One Girl, Big World

Christmas Eve Skiing

2009-12-24T17:22:00.000-08:00

Extension of ski vacation, Part 1.

Well too much fun to be had to go back home to sea level.

Today was warmer than the previous three until after lunch.

Emergency Gondola wardrobe addition necessary.

Two minutes till the top:

Sixty seconds:

Aaaand ready:

We hi-tailed it to the backside:

The views aren't too shabby:

Last run and lots of time on our hands:

This is a pose, not a fall:

Waaaaay too much time on our hands:

Again, on purpose:

Time for a margarita. Ho ho ho

Mammoth

2009-12-22T18:55:00.000-08:00

Our first ski trip of the season.

It's awesome staying at Juniper Springs.

The first day was really windy and it started snowing around 2:30.

C-c-c-c-cold.

Still getting our ski legs.

With almost 10 inches overnight, the lift line started forming a good 20 minutes before they even opened. This is our view.

Heaters in our gloves became a necessity. Frozen digits, not good.

At some point, my camel back froze over. I almost passed out from trying to clear it. Oh, no that was just the altitude.

After a hard day on the slopes, Mark literally collapsed right when we got in the door. Actually, his boots were so cold, he couldn't get his feet out.

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Being in our snow cave is nice. We brought enough food for a week but not enough wine. Ain't that always the case?

Baaacon!

2009-12-22T18:51:00.000-08:00

These are two girls after my own heart.

Amelie is big on french fries, nutella & peanut butter, and any sort of chip.

Josephine is a cheeseburger, pizza and fruit kinda gal.

They are both bacon lovers.

Motorcycle mama

2009-12-21T21:30:00.000-08:00

Finally did it.

For years I've wanted to learn to ride a motorcycle. Heck, Mark has ridden for ever and although I am an excellent passenger, I want to go solo.

A new outfit was the perfect fit: Westside Motorcycle Academy.

The classroom section was the day I landed from Chicago. Despite feeling a bit ill, I went.

For three hours, we went through the handbook and I only missed two out of 50 questions on the test.

Learning to ride was over two days, five hours a day. The 1st day was miserable. Rain rain and more rain. If I was starting to feel better, that put me in reverse.

The bikes were, to be expected, crappy and in 2 days, I was on at least 3 bikes due to bike failure, non-starts, and complaining students. One guy was crying that he was too tall for his bike for so for some reason, they took the bike from the smallest person (and only girl) in class.

The test after the second day I thought I breezed. Wrong. I heard the instructor say to keep all the cones on your inside, so I did. She was wrong and I "went off the cliff" i.e, past the faded yellow marks. I had the option of returning that night to retest and I did and passed. This time the instructor (someone different) actually walked her class through the obstacle. Uh yeah, that would have been helpful.

There was another student from my class who had to retest but he did not pass. What a bummer.

Here are the bikes we rode. Kinda reminded me of being in Cambodia. Just needed a family of four on one of those things.

The bike I rode the 2nd day. The first day, I was on a Honda Virago with twice the engine power.

Now all I need to do is take the written test at the DMV.

Misc happenings since October

2009-12-21T18:30:00.000-08:00

Ah pasta. Mushroom ravioli with garden sage tossed in butter and olive oil and topped with fresh ground pepper. Simple and delicious.

Our magical pineapple plant appeared again this year. Out of 2 big pots, we had about 4 pineapples. This was by far the biggest.

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Solar Conference, Anaheim 10-26

Seeing as we were going to be in Anaheim for 2 days, instead of booking a room at the Sheraton or Westin, we stayed at the happiest place on earth. Ah Disneyland, the Grand Californian. For kicks, I told them it was our anniversary. I know they are fast and loose with special occasion mementos and aside from the big "Happy anniversary" buttons, the two queen beds ended up like this:

You'd think one bed would be more romantic....

The next morning, we were having breakfast with our business partner but it's a bit hard to concentrate with the life size chipmunks harassing you every 5 minutes.

Truth be told, the breakfast at Storytellers Cafe was good and the best part were the mickey waffles. Even Mark was impressed. And he hates mice.

I made my rounds of the convention on the second of the three days. That evening, we had dinner at Napa Rose and then attended the private party at the park. Too bad the Indiana Jones ride was down. That's the best one, I think.

The next day, my plan was to visit the Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus Outlets. That was interesting. I ended up with my first pair of Louboutins. Yeah!

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Thanksgiving

What a great day. Workout, massage, dinner at Anisette with the in-laws and then Kooza at the pier. An amazing Cirque du Soleil experience. Go go go if you can.

The weekend was spent in Las Vegas. Eating and drinking punctuated with sleep and tennis.

Aureole, B&B, red square, verandah, kapit bahay, my new favorite bar Parasol Down at the Wynn. Highlights include

fresh donuts at Vernadah, white truffle pasta at B&B, not having by throat close up completely at B&B after drinking the first oz of wine from a new bottle (scary) and kare kare at kapit bahay.

On Saturday, we booked a tennis court at Ballys for two hours and that was great fun.

Whenever we check into the Four Seasons, they leave kid welcome things for us. That's left over from when my sister and her family came to Vegas with us. I don't want to correct them, cuz it's fun to see what they come up with.

Friday night at Aureole

Brenda & Jet at Aureole

Nelson & Kiddy

After Dinner, we ended up at Rum Jungle to shake a few tail feathers. This was the virgin outing of the aforementioned Louboutins and they were fighting back. Thank goodness I carried a pair of flipflops in my purse. Oh the pain of fashion.

Post B&B and then a nightcap at Parasol Up. (Down was closed)

This will stay in Vegas.

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Chicago 12-02-09

In lieu of traveling to Chicago during the nutty holidays, I decided to visit in between but also for Frances's birthday.
Asusual, the kids were super cute.

They even put the tree up. Hey, Santa hasn't been here yet!

On Frances's actual birthday, I made pasta imported from Santa Monica. Troppo tartufi just like I like it. I even brought in my truffle shaver. To hell with TSA!

The next night, Jun was kind enough to babysit while the girls went to Bon Soiree. I had read about their 13 course tasting menu and by golly, I wanted to try it. We were told to be there by 6pm and I thought that was way too early. I was wrong. We didn't roll out of their until past 11. Five plus hours and 14 courses later.

Here is a small sampling of what we had:

This was a marshmallow scallop. Or was it scallop marshmallow? Either way, if you overthought it, it would be lost on you. Just eat, don't think.

Did I mention the place is BYOB? I would love to come back here with a few more people and really wine taste at the same time.

In any event, it was a great dining experience. The service was perfect and unbeknownst to us, our server had been pointing us out to other diners impressed with the ease with which we finished each dish. Yup, we are pigs, check us out bee-atches.

The next night, Justin and Melissa were on kid duty so Jun, Frances and I could go out.

We ended up at Otom.

TRENDY.

The food was hit and miss. Mac and cheese-too salty. Short ribs-delicious.

The best part was the miscommunication between the servers and the bartender. As a result, we ended up with three free glasses of wine.

The plan was to go hear some blues after but wouldn't you know it, we ended up at Margies Candies and had hot fudge sundaes.

Scratch that, I also ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. I needed to try one. Old school. It reminded me of eating at Wags when I was in gradeschool.

Yes, Wags, the diner attached to Walgreens.

Saturday night, was the cousin party. Good times.

Our vacation part 1

2009-10-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

Well it's been about two weeks since we got back from Europe and yes, I am still a but depressed. I love being home but Mark and I had such a wonderful time. I think I want to move to Rome, maybe Umbria for at least 6 months. Must. Work. On. That.

It all started in mid August when Mark told me there was a tech convention in Amsterdam that he may go to. Did I want to go? Let-me-think-about-that-yes-and-for-how-long-can-we-stay?

So began my hours of research. We hadn't been to Europe since 2002. The dollar is much weaker now and I was worried about what kind of lodging we could find. But first we had to decide where, exactly we wanted to go. The convention was in Amsterdam so that was a given. We had never been to Prague so that was a top choice. I knew I wanted to travel by train at least part of the trip so some other choices were Luxembourg, Belgium, France and Germany. Italy was of course to be on the itinerary. The winner, was Paris. We had both been but never together.

The trip was roughed out as 3 days Amsterdam, 3 days Paris, 7 days Rome. Seven days in Rome is a nice chunk so I asked Mark if he was interested in renting a motorcycle for a few days while we were there. Like offering crack to a junkie.
He found a place that was out of BMWs but they did have a Honda v-Storm for the time we needed. OK. As we got closer to departure, a Ducati became available. Yay!

As far as more planning, I wanted to just play the Italy time by ear. There were places I had in mind: To the north of Rome, Umbria and Tuscany. To the East, L'Aquila. To the South, Sperlonga, Gaeta and so on.

Next up was booking tickets. We have a lot of frequent flyer miles and with a little, OK, alot of gentle persuasion, we were able to book Business class tickets. Yay Yay!

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Packing was a week long ordeal. The weather reports kept changing in Rome: rainy and cold to warm and sunny so I kept amending my luggage. In the end, I should have packed empty suitcases. That would've been a no-brainer if the dollar was stronger but I didn't want to spend $ on basics I have at home. In the end, we ended up with three rollers and we shipped out motorcycle gear fed-ex.

___________________________________________
The flight to Amsterdam stopped in Atlanta and both legs were pleasant. I watched "La Vie en Rose" and "X-Men, Origins" between glasses of wine and ice cream sundaes. Mark slept.

We arrived on a Sunday around 8:30 and I figured by the time we collect our bag and take the train to Central Station, it would be close to 11. Gosh-darn Dutch efficiency, we were in town by 9:30 and had to walk around in a daze for a few hours till the apartment was ready.
The apartment we booked was not available when I started looking but everyday, I would check the calendar and low and behold, it opened up for the time we needed it. Persistence pays off.

Super cute.

We ended up at a bakery called Bertram brood. We would eat there each morning, well at least each day. Then we went to a cafe called De blaffende vis. We swung back around and we're told 1 more hour. Alrighty then, next cafe, t'Smalle:

What a great cafe. Actually, a brown cafe though there is no smoking allowed anymore. Only in "coffee shops".

By this time we were a little loopy even after 3 cappuccinos each.

After checking in, we hopped on the bikes that came with the place and headed out to the RAI convention center. It was already past two by the time we left. For about 3 hours, we walked around. By this time, I was thirsty, hungry, jet-lagged and bored. We forgot to take Euros with us so we couldn't buy anything. Luckily, some of the big vendors had their own cafes set up and we were able to procure more caffeine and some cheese/sausage.

Mark had planned to meet up with an associate from Seattle and the three of us had pizza at a restaurant close by. This was our 1st dinner. I have come to the conclusion that 1st and 2nd breakfast, lunches and dinners are necessary on vacation.

After a tidying up at the apartment, we hopped back on the bikes and rode around until we stumbled upon something that struck our fancy. We ended up at a place called Envy. Very cool place. Lots of small plates and quite hip.

I have to add this biking around Amsterdam is fantastic. The city becomes much smaller on 2 wheels. I can't count how many times we would pass by our destination because we were just cruising.

We ended up going to bed after 3 and Mark had a 10am meeting planned back at the convention. Well the next think we knew, it was 2:30 in the afternoon. We had slept through the gamut of alarms. woops

After a quick brea-I mean lunch, Mark was off. I decided to explore on my own. I thought I might go shopping but I ended up serpentining my way through canal after canal. It was great.

Amsterdammers are jokesters...

and rebels.

I had read about a place in the Jordaan that had the best pizza in Amsterdam. Since it was in our hood, I had to go.

La Perla It was a nice pie. And yes, I ate the whole thing myself (my 2nd lunch). Mark and I met up a little later and planned to meet Nils for dinner. Tapas Catala and Lucius.

We ended up at this bar each night in Amsterdam. Of course I can't remember the name but the bartender there was great. He was about to move to the Caribbean. What a change of scenery.

Happy biker

The view out our door.

After three days, Paris was next. High speed train=very cool.

Breakfast at 140mph.

Cushy seats. I slept almost the whole 4 hours; Too much partying in AMS!

Our Paris apartment:

It was located in the Montorgueil and despite the prostitutes (old, should be retired prostitutes),

I really liked the place. It was in a great location and I slept like a rock there.

Our first day and Paris, we just walked. And walked. And walked. So much to see, eat, drink. It was lovely.

The papparazzi

Ah Paree

And a little bit to eat:

Le Pain du Sucre

Monsieur Smith

Mark ate all sorts of animal products. By choice.

The weather was a mix. Sunny, warm, drizzling, warm. It was never that cold despite the rain.

Each day, we just wandered. There were a few things we wanted to see: the museum of modern art, the science museum, but we really had no schedule and that was nice.

Food was my main barometer. We never made it to any chichi places, in fact we stuck to hole-in-the-wall bistros and bars.

After our walking marathon, Mark needed a massage. So while he was prone, I wandered alone.

I came across a photo shoot in the middle of the street:

I also came across a place that made me so so happy.

We sat just in time and wow what a great lunch!

Foie gras in Paris is just so right.

After lunch I walked from the 3eme arr to the 6eme to check out Le Bon Marche. I had stopped a shoe store but the ones I liked were Spanish.

On the way, I passed Christian Louboutin and it was filled with tourists from all over the world trying on $$$ shoes and boots. I did a quick in and out and continued on my way.

After about an hour, I found the store but I wasn't wowed. I did like the food shop very much though. It dawned on me looking at the many offerings that one could buy almost all of the packaged foods at home. It was a bit sad and a bit comforting. All I ended up buying was sea salt.

I met Mark at the Canal St. Denis. Beautiful:

The lighting was amazing.

Dinner was a huge plate of charcuterie and a bottle of wine.

We were tempted to rent Velib bikes our last night but Paris is not Amsterdam and we like our legs attached to our bodies.

The morning was spent on the rue montorgueil eating our last Paris goodies.

The view from our window.

Next on the agenda, Rome.

We had never flown easyJet but it was fine.

I don't know what it is about Italy but it is the place I could return to again and again, specifically Rome. The history, the food, the fashion, the people- all amazing.

Renting an apartment was the way to go.

One flight above Via del Babuino, it was noisy but great. We arrived on a Saturday just in time for la passagiata. The streets were jammed

with people and I couldn't wait to meld with humanity.

Ferraris

Smart cars

Citroens

and big, bad motorcycles.

We spent hours walking and shopping and just looking. This was a shoe store. High drama.

Mark was possessed by a teenage girl and became an insatiable shopper. From socks to glasses to jackets, he was a on-man credit card wrecking machine. I could not keep up.

A rare moment in Rome with no shopping bag.

I did manage to find a pair of boots. It was love at first sight.

For dinner our first night we returned to Enoteca Antica. A great wine bar full of tourists and locals alike. It was so good we returned for lunch and dinner the next day.

Street art

life-sized lego tables

Sunday morning, we picked up the Ducati and had a heck of a time maneuvering back into the city. So many one-way streets, pedestrian streets, it was stressful. For two days, we left it parked safe and snug between two planters.

Which is the hotter ride?

Yoshis in SaMo

2009-08-22T23:19:00.000-07:00

By hook or by crook, we finally convinced my sister to gather the troops and brave the airlines to visit us.
Those 9 days flew by what with 4 little kidlings running around our decidedly kid unfriendly place. I am glad to report that nothing was broken and all stains have been removed!

How cute are they? huh? huh?
Some tennis friends were hosting a tie dye party and they generously invited everyone to attend. Josephine had a great time tie dying.

This was taken on the Santa Monica Pier and some guy walked by, did a double take and said "the family that tie dyes together, stays together". What a good hippie.

Days were action packed with alot of beach-time logged. The garden was also ripe for picking and the kids loved pulling tomatoes, zucchini and green beans off their respective vines. "Pomatoes" as Amelie would say.

They also loved looking at the worms in the compost bin.

The highlight of the visit, must be the day at Disneland. Yes, even Mark went and besides contracting Swine flu (just Mark, Brian and I and a whole other story) we all had fun.

Jun Bernard was even chosen to be a jedi trainee in a show. He was the smallest one but fought bravely against Darth Vader.

Europe, here we come!

2009-08-22T23:17:00.001-07:00

I am kind of in disbelief right now. We have just booked flights to Amsterdam. It's been almost 7 years since we've been there.

So much to do!

Ah Chicago in March

2009-03-16T17:15:00.000-07:00

The weather wasn't too bad actually. Rainy but in the 40's mostly.
The trip was a success: spent time with the family, had fun with the kiddies, had pizza and Poochies.
Jun and I had planned to do a head to head with Lou Malnatis and Burts pizza but Burts doesn't answer the phone after they run out of dough, so your SOL. Must be nice to not need more revenue... The next choice was Pequods, right around the corner from Burts and I would guess, their mortal enemy.
I had never had Pequods so I didn't know what to expect. When I went to pick it up, amazingly there was a parking space right in front. I had read parking on the weekends was a nightmare, so I was lucky. The place smelled fantastic and the large I ordered with double sausage and mushrooms cost $25 but weighed a ton. 4-5 pounds would be my guess.
Lou Malnatis was the next stop (after a Starbucks run for Frances). The large there was a good deal lighter and less $$ at $21 .
I also bought 2 frozen pies to take back to CA.

Here they are:

Pequods is on the left, Lous, on the right.
I have to say, I was not a fan of Pequods. It smelled great but lacked brightness in the mouth. Just kinda bland and doughy. boo. Lous, which I have always loved was great. The pie is always different depending on who is making it, but the ingredients stay the same and for me, the sauce has some punch. So good. The Lous pie went right into the freezer in individual slices for transport to LA as well.
I worried that my checked luggage might be lost, leaving a good amount of Chicagos finest to 1 defrost, 2 go to waste and 3 ruin my clothes but all went well. TSA at O'Hare did closely inspect my other stash of carry-on pie and absconded with my ice pack. "It's only allowed for medical reasons." Yea, well I need this pizza for my mental health. Nasty buggers. LAX TSA let me go through with the same one.

As for Poochies: four words-cheddar burger, cheddar dog. At least 2 hours of tennis to work this off, but so good.
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The kids were as cute as ever.

All four of them were swamp monsters the week I was there but amazingly, I didn't catch anything.
One day, we had an excursion to Chicago. First stop was a bakery called Sel Marie, an early dinner at Matsuya was great. The kids love their tempura and udon. Dessert was tempura ice cream, followed by a bowl of vanilla ice cream since the first dish was heavy on the tempura and light on the ice cream. OK...
The next stop was unplanned but a great treat: Sweet Many B's. I love this bakery. I had planned to just run in, but we found a parking space so the whole clan came in for more sugar bombs. Everything was delicious.

After everyone was sufficiently amped up, we loaded back in the van and not surprisingly, none of the kids fell asleep on the way. I did. During the washing up process, I noticed that Amelie wasn't upstairs. I went to the kitchen and heard the crunching of paper. Amelie was on the floor with a bag from the bakery (number 2) eating a brownie. What a scoundrel. With chocolate all over her mouth, she was so proud of herself and giggling. Hilarious.

Sunny skiing

2009-02-27T18:23:00.001-08:00

What a difference a day makes. After yesterdays below zero weather, today was fantastic and sunny. We even ate lunch outside the Main lodge.

This was about noon:

This is what happens with too much time on a chairlift:

Haute ski fashion for the 2009 spring season:

The view from the condo:

Last night, we watched "Donnie Darko". Is it me or was that a weird movie. There are so many ways to try and decipher what actually happened. It's odd to see Drew Barrymore in a role so much older than Jake Gyllenhall.

Tonight, we have Robin Hood/Space Balls double feature. I highly doubt we will get through one, let alone two.
Tomorrow, we plan on an early, well at least, earlier start. Sometime before 11am would be good.
I have been avoiding any possible web coverage of the Top Chef finale since I have not seen it yet. Only 1 night to go till I can watch it at home. Shhhh.

Our Daily Bed

2009-02-26T11:14:00.000-08:00

No, this isn't a religulous blog, its my web-based appreciation for beds that catch my eye.

Check it out.

Mammoth

2009-02-26T10:32:00.000-08:00

After a late start yesterday with a stop at Taqueria Chihuahua for some lengua and cabeza tacos, Mark and I made it up to Mammoth after battling constant chop with two very distinct head bobbers that I was certain had broke the bottles of wine in the back. Luckily no.
We hadn't been up here for a few years and it has changed a lot. First off, there is now commercial air service that flies in once a day, there is a new "village" and a bunch of new restaurants. After a short nap, we got a shuttle to Petras. Part of the Alpenhof hotel, I was surprised at how good the experience was. Roasted beets to start. The portion was huge. I ordered the Maple duck breast, which was fantastic and Mark had the Arthur special (anything salmon). Dessert was also an Arthur special )anything apple). The best part was the wine selections. 1/2, whole glasses to choose from; I had a 1/2 glass of Sancerre to start and graduated to a wine from Napa called Seduction. After 1 1/2 glasses more of this wine between us, we decided to just order a bottle. The selling point was we could take whatever we didn't finish home with us. The catch is you have to carry the wine out in your cupped hands.

Na, just kidding.
The bill made me laugh in that we spentmore on wine than food.

Right now, its almost 11 and we are just finishing up breakfast. The wind is howling and I am not looking forward to going out there and subjecting myself to the weather. I have become a chicken. But at this very moment, I am a warm chicken. Mark has forgotten a fleece so he has to buy one somewhere. Silly.

Day 1:

Private gondola.

Marks 1st lift of the day

Marks 2nd run. No, just resting.

Did I mention the 30-45 mph winds?
The slopes were pretty empty by 3:30.

A hard day

2009-02-25T23:43:00.000-08:00

Shhh. Don't tell Mark I took these.

Thank goodness those socks are clean.

Oscar week

2009-02-25T23:28:00.000-08:00

Since it was Oscar week, Mark and I got to spend some time, on the other side of town, "Eastside!". I do like it here. More like NY than where we live.
After picking up our credentials, I planned to stop in at Hungry Cat
Yummy.

Mussels and chorizo? So good.

If you look closely, Mark is texting. His usual position.

I must add that we started with 1/2 a dozen excellent oysters. Add a glass of wine (moi) and a glass of beer (Mark) and voila, a darn good lunch. Granted, I can not have wine with lunch often, but it does make me feel like I'm on vacation. Or is it an alcoholic? I'm all confused.
So, thumbs up on Hungry Cat.

Saran-wrapped Oscar or is this a weight-loss procedure to induce sweating?

We ran into this German TV crew. Nice, but they barely spoke English.

2009-02-25T23:11:00.002-08:00

It's Oscar season again!
Here's the latest batch of paparazzi-esque pix:

Oscars 2009

I loved the Slumdog cast, especially the kids. So unaffected by Hollywood and genuinely happy and excited to be in Hollywood.
Mark and I shot a cute piece on Foley artists for GMA. Check it out.

80 degrees in January...

2009-01-12T18:22:00.001-08:00

Don't be a hater now. It's not all punch and pie when it's that hot. It's a pain to put up the sun shield in the car and eating outside for lunch is a sunburn without the proper precaution. Ugh.
Here's my new toy:

Salvatore Espresso Machines "The One"
Love it. It's a little espresso animal that actually roars when you turn it on. Well it the heat exchanger warming up.

The other day I ran into this perfect Venice, CA scene:

Hybrid anyone?
Go green or go home

Did you all see the amazing full moon this weekend?

I have delved into the Facebook fray. That's what's new for me today. I now have 3 friends woohoo.

Bad blogger

2009-01-08T22:48:00.000-08:00

Well it hasn't been a year quite yet since my last post...
Big party on Saturday to celebrate Marks birthday. Fun fun fun. I did a quick count the next day while recovering on the couch and we had 55 people in our house. I'm not sure if it was all at once but that's possible. Thank goodness we rented a few heatlamps so people could hang outside too.
The food was a hit. Thank you Clementine!
I only took one picture and its of me and Mark at the very start. The "before" photo if you will. Oops theres no after photot but use your imagination after a night of dancing, sweating and karaoke-ing.
I only drank sake and water all night. I've learned my lesson about mixing drinks.

Mark is impossible to shop for. I ended up finding these:

Bob Dylan nesting dolls, or Bobrushka dolls. Score one for originality. Straight from Moscow!

Baja tambien

2008-02-03T16:09:00.000-08:00

Mark and I just got back from our Mexican holiday a few weeks ago. We hadn't been in about two years and it was nice to go back to Punta Chivato and La Paz.

This was in Punta Chivato. We have never actually been in the pool on the ten years we have been going. It has always been too cold. I guess that's the price we pay since we only go in the off season. The upside is we usually have the resort to ourselves. (As Elmer Fudd would say: "Vewy vewy quiet". Here are a few more:

The view from our room

Us

Dinner. Not really.
Margaritas by sunset.
It was a grueling schedule to keep: Breakfast at 9, read or nap (me), mountain bike (Mark), Lunch at 1pm, tennis from 2-3:30, shower, read or play guitar or walk the beach or nap (me), mountain bike (Mark), Sunset drinks at 5:45, rest, dinner at 7:45, read, sleep, repeat.

Here is El Angel Azul in La Paz. Great little B&B. I love going to La Paz. It's a real city and not too touristy. Although there is alot of new construction that is scaring me a little.
One day we drove to Todos Santos (good surfing) but we just drove the 40 minutes to eat fabulous pizza:
Il Giardino. Soo delicious. Real wood-fired oven, a bit spendy ($20), but literally one of the best pies evah.
Now that I'm home I have to exercise off all the tortillas and camarones al ajillo. DOH.
We have been coming to El Angel Azul for about 10 years too. We love the suite on the second floor. It has a huge deck overlooking the garden:

Sunset on the rocks in PC.

La Pista (runway) at Punta Chivato. Yes, it's dirt and can be squirrely.

Starfish on the beach. The starfish quesadillas were really interesting. Oh just kidding.

Here are the beds in the suite:

The suites here are brand new. They even have a 2 bedroom master suite. Great views and the shower is a rock walled room:

(Take at me other blog, OUR DAILY BED . Different beds that I like for all different reasons)

Home life

2008-02-03T15:14:00.000-08:00

Last summer I redid our front yard. When we first moved in, we did put grass in but tore it out a year later to plant drought-tolerant plants. I let it go for a long time but felt it was time to spruce it up so to speak.

Our vegetable garden did pretty well too. This summer we plan to grow a ton of tomatoes, zukes and cukes. Here's a bonus cherry tomato we grew:

The garden

The backyard

Ooh, I finally painted the dining room and got new leather chairs. Yea!

Before

After

our 10th

2008-01-30T20:39:00.000-08:00

It was in August, but I am still in shock that I have been married for 10 years. Heck, we've been together for 13. Aie. Child bride. Right.
One night, Mark was very concerned that I not go home alone. the reason is he had scattered roses and rose petals around the house:

We planned a little getaway since we hadn't spent much quality time together in a looong time. I like to call it our NW wine adventure.
Our first stop was Nevada City, CA. We had planned to stay one night, but weather was bad up north so we stayed another night. We found a brand new B&B called the Parsonage. We had a choice of room since we were the only guest and we chose this one since it was in the back and was right next to a little porch:

We hung out in Mt Baker for a few night too and did some hiking:

It was beautiful up there. Oh and we assisted in a helicopter rescue. We were hiking up and came across a couple in their 50s. They had driven up from seal level and thought they could strenuously hike with the husband suffering from heart problems. Darwinism. Anyway, the wife called 911 and this huge Coast Guard chopper was dispatched with Mark, as a pilot, giving dispatch info about the terrain and possible LZs. It was all very exciting and must have cost a fortune. When the chopper came in, we all hunkered down and covered up the "patient". They had left their ice axes on the ground nearby and either Mark or I threw them farther away just incase the rotor wash was really strong. In the end, I think it was pretty stupid of these folks to knowingly put themselves in such danger and then have to call in the cavalry to get them out of trouble. I bet they are the type of people who would sue a coffee shop because their drink was too hot.

In truth, the purpose of out trip was twofold, to celebrate our anniversary and wine taste across the Northwest. We had done a similar trip before so we were able to hit up some of our favorites. Like Walla Walla. We considered buying property up here. So many wineries in such a small area. At the airport alone, their are a dozen. The standout for us here was Woodward Canyon. We also joined the Tamarack Cellars Club. Oh and I can't forget Isenhower. We joined their club a year or two before and we stopped in a few minutes before the tasting room closed. One f the owners, Brett was there and he was very gracious staying late for us and opening up wines for us to taste that were usually unavailable in the tasting room. Of course we had to buy at least half a dozen bottles here. Here's L'Ecole Winery. Good stuff, great looking winery:

I found an almost perfect cappuccino on the trip: Vita Caffe in Olympia, WA.
I don't know if it was a full moon or the stars were lined up right, but the barrista at the time was amazing. Beautiful art and a creamy, rich flavor. We have been back subsequently and haven't had the same experience.

On of the last stops on this trip was in Sisters, OR. Love love love this place. Hiking, fishing, skiing. One fantastic restaurant.
We were going to stay one night and ended up staying four. I can't wait to go back. Who knows, maybe will end up there one day.

The cabins at FivePine

Knitting at the top

Mark and a view

Chicago; Bonus Trip

2007-06-25T22:29:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Mark and I had to fly to Michigan for a shoot. We would have had to land in Chicago anyway, so we were able to spend some time on both ends with Frances and the kids. It's as if Mark was there as much as me. Jun Bernard took to him quickly and now whenever I call, he asks for "Unca Mahk".
Little Cubbette

jun B in a bag.

Who looks more uncomfortable-Mark or Amelie?

Mark looks strange but Jun Bernard looks adorable here:

Yoshitani three

Back to Alaska- the last frontier

2007-06-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

Spent the week in Anchorage and worked hard for the living. Mark and I decided to stay an extra day and went fishing. I found the guide and he found the plane to get us there. Good teamwork. we could have driven, but 4 hours on the road vs 1 in the air= a no brainer.

An eagle we passed by.

I called her Bertha. It was a ridiculous spot of luck (or skill) that I hooked this baby on my third cast of the day. Literally 5 minutes after we started fishing. She ended up weighing 26 pounds. Last night, we barbecued and boy was it yummy!

Megan was next on the hit parade. She landed a 23 pound beauty. She named her Martha.
It's like an optical illusion: Does my fish look big because I am small? Does Megans fish look smaller because she is tall?

Kennon was the pilots son. With a little help from his Dad, they pulled in this 25 lb male.

I think Mark hooked the most fish, but they all got away except for this one.

Last Tuesday, we had to do some aerial photography for CBS. We hired a chopper out of Girdwood and started flying at around 7pm. We didn't land till 9pm. Sunset was around midnight.

The Blackstone glacier

There were times we were less than 20 feet from the earth. Fantastic. From the air, we did spot a bunch of bald eagles and a few moose in the bush. One moose, two mice?

After landing, we went to Jack Sprats in Girdwood for dinner. So good. I had a seafood paella that was big enough for three people. Mark had Copper River Salmon (he would order Salmon almost everytime we went out-just like his Dad) that was delicious too. The other crew and the AP wanted to join us but the restaurant was closing up soon. Luckily, they let us preorder for everyone. Other dishes included halibut and chicken. Our server was so nice, A vast diffference from the service we got a few nights later. Oh well.

Thursday, the 21st was Summer Solstice and despite working till 11:15pm, we rallied and went to F Street Station. A bar that stayed open til 2am and served food till 1am. It was a good thing too because I was starving. After all the great seafood, I was hankering for a burger and it was tasty. The clientele reminded my college days, what with all the girls at the next table yelping for some strange reason. Soon enough they left, and we took over their table. We left around 1:45am and decided to sleep in for the first time all week.

Alas, we are back home now and it's great. Our freezer is full of fresh salmon and although the sun sets way before midnight, I'll take sunny and 72' any day.

Chicago May 2007

2007-05-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

My trip to Chicago was for Amelies baptism. It was also Jun Bernards birthday on the 21st and Jennys on the 25th. These cuties are too much!

Amelies first bath

Juns at rest

I love this photo:

Yoshitani girls

Of course, I froze and packed up another large sausage pizza from Lou Malnatis to take back to LA. mmm mmm pizza

Off to the bush, again

2007-03-26T15:43:00.000-07:00

I am back in Anchorage to cover a trial for 48. After 3 days at home, it was a bit anti-cimactic to have to come back to the tundra but hey, it's a living. This week I was going to be here without Mark since there were stationary cameras set up in the courtroom. It was fine and I actually rather enjoyed the set schedule for 4 days. My days were as follows: Wake at 7:15 or 7:30, be in court from 7:45 till 1:30pm, have lunch around 3, nap for a bit, work out around 5 and then dinner. Almost like a real working stiff. Anchorage has a fine selection of fine dining available and I have yet to have a bad meal.

The flight up from LA was a bit annoying; I had 15 minutes between landing and departure of my connection. Of course my bags DID NOT make the flight so I had to recycle my clothes.

Here is a guy at LAX who turned out to be kind of creepy conscious

The views from my hotel room are nice although I would love to see the Northern Lights this trip.

The gym at the hotel is strange since they are not co-ed. Very old fashioned. I saw the men's gym and it is a lot larger than the ladies gym. Not fair.

Saturday was the first day I was able to run around and I ended up at REI-very dangerous but I did get new ski boots and a helmet. I also went to the ULU factory which sells cutlery. Their main sell is a mezzaluna type knife that would be perfect for pizza cutting. Probably not what the Native Alaskans had in mind, but hey.

Sunday was a ski day at Alyeska. My first time out in 2 years and my first time at this mountain. I went with Megan, a print reporter for the local paper here in Anchorage. It was a beautiful day. Sunny and not too windy. My boots were pretty stiff and my calves are not accustomed to being strapped into hard plastic tubes any more. Next time should be more comfy. The mountain itslef is huge but the accessible trails do not number that high. We ended up on the same slopes time and again. That was fine for me- a nice leisurly day.

Next weekend are the Alpine Champonships. It could be fun to check them out. Although it may be better to wait till the hubbub dies down to go.

At this point, I am debating what to do with my dirty laundry. Hotel fees are outrageous but I don't have the time to baby sit them at a laundromat. Oh the quandry. Ha- a laundry quandry.
Tomorrow, the trial starts up again.
Oh yeah-I finally got my own laptop-A MacBook and I love it.

80 in March?

2007-03-05T11:23:00.000-08:00

Yup, there is no such thing as global warming. I really like playing tennis outside this time of year, but it's a bit early for tanks and shorts. The trees are all screwy-blooming too early.

Mark and I are flying to Montana tonight for a quick shoot in Kalispell. 40 degrees there right now. THAT is even too warm for MT. Should be in the 20 and snowing. I am not a doomsdayer but I am a realist. This weather is too scary. We may have oceanfront property soon. OK enough environmental ranting.

We finally broke out of out Thai food rut (Poom Thai) and ordered delivery from a new place (Siam Place). It was pretty tasty and the brown rice was great. mmm green curry with eggplant.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday: The 2007 Oscars

2007-03-01T14:49:00.000-08:00

Well, another Oscar week has passed. Early in the week, we were setting up an interview with Ellen Degeneres in the Koday Theatre. It took three hours to set up for the 10 minutes we (Good Morning America) were to be granted. The correspondent was Brit, Cat Deeley. We were all set to roll with Cat and Ellen in their seats when we were ordered to cease immediately. Whaa? All media was ordered out with no info as when we were to begin again.
We learned that Ellen had left the building and we were SOL. The producers were having fits. Mark suggested we leave the lights up and return the next day which is what happened.
Robin Roberts was the new correspondent and after it all, Mark and I enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Angeli Caffe on Melrose.
For Sunday, our assignment was once again the red carpet. It was quite chilly and it even sprinkled a bit.
Our correspondent today was Cat again. She's a sweetheart. I wonder if she and Leo are really dating...

Cat, pruducer Ia and me behind them

Oscar sandwich

Here are various celebrity sightings:
Tim Gunn- Carry on...

Joan Rivers-Iknow, I know but it's like a car accident; you can't help but look

Jodie Foster-Not diggin the hairstyle

Love Gael Garcia Bernal. He was with Diego Luna. but I wasn't fast enough to get them together.

Wolfgang Puck-He is tri-lingual and can cook too!

There was even a fruit vendor ! haha

Paul Haggis

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgard-too cute a couple

The Goracle and check out Steve Jobs eyeing Al and Tipper.

Larry and Laurie David-Stop Global Warming! and Go Solar!

Cameron Diaz

Catherine Deneuve

Emily Blunt and Michael Buble

Melissa Etheridge-Great suit, cute wife!

Penelope Cruz-She sounds alot less annoying in Spanish than in English, no?

Rachel Weisz

Jennifer Hudson-Go from rags to riches...well, kind of rags to expensive rags. What was she thinking? Don't let Andre Talley boss you around girl!

JLo and skeletor um Marc-He does have a good personality though.

Rinko Kikuchi-Girl from Japan,Teeth from England

Travoltas-With the money, he could have gotten more realistic hairplugs. Maybe those thetons are busting out.

Will and Leo in one shot-that's pretty cool-and steve carrell is in the middle. You can see Mayor Villarigosa off on the left too.

Steve Carrell

Jada Pinkett Smith-Will ran off to greet fans-what a guy! It makes me a little sad to see the grey hair that the Fresh Prince sports nowadays. Does that mean I am getting old too? Carlton?
Jaden Smith-What could you possibly do to make this kid enjoy his next kid party? Hire Cirque du Soleil?

Leonardo DiCaprio-He should have been nominated for The Departed too.

Sasha Baron Cohen-So serious and no BO

Daniel Craig-Poofer? not sure

Djimon Hounsou-Love him! But the suit was unfortunate. It looked like he borrowed one from a hotel valet.

Ken Watanabe

Mark Wahlberg-no funky bunch in sight

Gwyneth Paltrow-Where are Chris, Apple and Moses? I like this pix because you can see her jewelry and her hands serve the second purpose of hiding her face. Just kidding. I was wondering if someone actually did her hair or did she just air-dry and go?

Alan Arkin

Anne Hathaway-She was so excited to see Cat Deeley, just bursting. Not so keen on the dress but she seemed sweet.

Celine Dion-Bringing a little bit of Vegas to Hollywood. That's her mere behind her. Her father, I mean husband was also in tow.

Cate Blanchett- She is my favorite red carpet diva. Extremely elegant and poised.

George Lucas-Is it me or does he look part wookie?

Greg Kinnear-Here he is making fun of the very professional GMA signage

Forest Whittaker-Run Forest Run! His wife Keisha is crossing her fingers not giving the finger.

Eddie Murphy-He seems a tortured soul. I bet his brother Charlie is hilarious.

Nicole Kidman-Bad news: tomato dress and same hairdresser as Gwyneth. Good news: No crazy Tom, only depressing Keith

Beyonce-This picture cracks me up. Yes, I took nice photos of her, but those are a dime a dozen. Whack Beyonce is much more interesting.

Clint Eastwood-He acts, he directs, he scores(music), he bores his wife. Check her out on his right questioning the heavens as to when it will all end.

Martin Scorsese-Finally...

Mark-Could you all tell this tux was a rental? Highly flammable and ill fitting. He could be a Colonel in the Salvation Army. The style editor of "LA Camerman" magazine forcced him to wear the green fleece and the fishing hat. Alas, he left the custom made Armani tux at home. I won't even mention the light betwixt the legs...

This is what one saw going down the red carpet.

Until next year!

New baby in the family!

2007-02-19T19:20:00.000-08:00

On Feb. 1, Amelie Nicole was born. She looks just like her big sister did when she was a newborn.

Josephine and Jun Bernard are very excited about their new sister and are so sweet with her.

The day I flew to Chicago was Super Bowl Sunday (Da Bears) and it was -25 degrrees with the wind chill. Oh yeah, that's one reason I live in California. I knew I would be warming myself up (i.e, gorging myself) on Deep dish sausage pizza so that helped me forget about the cold. Long story short, the bears lost but the week in Chicago was relaxing and it was great being with family. Miss Josephine is a busy little bee with school, ballet, art and gymnastics. It is alot of work just dressing and undressing the kids to go out- fleece, snowpants, jacket, hat, scarf, mittens...

I love these two photos of Josephine and Jun Bernard. He put on that toque at just the right angle.

Here are some more photos:
mmm spisghetti!

post dinner/pre night-night:

what a face!:

And as usual, I brought a large deep dish pizza home. The personal was for the plane ride.

new years resolution

2007-01-31T23:03:00.000-08:00

Well it may be trite, but those holiday pounds sure are stubborn. I did join a new gym though. Being in the LA area I am bound to see a few celebs there. Yesterday, I say "The Rock", Duane Johnson. Usually I am not a "looker" but darn if he didn't look good. Quite handsome and built like a brick ****house. Yikes. Watching from across the floor, more than a few folk stopped him to say hello and he seemed nonplussed and friendly. Oh the Scorpion King has a soft side.....
Finally upgraded my 2g ipod to an 8o gig video thingy. After almost three weeks, I attempted to put videos on it. It only took maybe 4 hours of research to find the correct manual that told me to click "convert to ipod". Well at least I can watch the first episode of "Heroes" now. I do like listening to my audiobook at the gym. "Voyager" is pretty good and at 36 cds long a good library check-out. I could never listen to the whole thing in the month I am given.
I am about to be an aunt for the 8th time. My sister chose not to find out the sex ahead of time. I guess since it's their third, a little surprise would be welcome. I am set to travel to Chicago on Super Bowl Sunday-Go Bears! Unfortunately, it will be freezing there while LA finally warms up. Nothing to do but drown my chills in deep dish sausage pizza. mmm

Napa

2006-12-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a quick work trip to Napa. We stayed a cute bed and breakfast called La Belle Epoque. We never had a chance to try the breakfast since our call was so early but we did enjoy a little wine reception when we first arrived.

Work itself was pretty average. Hanging outside the courthouse to shoot characters and then some shooting inside the courtroom.

The highlight of this trip was the food. Dinner was at Celadon where I had a white bean tortilla sup, fried calamari with ginger and a duck/date salad. Mark had a salad and an excellent seafood pasta. Wine was a cab from Black Coyote that I cannot find anywhere on this coast. I did find it in NY but shippng would be crazy$.

After the shoot we were to meet the producer at Bistro Don Giovanni for lunch just outside of town. We were 45 minues early and we sat at the bar to finally have our breakfast. Ahh-pizza margherita and a glass of Scala's cabernet. Now that is civilized!
Lunch to follow was a beet and haricot vert salad and pappardelle with a porcini-sausage ragou. Mark had Linguine and clams with a side of spinach.

After lunch we went back to town to buy some wine. The wine shop we wanted to go to was closed but we did find a smaller place and bought 4 bottles. I thought that the grocery store would have a nice selection-not so much. At least there was a target and home depot in the same mall to run some errands.

Here's a photo of the flight back.

Dylan: still touring after all these years

2006-10-24T11:41:00.000-07:00

Friday night Mark and I went to the latest in our, er , his quest to see Bob Dylan at every show possible. He is still out there cranking although how much of the keyboard he is actually playing versus the keyboard as musical walker is still debatable. The band was incredibly tight and I was impressed. We didn't make the first act; Kings of Leon. I wonder how many folk did because there was a big crowd trying to get in when we arrived.

Lots of pot and middle-aged (and beyond) hippies doing their arm-waving, hip thrusting thing. Not much color to be seen. I guess that's not too surprising but you would expect to see a bunch of lighter-colored folk at a Jay-Z concert ya know. I think with Christine and I there, we upped the Asian population by at least 50%. I saw only one other so there may have been another somewhere there. She had dyed her hair blonde though-what does that do for the demographics?

PHEW!

2006-08-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

What a crazy few weeks. We were in Anchorage, well actually Girdwood, Alaska for 5 days for Michaels (brother in laws) wedding. It was an action packed weekend. Hiking, eating, tennis, eating, drinking, eating, sleeping, hiking, oh yea wedding. Lot's of fun and only one mosquito bite! We were there from Wed, July 26 till Monday July 31. We were originally supposed to be there until Wednesday but that would have been way too long. Too much to do at home.

Today, we had our first garage sale ever. It was good-quite successful. No crazies and a bunch of neighbors came by. Thankfully our only nasty neighbors with the nutty dog were no show and no problem. They have two but only one has serious psychological problems. It must take after its owners...
It feels really great to purge all that stuff from our closets and life in general. Marks Mom was a great help and his Dad offered moral support and counted the take later. Everything, well almost, else we didn't offload was brought to the Salvation Army on the junk express. I did keep the vintage linens and quilts to try and sell on either ebay or craiglist.

Tomorrow I start crafting again. I have two big fairs in September- Brentwood Art Show on Sept 17th and then Abbot Kinney Fest in Venice on Sept 24. Yahoo!

ladies weekend

2006-07-21T20:32:00.000-07:00

I got a haircut today. It's the first one in probably a year. Not much shorter but I also got a perm-OK, a body wave. That sounds much better than "perm" I think. Less Shirley Temple. I like it. Very subtle. I went to a place in Venice that was once a canal house-Off the top salon. I think I will go back there.
Tomorrow is girls night out! woop woop. Haven't had one in quite a while either. I am priming myself tonight with one margarita and some wine. Mark is BBQing a steak for me and some chicken breast form him. It will bw my first "organic" steak. Hope it's yummy.
I started getting stuff together for the garage sale. I have been putting stuff aside for years in the event of one and darn-it if we aren't going to have one in August!
J gets her new kidney on Tuesday. I would definitely be there if we weren't flying to Alaska the next day. I know everything is going to be great. I can sense it. She will be ponying up to the bar in no time! Well if only to order a cranberry juice...

The ESPYs

2006-07-13T01:06:00.000-07:00

Today, Mark and I were working for Good Morning America covering the ESPY awards. We arrived at around 1 but the red carpet arrivals didn't start until 4. Hollywood was H-O-T! Whenever I am there, I am so happy to live close to the ocean. We hunkered in the shade of the Kodak complex until the last minute with the other GMA crew and producers. Our talent for the day was Tanith Belbin-as in Belbin and Agusto. All I knew in the AM was that it was going to be an ice dancer. Later I found out she won silver at the Torino Olympics and was US champ for the past three years. Very impressive. Looking at this girl, you would never think she is an elite athlete. When I first saw her, with her big sunglasses, I thought she could pass for Nicole Ritchie. Tanith is thin but not THAT thin. She is adorable. Very easy going and funny.

Our first assignment was to shoot red carpet arrivals. Mark and I have shot a ton of these things and this one was so much less drama and attitude. Well there were no Celebrity/Hollywood egos to deal with. A sampling of the folks I saw today follows:
LeBron James
Terrell (sp?) Owens
Matt Leinert
Reggie Bush
Venus Williams
Matthew McConauhey (sp?)
Shaun White
Janet Jackson
Kobe Bryant
and others. But my favorite sighting had to have been James BLake. So cute. And the red leather shoes were fabulous. He was smaller in person though. Too bad he didn't do too well at Wimbledon. Maybe the US Open will be his slam...
The rest of the day was fairly chill. We hung out in the press tent. I knitted and Mark read the paper while out producer and correspondent went to California Pizza Kitchen.
I have to hand it to ESPN-they catered food for the press. Everyone was fed and hydrated. The food was pretty good too. Mixed greens with candied pecans-always a plus in my book, Sesame noodles and a myriad of different sandwiches.
At around 9pm, we were scheduled to shoot at the after party. The place (The Highlands) was packed with wanna-bes and such but there was a ton of food, alcohol and music. Sugar Ray was playing all their greatest hits (it was a short set). We shot a bit inside and even got to graze. Nothing great. I didn't even see any athletes in there. Oh-speaking of Sugar Ray...Earlier in the evening, I saw Sugar Ray Leonard. Maybe he should've sung "I just want to fly".
At one point, we were searching for someone who had won as ESPY and the only person we saw who had one was Tammy Richardson who won for, can you even guess? Best Angler.
As our shoot drew to a close, we ended up, as luck would have it close to the dessert table. MMMMsugar. Tanith said the brownies were really good. Whoa-understatement. They weren't brownies at all but miniature chocolate lava cakes. They weren't warm but they did have the goooey middle. Oh. my. god. I stuck two in my audio kit and called it a night. I am not ashamed. I would have taken more if I didn't have so much gear in my pack. Damn gear.
As we packed up by one of the many bars in the place, I inched closer to the bar pretending to utilize the light while I labeled the tape. I caught the eye of the bartender and asked him what kind of tequilas he had. "Cuervo (no), Cazadores(eh) and Corazon-(that will do!) I had already cleared it with the producer so I wasn't that naughty. Before he handed me my drink -gotta love open bar at awards show parties, he actually carded me. Bless his soul. That was one fine shot of tequila.

The kiddies are coming!

2006-07-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

Well it's certain-my sis, her hubby and their two kids/my godchildren will be coming to visit at the end of August. Yeah! Those two little munchkins are the cutest!
I just spoke to Josephine today and she told me about her swimming lessons-she is three. She also takes ballet. Jun Bernard is a world-class eater. How many one-year olds like lobster bisque? Well if you read my first post, I guess it runs in the family. Good thing we don't suffer from high cholesterol.

dr. doom

2006-07-10T17:33:00.000-07:00

Well today was interesting. I had an appointment to have a lavage performed on my ears. That's a fancy way of saying "flushing out your ears with an uncomfortably large amount of water". All I can say is "OWW" but at least now it doesn't feel like I have an industrial strength earplug in my right ear. I will save the gory details for myself. Three words-BIG METAL SYRINGE.

This was the first time I had gotten a check up in maybe two years. I leave the medical emergencies to my poor husband. It is always hard trying to find a dr. you like. The last one we had was great but he stopped taking Blue Shield.
How I wittled the selection down this time was by location first. Then I looked to see education, I googled possible candidates and then looked at what other write-ups they had. I decided to go for a woman this time and the one I chose ended up Asian with a Stanford education. Sounded promising. She was very nice and mellow. I hope I don't have to go through that process again soon.

yummy cheesey foodstuffs

2006-07-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

I am compelled to write about Trader Joes Chili Con Queso Cheese dip. SOOO delicious. The Chili part is a bit mileading since it's not spicy at all. It tastes just like the cheese sauce you get on Nachos at the ball park or concert. The kicker is-drumroll please-it's fat free. Whaa? It doesn't taste it. I feel like a kid when I eat this stuff-but with none of that pesky guilt .

I'm hungry now. I think I will have some Trader Joe's Flax Seed Chips and cheese dip.

Silver City, Here We Come!

2006-06-29T22:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend, Mark and I flew out to Phoenix to meet my cousins Jen and Chris for a whirlwind tour of Silver City, NM. I must preface this by saying that after 2 1/2 years of waiting, Jenny finally found a match for her kidney. The amazing guy, I will only call L used to work with her. What an amazing guy (yes, it bears repeating)...and she is scheduled to get it July 25th.

So, we left the airport at about 8pm, only 2 hours or so later than we had planned. As we approahed for landing, the heat of Phoenix started to seep into the plane and by the time we landed, we were quite uncomfortable. Mind you it was 10:30 at night and almost 90 degrees. As we waited for the cab to take us to the hotel, I asked Mark if he thought it might be cooler in the shade. Not so much. The reason we opted for a hotel and didn't say with Chris in her 5 bedroom house, was the fact that there are three dogs plus three cats living there. Add that to Marks and my allergies, equals a bad time.

Jen and Chris met us at 7am and we packed into the plane for the 1 1/2 hour flight. The two of them slept most of the way, and since we left so early, turbulence/air sickness was not an issue. I will always remember Jen in the back of a two-person kayak throwing up over the side while on calm Maui surf.

Silver Cty is an old mining town, that Mark and first went to a few years ago.Now we go back a few times a year. For the size of the town, there are alot of art galleries. Here's Mark in front of a few:

The farmers market was closing down, but we managed to buy some jam. Some flavors available were appleberry, boysenberry cactus and pear.
Lunch was at Dianes on Bullard. The four of walked through a bunch of galleries
and then met up with our friend Harry. Harry is a Silver City landmark. His gallery, What's A Pot Shop is always a fun place to visit.

He took us to the old Elks lodge, a huge brick building in the middle of town. A guy named David bought it and not only lives there but will open a restaurant with a pseudo goth theme. Sounds interesting. The building is puportedly haunted. What with all the gargoyles in attendence, it is not surprising.

At around 3, we checked into the Palace Hotel. This place dates from 1882. Didn't ask if it was haunted. Don't want to know. The last time Mark and I stayed there, we had a dark room above the local dive bar, the Buffalo Bar. Not very realxing. This time, we had a little room on the other side. So cute:
Here is the lobby:

The weather started to look a bit menacing, but we drove out to Pinos Altos to have a snack/drink at the Buckhorn Saloon. Dating from 1860, they have awesome buffalo burgers. The four of us split one plus fried mushrooms ( mmm fried mushrooms) and drank various beverages. We snuck into the opera house too.

Northwest Adventure

2006-06-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

Starting on June 7th, Mark and I began our "Noooo Reservations" (thank you Anthony Bourdain) by flying to Reno to visit with Jack and his new family. Lately Jack has been directing a little show called Extreme Makeover, Home Edition. We didn't make it to his and Leanns wedding so we owed them a wedding present dinner. We ended up at the Eagles Nest right on Lake Tahoe. When we were walking to our table, I noticed a monster bottle (Methusela) of Isosoles by Justin Wine. Now this has been my very favorite since I tried it last year. When I looked at the wine list it wasn't listed but the sommelier said he saw a few bottles in the managers office and he would see what he could do. Well hurray! He brought one out and for the rock bottom price of $125 it could be ours. Oh my. I know I could finish off half a bottle myself so four of us would have to be very careful of not hoarding. We ended up getting it and as usual, it was Fab-O-lous. I ordered the duck breast, Mark had the Buffalo (VG). In the end, they ended up comping my meal because some of it was quite overcooked. Jack and Leann each had lamb and Elk respectively. I think it was a great wedding present.
June 8
Today we ended up in Ashland, Oregon: Home of the Shakespeare Festival.

Our first hotel was The Plaza Inn . Nice place and great location. We spent the day with Ken Goddard, author and Director of the National Fish & Wildlife Forensic Lab. Our first wine tasting of the trip began at a little tapas bar. We sat outside with our Abacela Sangiovese and marveled at the sun beating down on us at 7:30pm.
Our dinner choice was Amuse on 1st.

Yum. I started with the Two Sons Farm Baby Greens with Warm - Aged Goat Cheese Toasts, Beets and Sherry Vinaigrette. Mark had Watercress, Shaved Fennel and Ruby Grapefruit with Israeli Feta, Pinenuts and Creamy Garlic Dressing .
For entrees, I had Seared Sea Scallops with Potato Puree, English Peas and White Truffle Oil. There is a reason this is pictures on their website. It is awesome. Mark had Seared Pacific Halibut with Braised Leeks, Fava Beans and Meyer Lemon Aioli. This halibut dish would be the first of many on this trip. Dessert was some decadent chocolate lava thing that went well with the port I ordered.

June 9
Today we moved into the Arden Forest Inn. Cute bed and breakfast a little farther walk from town but very cozy. There was a pool that we did not get to use. I slept really well there. I spent the morning dealing with zoomzabebe stuff while Mark hung out the the lab. Around noon, I was in need of a snack and found Allysons, a cute kitchen store with a deli/wine store in the basement. The meat and cheese plate was stocked with 3 different meats and 3 cheeses with great bread and grapes. I noticed a sign for wine tasting later that night and made a mental note.
Mark and Ken met me around 2 and headed for Wildlife Images. It is a rehabilitation and education center. Ken works closely with them so we were given great access to the animals they have there.
The first cuties we saw were three badgers whose mother was run over. Here is one:

Then we got to play with the wolves. Yes these are wild wolves but you would never know it the way they cuddled with Ken.

I passed on the wolf love though. I was more than content to lightly pet them. They were incredibly furry and shedding. Achoo!

What I loved the most about this place was Cody the grizzly bear. Twelve hundred pounds of muscle and he doesn't know it.

Dave, the Director was feeding him littl gummi bears(heehee) and Cody would gently put them in his mouth.
Yes, Cody is waving here. We also went into the Andean Condor cage where Gomez and Morticia are kept. With a wingspan of 12 feet, we all kept our distance from these two.

Dinner was a family affair at Katwok. The Goddard family was alot of fun and sushi in the mountains was pretty good. I also had Oregon Pinot Gris for the first time and really liked it. Later we bought one of those huge caramel apples from Rocky Mountain Chocolates which ended up lasting for days.

June 10

My 27th birthday again! We started with a round table breakfast of Shakespeare fans at the bed and breakfast and then walked into town for an impromtu shopping trip. Aside from the planned wine purchase, Mark ended up with yet another pair of zip-off hiking pants. I faired a little better with a pair of funky Camper boots. The sales lady even took $20 off. She said she bought these same boots on her birthday too. Yea for me, Mark bought them.

Mcminnville was our next stop. We had no idea what to expect from this town except that the Spruce Goose now lives there. Before checing in to McMennamins Hotel Oregon we found Panther Creek Winery and tasted a bunch of Pinot Noirs. Three bottles bought later, we checked into the hotel. The first room we had was hot and stuffy with no sink. We ended up with a cooler room that at least had a sink in it. Call me spoiled, but I do enjoy having a private bathroom very very much. It wasn't too bad though. I never say anyone when I did use the facilities and when I showered.
The hotel is cool in that they had live music in two venues as well as a fantastic rooftap bar.

This was right at sunset-oh 9 pm or so. The rest of the night was spent doing more wine, ahem, research and then dinner at Maison Bistro. Very simple french fair with the very famous french dessert- smores. Marshmallows were flying, let me tell you.

June 11

After a suprisingly restful night, thanks to earplugs, we went to visit Howard Hughes' legacy. Here is Mark inside the monster. There were alot of very cool aircraft here. There was even a wine bar! Spruce Goose Vineyards does exsist. Or as I call it Spruce Goose Juice.
Ya know, it wasn't that bad. We had to buy a bottle if only for the label.
Spruce Goose Museum
Next stop Astoria. We knew there was a farmers market there so we got there about 1pm. It was a beautiful, if infrequent sunny, warm day.

We checked into the Hotel Elliott . What a nice hotel. Our room had a view of the Columbia River and even had heated floors in the bathroom. We bought cherries and jam and pickled garlic. Ate steamed clams and grilled oysters.
After a stop at the Lewis and Clark Clastsop Fort, we went to the Astoria Column and climbed the 165 steps to the top.
Marks brother Michael had told us we could buy gliders to sail off at the top-ridiculous but true. Mark bought 5 of them and after some minor adjustments, they were ready for flight. One that Mark sent off was aloft for a good 4 minutes and must have gone .5 miles at least. He really wanted to go around collecting errrant gliders but there was too much seafood to be eaten in town.

We wanted to enjoy the great roof deck at the hotel so we brought our market fresh goodies, including a bottle of Viognier and a melted brie plate from the place across the street to the roof. Gorgeous.

Dinner was actually one of the only low points of the whole trip. The restaurant was called Baked Alaska. Mark had a subpar Salmon and I had a bowl of descent Clam Chowder. The view of the water was nice but the open door had us in our jackets the whole time. Oh well.

June 12

The next day we looked at a house for sale. For $579,000 we could be in a remodeled craftsman with a river view. Thanks but the 150 inched of rain a year could be a bit much for me. On the way out, we snapped a picture of the house from the movie The Goonies. It's funny, they put the location on the official Astoria tourist map, but when you get to the place, it says "No Trespassing".

Next stop: Port Angeles, WA and the Olympic National Rain Forest.
A very typical NW summer day: cool and rainy and just prime weather for yeat another bowl of clam chowder. This time, I supplemented with pan fried oysters. Mark had mussels. The restaurant was right on the water and despite looking like a tourist trap, was quite tasty. On our ride into town, we noticed a Philippino restaurant that Mark really wanted to go to. Not wanting a cafeteria-style, non seafood meal, I said nuh-uh. For some reason, while I was at the internet cafe, Mark went to the Phi. place and orderd some shrimp and pineapple dish that came with egg rolls. The place itself was a bit sad. No customers, no food in the warming trays. The owner/lady there had really long hair and no hairnet or gloves. Eww.

Anyway, we stopped at the Natl Park visitors center and after a chat with the ranger decided that campng out was not gonna do (still raining, no stove, we're wimps...) Luckily, there was a hot springs resort in the park and we decided to head that way. Now don't go thinking Four Seasons hot Shprings or anything. This place was pretty minimilistic. Here's our cabin:
Solduc
We were lucky it was available for two nights because after the first days hike, we wanted to stay. Here are the SolDuc Falls that are a quick walk for the trail head:
We only went 3-4 miles the first day since it was getting late. Dinner was at 8:30 and we were not expecting much. The place is run by Aramark and the whole staff is made of college kids. I had read reveiews about the bad service too. Well, our meals were amazing. I only had salad and, yes, Clam Chowder. Only this chowder had more of a broth base. The bowl itself was huge, like 14" across. So good. Mark had Halibut caught locally in Neah Bay. He was beside himself with joy. So much that he made the waiter get the chef so he could praise him/her. It turns out the chef was a 20 year old from Vegas who had gone to Cordon Bleu. Not to shabby. We could hear the high fives when she returned to the kitchen.

June 13
Our plan was to soak in the mineral hot tubs first thing in the morning. They actually drain all the pools at night and refill them. We figured, after all the other tourists cooking in them all day, fresh sulphur springs would be more enjoyable. There are 3 hot pools ranging from 100 -105 degrees. We lasted about 20 minutes in the 105 pool, showered, had breakfast (yummy blueberry pancakes) and went off on our hike.

It was beautiful. We went 10 miles or so in 4 hours with a 1200 (+-) elevation gain. There weren't that many people there even though the rain held off. We found a great lunch spot at Deer Lake but had to put on all out clothes and jackets since we were at the snow level. The only bad part was my old old hiking boots that I had were killing me. They are 8 years old and they did not leave SolDuc.
Ah the wildlife...
Dinner that night was good as well. Mark again had the Halibut and I had a seafood pasta.

June 14

The next morning we soaked again pre-breakfast and prepped ourselves to go back to civilization and Seattle. The flight was pretty short-35 minutes. We redeemed Starwood points to stay at the W. We are not fans of this hotel. We like the W in general, but they are so pretentious and expensive. I don't want to pay $35 for valet parking and $15 for internet service. Heck, the Best Western offers it for free. Lunch was a business meeting at a fancy Thai place by the market. I can safely say that this Seattle trip was primarily about eating and drinking with a little business thrown in. Laundry was next on our list. Mark found a laundromat on Capital Hill and instead of sitting around watching the spin cycle, we found a little pizzaria called Il Forno at 1356 E. Olive Wy. So delicious. We are both pretty particular when it comes to pie what with our Chicago and New York tendencies, but this was good stuff. I don't know what came over us, but instead of ordeing one pizza, we each got one. Mine had sausage, mushrooms, onions, green peppers and olives. Marks had a ton of garlic with some tomato, artichoke hearts and pesto. Throw in two bottles of beer and it's a wonder we get our laundry finished. Alas, after the last shirt was folded, we headed to our favorite cafe, Victrola and partook of fab capps and free wifi.

Mark wanted to take me someplace at the market. It tuned out to be Place Pigalle (81 Pike Street, Pike Place Market). It overlooks the water and is a tiny place. We sat at the bar with the intention of going out to see the sunset by 8:45. Well, we got so wrapped up in chatting with the owner and his friend, that we ended up closing the place down.

June 15

A quick workout to prime myself for another day of culinary debauchery, Mark had a meeting at 10. We went to a few baby stores to take a peek.
The cultural stop on the days agenda was REI. There must be something piped into the air here because this place is the only place that Mark is a shopaholic. I am the one tapping my toes, waiting for him to decifer the merits of every headlamp on display. He did end up chooing one. It will most likely end up in our drawer with our other 6 lamps. I do love this store though. Everyone who walks out is happy and the service is just right. Not too granola, not too techy.
In order to celebrate our trunk full of new gear, we headed to Victrola Cafe. Again. I was in a Cappucino trance and found a promising place for dinner on-line.

First, a quick 2 dozen oysters at Elliotts oyster house and we were off again.
t was past 9 and still light. We got to Crush around 10 and were surprised there were people still dining. The place is in a converted house with an open kitchen and modern furnishings. I had read how they liked to use locally, organic products and I am a sucker for that. When I opened the menu, I literally gasped. Two words. Foie gras. That starter would be my main course. My appetizer was the Prawn Agnolotti. Excellent; pasta with fresh peas and 2 large grilled shrimp. Wine was great too. Cooralook Cab-very rich. Mark ordered, wait guess... Halibut. He said it was good but I didn't even taste it because I was so enthralled with my perfectly seared piece of, dangerously close to being boycotted, foie gras. Of course it was served with some sweet reduction. I just concentrated on the foie gras. I just like writing that. foie gras. mmmm. I was so happy. The warm chocolate cake we had after was like a cracker in my mind. Good, but not fo....I won't make you read it again.

June 16

A few stops at some more baby stores. I found a little bakery called Bella Dolce (2711 E Madison St). They had one ham and cheese brioche left (mine). I couldn't leave with out a chocolate bread pudding and the compulsury cappucino. The brioche was heaven. Light and airy yet dense and chewy. The bread pudding was good but I was smitten with the brioche.
Mark had called the owner of Place Pigalle, Bill and he agreed to shoot a Random Eye. I stayed in the car since parking was a bear. We had decided to stay another night but switched to the Sheraton. Better location. We packed out of the W, taking all the toiletries (hey they were Bliss) and Tea Bags. Hey, it was good tea too. The room at the Sheraton was nice: a Starwood Preferred Guestroom. ooh.
Then we went to a few shops in Ballard. I like Ballard. Would like to spend more time there in the future.
Our planned late lunch was happy hour at Elliotts oyster house. Starting at 3pm, oysters are 50 cents each rising 20 cents every 30 minutes. The gods were smiling on us because we found a space right outside the restaurant that turned into a pumpkin at 5pm. We would be long gone and full of oysters by then.
There were some initial server issues but in the end, we were plated with 3 dozen oysters as well as a sausage and clam dish that ended up being half price. Good lunch! We left and went up to the market. It was pretty much closed down. Today's afternoon capp was from Seattles Best while Mark disappeared to eat stuffed cabbage at a little Russian joint. I guess oysters leave enough room for comfort food. We decided to go the Tasting Room on Post Alley. The wines there were not that impressive. We only ended up with one bottle of Sangiovese. I suppose after all the tasting in Oregon, my palate must have been pretty picky.
After a quick snooze in the room, I was barely able to get out of the bed. Mark was rushing to catch the sunset. We hoofed it down to the water and caught the last rays and walked around Bell town in search of dinner. Nothing really caught our eye so we headed back to Place Pigalle. We were worried that Bill might think we were stalking him, but he was as noce as could be. We had a table by the window and had another great meal. Sauteed greens, beet salad, Salmon and Sea Scallops. Mark had--just kidding. Somehow we ended up with 2 comped desserts. But the best part was the wine. Bill recommended a 2002 Isenhower cab that would come into play again soon.

Ah, our last supper in Seattle. We are now at the point in our trip where we start the journey south towards home.

June 17

Walla Walla woop woop. We were meeting the Smiths for lunch since they had a wedding that evening. Our courtesy car at the airport was real hum-dinger: A Pontiac Catalina. I could not even open the door when I was in the passenger seat. It was nice though.Mark had to be chivalrous. Thankfully, Sharon and Smitty let us use their Escape to drive around wine country. We might have passed out from the exhaust fumes otherwise.
Ater checking into the superluxe HOJO Express, we hightailed it to Isenhower Cellars. We only had time for one wimery and since we loved the Cab from the night before, we figured it was a safe bet. Yup. Good stuff. The staff there was so impressed that we had had a 2002. They are rare, they said. We ended up joining the club. So twice an year, we will be getting a care package from Walla Walla.
There are over 80 wineries in the area, although most of the grapes are ground elsewhere. Cool barn
Mark wanted to wash Sharons car since we put it on a few dirt roads.
I would love to open a wine bar downtown. Maybe the Smiths of WW and Santa Monica could get something together. hmm. The places we did go to were good. Grapefields had a nice, but small selection of wines by the glass but a nice pizza snacky. 26 Brix is the fanciest place in town. We opted to sit at the bar. Low and behold, they had foie gras on the menu. Yes, that's what I ordered. Mark had something with green beans and a lemon sauce. Not sure, my foie gras tunnel vision was in effect.

June 18 (Fathers Day)
Breakfast with the Smiths. Cool folk.
It's interesting meeting people who have known Mark longer than I. It would be fun to return to Walla Walla again for a longer period. Maybe to look for real estate...
Leaving was tough-there are 13 wineries right at the airport. One could fly in. Deplane and wine taste 2 minutes later. Mark didn't try any but I tasted wine from two good ones: Dunham Cellars and Tamarack. I couldn't resist and bought another 6 bottles to add to our stash.

Silverton, OR. Wierd place. Really wierd B&B with an even wierder owner. Sorry, just soggy waffles with hairy bacon not my style. Two bright spots here: The Silver Grill
mine: rabbit with gnocchi
Marks: halibut (noo!) in a bordelaise sauce

and the Silver Falls State Park.

June 19

The hiking is not technical at all, but we did a quick 6 miles with lunch in under 2 hours. There are 8 waterfalls to see and you can even walk behind a few of them. I started to come down with something today but motored on.

Roseburg, Oregon. The airport is right in town and we were given a crew car-yeah free car! It was a Honda Accord with 230,000 miles. Nice. It was kind of late when we landed so we heded for the "downtown area". There are some nice old Victorians around but downtown is not happenin' yet.
This is another investment possibility. I love the fact that the Umpqua river winds it's way through the city. Fishing is supposed to be great around here. Dinner was at the only place still open at 8 pm-The Mark V. It was tapas style and I have to give it to them. They tried hard but the best thing here was the tomato soup.

June 20

Breakfast was tasty and the restaurant is an up and comer: Brix 527 (There are definitley recurring themes on this trip). Good coffee and good pancakes. My scramble was not hot at all, barely warm but good.
We had 2.5 hours to tour and we spent it looking for land and finding one winery-Henry Cellars. The piece of land we did find was gorgeous. River frontage and the pricetag to go with it. The wine was nice. We ended up bringing it to dinner at Doug and Jens in

Nevada City.
Doug picked us up at the airport and drove us to our hotel. The Parsonage Mark got us a cute room for $100. They were asking $150 but were willing to negotiate. Hurray for midweek vacancies. That night we just hung out at Dougs and had our first homecooked meal in weeks. Peanut sauce pasta and baked cod with apples. Thanks guys, it was great. My cold was at it's peak and the cat/dog didn't really help. We had to call it quits early but nut before a nightcap at The National Hotel. It's the oldest continuously-operating hotel west of the Rockies. Built in 1854-57.

June 21

Last day of the trip. Great breakfast. Homemade quiche, fruit and bacon with fresh squeezed OJ and good coffee. We walked though town-man it was hot already. I stopped in a great gallery, Julie Baker Fine Art. Very cool jewelry and art plus bags from Sew Pretty. Go Switchborders go!
Doug was kind enough to drive us back to the airport for the very last leg of our NW adventure. We got home around 3pm. After we unloaded the car, this is one part of the aftermath: Yes, a very good ending indeed.