Porco does the Laundry

Tick number two of restaurants to go to before dying and proceeding to piggy heaven – Porcorosso has been to the French Laundry. Beautiful summer’s evening, cosy dining room, small kitchen but huge kitchen garden full of ripening vegetables.

Taking our champagne to our table and after selecting a modest bottle of Napa red, the smoked salmon cornettes arrive.

“Ah, yes!” Porco exclaims.

“Yes, indeed” the waiting staff reply.

The first recipe in the cook book – mutual recognition has been established. They know we know. Then the most exquisite of sabayon of oysters, sago and caviar followed by a cold veloute of sweet corn chowder with heart of palm and vanilla bean tempura. Then the white quail crepinette. These were, for me, the best part of the meal. Taste and texture were perfection. It was that good.

Then there were the little touches – my warm brioche was replaced with warmer brioche before the foie gras had a chance to cool. The waiting staff knew the precise temperature in which the lobster had been poached and the breeding of the quail and the wagyu. Some of these guys have been there five years.

More courses. The fish was overcooked – we bleated and were taken into the kitchen after our meal to discuss this with the kitchen staff. The beef was cooked perfectly but I kept my socks on – it didn’t blow them away. Desserts and coffee. Lots of goodies to take away. Photo opportunity - with the sous chef in the kitchen. Best meal I’ve had in my piggy life.

Porco in Frisco

So Porcorosso has spent a week in California – having great food, drinking unfamiliar wines, watching the ocean and even getting a little sun. Oh, and he watched a movie as well – it wasn’t even on the flight. The flight was long but it was worth it – food and drink reports to follow.

California dreamin’

It’s summer and Porco is off to California for a week. First to San Francisco (via HK) and then a few days sniffing out the vineyards of Napa. Drinking? what drinking?

If you are going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.

Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats

Porcorosso has been a bit of a grump pig recently. He has not had much time to write his blog. Thinking of happier times and looking at the blog stats from a couple of months ago, he noticed that one of the most read of his blogs was also one of the most obscure. It has a bit of everything – Star Trek, bad puns and even a nod to a very badly made, made for British TV movie called Hunting Venus.

Anyway, the point he was trying to make was two-fold (if it is indeed possible to have a single, two-fold point). One, that by not making a comment on his friend Mr Wang’s blog, that blog would be (to state the stunningly obvious) different from if the comment had been made. Two, that something happened that week which would forever change Mr Brown’s blog.

Now that he thinks about it, Schrödinger once said something similar in relation to a cat and the difference between observed reality and unobserved reality but perhaps Porcorosso is just being juvenile.

Speaking of juvenile cats, Porcorosso went along to the Drama Centre last week to watch a play called The Silence of the Kittens. It started off slowly but got better towards the end although Porcorosso is still not convinced he has to get in touch with his “inner cat”.

As the Zen koan says – what business does one have with a sleeping cat?

Painted faces and the Emperor’s new threads

It is a true but little known fact that Porcorosso does not like women who wear a lot of make up. This is because he is worried they may have something to hide. Cosmetic surgery is trickier. If it is done well, it may be hard to spot but the principle remains the same.

And so it is with the fuss over the IMF meetings. Four million smiles. Transplanted trees appearing on the highways. Is it all a charade, something we are not or do not have? The trouble with charades is, like cosmetic surgery or the proverbial new clothes of the Emperor, that if it is not done well, you run the risk of showing your soft, dangly bits to the world.