Menton

On our journey from Riomaggiore, Italy to Nice, France last September, we passed through a quaint town at the border of the two countries named Menton.  I was so excited to put a visual to the name.  Why?  Well it just happens to be the town that one of the most sophisticated restaurants in Boston is named for.  And to boot, my favorite celebrity chef, Kristen Kish, is the chef de cuisine there.  I attempted to snap a picture as the train went through the Menton station but I ended up with a blurry picture of a wall.  Such is my life. If we're ever there again, we will be sure to stop there because I hear it is beautiful.

I mention this because we had dinner at Menton for our anniversary last month, and it was so epically delicious that it needed a full post.  The place has the best service that I have ever experienced.  We're talking an escort to the restroom, mulitple servers all wishing us a happy anniversary, and a continuous stream of food coming at us!  I apologize in advance for the graininess of these photos because the restaurant's mood lighting really does not make photo documentation all that easy.  Here is our meal in pictures.

We started off the night with cocktails at Drink.  Like Menton, this bar is also owned by Barbara Lynch, and the service is always great.  There's no cocktail menu, you just tell them what you like and they whip something up for you.  They even treated us to champagne when they heard that it was our anniversary.

Then we headed down the street to start the main event.  We started with some wine.

Then a series of little amuse bouches arrived that were delightful even though I can't remember what any of them were.

 {Left: It had caramelized onions so I loved it | Right: some sort of pumpkin puff from heaven?}

::First Course::

 Roasted Beet Salad
Autumn Squash   Orange Blossom   Horseradish 

Terrine of Foie Gras
Apple   Persimmon   Walnut

::Second Course::

Potato-Miso Velouté
Brandade   Grapefruit   Chorizo

 Monkfish
Leek   Tandoori   Smoked Brioche

::Third Course::

New Zealand Venison
Flageolet Bean   Juniper   Sausage

Prime Beef Sirloin
Cheek   Grapefruit   Rösti

::Cheese Course::

 ::Dessert Course::

Chocolate Torte
Bacon   Cream Cheese   Maple

Gingerbread
Eggnog   Golden Raisin   Cashew

As if we weren't already completely stuffed, some fun little extra sweets came out to finish things off.

It was all so incredible, and best of all I caught a glimpse of Miss Kristen Kish herself in the kitchen.  I totally should have asked to meet her, but I would have been a mess and said something completely embarrassing because I'm just that awkward.  As it was, I looked like a lunatic because I made two trips to the bathroom in a five minute span just so that I could spot her in the kitchen.  The first time, I forgot to look for her and got distracted by the cheese cart (typical) but then Kevin said he could see her in the kitchen, so he told me to go again so that I could look.  

Me:  "A man just escorted me to the restroom! It's not like I can just go again without anyone noticing."  
Kevin: "That's ridiculous. Just go."
Me: "Maybe I can loop around the other way and dodge him."
Kevin: "Just go, no one will care."
Me: "Maybe I should wait like 20 minutes, but then what if I really have to go at the end of the meal?  I can't go a third time without looking really crazy."
Kevin: Gives me a look like he is really sorry that he even brought this up.  "Just go."

Luckily, the second time they figured I knew where the restroom was so they didn't bother showing me again.  Thank goodness.  And on the way back I was sure to peek in the kitchen.  Bingo!  Favorite Top Chef contestant ever spotted and night made.  Just to be clear I can't say favorite chef to ever appear on Top Chef because I love me some Emeril, but Kristen is a very close second.  By the way Emeril, if you're reading this, I'll be in New Orleans in April.  Do you have a man at your restaurant that escorts people to the restroom?  I'm sure you do.  Your restaurants rock.

Anniversary Week: Gifts

Three years ago today, I married my best friend.  I have known him since I was ten.  We were friends for years, and will always be friends first.  Today I thought I'd talk gifts.  We've exchanged many over the ten years that we have been together, and it's safe to say that Kevin is by far the better gift giver in the relationship. So far, we've tried to stay traditional with our anniversary gifts to each other.  Here's the run-down.

Year one we gifted each other tickets for a cruise to Cozumel and Belize.  It was fun in the sun with umbrella drinks, hot tubbing, and cave tubing.

Year two we also went on a trip, but we kept it a little more local with a weekend in Stowe, Vermont.  You can see highlights of that trip here.  Not only did we embrace the cotton theme at The Stowe Mountain Lodge where the sheets are made of clouds,*  but we also gifted ourselves a nice California King mattress.  I talk about that purchase more here. 

*Okay, so we asked the resort employees, and apparently very little actual cloud goes into the manufacturing of their sheets, but I would have believed it!

Neither of us were really in need of either of those.  We both have gifted each other some nice leather gifts over the years, and we're not really fine crystal people.  So going the glass route, Kevin got me a pair of beautiful Prada sunglasses (we are frequent patrons of Sunglass Hut and love any sunnies of the polarized persuasion).  Also on our shopping trip, we picked up a new coat for Kevin.  Not really a traditional gift, but we made it work by saying that it was the right type of coat to replace his leather jacket on rainy days.  Yeah, it's kind of a stretch, but he looks great in it!

In addition, we're going out on the town tonight for a special date night.  I will be wearing a leather dress to stick with the theme.  First on our itinerary, cocktails at Drink followed by dinner at Menton.  As a big Top Chef and Kristen Kish fan, I'm really excited about our meal.  I'll share details on that later this week.  In the meantime, head over to my Facebook page for a peek at our wedding highlight video.  Enjoy!

Feeling Sentimental

    Today marks 10 years that Kevin and I have been together.  We have no big plans to celebrate it because our wedding anniversary has of course replaced our dating anniversary in importance, but it's still a landmark that deems mentioning.  To commemorate it, I thought I'd share few pictures from our wedding anniversary trip this past December.  We went up to Stowe, Vermont for a weekend ski trip and stayed at the beautiful Stowe Mountain Lodge. 

     {View from our hotel room}

    
     Of course, while we were there, we had to stop by the Ben and Jerry's Factory for a tour.  Please excuse the grainy cell phone photos.

{Left: Ben and Jerry's Factory Menu. We chose the Butterscotch test batch.

Right: Me with our gigantic cookie sundae. It was amazing!}

    This was our second (or cotton) anniversary.  Technically we had just bought a brand new mattress as a big cotton gift to each other, but I still wanted to do something special since we wouldn't be exchanging gifts the traditional way.  So to go along with the theme, I brought along some cotton candy (surprisingly hard to find in the middle of winter) and used it to create some cotton candy champagne cocktails.  I got this idea from Pinterest and in all honesty it wasn't all I thought it would be.  I don't know if I did something wrong or if the champagne wasn't good to begin with or this is just a terrible idea, but I wasn't a huge fan.  They were cute though!

 {Cotton candy champagne}

    I also baked some cotton candy cupcakes and packed them up for the trip.  Keeping these a secret from Kevin was nearly impossible, but it was so worth it.  He so surprised when he saw how I tied them into the cotton theme.  I used the Duncan Hines Frosting Creations line of products, and I was really impressed.  I usually try to make things from scratch, but I was on a time crunch here.  To make these at home, all I did was use boxed vanilla cake mix, stick a piece of cotton candy in the middle of each cupcake when pouring them into the muffin tin, then follow the directions for mixing the cotton candy flavor pack into the icing.  So simple but so delicious. 

 

{Cotton candy cupcakes}

    Happy Friday everyone!