Good morning from Shanghai,
I've been remiss. I was very busy last week and hadn't had a chance to tell you about the wonderful dinner our friends Lisa and Rafaele planned as we said so long to our friends, Linda and Reuben. They are moving back to the West side of the world and we were very sad to see them go. I spent many hours with Linda as she shared her techniques for how to shop and bargain and deal for lots of interesting items here in many markets. We would see Linda everywhere - Commodity Market, Pearl Market, Yu Yuan, SEA, AWCS - we enjoyed her immensely. She is already missed but we know they arrived safely and are awaiting word on their next assignment.
On Monday, April 5th, the 14 friends journeyed to DaMarco's for a WONDERFUL dinner planned by Lisa and Rafaele. Denice, Kirk, Mike and I arrived early because we took a taxi - the other 10 arrived later because they had to come from the Dark Side of town = Pudong. It's not really dark there - it is just over the Huangpu River. You Pittsburghers know that people don't like to cross the river but we do it all the time - there are some very interesting things in Pudong but most of the exciting things happen here on the Puxi side (Mike and I live in Puxi).
DaMarco's is a fabulous Italian restaurant - there are two locations. We usually go to the one at Grand Gateway because it is closer to our apartment.
The fruits of this dinner are - - - Prosecco, in a word. . . and well, lots more goodies to describe to you.
The first course consisted of appetizers that included fried bread that looked like fingers, clams and mussels in garlicky, butter sauce, artichokes, fresh mozzarella, chopped tomatoes and peppers, arugula, roast beef with a mayonnaise, salami, prosciutto, soproseta - OMG - it was fabulous.
Then the pasta arrived in a beautiful red bowl (I must buy one or two before I go home). The waiter cut open the puffy, pizza crust that had been placed over the top of the bowl. Inside was linguine with shrimp, crab, and clams in a tomato sauce. The presentation was over the top.
Another bread bowl was placed beside it with tagliatelle and a wild mushroom and herb ragout.
All this time, the red and white wine flowed and flowed and flowed.
The seafood course was next - although we thought we'd already had it with the clams and mussels and then the linguine but NO - more more more more - salmon and crab and seared tuna.
Next was the veal Marsala over toast points. It was totally amazing - tender and flavorful. I could not believe there was more.
And dessert - well, little donuts dusted with sugar in a lovely custard sauce.
Needless to say, we didn't need to eat on Tuesday
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