Restaurant Week

there has been some serious negligence to this blog, and for that, i apologize. i attribute that to the intense work schedule i've had for quite some time now and also my sheer laziness.

but i feel that the time is right for a slight update to my otherwise uneventful life these past few weeks. one of my favorite times of the year, restaurant week was upon us. sadly, however, i wasn't able to fully indulge myself as much as i would have liked.
but hitting up three meals at restaurants i otherwise probably would not have tried will hold me over until august, then restaurant week part deux rolls around.

i know i had created a food blog long ago with a fellow foodie, but that has obviously fallen by the wayside, so i will use this forum to express my epicurean adventure.

olives
lunch meals are clearly the best bang for the buck during restaurant week...and luckily enough for me, congress was in recess and i felt no guilt in taking a half day and eating some quality food after having worked 60+ hours a week for two months straight. olives, as you may know, is one of the many restaurants of celebrity chef todd english...so i had high expectations going in.

the roasted beet salad was a perfect mixture of sweetness and tang from both the cheese and the citrus, making it a nice starter...followed by a really decadent butternut squash ravioli...finishing up the meal with a nice mixture of seasonal sorbets. all in all, the food was quality enough and definitely worth the $20 spent.

bistro bis
this meal was more of an event for friends to gather together, enjoy a nice glass of pinot noir, and share grumblings and gossip of the week. and that's what it turned out to be, and it was a nice break from the typical monotony of a work week...the good food was an appreciated bonus.

my french onion soup starter, though tasty, was more of a strategic choice to match my choice in entree, a braised lamb shank that was quite delicious, though something i probably could have cooked myself. dessert was a molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream that definitely satisfied my sweet tooth and provided a well rounded meal. though delicious, the final amount of cash dished out probably wasn't worth it.

art and soul
another celebrity chef experience, this time by art smith, famed private chef to oprah and once potential white house chef. this meal would have to be the best of my three restaurant week forays.

it began with an embarrassment as a table full of asians (plus ting's boyfriend matt) dug into the kumquat centerpiece thinking it was meant as a pre-meal snack, only to have it taken away by the server who probably thought it equal to us picking off the leaves to a floral centerpiece. but all was forgotten as the complimentary bread was placed in front of us...an extremely airy loaf of buttery goodness, so delicious that we scarfed down six servings before our appetizers were even ordered.

starting with their brunswick stew, a perfect bowl of spicy and savory pulled pork and sausage, was the perfect remedy to a below freezing temperature day...following by a perfectly braised short rib that fell off the bone...and a dessert of mini cupcakes rounded out the meal.

if your mouth hadn't started salivating by now, it's probably simply because my descriptions did no justice to the actual consumption and sensory absorption. but to continue on my foodie experience, i round out this entry with a food description of my personal culinary talents...a dinner of seared duck breast topped with a red wine reduction over a saffron and wild mushroom risotto that i cooked for myself. and since i was forgetful with my camera during my excursions out, hopefully this picture will accomplish the desired mouth-wetting.

My Piece of the Pie

so everyone knows that the United States is the home of the frivolous lawsuit, ambulance chaser, and malpractice mecca. and having lived in this wonderful land of freedom and excuses for 23 of my 24 years of life...i figure it's about time i got in the game.

so Lucie J. Kim, count me in...

and yes...i am a little embarrassed to be looking at TMZ while at work

Perfect Combination

this is the ideal amalgamation of one of my favorite shows on tv ever with reality...

First Dance

i remember my first dance...way back when in junior high. when it was still awkward and you could fit a whole other person between us. when it was all so new and exciting, as if for a few moments you were doing grown up things. and when i see those young kids feeling their first burst of butterflies in their stomach, it is still a warm and fuzzy moment.

and i know i'm still wrapped up in the events of the day and the measure of the moment...but is this not one of the sweetest things to see:

An Inaugural Experience

the way things have been going with my ticket hopes, inaugural excitement, and historic involvement, i sadly left the inauguration disappointed and dejected...

no, it was not because transportation was gridlocked...or that the speech was not perfect for the times...or that the weight of history was too much to bear. but because even with a ticket to the blue section of the inauguration of a lifetime, i was unable to get past the broken power generators, unreliable metal detectors, thousands of people, and an unorganized debacle of a line.

yes folks...after all the hype that i made for myself, for all the energy i had exerted to make this moment one of those "i remember where i was" moments, i couldn't even get past the gate.

for me, this inauguration was an experience limited to standing in line for hours and watching as my entrance was disorganized, people pushed and created a logjam as they showed up late, lines converging where they shouldn't have, and innumerable issues with lack of coordination. and sadly, this was an experience shared by thousands of others standing beside me.

so after realizing that i probably wouldn't make it beyond the gates in time, my fellow hopeful in line and i dashed to a local bar to just catch the ceremony on tv. it may not have been the viewing experience that i had wanted or dreamed of, but as i was watching the President get sworn in, i was still awash with history and emotion. though i didn't make it onto the mall to share this moment with the 2 million others, i was part of the billions around the world who had their eyes and hearts fixated on this one man who defied prejudice, odds, and history to become this country's 44th president...and i realized, i will still remember exactly where i was when it happened.