My birthday part 1: Watchmen

Several months ago, capricious_k  asked me what I wanted to do to celebrate the milestone of my 40th birthday. After torvo had raved about a meal he and foxbat had at Manresa I decided to go all out there, but as fun as that would be it wouldn't be practical to have a big celebration there. (Our dinner at Manresa is the subject of another blog post.)

Fortunately, Zach Snyder decided to make a superhero movie for my birthday. And so a large group of us acquired tickets to watch the Watchmen.

After filling up on celebratory birthday tiramisu provided by my coworkers that afternoon, our team of moviegoers assembled early for a 7pm showing. We were surprised that the lines weren't long, and we got some of the best seats in the house.

I must admit that even though I was collecting comic books when Watchmen was originally published, I didn't buy them back then. Like most folks, I've just read the graphic novel. I probably wouldn't have appreciated the original comics anyway -- after all, Watchmen is a seminal work in part because it was the first superhero story to dive deeply into the morally grey areas in between the normal black-and-white world of comic book-style good vs. evil. And when I was wrapping up high school, Watchmen's content probably lacked sufficient cool-factor to grab me.

Comics nowadays (and the movies based on them) play with morally grey areas all the time, so a lot of Watchmen's tropes might not seem as revolutionary now as they were back then. Never the less, the movie still pulled it off in spades. Is it as deep and complex as the original comic? Of course not -- it is a film after all. But I think it did a great job bringing the spirit of Watchmen to the big screen. It's not afraid of odd pacing, it embraced its R rating. The controversial changes to the end of the story did a fine job of getting the point across.

I'll definitely be watching the Watchmen again, but I'll be waiting for the super-platinum-dragon-uber edition that they're planning to release this fall with 45 more minutes added, including the Tales of the Black Freighter intercut with the rest of the movie.

Thanks to all of you who came out to the movie and dinner with me. It was a great way to get my birthday weekend started!

My birthday part 2: dinner at Manresa

After a great outing to Watchment the night before, it was time to mark the occasion of my 40th year in style! torvo and foxbat had raved about their meal at Manresa, a Los Gatos restaurant that had garnered two Michelin stars. one of the highest accolades a restaurant can earn. capricious_k  urged me to go all out -- after all, you only turn 40 once, right?

So a small group of us headed out to Los Gatos to be impressed -- and impressed we were! We all ordered Manresa's tasting menu with wine pairings. Essentially, you tell the chef "bring it!" and he and his staff get creative. No two tables get the same meal, and they actually adjust the courses as they go based on the mood of the table.

But before the dinner got rolling, something very unusual happened. The maitre'd actually asked us to step away from our table. I was quietly shocked -- step away from our table?!? Did we do something wrong? Did we fail to meet the dress code? Had there been some miscommunication and they weren't prepared to serve us the dinner I'd been anticipating for months? Were they kicking us out?!

He led us out a side door, where to my great surprise a fiddler waited on the patio. As he launched into a jaunty jig, I opened the card that sat for me on the table. My Dad and step-mom set this up! This was an honest-to-goodness Irish fiddling telegram, with a small bottle of Jameson's whiskey on the side! We laughed and laughed, and then I pulled K into a two-hand jig. As we danced, I looked down beneath my feet where I was again surprised by a hilareous coincidence -- the patio was paved in Bomanite, the paving product from the company my Dad ran for most of his career! All the sweeter for a jig, a waltz, and many, many smiles. My only regret is that none of us thought to take the camera outside so we didn't get any photos. (And for those who are curious, yes Karen was in on the set-up -- she'd been coordinating with Dad for weeks on this.)

Back in we went for what was to be one of the most memorable meals of my life. They called it a six course meal, but personally I counted 15 courses: 4 appetizers, 7 main dishes, and 4 desserts. It was the largest meal I've ever had. Also one of the longest -- we started eating around 8pm and didn't finish until about 12:30.

Karen took great notes, and the restaurant printed custom menus and wine list. I got photos of all but the first and last dishes.


( The menu (with links to photos of each dish) )

Petit fours gelled red pepper and black olive madeline

 

Broccoli with smoked salmone roe chicken bouillon w/ fois gras (basically broccoli soup in a delicious tiny cup) [photo]

 

Horchata and lightly tasted parsnip (basically another tasty thing in a tiny cup) [photo]

 

Arpege farm egg w/ sherry vinegar & maple syrup [photo]

 

House made bread & salted butter [photo]

 

 

Main courses:

 

Mussels, lightly braised, with avacado, moro orange, dungeness crab, & indian spice [photo]
2007 August Kessler "R" Riesling Rheingau Germany

 

Japanese mackerel with lightly pickles seaweed, radish & garden herbs with buckwheat honey vinaigrette [photo]

Ginga Shizuku "Divine Droplets" Junmai Daiginjo (sake)
 

"Into the vegetable garden..." (essentially a simple salad with local greens, potato, and edible flowers) [photo]

2007 Chateau de Pampelonne Cote de Provence (rose)
 

Winter tidal pool (a fabulous, earthy seafood medley) [photo]
2004 Domaine de la Charriere Cuvee du Paradis Jasnieres

 

John dory and a lettuce veloute, mushrooms in pear vinegar [photo]
2005 Kunin Wines Rhone Blend Central Coast

 

Pig's trotters and apple confit, truffle and potato croquettes [photo]
2005 Bodegas Victoria Pardina Tempranillo Carinena (Spanish red, best wine of the night)

 

Beef bavette roasted in its own fat, hazelnut piccada with brocolli romanesque [photo]

2006 Domaine Clape Le Vin Des Amis Rhone Valley

And the dessert:

Fried polenta and currants with white coffe ice cream, cara cara orange [photo]

Cherry blossom mouse, toasted almond and rhubarb consomme [photo]

 

Dark Chocolate veloute with hazelnut rochers, banana ice milk [photo]
Blandy's 5 Year Old Madeira Malmsey

Petit fours "Strawberry-chocolate"

Truly a memorable experience. Expensive, but well worth it. Thank you to the restaurant staff for providing such a fabulous meal, and thanks to my friends who joined me. And to those who had hoped to come but couldn't make it, I'm very sorry to have missed you there.

(In case you're interested, Manresa's Executive Chef David Kinch is competing on Iron Chef America next week.)

Thoughts on my 40th birthday

So I'm 40 now. And a lot of folks have started asking me, "What does it feel like?"

Honestly, for the most part no different tha last week.

I mean, I'm not in the shape I was in when I was 22. Over the years I've had lots of ups and downs, just like anybody else. I'm a bit wiser, and I'm certainly more financially well-off than I've been at any other point in my life so far. I've had my heart broken a couple of times, and I've broken a couple of hearts. I'm a bit chubbier, and have a few wrinkels and grey hairs. But most of my evolution has been gradual, so all things considered I feel lucky that there haven't been too many rough patches -- physical or emotional -- that I've had to adjust to rapidly.

Most importantly, I'm happy and content.

A lot of this stems from a personal creed I've been living by for many years now, which is "never grow up." I still shamelessly indulge in the persuit of joys from my (true) youth, like comic books and gaming. I try to give myself whatever personal time I need to recharge and reset -- and if that means I park my butt in front of the TV after working 8 hours than so be it.

But I have to intersperse my "mundane" pleasures with occasional bouts of adventure, or I get stuck in a rutt. I have capricious_k  to thank for inspiring me to a lot more traveling than I've ever engaged in before, which over the last few years has granted me more airline and road miles than the decade previous to meeting her.

As crass, commercial, and capitalistic as it may seem, I've really been enjoying earning a lot more money than I ever have before. It enables the travel, it enables my home, and it also enables the materialistic accumulation of nice things. Gigantic TV, iPhone, Xbox, etc. Ultimately, they're  physical extensions of that "never grow up" attitude. I'm not at the point where I'm banking millions and can blow $5000 without even noticing, but it sure is nice to not have to sweat the small stuff.

So how does it feel to be 40? Well as they say, 40 is the new 30.