Some little updates

So, one of the reasons that my blog posts have been so few and far between lately is that work has been totally chaotic. Why, you may ask, has it been so much busier than normal? Well, I'm really excited to say that my company has recently launched a pre-sale for our new line of products. My co-workers and I have been working toward this goal for the last 18 months or so, so it is really thrilling for it to finally be a reality. You can check out our new website at www.saleae.com -- we reached our 30 day pre-sale goal in a week, and now we're just raising extra money to go toward the first production run of the new products. Yay!

Dinner at Bouchon (in pretty pictures)

Early last month, my dad came for a visit to the Bay Area -- and hence commenced several days of cooking, eating, and sight-seeing. We had a great time, which culminated in a day trip to Napa (dad had never been before and since has been known to say, "That may have been the best day of my life." I could ramble on for a bit about the trip, but instead, I'll just share these pictures from dinner at Bouchon (one of Chef Thomas Keller's Napa restaurants). Enjoy!

Gobble gobble recap

So, the Big Day is behind us and all can return to normal (ish) until Christmas. Now seems like a good time to recap my dad's visit to California, Turkey Day itself, and maybe name off a few things I'm thankful for this year.
Dad was in town for about ten days total -- the first few due to a talk that he was giving at the Science and Society conference at UC Berkeley, and then he stuck around for Thanksgiving, too. We had a swell time -- a lot of eating and shopping (two of my very favorite things, as you all well know). We ate at Liasion on my recommendation, and it was just as good the second time around. I had to-die-for French onion soup followed by roast chicken, plus we had some oysters to share. I capped it out with tart tatin. Yum. Throughout the week we also hit up Scoma's, ordered some good California Chinese food (very hard to come by in Texas), visited a brew pub and an old school diner in Berkeley, and dad cooked three nights -- beef stroganoff, chicken almond, and mac and cheese -- all favorite dishes of mine from childhood. Oh boy, did we eat well.

I'm so excited

And I just can't hide it! Today has been a fabulous start to November, I have to say. First of all, I stopped at Starbucks this morning and they had their seasonal red cups out already! An official cue to the holiday season, in my book. Plus they were featuring peppermint mochas! *Picture me doing a crazy happy dance right now* It was delicious -- because you know I ordered one! Plus I picked up Rod Stewart's new Christmas CD, aptly named "Merry Christmas, Baby," and it is excellent -- two thumbs up. But all of this is just build up to the really excellent news -- both my parents are coming out to California for Thanksgiving! I could not be more thrilled by this news.

We'd originally discussed something similar a few months back, but that was before my grandmother got really sick and things got all screwed up. I, of course, have been stressing about this for weeks already, and for awhile there, things were looking kind of bleak. But alas! By some miracle, everything has worked out exactly how I wanted it to, and I'll be hosting Thanksgiving for my whole family this year. Its been three Thanksgivings since we were all together, what with me on the East Coast and the brother here in Cali. I am just so pleased that we're all going to be together, and that I get to cook us all a fantastic meal. And now I have to get back to planning said meal...

Happy November!

Daddio in Vermont

My dad came to visit me in Vermont from Texas last weekend. We had a great time, exploring the area, watching Lord of the Rings, and most importantly, eating. My love of food most likely originated with my father, who I share the passion with. He has always been an eater – and an excellent cook. My dad helped expose me to a variety of cuisines at a young age, including his passion for Cajun and Creole cooking. I can remember watching Emeril on TV (BAM!) with dad, and us discussing the various merits of this dish or that. I was eating jambalaya while most kids were still in the PB and J stage. In fact, I have been able to visit New Orleans with my father on several occasions, and we eat our way across the city – Mr. B’s Bistro, Mulate’s, Irene’s…yum. Besides going out to eat, my dad also helped develop my own skills in the kitchen. He taught me to make the most flavorful mashed potatoes ever (the secret is adding sour cream), smooth gravy, low country boil, crème brulee…it took awhile, but he is finally out the point where he is able to accept my tips as well. The year we stuffed a turkey with lemon wedges, onions, and fresh herbs at my insistence was a huge success, and from that point forward, my comments held a little more weight.
Anyway, I digress. He came to visit for the weekend, and it was a blast. We visited some tried and true favorites of mine, as well as some new places as well. Let me break it down for you:
I met dad for lunch on Friday, and we went to the Apollo Diner in Milton. I go here a lot for breakfast with my co-workers, but they have a great lunch to. I had a hot open-faced turkey sandwhich and a milkshake; dad had an open-faced roast beef and a cup on clam chowder. We both left extremely satisfied. Friday evening we visited the Magic Hat factory and learned about brewing beer, complete with samples. I stuck with #9, but dad really enjoyed the IPAs. From there, we made our way to the Vermont Pub and Brewery. I had a smoked beer, which was delicious – I could really taste the smoke it in, which provided a totally different flavor. I also had a Woodchuck cider, which they have on tap and is always good. Finally, we ended the evening at the Bluebird Tavern (big surprise, right?). It was extra neat, because the executive chef Aaron had just been featured the day before in TastingTable, a daily foodie e-newsletter that I receive. We shared a cheese board, of course, and then I had a beet salad and ricotta gnudi – I just had to have some more of that delicious ricotta. Everything was exactly as good as I expected it to be (in other words, excellent). I finished with an olive oil cake, served with rosemary ice cream and cranberry jam. It was really good, and unique. I liked it because although it was definitely a dessert, it wasn’t too sweet, and the flavors all complimented each other really well. I also had a hot chocolate, which was good, but not as perfect as the traditional hot chocolate at Champlain Chocolates.
Saturday morning we went to the Burlington farmer’s market and found some goodies. Dad got some maple syrup to bring back to Texas. We did some shopping, and then had lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings – chosen so that we could watch the Michigan State football game. We also stopped at the Healthy Living Market for a Misty Knoll chicken (more on that in a sec). While there, I sampled some of the best apple pie I’ve ever had, served with cinnamon ice cream. It was so authentic, you know? Dinner that night was at L’Amante, an Italian restaurant that I had not been to yet. It was very good, and the service was great. We shared a salumi (a selection of Italian meats), which was really good. Their house bread is served with homemade hummus and chicken pate. The hummus was really yummy, but I didn’t really care for the pate – it was a little too rich to start a meal with. Then I had a shrimp and lobster carbonara, made with house-made pasta. That was really good, and nice and peppery.
Sunday morning, dad made me French toast (a specialty of his), and some Vermont Smoke and Cure Bacon. Best. Bacon. Ever. The star of that day was dinner, though. I think I mentioned my passion for Thanksgiving dinner. It should be said that it is pretty much my favorite meal, and throughout the year I like to have what I call “mini-Thanksgiving”: roast chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce. Complete perfection. This time, we used a local Misty Knoll chicken and a foccacia-based stuffing mix from Williams-Sonoma. Both were excellent. I made the cranberry sauce from scratch – no cans here – and used some ginger and orange juice, and that came out really well. Dad made crème brulee for dessert. Enough said.
Finally, Monday morning we went to Magnolia’s downtown for breakfast. This is my favorite breakfast place in Vermont. Their fresh OJ is really good, and the oatmeal pancakes are to die for. We finished the dad’s trip with a pizza from Junior’s. Trust me, you just can’t get good pizza like that in Texas.
The whole trip kind of focused on food, from the meals I described above to the Sunday drive that took us to Stowe for apple cider donuts. No complaints here, though – that’s my favorite kind of trip. Love you, dad!