I keep intending to blog more often, especially as I am dining out more again, but it’s amazing how many reasons I can find to neglect my blog. It’s interesting that I feel this sense of guilt for not having enough motivation to write in my free time. There is more context here. In the past year, I co-founded a software startup, and I find myself working four times as much for less than half my previous income. But as a workaholic in denial, I also believe I can maintain my prior food hobby and social media presence, along with this blog.
I have to admit, while I do like writing, I find that it’s more the reflection part of process, rather than the actual writing itself that brings me enjoyment. I also see that I very much enjoy editing photos for lighting and tone (in my limited amateur capacity).
Given all this, I think I have a new plan to motivate myself to blog more – I will focus on posting my photography of the experience and limit my words. Seems doable right? Let’s try this out.
One compelling dining experience in 2022 that I’ve been meaning to share is my dinner and lunch at Bell’s in Los Alamos. Bell’s is a French-inspired Bistro in Santa Barbara county by Per Se alums Daisy and Greg Ryan. There has been so much overwhelmingly positive praise about Executive Chef Daisy’s work, so I had high expectations going into my dinner. Well, expectations exceeded to the point where my friend and I had to go back a few days later for lunch before leaving Santa Barbara.
At dinner, every course was hit after hit – from the first luscious bite of Santa Barbara uni and caviar on mille crêpe, to the simple but stunningly bright salad, and ending on sweet citrus notes of blood orange and meyer lemon desserts.
Lunch was a more casual menu with traditional French bistro fare such as Burgundy snails and steak tartare. Simple and solid. If I had to just recommend one meal, I would definitely say try the dinner prix fixe menu, though you can’t go wrong with lunch either.
Dinner – March 2022
Lunch – March 2022
