i should also add that today was historic for the additional reason that it was my first day of maternity leave. so far i am a big fan of maternity leave. it's like being on regular holiday, except because you are pregnant you feel entirely justified in taking as many naps as you feel like. today i had three. being very pregnant is not, i think, unlike being a newborn; so much of your time is taken up with sleeping, eating, and going to the loo that you really can't be expected to do much more. anyway. i did achieve greatness in the form of clearing the shower drain (hoorah!) and nearly finishing the weatherproofing of the back deck (hoorah number two) and getting my car headlight fixed (hoorah number three) and that is enough greatness for anyone for one day, really.
having achieved daytime greatness, i then headed down to berkeley to meet kim d., gourmande extraordinaire, for dinner at chez panisse (with a brief and surreal stop off at the petaluma factory outlet mall along the way to return a couple of the pinker, more cartoon-infested baby outfits that we acquired along the way.) kim is a regular at chez panisse and gets total movie start treatment there, and i basked in the reflected glow of her celebrity; while going to chez panisse as a regular joe citizen i am sure is still pretty great, it was extra great getting to go with her. after every hunky italian/french waiter type person had come up to give her a hug and greet her by name, we got a tour of the kitchens; so so so cool - big walk in fridge with enormous cuts of meat hanging on hooks - usually you don't think of raw meat as smelling delicious, but it really did. pastry chef person doing arty things with tiramisu towers at one counter, another person arranging beautiful radiccio leaves on plates with drizzles of olive oily something yummo, big bins of freshly delivered mushrooms, greens, etc. fun. then we sat down and started to Eat.
first mini mini item were little cherry tomatoes fresh off someone's vine which you had to be very careful that your mouth really was all the way closed before you bit into them or juice would hit the people at the next table over. then first course proper was artichoke and radiccio thingy, accompanied by rioja rose wine that if i were more articulate & knowledgeable and if it were not 1 a.m. i might be able to come up with an actual description of, but as it is i can only say yum yum and it was quite unusual tasting. then the main dish - pork with winter veggies and broccolini mmmmmmmmmmmmmm and b/c kim is a rockstar they also brought us some roast ribs as well to go with. and some red wine what i don't remember what it was but it is written down on the menu so i can look it up tomorrow when i am properly awake.
pudding was tiramisu - intensely caffeinated - followed by little turkish delighty things and little chocolatey things and a mint tisane. oobh and apples and fresh DATES what i had never had before. super good.
oh oh oh it is way too late and i need to go sleep. love to all.
No comments:
Post a Comment