Saturday, September 20, 2008

Cod est geniale!

The Marc Jacobs legal department is on a diet. After the stress of Fashion Week (during which time multiple croissants and pastries from next door Balthazaar bakery were consumed on a daily basis) and all of the wonderful wine and dinners we had in Napa, enough is enough. On the diet: lots of salad, fruit, and lean meats (chicken and fish). As Emmanuel declared yesterday, "Cod est geniale (Cod is brilliant!)." It helps that we are both on the same program-- we keep each other in line and discourage each other from raiding the receptionist's candy jar, which is always fully stocked with tempting chocolate treats. Without our diet, how else are we going to fit into our clothes?

A Napa Treat





I was lucky to be invited to a legal conference in Napa Valley in September. The conference was for all of the lawyers for the North America companies of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey. It was very well attended-- lawyers representing Duty Free Shipping, Wine and Spirits (Moet and Chandon, Newton, Hennessey, Belvedere, etc.), Sephora, Louis Vuitton, Donna Karan and Marc Jacobs were there.

The conference was a very special event. Not only was it a great learning experience, but I also had the chance to meet all of the other lawyers from the various companies and it was a good opportunity to share information that was relevant to the entire group. Each label had to make a presentation, and I presented on behalf of Marc Jacobs. My presentation was on the effect of bankruptcy law on contracts and specifically licenses and intellectual property, my favorite legal topic of all time!

The first night we had a tour Domaine Chandon and dinner at Etoile, the restaurant at the restaurant. It was an amazing night, starting with a tasting of 6 different wines (half sparkling, half still) from Chandon in the garden, followed by a wonderful dinner with wine pairings.

As a special treat, the next day we took a tour of the Newton winery. It is a private winery that was opened this year to the public, although it only offers two tours a day limited to 12 people each. Not only was the winery the most beautiful winery I have ever been to, with rolling hills and manicured gardens, the wine was unbelievable. It was the first time I was convinced to buy multiple bottles after a tasting.

Caja China Time

I went to Miami for Labor Day weekend with Dalmau, my friend from law school. Since I am not much of a beach person, I was most excited to try out the Caja China, which I had read about in Jeffrey Steingarten's Vogue article. The official story is that it was an invention for roasting meat brought by Chinese people who moved to Miami, hence the name (which means "Chinese Box"). It is a wooden box on legs that is lined with heavy stainless steel. The stainless steel lid/top is a shallow pan which is meant to hold the charcoal that provides the indirect heat to roast the meat inside the box. You can roast anything in it-- turkey, steak, etc., but the best of all is pork shoulder!

Dalmau's brother, Felix, had a large Caja China which was big enough to hold an entire half pig. Unfortunately, that one was ruined from leaving it outside in the rain. In anticipation of our visit Felix ordered a new smaller one that was better for when you aren't cooking for a crowd of 20 people. After about an hour of fitting and hammering the pieces together we had our brand new Caja China!

We put two marinated pork shoulders (with plenty of garlic, salt and onion) into the box skin down and about a quarter of a large bag of charcoal in the coal pan. We left it to roast for an hour to half and when shopping. When we came back, we turned the pork over to finish roasting and crisp up the skin, added more charcoal, and left it for another hour and a half.

The results? Absolute perfection! The best pork I've ever had. It's too bad I can't have one here in Brooklyn. I need a garden floor apartment with a backyard to hold my own Caja China.