3.11.2005
heh
So last night was the Queen's College Choir dinner. A formal dinner of mirth and enjoyment of each other's company without having to worry about singing or, frankly, about anything at all. I've made a lot of friends in the choir, and it's really been a lovely two terms with the chorus. Unlike the previous dinner at Queen's, this one was fantastic.
Starter was a sole duglere, which was creamy and flaky while still maintaining a nice firm texture and a delightful cream sauce. The soup, butternut squash and pumpkin, was outstanding. It had a hint of sweetness, but also a hit of pepper that made it interesting. It was probably the best soup I've had here in Oxford so far. The main course, was a roast duck with black cherry sauce (mmm!), with dauphinoise potatoes, mange-tout, and carrots. This was delicious - perfectly cooked with the right sort of crispy herb-crusted skin and meat that was both very rich and flavorful without being obnoxiously gamey. Dessert was a very nice creme brulee, which was delicious as well. Coffee and mints were excellent too.
Wine selection? SO much better than the previous stuff. The Montlouis Brut with which we started was crisp and refreshing, while the Carmen Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2002 matched both the sold and the soup quite well. It was crisp enough to cut through the buttery cream sauce on the fish, while at the same time did a decent job of standing up to the peppery soup. It was, I think, the low point of the wine pairings. Much more successful was the Artazuri Garnacha 2001, which brought out all of the flavors of the duck while serving as a delicious counterpart to the creamy potatoes. Port was a delicious Churchill Graham LBV 1998, which brought the entire meal to a fantastic close. Mmmm... I haven't eaten that well in quite some time, and I'll tell you right now, I've never eaten like that at Queen's!
Funny little ending note - David Byrne of the Talking Heads gave a lecture at Berkeley (go Bears!) on the uses of Powerpoint. In it, he included some fantastically bad examples of powerpoint gone wrong. No offense to every one of my students who got it all right, but a lot of my kids from the P. school figured that if they added graphics and the other ridiculous accompaniments of powerpoint (like moving text or interesting animations), I wouldn't notice how little they were actually saying. Suave delivery should complement, not compensate for, lack of things to say. And using text animations on EVERY LETTER (you offenders know who you are!) is so boring that I actually fade out for a few seconds if I see it.
Starter was a sole duglere, which was creamy and flaky while still maintaining a nice firm texture and a delightful cream sauce. The soup, butternut squash and pumpkin, was outstanding. It had a hint of sweetness, but also a hit of pepper that made it interesting. It was probably the best soup I've had here in Oxford so far. The main course, was a roast duck with black cherry sauce (mmm!), with dauphinoise potatoes, mange-tout, and carrots. This was delicious - perfectly cooked with the right sort of crispy herb-crusted skin and meat that was both very rich and flavorful without being obnoxiously gamey. Dessert was a very nice creme brulee, which was delicious as well. Coffee and mints were excellent too.
Wine selection? SO much better than the previous stuff. The Montlouis Brut with which we started was crisp and refreshing, while the Carmen Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2002 matched both the sold and the soup quite well. It was crisp enough to cut through the buttery cream sauce on the fish, while at the same time did a decent job of standing up to the peppery soup. It was, I think, the low point of the wine pairings. Much more successful was the Artazuri Garnacha 2001, which brought out all of the flavors of the duck while serving as a delicious counterpart to the creamy potatoes. Port was a delicious Churchill Graham LBV 1998, which brought the entire meal to a fantastic close. Mmmm... I haven't eaten that well in quite some time, and I'll tell you right now, I've never eaten like that at Queen's!
Funny little ending note - David Byrne of the Talking Heads gave a lecture at Berkeley (go Bears!) on the uses of Powerpoint. In it, he included some fantastically bad examples of powerpoint gone wrong. No offense to every one of my students who got it all right, but a lot of my kids from the P. school figured that if they added graphics and the other ridiculous accompaniments of powerpoint (like moving text or interesting animations), I wouldn't notice how little they were actually saying. Suave delivery should complement, not compensate for, lack of things to say. And using text animations on EVERY LETTER (you offenders know who you are!) is so boring that I actually fade out for a few seconds if I see it.
