June 15, breakfast. The usual.
June 15, lunch. Salad of lettuces, leftover asparagus (white and green), sausage, fresh garden tomatoes, cheese, and other stuff.
June 15, snack. Some cookies. Chocolate shortbread with Belgian chocolate chunks. A bit dry. Probably old.
June 15, yet another snack. I picked the blackberries out of the leftover cut-up fruit and mint and ate those.
June 15, dinner. Appetizer of chips and guacamole
June 15, dinner. Steak and baked beans at Don and Barbara's.
June 15, dinner. Two pieces of watermelon.
June 15, dessert. Jan's freshly baked Banana Cream pie and Schramsberg wine. Outstanding pie, really really good. Fresh can't be beat in this area.
June 16, breakfast. The usual.
June 16, snack. Some cut-up sausage.
June 16, lunch. Chips and salsa at Chuy's in Tucson.
June 16, lunch. Mahi Tacos at Chuy's. I'm not sure if these are as good as they have been in the past. But they have 3 kinds of fish tacos. Maybe I shouldn't have ordered Mahi.
June 16, dinner. Salad of tuna, Cerignola olives, fresh garden tomatoes, fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese, greens, and pepitas.
June 17, breakfast. The usual.
June 17, lunch. Atlanta Airport. A Checkers "Big Buford" hamburger and fries. The Fries were good. The Big Buford, however, was a dismal failure. No tomato, awful cheese, and pasty bun. Won't be going back for burgers there.
June 17, dinner. Prezza. Bread. Good bread. Prezza, with Mike Haro, Bill Emrick, and Kyle who I didn't know the last name of.
June 17, dinner. Prezza in Boston. We had a 'tasting menu' that started with a bowl of olives sitting in oil. I wasn't sure about that: did they want you to dip your bread in the oil? Or grab the olives out with your fingers? It was all a little confusing. I had a big olive, which was good. I grabbed with my fingers.
June 17, dinner. Prezza, Appetizer. On the left, fiori di zucca, stuffed and fried, on top of a tomato sauce on top of polenta, sprinkled with parmesan. Disappointing, probably not fresh. On the right, a fig, stuffed with gorgonzola, wrapped with prosciutto, and sauteed, garnished with some balsamic sauce and arugula. Doubly disappointing. The cheese totally overwhelmed the fig. Huge error in judgement.
May 17, dinner. Prezza. On the left, seafood ravioli, stuffed with lobster and with shrimp on the side and corn. Why corn? Was the sweetness supposed to complement the shrimp? It ended up a little strange. On the right, pea ravioli with a bit of pancetta and fresh peas. This was outstanding. Very nicely done.
June 17, dinner. Prezza, in Boston. On the lft, prime rib, not exceptional, but not bad. On the right, lamb two ways: a tiny chop and some shank which has been shredded. This was very well done. Also: fresh asparagus and broccoli rabe, both cooked perfectly and very tasty.
June 17, dinner. Prezza. Cheese plate. A HUGE plate, twice as big as needed. Drunken goat, a cheddar blend, robiola, and parm. Excellent choices, although not a wide enough distance. And pieces big enough for two.
June 18, breakfast. Starbucks iced cappuccino and maple scone. Both poor examples of the genre, in Boston, at the Westin Waterfront. Didn't seem to be a breakfast restaurant other than Starbucks that was visible anywhere.
June 18, lunch. At Legal's Test Kitchen in Boston airport. Spicy fish and chips. Very good housemade pickles, average slaw, and interesting fish. It wasn't your typical cod, but my waiter dissapeared and I couldn't find out what it was. Not crispy enough on the frying of fish or chips, but the fish inside was really nice. Onion rings on the top were excessive. Sam Adams' Summer Ale in the background.
June 18, snack. A piece of plastic cheese aboard flight from Boston to New York.
June 18, dinner. Insieme with Chris Hoff. Appetizer: goat-cheese stuffed cherry (better than it sounds, because the cherries were great), radish filled with bagna cauda (looks interesting, tastes like wet radish), and a fava bean on some puree on crostini (mostly tasted like bread).
June 18, dinner. Insieme, New York. They brought out this "egg drop soup," which was way fantastic. Could have been enriched veal stock, but whatever it was, it was wonderful. The egg was, I think, mostly for texture as it didn't seem to add much flavor.
June 18, dinner. Insieme, New York, with Chris Hoff. Asparagi con Uovo. It is what it says, and it was delicious. Even without the egg, it was great with a thick cheesy sauce below, but the soft yolk on the asparagus was really a great combination.
June 18, dinner. Maccheroni con sugo di Maile. Homemade pasta with a perfect al dente bite to it, with a wonderful sauce of pork and some rapini, covered with parmesan. I don't know that I would go crazy over this, and it was a large portion, but that pasta was good enough to have any sauce on it.
June 18, dinner. Prezza, New York. Magret duck, with foie gras, turnip, rhubarb, and chard. An interesting combination of flavors. I liked each part, but I was not sure how well the duck complemented the liver; they seemed to be two dishes which had been pushed together on the plate. The turnip bits did not add to this, but the rhubarb, wonderfully sour (maybe had been pickled?) was a great complement to the luxurious feel of the liver.
June 18, dinner. Insieme, New York. The remains of my cheese plate. A blue cheese, a soft cheese, and candied apricots, quince paste, and some preserved figs. Too much fruit; I wanted a fresh fig and could have lived without quite so much accoutrement. I think that they'll give you as much cheese as you want, but with two pieces, the side bits overwhelmed the cheese. But the cheese was really, really good.