Pretty awesome seat for a cooking demo

(Holy crap this took a while. I sent this from my phone on Thursday. My carrier sucks.)

This was really cool. I was at work on Thursday when my supervisor asked me if I knew anything about this tent that was set up in White Plains. She said it said Chef something. I was delight it find out it was actually Top Chef. Apparently the Top Chef national tour had a stop in White Plains, about a block and a half down from where I work. I was unaware of this, but you bet your ass I was there the moment I went out for lunch.

After hoofing it down to the site I saw they had a cooking demo set up. The two chefs from the show were Ariane and Ashley. They weren't my favorites but they were cool enough that I wanted to stick around and see what they were making.

Apparently you needed to make a reservation to get into the tent. But then the woman at the entrance asked if any one waiting was alone and wanted to see the demo. I didn't waste a moment. My hand shot up and I let her know I was alone. I was the last one let in and I got to sit right up in the front. So during the demo, not only could I see what they were making, I could also smell it. Awesome!

So yesh the cheese souffle they were showing us how to make tasted quite yummy. I loved it. I asked a bunch of questions. I was one of the two vocal people there. Another woman there may have a had more questions and may have been a bigger fan, but I can't be sure.

Afterwards they signed autographs. I got two photos and an oven mitt signed. I would have asked for a photo with them but the line was pretty long and by then I had to get back to the office. Still not a bad way to spend a lunch break. :)

Yummy, Yum

Aaron took me out to celebrate my big news this afternoon. He took me to a restaurant I've wanted to go to for a while. Actually it was a place I selected as a possible place to go to on our 5th anniversary. Instead we went to The Castle and ended up with an experience he will never let me live down. But I digress.

The place is called La Panatiere in Rye, NY. It's a French place so the portions are kind of on the small side. Not as small as Le Cirque, but it's hard to imagine something being smaller and not coming in pill form. The food, though was so darn yummy that Aaron had to take a moment after tasting two of his dishes. :) This doesn't happen very often.

I had baked escargot that I can't even begin to describe using words, seared scallops with tempura fried artichokes for my main dish, and a lovely warm apple tart(it wasn't actually warm, but I think I preferred it that way). Aaron had a butternut squash ravioli, a creamless winter veloute (Celery root, pear, roasted chestnut, curry-scented soup), then had braised short ribs for his main course and this thing called an opera cake, which is a espresso cake with ganache. Yummy goodness all around. The only thing I didn't care for was his cake. It was really dense and too heavy for my taste.

The other great thing was that as hoity toity as the place is, the server we had did a great job. He did everything himself, was really friendly but not intrusive at all but was also right there the moment we needed anything. Awesome!

Based on my scale I give it a strong 8; possibly a 9.

Lunch was a lot of fun. We had a great time just relaxing and talking about the possibilities that this job now offers. We also discussed our next big dinner. He wants to go out with my entire family next (just he adults). We're threw a few different places into the conversation but we're still not sure which one we want to do. Eh, it'll be a while before we do that anyway. We also got a laugh over the fact that I now have a snuggie (well, a wannabe snuggie from Brookstone). Yep. My Mom got one and loves it. I tried the thing on, and you know what? Silly as the idea is, the things is incredibly comfy. My Dad got me a really nifty one and darn it, I actually love it. The bad thing about it is that it's an instant nap. It doesn't matter how awake I am, after a few minutes of having the thing on me, I end up out cold.

Dining Out

I am so happy. I finally got to eat at Le Cirque. I have been dying to try this place for ages. But since the prices are a little ridiculous and because the portions are minuscule (French place) we haven't gotten around to making a reservation. But they decided to extend the NYC Restaurant Week so huzzah!

I had a lovely dinner. Sunchoke salad with grapefruit for an app. Sea Scallops with faulousness all around it for my main course and a lovely crème brûlée for dessert.

I'm pretty impressed. The place had one of the biggest Restaurant Week menus I have ever seen and the food was pretty darn good, except for Aaron's appetizer. He had a Lamb terrine. I love lamb but this, in my opinion, was a miss. The other issue I had was that the portions are small. Three scallops made up my main course. Luckily, I had a snack right before heading out to the restaurant.

So on a scale from 1 to 10 (one being McDonald's and 10 being X2O or Xavier's), I give Le Cirque a solid 8. The normal prices are insane (there was a soup for $24 and a Sole dish for $70-something) and the prices are typically French (puny). BUT the food you DO get is tasty as heck.

Oh yes, in case you're wondering, no. This wasn't a Valentine's day thing. We were supposed to go last week but we got snowed out. Aaron and I spent Valentine's day on the road, driving home from my brother's in Mass. After the news at the end of the week, I really needed happy Munchkin therapy. They really are infectious.