heft and weight of it

In the past two days I have made, more or less chronologically, the following:

6 vanilla cake batters
1 batch lemon curd
1 batch passionfruit curd
1 batch each of vanilla buttercream, chocolate buttercream, lemon buttercream, raspberry buttercream
1 batch cream cheese frosting
2 batches chocolate frosting
2 9" upside down cakes with mixed stone fruit
15(?) individual-sized upside down cakes with mixed stone fruit
10 servings peach leaf panna cotta with [leftover] peach caramel
vanilla syrup
lavender syrup
peach leaf syrup
20 servings shortcake/biscuits [up this week: cream scone dough modified with cake flour. what's missing: the cornmeal I left in my freezer.]
1 qt. pastry cream
7 roasted apricots
14 servings vanilla cake, soaked in vanilla syrup
2 chocolate cake batters
2 batches caramel
2 batches lemon curd


On the bus tonight I noticed Laiola for the first time, though of course I'd been expecting it. Interested in checking it out, though Spanish food is really not my thing and the menu on their site really doesn't interest me much...the entrees seem random, California cuisine, the dessert sounds downright horrible (which is sad, because the dessert I've had at Frisson--and the other food items also--have all been nothing short of wonderful. Except that grainy coconut sorbet and entirely uninteresting orange sorbet, which was more than made up for by that sublime green apple sorbet and the perfectly textured mango. Sorbet, it's a killer. Laiola seems like a good fit for the neighborhood, but what I'd really like to see is the architecture of the place. If it's anything like the over-designed funkiness of Frisson. And there is actually (can this really be true?) nothing on Chowhound about Laiola, so I cast the first stone, a question. Are they even open yet and if so what's the buzz? I do have to say, really not impressed with their website. It mentions the chef and then goes on to discuss the value of Spanish wine and the price point of carafes, costs of cocktails, how to get your drink on. From the main page you would have no clue they focus on house-made charcuterie. I don't even eat meat, for the most part, and even I know this is something there'd be a reasonable hope of making a selling point.

Tangentially, I would really like to eat a meal at a table. With knife, if necessary, and fork! From an actual plate. As opposed to a meal standing up, a meal consumed while walking, a meal taken squatting outside the FB where all the bums pass out. A meal that I made or that someone I know made me. A meal not composed of pastry goods. Tonight's meal, eaten out of styrofoam container with plastic fork: white rice, green beans, orange or lemon chicken from the Gourmet China Express place. Next week though it's Chez Panisse and the fine dining options of Healdsburg.