DonRocks

14 pounds to go.

I'm excited to announce the next dr.com event: a special "Highlight Film" dinner personally cooked by Gerard Pangaud at L'Academie de Cuisine. When Gerard received his second Michelin star for his Paris restaurant Gerard Pangaud, he was the youngest Michelin two-star chef in the history of France [Chef, I know you don't want people to keep saying that, but tough! ] We've been working on this dinner with Gerard for quite awhile now, and it's going to be a fantastic meal. Limited to 36 seats, all the cooking will be done in L'Academie's professional demonstration kitchen where you'll actually watch Gerard prepare the meal. Soup of Salsifis and Black Truffle (!), Flan of Foie Gras Rockfish with "Four Spices" and jus de vin rouge, Potatoes sauteed in Duck Fat [Gerard made me this dish a year ago, and it absolutely blew me away, so he decided to include it here.] Seven Hour Leg of Lamb with Lentils from Le Puy Mango Tart Tatin Caramelized with Ginger with a Coulis of Passion Fruit [This is Gerard's signature dessert - I first had it over ten years ago at the Ritz Carlton in Pentagon City, and I swore up and down it was the greatest dessert I had ever eaten.] Wine pairings will be provided by the excellent local importer Laurent Givry of Elite Wines, Inc. The total price for the meal, all-inclusive, is $125. In a "normal" restaurant, this would work out to $65 for the food (including black truffle!), $30 for the wines, $10 for the tax, and $20 for the tip. I talked with Gerard about accomodating people not wishing to drink wine. He wrote me, and said, "I will celebrate my 10th anniversary of sobriety on January 23rd and I understand very well the problem... Many times a bottle of passion fruit juice or apricot is as expensive as wine." So he'll be preparing special non-alcoholic drinks, but the price will remain $125 (and Gerard will need a total count of the non wine drinkers in advance in order to prepare the beverages). The dinner will take place at L'Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, one mile from Exit 8 (Shady Grove Road) off of I-270. No doubt people will organize car pools, so we can coordinate that later. Time is TBA, but will surely begin at a "normal" dinner hour. Send hillvalley a PM as soon as possible to request a reservation, along with how many people total you wish to bring. Please remember to include your real name in the PM. Depending on how many people wish to attend, we may need to limit this to one guest per member, and perhaps institute a lottery system. Cheers! Rocks P.S. For new members, click here to read Gerard's fascinating chat that he had with us one year ago.

20 pounds to go.

14 pounds to go.

The following posts have been split into separate threads: Pampamguena Cafe (DanielK) Manila Cafe (ScotteeM) East Street Cafe (LoganCircle)

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Twenty people have gotten me their baselines so far. No rush - just get them to me over the next few days, and we'll have the official "unveiling" next Monday (and even then it won't be too late to join). A few people are preferring to use their screen name, but unless I'm specifically told that, I'm assigning a code name. Either way is fine.

28 pounds to go.

If you or anyone else can do 200 pull-ups, I'll take you to Maestro every night for a year.

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53 pounds to go. You can do it, Bill!

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14 pounds to go.