2005-07-05, 12:54 p.m.
Last night, we went to Masa's with J's mom, bro, and bro's gf. I've been wanting to go here for a while...ever since I read that Iron Chef Ron Siegel was the chef there. Although Ron Siegel now runs the kitchen at the Ritz, the current chef worked as Thomas Keller's (French Laundry) sous chef for a number of years. Having been to the French Laundry, I had certain expectations.
The wait staff is exceptional although the dining room was rather stuffy. The food was very good, although I wouldn't call all of the dishes exceptional. Here's the rundown from our six-course tasting menu (plus a foie gras course, two amuse bouches and bonus round of dessert) of what I remember:
- Bean soup with prosciutto foam served in an espresso cup - tasted like a delicate bacon & bean soup...tasty but aside from the prosciutto foam, kind of mundane.
- some sort of fish on top of wakame - Tasty...like unagi...
- Seared yellow fin tuna with cucumbers and cr�me fraiche - Tasty! The cucumbers smelled incredibly fresh and the tuna melted in your mouth. I think I would have appreciated a sprinkle of salt or maybe no cr�me fraiche�something was missing.
- Fresh breads - served before and in between courses�we had our choices of fresh baker (still hot!) sourdough, olive, baguette, or raisin�I wish fancy restaurants would serve salted butter though.
- lobster on top of potatoes with some sort of tasty sauce - the best dish for certain!
- Seared Sonoma foie gras - YUM! It tasted a little bit oilier than usual though�if that�s possible.
- Duck breast with little tiny baby onions - Good but I like Peking Duck better
- Ribeye of Natural Black Angus Beef, oven-roasted tomato tart, micro basil, bone marrow, sauce choron - my favorite cut of meat�but this wasn�t as juicy as it could and should have been�kind of a disappointment. The bone marrow was fried�so it was a little bit too oily. I was the only one at the table that ate all of mine...
- �Bubble Tea� green tea, shiso ice, pearl tapioca - tasty and refreshing!
- Cheese course - I dunno exactly what I had�four kinds of cheese with cherry compote and roasted hazelnuts. The English blue cheese I had was really good as well as something the waitress served to me when I asked her for whatever was the stinkiest. Another good hard cheese�and the last cheese was a goat milk cheese, which I�m not fond of, but J was fond of the shape.
- small chocolates and lollipops - After all these foods, they brought out a cart of small chocolates�dark chocolate/red chai truffles, rose water gelees, green apple lollipops, black sesame chews, opera cake�
All in all a very good experience. The food was great and the only problem was that I think I had too high of expectations. My best dining experiences have always been when I had no or low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Yum! And thank you to J�s mom for treating us to a mighty fine dinner. It is a nice treat once in a while.
Wow. I'm tired. I'm not sure if it was from the weekend, carryover from the hectic week before, or my increasingly uncomfortable bed...but I had a hard time keeping my eyes open on the drive to work this morning. This morning, my manager pointed out some slurring, though this isn't completely uncommon for me on a Monday morning before 10am...Maybe I won't work out today. My training book does say that it is acceptable to take random days off when you're feeling exceptionally tired...we'll see how it is when I get home. The second wind usually comes around 6:30pm.
On Sunday, I was at Target in Daly City and saw an angry woman yelling at an old Filipino man who worked in the electronics section. I knew his English wasn't that great because I'd asked him a question about a camera, and his answer was "Uh, no" (even though I hadn't asked him a yes or no question). And as he tried to defend himself, she kept cutting him off and yelling at him...telling his manager (a really young looking guy no older than 24) that the man was incredibly rude and had refused to help her.
Watching that made me incredibly sad because the man was the same age as my dad and his English was just as bad. I could see my dad in this humiliating situation and it just made me incredibly sad. There was obvious miscommunication between the customer and the worker...but the woman would have none of it.
I think that watching similar situations occur over the years has made me more outspoken than I normally would be. When I was younger, it also made me dread going out with my dad so that I didn't have to witness these humiliations.
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I'm in SoCal for a day...it's HOT down here!! On the ride from the airport to the hotel, my cab driver didn't have air conditioning! And I was in my warm SF clothes...yucko!
I just deleted a photo I had posted on Flickr. I didn't realize my boobs were so...obvious...until I noticed how many views there were on that single image. You guys are DIRTY! And thanks for telling me. You suck.
I've got some exciting meals coming up: Masa's and Le Colonial (been there but still like it). Also went to FireFly the other night...tasty food at a reasonable price! The fried chicken was incredible...and the ginger chocolate chip cookie was one of the best cookies I could think of. Wine was also tasty too. I probably should not have driven home. Other restaurants I'm dying to try? Town Hall, Gary Danko, Fleur de Lys, La Folie, and EOS.
I realized this weekend that I have become boring. I don't have much of interest to say, and I'd rather watch a program about the hippo than mingle with people I don't know. I've been exposed to more babies and weddings in the recent past than ever. But I don't mind--I really like the way my life is going right now.
Wow! Spoke to the new company's corporate marketing group today and it now seems like much less work than I had originally thought. Because it is Europe's largest company, the resources are vast. There's a design agency that will do everything for us, which means not too much for me to do except manage and delegate. Yay! My life can resume...with MUCH less stress than originally anticipated.
It is a beautiful summer Sunday afternoon here in San Francisco...a rarity since we've been covered in fog for the last few weeks. Unfortunately, I am working. With the acquisition, I have 30 days to rebrand EVERYTHING (web site, oodles of brochures, case studies, white papers, etc.).
The kicker is that the new company will also launch its own rebranding campaign next Spring...which means I'll have to do this all again in a few months. Of course, the timeline will probably be more reasonable. Is this feasible? We'll see. It may well be the challenge of my (short) career thus far.
Small world: on Saturday morning, I was doing laundry downstairs and was making smalltalk with one of my neighbors. Turns out, he was one of our bankers for the now-defunct IPO efforts...so he knew what I was talking about when I mentioned who I worked for.
So it is official--rather than an IPO, my company has been acquired by a very large company (you'd all know it if I mentioned any names...they've got holdings in healthcare, consumer electronics, lighting, semiconductors...). I've never gone through an acquisition before so we'll see how things change. I'm not really worried though. I'm not concerned about having to find a new job, but even if I did have to, I'm not really concerned about my ability to find one. I interview well and have marketable skills. But for now, my job is to rebrand everything. Anyone who drives 101 South will be able to see the logo change on our building within a month or so.
Because of all the hubbub, we held a press conference...and guess who fell asleep in front of the new parent company's execs? :P There was no snoring though...just a lot of nodding off.
The next few weeks are going to be quite busy at work. No real traveling, just 24 hours in LA, but still...busy nonetheless.
Saw a few movies (both documentaries) worth mentioning this weekend:
- My Flesh and Blood - about a woman in Fairfield who adopts a bunch of children with various disabilities and handicaps. Hilarious and touching. My dad was inspired by this woman's good heart.
- March of the Penguins - a National Geographic documentary about the lifecycle of Emperor Penguins. Penguins not only make me laugh because of their silly walk, but they live incredibly tough lives.
- And if you haven't seen Mad Hot Ballroom that's another good one.
I've joined in on all the flickr craziness although I'm not sure how much I'll use it...it doesn't support Diaryland and I'm too lazy to migrate my stuff elsewhere.
My webhost has been up and down lately, hence all the broken images around here...but I'm not going to complain...I've had years of webhosting at a minimal cost (meals and booze here and there).
Today, T & I went to Macy's to buy a couch (where we were mistaken for a lesbian couple). I'm the owner of a new couch! No more springs up my ass--in 4 weeks (the couch is backordered), I'll be sitting on couch heaven surfing Tivo and watching Netflix. If I get a stain on it--no worries! We got the 7 year warranty. :) I'm a grownup!
I also got sunburned on my 8-mile run on Sunday. doh!
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