It's finally time to head back home - the final box was taken to the post office this morning. We did our final "check-out" with Sebastian the owner of the loft - all went well. Mark's parents will be at the airport in Austin to pick us up & take us home.
Our dinner last night at Daniel was a lovely way to end our stay in NYC. We both really enjoyed our dining experience. There was a bit of screw up when we got there - arrived via cab at 8:00 for an 8:15 reservation. They showed us to the lounge, as they needed to set up our table. We ordered drinks & relaxed. There were other parties of two that came in & were shown to the lounge, but then were seated prior to us. After this happened for the second time - we were asked if we were still waiting for the other people in our party. We explained that it was just a party of two & they apologizied and got us to our table quickly. We were well taken care of, as were all the other guests the rest of the evening.
Mark ordered a bottle of Kistler Pinot Noir, to got with our dinner. Once again, we opted to have the three course meal & not the Chef's Tasting Menu, due to me. I had the Peeky Toe Crab Salad as my starter & Mark had the Tuna Tartar. I then had the Black Sea Bass, which is one of their signature dishes & Mark had the Rack of Lamb. Mark ordered the Mango Granny-Smith Tarte Tatin & I ordered the Chocolate Fondant for our desserts. When our waiter came back to our table, before dessert, he asked if we were celebrating a special occasion & I told him we were celebrating that we were leaving NYC in the morning after being here 7 months. This then lead to some questions as to why we were here & we explained that we had been at culinary school - he also questioned as to why we didn't have the Chef's Tasting Menu - I confessed it was due to me. When our desserts arrived, there were two additional desserts that were sent compliments of the pastry chef. That was then followed by Petit Fours. The final "dessert" served at Daniel is Madelines, which we opted out of, seeing as it was getting close to 11:30 - ah, next time.
I've had a book on my bedside table for the last few months - just no time to read it. The funny thing is, it's called "The Fourth Star" & it's about the restaurant Daniel. I started reading it on the flights home - rather interesting, as we'd just been there. Our flights back were delayed - late leaving Newark due to weather in Chicago & then late leaving Chicago as we had to wait for a crew. All & all, we arrived 20 minutes late. As we flew into Austin, we could see how pretty it all looked, green & the rolling hills.
We got home around 8:00 pm & noticed the numerous boxes, the stack of mail & the quiet! We're both very happy to be home!
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