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Uncle Markie out and about.

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Tue
19
Apr '11

Happy Birthday Rich!

The whole reason for this trip is Rich’s 60th birthday, which is today. I’m not sure why that means he’s fixing his traditional hueavos rancheros instead of getting served breakfast in bed, but when the boys are on the road, he’s usually the breakfast cook and I’m usually the dinner cook, leaving Curt as the PuPu Platter arranger.

For those of you not on FaceBook I’ll share a couple of stunning photos from this trip that Curt took.

The first night we arrived. Sort of like a gopher coming out of its hole to see its shadow, except it isn’t February.

And last night.

For Rich’s birthday dinner Curt treated us to a STUNNING dinner at Volia in the art district of San Jose del Cabo. The boys each had the Voila Salad (hearts of romaine, endive, pear, caramelized pecans and Roquefort dressing) and the Pistachio and Macadamia nut crusted Sea Bass, while I had the Lobster Burrito. The were all stunning. I can’t believe the boys had room left for the mocha-mascarpone filled cannoli and the chocolate tart. Add margaritas (the boys) and a nice Don Julio for me before dinner and a Baja Nebbiola and it was a good thing we were taking a cab home.

The owner is a Cordon Bleu trained chef, check out the menu here:http:/www.voila-events.com/ Curt found the place on TripAdvisor where is also said “gay-friendly”, and yes, the owner is very gay and very friendly.

Needless to say we were all in a food coma afterwards.

An early night for us all.

[? ? ?]

Wed
16
Mar '11

When In Doubt, Book A Trip.

This morning I got an invitation to go with the Colonels on a tour of Nova Scotia —  a little rich for my blood at the moment, and the availability of frequent flyer mileage tickets in the summer is questionable at best. But I did take them up on their offer to spend a couple of days on the South Carolina coast on Edisto Island.

So there goes my second week in May, the first week in May is with Dan and Lisa in Steamboat Springs, Colorado in the 2-bedroom Presidential Suite at the WorldMark, and the third weekend is summer camp with the boys in British Columbia outside Squamish to which I might add a couple of days on the end for Whistler since it’s so close.

I guess my schedule isn’t lightening up any considering that next week is my cross-Canada train trip (need to start packing) and April has Jameson coming the first weekend, then the second weekend Rich and I are off to Whistler after the poker game for a week in Whistler followed by a week in Cabo San Lucas with both Rich and Curt to celebrate Rich’s 60th birthday, and the start of his military pension.

My spare bed is starting to look like a travel agent’s literature rack:

Tonight’s meal was a chicken mole with saffron rice and a salad — thanks Spiral for the mole that you brought to Vegas for your birthday, I’m still eating it.

[230.8]

Sat
9
Apr '11

Saturday On The Road Whistler Bound.

It only took Rich 8 phone calls to my cell phone and my Manhattan number to get me up and out the door to drive back to Seattle, and finish packing for a week in Whistler. I’ve started travelling with a brown trimline phone.

The little box plugged into the computer is a MagicJack. For $20 a year it goes you an easy to install and travel with Voice Over IP phone. What makes it handy for travelling is that it acts as a US-based phone even when you are out of the country. Handy for this trip to Whistler. Handy for next week’s trip to Cabo San Lucas. Can keep in touch with family and friends without racking up big roaming bills on my cell phone.

646-499-6036 is the number should you want to call me. If you are wondering where that area code is based, it would be Manhattan (New York City, not Kansas).

Rich showed up at the house a little after 11 and we were on the road to Whistler by 11:30. Kinda nice to not have to drive as we took Rich’s mommy van because of the possibility of snow, and more importantly it’s hard to fit two people and luggage and food and soda pop.

Stopped for a late lunch at ABC Country Restaurant. Pulled pork sandwiches, slaw and fries for both of us. Too much food but good.

Squamish was the next stop for groceries, wine and vodka. We picked up the whiskey at the border via Duty Free.

Got to the condo and settled by 6. Dinner not until 8 with the heavy lunch. Chef’s salad was the meal. Something light to go with the heavy lunch.

After dinner fun? Let’s book a three day cruise from Los Angeles to Vancouver May the 7th, 2013. Yes, 2013. The ship isn’t even built yet. Princess Cruise Lines new Star Princess. Mick found a $19 inside single. Yes, a single for $19 plus $30 in taxes, fees, etc. By the time Rich and I got to the site it was up to $39 + $30, but still. $69 for three days at sea? I had to email the offer to other solo travelers. So far Jill has signed up as well. Now we just need to wait for two years.

[231.2]

Sun
29
Jun '08

The Sunday Paper, Politics, and Reviews.

Welcome to the Sunday edition of UMTravels — your disjointed source of sometimes disturbing news.

First up to today we have the Op-Ed page:

 

From the Weather Page— well, let’s just say a 10am it was 80 degrees in the house. Guess I’d better move the laptop to the back porch.

From the Arts and Entertainment Section comes reviews of last night food and culture.

Veil (Restaurant). Phillipe Starck chairs and influenced design. Starck white inded — and the food little works of art. I would be easy to dismiss this as so much fluff and so little food, but the flavors from unexpected combinations left us all passing plates like it was a smorgasbord — we ALL wanted to try EVERYTHING. Highlights were the mini-lamb burgers, the lobster mac and cheese, the house make tagliatelle with morels, pancetta, and caramelized onions, a stunning corn and lobster soup. Between the five of us we tried 2/3s of the menu, but none of the desserts — maybe next time. Full menu here. 4.5 on a scale of 5 pancettas. Downsides were the $25 corkage fee and that the air conditioning was on the fritz (you’d think they would offer a complimentary sorbet to cool you down).

And then off to McCaw Hall for the Seattle Men’s Chorus Funniest Songs show featuring Leslie Jordan of Will and Grace & Sordid Lives fame. I went in feeling dragged by my friends — and left giddy. It was truly an amazing show — with songs breaking up production numbers breaking up comedy routine. It just had a nice flow to it. I even got to see my old friend Kevin Carson (their box office manager) up on stage making an announcement — he’s looking great.

Nice to have Rich driving the big old Caddy that five of us can actually fit in (think mommy van with a nicer ride).

And now off to the Classified Section:

We headed back to my house where I proceeded to load them up with:

  • set of 18 glasses (6 shot) (6 scotch) (6) champagne for Brandon
  • rice cooker and juicer for Ross
  • crock pot for Curt
  • bread machine for Rich

and Rich is taking my old television as well, but the caddie’s truck is too shallow to hold the TV and all the people — might have to deliver it! Less stuff for the garage sale on the 12th at Curtis’.

[223.3]

Tue
21
Oct '08

Uncle Markie. Dinner Machine.

Billable hours for Events and Adventures, followed by a laundry list of errands.

  • UW Surplus to check out junk (yes, lot’s of junk, none of it made it into my van)
  • Radio Shack to locate an 8″ woofer (no luck)
  • Subway (lunch)
  • Safeway (groceries)
  • Speaker Lab (for that 8″ woofer to replace the ripped on in the Bose)
  • Swanda (dropping off dishes
  • Liquor Store (because I was out of scotch)
  • Home Depot (11-1x6x6 cedar fence boards, 1-2x2x10 to hang boards on, 4-packs of bolts/nuts for lift gate, 2-hinges for lift gate)

No time for a nap today!

Ray from Radar Works for dinner of pork chops, salad, roasted corn. He brought a nice bottle of scotch and an equally nice bottle of wine (both things that I’d picked up earlier in the day — but his were better).

In looking at my calendar — it seems like I’m the dinner machine for the next bit of time

  • Monday was Jill and Lynne
  • Tuesday was Ray
  • Thursday will be Mick
  • Friday is Roushdi and James
  • Saturday is Lynne
  • Sunday is Tom, Hummingbird and Cindii in Vancouver, BC
  • Monday is Rich
  • Tuesday is Rich, Brandon, and Curt in Palm Springs
  • Wednesday/Thursday is Rich in Big Bear
  • Friday is dinner for 8 in Palm Springs
  • and who knows what for Saturday in Palm Springs, or Sunday/Monday in Indio…

Whew!

[218.5]

Fri
11
Sep '09

Poker Friday.

Worked a little during the day, got mostly packed for the trip on Sunday. Headed down to Olympia at a little after one to beat the traffic. Tried to find the exit for Cabella’s and couldn’t — it must be half way between two exits. Sung by Safeway to use my PowerPump rewards before the program expires tomorrow. Was hoping to hook up with Jameson, but that didn’t happen.

Got to Rich’s place a little before 3 and set up my laptop on the poker table to check the connection speed at his place. With just one bar of signal strength I was getting almost 1mbps in download speeds. I like my new phone.

Dinner before the game was with Rich, Ross, and myself — marinated flank steak that I brought with me. Rich added bread, asparagus and salad. My two bottles of red wine made the feast complete.

Dinner was good, poker was not so good. Between the rent boy and my poker playing I’m running low on quarters. And it’s not about who wins or loses, it is the spirit and the camaraderie of the game.

Right.

[220.5]

Tue
19
Jan '10

Meeting, Shopping, Napping, Cooking, Packing.

Meeting in the morning — running around before trying to get Cathy’s wedding invitations in the mail to her.

Next up was the UW Surplus Auction Store… only one item was tempting… a 2x2x6 bread cart… I resisted the temptation. Found cartridge for Wonderful, and sports uniforms for Fluffernutter — don’t know if either of them made it to the store before it closed at 6.

Just enough time before Rich arrives to sneek in a half hour nap — needed it.

Rich and more work in the afternoon. Did some more research on the Olympics trip to Whistler — things like medal ceremonies, public transit from Creekside to Whistler proper — looks like we’ll need a roll of Twonies (the Canadian 2 dollar coin)!

An early dinner at 6 so Rich can make it back to Olympia tonight for his early workday tomorrow… he was up for the interview to get his Nexus card — and he ran into one of his customers who is border patrol but lives in Olympia.

Steaks off the grill, baked potatoes out of the convection oven, and salad out of a bag.

After dinner it was time to finish packing for Boston. Flying to Portland on Thursday at 6am (ick) so I can catch the Portland-Boston flight. Why not fly direct? Guaranteed First Class seat at time of booking. Looks like I’ll be able to catch up on my recent movies with the Digi-Player. I’ve packed some goodies for Pucci – can’t show up empty handed!

[220.7]

Sat
12
Jun '10

Welcome To Peyton Place.

Today’s adventure takes Uncle Markie to Peyton Place, oh, I mean Pacific Beach, Washington.

Got out of town around 10, to Olympia around 11, and off to the coast around 12 after a last minute shopping excursion.

The HMS Rich was loaded with chairs, Curt, myself and Rich. We really should pitch in and get him a nice six-door model.

Hung out with the neighbors most of the afternoon until it was time to fix dinner — a leg of lamb, roasted potatoes and onions, rosemary bread, wine… and for dessert, a 50+ year old bottle of Madeira that I’d been dragging around for 20 years of so. It was amazingly good for being so cloudy.

And why do I call our destination Peyton Place… seems to be a lot of partner swapping going on out here in the woods next to the beach, and sexuality swapping as well. It was definately a Saturday Night around the campfire.

One gentleman was so out of control he had to be escorted back to town. Luckily Rich and I had passed on Karaoke at the local bar favored by all the local and non-local color and got him back to town safely. He was a local, most of the other revelers were Tacomans, Olympians — sheriffs deputies, firefighters, random lesbians.

Just another quiet night in small town USA.

[224.2]

Sun
17
Apr '11

US to Mexico.

Really, NOT ENOUGH SLEEP. Frankly, I think that applies to Rich, Curt and Myself. My alarm went off at 5am, and Rich was already up with coffee made. Ouch.

Out of the house at 6am for the airport. Curt running the shuttle (Rich’s mommyvan) because he has a later flight and a place to park the van and get us shuttled to/from.

  • Check-in — no problem
  • Board Room at SEA — no problem
  • Flight to LAX — no problem but 30 minutes late getting in
  • Duty Free at LAX — rushed (really? THREE liters per person of booze into Mexico? We bought the stuff that’s expensive South of the Border and will save the tequila, rum and brandy for purchasing in Mexico)
  • Board Room at LAX — didn’t happen, no time
  • Plane to SJD — boarded on time
  • Left the gate almost on time, before heading back to the gate to sit on the ground for 2 hours while they tried to figure out why the planes transponder (the thingee that tells air traffic control who you are and what altitude and direction you are). But no cocktails. The flight attendant apologized saying had she known how much time she would have served us.

So, we deplane sober and march to gate 30 where they have commandeered another 737-400 that was supposed to be flying to Seattle. No, not our original inbound plane, I checked. So we board and all the Seattle passenger march to our old gate, and our dead airplane. I had to check to see how they fared:

Departure

Scheduled

Actual

Gate

Arrival

Scheduled

Actual

Comments

Alerts

Los Angeles 4:10 PM 4:32 PM 31A Seattle, WA 6:45 PM 7:09 PM Â

N/A

 

They must have fixed our original plane, but with the crew approaching the end of their allotted time I see their reasoning. At least the Seattle folks were only delayed twenty minutes (and we got 1000 miles for our “inconvenience”).

We arrived in Cabo to find Curt patiently waiting (after two Pacifco Claras and a Ceviche at the stand outside the international terminal), and our driver who still had to wait for three other delayed passengers.

It was 9pm before we got to the restaurant at the resort (closes at 10pm), and we were all tired and hungry. The only thing that made up for it was the room.

This is a bad late night shot of the living, dining, kitchen area. Two bedroom, two bathes are to the left, and up above via a spiral staircase is a rooftop deck with three nice chaise lounges, a table for four, a wet bar, and most importantly, a hot tub and a stunning view of the ocean.

Pictures tomorrow.

[? ? ?]

Sat
18
Nov '06

Overcast, but warm in Victoria

I love that breakfast magically appears each morning. I could get spoiled by this — only thing missing is the champagne. Rich is the breakfast cook most mornings.

Some work, but mostly play. Using Curt’s laptop to log on since he and Chris bought the three day internet access package (and I didn’t). It works great, except from 4:30-7:30 when everyone in the marina seems to be checking their email at the same time.

Hitched a ride with Curt and Rich into the city center so I could check out Not Just Pretty at 1025 Fort. A seriously upscale clothing store (mostly womans) featuring $90(CAN) tops — too much for Brian to spend on his daughter. He also turned me onto Good Planet at 1005 Broad Street (at Fort). Good Planet carries some of the bamboo baby stuff — need to get both of these places on the wholesale list for Shirts of Bamboo.

Walked back from town to find the fleet coming in, followed by the fleets mothers, or at least that’s what it looked like.

The Fleet Is In     with their mothers, too!

Dinner tonight (courtesy of Chris) are wonderful steaks and sea scallops — not on the grill because the wind keeps blowing out the barbie. Salad, sauteed vegetables, all this stuff that I had less than hunger for since their were huge pupu platters before hand. Lots of wine was flowing and a good time was had by the seven of us. Brian and Martin were out at a seven course tasting meal for their “romantic night”.

Hottubbing late into the night, to the detriment of Curt’s new black shirt, which got wet with hottub water — that has a heavy chorline content.

 

Sat
28
Jun '08

Distracted, I Forgot To Try The Paella.

You’d think that if you are taking a cooking class learning to make Paella and several other Spanish dishes that at least you’d remember to sample the Paella. Blame it on the white sangria made with melons, peaches, and apricots. Blame on the red sangria made with lemons, limes, and oranges.

At least I got pictures of the Paella (and the other dishes in progress):

 

The menu was:

  • Olives & Marinated Cheese
  • Pimienta Tartlets
  • Gazacho
  • Paella
  • Avacado & Orange Salad
  • Orange Custard Flan
  • Churros
  • Both Red & White Sangria

Now imagine 25 people cooking in one kitchen and an outdoor cooking/dining area. Because of time, two of the dishes were made the day before (the Gazpacho and the Orange Custard Flan) because when you start at 7pm, we wouldn’t have eaten until 11 (though that WOULD be very Spanish).

A chaotic, but fun time. For more information http://www.cookingwithanita.com.

After waking up on their basement couch I headed back to the city for a much needed shower. And a bunch of allergy pills. Between Anita and Lars’ cats and everything in bloom because of the heat wave I’ve been popping them daily.

Afternoon of work before Rich (Oly poker buddy) comes over after dropping the boys on Queen Anne to do music shopping before dinner at Veil, some trendy new Queen Anne restaurant that Curt heard about. Guess I’m getting dressed up AGAIN. The plan is for Rich and I to have Manhattans while the boys shop and meet them at six.

After dinner (at 8 I’m assuming) is a Seattle Men’s Chorus featuring Their Funniest Songs and Leslie Jordan of Will and Grace Fame. Yes, I said never another SMC show but Curt strong armed me into it (in exchange for me strong arming him into the 4th of July Yacht trip).

And then home to collapse, for tomorrow I must finish my report (and Gnarlene’s CD Cover).

[220.5]

Mon
27
Oct '08

Meat Monday.

Out of the condo by 11am, queyed up at the border for 35 minutes, home by 2:30pm. Not much time at the border booth with the new Enhanced Drivers’ License. By the time you hit the window they already know who you are, and when you entered Canada.

Here is a little short about the The Canadian.

 

Half a bottle of scotch and half a bottle of wine undeclared.

Not fifteen minutes after I got home, Rich arrived for dinner and an overnight before the trip to Palm Springs tomorrow. Say goodbye to my nap time, yet again.

Dinner was steak and a hodgepodge of frozen vegetables — cleaning out the refrigerator for the trip.

Rich was in bed by ten, me later. Tomorrow’s a big day so it’s short for today.

[? ? ?]

Sat
1
Nov '08

Gay Day Of Shopping.

And A Festive Dinner Party.

The big plan today is shopping, shopping, shopping.

Rich is looking for calendars with scantily clad males, Curt is looking for a license plate frame, Brandon is just looking — and me — just a Palm Springs hat pin.

And our rate of success:

  • Rich found two calendars and another Christmas ornament (a flamingo with dangly legs with a cocktail in it’s hand)
  • Curt didn’t find a license plate frame — that would be a strike out
  • Brandon found a coffee table book called “The Big Penis Book“, now he needs to buy a coffee table to put it on
  • And I found my hat pin in the last store we went to (and the one where we found every thing that the other three stores didn’t have)

Before and after shopping was naps, lunch, sunning, reading, hanging out in preparation for another dinner party tonight. Would this be considered a “Gay Pool Party”. Probably not.

Many of the same cast and crew from last night — including the one when introduced to me said, “I know your brother.” Always a scary sentence, to both me and my brother since we have both heard it from people. Turns out he is a retired State Forester from Washington State and worked with my brother and his faculty advisor on their book: State Trust Lands: History, Management and Sustainable Use.

So it was dinner for five tonight. And for your amusement, here is the scrolling picture bar familiar to all my readers — though there are no dinner party shots.

 

[your guess?]

Tue
20
Jan '09

Inauguration Followed By The MV Clusterfuck.

Well, the Inauguration was amazing — amazing enough to get me out of bed earlier than normal. I agree with the sentiments of many of those interviewed, black, white, Asian — I did not expect to see this in my lifetime. Yes, it does make me proud (finally, after the last eight miserable years) to be an American again.

Hoping for the 1pm ferry back the Canadian mainland, we left in plenty of time without rushing. We should have rushed. The 1pm ferry was cancelled, and the 11am ferry was pulling away as we hit the parking lot. Shit. Next ferry was a 3pm. Yikes, four hours in the ferry terminal parking lot… reading and eating the luck we’d packed.

Rich was not particularly happy, be resigned to not getting much sleep tonight since he had to drive back to Olympia so he could get up at 3am to start his job at 5am. Man, I couldn’t do that schedule. Two more years and he can go to part time (60 and his pension kicks in).

On the mainland we hit a HUGE fog bank that lasted well past the US/Canada border and made driving incredibly stressful — I didn’t feel like wrapping the Jag around a phone pole in my attempt to get home. Hell, it was hard to even find the turn off to Duty Fee at the border (2 liters of Rum for $20 Canadian — guess I’m having a lot of mojitos and cuba libres).

Got to the house a little before 8pm, totally exhausted on my part, and probably Rich’s as well. I hope he made it home safe. If he felt anything like I did there was reason for worry. Me, I went through the mail, ate a sandwich, and curled up in bed with the TV and the Wall Street Journal.

[? ? ?]

Thu
7
May '09

Work, Then Drive, Then Play.

Up at a little after 8, and out of the house by 9:30 headed to the office for the weekly marketing meeting to find out we are opening another branch bringing us to six branches. Guess that means I’d better get them ready for getting another press release out to all the markets announcing out expansion as the economy contracts.

Left the office at noon, stopped for a sandwich and a tank of gas for the mommy van and headed to Olympia to pick up Rich. Final destination: The Presidential 3-bedroom Condo at the WorldMark Long Beach, Washington.

Today’s picture is of me working at the granite topped bar in the kitchen.

P1070308 - Share on Ovi

Ross and Curt arrived a little after 7pm — they detoured through a DNR site for an unannounced visit — and dinner was served a little after 8pm.

Dinner, you ask (even if you didn’t)… racks of lamb all the way around thanks to Rich’s BBQing skills (one of the few I trust around a grill!), salad, bread, wine, song.

Not a bad way to live.

[215.5]

Fri
8
May '09

Great Day For A Wedding.

It is so nice to have someone else cook breakfast for you.

This mornings breakfast was scrambled eggs, bacon and bagels — with the signature Rich Bloody Mary.

My schedule for the day is breakfast, nap, lunch, nap, work, dinner, movie.

Of course, that plan was interupted by a wedding on the beach walk in front of our unit.

P1070314 - Share on Ovi P1070313 - Share on Ovi

Great location and talk about cheap — no rental!

An afternoon of calls from the boss and working working working.

A little after five the last two boys arrived from Olympia — just in time to start helping with dinner prep.

Steaks on the grill, salad, bread, and wine, wine, wine.

The movie tonight was Death At A Funeral — which Rich and I had seen when we were at the WorldMark Big Bear — but still funny.

[? ? ?]

Sun
2
Aug '09

Headed Home.

For today’s picture we have SOB parked on the lawn at the lake cabin….

P1080239 - Share on Ovi

It looks so peaceful sitting there… really peaceful with a dead battery. Left the key on the accessory setting and sucked it down. Damn. Luckily easy to jump.

Left the lake a about 2:30 with Rich in the lead with his leaking front tire, me in the middle with my iffy battery, and Ross bringing up the rear to pick up all the pieces.

The drive out was stunning. There must have been 40 guys on the diving rock with another 40 milling around — including one in a THONG! All those board shorts and one thong. To bad I couldn’t stop with my bad battery.

About a half an hour out of Olympia the battery totally lost it and started backfiring — poor Curt was tasked with holding his thumb on the battery bridge switch which links the house batteries and the starting battery. This got us to Olympia, but without the ability to stop and help out Rich who had to stop and pump up his leaking tire. Maybe we should have just taken the mommy van!

A trip to Schucks and I was back on the road with a new battery but a nagging feeling that for some reason the alternator isn’t charging like it should. Did it loosen itself on the bumpy gravel roads up at Lake Cushman? Time to call Stuart.

Dinner tonight was just left over meat from the weekend and the evening entertainment was working on the Great Art Party website getting PayPal options up for buying tickets.

[? ? ?]

Fri
2
Apr '10

Bored Sitting At Home.

After Being Home Only 3 Days.

Off To Olympia.

Wow — no moss under my feet (possibly between my toes)… back for three days (or is it four) and already need to leave town even though I leave for Panama on Sunday night.

Olympia is calling — dinner with Curt, Rich, and our young’en Brandon.

But before I get to that, just an update on my travel mileage so far this year on Alaska:

Elite Tier Status Qualification

YTD Alaska/Horizon Miles
Flown: 16,07 1     3,929 Miles to MVP
YTD Alaska/Horizon/Qualifying Partner* Miles
Flown: 16,071     8,929 Miles to MVP
YTD Alaska/Horizon/Qualifying Partner* Segments
Flown: 11     19 Segments to MVP
* Air France, American, Delta, KLM, LanChile and Northwest

With the flight to Miami sheduled for late September, that will take me over MVP status — should I go for Gold again?

Left the house at 2, stopped for a little drive-through lunch and headed south in the rain to Olympia. I was hoping that because it was Good Friday the traffic would be less. NOT.

After a stop to check out the Cabella’s Sporting Goods store in Lacy (HUGE) to get s new pair of shorts for the trip ($14.95) and a couple of emergency ponchos (.99 each) it was off to Safeway for the few last minute meal items (and some bug spray for the trip), then the liquor store and then onto Curt’s place. 4:30. Yikes.

Dinner was a roasted pork loin, salad, bread that I backed before I went down, with Rich and Curt donating many bottles of tine to go with. Brandon — he brought the book I’d ordered for Curt that UPS delivered to his office.

The book? Totally self-serving:

Gourmet Game Night: Bite-Sized, Mess-Free Eating for Board-Game Parties, Bridge Clubs, Poker Nights,  Book Groups, and More

Click on the book above and it will take you to the Amazon site. Here is the Tom Douglas review of the book:

“Oh my Yahtzee! Anything that brings friends and family together sharing delicious bites of food tickles my fancy. I’m going for an Orange Negroni and a Crostini with Wild Mushroom Tapenade. My domino train is open for dinner!”
—TOM DOUGLAS, James Beard Award­–winning chef and author of Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen

[223.2]

Wed
2
Feb '11

Waikiki – Day Three.

North Shore Bound.

Very quickly settling into a routine here… SurfBetty gets up at 5:30am, get’s the coffee made, gets his breakfast in him and then is out the door as the light is starting to break over the horizon. It’s the quiet time on the water in terms of people, and closest to the low tide, so better waves are coming in. Today’s waves were at 0-1 feet, 1-2 feet expected in for tomorrow.

Full surf report weather conditions here: http://magicseaweed.com/Waikiki-Surf-Report/662/. It puts my long not updated Pacific Northwest Surf Report to shame (leftover from my time hanging about with Surfer Bryan).

Me, I sleep in, wake up to hot coffee, have my quiet time, work on the blog and basically putter until SurfBetty is back from the beach around 10 or so.

The Girlz, a.ka. Dos Lesbinas, have borrowed a car from their local friends – as we find out during the day of driving, a truly local “Hawaiian Jalopy”. Definition – a car that still runs, but many of the things on the car don’t work, but there are too many things wrong with it to justify the cost of fixing it. The list…

  • Power steering pump is shot – drives like a battleship
  • Speedometer intermittent
  • Owner filled it up with oil in front of the Girlz’ condo when dropping it off for them

But the radio and air conditioning work, unlike their other car they offered – and, all-in-all, don’t look a gift car in the mouth. If it gets dinged, no big deal – smashed, bigger deal, but not much.

First stop is Leonards for these Portuguese filled donut things called malasadas. I’m not much of a donut fan, but the are damn tasty – and always fresh out of the fryer.

Up the HI to the old North Shore highway (99) with a stop in Haleiwa for refreshments for some, and Hawaii license plates for myself and Julian (nice ones – state vehicle plates at 50% off).

Next stop was Pipeline – the famous North Shore surfing spot. We really lucked out here… easy parking for “The Battleship” and a shady spot on the beach to watch the surfing.

Jeanne and SurfBetty thought about trying out the boogie boards we had with us – I was making the argument that when there are two red flags flying (no swimming and serious rip tides) that it might be best left to the pros.

Next up it is shrimp truck time …. First up, Giovanni’s north end location (south end location just south of old Haleiwa town):

$13 for a plate of Shrimp Scampi with a side of hot dipping sauce, two scoops of rice and a wedge of lemon. Damn messy, damn tasty.

Back to Pipeline to see how the waves had changed in a couple of hours… the rest of the crew on the beach, me at a picnic table watching the White Rasta massage guy work over surfers.

With a quick stop at a fruit stand, we are off to the other famous (of many) shrimp trucks to try the deep fried coconut shrimp at Macky’s.

Ambiance wasn’t as good as Giovannis, but the coconut shrimp were very rich – we just got the shrimp, not the sides, so we each had two shrimp, which was perfect – I can’t imagine how I’d feel after eating an entire plate of shrimp that rich.

We take the direct route back to Honolulu (H2 to H1) to save a little time, but it still doesn’t stop us from getting caught in rush hour traffic on the way back to Kmart/Salvation Army on a supply run for the Girlz. They need glassware, a plunge blender (for smoothies) and a yoga mat… and I, of course, have to see if there are any new shirts or maybe even an electric griddle.

Jeanne snagged two glasses, I got a Hawaiian Airlines wine glass for my collection, and most importantly, I found a really cheap (because of one broken handle) electric skillet — $5.00! And it works – plugged it in and 5 second later the thing was getting toasty. Score! I guess that means tomorrow’s post will all be about kitchenette cooking.

After a further supply run to Safeway (with Jeanne parked for half an hour in the loading zone because of the steering) we were all frazzled and ready to part company after a long, lovely day.

SurfBetty and I ended up just having a poo-poo platter around 8 and calling it dinner, and then called it a night.

Pooped all around.

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Sat
16
Apr '11

Canada To The US.

Today’s only picture is an homage to Howie Sue, a man I once wanted to marry, but who turned me down with the phrase, “I don’t want to end up like that movie The Days of Wine and Roses” (Jack Lemon and Lee Remmick, 1962). It took me ten years to see the movie, and then I finally got it.

This is what two pudgy old white guys go through in a pound of butter in one week. He commented on the shrinking butter in the photos from Whistler.

We got out of the condo at 9:30 with the hope of getting to Seattle in the early afternoon. That was the hope, not the reality.

In one of those “wonderful” (sarcasm, not the friend) cross border experiences, it just didn’t go that way, even with both Rich and I having Nexus cards for the “speed lane”. It was still faster than the regular lane, 15 minutes compared to 80 minutes, and still worth the $50 for the five year pass. I also discovered at the truck crossing the duty free gives you a ten percent discount on non-discounting items (excluding tobacco, which at $56 a carton isn’t that good a deal compared to coming into Canada at $36 and the exchange is at par). The two pack of Jameson for $39 (2 liters) was already discounted, but now I’m signed up.

We didn’t get back to the house until 4:30 having had to pick up a couple of packages at the apartment:

  • 25-pair telco to stub cable
  • Telco bridging adapter

And then there was all the mail at the house which contained:

  • Two belts to work prototype from

But what I really needed where the two packages Missy grabbed from my front door on Monday:

  • Samples from 3M
  • Lighting tube sample from the lighting designers

Besides making bread and cooking dinner for three, I totally trashed the dinner table (before dinner) doing up a new sample for the Boltageâ„¢ project from all the materials that arrived in the mail (with the exception of the telco stuff, which is another project). The new sample was curing as I was putting the steaks on the grill. Thanks Rich for getting the coal going.

Dinner? Steaks and shrimp on the grill (I passed on the shrimp having had a bad experience before a previous trip), salad, fresh bread, a couple of bottles of wine and not much sleep later as I was packaging the sample, getting it posted, and finding someone to swing by the house on Monday and take it to the post office, OH, and packing for a weeklong trip to Cabo San Lucas.

Really, NOT ENOUGH TIME TO SLEEP.

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