I’m here.

. . . . .

The girls are still there,

having a fabulous meal and then were invited into the kitchen of Chez Panisse for a full tour. Oh my goodness!

Because of a brush fire the highway closed and we couldn’t make it to Chez Panisse for our 5:00 reservation in the upstairs of Chez Panisse…so we called and discovered there had been a cancellation for the downstairs, so we took it. I know a brush fire doesn’t sound like good luck, but I beg to disagree. ~Harriet

 When we got there the building was covered in vines and was cozy looking.  When you go in it is amazing. Papa would not like it very much because the whole building is lit with dim lights and candles. The waiter had black hair and big glasses and the waitress had dark brown hair in a bun. This was the first restaurant ever where the tableware is not wrapped in a napkin and it is real. They came out and gave us olives bread and butter. The first food we had was a salad with little pieces of lobster from Maine with the most delicious cherry tomatoes and a spicy mayonnaise. Next we had a summer squash and corn soup that had some tomato in it with a squash blossom fritter . That was surprisingly good but not my favorite. Spit roasted Magruder Ranch pork loin and shoulder with rosemary which was also the first time I have ever had good meat at a restaurant but it was not as good as ours. There was also a cooked tomato which looked gross but tasted good. We also had roasted peppers and beans. Then the waiter came up and asked us if we wanted a tour of the kitchen. The  first thing we saw was the stove that was cool. Then we saw the pastry room where they made the dessert . Then he showed us the freezer which had whole frozen pigs hanging because they do their own butchering that was so awesome. They also make ice cream and had a separate room for that. Next was a room where they refrigerate the fruits. The last room was where the glasses get polished all by hand one by one. When we sat back down they brought in dessert which was a delicious lemon tart with the sweetest raspberries way better then our raspberries and candied lemon zest and pistachio also there was whipped cream but I think  Harriet’s whip cream taste better. When we finished that they brought us 2 kinds of little candies one was more like a candy it was almond with powder sugar on top it was so good the other one was chocolate with currants mixed in on top was a half a hazelnut and a candied orange peel.~Elisa

Oh my goodness!~ me