dessert tasting and elvis costello

seems every blog has been dormant for weeks, mine included. what, with mothers day, private grand opening party, beos, its been a bit hectic to find a second to write. alas, i write once again.

on a recent post on allison's blog, she wrote about pet peeves from both sides of the restaurant industry. i said that i do not like to go orders. when food is presented as art and with different temperatures and textures, the end product in a box does not do it justice. it's just not right!! i'm sure randy would agree with this. his food is incredibly beautiful and extremely artistic. it does not do any justice to put it in a box.

aside from that, yesterday i had two great friends come to america's to try my desserts. i treated them with a 6 course dessert tasting. i love doing tastings. its exciting and spontaneous. if you want to do a dessert tasting, please let me know. i will gladly do it ... actually, i would beg you to let me do a dessert tasting. (next time i do a tasting i will take pictures) this was their dessert tasting:

picaron/ pb powder/ aji amarillo honey/ brown butter ice cream

tres leches/ vanilla fluff/ creme fraiche

lucuma souffle/ bacon streusel/ apple-yuzu spritzer

texas goat cheese/ white truffle honey/ blueberries

annatto ice cream/ vanilla croquant/ sesame granola

guanaja "torchon"/ acai/ creme anglaise/ spiced pop rocks


they loved it! i had fun. win win. OHHHH!! and afterwards they reminded me that they were in the neighborhood for the concert: the police with elvis costello. I NEARLY FORGOT!! im a huge elvis costello fan. i have not missed any of his shows in the last 4 years, and i wasnt about to miss this one. i had to leave work early. i had to. im sorry. but i've been working 12-15hour days with half day off since we opened. i needed a break. i needed to do something for myself.

and so it was. i was waiting in line at the cynthia woods mitchel pavillion. it was a short walk to get there (YES! a walk. we are literally that close to the venue) bought my ticket, sat down on the lawn and enjoyed an amazing 45 minute set.

once elvis was done i announced to my friends i would be leaving. they insisted i stay for the police, i gave in. i had a bad feeling about it. i was right. i was bored out of my mind during the police. i was completely dissapointed with their performance.

they played everything extremely technically. great skills, not one missed note. but with so much technicality, they lost all passion ... or so it seemed to me. i just wanted to see them play their hits as they were 20+ years ago. they didnt. instead they dragged each song out. everything she does is magic was extremely mellow. what happened?! when i was in college, my band covered that song. we did a ska/punk cover because thats what we listened to and because its easy turning everything into ska/punk. the song dragged out for what seemed hours. it was slow. there was no foot stomping beat. it didnt make me feel like skanking. or even singing along. it was slow and dull. same goes for the following songs, don't stand so close to me, roxanne, doo doo doo da da da, etc. the only song that fit their new jazz/jam style was every breath you take. but even that song dragged on.

i love the police as much as the next guy, but this new sound they are trying to do is not befitting of the police i new; the police i grew up listening to.