1) Flew to NYC to host a discussion between Chef Grant Achatz and former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold at the New York Public Library. Wired co-sponsored the event, timed to the publication of the Alinea cookbook, which is available for your holiday gift-giving pleasure at Amazon, or at your local bookstore. 2) Looked out into the audience to see a cross-section of the New York foodarati: Tim and Nina Zagat, Jeffery Steingarten, April Bloomfield, Alex and Aki from Ideas in Food, Ed Levine from Serious Eats, and Ruth Reichl.
3) Had a great conversation on stage with Grant and Nathan about cooking, philosophy, and why New York is a tough town for avant garde chefs. Ed Levine called it "a lively, informative, and, as you can imagine, extremely heady panel." Woo! You can listen to our discussion right now; I'm told that video will be available on iTunes before too long.
4) Went out to dinner at WD~50 with Grant and Nathan, Steingarten and Reichl, and some other friends and family of all. 14 courses and many glasses of wine later, we rolled out at about 1:30 AM, having had not only a lovely meal, but a rollicking good time. At one point, I called Kristen to say good night, and told her that she'd never believe who I was sitting next to at dinner: Ruth Reichl. "What are you doing on the phone with me," Kristen said. "Get back in there!"
5) Woke up just hours later to get on a plane home, where I got to see my wonderful wife and two little girls.
It really was just a spectacular couple of days, the sort of experience that you'll never forget. I've been lucky in my career to work with and meet some pretty amazing folks, but this really will go down as one of the highlights.