shameless self-promotion

We left San Luis Obispo airport at 7:52am (Pacific) and got in to our vacation rental at 6:30pm (Central). The flights were uneventful and our luggage wasn’t lost, thank goodness. The condo looks just as good as the photos but smells a little funky. Turns out, it’s also super noisy in the morning if you keep the windows open. Oh well, it’s STILL better than Motel 6.

After we got in we unpacked and headed out in search of dinner. We were starving and ended up eating deep fried veggies and buffalo wings at a local bar. Pretty good. We went back to the condo to relax and make phone calls and then Rick found a cool-sounding Irish bar we could go to - The Emerald Loop. We rode the red line for a bit to get there and that was pretty exciting to a Chicago-newb like me

The Emerald Loop is a gorgeous old place in downtown. They have very pretty stained glass fixtures all over along with some very beautiful paintings. There’s one massive painting in the dining room that I couldn’t tear my eyes off of. The bar looks huge and old and gleaming. And the service was great. Our waiter, Mark, was very friendly and funny and we chatted basketball. Unfortunately we were too full to try the food (which they seem to serve as late as you like) but their Guinness draft is the best I’ve ever had - poured smooth and ice cold, like chocolate milk with a memory-foam head.

We ended the night with an Irish Car Bomb and haiiled a cab (!) to get home. That was fun.

Leaving on a jet plane. Don’t know when I’ll be back again…

Pictures and blogs to come

Since I had never been to Chicago, I thought it would be a good idea to mark all the sights Rick and I wanted to see on one Google Map.

We started by locating our vacation rental and saving it to a Google “My Map” called Chicago Trip, marking it with a red marker and naming it Homebase. Then we listed all the sights we wanted to see: Field Museum, Planetarium, Art Institute, Sears Tower, etc. We googled each place, looked up its address on Google Maps, and then saved each location to our Chicago Trip map with blue markers. We also saved other types of locations like family to visit and places to eat, marking those with their own icons. Finally, we could look at the map and group sights to see by location.

Google allows you to share your maps with other people and set permissions as to whether they can edit or not. You can view our Chicago Trip Google Map here.

A friend from j2 gave me this recipe about a year ago and I finally got around to trying it out. (Thanks Brent!) The prep was very easy and it tasted great. Easily my best cooking experiment so far.

Meatballs

• 2 slices white sandwich bread (crusts discarded), torn into small cubes
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 3/4 pound ground beef chuck
• 1/4 pound ground pork (to be mixed with ground chuck)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• Ground black pepper
• Vegetable oil for pan-frying

Simple Tomato Sauce

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh basil leaves
• Table salt and ground black pepper
• 1 pound spaghetti
• grated Parmesan cheese

1. For the meatballs: Combine bread and buttermilk in small bowl, mashing occasionally with fork, until smooth paste forms, about 10 minutes.
2. Mix all meatball ingredients, including bread mixture and pepper to taste in medium bowl. Lightly form 3 tablespoons of mixture into 1 1/2-inch round meatballs; repeat with remaining mixture to form approximately 14 meatballs. (Compacting them can make the meatballs dense and hard. Can be placed on large plate, covered loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerated for several hours.)
3. Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in large pot for cooking pasta.
4. Meanwhile, heat 1/4-inch vegetable oil over medium-high heat in 10- or 11-inch saute pan. When edge of meatball dipped in oil sizzles, add meatballs in single layer. Fry, turning several times, until nicely browned on all sides, about 10 minutes, regulating heat as needed to keep oil sizzling but not smoking. Transfer browned meatballs to paper-towel-lined plate; set aside. Repeat, if necessary, with remaining meatballs.
5. For the sauce, discard oil in pan, leaving behind any browned bits. Add olive oil along with garlic; saute, scraping up any browned bits, just until garlic is golden, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, bring to boil, and simmer gently until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Stir in basil; add salt and pepper to taste. Add meatballs and simmer, turning them occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes. Keep warm over low flame.
6. Meanwhile, add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta to boiling water. Cook until al dente, drain, and return to pot. Ladle several large spoonfuls of tomato sauce (without meatballs) over spaghetti and toss until noodles are well coated. Divide pasta among individual bowls and top each with a little more tomato sauce and 2 to 3 meatballs. Serve immediately with grated cheese passed separately.

July 28, 1942 - March 13, 2008

Visitation
Monday, March 17, 2008
5pm-9pm (rosary @ 7:30pm)
Woods Scovern Mortuary
511 S Central Ave
Glendale, CA Map
818-242-0258

Funeral Mass
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
10am
Our Mother of Good Counsel Church
2060 N Vermont Ave
Los Angeles, CA Map
323-664-2111

Rick and I are planning a trip to Chicago for our birthdays this April. While finding the best airfare seemed a fairly straightforward task, the best hotel was another matter. We wanted something downtown so that we could walk or take public transportation to our sightseeing spots but even a 2 star hotel in that location was $200 a night! And after being able to cook the occasional meal during my Hawaii trip, I really wanted to find something with a kitchen.

Enter VacationRentals.com. I found a very cute condo in the location we wanted for only $125 a night. It’s been recently remodeled and looks much more comfortable than Motel 6. There’s even a 1-acre landscaped park on the roof, along with a deck for lounging and BBQ-ing!

If all goes well, I don’t see how I’d stay in a hotel ever again if I could help it.

Ever since moving to the Central Coast I have been jonesing for KPCC. I became hooked on this Southern California public radio station a little over a year ago. It had been my constant companion while driving around town or puttering around the house. In Los Osos, I was still able to get my fix at home by listening over the internet but had to settle for KCBX while running errands in the car. KCBX does play some of the programs I enjoyed on KPCC but also plays a lot of jazz and classical music. Not very satisfying when you’re craving some “FM with IQ.”

Then I got my Sprint Treo 755p with its awesome EVDO wireless network. (CNET says that EVDO averages 300Kbps to 600Kbps while EDGE, GPRS and GSM average 90Kbps, 35Kbps and 9.6Kbps.) While I’ve been enjoying the high-speed Gmail and Google Maps access, it didn’t occur to me to stream media until I signed up for Big Brother 9 updates. The Treo comes with a cool little media player that launches when you click on a streaming link. Even then, I only played occassional videos.

A couple days ago it occurred to me to try playing internet radio on my phone instead of vainly searching out public radio stations with my car radio on the long, long drive to Los Angeles. The clouds opened up, the sun shined, angels sang. I had my beloved KPCC at last. And it works wherever there’s cell service! My lonely drives to and from Los Angeles and Los Osos are lonely no longer.

If only Free FM offered a stream URL instead of forcing you to use their Flash-based player … I’m still working on a way to get around that.

So, the red dress was an absolute success. I wish I could find a picture of it online somewhere. Bright red, slightly ruched, slightly drapey. Kind of evoked a little Marilyn Monroe vibe. I wore it with a sheer black wrap and black heels. Rick was very handsome in a black shirt and yellow tie. We were a little overdressed for Paso Robles (the town is populated by fleece-wearers) but we fit the restaurant rather well.

Dinner was three courses. Appetizers included bruschetta, a mushroomy-thing and a prosciutto-asparagus thing. Rick had the prosciutto-wrapped filet and I had a seafood-brothy-garlicky creation (an Italian bouillabaisse, perhaps). Desert was chocolatey-raspberry mousse.  I would say the food at Buona Tavola is a little over-ambitious (how many things can we wrap in prosciutto?) but still tasty. And their wine list was decent.

Rick gave me a pretty bonsai tree and a sappy-romantic card, which was perfect. I forgot to get him a card but made it up to him in my own special way This turned out to be the best Valentine’s Day I’ve had yet.

After my amazing Hawaii vacation and catching the flu, I spent this weekend putting my ducks in a row and getting back into the swing of things. I unpacked, did massive amounts of laundry, cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed the living room and gave Pixel a bath. Rick and I spent time together, catching up on TV and getting breakfast at the local golf course clubhouse.

Now I’m working on catching up on mail that piled up during my vacation and organizing all my projects and tasks. That would have seemed overwhelming just a couple weeks ago but I’m finding that vacation was a much-needed rest for my brain and body. I have a lot of work to do but I’m not freaking out about it anymore, no longer paralyzed at the thought of everything I have to do. All in all, I’m feeling confident and fairly serene.

Of course, we’ll see how well I’ll be able to hold on to that feeling in the coming days

Here are some photos.

And here are some highlights:

• Tami and I went snorkeling around the reef by the resort. We swam super far offshore and ended up hanging out with and petting 3-foot sea turtles! They were so beautiful and serene.
•  The Princeville Resort Presidential Suite is pretty bomb. On the first floor, living room, dining room, balcony (with breath-taking view of the Hanalei Bay), full kitchen and half bath. On the second floor, giant bathroom, office nook, giant bedroom and dressing room/closet. Full maid service during the day (they even washed our dishes!) and turn-down service at night.
• Hanging out at the resort’s beach is pretty bomb, too. You get lots of fluffy towels, comfy beach chairs, ice water and waiter service. Mai-Tais are yummy, especially when you don’t have to leave the beach to get them.
• Due to the time difference, we woke up the first morning quite early. On the second morning, Tami got us up with the assurance that the sun would be rising soon. Gene made coffee and we readied ourselves for breakfast. As I was sitting on the couch, still somewhat zombified, Gene realized that it wasn’t 6:30am … it was actually 3:30am. Tami was officially deemed a nut and we went back to bed for 3 hours. Heh! Definitely the highlight of my entire trip
• We went to visit Larry and Darlene, friends of Tami’s, on the other side of the island. They have a beautiful house in the jungle with big picture windows and a wrap-around porch. Darlene also makes a killer crab-stuffed mushroom.
• ABC Store is your one-stop touristy shopping experience! Aloha shirts, dresses, t-shirts, jewelry, lotion, macadamia nuts, you name it. I ended up getting two free coffee mugs for spending as much as I did there!
• The town of Hanalei has a very cool shopping center. Their Savage Pearls store (featuring Tahitian Black Pearls) made me channel Mom and want to go nutso. Luckily, I restrained myself. I did, however, pick up some amazingly cute and comfortable Croc wedges at a shop down the way. This place is also notable for the fact that you can get breakfast for $3.75 and coffee for $1 (as opposed to the $8.65 for a cup of coffee charged by the resort!).
• We drove way, way up North on the island to The End Of The Road and explored lava tubes and more beaches. It is truly gorgeous up there. It’s also fun to check out all the different houses and estates. Almost every house is up on stilts there. And some of these houses are huge, sprawling, 2,000-sq.-ft. affairs.
• I got a killer tan.
• Our flight back from Honolulu to LAX was cancelled. Luckily we were able to get on a later flight. That also meant that we had 7 hours to kill. We took the bus to the Ala Moana mall in Honolulu (which must be one of the biggest malls in the world). This place was HUGE. Since we had all our carry-on luggage with us, Tami grabbed a Foodland shopping cart and loaded it up. We then proceeded to push that cart throughout two levels of the mall, including stores like Prada, Louis Vuitton, Salvatore Ferragamo, Chanel, Dior, Coach, Fendi, Hermes and Gucci. We would open the door and park our plastic shopping cart loaded with luggage right next to the security guard at each store while we went shopping for fancy-schancy wallets and shoes. Quite an experience!

It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I am very grateful to Tami and Gene for it. Having caught a cold halfway through, however, I’m also happy to be back home to recover!