Normally, I am the first one to jump on the “I hate spring” bandwagon. I have horrible allergies, and the only time of year when I am able to kinda breath through my nose is winter. If there is some form of vegetation alive, I am unable to breathe.
However, it is sometimes worth it.
One of my instructors at DAAP, @artiekuhn, had told us that scores in a game should always be large enough to make the player feel like they are accomplishing something. I agree.. getting +100 every time you kill a bad guy is much more rewarding than getting +1.
The scoring system in Dishwasher: Dead Samurai takes this notion to the extreme:
Inside "It’s Just Crepes" on court st. Really nice use of distressed look and old timey fonts
My father was complaining that everyone was ohhing and ahhing over videos of my cousin’s son on facebook. He wanted us to start adding videos of him, because he says he is much more interesting than a toddler.
Well, he asked for it…
My wife found this hotel for us to stay in when I had a job interview in Louisville. She thought it would be fun to make a weekend of it, and even though the interview wound up not happening we thought it would be fun to head down there (plus were weren’t getting our money back, so I couldn’t stand to not use the room we payed for).
Since this is my mini-review, I’ll make it short. The hotel was really neat, but I don’t think I would stay there for more than a night, and only if I could stomach the cost. It was pricey. The restaurant was really good, but the grit/Eggs Benedict thing wasn’t as good as I was lead to believe it would be. The walls were really thin, we heard the couple in the next room going to town. Like, really heard them.
Why did no one tell me there was an Obama/Spiderman comic? I would have been able to run with a "My Obamasense is tingling" joke for a while.
I think the best part is Spidey bitching about it being too cold on the cover. He can take on Doc Oc but a slight wind chill will destroy him!
Alliteration is phun.
I have been meaning to get these photos uploaded for a while now, and since I have finished moving my blog, i figured this was as good a time as any to get it done. I would try to describe everything, but I think the photos speak for themselves.
I was angry, because when looking through the official Phish photos on flickr, they had multiple shots of a giant robot, and I never remembered seeing it. However, if you look at the pic of the guy in the panda suit, you can see a part of the giant robot. I just never looked up…
I took this photo to help establish a visual language for my Motion Design class. I honestly was surprised at how well this one shot turned out. When processing the shot, I paused for a second and realized I needed to force myself to make note of the things I did right with this shot.
Here is to going from accidentally awesome to consistently awesome.
Thanks to Kate for letting Sara and myself take the two open spots she had in her reservation for dinner at Pigall’s. It was an amazing time, and I am glad that I had the chance to experience real fine dining.
I apologize for the poor picture quality. There is only so much that can be done with a camera on a phone in low light. I also failed to get pictures of many of the dishes before the sauce was applied, so the amazing presentation of the food is not accurately represented.
(Photo from http://jeanrobertgroup.com/pigalls/about)
We started the night in Twist, the bar next to Pigall’s, with everyone getting to meet each other and having a cocktail before sitting down to dinner. When the clock struck 9:00 we headed next door to start dinner. We were presented with two choices: the three-course dinner or the Gourman menu. There was no hesitation, everyone agreed that if we were going to do this, we were going to do it right.
There is no picture of the L’Amuse Bouche du Jour, but it was tasty
The Maine Lobster salad was delicious. It really made me miss the summers I spent in Cape Cod as a child. The lobster and pomegranate together were excellent, and the fennel was really fresh.
Foie Gras. Probably one of my new favorite foods. I had it for the first time only a few days prior to eating at Pigall’s when I went to Terry Turf Club. And while the novelty of having Foie Gras on a burger is neat and all, this was properly prepared. I had expected the Foie to be greasy, since that was how I encountered it at TTC, but instead it was a lighter, cleaner flavor. The candied walnuts and duck all combined to be an amazing set of flavors.
Since Kate knew another Cincinnati chef who accompanied us to dinner, we were given an extra dish which consisted of a huge scallop on top of fennel, topped with a citrus creme sauce. It is nice knowing people that know people.
The cod with blue cheese was probably my least favorite course. The corn and blue cheese worked well together (and is something I am going to add to my home cooking), but I felt the blue cheese fondue masked many of the other flavors in the dish. It was hard for me to cut through the cheese’s punch of flavor to get to the fish. Everyone else really enjoyed it, but it wasn’t my thing.
This is what sold me to going with the Gourmand menu. The second I saw elk, I knew I had to try it. I was rather surprised when we started eating the elk because I assumed that it would be gamy, but the meat was so tender, it almost dissolved in my mouth. The barley on the apple slice was awesome, and I told Sara it was something she should make every night for me.
The deserts were amazing. Both chocolate dishes were rich without being too heavy. The red velvet cake was smooth as ice, and the pear tart with pomegranate sorbet was out of this world.
After we had finished our 4 hour dinner (yes, we left Pigall’s around 1am), Jean-Robert came to our table to say hello and thank us for coming. We showered him with the praise he deserved for making such a wonderful dinner, and when we were heading out the door, he stopped a conversation he was having to thank us again and shake all of our hands.
All in all, I am really glad I was able to try real food. I doubt I would be able to eat food that good every day (I was half way in to a food coma by the bonus course), but I now know what can – and should – be done with food. I am also glad that I was given the opportunity to try this gem of Cincinnati, but if it wasn’t for the fact that they are closing in a week, I would never have even considered dining there.
Last night I worked on adding a few more lines to this self-assigned kinetic type project. There is still a long way to go, but I am happy that progress is being made at a steady pace.
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