Weeeeee!

We are officially on our way! There is nothing left to pack, clean, move, whatever. We are now homeless, unemployed, and REALLY excited about it.

Yesterday morning was a bit of a trial getting up early to finish packing and then try and fit it all in the truck. Matt was a masterful packer though and its like one enormous puzzle, but it's all in the vehicle. I'm rather impressed. Through an enormous amount of self control I was able to (for the most part) keep my mouth shut and suppress my urge to micro manage and he made it all pretty and organized and labeled. Don't I have a great guy?

Here he is in action:

And here is the amazing finished product, you can see I'm amazed at everything that fit:

I know what you're thinking, but no we aren't taking the eggs with us, they just had to be dropped off at Barbara's (Matt's mom) before we got on the road. That was our last stop in RI so goodbyes could be said and everything could be checked one last time to make sure it was secure and road ready. Then we headed out.

Our first destination was admittedly not far - NYC - but definitely essential. How could we move to the West Coast and not eat in the city first? Especially for Matt with his passion for all things food related, there just had to be a stop and a meal. And the best part was getting to meet up with our friend Kevin (who we will both miss very much).

We drove into the city via the Henry Hudson Parkway, which neither Matt or I had done before, and in my opinion it is the best way. Absolutely gorgeous with New Englandy scenery - plus you get to travel down the entire West side of Manhattan and see the island. Simply lovely. We left the truck - complete with surfboards on top - in one of those ungodly expensive parking garages in SOHO and went in search of food and drink.

First was Aqua Grill. There we snacked on oysters, shrimp and crab. Matt had a manhattan (because you have to when you're IN Manhattan, right?) and I had an albarino (one of my current favorite whites). This is where Kevin, who had taken the train in from Providence, RI met up with us.

Next was a painful walk up a few blocks to the Cercle Rouge Brasserie. I say painful because I had made the executive decision to wear a certain pair of really adorable Michael Kors torture devices ... um, heels ... to a city that requires hoofing it everywhere. But they LOOKED great. Beauty is pain?? Matt's pain too probably as I had his hand in a death grip so I wouldn't fall and break an ankle. Anyways, we grabbed a seat at the bar to wait for our reservation next door at Corton. Kevin had his trusty standby, gin and tonic, and Matt and I had a French 75 with Lillet.

Then, Corton.

What to say? It was definitely an experience. I had never done a tasting menu before because I thought I'd never eat it all for one and two, that nobody would do one for me with all my crazy dietary restrictions. They were incredibly accommodating, however, and we all were able to have the 10 course chef's tasting with wine pairings. Here is my honest opinion:

1. The wines were fabulous. Really, really great. They had a nice mix, some were premier and grand crus, and they were all thoughtfully paired.

2. The food was beautiful. Sadly you couldn't use a camera in there, but look on their website if you want to see what they do. It is food art.

3. While certainly tasty and cleverly combined I left hungry (!!!) and underwhelmed.

That is not to say that I would change anything at all about the meal - the company was perfect and it was a very New York extravagant experience which is what I wanted. I'm just shocked that I was still hungry. I eat like a bird! Of course the guys were hungry, too, so we had to make one more stop.

Let me divert from my blogging here to add Matt's thoughts on our Corton dinner:

What to say about the restaurant... It was the first two Michelin Star establishment I’ve ever been to. For me, Michelin received kitchens seem to be the “Major League” of the restaurant world (Sarah loves sport analogies!!). Everything at Corton was extremely professional. The food was amazingly presented. One of the first and best things I had was in the 4 canapes brought out. A miniature pillow shaped oyster/mornay sauced cracker bite. Not sure exactly what it was encased with, but it was delicious. After that, everything was wonderful. Some were presented more beautifully then the way the tasted, which is a slight disappointment, but still great. However, the courses kept coming with an accompanying side dish that I felt was an odd addition. Example, an elegant piece of Japanese red snapper with huckleberries and hibiscus sauce was supposed to be eaten with a small side dish of a spicy octopus salad, which was a little to heavily spiced in my eyes (and mouth) to go with the fish. The next treat that came out was a palate cleanser that washed away the spice, but left my tongue numb. It was a frozen ball of what seemed to be a mix of sorbet and gel that tasted of ginger and orange. It worked as a palate cleanser, but was to cold to just pop in your mouth as they expected. The next courses were mostly all accompanied by the odd side dish, which all tasted good, but where slightly distracting and didn’t quite go well together. I thought they could have presented them on their own.  Anyway, the stand out was the beef rib with fig. The dish was beautiful, wasn’t presented with a distracting side dish and it tasted amazing. It was so tender I didn’t need teeth to chew it, let alone a knife to cut it. Overall, a very professional restaurant with beautiful plates and amazing wines. Thoroughly enjoyed it!!

Back to ME :)

Pegu club was last. It is a really neat bar that serves appetizers as well. I got mushroom dumplings, Matt had chicken satay and Kevin tried their trout deviled eggs. And the drinks were so delicious and creative I can't even tell you what they were anymore. Herbs and syrups and liqueurs all mixed up and wonderful.

Then came the part I was NOT looking forward to; saying goodbye to Kevin. He has been the amazingly funny/judgmental/trustworthy Scarecrow to my snarky/perfectionist Dorothy and I will miss him most of all.

Now we are in a Ramada Inn off route 80 in Pennsylvania. Matt wanted to drive a few hours out of the city to get a jump on the driving to Ohio.

So tonight we will be with my family near Lake Erie in the good ol' Buckeye State! I can't wait to see family and introduce Matt to everyone over the next few days :)

Time to shower and get on the road.