The CIA

I promised yesterday to explain to you why it was OK for us to have our anniversary dinner in a diner last night.  THIS dessert is the reason!  At the last minute, we were able to get a reservation for lunch at the Bocuse Restaurant, which felt like winning the lottery!  This French restaurant re-imagines the execution of classic French cuisine.  This is only my dessert, but the green salad with a citrus dressing was out of this world, and the vegetables and sauce that came with my pork chop were just astounding!  What a thrill to have such amazing food!  It was an astounding dining experience.  I just photographed this one dish, and I didn't take any photographs of the restaurant itself.  But here is a photograph of the beautiful student dining room at the Culinary Institute of America. 

The school was founded in 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut as a vocational institute for returning veterans of World War II.  With a growing student body, the school purchased a former Jesuit novitiate  in Hyde Park in 1970, and that is still its central campus.  There are about 3,000 students here, give or take, and about 1,000 new freshmen each year!

This is the main building with a fountain in front.  It is a beautiful campus and so nice seeing all the students who have just come back from summer vacation.  But the best part, really of our whole experience is talking to each of our servers, and asking where they are from - this is really an international school - and it is so heartwarming to hear the stories of these young students and what they hope to accomplish in their time here and after graduation.  Those conversations were the best part of our day.