Frasca Food and Wine ...and Kathy's 1st official blog post...finally!

Frasca in Boulder is absolutely one of my favorite restaurants in the *Denver* area.

Our recent visit on Friday night, was a last-minute thing, due to a "need" to buy a black tank racer-back dress for an "80s Party"....any guesses on what I dressed up as? The answer and pictures to be posted later.

Any *excuse* to go to Boulder....I'll come up with it and gladly make the drive!! And, Ren was such a sport for wanting to go...especially today. Just a couple of hours before we drove to Boulder, he had just arrived back from a business trip to Virginia.

We did not have reservations - but knew that walking in shortly after they opened at 5:30pm, our chances of getting a table were pretty good. We were offered seats at the Salumi Bar or a table outside. The weather was so nice, we chose the outside table.

"I really, really love this restaurant", I said several times to Ren during our dinner.
"I know", replied Ren, with a big smile, several times.

Why do I love Frasca? The food, wine, service - exceptional. They support local farmers which is obvious once you've tasted their food. The wine...Master Sommeliers Bobby Stuckey
and Jesse Becker..need I say more? The service/staff...very friendly, unpretentious. A few months ago I worked with Cristin, their Event Manager on planning a birthday dinner for my friend Ben. The entire experience from beginning-to-end was unforgettable.

This recent dining experience...I do have a complaint....kidding...well, sort of....it's more of a bummer, not a complaint. They no longer serve Fiore di Zucca (squash blossoms).
I was so looking forward to this when I saw it on the menu earlier in the day.
Fiore di Zucca, a glass of Scarpetta and a little dessert.....Kathy's a HAPPY girl!!
But, they just changed the menu (as they always do seasonally....a sign of a great restaurant) the day of our visit. I'm NOT complaining because I truly understand why. I'm just purely BUMMED. There were chopped up fiore di zucca in my Primi, the summer squash custard. So, hey, better than none.

What's the big deal about squash blossoms? Well, I love them. And they are only available for a very short time every year. It brings back memories of home...California. Every Sunday in the summer, I would go to the Mountain View Farmer's Market for these delicate, flavorful blossoms. How did I prepare them? Lightly fried and/or stuffed with goat cheese...yum!!


Okay, back to dinner... What did we eat and drink?

Started off with a glass of Scarpetta 2007 Pinot Grigio, Friuli Italy.

Ren's Quattro Piatti
Antipasti
Maine Lobster Fritta
Nectarine, Tarragon Aioli and House-Made Mortadella

Primi
House-Made Russet Potato Gnocchi
Munson Farm Sweet Corn, Spinach and "Ricotta Affumicata"
(Wine: Ronco del Gnemiz Sauvignon Blanc)

Secondi
Grilled Boneless Beef Short Rib
Roasted Toohey Farm Beets,
Haystack Mountain Goat Cheese and Pickled Horseradish
(Wine: Enrico Santini Poggio al Moro)

Dolci
Sour Cherry and Chocolate Tart
Almond Crumble and Vanilla Bean Gelato
(Digestivo: Nonino Grappa di Monovitigno, Merlot...
Yep, Kathy drove home...hahaha)

Kathy's QP
Antipasti
Red Wagon Farm Summer Squash Custard
Grilled Pancetta and Lemon Basil Vinaigrette

Primi
Riso Vialone Nano
Cure Farm Tomatoes and Red Wagon Farm Basil
(Wine: Ronco del Gnemiz Sauvignon Blanc)

Secondi
Shaved Long Family Farm Pork Leg
Fingerling Potatoes, Palisade Peach and Bacon-Rosemary Vinaigrette
(Wine: Zilliken 2006 Riesling Kabinett "Saarburger Rasch", Saar, Germany)

Dolci
Gelati and Sorbetti
Valrhona Dark Chocolate, Coconut, Blood Orange
(Beverage: Espresso)

And for later....(wrapped up a little clear to-go bag, tied w/ribbon)
Tasting of House-Made Chocolates - Valrhona 70% Bittersweet, Coconut, Espresso, Passionfruit-Caramel, Hazelnut, Chocolate Macadamia, Valrhona Crispy Chocolate Pearls, White chocolate w/chocolate drizzle.

As always, we're looking forward to our next visit at Frasca.

Les Halls, Washington DC

Last night we had dinner at Les Halles on Pennsylvania Ave. The restaurant is one of three (NYC, DC, Miami) owned the Author and TV personality Tony Bourdain. I've been to the NYC location a couple of times and really like it. It serves classic French bistro food, quick, simple and delicious.

One of the highlights was a blind tasing of Chimay Belgan Ales (Red, White, and Blue). I've done this once before and same as last time, much prefered the Blue variety.

Inerestingly the Bar snack was fried Potato peels. Very Tony B, a simple and effiecient use of something that is normally thrown out.

As always Les Halles is highly recommended.

NASA @ Hastings

Today is Saturday and I'm working. In Connecticut. Tomorrow I'm flying home. I'm flying back to the East Coast (Wahington, DC) on Monday. I'll be there until Friday. Did I mention that I'm working next Saturday too?

This is a pretty brutal couple of weeks. The only thing sustaining me during these trying times are memories of the excellent track event last weekend at Motorsports Park Hastings (MPH) in Hastings, Nebraska. I made the 6 hour drive to Hastings with Scott Friday afternoon. Saturday was a mixed bag, the downside is that it rained the whole day, the upside is that I really like driving in the rain. In fact I LOVE driving in the rain. It essentially make all cars equal. Traction is so limited that no one can put any power down. This means that even a relatively stock car like mine can be the among the fastest cars on track. During one session I lapped nearly the entire Group-4 field. Only a Porsche C4S was faster.

Unfortunately Sunday was rain free so I resumed my place well down the order. With a little more negative camber I wasn't as far down as usual.

I still struggled with the HeroCam. It's hard to get it to start reliably. In one case I missed capturing a big, bad Shelby Cobra spinning just in front of me and Scott. Instead I got 435 consecutive .jpg images of the session, including one just before and one just after the spin.

Here is some friendly advice for all new driving school attendees. If it's your first time at a track consider starting somewhere other than NASA Group-4. If you miss the first session, don't grid up first for the second session. But, if you insist on gridding first, don't start lapping at 35 MPH in an attempt to learn the entire track during the warm-up lap. Finally, and this one is key, don't then spin the car on the first hot lap. None of these things will win the hearts and minds of your fellow drivers, (especially when done in combination) it will only make them bitch about you to the NASA Officials during the post session download meeting.

One thing I found at Hastings was my missing horsepower. Hasting is ~1800ft so I gained back much of power I lose at high-altitude tracks like Miller and Pueblo.



Here is a dry shot from Sunday showing my M3 and Scott's very fast Pontiac, at least I think it's a Pontiac -- I could be wrong.

..about my new iPhone

Last week, about a day before releasing iTunes 7.7.1 and fixing my Outlook syncronization problem, the touchscreen on my 14 Month old 2.5G phone broke. Following the Apple protocol, I made an appointment with a “Genius” at the Apple “Genius Bar”. The "Genius" looked at it, restored it as a new phone, but couldn’t make it work -- not much of a Genius. Since I’m out of warranty Apple offered a refurbished 2.5G for $199. That's the same as the subsidized price for a 3G 8Gb. After confirming via AT&T that I was indeed eligible for a “hardware upgrade” I could buy any 3G phone at the subsidized price. Except that they were completely out of 3G phones.

My “Genius” went behind the curtain and returned with news that if I were to come back the following morning at about 7am I’d have my choice of 3G phones.

I thought about it all evening and finally set the alarm for 6:30.

I arrived at the mall at about 7 and ended up about 10th in line at the store (this was three weeks after launch). At about 7:30 the Apple staff arrived and started the pre-qualification process. This weeded out about half the people in line. I met all the pre-qual criteria and received my golden-ticket for a black 16Gb model.

Activation and signing new 2-year contract took about 10 minutes and I was out of the store by 8:15.

So, about the phone,

It’s exactly like the 2.5G phone except:

1. It’s a little bigger.
2. It has GPS
3. 3G is much faster then 2.5G
4. Its black

That’s about it.

So I took a Dremel to my 2.5G dock so it now fits the 3G. I also had to get a new larger screen protector.

Oh, and I got AppleCare so this won’t happen again.