New Year's in Bath

 For New Year's, Shelly found a hotel in Bath offering a 6-course dinner, dancing and champagne for the evening!  We drove out early on New Year's Eve to explore the city and rest before our big night.  And it was big.  After courses like smoked venison with pickled walnuts and beetroot, mushroom truffle soup with puff pastry lid, and lamb loin with rosemary cream, we shared at least 4 bottles of champagne with our new French friends until about 4am.  I'd been looking forward to attempting black pudding at the hotel's fancy brunch the next morning, but that's just too much champagne.

Smoked raw venison with pickled walnuts, beets and cranberry sauce

Savory wild mushroom and truffle soup with puff pastry lid

Getting festive

Almost midnight!

MacDonald Hotel at dusk

Fisherman's Pie

 Yeah, I know it doesn't look like much, but this melty, cheese-covered wallop of mashed potatoes, tender cod, shrimp and monkfish in cream sauce tastes like what you'd expect when you combine these things: AMAZING.

Traditional pub, Bath

Tom's Kitchen Chelsea

Context is crucial for Tom's Kitchen.  If you know chef Tom Aikens, that's certain to provide context for the sustainable, seasonal menu.  If you can navigate from the South Kensington tube station to the restaurant, winding through some of the quaintest and most luxurious homes in the world (let alone London) then you also have geographic and psychographic context.  If you're acquainted with crisp London mornings so icy the streets are quiet, then the warmth of the open kitchen and jovial servers might be the best context of all for comfort food.

Tom's is known for celebrity/sustainability/location and it's true, my own experience was very specific to the ingredients, address and atmosphere—but it's how personal and special it felt to me that was impressive.  If every restaurant I went to felt like coming home (and, you know, being treated like royalty) I guarantee cooking at home would be a lost art.  I ordered a smoked salmon eggs benedict with hollandaise sauce so lemony I ignored how rich it was.  The egg yolks were bright orange and it was a shame to break them!  I was insanely hungry for brunch at 2pm so I ordered thick-cut French fries and they might have been the best I've ever tasted.  Ketchup optional.

Two-meat Meat-balls

To carb-load for the Second Annual Carmel Half Marathon Invitational (wow, that's a mouthful), Chris and I whipped up lamb and pork meatballs.  Panko breadcrumbs and chopped herbs made all the difference with more white pepper than you'd think you could handle; also known as just the right amount!  Given the measure of meat, one egg should have been enough but a second yolk made the meatballs much softer yet still stick together.  Sauteed mushrooms in garlicky tomato sauce sealed the deal.