When we were introduced and I first heard her ragged, sweet thread of a voice, with its lilting Venetian accent, I felt a curious jolt of awareness, as one might feel on hearing a bell chime once in the distance.
Many dishes are towering creations sporting lattices and paper-thin fans of fried potato, sprigs of fresh herbs and clumps of frizzled sweet potato threads.
The surf and turf -- roast monkfish paired with fork-tender boneless braised short ribs; thin, crisp, sweet potato threads and a mound of sautéed cremini mushrooms -- sounds like rib-sticking winter fare.
Other openers on the don't-miss list are that elegant spring roll and a creation called shrimp sharpé: marinated shrimp over greens and pickle slices with crunchy sweet potato threads on top and a Creole rémoulade sauce on the plate.
Other noteworthy preparations were a towering hamburger on a warm, crusty Kaiser roll, served with stubby French fries and a clump of salad; three double cut lamb chops that were juicy, pink perfection; and garlic-rubbed roasted chicken on truffle mashed potatoes crowned by an unannounced thatch of wispy sweet potato threads.
"All Summer Long," his first top-ten hit on the country chart, consists of hugely iconic riffs lifted from Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama," threaded together in a way that's as shrewd as it is egregious.
He found that Norwegian vacation customs share some common threads: "The sweet quirkiness many Norwegians seem to be equipped with from nature stands out more clearly in a foreign landscape," Wang said.
He strikes an alluring balance on "Sheila," threading his sweet, high voice through a series of electronic landscapes, while "Thru the Field" is an electropastoral concoction with sampled children's voices, a chirpy beat and a multitracked electric-guitar solo.
Chard is a tasty vegetable, the stems fleshy (sweet though slightly bitter), which then thread like veins through the leaf.
