Hello, everyone

On how we came to donate five pounds of chocolate candies to members of the National Rifle Association:

There was a Bridal Show at The Saratoga on Sunday and we decided to participate. Because Cheryl had stayed home with a sick child on Friday, she was a little behind in preparations for the trade show table. Paul took the children home Saturday night and Cheryl made a late-night supermarket run for orchids and chocolates for the trade show table. She came back and worked with our server Erica Miller to set up a table with a pretty cloth and some flowers outside the restaurant and prepare printed materials and stash them in the closet so they'd be ready to set up before the show started at 1 p.m. on Sunday

What they forgot to do was leave a note for the Billy, the manager on duty for Sunday breakfast. So when he came in at 6 a.m., he hopped right on bringing out the flowers, setting up the brochures, lighting candles and putting five pounds of chocolate in a big bowl on the table in the hallway. Then he went back inside to serve breakfast.
And then a large group of people cut through the hotel on their way to a gun show in the City Center and stopped just long enough to stuff about a half a pound of chocolate each into their pockets.
Cheryl returned at 11 a.m. to set up for the bridal show and found a few meager pieces clinging to the bottom of the bowl.

Live and learn.

We have set a menu and chosen wines for our annual Languedoc- Roussillon wine dinner, which this year will be Thursday, March 29th.
Paul has decided to start the meal with escargots with eggplant and tomato and Cheryl has chosen the Hautes Terres de Comberousse Roucaillat 2002. The second course will be pheasant terrine, paired with the Côtes du Roussillon from Domaine Sarda-Malet 2005. The next course will be aïgo boulido (garlic soup) scented with mint and thyme and served with Mas Cal Demoura's, "L'Infidele" Coteaux du Languedoc, 2000. The main course, duck à l'agenaise (duck in the style Agen, which is whole duck braised with prunes, Armagnac, orange-scented red wine and herbs) will be served with our star wine, Clos de Truffiers Coteaux du Languedoc 1999. The final course of chestnut tart with apricot purée will be served with Muscat de Rivesaltes, 2005 Domaine de la Coume du Roy.

We'll provide written materials about the wines and wine region and make ourselves available to talk about the wines with those who are so inclined, but make a tremendous effort to not stand at the head of the table and bore people to tears with long lectures. We'd prefer that people have a really special meal and meet a few new friends around the communal table.

Seating is limited to 20 people around a single table. Tickets are $80 per person, plus tax and tip.

After much debate, we have figured out what we will be serving on Easter Sunday. The debate centered on whether we would do a special dinner that started earlier in the day or do a brunch, which is what many people seem to expect on Easter. We chose to offer a prix fixe brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. For $30 a person, you get you choice of soup or salad, your choice of desserts, and your choice of any of the following entrees: ham smoked over Ceylonese cinnamon; spring braised lamb shanks; rabbit stew; salmon poached with a chervil beurre blanc; poussin (young chicken) roasted with a madeira and mushroom sauce; vegetable napoleon, Belgian waffles, pancakes, or omelettes.

Children under 12 eat for $15. We will begin serving an à la carte dinner menu with a number of special options starting at 5:30 p.m.
Breakfast will be served from 7 to 9:30.
Reservation are recommended and large family groups can be accommodated.

Our Sunday Jazz brunch with pianist Cole Broderick will feature chicken breast meuniére with Basmati rice pilaf ($13); crabmeat crèpes with mornay sauce ($15); Grand Marnier pancakes with fresh pork sausage ($16); and pan-seared N.Y. strip steak finished with a peanut onion sauce and smashed potatoes ($14). Appetizer specials include steamed Rhode Island Littleneck clams ($12); crabcakes with lemon caper mayonnaise ($14); a salad of mixed baby greens tossed in a red wine vinaigrette ($7) and soup of the day ($8).

The brunch specials run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The complete menu,
offered from 7 to 2 p.m., includes a Continental assortment of
muffins, pastries, fruit, yogurt, frittata etcetera for $9;
omelettes ($9 to $11); pancakes du jour ($9); the All in One, which includes 2 eggs any style, homefries, toast and sausage or bacon ($10); waffles with sweet cream butter and local maple syrup ($10); and Irish steel- cut oatmeal ($8).
Jazz pianist Cole Broderick plays from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Live Piano Jazz
Jazz pianist Cole Broderick plays the baby grand Tuesday through
Friday night, and during Sunday brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
(barring special events that preclude live music.)
Cost: No cover charge

Tasting menus
Chef's Choice seven-course tasting menu available each night. The
menus are designed based on the best and most creative dishes Chef
Paul K. Parker is serving each evening. We will pair wines for you or you can order from our extensive wine list.
Cost: $75 per person, plus tax and tip. Everyone at the table must
partake in the tasting menu.

If you're feeling less impromptu, you can call ahead to arrange a
special tasting menu with the number of courses and wine pairings
designed to suit your capacity, dietary restrictions and budget.
Tasting menus arranged in advance will be printed on commemorative
vellum scrolls personalized with the name of the host or the reason
for the event.
Cost: $50 to $200, depending on the number of courses and the wines
selected; available for two to 75 guests. Call Cheryl to make
arrangements 518.583.3538

The Pink Plate Special
offered Monday, March 26, Tuesday, March 27, Wednesday, March 28, and Thursday, March 29.

$30 per person
includes your choice of soup or salad, a special entree, selected
desserts or a cheese course and coffee, tea or espresso.

This week's special entree:
trout aux ciboulettes

Notes on Nico and Léo:
One year-old Léo has reached what Cheryl likes to think of as the "door-closing" phase of childhood development. Mommy opens the door to the dishwasher, Léo closes it. Mommy opens the door to the dryer and grabs an armload from the washer, and the dryer door is closed before she turns back around. It was a pretty annoying pattern when she and Nico were trying to scrub out the refrigerator Monday and Léo kept closing Nico into it. Cheryl told Nico that he used to do the same thing when he had just learned to walk, but he didn't believe her. Paul says she'll grow out of it. "After all, you haven't closed a cabinet door in the last 20 years," he said.

Léo's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds, but we suspect she understands far more than she can actually articulate, which must be pretty frustrating. The other day, she tripped while wearing her coat and hood and bumped her head on the desk and started to whimper.
Mommy snatched her up and started kissing her forehead, where she thought the contact had occurred. Léo suddenly started shrieking and writhing, which was weird, because there were no visible marks on her face. Cheryl set her down because she couldn't hold onto the hysterical child, and Léo walked back over to the desk and very pointedly banged the BACK of her head against it. Cheryl picked her back up, kissed the back of her head, and the baby actually started to giggle through her tears.

Speaking of hysterics, four-year-old Nico had a rare attack the other night after he fell asleep in the car on the way home. He jerked awake as Dad went to gently lift him from the car to put him to bed, spied his sister in the other carseat and burst into tears.
"Now I'll never be able to go in the snow again!" he sobbed. "I won't get to play anymore!"
After Paul calmed him down, he discovered the source of the problem.
Léo was wearing her little baby parka, which happens to be nearly the same color as the full-body snowsuit Nico just grew into. (Both items are-hand me-downs from the children's cousin Annarose, who apparently had a fondness for a particular shade of L.L. Bean purple.) Nico, who has watched his mother fishing out his old baby clothes for his little sister, was afraid that Léo was gaining entitlement to his things before he'd actually grown out of them.

The Parker family
at Chez Sophie
518.583.3538