At long last...

…Eric and I finally went to Peter Luger Steakhouse in Brooklyn. Arguably the most famous steakhouse in NYC, Luger’s is consistently packed and nearly impossible to get a reservation other than 4:30pm or 10:45pm. So, for Eric’s birthday (which is in early November), I called right after Labor Day to score a reservation. Two months passed and we finally made the pilgrimage to Brooklyn. We waited at the bar in anticipation of the legendary porterhouse cooked in butter. Alas, the best parts of the meal were the bacon to start and the ice cream sundae to finish. The middle part – aka the steak for two - was under-seasoned and only charred on one side. The butter that our server spooned on top of the steak lacked flavor and made the the meat unappealingly greasy (as opposed to something appealingly greasy like pizza). I could go into more issues (the drinks, the room, the crowd) but suffice to say, I’m glad that we went but won’t be making the journey again anytime soon.

…I beat the crazy reservation system at Momofuku Ko and scored reservations for New Year’s Eve. While not exactly the life-changing experience that other people have expressed, it was definitely an incredible meal. The kitchen puts together combinations that even in my wildest imagination, I could never conceive. Overall, of the eight courses, four were pretty amazing, two were good and two were not so great. My favorite dish was a combination of scallops, sea urchin, charred applesauce, mizuna, fried rice crisps and a pepper oil. A less successful course was the meat dish of 36-hour sous vide beef cheeks; the meat was thinly shaved and served cold – leading to an odd texture and flavor combination like deli meat. Fortunately, this was followed by the frequently blogged-about, almost over-exposed, frozen foie gras. Some critics/bloggers have waxed poetic about this dish while others put this into the over-hyped category, I found it incredibly inventive and delicious, with the pine nut brittle being the highlight of the dish, pulling together the foie and Reisling gelee into harmony. It was enough to make me go battle with that reservation system to try for lunch reservations.

...LOST is finally returning to television. After waiting for over seven months, season five starts this Wednesday. Words cannot fully express how excited I am to have Ben, Sayid, Hurley, Sawyer, Jack and Kate back in my life. I have to say, I'm already a little sad that there's only two more seasons left. That means only 32 hours remaining of what is one of the greatest television shows ever.


…Thanks to my friend June, my cousin Carmela, and the Fairway right before the holidays, I finally got to partake in the joys of After Eight dinner mints. It’s been twenty-five years since I last had one…and they were even better than I remembered. Thin and flexible dark chocolate with a thin layer of mint. Unlike Peppermint Patties and Junior Mints whose peppermint to chocolate ratio is too high and the Ghiradelli dark chocolate mint squares which has chocolate that is too thick and crumbly, After Eights are the perfect ratio of soft dark chocolate with peppermint filling. I have a few spare boxes, but not sure how long they will last…I just hope that I don’t have to wait until Thanksgiving for more.

…my mother finally relinquished control of a holiday dinner. Despite going to culinary school, I was not allowed to cook Thanksgiving dinner last year. So, I finally convinced her to allow me to cook Christmas Eve dinner. Nine of us crammed around a table for six and ate:

Appetizers
Black pepper cheddar crisps
Parmesan tortilla crisps with sun-dried tomato goat cheese spread
Dried sausage and English cucumber
Baked shrimp scampi with crusty baguette

Main Course
Turkey roulade with mushroom stuffing covered with bacon and served with gravy
Creamed spinach parmesan gratin
Roasted carrots
Mashed red potatoes
Apple cider-cranberry sauce

Dessert
Chocolate cake with Swiss buttercream frosting