once upon a time...

i was really lucky to go to dinner with jeffrey steingarten (vogue food critic and author of my fav foodie articles). he chose to dine at blue hill in nyc and i sat next to him. as soon as our party entered the restaurant, people scampered about. the chef offered a "special" 14 (or was it 7?) course tasting menu -all centered around pig. i thought it was pretty ridiculous that they would present to us the eggs and other parts that would go into our food before they cooked it. one of the courses was a salad with crispy crouton-like strands on top. jeffrey leaned over and wondered what it was. i said, "it's pig's ear. chiffonade." "ahh... you're right." he said (oh i was beaming with pride. i actually knew something.) the next course was pork tenderloin served on a slate. as they were setting down my slate plate, it tipped and poured (what i don't think was cooked) pig blood into my lap. the best the hostess could do was give me a shout wipe. and that's when i became a believer.