Indoor floods!!!

Yesterday evening I went into our kitchen to find the sink full of nasty black water.

Eeewwwwww!!!!

Then this morning, I was resting waking up and thought I heard the other shower running. Then I heard a loud "Oh God" and got to the kitchen to see our very own indoor waterfall!

Flooded :-(

I ran to the reception where they promised maintenance was on the way and gave me 4 small little towels. Which didn't really help but made us at least feel like we were doing something. Someone came to try to turn off the water, but the sink started bubbling! So she stopped.

Eventually someone from maintenance came and after a lot of "oh boy! ooooh boy!"s coming from the kitchen (and some heavy machinery) the kitchen was no longer a lake. Though we got no explanation as to what happened. 

The water also came out of the tap was brown to start with but cleared up. Though I think we might be using bottled from now on. 

Hopefully the smell has fully cleared when we get back. But we put the dishwasher on before we left (after promises it was ok to do so). Hopefully we don't go back to a swimming pool!

Epic meal

After a tough day friday and to celebrate the end of our first week (and Duncan's only week), we went to a seriously nice restaurant called Maison Akira for an epic meal. It was a lot more expensive than I expected but worth it. We all had the the 6 course taster menu with paired wines and a glass of champagne to start. And it was the real stuff, not just sparkling wine.
We got a small starter compliments of the chef. Honestly we have no idea what it was. We think the waiter mentioned cauliflower but we could find or taste any.

Looking forward to our meal, with champagne

Something with cauliflower maybe?

Our first course was asparagus, seared scallops and sweet tomatoes. The scallops were amazing! And there some little red balls in with the petals which had a really strong sweet flavor. Very tasting.

Asparagus and scallops

The second dish was actually my favorite! It was tuna sashimi with a quail egg, wasibi caviar, and pumpkin puree. I can't remember what the pink dot was. The tuna was the best I have ever tasted! I could happily have just had a whole meal of that!
We also got a glass of saki to accompany it.

Tuna sashimi

Next was a consommé with either shrimp or lobster and some white fish in a ginger soup. Tasty but not our favorite by far. It also had some thing called kinki in it. But we have no idea what they was!

Fish and ginger consommé 

Then we got a choice. I chose the chefs signature dish, miso chilean sea bass.  He served it to the emperor and empress of Japan when they came to visit. And I could see why. Rachel and Duncan got the days special, Mediterranean sea bass with a saffron sauce.

Miso Chilean Sea Bass 

We then got a little palette cleanser before our main course. So cute!

Pomegranate palette cleanser

 I chose the 24-day aged angus beef ribeye in a Marchand du Vin sauce (no idea but tasty) with gratin potato and some summer veg. The beef was amazing!

My main course! So tasty!

The others got Kobe beef (super expensive and famous) and lamb. But we all tasted each others meal which was great as I have heard of Kobe beef but never tried it. Though I think mine was the nicest.
 We also got a second glass of champagne to go with our deserts. However the measured sizes were a little different! And I got the baby one. :-(

More champagne

But desert was really cool. Rachel and Duncan ordered baked Alaska. They then set fire to it at our table.  

Flaming baked Alaska

Filled with green tea ice-cream

I choose a flour-less chocolate cake with ice-cream (it was a given really). Yummy! It was so light. I could have eaten 2 or 3.  And wanted to lick the plate. I am amazed I eat a complete 6 course meal and didn't leave anything - it was too good to not eat.

Chocolate cake

I also let Duncan borrow my camera and direct. (This was after a few glasses of champagne which always goes to my head.)

Tragedy and anger

Love (though I look more smashed) and distain

It was a really nice night and an amazing meal. Probably my best. The food was amazing. The only bad part of the night was when they brought the bill. Ouch! But worth it.

All enjoying our night out.

First few days in LA

I have just stared a month long trip to work at CalTech, based in Pasadena. The trip to LA on sunday was a little more stressful than usual. Rachel picked me up early and we found out she had a flat! Thankfully her boyfriend took us to the airport and we had left lots of extra time so had enough time to change cars, pick up Duncan and get to the airport. (Luckily the flight was also delayed.)

The rest of the trip was ok until we got to LA and "found" our car. When we tried to get out of the lot, they hold us it was the wrong car and to put it back and get a different one. But there was already a car back in that space. After a short period of confusion (and too many cars) we sorted it out, found a car they would let use have, and left the airport.

Thankfully Rachel drove as I was not brave enough to tackle LA traffic that day. I will before I leave certainly but I just couldn't face it. After a few wrong turns (Rachel was much calmer than I would have been), we got to the apartment. We are staying at the Fuller Seminary Guest House. The name worried me for a while. But the place is lovely. The apartment is huge!!!! We have our own bedroom and bathrooms, a full kitchen, dining room, balcony, and TV with 50+ channels. Though I don't think we will be needing to use the fireplace! It's a lot nicer than I expected.

Our living room and fireplace

Kitchen and dining room

On Sunday night we went for the poshest sushi I have ever been for. I don't normally post pictures of food, but this was amazing. We split an appetizer which was truly spectacular. There was asian pear, cucumber, a quail's egg (which you pour over the fish), and tuna, all topped with goat's cheese. It sounds a weird combination but it really worked! We also split a bottle of sake. Best I have ever had.

Sake and sushi

My sushi was very tasty though I was jealous of Duncan's sashimi platter. And my desert was amazing.

Creme brûlée and green tea ice-cream for desert 

The little glass is basically berry coulees and ice-cream. Sugar overload! But I did get to try green tea ice-cream (it's been on my list).

I think I am going to like California!

This week has been and will be meeting people and working. But lots of fun things planned for the weekend. And I will put up pictures of campus soon. It's really pretty!