Tacoma Daycation

A friend of ours, Tim Cross, has some of his work showing at the Tacoma Art Museum as part of the Neddy Fellowship Award Exhibition. I think that is pretty cool to get your stuff in a museum, congratulations Tim! Not wanting to miss it my friends Jeff and Geno and I decided play tourist for an afternoon in Tacoma.

The Tacoma Art Museum is small and has some interesting works in it and like everything in Tacoma they love their Chihuly glass. This outdoor installment was really pretty, as the light changed in the afternoon the colors and shadows did too.


After finishing up at the museum we walked over to Central Station, the old railroad station now a Federal building housing a big Chihuly exhibit.

From there we walked over the Bridge of Glass and wandered around outside the Museum of Glass. There is a really fun fountain called the Water Forest, water collects on the top of each cylinder and when the breeze comes up it blows the water off. On this hot and sunny day we felt like kids playing in it!


Our Chihuly walking tour came to an end at The Swiss where we stopped for beers and sandwiches before heading back to Seattle. We were told that he spent a lot of time eating at The Swiss and gave them these pieces as a "thank you".

Tacoma is actually quite pretty with all it's brick buildings and interesting museums. It was really clean and really quiet and we all commented on the bad rap it gets. And then the breeze blew... aroma... and we headed home! Thanks Jeff & Geno for a fun day trip!

All the photos (taken only with my iPhone this time) are here

Viva Las Vegas!

Every year a group of my girlfriends get together and invade Las Vegas. It started out A LONG time ago and we use to go in December for my birthday. A couple of days in Vegas right before Christmas was actually really relaxing- you were whisked away from the last minute shopping and holiday stress and plopped in a chair at a less busy than normal blackjack table with Christmas carols playing on the sound system. I can remember our financial status' by the hotels we stayed in- Harrahs, Flamingo, TI, Mirage...

photo courtesy of brookenbria

For my bachelorette party (hen's night to you Aussie's!) 6 years ago (next month!) we of course went to Vegas. And the yearly party switched from a winter to a summer thing. Some go every year and some we haven't seen for a while. There have been pregnant attendees and those who have left newborns at home with dads. But I'm happy to say I have attended every year and will continue to do so (since I look upon it as my little party!).

No Vegas trip is complete without a trip to In-n-Out Burger, this year we had a kick ass limo driver who took us to the drive thru! Yeah, double double animal style in style!

This year I put the girls in charge of the hotel decisions and kept the limo & restaurant reservations as my job. Ally did a great job of getting us beautiful and connecting rooms at the Wynn Encore. I can't say enough about the staff at the Encore. The service here was really top notch! Our bell hop even took time to show us around our room, including a lesson in using the bedside remote for lights, tv, drapes, etc. There are two pools, one family style and one European pool where you have to be 21 to be in. This was awesome as we never heard or ran into any kids! They have a rule that you aren't allowed to take pictures at this pool either...

photo courtesy of Ally Cox

Some of us went to the spa at the Encore for massages and all declared it the best of the Vegas spas and our massages in our top 3, really it is fantastic and I highly recommend!

Our girl Ally is turning 40 this month so as a treat we had a little surprise party for her before going out to an awesome dinner at Bouchon on Saturday night.

photo courtesy of brookenbria

Brooke and Michelle did a great job of decorating the room and setting up a nice table of snacks. Ally's husband Dino surprised her by sending 2 beautiful bottles of Schramsburg Champagne up to our room. And we all brought fun little presents for the girl of the hour.

Four years ago during one of the annual trips we also had dinner at Bouchon. The Bouchon Bakery was opening the same weekend we were in town so I asked our waiter if Chef Keller happened to be in the restaurant that night. When he said "yes" I asked if he could come to our table for a minute. Chef Keller came out and actually sat with us for a bit, signing all our menus and being very gracious. At the end of the evening he sent out every dessert on the menu for us to enjoy. When we were seated this time we realized we were at the same table and had the same waiter, he remembered our experience also and at the end of our dinner the kitchen sent out every dessert on the menu again. Very nice and an easy way to make us all feel very special!

A few nights of late night gambling, drinking cocktails non stop, laughing our asses off, hanging out at the spa, playing "Wheel of Fortune", singing the Party Pit song and catching up on all the celebrity gossip makes for a very fun weekend with the girls. I'm already thinking about next year...

The real weekend in Orange County

Visiting my aunt and uncle in Orange County is always fun and this trip was no exception. We started the weekend with a casual dinner & drinks at a near by restaurant in Newport Bay. Live entertainment provided by my family's friend Bobby made for a very fun evening. In Southern California they publish where police are doing road blocks to check for drunk drivers in the local paper so everyone takes detours. This weekend's block was on Dover. After affixing our sticky note to the dash with the reminder "Don't drive on Dover" we were off. Funny at the end of our evening as we were leaving the parking lot the security attendant gave us his advice to "don't drive on Dover" also. This became the mantra of the weekend (you had to be there, it was funny!)



The next morning we were off to Temecula for an afternoon of wine tasting. We started out at Callaway where some of my uncle's friends, Brian and Sue, joined us. We had never been to this wine area before but found that every winery charged $8 and up for tasting, generally gave you 6 tastes and even if you purchased wine there were no refunds on the tasting fee.



We decided to pick up sandwiches from a great little deli and find a picnic spot at one of the wineries to enjoy our lunch. We ended up in a nice grassy spot with a pretty little view at one of the sparkling wine producers, we would realize later that this was the only winery without a dedicated picnic area, oh well!



The rest of the afternoon was spent tasting at Stuart, Falkner and South Coast Winery. All had something nice but I think I can speak for the group that none of them completely blew us away with their wines. My highlight was riding with Sue in her pretty silver Porsche- varoom!

My aunt's sister, who has a house in the area, was out of town and had generously invited us all to stay there so we made our way home and got down to the business of cocktails and hot tubbing.


The house sits out near an airfield and planes were dropping skydivers almost directly overhead. The wind helped them over to their landing spots miles from where we were but for a few minutes you could look up and watch the free fallers pop up as their parachutes opened. Also out here in the "country" were burrowing owls and lots of horses. The wild west!

We had a wonderful dinner of grilled steak and lobsters, steamed artichokes with butter and caprese salad. Dayne made up Sazeracs and of course there was wine from the day's outing.
We headed back to Costa Mesa the next day detouring through Dana Point and Laguna Beach areas. The weather was gorgeous so the beaches and towns were packed leaving us no options to park and wander around. We ended up in a little shopping mall with a Tommy Bahama store. This particular store also had a restaurant/lounge and was serving up happy hour. Really nice drinks and excellent small plate food served with live music at a very good price. And Dayne got to go shopping- so all in all a win!

The evening was spent at my family's house enjoying the hot tub, patio & bbq- ultimate vacation relaxation.

Our weekend wrapped up with a short drive to Huntington Beach for brunch at Duke's. The restaurant has a great loction right on the beach and valet parking is only $3! All the food and mai tai's were tasty, unfortunately a busser dropped a dish of salad dressing on my aunt's lap while clearing our table and the manager really didn't go out of her way to make things better which was disappointing. I think my uncle contacted the manager after the fact and got a better resolution.

Thanks to Uncle John & Aunt Karen for a great weekend! The rest of the pictures are here

Drink, Eat, Baseball

Last month we went to Chicago for the weekend to visit our friend Judy, catch up on the food and cocktail scene and take in a ballgame. We used miles to fly and stayed at the Monaco Hotel thanks to a great $81 per night deal! A quick ride into town on the train, free since our friend Dino had sent us some unused train tickets, and we were ready to hit the town.


We met Judy and her friends Amy & Andreas for dinner at Mado in the Wicker Park/ Bucktown area. Dinner was casual and fun and there were lots of new things for me to try since the kitchen pretty much sent out the entire menu (that is what happens when you go out with Judy, everyone knows her!) Of the things I was brave enough to try: grilled pork heart with radicchio, pecans and saba (excellent!) also blood pudding (ok but not a good texture for me). The food here was all quite good, I thought they needed to cook their beans a bit more in the porchetta dish and the octopus dish but overall a good "farmer" style of meal.


After dinner we walked a few blocks to The Violet Hour. Passing the line at the door (another Judy perk) we were seated in a gorgeous room, at a huge booth. The rooms were much prettier than I expected having only been to Bourbon & Branch and Milk & Honey as far as "speakeasy" style bars go. We each had 3 excellent cocktails in our 2 hours spent there, and a shot of chartreuse on the bartender. But when 2am comes, it doesn't matter who you are- the lights come on and you need to get out! So home we went...

Doesn't this look like a Suntory ad?

We had tickets the next day for the Cubs vs. the Marlins at Wrigley Field, a field we hadn't been to before so I was super excited. More excited when we picked up our tickets and were told they moved us 2 rows and a section closer to home plate. The game was action packed with the Cubs winning 6 to 1 and the weather was perfect. What wasn't exciting was the food, ugh!! You'd think in Chicago you could at least get a proper dog at the game. Blah, we are so spoiled by the food at Safeco Field!

Andreas and Amy had also been at the game so we hooked up with them after and had HUGE German beers at Uberstein in Wrigleyville. I like saying Wrigleyville, it's funny! At Uberstein you and your friends can do a "ski shot". They bring over a snow ski that has 4 shot glasses glued to it and you and your buddies all hold the ski and tip it up and do your shot. If you are the shortest you will get drenched with your shot. Ah youth... :p

Before heading to dinner we met up with Judy at her new penthouse apartment for cocktails. Penthouse + cocktails = awesome! Check out the view

Judy, her friend Scott, Dayne and I were dining at Blackbird that night, I had been wanting to go since it first opened! We were given a very nice table right in the front window and pretty much tasted the entire menu between the four of us ordering and the extras that the kitchen brought out (again...Judy!) The meal (and wine, thanks Scott!) was stellar but I really think they shine the brightest with their appetizers. Now I need to get to sister restaurant Avec!

After dinner we headed to The Drawing Room, I had heard about their tableside cocktail service and sure enough once we ordered we were offered either drinks done fast at the bar and brought over or each made individually in front of us from the card. This is so much better than tableside Caesar salad! And then out came a platter of wonderful crudo (on the house because of "you know who again!"). I thought the drinks here were really good, the only drawback was that there is a disco in the next room and you could hear the bass going. I'd recommend it though!

Dayne and I finished our quick trip the next morning with brunch at Perennial. Dayne picked the place from some menus I showed him based on the fact that they had breakfast sliders! It was a good brunch- inexpensive, pretty inside, little patio outside, good food. And bonus running into my friend Kyle (Hi Kyle!)


The weather all weekend was just gorgeous! Thanks again to Judy for all her hospitality and wonderful to meet Amy, Andreas & Scott!

Full set of photos here

Entertaining Seattle style, a weekend in our own backyard

Last month our friends Chuck and Wes came up to visit for the first time from LA. We met them 3 years ago during a Tales of the Cocktail seminar where after they took us to Johnny's Po-Boys for a quick lunch before our next session started- this immediately secured them as our friends as those were some damn good po-boys!

I picked the boys up at the airport and we immediately headed to Salumi for some damn good sandwiches, Seattle style. I think they liked the product as the trunk was loaded with salumi on the way out. It was such a gorgeous spring day that we decided to grab a beer (or two) out on the deck at Rays Boathouse.


We met Dayne back at home and had a casual happy hour before heading out to Union where Rocky had arranged a fabulous tasting menu (damn if I didn't give both my menus to Chuck so I don't have all the dishes). But let me tell you, when dinner starts with Rocky using a huge knife to saber off the cork of a champagne bottle you're in for a good time! All the food was amazing although there was too much of it!

Saturday morning we started off at Besalu for the best pasteries in the city and then caught a ferry over to Bainbridge Island. Our weather wasn't as good on day 2 but who doesn't like a ferry ride, scenery and getting some good lunch (and a Playboy Bloody Mary) at the Pub?


That night, cocktail crawl Ballard. We eased into things at the Copper Gate then headed down for a nosh, splitting between La Isla & Ocho. More drinks at Moshi Moshi and finally on to Sambar. We have some awesome bars in our little hood!!

Cocktail geekery was enjoyed by all!

Sunday while the boys went to the geek museum I prepped the house for a little cocktail party we were throwing in honor of Chuck & Wes' visit. I think when you have great bartender friends and great cocktail geek friends it's best just to let them all have at it! So with that in mind Dayne pulled up a various assortment of bottles from the liquor dungeon and put them on the island/bar, he & Chuck made a big jug of punch & he also created a huge ice block to chip from, Rocky made some kick ass spring rolls, I filled the absinthe loucher and the guests arrived with more bottles of delicious spirits.


There is nothing better than having your house filled with bartenders. Period. I did basically nothing the whole evening except ask certain people to make me a cocktail. It was a very nice group of folks too with the travel prize going to Blair for coming up from Portland and driving back the same night. Other usual suspects were in attendance including Paul, Jim & Zane, Keith, Stevi, and a special appearence by Murray.

Monday morning Chuck made Brandy Milk Punch for us and we had brunch at home before they went to explore Pike Place with Zane. Another bar crawl that night, Downtown to Queen Anne. Easing into things at Vessel (the night before was not an early one!) we then made our way down to Spur for some seriously delicious dinner, on to visit Anu and her awesome Saffron Sandlewood Sour at Rob Roy and finishing the evening with Jamie at Tini Biggs.

Rocky, Chuck, Wes and I had a leisurely and awesome lunch the next day at Matt's in the Market before the boys had to fly back to LA LA land... but I know they will be back, right boys? :)

Photos from the weekend here

The San Francisco treat!

A free night in our favorite SF Kimpton, a few new cocktail bars & restaurants to check out and Dave & Dino's birthday party... all great reasons for a weekend in the bay!

We couldn't help but notice that there was no traffic when we landed on a Friday night last month, we were checking into the Palomar 30 minutes after we had landed! After snacking on the chocolate dipped strawberries waiting for us in our room we grabbed a cab and headed out to The Alembic Bar. This wasn't our first time here but last time we had met friends on a Sunday so there was a much different vibe going on Friday evening. We had a few cocktails made expertly by Danny & Daniel- The Gilded Lily with real gold dust (although a bit too perfumy for my taste), The Southern Exposure (which was a delicious blend of mint, lime juice, celery juice & Junipero), a Promissory Note (Repossado, vermouth, Canton, honey, absinthe and a radish slice and grated nutmeg garnish), and a "Take Your Chances" which resulted in a Dark & Stormy.


We had to only wait a few minutes before we could sit at the bar but by the time we left it was packed. Go before 9pm and you should be fine. It was sitting here at the bar that I first noticed the bartenders could shake one drink while stirring another simutanously- envision the head patting/tummy rubbing and you get the idea.

Off to dinner at SPQR. They don't take ressies so we went down the street to Dosa and had a cocktail and a dosa, which was yummy! The place is very large and pretty and was quite a scene. We headed back to SPQR and were seated at a tiny table in the front window next to another tiny table, the space was really too small for even a 4 top so two 2 tops was a squeeze to say the least. All our food was good and if this were in my neighborhood we would frequent it but it wasn't good enough to be a destination restaurant in my opinion.

Off to Heaven's Dog where another round (or two) of wonderful cocktails like the Bumble Bee, Remember the Main, Tiger's Milk #2 & an Old Fashion were served up by Erick, Jackie and Eric. And again there was the simultaneous shake/stir going on!


The next day was beautiful and sunny so we headed out to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japan Town. It is a small community festival with lots of dancing, music, Japanese street food, etc. A very nice way to spend the day!


Later that evening we joined our friends in celebrating Dave & Dino's birthday at a great little wine bar in Burlingame. This was the second year in a row we were able to travel down and play with the boys, very fun and lots of great wine!


The next day Ally made a wonderful Easter breakfast for us all and then we went for a little walk in the Skyline area. We were all looking forward to lunch at In n'Out Burger before hitting the airport but they were closed for the Easter holiday! grrrrrr!!

We left the sun and our friends and came home to dark, stormy skies greeted at SeaTac by this double rainbow!

photos

Puerto Vallarta

In mid-February one of my well-up-the-chain-of-command bosses at work surprised me with an offer of a free trip to Puerto Vallarta, all expenses paid, as part of an annual rewards program. Wendy and I were a last-minute addition to the group that was going -- someone had dropped out, and I was apparently next on the list -- and we were temporarily in a bit of a bind. Forest was coming for a visit at the end of the month, and we had a party planned for her, just when we were now supposed to be in Mexico. Fortunately, Wendy is neither one to turn down a vacation nor one who's afraid to change plans, so after a quick consultation with Forest we moved her party back a week and started packing the sunscreen.

Our Friday morning flight was made lass-than-pleasant by having to sit next to an extremely inebriated man who proceeded to get more drunk throughout the flight and give us all sorts of "useful" advice, such as "Don't buy drugs from Mexican cops." Thanks buddy.

Although this was a work-sponsored trip, at an all-inclusive resort (our first time in such a surreal place), we only had a few organized activities with my co-workers. The first evening we had a sunset reception / cocktail party next to the pool, which was a great way to get into the vacation mode; afterwards Wendy and I went to Piaf, the on-resort French-styled restaurant. The wine at Piaf in also complimentary, but they do have an up-sell menu (for additional, and outrageous, prices) that looked a lot better. When the sommelier realized that we weren't very enthusiastic about the standard wines, he brought us one of the better wines that had a water-damaged label and gave it to us at no charge; now that's service! We had a nightcap at the lobby bar after dinner and enjoyed the warm evening air before turning in.

On Saturday elected to spend most of the day lounging around the pool (with a swim-up bar!), soaking our Seattle-pale skin in the sun. That evening, however, we went into Puerto Vallarta proper to have a rum drinks at La Bodeguita del Medio, a great Cuban place, followed by dinner at the unusually-named Daiquiri Dick's, where the ex-wife of a friend of ours was a chef and manager. Not only did we have a fantastic meal next to the beach, after dropping off several hard-to-find-in-Mexico American amenties, were given a 2 kg bag of coffee beans to take home.



It was on Saturday that we also discovered the 'all-inclusive' moniker means just that; we could order a full bottle of liquor per person per day to the room (and ice and vermouth were freely available) so we knew immediately what that meant: home-made martinis!!



Sunday was our day to wander around Puerto Vallarta's downtown and beaches, and buy some tequila to bring home. Being Sunday, many of the shops were closed and the whole city was pretty sleepy.



Monday was ziplining! Neither of us had ever been before. We took a bus for about an hour and a half up into the mountains north and east of PV, had a brief instructional class, and started zipping between the trees. I was very proud of Wendy; heights are not her favorite thing, but she did great and ended up having a lot of fun. We did a total of 19 lines, and finished with a rappel from about 65 feet. I was about twice the size, or more, of any of our guides, so they had a little difficulty manipulating me at the transition points, but they were all very professional.



When we got back to the hotel, we had a company dinner, including fireworks on the beach, and finished up at the lobby bar.

On our final day, we enjoyed the poolside bar until the last possible minute, not knowing when we'd see the sun again.


Our full photo set can be found here.