|
Tuesday seems so far away, but I'll try and recall what I had for dinner for Restaurant Week meal #2. I started with a Caprese salad, which was pretty good - it could have used balsamic vinegar, which is how I now prefer my Caprese, but that's okay - the base is still yummy. Instead of a dessert, Monica's had a second, pasta course - I had cappellini with prosciutto and peas (that's one of my favorite new combinations, by the way - I got prosciutto and pea ravioli from Dave's Fresh Pasta just yesterday). My main course was grilled salmon with wild rice, which was also decent. I also picked a nice Barbara (which might be the 2001 Contratto "Panta Rei" Barbara d'Asti - the online wine list has only one that it could possibly be, but there were two similar ones on the actual list - apparently I didn't grab the cork like I thought I did), which Corinne, Ron and Gene all seemed to enjoy. Not the best meal I've ever had in the North End (Mamma Maria remains my favorite restaurant in Boston, followed by Icarus now), but it was still tasty. After dinner, we went to Mike's Pastries to get dessert, and I picked up a pound of rugalach (none of my coworkers knew what this was when I brought it in, which surprised me).
I have a confession to make. While it may surprise all of you, I do not feel I know a ton about picking a good wine. Sure, I know the varietals, and the characteristics of the grapes (the most important part of a wine's taste, as many of you know). I also know which wines are good from which regions (second most important thing) - except for France (French wines confuse me, and to be honest, I don't like them very much). I of course know more about red wines/varieties than white, but I could hold my own a pick a white wine. But past that? I only know producers/vineyards for some of my favorite wines. When I'm at a restaurant with people and I'm picking the wine, I gather opinions on what my friends are looking for in a wine (red, white, "summery", tannic, etc...), decide on a varietal or two, based on what's available on the wine list, and then pick one in the appropriate price range (typically the least expensive one on the menu). My feeling is that chances are, the people who run the restaurant, whether it's the owner or the executive chef or the sommelier, have picked the wines they carry based on tastings and experience. So, using that sort of information, I trust what's on the wine list. Because of all of this, I was somewhat surprised when I was complemented on my selection, because I didn't feel like I'd done all that much in my determination. I guess I should just take the compliment in stride, though.
From the time I got home from dinner on Tuesday until yesterday evening, my life has been somewhat of a rollercoaster - some ups, some downs, but all with unknown consequences at this time. I feel like I could be at a really major fork in my life, but I don't know for sure and I don't know what I want. The next week could be interesting (for better or worse).
At least I won the poker tournament on Wednesday (second week in a row), despite being exhausted and not really wanting to be there. I also received a nice variety of new music, some of which I'm really enjoying right now.
Tonight is Restaurant Week dinner #3, at Upstairs on the Square. Unfortunately, the menu doesn't really appeal to me right now, and I'm so exhausted that I'd rather just go home tonight, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. And thank goodness it's Friday - one of my coworkers said today that she kept thinking it was Thursday - I told her that it's a good thing it's Friday because if it was Thursday, I might kill myself (though not really). It's been that kind of week.
- Lizzardie, at 3:14 PM
|
