
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