12.27.2004
bittersweet
My family and I went to brunch yesterday at a much beloved institution: the Ritz-Carlton Dining Room in Boston. It's heartbreaking, but they're closing in less than one week. They closed once before, in 2001, but after public outcry, it was revived. Now, however, they are closing for good.
It's sad, since that was where my Mom took her parents and siblings for her parents' 40th wedding anniversary. It has since become a place where my family likes to celebrate all manner of happy occasion. I first went there on my 16th birthday, which just so happened because my birthday fell on a Sunday. It was amazing - cobalt blue water goblets and chandeliers, gilded window dressings and such food! I loved it. And each time we went back, which wasn't often, I'd revel in that same feeling. It's gorgeous, and it's wildly extravagant, but it's an experience.
So while we enjoyed each other's company and in the luxury, it was tough to know that it'll never happen again. Ever. At least, not in Boston. And that's really sad.
For the record, here's what we ate:
tuna nigiri sushi, assorted maki, raw oysters, shrimp cocktail, rock crab claws, caviar on toast points, truffle fingerling potato salad, brie, cheddar, gouda, and a random blue cheese, caesar salad, smoked salmon, salmon roulade stuffed with spinach, forest pate en croute, beef tenderloin in truffle sauce, honey glazed ham, pan seared lamb chops with fingerling potatoes, oven roasted chicken breast with winter vegetables, seared scallops in a lemon butter cream sauce. I'm not a fan of buffet breakfast food, but it was certainly there. Desserts were pretty good: I had a pear soup with floating meringue island, and decent raspberry custard pastry square. There was also bread pudding, bananas foster, ice cream, and all manner of baked confections. Delicious. I'm definitely going to pay for it at the gym.
On a different note entirely, I love reading the essay questions for the University of Chicago. Last year's application essay was "How do you feel about Wednesday?" This years, which can be found here, are hilarious. I love question number one, which is reproduced here in its entirety:
Have you ever walked through the aisles of a warehouse store like Costco or Sam’s Club and wondered who would buy a jar of mustard a foot and a half tall? We’ve bought it, but it didn’t stop us from wondering about other things, like absurd eating contests, impulse buys, excess, unimagined uses for mustard, storage, preservatives, notions of bigness . . . and dozens of other ideas both silly and serious. Write an essay somehow inspired by super-huge mustard.
My mind flies immediately to Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, which is the home of the Mustard Museum. Founder Barry Levinson started the mseum after the Red Sox lost the Series in 1987. I don't know if he'll continue to collect and display in the future, now that the Red Sox have won. Super-huge mustard... Mmm... :)
It's sad, since that was where my Mom took her parents and siblings for her parents' 40th wedding anniversary. It has since become a place where my family likes to celebrate all manner of happy occasion. I first went there on my 16th birthday, which just so happened because my birthday fell on a Sunday. It was amazing - cobalt blue water goblets and chandeliers, gilded window dressings and such food! I loved it. And each time we went back, which wasn't often, I'd revel in that same feeling. It's gorgeous, and it's wildly extravagant, but it's an experience.
So while we enjoyed each other's company and in the luxury, it was tough to know that it'll never happen again. Ever. At least, not in Boston. And that's really sad.
For the record, here's what we ate:
tuna nigiri sushi, assorted maki, raw oysters, shrimp cocktail, rock crab claws, caviar on toast points, truffle fingerling potato salad, brie, cheddar, gouda, and a random blue cheese, caesar salad, smoked salmon, salmon roulade stuffed with spinach, forest pate en croute, beef tenderloin in truffle sauce, honey glazed ham, pan seared lamb chops with fingerling potatoes, oven roasted chicken breast with winter vegetables, seared scallops in a lemon butter cream sauce. I'm not a fan of buffet breakfast food, but it was certainly there. Desserts were pretty good: I had a pear soup with floating meringue island, and decent raspberry custard pastry square. There was also bread pudding, bananas foster, ice cream, and all manner of baked confections. Delicious. I'm definitely going to pay for it at the gym.
On a different note entirely, I love reading the essay questions for the University of Chicago. Last year's application essay was "How do you feel about Wednesday?" This years, which can be found here, are hilarious. I love question number one, which is reproduced here in its entirety:
Have you ever walked through the aisles of a warehouse store like Costco or Sam’s Club and wondered who would buy a jar of mustard a foot and a half tall? We’ve bought it, but it didn’t stop us from wondering about other things, like absurd eating contests, impulse buys, excess, unimagined uses for mustard, storage, preservatives, notions of bigness . . . and dozens of other ideas both silly and serious. Write an essay somehow inspired by super-huge mustard.
My mind flies immediately to Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, which is the home of the Mustard Museum. Founder Barry Levinson started the mseum after the Red Sox lost the Series in 1987. I don't know if he'll continue to collect and display in the future, now that the Red Sox have won. Super-huge mustard... Mmm... :)
