Went to
La Croix today for brunch upon the recommendation of
Helen. Helen did double duty too. Not only did she recommend, but she watched Nathan. He normally loves "Aunt Helen", but I think he's getting used to being around me too much, because he apparently did not like being left for babysitting. Sorry, Helen. He can still be cute and sad, but he's a much more adorable happy baby. Hopefully she will babysit sometime again in the future, but I think he needs more exposure to her awesomeness in the meantime.
We went to celebrate E and Christy's engagement. E is Paul's brother and Christy is now my soon to be sister-in-law! I seldom take pictures of them as a couple for some reason, so I've got nothing to post of them together.
La Croix was wonderful. The service was attentive, yet not overwhelming. The food was delish and not something you can get just anywhere. Though I loved the novelty of the chocolate fountain, what I really adored was their hot area in the kitchen. Paul and I agreed that the pork belly was not to be believed, and we both had some. I also adored their lobster bread pudding and duck confit, while Paul admired their braised short ribs.
From the cold area, I liked the cavier (though I'm admittedly a sucker for some cavier), the grilled brie sandwiches, and the smoked duck croissants. I was sadly disappointed by their oysters, especially after having the ones that Helen got from her CSA last year. The worst, however, was the red beet gelee. I shall probably never get the horrible taste and texture of that gelee out of my head. I know for sure that it will be a damned long while before I have another gelee ever again. In fact, it might be years.
In any case, I highly recommend brunch at La Croix if you have some spare cash. Don't try their gelees unless you like gelees, but eat everything else you can. Paul also recommended their juice and smoked fish. I say try all their little desserts.
In other news, I played Paul in chess for the first time in almost ten years. For those of you
not in the know, Paul and I stopped playing after he taught me years and years ago. One day, I was sitting to play my twentieth or so game, and I lost. HIDEOUSLY. I lost so bad that I cried. I sobbed and sobbed, and said, "I can't win in this game against you." Paul was upset and, rightly, angry. I was upset and angry at myself for being a moron who clearly couldn't master basic intellectual tactics. I refused to play chess again even though I bought him a nice little chess set.
Since we've gotten married, Paul has made several chess overtures to me. I don't understand why since Paul and I should not play games of intelligence and patience against each other. I hate waiting for my turn to come up, and Paul hates feeling rushed. Prior to dating, Paul and I would occasionally play Magic: The Gathering against each other. I distinctly remember him saying to me in a very annoyed voice, "Would you just calm down and let me complete my turn" when I was waiting for him to finish his move so I could
crush him. Either way, last week, I took his chess bait.
We set up the game board, and sat down to play. In the first few moves of the game, Paul captured two of my pawns and my knight, while all I got was his stupid bishop. He also forced me into moving my king very early. I was getting very angry at myself internally, so I took a second and forced myself to relax and not wing my queen at Paul's head. I pushed back the tears, and continued on. I was pretty sure that I was fighting a losing game from that point on, but we kept going for a bit. At the end, we traded queens and I surrendered the game. He had two rooks, some pawns and a knight left, while all I had was a bishop and my pawns. He told me that I had definitely done well, which I was happy about.
I've come to realize that it is going to be a long long time before I win a game against Paul who has been playing most of his life. I have to be happy when I simply don't lose hideously to him. Lesson learned!