new courses at goosefoot!

so on the second night after our return we headed to goosefoot to see Chris & Nina and check out some new courses-

here is the report... my favorite new course is the gnocchi with summer truffles - oh so very yummy!

here is the menu and then the food "in order of appearance" (LOL)

the amuse- a wonderful mushroom soup-

the scallop course-

the white we chose for the beginning wine- we also had a 2005 Louise from DDO which we decanted so I didn't get a pic of that bottle- but the wine was very nice with the later courses-

the custardy eggy preserved garlic and shrimp course-

a new hearty soup - creamy tomato with couscous and other gems hidden in the velvety soup-

the tuna course-

the aforementioned gnocchi-

meat- as good as always!

the Roquefort course with macaron- excellent counterpoint to each other with the sweet contrasting with the pungent and salty blue of the cheese...

a new palate cleanser of watermelon replaces the yuzu and beet juice of past menus-

a new fabulous dessert peaches and cream - this was one of my all time favorite dessert courses at goosefoot-

chocolate and crunch- Phil is a happy guy!

the finale of chocolate dipped gooseberry-

so the changes were good ones and it is nice to get a chance to see Chris express his artistry in new ways... goosefoot is a neighborhood favorite for us- we are lucky to be only 5-7 minutes away!

so next week is a week of catching up with things around the house and preparing for both a trip to Michigan (top of the lower peninsula) to see CBGB and a DART trip with TB to New Hampshire... time flies by - but stay tuned for more....

last day with Iddo

so rain rain rain- it rained all day on our final day with Iddo and Sarah and so we went off to the National Museum of Ireland which houses two amazing collections (IMHO) the collection of ancient gold and the bog people - preserved for thousands of years in peat bogs - these are mummified human remains....

so we took our visitor's map and off we went...

the bog people- note the arm bands - at least one of which was woven and it still intact!

the museum building is also a gem...

a street light along the way between the two museums-

a special exhibit on Christie Brown- of My Left Foot fame-

on of his paintings-

we had dinner at Pichet and then said our goodbyes- making promises to get together again in the not too distant future-

the white mushroom risotto followed by the gnocchi with pesto-

so they were off and we were down to our last day- which was quite lazy - and our last meal (lunch) at One Pico - which we had later in the midday hours because we were doing the musical pub crawl that night---

my gravlax starter was just to my taste-  and Phil enjoyed his foie gras mousse-

surprise surprise I had the fish and Phil had chicken- which he loved-

later we were off to learn more about pub culture and Irish musical sessions (versus concerts) and the three instruments invented in Ireland (harp/drum/pipes)

Phil did the whole crawl and I left before the final pub to go back to the hotel (an early morning pickup) we had a room service sandwich when he got back and turned in for the night... an uneventful flight got us home to Chicago by mid afternoon on Tuesday... which kitties were happy about.