Palazzo Las Vegas

This weekend Big N and I celebrated our 6-month anniversary. Acting on a whim, we decided to celebrate in Las Vegas. We drove up Saturday morning, and were pleasantly surprised when upon arrival the Palazzo upgraged us to a 1500 sq foot suite. I guess Vegas really wants to treat their fewer customers right these days.

For the first time ever I didn't gamble once while there. All we did was shop and eat -- my kind of fun!! (Incidentally I bought a gorgeous Miu Miu bowler and Louboutin boots, both on sale of course. Every now and again a girl's gotta splurge). For the eating part, we decided to make it a Mario Batali weekend- dining at his new restaurant in the Palazzo called Carnevino for dinner, and Enoteca San Marco in the Venetian for lunch on Sunday.

Carnevino, as its name implies, is all about meat and wine. Our sommellier hooked us up with a fantastic 2005 Sandrone Barbera d'Alba from Piedmont to go with our appetizer of Proscuitto di Parma Riserva (aged 18 months) wrapped around gnoccho fritto (think puffed up dough squares). The Barbera was bursting with floral notes, cassis and violets, sweet but spicy. For dinner I had the most fabulous Osso Bucco with saffron orzo and Big N had the tasty crusted filet. Our bottle of 2001 Terralsole "Riserva" Brunello di Montalcino set off both plates very nicely. It was spicy and dark, with wonderful earth, cassis and tobacco hits on the back palate. By the end of the night we were stuffed and satisfied.

At Enotecca San Marco the next day, in St. Mark's square in the Venetian, we ordered salads, wine and cheese. The format of the restaurant is very cool, allowing you to choose wine and cheese flights, and to sample plates of traditional Italian light fare. None of the whites we had were spectacular, but it was fun to pair them with the cheeses we sampled. The Robiolo Bosina cheese was phenomenal- a cow and sheep milk blend that is soft with a light edible rind. It was so good I asked the waitress to jot down the name of it for me.

Driving home we both realized we need to be spontaneous more often. So I made a list of all the places we can go for a weekend minibreak when we're feeling spontaneous. And no, I don't see the irony of that at all.

Humble Beginnings: The Dinner That Started It All

I guess you could say that I got my "calling" in Spring 2007, when I planned an eight course wine pairing tasting menu for 15 of our closest friends. I was completely wrapped up in the planning, preparing, cooking, and hosting and it was one of the most magical nights I can remember (after my wedding, of course). Each course was artfully paired with wines Big N and I selected, and on the back of the menus the guests tried to guess the varietal, appellation, and price point of each wine (which of course became more difficult the more wine you drank!).

Here was the menu:

amuse bouche: selection of cheese and pates
soup: cream of cauliflower with roasted croutons
and black truffle oil
starter: smoked salmon crostini with capers and creme fraiche
first: miso, mirin and sake glazed chilean sea bass
with baby bok choy
second: pancetta and shiitake ravioli with sun dried tomato bechamel sauce
intermezzo: blackberry sorbet
main: braised beef short ribs with wild mushrooms and polenta
dessert: kiwi strawberry napoleon with mascarpone and raspberry sauce
finale: selection of truffles

My friend A remembered to take pictures and sent me this lovely montage of the evening's greatest hits.

After that night I was hooked. I felt completely at home, passionate and creative for the first time in as long as I can remember. I decided that one day I will be a proper chef. Then I can plan, cook, entertain, and drink gobs of delicious wine with impunity. One day.

Recreation: Green Apple Rosemary Sorbet

As promised, I attempted to reverse engineer the Green Apple Rosemary Sorbet we had at Niche in St. Louis last month. My friend A at LickityList originally experienced this delightful treat with me, and we both formulated a plan to try to recreate it ourselves.

Here's how I attacked it: boiled rosemary in simple syrup until my entire house smelled like a Christmas tree. Grated 6 granny smiths (unpeeled) and the juice of one lemon in my food processor (because I broke our blender making bisque on Thanksgiving, boo), then pulsed until I had juicy puree. Strained the juice in my chinois, then added just a hint of the pulp back into the mix for texture and color. Then I added the juice mixture to the rosemary simple syrup and threw all of that into my ice cream maker. Unfortunately, my impatience got the best of me (as usual) and I made two critical errors: 1) I didn't freeze my ice cream maker bowl long enough to bring it down to freezing temperature, and to make matters worse, 2) I didn't chill my simple syrup enough before pouring it into the ice cream maker. You can guess that freezing the solution into a lovely sorbet consistency was pretty much a lost cause. Also, waiting around for the mixture to freeze caused me to lose some of my lovely green color, making my sorbet look more like pea soup, a problem also experienced by A at Lickity List (because as we all know, apples brown: polyphenols + oxygen = rust colorations).

Determined not to forfeit, into the freezer my concoction went. It froze as expected, I scraped and scraped the rock hard green mass with a spoon, and voila: Green Apple Rosemary Snow Cone...minus the cone.

The verdict: the texture was all wrong (because it wasn't, afterall, a sorbet), but according to Big N, the taste was actually better than Niche's. Mine had more rosemary flavor, which gave it a refreshing minty quality, but it wasn't too sweet. I may try this one again, sans Ice Cream maker mishaps. It'd make a lovely intermezzo for the wine pairing tasting menu I'm planning for late-January. More on that later.

Wine Pairing Dinner: Pinot Noir and TBA

Big N and I took a trip to our cellar to drop off some wine and pick out a couple that have come of age. Last night we invited friends H & M over for a wine pairing dinner featuring two of our favorites: Pinot Noir and late-harvest Trockenbeerenauslese (this one was of the Ortega grape varietal, a Müller-Thurgau hybrid similar to Reisling), or TBA for those in the know.

We started off the evening with Penner-Ash 2006 Willamette Valley Pinot, paired with two sheeps milk cheeses, Dante- a hard cheese, and Guilloteau Berger de Rocastin- think brie but with more barnyard qualities. The pairing was beautiful. The Pinot was spicy, earthy, with plenty of terroir typical for the dark volcanic soil of the Willamette Valley, more old world style. The spiciness was complemented perfectly by the creaminess of the Guilloteau.

For dinner we did a surf and turf: ginger sake glazed grilled salmon, ginger garlic and soy marinated flank steak, sweet potatoes with clove, cinnamon and maple syrup glaze, and sauteed spinach garnish. We paired that with a Pinot from one of our favorite Central Coast producers: Cottonwood Canyon 2001 Elizabeth's Vista Pinor Noir from the Santa Maria Valley. This pinot had some age to it, so it was a beautiful crystal clear garnet color, with strawberries and cream, soft leather and scented tobacco notes and a touch of gaminess, and dark fruits on the lingering finish. Not as spicy or earthy as the Penner-Ash, but the ginger and clove in the meal complemented the wine well.

For dessert I cooked a recipe from The Wine Lovers Dessert Cookbook. 'Tis the season for Quince! I made individual Quince Pot Pies, spiced up with cloves and cinnamon, and added a little TBA to the mix because cooking with wine never hurt anybody. We paired it with the TBA of course, Villa Palatina 2005 Ortega Trockenbeerenauslese from the Pfalz region. This wine was a beauty- it can be aged 40 years! Amber golden color, peachy notes with stone fruit and molasses on the palate. The wine is so viscous it reminds me of maple syrup. The apple/peachy quality of the quince and the buttery flaky topping brought out the creaminess and tempered sweetness of the wine.

My tummy was satisfied and my palate was quenched. Not a bad way to spend a mellow Saturday with friends.

Hearst the Collector

Last night Big N and I attended LACMA's exhibit Hearst the Collector. The exhibit displayed several works collected by William Randolph Hearst, including knight armor, pottery, charcoal drawings, drawings of Hearst Castle from the architect that designed it, antiquities, and paintings. My favorite piece from the exhibit was the Canova sculpture of Venus. The sculpture was flawless. It didn't dawn on me until later that the reason it appealed to me is because I adore another of Canova's famous sculptures, Cupid and Psyche, which I gawked at for nearly an hour at the Louvre.

Another amazing piece was this one of Santa Barbara. A smaller sculpture in person but equally captivating.

The exhibit inspired me to save money to buy art. According to KCRW art critic Edward Goldman, who gave a lecture before the tour began, buying art makes you live longer and healthier. That's reason enough for me.

Providence

Last night I took my husband, Big N, to Providence for his birthday.

The two-starred Michelin restaurant occupies the old Patina space on Melrose. Warm and spacious inside, with high ceilings decorated with artsy barnacle looking thingees (the restaurant specializes in seafood).

So, we splurged by ordering the 9 course tasting menu with wine pairings, and since that wasn't exactly enough food for our foodie palates, we simply had to order the wagyu beef too.

I have to tell you, I never thought I'd be so pleased dropping so much dough on a meal, but hot damn that food was good. I wouldn't want to spoil it for you by giving you a complete list of the dishes we had, which are simply too numerous to mention, but I can tell you that I was amazed by the amuse bouche (above, please forgive the iphone picture), which had, starting from left, a gin and tonic gelee, a mojito bubble, which burst in your mouth with minty goodness, and a fennel saffron shot. What a bonus- my mouth was truly amused. Highlights also included the scallop with a generous portion of shaved truffles, the cheese plate course (we chose 4 from about 25 cheeses offered), the veal tenderloin tournedos sous-vide with chanterelles and celery root puree, and of course, the wagyu ribeye. The wine pairings were atypical and surprising. Gems included the Sean Thackery vxi blend of petit sirah and syrah and the Casa Rivas 2006 carmenierre from Argentina that was served with our wagyu ribeye.

My husband and I had to hunker down to make it through our 10 lovely courses, but I'm happy to report that nothing went uneaten. Even the dessert (coconut tapioca with kfir lime and shiso lichi sorbet) and the petit fours were gobbled up.

This restaurant ranks up there with my favorites, and I cannot wait to have an excuse splurge there again!

Kudos to Providence. I'm a fan.

And thanks to our friends at lickity list for the recommendation.

Post Thanksgiving Wrap Up

Well, Thanksgiving was a success, by my standards of course. The house was lovely, my food was well received, and breaking bread with family and friends reminded me how much I have to be thankful for and what a truly amazing year this has been.

The only hitch- rookie blogger that I am- I forgot to take pictures! I was so wrapped up in being the hostess that I completely forgot to memorex the holiday so I could brag about it to you all. Darnit! The only picture I have is of the picked over Turkey carcass, which should at least prove that my Turkey rocked (thank you Martha Stewart brining recipe). Will post that one for kicks later. Here it is:

I guess I'll have to prove my holiday entertaining prowess at New Years. We're heading up to the cabin in Arrowhead and I plan to spend my days in the kitchen! More on that to come.