Text 26825, 137 rader
Skriven 2009-08-01 06:52:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: picnic Fri 953
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Burt and Shirley came over for that Layer Cake Shiraz
(Barossa) 08, which was a plummy and chocolaty thing of
relative wonder and beauty - in fact quite a good buy
at $13. Hints of licorice and spice on the nose, a
good fruity but not excessively long finish. The maker
of this wine, one Jayson Woodbridge, is one of the most
talked-about around, with the wine magazines hailing
him as some kind of messiah even as he suffers legal
troubles in the Napa, where his Hundred Acre winery
churns out $200 bottles. Anyhow, he's seen the light and
is producing for us masses, using the same staff and
techniques. If Hundred Acre made him famous, this stuff
is going to make him rich.

After a glass or two of juice, it was time to hustle
to Su Chang, where we arrived just before 6:30 to find
a couple other large parties had totally filled up the
parking lot. With the aid of Burt's parking karma, we
got a great spot after only a tiny wait; went inside
and found we'd been assigned a big table in the back
corner. Soon Clean Dave and entourage arrived, followed
by the Shipps, who had to wait for a parking spot but
who ended up with a nice one as well. Nancy and her
friend Donna had called in late (traffic on 90 or 95
or something), and, alas, the Shenks had called in
nonexistent (cancellations by Delta: weather).

We started: scallion pancakes were crispy and good,
though of variable thickness; pan-fried Peking dumplings
a bit thick in the wrapper (Joe the manager took me
aside and apologized, and I assured him that though
they were indeed a bit thicker than I'd have liked,
they were fine and at least as good as what we'd get
elsewhere) but quite tasty in the good sense. The
sauces for the appetizers were: duck sauce, which, as
we all have good sense, nobody used; the usual ginger
and scallion soy sauce; hot mustard; and hot oil,
which came with a lot of garlic. This was different
from the hot oil that we used to get here, which had
a touch of hoisin: people will be able to have a taste
of it Sunday, as I made a batch.

Peking duck came as two big burritos each, made pretty
expertly by our waitress. The duck was average, perhaps
a little unfatty for my taste; the skin, hidden in the
preparation, a little below average as too uncrisp and
unfatty both, though I doubt anyone else complained.
The whole experience average or a bit above, thanks to
the waitress.

At this point our poor wandering ones showed up, with
a nice little appetizer plate ready for them (we had
refrained from gobbling up all the duck and all the
pastry things, leaving them with at lest a taste).

Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio (imported from Italy but owned
and made by Gallo) was a pleasant, lightly fruity, well
balanced dryish wine with a bit of lemon and grapefruit,
some herbs, and a touch of bitter finish. Went well with
the food; I'd have preferred a sweeter Rieslingish thing,
but that would have set me back twice as much (and also
required negotiation beforehand with the restaurant -
nothing like that on the list). As a historical note,
we'd had the Ecco Domani Merlot at the 1998 echo picnic,
brought by the Terranos.

Lobster Cantonese was extra porky, made without egg to
accommodate those at the table who didn't like eggs.
I enjoyed it; others found the lobster taste a little
overwhelmed by the pork taste, but I said, what could be
bad? Usually the dish is made with egg, which might
mitigate the porkiness a little. Also, I'd have preferred
a bit more scallion in the sauce. But the lobsters were
big enough and very fresh.

Pea greens sauteed in garlic were the usual thing, but
it's not the commonest veggie in the world, and a few of
us may have had a bit of a new experience here.

Nancy's guest Donna had requested moo shi pork, so we
had that, senza eggs as well, which changes the nature
of the dish. It was, however, pretty good, and the pork
itself was mostly, what I got anyway, fatty trimmings
from the outside of the loin.

Chicken with cashew nuts, also a request, was pretty
standard - more veggies than I'd have preferred, and also
a little mild, but the hot oil kept after the appetizer
course helped this a lot.

Ginger scallion lo mein rounded out the meal.

The usual pineapple chunks and fortune cookies. Mine said
something about savoring the moment, which I did.

A comp from Joe: glasses of plum wine flavored with almond
- overwhelmingly almondy, so I made a bad-taste Jim Jones
joke and then it was kanpei for everyone (that doesn't
mean "instant death," that means "down the hatch" <- other
bad-taste Jim Jones joke).

Richardson's a few miles up the road in Middleton, was the
nightcapper, and even though we'd just had a pretty sizable
meal, I didn't see anyone stinting by ordering a baby cone or
anything. With the result that I tasted several things, was
requested to finish several things, used several pills, and
still farted the night away. Things I tasted:

Butter crunch was very sweet, no big surprise, the crunches
being crushed butterscotch candies. I remembered the old days,
when the crunch came from real butter toffee, which was better.

Crunch-a-saurus, which I recommended to Dave because it's blue,
is your standard vanilla (Dave thought it was more like cotton
candy, because it's so sweet), tinted blue, and with chocolate
malt blobs swirled in.

German chocolate cake - good chocolate and coconut flavor.

Chocolate frappe - the sip I had was so good that I thought
of abandoning my lactose intolerance and ordering one for
myself. THen I reflected: bad idea.

Black raspberry ice cream - I think this came with something
else and a fancy name; anyhow, it was perfectly good.

Frozen pudding - this is a New England aberration, sort of
rum raisin without the raisins. The version here is canonic.

After some transactions in the parking lot that looked
suspiciously like drug deals, but which actually involved
the transfer of pork products, we went our separate ways
and said goodbye until tomorrow (which is today).

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