Chez TJ

For my birthday, Mark and I ate at famed French restaurant, Chez TJ. This single story house has been around the corner from our house for many years, but it wasn't until my birthday that we decided to give the restaurant a try.


Course 1: Pumpkin Panna Cotta
with Garlic Chips and
Port and Shallots Marmalade
with a Foie Gras Macaron

Chez TJ has a Michelin 1-star rating. In the foodie world, this is a BIG deal.  To give you an idea of how rare a Michelin star is, there are only 39 other restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area with a single Michelin star. Losing a Michelin star, or gaining a Michelin star, is quite literally a matter of life and death. In 2003, a well-known French chef committed suicide when he learned that his restaurant was to be downgraded from 3 Michelin stars to a mere 2 stars.

Course 2: Pacific Amberjack sashimi
with celery salad, yogurt
and smoked beets

In 2007, Chez TJ itself was the center of gossip when chef, Bruno Chemel was fired for losing a Michelin star, dropping the restaurant from the vaunted 2 star realm, to merely one.  It was in the wake of this scandal that we experienced the food at Chez TJ. In retrospect, I doubt we could have been able to tell the difference between 1 or 2 Michelin stars anyway.  I felt that the food was way above my head.

Course 3: Foie Gras Soup with
Almond Foam with
Brioche Foie Gras topped with
Pomegranate Gelee

Course 4: Chestnut raviolini
topped with sweetbreads
and shaved truffles with
a green pea broth

Course 5: Octopus and Oxtail
with Brussel Sprouts Tempura

Mark and I chose the 8 course tasting menu, but with the "amuse bouches" that were offered, we actually ate 10 courses. Dinner took almost 4 hours to complete, and we were served by at least 4 different people.

Course 6: Pork belly with pickled root vegetables, seaweed gastrique and almond sauce

My favorite dishes were the Pork belly dish (see above), and the Octopus and Oxtail dish (see Course #5).  Mark's favorite dish was the Beef rib-eye (see below).  It was also our first time sampling sweetbreads (see Course #4), i.e. thymus glands, and the verdict is in: we really liked it.

Course 7: Beef rib-eye with Bluefoot mushrooms and black garlic gnocchi

Course 8: Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam cheese with Roasted Red Grapes and a Honeycomb and Thyme gastrique

Course 9: Happy Birthday Platter of goodies, including passion fruit chewies\

Course 10: Lemon Crostata with a Date Mousse and Coconut Sorbet with a Deconstructed Lemon Reconstructed with Lemon gelee.

In summary, it was memorable experience, however, I really don't think I have an educated enough palate to appreciate the food properly. The flavor combinations were pretty challenging.  Many of the dishes made my head hurt, they were so intellectual.  To the chef's credit, however, I must say that each dish was an explosion of flavor.  I sometimes find European food kind of bland.

If there were any drawbacks to our experience, it would be the decor and the service.  The decor did not match the level of food we were eating. Also, I did not feel that the service was great. I felt like the two hosts were too ingratiating. And one of the servers, could not speak English well, if at all. I had a hard time understanding the dishes he was describing, which is really a shame, because we were spending so much money on our meal, it would have been nice to understand what we were eating.

After all this, my conclusion is that the Michelin star review system is based on real judgement. However, I simply don't have the palate to appreciate it. I think I would rather spend that same money on a 3 day weekend excursion. Our Sequoia National Park vacation, which we recently took, cost about the same as our meal, and I think I enjoyed it more.

What I'm Playing, Reading, Watching, Surfing, II

The Hyperion books by Dan Simmons have landed on many a top 10 Science Fiction lists.  So as any self-respecting science fiction reader would do, I decided to give the books a read. I began Hyperion last month, and just finished its sequel, The Fall of Hyperion on my iPhone. In a nutshell, the books are about a massive war between man, Artificial Intelligence, and the Ousters - an evolved offshoot of man. The Hyperion series is a space opera.  At its worst, I felt like I was muddling through a high schooler's melodramatic first novel.  However, at his best, Dan Simmons showcases his imagination with image after remarkable image.  Take for instance his evocation of the Shrike, a 9 foot tall monster bristling with thorns and spikes, perhaps one of the scariest monsters ever written in the modern age. Also, I love the description of the Consul's space ship.  I wish I had my own personal space craft equipped with a grand piano, full bar, and cushy round sofa pad.

The Hyperion Books

What I'm Surfing
I'm obsessed with reading the Style Section on the New York Times website.  I've been following the runway shows in New York, Milan and Paris religiously and I'm learning to love designers I would have loathed just a couple of years ago. Take for instance this Fall's Prada show.  I realize now that Miuccia Prada is a genius, rather than a hawker of ugly nylon bags, for which she was originally famous.  Her proportions and color choices could be interpreted as dowdy and retro.  But I think she is an innovator-extraordinaire.  She has a genius for reinventing forms and combining textures.

Prada, Fall 2011

Another fashion designer that I've grown to admire is Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton.  I used to make fun of people who owned Louis Vuitton purses.  The prototypical LV bag owner, for me, was someone who aspired to be high-class, but who really wasn't, or at most, was someone who didn't have enough good taste to be original.  But I have since changed my mind. Marc Jacobs has a very evolved and cultivated aesthetic sense.  His latest Fall 2011 fashion show was fetishistic, and decadent, yet tightly prudish all at the same time if such a thing were possible. The fashion reviewers say that his runway show was based on the 1970s cult film, The Night Porter, which was about a masochistic affair between a concentration camp survivor, and her Nazi captor. The theme seems rather obscure to me, but there was no denying the drama as each model arose on stage from a metal cage elevator wearing a juxtaposition of vinyl, with tweed pea coats, buttoned up dresses with hand cuffs.

Louis Vuitton Fall 2011

What I'm Playing, Reading, Watching, Surfing

This month, I have been a real couch-potato. When I am not hard at work, I have been busy (if busy is the right word) watching movies, playing games, reading books, and surfing obsessively:

What I'm Playing:
Fallout: New Vegas is my latest video game obsession. I'm not gonna bore you with an in-depth review, but in summary, this is a mind-bogglingly complex, and strange game.  The game is a role-playing shooter, with some very bizarre story-lines: I have cooked imitation human meat for a fancy New Vegas restaurant, I have given a brain transplant to a dog (see picture, left).  I have even sampled the sexual services of a "sexbot", to name some of my stranger experiences.  Believe it or not, I've been relatively ethical.  In this game, I have been meticulous about not killing innocent people.  But sometimes, you can't help it. Just recently, I cleared out an entire casino with a stolen assault carbine. Now, everyone cowers around me on the New Vegas strip.  But what was I supposed to do?  They attacked first.

Rex, my robot/canine companion

What I'm Watching
I am slightly fascinated by a documentary we recently saw: Azorian-The Raising of the K-129.  This documentary discloses the biggest and most ambitious CIA project of all time: raising the K-129 submarine. Apparently, this Russian sub sank from unknown reasons back in 1969. The Russians did not have the technology to find their own submarine, and so searched aimlessly for several weeks. In contrast, the Americans triangulated the exact position of the submarine within minutes of the submarine sinking (let's just say that we Americans have lots of underwater sensors all over the world). Because this was during the Cold War, the Americans decided to secretly raise the nuclear submarine. Just, how does one raise a nuclear submarine, secretly exactly?  Well, you design and build a custom ship that looks like any normal ship.  But it isn't a normal ship, because inside the ship is a huge mechanical claw.  The claw can  be lowered half a mile deep. The claw is custom-designed to grab the submarine, lift it, and ensconse it safely, deep inside the belly of the ship. I kid you not.

The documentary is chock-a-block full of nerdy engineering details. For example, perhaps the largest bearings ever designed or built were made for this project (made to isolate the cyclic motions of the mechanical claw deep underwater, from the rolling of the ship above water). Also, some poor engineering chump had to design gigantic custom pipe-threads on long pipe sections purely for extending the mechanical claw.
  
I'm not a boxing fan by any means, but watching Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson was a huge inspiration to me. Jack Johnson, (not the musician) was the first Black boxer to win the heavy-weight boxing title. This was hugely controversial back in the day (this took place during the 1910s) because people were horrified to learn that Blacks could be physically superior to a White. What I find so fascinating, nay, inspirational about Jack Johnson, was that, in a time when many Black people were still impoverished and segregated from White society, Jack Johnson actively crossed those lines.  He scandalized society by consorting with White women, sometimes travelling with a harem of them everywhere he went.  He also dressed splendidly in the highest of fashions (he reminds me of some NBA players today), and sped around town in a series of expensive racing cars. He was arrogant, and merely smiled his famous gold-capped smile when racial epithets were hurled at him during boxing matches. I find Jack Johnson an inspiration of the human spirit.  There is something so indomitable about him. And he was stubbornly himself, despite all of the pressures from society for him to be another way.


To be continued...

Snowshoeing in Sequoia National Park, Part 3

Mark and his two bowls
at breakfast at
Wuksachi Lodge

In all my previous stays in National Parks, I have always stayed in tents, or primitive tent cabins.  However, lodging doesn't always have to be so rugged. Many National Parks have famous and historical lodges in which to stay (the luxurious Ahwahnee at Yosemite National Park comes to mind). Up until this trip, however, we had never stayed in the National Park Lodge before.      

Luckily enough, the Wuksachi lodge within Sequoia National Park was offering a very attractive winter deal through TravelZoo.  For once, I decided to spoil ourselves with the comforts of a warm bed, private shower and cable television to go with our wilderness experience.  Having these creature comforts gave us the reserves to go confidently out into the snow everyday.  

Little did I know, but food options within the park are limited to the Wuksachi dining hall. Food at Wuksachi, particularly dinner, was fantastic, and I was even impressed with the wine pairing at one meal. However, the prices can be a little steep. But I loved the family atmosphere in the dining room.  There was no formality, despite the incredible food and setting. At meal times, it was not uncommon for children to run around, and for babies to be crawling around on the carpeted floor. 

All in all, I think our Sequoia Kings Canyon trip exceeded my expectations.  I knew I would be awed by the Giant Sequoias, but I did not expect to feel love towards these huge trees as I did.  It is a special place that uplifted me. And I  highly recommend others to see this place for themselves.

When to Go

Winter is a great time to visit Sequoia National Park. The snow accentuates the Giant Sequoia's outstanding orange bark, the park is less crowded, and lodging is inexpensive.

Where to Go/What to Do

1. Visit General Sherman Tree (.5 miles).  

2. Snowshoe Congress Loop Trail (1.0 miles)

3. Visit Lodgepole Visitor Center - there's a great exhibit on the history of the park

4. Visit Grant Grove and General Grant Tree

5. Snowshoe to Topokah Falls (3.4 miles)

6. Attend a ranger led snowshoe hike

Where to Stay

Wuksachi Lodge

What to Wear

A ski jacket with a removable liner, snow pants or gaiters, waterproof boots (hiking boots don't count), and snowshoes are recommended.  My hiking boots weren't waterproof, and as a result I got some minor frost bite on the first day.  On the second day, however, I rectified the situation by wearing plastic bags over my socks underneath my hiking boots.

Snowshoeing in Sequoia National Park, Part 2

Mark and me in front of
General Sherman Tree,
The largest tree in the world

The second day at the Parks was dedicated to Sequoias, Sequoias, Sequoias.  Here we were at Sequoia National Park, and we hadn't really seen a Sequoia yet, except briefly during a drive-by.

Like all other tourists, we made our way to the General Sherman tree.  Named after William "Tecumseh" Sherman, the celebrated Civil War general, General Sherman is the largest living tree in the world.  Other trees might be taller, (Coastal Redwoods at 379 feet tall), and other trees might be older (Bristlecone Pines at 4800 years of age), but the Sequoia is the largest by volume.

I'm a pretty weepy person in general, but being reduced to tears by a tree was a  first for me.  It's cheesy to say, but being in the presence of General Sherman, and Giant Sequoias in general, makes you aware that you are in the presence of something larger than oneself, metaphysically, as well as physically .  The atmosphere around General Sherman was hushed.  I got the impression that everyone felt the same way as me.  This is yet another reason why one should visit Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park in winter rather than summer. People seem more worshipful of nature if they are going to go through the trouble of visiting the Sierras in winter.

Being amongst these trees makes you
want to "Preserve and Protect",
much like the National Park Rangers

Right off the manicured trail off General Sherman is a snow-covered 1.5 mile loop called Congress Loop.  Congress Loop has got to be one of my top hikes of all time.   This loop takes you amongst Giant Sequoias named after Congressmen and U.S. states.  In summertime, I can imagine there would be hordes of screaming kids and overweight Americans in shorts lining this path.  However, since it was winter, and the loop was covered with 8 feet of snow, we were left alone a mere 20 feet from the exposed concrete.

As a side note, my other top hikes of all time are: Summiting Mt. Whitney (for it's epic, extreme nature), Discovery Trail in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest (for it's contemplative, desolate landscape), and Lyell Canyon/John Muir Trail in Yosemite National Park (for it's pristine and gentle scenery).  I've also hiked Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, and the Zion Narrows in Zion National Park, to give you an impression of my diverse hiking experience.

Spawn of Sentinel tree,
to be germinated on our patio

Congress Loop Trail takes you among spectacular Giant Sequoias.  I felt filled with protective love for these trees.  The park ranger motto, "Preserve and Protect", really came to life for me while standing beneath these giants. I also felt full of childish glee, tromping through the virgin snow and wasting energy to get nearer to the giant trees.

Mark, contrasting with myself, enjoyed the trees in his own unique way. At the foot of the Sentinel Tree, he absconded with a quartet of little Sequoia pine cones with the intent of germinating them on our patio.

To be continued...

Snowshoeing in Sequoia National Park

Mark putting on snowshoes

We just got back from a 3 day weekend in Sequoia National Park, and I am just brimming with enthusiasm about our trip.  First off, I was really excited to try snowshoeing for the first time.  Secondly, I was really looking forward to staying in my first authentic National Park lodge. And thirdly, I was excited to see my first Giant Sequoia Trees.

On our first night, we encountered a bit of a hiccup. There are two main entrances into Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park, one of which was closed from to snow.  Of course, we ended up at the wrong entrance for the night. Website instructions to the park are a little confusing, so I recommend that you spend more than a cursory 5 minutes understanding them, unlike myself.  Fortunately, the Wuksachi Lodge, where we had reservations for the night, refunded us for the first night.  Cooler heads prevailed and we ended up staying in nearby Visalia that first night, which is just outside entrance we were supposed to enter through.

The thrill of snowshoeing on our way
to Topokah Falls

The horror of the previous night was quickly forgotten as soon as we entered the park the following morning.  A much overlooked aspect of the park is the enjoyment to be had in the winter-time.  The park has few visitors all year, and even fewer visitors in the winter time, which makes it easier to have the park all to oneself. In winter, too, the Giant Sequoia trees glow an unearthly orange, and make a striking contrast against the wintry white snow. Finally, the large snowfall makes it imperative to rent a pair of snowshoes or cross country skis which makes it fun in and of itself.

To attract visitors, Wuksachi Lodge offers an excellent deal in wintertime.  Nights at the lodge cost only $79/night during the workweek, and $87/night on the weekend.  Prices are typically double that in the summer. Wuksachi also offers free snowshoes to all residents, and also offers a special bed and breakfast offer, which offers unlimited breakfast buffet, which Mark and I partook in everyday.

Ice climbers at Topokah Falls

We quickly rented a pair of snowshoes, and went on a short hike to Tokopah Falls.  Tokopah Falls was recommended by a park ranger for to its contrasting scenery with the rest of the park.  It is special because it offers visitors easy access to the high Sierra (7000'-14,500' of elevation) just 1.7 miles walk from the visitor center.  Most of the park is in the mid-Sierra range (5,500'-7,000'). The hike followed along the babbling Kaweah river, and was very idyllic and pretty, even more so because we were alone the entire time.  I did not weary of the thrill of snowshoeing until we got to perhaps mile #3, when I started to feel the exertion in my hip flexors and butt.

At the end of the hike, we encountered the barren landscape I presume is typical of the high Sierras.  We found a couple of ice climbers climbing the Topokah ice fall with crampons and ice axe. It was very exciting for me to see something that is normally portrayed in scary survival movies such as "Touching the Void", so I felt compelled to watch.  But when fist-sized pieces of ice started to tumble down me, I was warned to step far to the side.

To be continued...