Vlad is in Chicago this week, and since it does not happen very often, everybody adjusted their plans. Anna, John, and the girls arrived on Saturday morning, and we all met with Vlad for brunch at Revival in Andersonville.
It was great to be together – it was at least a year since last time. Also, it was great to be in Andersonville. I realized that I have almost never been there since Vlad has not worked there for years, and I missed its vibe and being able to walk and stop at different shops and meet people.
Today, my twins turned thirty-three, and I have no idea when it happened 🙂 I even checked my calculation several times to ensure I was right!
Every year, on the day they are born, I tell myself and the rest of the world that having them was the best decision I ever made. Their presence in my life drove many of my decisions, which would have been drastically different otherwise.
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This week, I listened to “Moral Decision Making,” one of the Audible Great courses. Once again, the lecturer explained that what Boris and I did thirty-six years ago was completely and unquestionably morally wrong—not like I didn’t know it before. But that was the best thing that happened to both him and me. Not only because there won’t be Vlad and Anna otherwise but also because even thirty-six years later, I smile each time I think about him, and he smiles each time he thinks about me. And this is the most impossible thing in the world, which never happens :).
That was the place we had the only dinner on this trip (Friday at Silver Lyan felt very much like dinner for me, but apparently not for Vlad :), and on Sunday, Boris and I had dinner at the American Airlines lounge). Vlad was going to keep our dinner destination a secret, but accidentally sent me an email which was meant to be for Dylon :).
The full pdf of the menu is here, and here is a picture I took in the restaurant:
As you can see, that’s another level of culinary art (I can assure you that everything tasted most unusual, like you never could imagine!). Since there were four of us, Vlad ordered the whole menu, and each dish was delivered with a story that was, unfortunately, not on the menu! Vlad also ordered a wine pairing for him and me to share. Not all pictures turned out well, but most of these dishes are below:
Only a spoon of ice cream with caviar in the middle is edible, the rest is decoration:)Surprisingly, I didn’t like desserts that much, this one it the only one I liked
The ethical question I have is whether it is acceptable to have a dinner for four for the price, which is equivalent to some people’s monthly income. Yes, that’s because Vlad gives more than 30% tips, and yes, that’s in DC where people’s income is higher than in Chicago, and yes, this was more of an art than food, but still…
On Friday night, shortly after arrival, we went downstairs to Silver Lyan bar to see Vlad at work. Last time when we were in DC, he were in Silver Lyan for Hanami, and I wanted to see how it is during it’s “regular operations.” Most importantly, it was a chance to see Vlad doing “his thing,” which always tells about him more than anything else. So we went there, and it was pretty amazing. Now, that Vlad is not in Chicago, I do not have chances to try his cocktails that often and I almost forgot what an extraordinary experience it is! Each cocktail has it’s story (and Vlad told me that they write the stories first and then they figure out how to “make it happen.” He promest to give me the pdfs of all of these stories (I didn’t take the menu pictutures), so at this moment, images only.
Nimbus Spritz (Bacardí Carta Blanca, carrot mead, mushroom caramel, spruce, White Lyan water, clay “champagne”)Air Bee n Bee (Patrón blanco, almond blossom, hay-smoked bee larvae, mango vinegar, Mosel riesling)Salmon Cannon (alcohol-free version) Porter’s Tropical Old Tom, birchwood booch, douglas fir, ‘pink’ teaLychee Martini (Roku gin, lychee sherbet, elderflower shochu, black grape)Silver Service Martini (Fords gin, served 50:50 with Dolin vermouth with oyster, olive, house-pickled onion and lemon)
Actually, I just realised that I didn’t take a picture of the cocktail I liked most – the one which Vlad made when he was in Tokio – Lychee Martini with elderflower shochu. And to be clear – Vlad made a mini-version of each of the cocktails for me, so that I could taste several (and I still didn’t finish even mini-versions).
All the different foods we tried during these two days of stay ended were great, and unfortunately, the rest of our agenda was severely affected by the weather. it was pouring rain on Saturday, and bitterly cold and windy on Sunday, so things went not exactly as planned, although I we still did a lot and talked a lot 🙂
We are in DC, visiting Vlad and Dylon and staying at the Riggs hotel: second time for me, first time for Boris, and also, that’s his first visit to DC in general. Unfortunately, it’s the worst possible weather, so our today’s plans were already altered, but it’s still great to be there!
Not only we got special “friends and family” rate, but we were also upgraded to Jiniour SuiteSpecial upgrade:)The gym is gigantic, and nobody is there on Saturday morning!
Vlad was in Japan for a work trip, and we hardly heard from him. A couple of times, somebody would pass a link, or he would post on Instagram a clip from news coverage, a photo of the newspaper page, or an article link – all in Japanese! I sent some links to my friend in Japan (Anna asked suspiciously whether my friend actually speaks Japanese😂). I was unsure whether my friend would be interested, but I sent the link anyway. She reacted enthusiastically but without much detail. When I sent her one more Instagram post, and she reacted enthusiastically again, I finally asked her whether she could tell me what it was all about. She was happy to fill me in and said she sort of forgot I could not understand it!😀
Here is this post, and Vlad is on the fifth and on the last photo:
I have the official photos for a couple of weeks now, but there are too many, and they all are too awesome to choose any reasonable number to display. Thereby, it’s hard for me to tell how many wedding photos posts will follow. This one will be most definitely not the last one 🙂
Hettie's Reflections 