First thing was the open bar, which was rather poorly stocked: it
looked as though they could make Bourbon and Coke, gin and tonic,
or bloody Marys, and that's about all. [Reminds me of the joke: a
blonde, a brunette, and a redhead go to this bar, and the redhead
says to the bartender "G&T" - so he fixes her a gin and tonic.
Then the brunette says "B&C" - and he hands her a Bourbon and Coke.
So it's the blonde's turn, and she says "Fifteen!" So the bartender
does a double take and then asks what "fifteen" is, and the blonde
says, "seven and seven."] They did serve Perrier, which was okay,
and Napa Ridge Chardonnay 1996 (Napa), which was also okay: fairly
fruity and lemony with a bit of oak, the taste however not showing
much staying power and a metallic aftertaste coming out. Texture
was rich and plump, but the development of the wine was somewhat
disappointing. After cocktails, we went downstairs - serenaded by
a combo of 6 violins, a bass, and an accordion (not great players
- people joked that maybe I should have been there helping them
out instead of as a guest - but they had memorized the whole
schmeer, which makes them look pretty snazzy indeed, and as you
may know, for an occasion such as this one, appearance is all.
Also they had a complete duplication - two bands of this size
who alternated; something I thought should be common practice,
because then there is fairly continuous music; but it's expensive
- 16 musicians who could pay the rent this month!) to the main
floor where I sat next to Max Ernst's sculpture of the Minotaur.

Dinner: Chesapeake seafood salad - decent scallops, slightly mushy
backfin crabmeat, good firm shrimp, and excellent !lobster with a dill
mayonnaise, which I asked for on the side. With this we were served
Murphy-Goode Chardonnay 1996 (Sonoma), a bit more sophisticated
than the Napa Ridge stuff had been: thinner body, more ripe fruit,
also fairly well oaked. A bit sweet on the palate, which I thought
rather wrong with the seafood. Good long finish with a tiny bit
of that attractive stoniness at the end. Oh yes, there were baby
beets and julienne carrots as well.

Rack of lamb - exceedingly tender, moderately gamy, almost livery,
with rosemary. Accompaniments included baby pattypan squash stuffed
with spinach (good), baby green beans (good), watercress (good),
lemoned mashed potatoes (sour), poached giant asparagus (good), and
pear chutney (okay). Smith & Hook Merlot 1995 (Sta. Lucia Highlands,
CA) was so green-tasting that I initially guessed it to be from
Oregon. Evened out nicely in the glass, though, and so I had about
4 glasses of it, each better than the last (1/2 a joke). Very
herbaceous in the beginning, but with ripe cherry and berry flavors
that came out soon, stems, some tannin, moderately long finish that
ended with more tannin.

Summer green salad - baby Boston lettuce, purple basil, dill weed
(I picked this out and discarded it), and lots of watercress in a
light vinaigrette.

Chocolate clementine souffle glace - a fairly artful sweet-tart
combination, quite rich (too rich for me to eat more than a
tablespoon or two, which elicited some comment from the others
at table) but also quite tasty (some biggish guy took more than
a pound from the tureen as the waiter holding it watched, bug-
eyed; he ate it all down, too, and a bit of his wife's; there
was enough in the tureen to feed us over half a pound apiece,
so although he was a little piggish, he wasn't impossibly so).
Perrier-Jouet Grand Brut nv, a neutral, well-made, very dry
Champagne, didn't stand up to this dessert at all. We also
had coconut macaroons and candied ginger, orange peel, and
grapefruit peel with Starbuck's (char yucks) decaf.

We sat through a bunch of mercifully short speeches ...
[whereupon it was announced, in a stunning miscalculation]
that the president of ACA was there, and insofar as ACA
ran the flight last month where we were held at the gate for
3 hours past the departure time, and the ACA staff didn't
tell us that our plane was still 300 miles away when they
went through the check in, I tried to find him; he wasn't
there, and later it was represented to me that as soon as
his presence was announced, a number of people started
heading in his direction with mayhem clearly on their mind,
and the gentleman in question skeedaddled from Table 8 as
fast as his little legs could take him.