a week later

So on my actual birthday we had to cancel our dinner reservation because Phil was in St Louis for his father's funeral... but never fear- we just booked it for the following week- and had a lovely dinner with two kick butt wines from our cellar...

the above white was spectacular! we first had the La Romanee in Paris years ago at a dinner at La Truffiere... and started buying it for the cellar any time we ran across it since that time-  I think the earliest vintage we had was mid 90s-

and the below red was famous in its own right as well- it was the first Oregon pinot that retailed for triple digits a bottle... you see it is signed by the wine maker/partner, Steve Doerner and the owner/partner, Paul Gerrie and someone I don't know (I have met Steve and Paul a number of times)

This wine was showing wonderfully as well- a smooth elegance that was both full of fruit and had plenty of acidity at the same time- really worthy - a great showing for the well regarded vintage!

the food was also worth the extra week's wait- Phil ordered the epicurean French menu and started with the frog legs and I started with an excellent oyster salad- but ooops - forgot the photos- LOL

Then I had the scallops and Phil had the veal breast (similar to the pork belly only less fatty becuase of course - it is veal)

and then to end I had the sticky toffee pudding (a fail - completely NOT a sticky toffee pudding it was a gooey mess in a bowl- they need to go to England and see what Sticky Toffee Pudding really is- the two decades that I was in London on business with regularity made me a devoted fan of STP- and this was SOOOO NOT it!)

Phil however liked his dessert of the opera cake with hazelnut-

not being a hazelnut fan I did not taste it - but take his word for its deliciousness---

so a lovely evening overall- we got to spend some time talking to Jamil (the exec chef) and enjoyed and shared our two fab wines so the only reason this is a note worthy exception to our usual MoE review is because we have never had a FAIL before...

they need to get that STP back to the kitchen for re-engineering! ASAP! 

coming up the reunion of Phil's 1970 Salzburg study abroad group... you can only be 15 once in reality, but if you keep seeing your friends from then, over the decades - you can go back in time at least for a few hours or days ... this group came from all across the U.S. to study for six weeks in Salzburg in 1970 and although they lost touch after a few years, the Internet gave them a way to get back together again - thirty-seven years later and now, every few years they find a way to get some or all of the group together.  A TPA Bay reunion is planned for Sunday with a picnic and dinner later... more after the event!

Tchaikovsky! Gesundheit!

a brief - very brief intermission from Shanghai explorations- tonight we went to Van Wezel Auditorium to hear the Haifa Symphony Orchestra of Israel perform-

an excellent concert with three encores-

so cut to the chase- here is the program:

we have two other concerts scheduled at the Van Wezel- in the classical concert series-

here are a few blurbs from Wikipedia on the Van Wezel- which I had always understood was a Wright design but apparently it is not- it is Taliesin but not Wright himself-

The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall is a theater in Sarasota.  The 1,736 seat hall's 1968-69 construction was partly funded by a bequest from local residents Lewis and Eugenia Van Wezel.  The architectural design was carried out by William Wesley Peters, of Taliesin Associated Architects, who used two seashells as an inspiration for the design.  The purple and lavender color scheme was suggested by Frank Lloyd Wright's widow, Olgivanna Lloyd Wright.

so enlightened on those facts- we no must go back to work on the China posts-