Well they did it again -- Stan and Margie I mean.
They arranged for a bottle of champagne chilled at the table when we arrived at Gracie's for Susie's birthday dinner.
Let's back up a bit. Saturday morning Susie went in to Gracie's -- she still had to do plenty of prepping for her week off and of course get desserts ready for a wedding that Gracie's was catering that evening. While she slaved over a hot mixer I plotted the remaining moves of the day -- particularly for the evening.
She had made me promise not to buy her anything for her birthday -- our trip to Colorado next week would be our gift to each other for both our 25th anniversary and for her birthday. I said, sure, "I promise not to buy you anything." And of course I went out and promptly bought her an iPod Nano so she could work on her French lessons while rolling dough.
Arranging the dinner at Gracie's was a last minute idea -- I was planning on fixing food at home, you know, having a quiet birthday dinner. I stopped for a moemnt -- slapped my forehead and said "What a knucklehead!" Life is short. Go to Gracie's, have a special night out, relax, eat some really good food. So Saturday afternoon I took not one but two bottles of wine to Gracie's for our "surprise" dinner -- naturally Susie learned of the whole affair but no matter in short order. I was on a roll.
What I did was: I brought a regular 750ml bottle of 1990 Brunello for dinner and a 5L (that five liters or about 7 bottles worth of) 1989 Chianti Classico. We had been saving this for the right occasion and I had the idea to share our good fortune with a roomful of strangers.
They arranged for a bottle of champagne chilled at the table when we arrived at Gracie's for Susie's birthday dinner.
Let's back up a bit. Saturday morning Susie went in to Gracie's -- she still had to do plenty of prepping for her week off and of course get desserts ready for a wedding that Gracie's was catering that evening. While she slaved over a hot mixer I plotted the remaining moves of the day -- particularly for the evening.
She had made me promise not to buy her anything for her birthday -- our trip to Colorado next week would be our gift to each other for both our 25th anniversary and for her birthday. I said, sure, "I promise not to buy you anything." And of course I went out and promptly bought her an iPod Nano so she could work on her French lessons while rolling dough.
Arranging the dinner at Gracie's was a last minute idea -- I was planning on fixing food at home, you know, having a quiet birthday dinner. I stopped for a moemnt -- slapped my forehead and said "What a knucklehead!" Life is short. Go to Gracie's, have a special night out, relax, eat some really good food. So Saturday afternoon I took not one but two bottles of wine to Gracie's for our "surprise" dinner -- naturally Susie learned of the whole affair but no matter in short order. I was on a roll.
What I did was: I brought a regular 750ml bottle of 1990 Brunello for dinner and a 5L (that five liters or about 7 bottles worth of) 1989 Chianti Classico. We had been saving this for the right occasion and I had the idea to share our good fortune with a roomful of strangers. The plan was about a half hour or so after we arrived Anter -- the wine guy at Gracie's -- would pour a glass for everyone in the restaurant.
Which is exactly what happened.
The Big Bottle seemed limitless -- and it was a rush for us to watch the reaction on the faces of all the people who were taken quite by surprise by this glass of old Chianti that appeared out of nowhere. Curiously, the reaction we heard -- and experienced ourselves in fact -- was that the wine tasted rather like beef bouillon. A very nice beef bouillon, too, I should say.
I told Anter to make sure there was plenty left for the staff after the restaurant closed. He said not to worry.
And we didn't.
For the next several hours we relaxed, sipped wine -- beginning with a champagne compliments of Stan and Margie - and just chatted about how our lives have changed so very much in the past three years -- sea changes to be sure.
There was a beautiful arrangement of flowers on the table waiting for us (see the photo above if you don't believe me) -- table 10 in case you need to know -- compliments of Ellen and the Gracie's guys and dolls. Chef Joe's dinner was incredible: seared scallops for starters and a delicious beef ribeye with the cap cut off and both parts prepared side-by-side, followed, with fresh veggies cooked just right -- I mean when was the last time you had fresh peas?
Afterwards we headed home. It was really that simple.
Today, Sunday the air cooled as the humidity dropped; Susie went back to Gracie's for one last, one final prep session. Before she left the two of us thought back on the recent events of last evening. We remarked how we had made the very right decision way back in the winter of 2005. It was in January of that year that I began this blog as we began this adventure as we got ready to head off to Siena and two months of language school.
And the journey continues: soon it's off to Colorado for our anniversary, back for two days and then it's off to NYC and Gracie's dinner at the Beard House, ten days later a quick trip to Maine and in early September back to Paris.
Il viaggio, le voyage, the journey of a lifetime. No, make that two lifetimes.
So here's thanks to you all for wishing us well on this journey. I'm amazed that you still want to hear the stories.
Wish you were here,
Steve
The Big Bottle seemed limitless -- and it was a rush for us to watch the reaction on the faces of all the people who were taken quite by surprise by this glass of old Chianti that appeared out of nowhere. Curiously, the reaction we heard -- and experienced ourselves in fact -- was that the wine tasted rather like beef bouillon. A very nice beef bouillon, too, I should say.
I told Anter to make sure there was plenty left for the staff after the restaurant closed. He said not to worry.
And we didn't.
For the next several hours we relaxed, sipped wine -- beginning with a champagne compliments of Stan and Margie - and just chatted about how our lives have changed so very much in the past three years -- sea changes to be sure.
There was a beautiful arrangement of flowers on the table waiting for us (see the photo above if you don't believe me) -- table 10 in case you need to know -- compliments of Ellen and the Gracie's guys and dolls. Chef Joe's dinner was incredible: seared scallops for starters and a delicious beef ribeye with the cap cut off and both parts prepared side-by-side, followed, with fresh veggies cooked just right -- I mean when was the last time you had fresh peas?
Afterwards we headed home. It was really that simple.Today, Sunday the air cooled as the humidity dropped; Susie went back to Gracie's for one last, one final prep session. Before she left the two of us thought back on the recent events of last evening. We remarked how we had made the very right decision way back in the winter of 2005. It was in January of that year that I began this blog as we began this adventure as we got ready to head off to Siena and two months of language school.
And the journey continues: soon it's off to Colorado for our anniversary, back for two days and then it's off to NYC and Gracie's dinner at the Beard House, ten days later a quick trip to Maine and in early September back to Paris.
Il viaggio, le voyage, the journey of a lifetime. No, make that two lifetimes.
So here's thanks to you all for wishing us well on this journey. I'm amazed that you still want to hear the stories.
Wish you were here,
Steve
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