We had an incredible day yesterday. It started with an early morning fly-fishing at Rock Creek where John Elsen taught us the art of the cast while the mountains were waking up with the dawning sun. Only Andy Elsen caught anything, but what a huge fish he caught! We came back home to the traditional huckleberry pancakes on the lawn and spent the afternoon mountain biking and hiking around Rattlesnake Creek.
But one of the most amazing things was dinner last night. We were invited over to dinner at the house of one of the Elsens' friends. This friend, and the whole family, are world-class chefs. They have studied all over the world and worked at many fancy restaurants (ie: the Trump Towers). The father used the Old World style of cooking and will concentrate on one food style until he has mastered it. The menu for last night, Chinese food. Since we were at his home we were able to watch him work. The dishes he brought out were each a piece of art. We started of with Shanghai soup. I wasn't sure about it at first since it had all sort of fish in it, but it tasted so good. After that we moved on to the vegetable course with spicy cucumbers, bok choi and green beens prepared a different way. Then the main course of Dan's spicky peanut chicken (Con bo gdar?) A slowly braised pork with an excellent red sauce, and Atlantic blue fish stuffed with wild mushrooms. Dessert was a lovely fennel cake with fresh pear slices and fresh plum sorbet that he made with plum from his own tree. Everything was incredible! Including watching this man work, seeing the presentation of his dishes and the slow eating as the courses came out over a period of 3 hours. This was something to write home about and remember forever.
I miss you. :(
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