I have a stack of menus and receipts on my desk, so I suppose it would be good to review them for you before they begin to curl.

One more time (the second) I decided to load up our van and drive from Kansas City to the East Coast. It seemed again like a better idea than 3 roundtrip flights with double digit quantities of luggage. Less forethought required in any case since I can just put everything into the van as soon as I think of it –customer files, clothes, office supplies, clothing racks, lights, fresh ground coffee, a couple of bottles of wine, leftovers which will not be eaten. The only disadvantage is the impossibility of reading the newspaper or one of the neglected New Yorker Magazines I guess for the latter a trip to Asia is in order.

Columbus, Ohio is the halfway stop, and I look forward to a delicious dinner at Rigsby’s. Their appetizer of barely cooked oysters (oysters diavolo)atop a crispy soft piece of eggplant alone is worth the 700 mile drive. I decided to recall the divine affogato instead of eating it, however. Sitting and steering the van for 10 hours while listening to fine music uses almost no calories at all.

(Never eat extra hot cheez-its, by the way.)

Washington was the first stop in the East. We found we could have $1. oysters from 5-7 at
Seacatch in Georgetown. Nothing else was particularly enticing about the place, but the oysters were delicious. We returned to Zaytinia — brussel sprouts, piyaz (broad beans with kale) kibbeh nayeh (lamb tartare) were all delicious and tasty in the noisy bar area perched at a side counter among the young. Central Michel Richard’s chicken burger with lemon was as delicious as I remembered and I could not resist a sorbet dessert (though I cannot remember the flavor). We stocked the van with wine from Trader Joe (2 bottles of 2-buck chuck) and headed off to NYC vis Michael Olszewski’s beautiful exhibition in Philadelphia. It was pouring rain all the way, but we waded over to the Oyster House and had more oysters.

Getting to NYC that afternoon was a challenge since everything was flooded and we were constantly forced to go south instead of north. But 4 hours later we emerged from the Holland Tunnel famished. Kate would have been delighted to go to the hotel and sleep, but I was so happy to have arrived in NY that while driving uptown and happening to pass by Irving Place, I stoped in front of Casa Mono. Well, it was pouring, 8 o’clock on Saturday night, there was a parking space just across the street, 2 seats available in the window…The receipt says we had beets, artichokes, sardines, scallops and 3 fine glasses of wine. The food was fresh and toothsome. My hairdresser, Mark Garrison, was sitting just next to us — an Elizabeth moment.

Our trunk show began on Monday, and the first night is often dinner with Melvin Dwork. This time at DBGB — Daniel Boulud’s new place in the Bowery. I had pigtail, deep fried, and a mergez sausage. The menu is imaginative and the cooking is first-rate. Although we sat in the bar area because we did not make a reservation, i took a tour through the remaining spaces and thought they had done an imaginative and beautiful job of making a special place using all the homely details of cooking with flair.

Yesterday was our 33rd anniversary. Who knew that this adventure would last this long? I hope for another 33 years if it brings as much pleasure and adventure as the last.

Meanwhile, Angela and I spent 10 days in California. First we had a successful trunk show in San Francisco. We breakfasted daily at the big table in the kitchen at Boulette’s Larder on the bay side of the Ferry Building. A big plate of delicious toasts with butter and fresh jam, poached eggs on sauteed greens, thick yogurt with stewed dried fruits, hot cereal with brown sugar and milk and fried rice with vegetables and shrimp were only a few of the delights we consumed along with good coffee, tea and hot chocolate. A view of the bridge, a gorgeous bouquet on the table every morning and a Puli named Boulette under the table.

Dungeness crabs are in season and I had crab 3 times: once in a salad at Chez Panisse upstairs; once, roasted in the wood oven at Camino in Oakland
and once at Niloufer’s house, whole, steamed live with avocado puree and big sections of pomelo on the side. The last was the best and the messiest. Buy your crabs alive in Chinatown for the best and cheapest; but you need a place to cook them.

We drove down Highway 5 to Los Angeles stopping at the fantastic Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture outside Hanford. Our friend Bill Clark has been collecting Japanese art — screens, scrolls, ceramics, baskets — and has a fabulous small museum on the grounds of his beautiful house. It isvery worthwhile to stop there. Besides, it is great to grasp the vastness of the valley and enjoy all those blooming almond trees and beautiful fertile fields and green hills. (We even found an Indian restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Not very good though).

Los Angeles, a culture within itself, was sunnier and lovely. Breakfast daily at Joan’s on Third a refreshingly designed grocery, take-out, eat-in place. Three dinners: the first at Guelaguetza on Olympic, a Oaxacan restaurant with delicious dark mole and a huitlacoche empanada. The best was the mariachi band playing our requests in front of a TV mounted just above their heads playing with subtitles. The second dinner was at Ganda, real Thai food, very hot — real pad thai, a bamboo salad with an unidetified taste, green curry pork. The third night we ate at Osteria Mozza.So very delicious and stylish that I cannot pass up at least one meal there every time.

It is great to eat real ethnic food, but an experienced guide through the menu would be very helpful. It will take several visits to sort through each menu without help.

One of the Spring vests.

The fabric being made from strips.

Meanwhile we are designing and sewing the spring collection. We have some incredibly beautiful fabrics to use since my trips to Japan in June result in a preponderance of linens and summer-weight silks among the kimono available then. My trip to Arimatsu (a town full of tie-dyers) last June — while not as fruitful as I had hoped — did turn up some stitched and folded cotton in 4 lovely pastel colors. The crisp shirts we have made are like nothing else.

Vintage black and whie sheer silk ikats are being stitched together to make gossamer blouses and some wild vests. Today, Kate is also stitching myriad strips of ecru linen small patterned ikats into fabric for a fabulous jacket. This kind of beautiful handwork is what makes us unique.

Something is missing in my last post. I forgot to mention my visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s 2 masterpieces: Falling Water and Kentuck Knob on my drive home from the Fall trunk shows. Thrilling! I had always wanted to go and see and was only vaguely aware of their location. Well, it only takes a minute to find out where they are, plus about a 4-hour drive from Washington. The 2 houses are very different in date, sensibility and style. Kentuck Knob is owned by Lord Peter Palumbo, and Falling Water is owned by a conservancy. Allow enough time for exploration — both require signing up for a tour. All necessary information is on the Falling Water website.

time to go through my stack of restaurant receipts before another meal comes my way. i will go from the top to the bottom beginning with new york city.

Momofuku, on First Avenue made us wait an hour one Saturday night, but we were willing and enjoyed all the second-hand stores in the neighborhood. if only i could lease the place next door and open a bar…then everyone could have a good drink while they waited while on the tv we could project pictures of Asiatica wares. It was truly delicious, with a pared-down menu (we were 4 and ordered 8 dishes plus 3 orders of pork buns and a delicious carafe of cloudy sake called “nigori”). I made a quick run to their Milk Bar a few blocks away, but the cookies were not as good as dinner.

Balthazar is a great people-watching place, though i do not understand wearing baseball caps (backward, no less) inside and chewing gum. Not appetizing. Also too many screechy young girls drinking too much wine. Otherwise, oysters, duck confit and a pavlova are just about the perfect meal when you need a few calories. Add muscadet and an espresso.

Sushi Yasuda is the best in New York. They are very precise about reservations. Always sit as the sushi bar, have the kani miso and ebi matcha as appetizers (crab roe and green tea dusted shrimp). Order sashimi and then sushi and leave it to the chef. Do not dip the sushi rice in soysauce and do not use chopsticks to eat sushi. Dinner for 2 was close to $200. cheaper than a trip to Tokyo and worth it.

Chicken pot pie at E.A.T. was only so-so, not enough mushrooms. But i was on a mission to find the best chicken-pot-pie. Let me know if you know where it is. (perhaps in a cookbook).

Bar Boulud with Mel was delicious. A beautiful oyster presentation with red peppercorns scattered. The duck confit excellent. Mel was disappointed to have 2 legs in his coq-au-vin since he prefers white meat and a more traditional version, but i would have been delighted to eat his dinner. He passed on dessert, so i did too.

Dhaba at 108 Lexington ave is a new find. Indian street food and more. Tasty and inexpensive with lots of style. We loved the sauteed cashew dish: tale huay caju. Lots of good small courses at the front of the menu.

Fatty Crab on the Upper West Side was unbearably noisy, but the fatty duck was delicious. We were not enough people to order the crab, but i am sure it is at least as good in Chinatown.

also in NYC, we saw the wonderful production of Don Giovanni at City Opera, the Kandinsky exhibit at the Guggenheim and some amazing samurai helmets at the Metropolitan.

In September I decided to drive to the East Coast, since we had 4 trunk shows in a row. It was a fine adventure. Kansas City to Columbus, Ohio arriving just in time for a fabulous dinner at Rigsby’s Kitchen. I dashed into the Holiday Inn past the USC alums drinking beer in the bar anticipating the next day’s victory over Ohio State. I rushed to my room with my computer to try and scope out the best dinner. Bingo! Rigsby’s sounded right so I dashed there and was delighted with Sardinian fregola soup with clams, grilled fennel with lemon olive oil and some hand-cut french fries. Since I had driven for 10 hours I felt justified in ordering the affogato of chocolate gelato for dessert (i must have forgotten that i had been sitting down and not jogging for all those hours). I left the cookies which came with for breakfast. I could hardly wait to stop again on my way back a month later.

time for an update. first, we will definitely work to make our website easier to use for ourselves and our visitors. at this point too many steps to add or update any information.

first thing to do today is to try and upload our 2009 holiday mailer.asiaticaholiday2009final

mango juice

The most beautiful things in Japan are the temples/shrines and the food basements of the major department stores.  Here are some photos taken at Misukoshi/Nihombashi.  Temples will have to wait.  The variety and especially the presentation is staggering.

bread as in a cartoon

sweets to accompany bitter green tea

These sweets are only one example of a huge category.  Each maker tries to outdo the next in beaauty.

If you go to Japan allow at least an hour to browse all the sections.  Fish or crackers are as beautifully presented as the sweets.

While there are also restaurants in the department stores, I have a fewfavorite restaurants elsewhere and managed a few photos. The first night and the last in Tokyo I could think of nothing more delicious than a big plate of sashimi, a bowl of cold tofu with ginger and green onion and a some black cod with miso (the last i ate too quickly and just photographed the bones.

The restaurant is called Uokatsu, and is in the little neighborhood of the International House called Azabu Juban.  During the day, they have a fish store.  Very handy.  The cost of these 3 courses was about 50. dollars and included a draught beer.

Another night in Tokyo I went to Union Square Tokyo and had a delicious Japanese plum mojito and a hamburger.

The best snacks in Japan include some delicious greasy “sembe” crackers from Mamagen in the same street as the Uokatsu.  The small bag will do, and you will not be able to eat dinner if you eat the whole bag.  The other snack is “butter peanuts”, nice hard peanuts available at every train station.

In Kyoto, the only new place is a small and delicious Italian restaurant on Kita Shirakawa dori (just north of Donq, the French bakery) called — believe it or not– Bosom.  Gnocchi with a cream and uni sauce was absolutely delicious.  (The owner said the name appealed because it implied warm and cosy which was the feeling she wanted for their restaurant.)

Tastes better than it looks.  More on Japan later.