Today’s post is really all about the evening meal as the day was spent lazing around the condo and roof deck sunning and reading.
Mexican chickens come with extra parts, well, parts that those of us from the US don’t often get with our chickens. The feet.
Such nice toe nails I almost wanted to paint them. And then there is the flap of skin that they use to keep the legs together.
Handy for helping to keep the onions, celery, and peppers in the cavity. A lovely meal on the upper deck which the Latin Jazz Band played in the restaurant (Momma Mia) below.
Nothing like spending your morning “tan time” sans-clothing on the upper deck reading Armistead Maupin’s latest book, Mary Ann In Autumn, with a Bloody Mary in hand. I don’t want to leave, and I can’t afford to stay on past Sunday. Such is life.
I’m sure I got the book out of the remainder section at SFO (San Francisco Airport), but the minute I say that I realize it could have been a gift as well, probably Christmas.
The morning meal, usually in the 10-11am range, was scrambled eggs, ham, tortillas, fresh melon. Fairly damn healthy.
PuPu Platter of the day was salami, cheeses, crackers, and Gin and Tonics followed by more reading and tanning.
Dinner was green mole pork with tortillas, pico de gallo, and a salad chock full of super ripe tomatoes. Curt’s wine of the evening was a Mexico Merlot that opened up nicely (2006 Don Luis Cetto Reserve Merlot, Guadalupe Valley Region).
Considering we packed five movies to watch while we are here, this is the first evening we’ve gotten around to it though we did watch a bit of the Woody Allen move Zelig before dinner. Tonight’s movie was Transamerica with was directed by the brother of one of my high school friends I’m still in touch with (a director and Foley artist in his own right).
Here’s the Amazon box review:
Emmy® winner Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) won the Best Actress (Drama) Golden Globe® Award for her “fiercely funny and deeply powerful” performance (Pete Hammond, Maxim) that is “thrilling to watch.” (A.O. Scott, The New York Times) Huffman plays Bree Osbourne, a conservative transsexual woman, who learns she is the parent of a long-lost 17-year-old son (Kevin Zegers). The wheels of fortune take Bree and son on a cross-country adventure, including a memorable visit with Bree’s parents, that will change both of their lives. A funny, touching, completely original look at the modern American family, “TRANSAMERICA will leave you in a state of movie euphoria. It’s hilarious and deeply affecting.” (Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal. “Felicity Huffman is incredible. One of the year’s most unforgettable performances.” -Stephen Mooallem, Interview
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.
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.
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.
Sunny side up eggs, turkey and toast. Starting to whittle down those leftovers, but I’m afraid we’re still going to have too much turkey.
The mountain was out today, but we weren’t. We did invite a local guy in for cocktails and whatnot, the whatnot which Rich rather than I.
Whatnot was achieved by posting an ad on craigslist with these two cute cropped photos from the day at the mine:
Who wouldn’t want to come over for drinks and whatever with those mug shots.
Soup, salad, and bread after the boy (35) left. Looks like the cleaning crew is going to get a couple of packages of frozen sausage, a couple of heads of romaine and some other miscellaneous stuff. Guess I brought too much protein for once!
Did my final swim at 9pm just as some sort of frat drinking party was kicking up in one of the Jacuzzis, loud enough that you could hear them at the front desk. Too bad we didn’t book the rest of the weekend here as it’s the start of the 10-day Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival. Who knew?
Off to bed early as we want to be on the road early.
Breakfast at 11. Usual lazing about the place. But I do have a short video from yesterday in the mine.
It’s silly but short. Snacks in the afternoon, pupu’s for those in the know. Dinner of marinated chicken breast chopped, and sauteed with bacon grease (from breakfast) with some asparagus, a nice salad, a little rosemary bread, and the dwindling red wine.
And the movie tonight is “300”, an odd Greek tradegy. Check it out on IMDB for a description: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/. Lots of blood, guts and lust.
Time for another swim tonight, with the snow coming lightly down.
Yet another delicious scramble for breakfast — pork, potatoes, eggs. But no Bloody Mary this morning as Rich is driving us to the Britannia Mine located on Britannia Bay in British Columbia, about 50 minutes (or 10 minutes past Squamish).
The 20-story mill spruced up in the last couple of years.
The administration buildings.
Me looking like a stud in a hard hat before the train ride under the mountain.
And under the mountain.
A little pricey at $21.50 and the US dollar and the Canadian dollar at parity, but a fun way to spend a couple of hours considering I have a background in mining. Yeah, me. My father worked as an engineer at the Anaconda Copper Mines in Hurley, NM (just outside Silver City) before I was born, and then sold Grinding Balls for Armco Steel as I was growing up. Nothing like the reaction of the class when the teacher asks what your father does for a living. “He sells grinding balls.” After the teacher calms the class I go on to explain how they are used for crushing rock into gravel for large ones, and specialty stainless steel ones are used (among other things) for crushing pigments to make inks. Turns out the Britannia Mine made smelted its own grinding balls from the strap steel left from old equipment around the mine, seems that they had a forms shop as well to forge their own railcar wheels and most any other part they needed. Our tour guide (Marshall) worked in the mine from getting out of high-school until the mine shut down in 1974. As a retiree, he’s back in the mines again, this time, part-time. Just wish the train tour was longer, plenty of tracks with 210 kilometers of tunnels. And he’s pretty good at the panning area as well, he got me three flakes of gold which I now have in a little plastic baggie, about 75 cents.
Got back around 3pm, didn’t get a nap in today for some reason.
Dinner was a turkey noodle soup with Japanese vegetables, some rosemary/olive bread, a salad, and the ever present box wine. Stunningly good for leftovers.
Highlight of the nights entertainment, the Ice Pilots series on the History Channel. I got to see some of the hottie pilots and loaders (my DC-3 pilot on my Buffalo Airways flight last June) stuck in frozen tundra.
Clear skies today, just no ambition to hit the slopes.
Wonderful scramble for breakfast.
Took a walk into the village this morning, mostly because we are out of whiskey, but also to get some exercise, ogle the pretty snowboarders, see the sights.
Dinner tonight was a pork roast with a coffee, cinnamon rub on a bed of baby white potatoes, the remainder of the gravy from turkey night salad and wine.
No pics today even though I had the camera with me for the stroll.
Pictures tomorrow when we tour the Brittania Mine down in Brittania Bay, 10km past Squamish.
Sausage, sunny side up eggs, toast and bloody marys for breakfast. Yum.
As for the weather. Snowing one minute.
Fifteen minutes later, sunny.
Nothing really sticking. Lazy day around the condo reading old New Yorkers. Trying to catch up.
Dinner was veal saltimbocca, or at least my version of it with a nice salad, the remainder of the baguette, and some Naked Grape Shiraz, a Canadian box wine that’s actually quite good.
With the weather today, no tube park or peak-to-peak ride.
Quickly slipping into vacation mode. Breakfast around eleven, and then off to the hot tub with the morning bloody mary.
Nap in the afternoon, and then time to work on dinner. A turkey (minus wings and legs), boiled parsley potatoes, salad, bread, and a lovely gravy that Rich whipped up. Somehow I’ve never been able to figure out how to make gravy, luckily I do travel with a small container of flour.
After dinner it’s time to strip the carcass and put the bones on boil. I’m thinking stock for later in the week, and maybe getting some noodles for a turkey noodle soup.
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.
First stop, Safeway for groceries for tonight pre-poker dinner with Curt, Rich and a certain legislator who shall remain nameless.
Second stop, The Evergreen State College to drop off the scholarship applications. Every time I visit the campus waves of lust roll over me. Good thing I don’t work out there.
Final stop, Curt’s place to catch up on work in the afternoon, and work on dinner and poker snacks for later.
Tonight’s dinner was broiled salmon, avocado halves stuffed with cream cheese and Krab®, boiled tiny yellow potatoes, and a nice salad. Yum, yum, yum.
At 7 folks started showing up for poker. I think I did OK, at least I know I walked away with $10 in paper money since I made change for the “certain legislator” before we completely cleaned him out.
To the apartment to pick up a package of phone parts
To Amtrak to redeem a $50 voucher on a round-trip to Portland next month
To the Musuem of Flight for an exhibit of flight uniforms
I had planned to go to two other art openings in Pioneer Square but ran out of steam. My plan was to pack for Canada, but that didn’t work either. Instead after dinner I created a disaster in the kitchen putting together my new (old) 1A2 KSU system to make the lights and hold work on my old office phones.
Work during the day along with a little running around. I should really get serious about packing for Canada, but it just isn’t happening.
Off to the airport to meet Solus’ 6pm arrival from Iceland. He arrived looking a little dazed, and not from drink. From a long flight and a bit of emotional turmoil.
The reason for the turmoil? It seems that in his last half hour in Iceland, several phone calls are about to change his life.
Forty-six years ago Solus ran away from not only his homeland of Australian, but a fiancé and the call of the church and worked on a fishing boat in Iceland. During his time on the boat, knee deep in fish guts, he bonded with one of the other fisherman, talking life, philosophy, the nature of god, not your usual deckhand talk. After the season, they went their separate ways.
Fast forward to yesterday and a conversation with the hotel/café owner where he was staying. The friendly chap was talking of how he had reunited a man and a women after a thirty year absence as part of his job as an innkeeper, to make his customers happy. Solus pasted on the tale of his missing friend and the mutual connection of the owner, Solus, and the missing friend as having all worked for the same seafood company during their lives (a common story in Iceland). He asked the boat, the year, and made a call. Lots of Icelandic chatter, a five minute wait, and the phone rang again. More chatter before handing Solus the phone. On the other end, his lost friend Tor (if I remember the name correctly). With five minutes before his bus to the airport they had reconnected, but now another trip to Iceland was in order. It turns out his friend is a mucky-muck in the central bank, and as the innkeeper said he’d be sad to miss him on his next visit as there would most likely be a car and driver awaiting him at the airport and a run to a country estate.
Makes me smile.
Compared with the above, a simple dinner of pork and beans (pork loin chops in a Cuban lime marinade and steamed green beans), salad, steamed rice and red wine hardly compares other than long time friendship.
So, last Thursday (the 31st of March) I stumbled across this tidbit in the South Park Yahoo Group posting:
Want to make $16 an hour sitting on a fake plane in Boeing Field for
Wed Mar 30, 2011 9:18 am (PDT)
It doesn’t sound fun to me, honestly, but it does sound like easy work. Consider it pay-back for listening to the planes in the summer.
Here is the link for you Seattle folks who want to give up a day for a $150 Visa Gift Card, and be stuck in a plane for 6+ hours, with beverages and lunch served:
Really, how’s that for a weird way to spend a day. But that’s what I’m doing on the 27th of April.
It being Boeing Field, my first thought was that it would be testing a mock-up of an updated 737 interior, but there are also the new 787 and the Intercontinental 747-8, both of which are entering commercial service soon. I guess time will tell.
As for the evening, an email at around 5 got me scrambling… Suddenly I had dinner company coming, then another, then another. Time to try out running two bread machines a one to attempt to make a marble rye bread. It sort of worked, though I think using the rolling pin knocked too much of the rise out of it. Looks like more croutons are coming down the pike.
Add a little BBQ’d chicken and pork, a pot of rice, a salad, too much wine and you have a fine meal nonetheless.
In some ways it reminded me of my old days working at Microsoft… work all day then run home and throw a dinner party.
Out of the house before 6 to get Jameson to the airport. Guess who went back to bed until 9 upon his return to the house?
And speaking of houses. I’ve noticed a bunch more “For Sale” signs popping up in the neighborhood, including one on the next block that belongs to Dorothy who used to be the lead viola player for the Seattle Symphony until she retired in disgust over Gerald “The Jerk” Schwartz and his refusal to retire when the time was ripe.
Here is the map of what’s for sale in the hood:
Twenty-seven houses for sale with Dorothy’s being the most expensive at $330,000 (3 bedrooms, two baths). The least? $119,000. Ouch. Judging from the competition, I’d give a present value of mine at $175,000 which is under the $210,000 of the original mortgage, but more than what I owe on it.
Other than researching real estate, spent the day trying to tie up loose ends on the PayPal integration with a non-profit I’m working with. Finally starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. I might be able to put the buttons on the site tomorrow.
As for tonight’s dinner experiment — pan fried egg noodles (fresh frozen from the batch last week) with spinach and shrimp in a Thai peanut sauce. For a total guess, it came out amazingly well.
Nice to have company. But nice to have a little down time as well. Jameson was off to lunch with friends from Evergreen at Both Ways Cafe in Columbia City. I’d never heard of it, but it gets good reviews. Might have to check it out, but not on the weekend for bunch.
Dinner tonight are a couple of veal chops, some roasted potatoes, a nice salad with anchovies and home-made croutons and a little red wine.
Jameson’s visit makes me realize how much I enjoy his company and that I need to spend more time with him… like maybe three nights from the 31st of May to June 3rd staying at the WorldMark Tahoe in Stateline, NV, just up the road from Jameson’s place.
Hopefully the massive snows they have had this winter will have melted. Looks like renting a car is going to be necessary, I can deal with that tomorrow. It’s not right in Stateline, but outside of town. Between the shuttle, and then getting to the place, I think it will nicer to have a car. I booked a two-bedroom so Jameson can stay in a little bit of luxury while I visit.
While I was booking, Jameson was packing. Sigh.
All packed and ready for a really early morning run to the airport. Please note the ukulele sticking out of his backpack.
Ah, the joys of being able to sleep in and have coffee delivered bedside.
Spent the morning reading scholarship applications. It never fails to amaze me the number of people who don’t read the list of requirements. Usually it is the portfolio that is strangely missing.
Mark Stephen Souder Scholarship for Information Dissemination
Offered to a new or currently enrolled student attending full time who demonstrates an interest in information dissemination, e.g., writer, Web designer, teacher, musician, activist — anyone helping to influence the way people think about their world, to change the concepts of “nons”—”non-residents, non-Caucasians, non-heterosexuals — to create a more equal, intelligent and compassionate society. Preference will be given to non-resident gay or lesbian students, demonstrating quality and creativity of prior work in the area of information dissemination. Financial need will also be considered.
Requirements
Letter of application addressing your passion for and level of expertise in the dissemination of information. Tell us where you have been with this concept, what you are doing now, and where you want to go in exploring how information is shared.
A portfolio of work that expresses your beliefs about information dissemination and demonstrates how you have put those beliefs into action.
Two letters of recommendation from individuals, other than relatives, who have personally experienced the power of your work in information dissemination.
FAFSA or Renewal Application. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
By 1:30 or so both Curt and I had finished reading all 15 of the applications (stack size 2″), which is down from the 21 applications last year. I would have thought more would be applying, but apparently the economy is so bad that students and prospective students can’t even afford to think about college.
I ran out to Summit Lake to see how the progress was coming, and see Julian who had driven up from Portland to help his brother out. They were down to the last, and hardest, panel on the car port when I got there.
Lunch for me was at the Ranch House BBQ just a couple of minutes from the rental. Pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and potato salad, washed down with a glass of Petite Syrah that had been open a little too long.
Work was done by 3 and we headed back to the Westside to drop off his truck. My surprise for Jameson was taking him to the musical instrument store from yesterday, and convincing him that he REALLY needed to buy a ukulele. The ones I had priced were from $54.95 to well over $300. Jameson settled on the $99 Portuguese one that came with a bag, pitch pipe, and cord descriptions. To push him over the edge I picked up part of the tab.
We got back to the house a little after 5 just in time for the nightly news and the nightly cocktails.
Dinner was flank steak pinwheels, brussell sprouts, salad and a little red wine.
After dinner it was time for Jameson to start on the scholarships. And the winner is….
Markie:
At what resort are you staying?
E
WorldMark Los Cabos in a 2-bedroom Penthouse with rooftop deck and private hottub. Damn comfortable.