Hot Pot City; It's a Family Affair

I have two food events that I must report on. They are different for many reasons but both were fun and tasty meals. The first was at Hot Pot City, a very exclusive restaurant that my friend Emily told me about. Its like a buffet... but then you cook everything in your own little hot pot of broth. Kevin and I went there on a Tuesday afternoon or something and ate our selves silly- noodles, pork, veggies, barbeque broth- the whole deal. Emily brings up this restaurant frequently and this is usually what she says: "OMG you have to go to Hot Pot City it's so good the whole time you are there you moan 'HOT POT CITY IS MY FAVORITE RESTAURANT MMMMM OH GOD'". And she was right- at one point through a whole mouthful of burning hot noodles I think I really did moan that whole run-on sentence. The waitress thought it was perhaps the funniest thing she had ever seen that I was taking photos of the food. She stood behind me, peering into the viewfinder, cheering "Nice photo! That very good!" I really felt like a pro.




This week my grandparents are visiting so I took them and the rest of my fam to dinner at the restaurant I work at. The service was outstanding- look at our super hot server next to an absurdly handsome Kevin! We had a huge tasting menu and many bottles of wine including a bottle of 2007 Antica Terra. My friends make this wine and this vintage is absolutely wonderful! I was very happy, though it made me miss them terribly (they had a baby and for some weird reason don't come in for dinner anymore. NOT COOL GUYS.) We ate octopus with lemon rind, soup of rhubarb and fois gras, carrot and bean sprout salad- too many dishes to remember. The best part though was my grandmothers story of punching a guy out on the dance floor on a dude ranch in Montana. As she remembers saying to her friend at the time, "We are not at Mount Holyoke anymore."

Last night my family and neighbors all came over dinner and my aunt Leslie brought over the almond blossom cake that I posted about a while back. Ok, she makes it so much better than I do, and I have come to believe that if you have a newer oven you should bake it at 325 degrees, not 350. My oven is new and over-bakes the damn cake! Her oven is vintage and even though she burned the top this time, it was still gooey and insane on the inside. I shake my fist at that cake! Either its the oven thing or I am just missing the touch.

Anyway, I just went down the slide at the Mount Scott pool like 4 times with my cousin Pearl. I am exhausted! I have a special staff meal photo shoot that I have been meaning to post from last week, but that will have to wait. That's called a cliff hanger guys, get used to it.