in a Fancy Glass

OMG Cobbler

2008-07-17T22:48:00.000+09:00

So, we are at a big convention in Austin, Tx. Last night found us eating out a local sustainable amazing bbq joint called Lamberts. In addition to fantastically well prepared bbq, side dishes and their famous spicy deviled eggs-- the above was an additional gold star part of the meal.

That glorious dessert above is a PEACH-BLACKBERRY Cobbler, served warm with Honey vanilla ice cream. Words fail me.

Everything tastes better with BBQ Sauce

2008-07-01T22:49:00.000+09:00

A bit of what I have been up to (see above). This collage is from our BBQ for Unity about a week and a 1/2 ago. A whole bunch of Democrats Abroad in Japan got together to eat some very tasty BBQ and talk politics. It was really a fun time. It was great seeing some new folks and getting back in touch with people I had not seen for a while. Lots of young dems were there which was really great. We have had a hard time reaching out across younger demographics, but seems to be changing.

Miki and Kathleen my two gals working on growing a Young Dems group, brought their friend Lili to help volunteer at the door/check in etc. So I had lots of help which was great.

Special thanks to the Mehta's for letting us celebrate in their snazzy garden space.

Picture Perfect Anniversary Breakfast

2008-06-30T00:02:00.000+09:00

Mr. Fancy Glass and I have been married for 11 years as of mid June. This gorgeous spread was our anniversary breakfast. He gave me a great surprise and got us a room at the new Tokyo Penisula Hotel, we had a fanstastic dinner, a relaxing romantic time, and a wonderful breakfast before heading back to the work-a-day world.

My hubby really helped me become the foodie that I am. He is a wonderful culinary explorer and appreciator of all things F&B.

This breakfast was delivered and set up by room service. What a treat on every level. It was all delicious. (though the eggs were overcooked.)

Yum! and here's to the next 14 years! I want to have a big 25th Anniversary Adventure somewhere!

p.s. Thanks Hubbyness

remember Christmas as we head into summer

2008-06-13T14:45:00.001+09:00

my first animoto video!

Summer Tasty Dinner

2008-06-13T13:20:00.002+09:00

In Summer time many people don’t enjoy cooking. Too much fuss, too much fun to be missed outside. But summer is when the food is fresh, and a good healthy light meal is so satisfying.

I am an unapologetic omnivore. I respect vegetarians but I am not one of them. So it is kind of surprising that one of my favorite food blogs is 101 Cookbooks. The author Heidi is an amazing photographer, and creative chef. Her recipes are fantastic and though they are all vegetarian, I never even notice that. It is just good food. Not vegetarian food—just good food.

So even though this season is often not thought of as a big time for cooking… Try this is a great little summery- recipe. Fast, fun, healthy and delicious. Plus I love avocados and brown rice. And it is a snap.

See Heidi’s sushi bowl (no fish involved)

And her newest cookbook.

What are you cooking up this weekend?

Barack in my home city

2008-04-21T08:07:00.000+09:00

I love cheese

2008-04-18T07:55:00.007+09:00

Back from NYC now, but will be waxing poetic about the trip for weeks to come I am sure...

One restaurant we went to twice was Artisinal. OMG delicious, gracious service, good vibe, nice decor, but the best best best thing was the CHEESE!

Besides being a wonderful bistro, Artisinal specializes in Cheese. Small Cheese producers selling amazing product. They even have a tiny retail cheese counter/shop right in the back of the restaurant with hand written staff tasting notes and recommendations. There is a cheese-ista to ask questions to and cheese boards, tasting flights, and fondues feature prominately on the menu. This is definately an alter to the cheese gods/ godesses.

At Brunch, which was amazing, we started out with the cheese board above. It comes with it's own cheese description/ menu. And fresh fruit, bread, salamis and french butter. It was totally delectable. And there are demonstrated health benefits from fermented foods (yeah! Cheese)
Strong and interesting cheeses can be an acquired taste and need some educational research, but they are well worth the acquisition.

I have to find a good Tokyo restaurant with a cheese board...

change the players

2008-04-16T06:50:00.001+09:00

No.More.Lobby.Money

18 miles of books

2008-04-07T11:38:00.001+09:00

Another pilgrimage-- I took not 1 but two trips this week to The Strand, a huge fantastic bookstore on 12th and broadway. The catch copy is 18 Miles of Books! Who could beat that??? They have everything and in this old jumbly building with stacks and racks, carts and bundles everywhere. Bargains, and used books, classics and new stuff! Both trips were unfortunately too short... maybe I can sneak down there one more time before we leave. Maybe I will try the St. Marks bookstore instead, recommended by a blogger friend (thanks, Jen!)

addicted? yup- 'fraid so. I am a bookworm for sure.

Oh-- and I got a cool messenger bag and tshirt too. If you go back and reuse your strand bag you save 25 cents everytime. nice.

cupcake pilgrimage

2008-04-05T21:22:00.003+09:00

Ok, to say I am into cupcakes would be an understatement of extreme proportions. With this in mind- I set out yesterday on a quest to find and eat cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery! Magnolia has gotten quite famous for their cupcakes and other old fashioned desserts... all homemade, natural, no preservatives- these are no twinkies, hoss!

above you can see a partial shot of the outcome of my grail-quest. The bakery limits the # you can buy to 12 per person-- to manage supply and demand. And I kid you not, there was a line outside and around the corner.

Address is 401 Bleecker, NY. NY. near 11th.

Excuse me while I buzz along on my sugar high.....buzzzzzzzzzz

I would be remiss if I did not post two other cupcake sprinkles of knowledge.

best cupcake site on the web- blog love goes to ChockyLit

and the world famous magnolia recipe for the vanilla on vanilla.

oh... and I bought a t-shirt too!

The Magnolia gets the honor of a 5 Fancy Glass rating, and it lived up to my every expectation!!!

An Amazing Evening at Jean Georges

2008-04-05T08:46:00.005+09:00

Friday night; with the help of the hotel concierge we were able to get a reservation at JeanGeorges, the chef's signature restaurant on Central Park W. The service, menu, decor and most importantly the food itself were beyond wonderful. Jean Georges has no ala carte menu, there are 3 choices. The Jean Georges classic tasting menu, A Seasonal Tasting menu, and a 4 course choice menu. I chose the Spring menu, hubby chose the Classic Jean Georges menu. We had wines, and course after course, each one unique and artistically concieved and executed.

The collage above shows snaps of the many different tastes and textures we enjoyed.

I especially liked my first course, "Egg Toast, Caviar and Dill." Also the last course, "Rack of Lamb with Thai Pepper, Mint, and Sweet Pea Puree." Hubby's fave was the "Lobster Tartine, Lemongrass, and Fenugreek Broth with Pea Shoots."

The desserts were goregous, wine pairings lovely and as a nice little surprise at the end of the meal we enjoyed chocolates and homemade, flavored marshmellows cut and served out of a lovely glass jar, tableside.

Unforgettable tastes and textures.

Only two downsides for me... 1. the large bank of glass windows behind me produced a persistant and uncomfortable draft right on my neck... it was distracting and it sadly did detract from the meal. 2. the amuse bouche and several other elements of the meal were a bit overly salty in my opinion.

Overall though-- a wonderful and memorable meal.
Next stop... Fri. night we have a reservation at BABBO.

Fancy Glass Review

Atmosphere 4 FG (cold windows and a so-so bathroom were detractors)

Service Amazing 5 FG

Menu/ food flavors 4 1/2 FG

Presentation 5 FG gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous...

Overall Impression 4 1/2

d e l i c i o u s

Lunch NYC style

2008-04-05T08:25:00.000+09:00

My first afternoon, yesterday, in NYC I did a lot of walking and looking and looking and walking. Stopped for lunch right across the street from the iconic literary heart and soul of NYC; the New York Public Library. Before going over to pay tribute, I had fantastic turkey chilli and a coke at the Devon & Blakely bakery and deli. Very tasty business. Fresh bread, homemade chilli that I had over rice, and an icy cold coke all made for a satisfying and simple lunch. A good counter point for our evening planned at Jean Georges at 1 central park w.

first night in NYC

2008-04-03T23:58:00.004+09:00

I am on a trip in NYC with my honey, he on business, me happily tagging along. I joined him last night, arriving after a long flight from tokyo- through toronto to NY...
After arriving in our lovely boutique hotel, The Roger Williams. (more on the RW later) We went to a near by recommended restaurant, Artisanal

Artisanal is a bistro/ cheese shop. And it has truly earned its fame for cheese. They offer a little retail counter, plus on the menu many cheese tasting options, flights and even fondue. YUM. The rest of the menu is lovely focused bistro fare.

I really enjoyed the whole experience.

we started out with a cheese and wine tasting flight. We chose the "Unusual" cheese trio. which included

C H E E S E
Cabecou Schnaps (Goat, France)
Gorwydd Caerphilly (Cow, Wales)
Pecorino Foglie Noce (Sheep, Italy)
W I N E S
Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Domaine L’Erriere 06
Koehler Santa Ynez Valley 05
Chianti Classico LaSala 05

My favorite was the Wales one, and the best wine was the Muscadet.

Then for his main, he had
D U C K B O U R G U I G N O N
A La Grande-Mère & Chestnut Pappardelle

and I chose--
H A N G E R S T E A K F R I T E S (shown above)

The service as nice, though there were too many waiters at our table to know who was OUR waiter... And the host was lovely, he seated us as quickly as he could even though we did not have reservations, and he stopped back to check on us. He made a excellent wine suggestion for me. It was a perfect match for my steak;
Toro Numanthia Termes Dominio de Eguren Tempranillo 05
totally delicious.

The restaurant has a killer wine list and has won a bunch of awards from Wine Spectator. We are even planning on going back, though our time in NYC is short and there are many places we want to go. One point... steak should have been smaller and fries, to give me a shot at having room for dessert. Sadly I was tooooo full.

Fancy Glass Review;

Service 4 fancy glasses

Atmosphere 5 fancy glasses

Food (esp. the cheese) 5 FG

Overall Impression 4 1/2

a new favorite

2008-03-27T12:18:00.002+09:00

A few weeks ago we did a Hawaiian BBQ promotion at Fujimamas. It was a ton of fun. And we kept a couple of tasty treats on the menu after the event. One of my new favorite things is one of those. The Caesar Burger.

It is quite yummy. Romaine, Crispy Bacon, Melted Cheese, Parmesan, and Caesar dressing... rich and filling. Plus will grill on charcoal so the meat always has great flavor. Fujimamas has been making pretty famous burgers for years...

If you are in Tokyo come by sometime and taste for yourself.

3am phone girl does NOT approve the Clinton Message of Fear

2008-03-23T08:27:00.001+09:00

reflections on my current mood

2008-03-12T20:33:00.000+09:00

not much time to write lately... but this captures my mood of late.

he's going to be OUR president

2008-03-07T23:07:00.002+09:00

not the president of the top 1%, But OUR president.

i believe

2008-03-04T22:45:00.001+09:00

I am nervous about tomorrow and wish the best for Barack and every volunteer in VT. RI. OH. and Texas that have worked so hard. I believe (and I am hungry for a hot dog)

OMG BURGERS

2008-02-29T18:50:00.001+09:00

I kan haz chezburgr?!

preview of BURGER heaven

2008-02-29T18:46:00.000+09:00

Next week, the restaurant I love and work at, Fujimamas, is doing a week long promotion of Hawaiian BBQ and amazing burgers!!! really amazing. we are busy this weekend tasting, prepping and getting the smoker smoking. And this shot above is of our massive homemade buns for our 250 gram burgers we will be grilling all next week. YUM.

for the menu of what we will be cooking up. check this out.

viva Obama

2008-02-29T07:56:00.001+09:00

I love Texas Democrats!

Obama Q&A in Hawaii

2008-02-12T10:31:00.000+09:00

world wide conference call with Barack

2008-02-12T09:07:00.000+09:00

Last night I was on a conference call with presidential candidate Barack Obama. No secret here that I am a big supporter, but the call was open to anyone in Democrats Abroad that wanted to hear Barack, and learn more about him before the close of our first ever Global Primary which ends today on 2/12.

He spoke only briefly, but he addressed a lot of issues, domestic and foreign. I don't understand the cynics that say he can be short on details... he gave a lot of substantive commentary last night. It was a very good call. about 10 mins. And worth waiting up for at 12am. I was impressed with his hopes and plans for global development and his understanding of the hard road ahead to forge better usa relations around the world. He mentioned increased spending for education, talked about trade with developing economies, the new kyoto accords and much more.

I will be on pins and needles till this is decided and am really hoping for a blow out in the primaries in DC, Virginia, and Maryland in the next 24 hrs.
yes.we.can

yes. we. can. ----- VOTE

2008-02-03T10:19:00.000+09:00

Oh Yeah!

2008-01-27T15:13:00.000+09:00

I am just so happy today! Obama won SC primary in a landslide. On to Super Tuesday! I think Obama offers the best chance of hope and change for the USA. And I am whole-heartedly thrilled that he won today!!!!

A bunch of us will be watching the Super Tuesday Returns all the way over here in Japan.