Stella!!

It is beyond cliched to title the entry this way but it is 8:50 pm (EST) and having arrived back in NYC less than four hours ago (our plane touched down at 5 pm EST), I think the easy way out is ok considering we have been able to sit down and watch last night's Jeopardy. Ok, Ok truth be told it was not on LAST night but it was on the LAST night of last week and the day we left for our trip. (It was the show aired on Friday, May 26) So, when we were already checked in with our boarding passes in hand - this was the show that was on.

Stella Daily was her name and as soon as I saw her - dark bobbed hair, square chunky glasses - I said Brooklyn. And that was indeed where she was from. And indeed she quickly became my favorite contestant. It is not because she hails from the borough to which I moving to but it is because she brought him up. Him. I haven't heard his name uttered in a while. It was a nice touch coming back to NYC, missing my fellow bloggers already, feeling a little woozy due to the long(!) day and all. Stella told the tale of a crossword puzzle contest (literary Brooklyn) she competed in the weekend prior to her Jeopardy appearance. She came in 12th (out of 500 entrants) and HE came in 37th. If you haven't guessed already, it is a story about THE Ken Jennings! How I wish I had known of aforementioned contest. Though I have no knack for crossword puzzles, I do have a knack for crazy Jeopardy fandom (see photos of Clue Crew from earlier this year) and would have loved the opportunity to meet him. Ok, ok truth be told, not really. But the idea of it is fun.
I mean, really what would I say to Ken should I ever meet him? Um. . . I don't really know. The fact is there's just too much to say.

So, Stella was winning the whole time and I thought we were on to something here (a new Ken?) - I mean 12 out of 500! - there is probably some good Jeopardy left in her - but she failed me at Final Jeopardy (and actually answered the same way I would have had it been this future Brooklyn-ite on the show instead of her). The category was 20th Century Women and the Final Jeopardy clue was: In 1963 she was quoted as saying, "I want to be the Jane Austen of Southern Alabama" My guess (and Stella's answer) was Margaret Mitchell. Alas, the answer was Harper Lee.

While it is good to be back - I mean, there is Jeopardy here after all - I do miss many things about London. Aside from the corners, that is. And that is all about Last (Friday) Night's Jeopardy.

A Glitch

On last night's Jeopardy we saw another 1-day champ lose to a new guy. Nothing is sticking. My theory is that the questions are just too specific for one person to be all knowing for more than 11 categories (5 regular, 5 Double and 1 Final)
When a winner doesn't come through a second time I also wonder if he or she was just lucky with the categories.

So the champ lost to the guy in the middle and although the interviews were sprite-ly it wasn't anything to write home (blog?) about. But then. . . oh then. During the commercial between the announcement of the Final Jeopardy category and the Final Jeopardy Answer and Question and well, the finale of the show, our Tivo served us well. The show had been recorded so we fast forwarded to skip the commercials and we saw something out of the ordinary on the screen. We rewound only to see a screen filled with the Jeopardy Blue and text saying the following in the place of a regular advertisement.
" Show #4,995
VTR Date: 3/15/2006
Air Date: 5/5/2006"

Then instead of another commercial the screen went blank for about 15 seconds. And then all of a sudden we heard the Jeopardy music. Alex wasn't reading the answer. He was no where to be seen. The question had obviously already been read and the time had started. Contestants were scribbling and gasp - something was clearly amiss.

So, yes, it was a major glitch and a major night in the Jeopardy world after all.
What a thrill! Haven't you ever wondered how long before their airdate shows are taped? I thought we would have to wait until one of us (oh, please one day, let it be) flew to LA to be a contestant. Now it is not so important. (Joke)
Now we know!

Categorically categorious

Hello and Welcome to another All About Last Night's Jeopardy.
Today we have a straight-up post filled with all of the category info you could ever wish for - some questions, some answers, and some information about just who is the current Jeopardy champ.

Jeopardy round:
Governors
Pseudo Movie Ratings
Snow
White
Someday My Prints Will Come


Under White we had "garage rock superstars" (White Stripes)
And soon after Matt selected the first daily double when he was in second place. He bet it all and he doubled his money by answering this questions.
"calcium carbonate conglomeration in englands county kent" What are the White Cliffs of Dover? Great one for those England bound. I hope to strike up a conversation with someone on the airplane or perhaps at pub night and ask them same.

Under Snow, we learned that Eskimos call snow "pukak", SF means snow flurries and "Himalaya" means abode of snow.
And the questions under Pseudo Movie Ratings were (in order of appearance)
malcolm x
r kelly (sang I Believe)
ali g (Sasha Baron Cohen)
pg whoadhouse
NCC1701 (a Star Trek reference)

During the getting to know you portion of the show we learned that Matt from Atlanta doesn't know how to juggle, Laura Brown, from Seattle,
knows how to Akido and she is a forensics and clinical psychologist and the champ's name is Fred though in the first round for some reason I thought it was Craig. He really looks like a Craig. And he lived in Greece for a portion of his life.
(kinda like you living in Ealing in a cottage for a portion of your life.)


The scores are as follows.
Fred (champ) $5,800
Laura $1,600
Matt $4,400
Double Jeopardy categories:

geographic locations
1990s
hodgepodge
inspired titles
what the "H"? (my personal favorite) Really Alex, What the "H"?!?!?!

The What the "H"? questions were:
What is hat trick?
What is hold? (an ankle lock)
What is hedgehog?
What is Hobart? (a Tasmania capital)

Under Hodgepodge we learned that:
Chicken fat's sentimental name is schmaltz.
And the state of VT has banned smoking in prisons.

An exciting moment came at the last $2000 clue under 1990s. In this category, the questions all had a 1990 year in them.
The year the Euro is introduced into financial markets.
What is 1999?
And Laura wraps it up with $17,000
Neither Matt nor Fred will be able to beat her score.

Which definitely leads to a not so very edge of your couch final. Nonetheless,
WORD HISTORY was the Final Jeopardy category.
And the question was "What is horde?" (based on the Mongol tribe and something about vast numbers)(aka HORDE)

Laura is the champ with $17,500 and was so very enthusiastic! She is fundamentally an example of how all champions should be. Smiley and excited.

By the way, the most popular type of Tonka truck is the dump truck.


Now, you will be tested on this come the end of May!

Louie, Louie

For our first wedding anniversary we dined in exquisite style at Bouley in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood. We had passed by the establishment so many times before on our way to haunts such as the Square Diner, Eddie's, Petite Abeille (need I go on and name ALL of the Tribeca restaurants we have been in the past two + years.) Oh and our favorite - Landmarc. . . .
The building is white with large interestingly shaped windows and once the large wooden door is open customers enter a small foyer with racks of apples on the left accompanied by a strong, beautiful scent of apples. Go figure.
I felt like I entered another world - where people called me the lady and my husband, the gentleman. Standing in front of us was the host at the ready to take my coat (giving the coat check ticket to the gentleman) and showing us our seats though we were about 20 minutes early. (we did take the subway since after all "jacket required" which means a dress for me which = shoes with a higher heel than I normally would wear). We entered the red room and well, it was red. (Need I say go figure? I hope you are figuring without my prompt). Red ceilings and walls and decorated like a home. Not a 45 Wall Street home, nor a Cottage home (I can only guess) but one filled with decorative pillows, small and cute lamps, and pretty, fine china. (It was attractive - not pretty fine as in "Yo - it was pretty fine! Yeow!").
We ordered the 7 course tasting menu and a bottle of cab sauvignon from the Finger Lakes. The environment reminded me of a place in Ithaca, New York so it was an easy decision on the wine.
Our waiter brought us the chef's canape. A puree of cucumber, with tomato, buffala cheese and a splash of pesto paste stuff. I liked it. Jeremy politely ate some but not all.
Next on to our first round of appetizers. Tuna sashimi over shaved fennel for me and a phyllo shrimp, scallop, squid concoction (or should I say delicacy) for the gentleman. Kudos to the chef on this one. I don't usually like fennel but sometimes all it takes is amazing tuna sashimi and a wonderful setting. Yum.
Next round of appetizers came after some bread eating. The apple raisin roll was warm and preferred to the baguette, which still somehow made its way into my belly even given its second class status. Next I had the lobster, ham, and cheese roll! (not its name but essentially this is what I remember about it and let me tell you - it was amazing!) It was kind of like a sushi roll minus the rice and with cooked crustacean (instead of raw fish). The gentleman's dish was a sea bass with some sauces. (I did not taste it so cannot give any assessment). All I know is - I didn't try his and he didn't try mine so we were both happy with our selections!
For our main dish we both had the Maine Lobster. There was a passion fruit -tasting sauce and bok choy. Fingerling potatoes too.
The cleaning the palette dish was grapefruit inspired sorbet with Greek yogurt and grapefruit slices. Perfection.
Then dessert. We didn't like it.
I keed. I keed.
The waiter told us the creme brulee has been called the world's best and we didn't think twice before ordering a portion. We also had the chocolate souffle with peanut butter, chocolate and vanilla ice cream.
I was nervous to take the first bite. Would I totally lose faith in our waiter? (who by the way was a perfect waiter - left us alone but at the same time was sure to check on us casually and nonintrusively once per course. And not your boring mindless, "how is everything?" He passed by and whispered softly, is everything nice? It was more than nice but a perfect way to check in)
So the punch one two is that this creme brulee does get our vote for the world's best. A lightly bruleed top - not crunchy but still that enjoyable flavor. And the custard - oh! this is where the rest of the world is at a loss. Must be lots and lots (and lots) of fresh organic eggs from the chef's farm in CT. (source of my knowledge of his farm in CT: Internet). Even if the eggs were from the Greenmarket in Union Square - oh did they provide. One of my favorite parts of the meal was watching the gentleman take his first bite. He has the same reaction as me - instead of making a confused face like, "are you kidding?! am I really eating this?" (I have made this many times when sampling a great restaurants chocolate dishes), rather the thoughts, after savoring the world's best creme brulee is better described as, I am not going to overact or over-react but instead I shall close my eyes and open them slowly - am I dreaming? - and enjoy the moment. Next take a deep breath and take another bite to make sure it was real. After the first two bites you just want to slow down. We did slow down but we did ultimately eat it all (surprise, surprise) - the souffle, the brulee, the cookies brought out to us a bit later, the green tea (delish) and the coffee (was told it was fine). The next step (and on the drunker side) was to make it to the bathroom suavely, get my coat, and walk it off. Well, we did walk home but walking it off might take more than a mere 15 blocks for, on the way out, compliments of Bouley was a tea cake from Bouley Bakery wrapped up to go and in a white paper bag (with handles). The host handed it to me, "For the lady to carry?" We enjoyed our remnants of last night's dinner, the tea cake, this morning on the roof with coffee and soymilk and reminisced about the world's best creme brulee. And oh yeah - the bliss of the last year!! That came up, too!
And that is All About Last Night's Dinner.