Sunday, November 29, 2009

Will work for food...

This afternoon I got a call from my friend Allison, who (with her husband Russ) owns Camino, a great restaurant in Oakland. It seems someone, or something, removed the box that houses all of their phone lines from the side of the building. Their DSL and Fax lines were down and needed to be fixed before they started serving dinner. So I loaded up my truck, headed to O-Town, and two hours later order was restored.

Lucky me, Allison offered to buy me dinner for my assistance. I sat at the bar for a cocktail. Here is what they were offering this evening...
















I had the Tequila Reposado Cocktail, on recommendation of the Bartender. It was refreshing and damn tasty to boot!

I was then shown to my table, ordered the Lardo Toasts, some sparkling water and took a look at my choices for dinner. The menu here changes daily, here is what was offered this evening...




















I ordered the Salted Ling Cod, Potato and Leek Salad, the Grilled and Braised Duck and a glass of 2006 Stéphane Tissot-Trousseau Singulier with the help of my server


Everything was fantastic. The drinks, the meal, the service, the weather, all top notch! The funny thing is I was trying to go there for dinner last night, but it didn't happen. All is well that ends well I suppose. Thank you Russ and Allison!



Saturday, November 28, 2009

Thanks Morgan...

My 9 year old niece drew this very funny picture for me this Thanksgiving...




















It is a depiction on me walking my dog with her brother Phil. As you may or may not see, Cooper is growling and barking at the flower. The brown volcano thing behind him is a fresh pile of poop. I am saying "EWWW! I'm not picking that up!" To which my nephew responds, "Me Either!" and then his cell phone joins in and says, "LOL, me either"! LOL indeed! My niece is a funny little girl. Even if she cant spell my name correctly.
POST BIRTHDAY/HOLIDAY DECOMPRESSION

It is the day after Thanksgiving, which this year was the day after my 42nd birthday, and I am back home after visiting my mom in Sonora with my sister Valerie and her kids.  My brother Chris and his family were there as well. I brought my dog and trusty companion Cooper with me too. He had so much fun running around mom's yard and playing with the kids. I even took him to play some fetch in the park and he got to play in the creek as well. I used my iPhone to record him playing fetch with his squeekie ball and now I have a new ringtone. Yippee!

I made the traditional turkey, and I have come to realize that I don't really like turkey. Why did I go through so much trouble to make something I don't really like to eat? If only them Pilgrims would have made Prime Rib or Sushi on that first of Thanksgivings so many years ago... Next year my birthday will actually be on Thanksgiving day so I will see to it that Prime Rib (or at least a Rib Eye steak) will be on my dinner plate! I also made some Garnet Yams, some Kale and my brother made a ham so I wasn't stuck just eating turkey thankfully.

On Wednesday, mom, sister and I went to Alfredo's for drinks, food and to celebrate my birthday. We all had a few Margaritas and I had Chile Verde for my meal. For dessert, instead of ice cream with a candle, I got a shot of tequila that was engulfed in flames! It was very tasty. And yes, I did blow the flames out before drinking the shot. Back at mom's I had a couple of beers then went to sleep. My sister woke me at 3AM to inform me that my dog need to go out. As I walked out the front door I looked up into the star filled sky just in time to see a meteor streak through the night. It was simply amazing. I walked through the neighborhood looking up at the stars, not necessarily hoping to see another "shooting star", but just enjoying the view of the night sky. Living in San Francisco you just don't see as many stars as you do in the foothills, and you can forget how many stars are out there sometimes. I took another late evening walk last night for one last look at the stars. There was a half moon as well, and it was cool out, but not cold, so the walk was quite pleasurable.

Thanksgiving day was quite easy until it came time to prepare dinner in the tiny kitchen with not enough ovens and room. But everyone was happy and full after, so I guess sis, brother and I did good. It was a nice time and I am so happy that half of my family was there. My only regret is I didn't get to the cemetery to visit dad. I haven't been there in a while and there probably is some maintenance to be done. Plus I wanted to see how the Gardenia tree I broke then fixed with the band-aid from my finger is doing. It was heathy the last time I saw it.
Anyhow... It is good to be home. Tomorrow I know not where I will be but I will be thankful I am there... Unless of course I am in jail!