Chez Panisse Day...but First, Monterey
November 20
The drive out to Monterey Bay was dramatic and scenic, and I was so excited to show Kelly. We stopped at a beach and watched the seabirds and surfers for a while, got our pants wet, and then carried on. We didn’t get to Monterey until 1:30, so I was already aware that time was tight to get back in comfortable time for our 8:30 reservation.
We needed to eat though. We got sucked into the Fish Hopper, a tourist-trappy restaurant just like the rest of the restaurants in Monterey, but guaranteed to have fresh seafood. It also offered a gorgeous view of the bay, where we were lucky enough to watch seals and otters frolicking in the waves.
I ordered an ocean salad—crab and two kinds of shrimp, along with avocado and mango. Kelly ordered the ‘ultimate’ seafood pasta, and we shared some crabcakes and a half bottle of Morgan chardonnay, from the Monterey region.
The seafood was fresh and plentiful—Kelly had more seafood in his pasta than pasta. Which almost made up for the price tag. We were warmed up for our upcoming Chez Panisse expenditures by a $100 lunch. Ouch.
Moneterey Bay Aquarium, for anyone who hasn’t been there, is a magical place, and I couldn’t wait to show Kelly. We ended up spending more time there than we should have, but when you’re face to face with a great white shark, tuna, hammerhead sharks, and a giant sunfish in a deep sea tank, or when you’re gazing at a room where the walls are made of aquaria full of floating jellyfish, you kind of lose track of time.
For our food fix, we picked up the Monterey Bay seafood watch guide from a volunteer who was talking about which fish are sustainably harvested, with little by-catch (the list is tragically short). I’d been using the guide for a while, since it’s listed on-line at www.seafoodwatch.org for anyone who wants to look at it. It makes me feel better about the choices I make, although I’m sad that I’ll never again be able to eat Chilean seabass, which is terribly over-fished. But I’ll get down from my soapbox, and carry on with our day.
The drive out to Monterey Bay was dramatic and scenic, and I was so excited to show Kelly. We stopped at a beach and watched the seabirds and surfers for a while, got our pants wet, and then carried on. We didn’t get to Monterey until 1:30, so I was already aware that time was tight to get back in comfortable time for our 8:30 reservation.
We needed to eat though. We got sucked into the Fish Hopper, a tourist-trappy restaurant just like the rest of the restaurants in Monterey, but guaranteed to have fresh seafood. It also offered a gorgeous view of the bay, where we were lucky enough to watch seals and otters frolicking in the waves.
I ordered an ocean salad—crab and two kinds of shrimp, along with avocado and mango. Kelly ordered the ‘ultimate’ seafood pasta, and we shared some crabcakes and a half bottle of Morgan chardonnay, from the Monterey region.
The seafood was fresh and plentiful—Kelly had more seafood in his pasta than pasta. Which almost made up for the price tag. We were warmed up for our upcoming Chez Panisse expenditures by a $100 lunch. Ouch.
Moneterey Bay Aquarium, for anyone who hasn’t been there, is a magical place, and I couldn’t wait to show Kelly. We ended up spending more time there than we should have, but when you’re face to face with a great white shark, tuna, hammerhead sharks, and a giant sunfish in a deep sea tank, or when you’re gazing at a room where the walls are made of aquaria full of floating jellyfish, you kind of lose track of time.
For our food fix, we picked up the Monterey Bay seafood watch guide from a volunteer who was talking about which fish are sustainably harvested, with little by-catch (the list is tragically short). I’d been using the guide for a while, since it’s listed on-line at www.seafoodwatch.org for anyone who wants to look at it. It makes me feel better about the choices I make, although I’m sad that I’ll never again be able to eat Chilean seabass, which is terribly over-fished. But I’ll get down from my soapbox, and carry on with our day.
posted by Noelle | 11:16 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home