As many of you are aware Mark has spent the last five years intensely working towards his CGA designation. Finally, finally we received word on Thursday, February 5 that he had passed the 4th, and final, national exam towards this goal. Deep breath of relief, and open the floodgates of celebration!!
Our major celebration, for just the two of us that has been patiently waiting for 17 years, was a bottle of 1990 Dom Perignon, yep, 25 years old! It was already almost 10 when Mark bought it in anticipation of getting his designation and it's waited all this time to be enjoyed. And enjoyed it was. Now, a lesson for all of you newbies out there, and one I wish someone had told us: always, always, ALWAYS keep a special bottle like this in the coolest, darkest place you have and on it's side; not the refrigerator, unless it's a wine fridge, cellar/basement is best if you have it. While ours had been on it's side since we purchased it, it spent too many years in fluctuating temperatures, and although it was in the box it came in, direct sunlight on the box isn't good for it either. Ignorance is not always bliss. While we were very lucky and our champagne was still drinkable, much longer and it wouldn't have been. The cork was very dry and there were next to no bubbles left in it; but it hadn't gone sour and there were still a multitude of flavours it it. Predominantly, mushrooms; sounds weird, I know, but it worked! Someday, I hope we can have a bottle of Dom again, next time properly stored.
Our major celebration, for just the two of us that has been patiently waiting for 17 years, was a bottle of 1990 Dom Perignon, yep, 25 years old! It was already almost 10 when Mark bought it in anticipation of getting his designation and it's waited all this time to be enjoyed. And enjoyed it was. Now, a lesson for all of you newbies out there, and one I wish someone had told us: always, always, ALWAYS keep a special bottle like this in the coolest, darkest place you have and on it's side; not the refrigerator, unless it's a wine fridge, cellar/basement is best if you have it. While ours had been on it's side since we purchased it, it spent too many years in fluctuating temperatures, and although it was in the box it came in, direct sunlight on the box isn't good for it either. Ignorance is not always bliss. While we were very lucky and our champagne was still drinkable, much longer and it wouldn't have been. The cork was very dry and there were next to no bubbles left in it; but it hadn't gone sour and there were still a multitude of flavours it it. Predominantly, mushrooms; sounds weird, I know, but it worked! Someday, I hope we can have a bottle of Dom again, next time properly stored.
To continue our "yay, he's done!" weekend, we went out to dinner on Friday with our fantastic friends, David and Lauren. If you've never had the opportunity to go to the Red Ox Inn in Edmonton you really need to find one. It's not very big so be sure to make a reservation, it's best to make one a few weeks in advance if you want to go on the weekend. We got lucky and managed a reservation the day before but it meant a late dinner; that was just fine with us, though. At a restaurant of this caliber you can't just jump right in to entrees, you need to explore their menu as much as possible. This is where a group of people comes in handy. We split two appys between the 4 of us: beef tartare with caper aioli, pickled shallots, and parmesan; and Albacore tuna (seared rare, of course) with apple, radish, and jalapeno emulsion. I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous about the tuna with jalapenos but both of these were delicious. The jalapeno emulsion was just spicy enough, although I did avoid the slices of raw jalapeno. The best thing about our "foodie" friends is we'll all try pretty much any dish once, even if it's a food or texture we would normally avoid. Lauren isn't always sure about some textures, but was pleasantly surprised to discover she really enjoyed the tartare; the first one I've had in ages that literally looked like a raw hamburger patty. I can't even describe my fascination for raw beef, I've loved it since childhood. I remember my dad telling me that I needed to find a restaurant that served beef tartare, since I had a really hard time keeping my hands out of the raw hamburger meat (I know, I know, E.Coli ... hence the tartare). Anyway, either of these appetizers are worth trying if you go. If you've never tried beef tartare this is a good place to do so.
Our favourite game at restaurants like this is 'rotating plates', everyone orders a different dish and, after you've tried your own, you pass to the left all the way around the table; then you decide who's is best. The Red Ox has fairly small, seasonal menu so this way you wind up trying almost every dish they have to offer. If you went with a group of 6 you could, potentially, try every entree they have on the menu. We had the four of us so had the fish (trout with smoked farro, chorizo, chanterelles, lobster porcini broth), duck (breast with fingerlings, carrots, BBQ sauce, smoked peaches), beef (med-rare sirloin with potato croquette, mushroom ketchup, bordelaise, gruyere custard), and lamb (loin with falafel, vadouvan, roasted Brussels sprouts) options. In this case we decided the duck was the best dish on the table, the sirloin was the weakest link, seemed a little bland for the Ox's usual standards; but, it was still tasty.
We, miraculously, had room for dessert after a short break and had the olive oil cake and lemon dessert. I don't exactly remember what the lemon dessert was, a creamy pudding type dessert with a crunchy topping, really nice and tangy (their website says lemon tart, but it wasn't a pastry). The olive oil cake caught all of our attention as we'd never heard of such a thing. It was so light and fluffy, it took everyone by surprise!
David and Lauren bought Mark a very nice bottle of Talisker as a 'congratulations' gift, so we opened it back at their house for a small, after dinner drink before we headed for home. David did a marvelous job picking out this Isle of Skye Scotch; it is very smooth with wonderful caramel notes in it. Thanks, friends, for helping us celebrate!
Our favourite game at restaurants like this is 'rotating plates', everyone orders a different dish and, after you've tried your own, you pass to the left all the way around the table; then you decide who's is best. The Red Ox has fairly small, seasonal menu so this way you wind up trying almost every dish they have to offer. If you went with a group of 6 you could, potentially, try every entree they have on the menu. We had the four of us so had the fish (trout with smoked farro, chorizo, chanterelles, lobster porcini broth), duck (breast with fingerlings, carrots, BBQ sauce, smoked peaches), beef (med-rare sirloin with potato croquette, mushroom ketchup, bordelaise, gruyere custard), and lamb (loin with falafel, vadouvan, roasted Brussels sprouts) options. In this case we decided the duck was the best dish on the table, the sirloin was the weakest link, seemed a little bland for the Ox's usual standards; but, it was still tasty.
We, miraculously, had room for dessert after a short break and had the olive oil cake and lemon dessert. I don't exactly remember what the lemon dessert was, a creamy pudding type dessert with a crunchy topping, really nice and tangy (their website says lemon tart, but it wasn't a pastry). The olive oil cake caught all of our attention as we'd never heard of such a thing. It was so light and fluffy, it took everyone by surprise!
David and Lauren bought Mark a very nice bottle of Talisker as a 'congratulations' gift, so we opened it back at their house for a small, after dinner drink before we headed for home. David did a marvelous job picking out this Isle of Skye Scotch; it is very smooth with wonderful caramel notes in it. Thanks, friends, for helping us celebrate!