Believe the Lie

Getting Autographs By Their Favorite Blogger Turned NYT Bestselling Author

Nothing excites an average Joe more than getting a personalize autograph by a writer he looks up to. In this case, Christian Lander of “Stuff White People Like” fame. What started out as a blog quickly steamrolled into a book deal (rumored to be in the $300k range) and now a book tour. Just last night, he was on TV in a NCAA football video game commercial. Who would have thought?

Besides his great writing style, the coolest thing about Christian is his wife, Jess, who loves my favorite two things – food and photography.

Some call it cobbler, some call it a crisp. I call it delicious. Homemade nectarine cobbler (with walnuts and oats) and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Admittedly this is a very hard question to answer and some suggest that even posing it encourages stereotypes.  Sudhir Venkatesh (of Freakonomics fame), presents this question to the readers of the New York Times and after about three dozen responses, a noticeable trend is emerging. Here are ones with notable mention(in no particular order):

Boston, MA

Milwaukee, WI

Chicago, IL

Washington, DC

| Read more about racist cities |

The restaurant, which bills itself as the “original Bouchon” (a jab, perhaps, at Keller’s bistros with the same name), opened almost exactly ten years ago. It has consistently remained on the top of the SB dining scene, making it difficult to find anyone without a positive review.  For my birthday, my roommates took me to Bouchon for dinner.

We had late-ish reservations (8:30) and when we arrived we had problems with parking. When Alex and I made it in (a few minutes tardy), we were seated immediately. The waiter was a little slow with his initial approach but after that it was mostly smooth sailing.

Drew ordered a salad nicoise as her main salad, and made a comment that it was probably a silly thing to do. The waiter was very accommodating and made it a point to mention a few times he has no problems with splitting orders or making substitutions.

Seared foie gras with toasted brioche. Strawberry gastrique

We started with an appetizer on their specials menu. The waiter seemed excited we were ordering it and called it his favorite thing on the menu. It was delicious. It was the first time Alex had foie gras. I’ve had it before but always in small portions as part of a larger composition. I guess splitting this three ways yielded the same result but it was nice to see a larger piece.

Bourbon & Maple-Glazed California Duck Breast

Keeping with the duck theme, I ordered the duck breast. That’s what it was called on the menu but the waiter corrected me and told me it was duck two ways. I am glad he was right because when I read “confit” on the menu, I was expecting a little dallop. I did not expect a whole leg. Imagine my surprise when I saw that hunk of deliciousness, slow cooked in its own fat. The breast was nicely cooked with a thick, slightly crispy, and heavily salted (not a bad thing in this case) skin. I did not taste much evidence of a bourbon or maple glaze. The red wine reduction was well done but sort of a cop out sauce in my opinion. I loved the hash and was pleasantly surprised at how much was on the plate. I don’t like it when restaurants don’t give enough starch for a protein. There was a very strong herb flavor, probably rosemary which was also noticeable in Alex’s dish.

Pan-seared Rack of Venison

Alex was very interested in eating some sort of “exotic” game animal. He was trying to decide between the Rack of Lamb and Rack of Venison. He obviously went for the latter. The meat had a distinctive flavor, was super tender, and did not taste gamey at all. I also liked the way they cooked the barley (?).

Dessert was very slow coming. We each ordered our own and the waiter expressed surprise. The whole night I couldn’t tell if he was being super nice or condescending. I am pretty sure it was the former. They took forever to arrive. We watched trains of molten lava cakes with Brazillian coffee ice cream pass us by. The waiter stopped by once to apologize about the delay, explaining everything was baked to order.

All said and done, I am glad I finally got to dine here, thanks to my roommates. Compared to my favorite restaurant in town (Sage & Onion), I would say the food is on par, if not slightly edges it. I would not say it considerably bests S&O, though. The one area that it trails behind S&O is the service. There was nothing wrong with it, but the service at Sage & Onion is definitely at a higher level, with more attention to detail and additional personal touches.

I guess now that Sage & Onion is gone, Bouchon is on the top of my Santa Barbara restaurant list

Price: $150 for three (est; birthday meal)

IMG_0768, originally uploaded by sygyzy.

Roasted nectarines with mascarpone and balsamic glaze.

A simple dessert to end a great meal.

[This morning in the QA meeting]

Shane: Dunder Mifflin. Nice mug man.

David: Thanks dude. I got it from my last job.

Shane: Oh .. sweet!

David: Yeah, dude, there was this hot receptionist there.

Shane: Oh really? Did you ask her out?

David: Naw man, she had a fiance. He was in shipping.

Shane: Who cares, that’s not a problem.

[Hours later]

(15:59:23) fizzleman do you want to see a picture of Pam
(15:59:27) fizzleman the receptionist from my last company
(15:59:30) cptshanehook sure
(16:01:27) cptshanehook lol
(16:01:39) cptshanehook is that from the office?
(16:02:17) fizzleman yeah, that was taken in the office
(16:02:19) fizzleman at her desk
(16:02:31) cptshanehook ahh

IMG_0150, originally uploaded by sygyzy.

Risotto is probably one of my favorite dishes in the world. I can eat it multiple times a week. It’s relatively simple to prepare but it requires your attention and love. It’s not a quick meal but the investment pays off. It serves as an excellent canvas, but unlike noodle pasta, it brings its own flavor element to the party. A rich, creaminess that goes well with just about anything.

In this particular incarnation, we made saffron risotto by infusing a pinch of the spice in a bit of stock and adding it at the end when the heat is turned off. While the risotto was cooking, we cooked the scallops in a sous-vide bath at 50C. After it was removed from the bath, we seasoned them and pan seared, bathing them in butter. We finished the risotto by adding some butter and pancetta, then stock to loosen it up a bit.

A delicious weekday meal.

IMG_0117, originally uploaded by sygyzy.

It has been a scorching week in SB and my roommates and I wanted to make a dish that required minimal work and minimal stove time. This fit the bill.

1. They love Lacoste (and Polo) products. Absolutely love it. A Polo shirt in a US outlet is $25. It’s $120 in Germany.
2. They call their mobile/cell phones handy. They don’t know why, but they think it’s probably because it’s “handy” to have. I asked if I could call my shoes handy as well.
3. In Germany, there is more shelter space/capacity than there are homeless people.
4. The largest fireworks competition happens annually in Berlin.
5. They never heard of Sinn, one of my favorite (German) watch companies.
6. They never heard of Solebox, one of the top sneaker stores in the world. Clemens actually lives within walking distance and he’s never been there! Shame!
7. They never heard of “Battle of the Year,” the largest breakdancing competition (also held in Germany).
8. There is a white sausage dish that (traditionally) must be eaten before noon and you have to drink beer with it.
9. In Berlin, there are no dress codes for clubs. Jeans and sneakers are welcome.
10. A very popular drink at bars in Germany is Vodka with bitter lemon schnapps (?). It tastes like Sprite with Vodka, “but better”
11. They have phones that have GPS’s built in!
12. They claim that the Mexican food in Germany is quite good.
13. Fitness in Germany is just average. It isn’t extremely health conscious but not lazy either. So I guess it’s like America
14. Berlin, the capital, is the largest city and most interesting, but it’s in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing around it except farmlands.
15. The Black Forest region is famous for cuckoo clocks.
16. The most famous exported German beer is Beck’s
17. Shelterbox Australia is doing $1M in business annually. This puts them far ahead of Germany which became an affiliate sooner.
18. Germans are very excited about the iPhone. The exclusive carrier is T-Mobile.
19. There are a lot of IKEAs in Germany. Germans love it so much that Germany is the largest market for IKEA.
20. They have never heard of Uwe Boll. How is this possible?
21. You cannot own a gun in Germany except if you get a special license as a hunter, or you are in the military or a police officer. If you get an exception, you can only use it on the job and to carry it to and from the hunting grounds. You can’t even stop at the supermarket with your gun in the car.
22. In Germany, there is no draft. If you decide to join, it’s at least an eight year term.
23. They like to pop their collars.
24. Each club and each member in Rotaract has to pay dues to a the head committee. Also, their individual club fees are quite expensive. Something like 160 euros a year.
25. One of the top home theatre speaker manufacturers is in Germany. (I don’t remember the name).

I know some (one?) of you have been wondering what I’ve been up to. Here’s a quick photo tour of my life recently.

Last week I went to Los Angeles for the 99th Annual Rotary International Convention.  While we were there, we donated over 300 books and helped break a Guinness record.

This was the second time in as many weeks that I was in LA and on both trips, I ate at Father’s Office (2) in Culver City. Yummy!

My company had our summer party last Friday. This time it was held at Elings Park instead of the Zoo. The theme was Cirque du Solstice and they pulled out all the stops!

The mercury averaged around 90 degrees this weekend in Santa Barbara. The only way to stay cool was to stay outside and moving. That’s exactly what I did by attending the Solstice parade.