Decatur - 2

Decatur

Colin and I have fallen in love with Decatur island and have visited several times over the past six months. Pictures and videos from the past couple of trips in May.

Eastern WA

We love going to Eastern WA, chasing the sun. We've been toying with the idea of buying a second home East of the mountains and have checked out several properties in recent times. On one of the trips, we stopped by a new wind farm facility, near Ellensburg. It's at the windiest stop in the state...and it was windy when we were there, but it was also beautiful. We took a guided tour, which was interesting and educational. We even went inside one of the mills. 

Ireland

In early April, Colin and I took a week off to go to Ireland - both the Republic, as well as Northern Ireland. The occasion was the wedding of my dear friend Olivia to long-time partner, Cameron. It was a fab trip!!

Marco & Boyana's Wedding

Colin and I went back to Montreal in Feb to attend Bouba & Marco's wedding. It was such great fun - lovely couple and such a fun celebration, filled with friends and love. Pictures here:

http://miki-pictures.brachay.com/2013_Boyana-Marco-Wedding/

Alinea

Based on the frequency of my blog posts after the trip to India, I think it's pretty clear that I've started a new job that has been keeping me quite busy. 

Hopefully, I'll get to post a few batches of pictures shortly and somewhat catch up.

This post is about the single most extraordinary meal I've had in my life. I cannot say it was the most delicious meal...as delicious as it was...because I've had a lot of very tasty food in my life. It is, however, by far the most intellectually-stimulating meal, which made me discover new food items, but most importantly re-discover common flavors, completely reinvented. 

It was on January 23, 2013 at Grant Achatz's Alinea (www.alinearestaurant.com). I took advantage of a business trip to Chicago and had little hope to be able to actually pull it off. I was incredibly lucky because I was able to get in with only a two day notice, which is unheard of. It helped that I was a solo diner, mid-week, late at night and in the slowest month of the year. I spent a good chunk of change on this meal. I was alone. But I didn't care - I enjoyed every single bite tremendously. 

And yes, I was one of those obnoxious diners taking pictures with my phone, but I tried to be really discreet (which explains the quality of the photos) and I didn't capture each and every course. A few below: 

 Butternut, muscovado, finger lime served in an ice container

Green Apple helium balloon made

Carrot, coconut, white sesame, caramelized honey

Pork, pain d'epices, turnip, orange

Lamb....with an unbelievably collection of accompaniments - each bite is customized

 Oyster leaf, sea urchin with white chocolate & wasabi, lobster

And the desert, which was quite the artwork. The best part was eating this amazing concoction of flavors, textures, color and temperatures directly off the table!