Houston

Spent this past week in Houston for business. Not the most scenic of cities but the food was pretty darn good. I ate at Antone twice.Fried Oyster Po'Boy!! Delicious

The oysters were hot and juicy and nestled in a soft bread bun with mayo, tomatoes and chow chow mix. I got a side of jalapenos stuffed with Pimento cheese as a nod to my southern heritage.

Everyone in my group was sent to different cities in Texas to do in depth store visits. Matt and I were sent to Houston, Mary Jane to San Antonio, Charles to Austin and Rick and John went to Dallas. Everyone likes to eat and send each other shots of lunch or dinner and Pappasitos was a stop on every one's list this trip.
I have a soft spot for Pappasitos since it is the same concept that Chevys was when I first started working for that company in the early '90s. The Simmons family bought the catina concept idea from the Pappas brothers and opened up in the Bay area. The food,service, plating et al was exactly the same in a Chevys as it was in a Pappasitos when I started working for Chevys. A visit to the Pappasitos always brings back memories of what once was until Pepsico and others destroyed the concept.
Matt and I headed over on our last night for dinner and started with chips and salsa. Service was somewhat crappy but the food was terrific.

Half and half fajitas with guac and pico. The tortillas were wonderful as well,fresh, hot and just off the press. Rice and beans ala charra and I was a happy camper. Matt was too until he got a call from his credit card company the next day that someone at Pappasitos tried to charge $5000 on his card. That's a lot of fajitas.

End of Summer

Went Wine tasting with Bill and Dana. Did not end the way I anticipated. That's all I'm saying. We went to Los Olivios and Lompoc in the Central Coast. Did a tasting with the vintner at Prodigal Winery. Did barrel tasting....lots of barrel tasting.

I came back with a lot of wine which Chris, Tami and Anne will happily drink. I am on water and soda for the next few months. There's only so much tannin a body can absorb.

Went to the Santa Monica farmers market with Chris and had dim sum after. A nice way to spend part of the day.

Parked my car for the Hollywood market the other morning and took this shot. Been on the side of the building for so long and yet no one screws with it. Amazing

End of summer means the end of peaches and plums, my favorite fruits. I will gorge while I can.

Breakfast from the stand on Selma. A cheese and black bean pupusas. Yum-o and only $2.50

catching up

Whirlwind few weeks. Up and down the coast. Had a few chances to spend time at home. Went to the bowl with Chris last week to see BB King. Nice kicking back and hanging with Christopher although I shouldn't have had that second bottle of wine. The next day I had to drive to Bakersfield and that wasn't pretty.

Had dinner the next night with Dana and Bill to celebrate Bill's recent birthday. We went to Delphine in the W Hollywood. Nice night and really good food. I had the steak frites with a Bearnaise sauce. Very good. We had a great time. I think it was just what Dana needed after the past few weeks stress with her dad.

Hung out a bit with Jim. Had a cup of coffee and slice of pie later Saturday night at the 101 with him. Big Jim drama. That's all I'm saying.

Went to the market the next day and had coffee first. Got a new photography app for my phone so played with the shots. I do like this one of Jim. Totally not posed. Ha! Once an actor, always an actor.

The son of one of the vendors was playing next to his parents stall. He wouldn't look up. So cute and so serious.

Breakfast at the cafe up the hill after the market.

travels and the voice of reason (my dinner with Kathryn)

Been a LONG week. Started Monday in LA and then had to fly up for the Chico/Redding transaction. In Chico for the transition and then just making my way down the coast. Bloody hot in Chico. This is great smoothie weather. Had to drive back down to Emeryville to drop off all the paperwork from the transaction and had lunch with the lovely Carol. She knows how to pick the spots. Ate at Dopo in the Piedmont neighborhood in Berkeley. Great lunch and conversation. Peets agrees with her.

Had to tour the Wine country Safeway kiosks the next day so I got a great hotel deal from hotwire for the Berkeley area. The Claremont Hotel for $65 plus parking. Nice! Beautiful old hotel. Had my graduation dinner from Cal here with my family. I checked in just as the sun was down. The view was spectacular, the City was beautiful from the veranda.

Finished up with Brendan at Safeway and met Kathryn for dinner in Marin at the Buckeye Roadhouse.

Great food and conversation with Kathryn. I tried again to get her to name the baby Thor but she won't budge. I think Thor Daniels has quite a ring to it but she apparently doesn't think so. The lure of paid college tuition wasn't as big a persuader as I thought.

I still have 4 months to change her mind. Jeff is considering it.
Took this as I left on Friday morning. Had to drive down to San Luis Obispo for a race that Jamba participated in. Arrived in SLO and made 1200 smoothies for the event today (Saturday)The race was a run from Morro Rock to the pier. Morning started a little foggy and cold but it burned off and was a beautiful day in Central California.

Sing-a-long Grease at the Bowl

Had a wonderful weekend at home. Went with Tami, Dante and Dante's future wife, Emma to the bowl on Friday night for the sing-a-long to Grease. Emma was enraptured with the whole experience, Dante was up for about half of the movie and then crashed. Woke up at the end of the movie and "wanted to see it again" Next year buddy.
John Travolta looked mighty fine in this movie. I forgot how thin he use to be. Or for that matter how thin we all use to be.
dinner with Jim at Cube. Fresh tagliatelle with fennel sausage bolognese and fava beans and pecorino romano. So fresh and so good. I love that restaurant!
Unfortunately every day ends with a climb up the stairs. Looked back last night and snapped this shot. I do not miss this while I am gone. Moving is going to be a bitch.

last week

Action packed last week. Spent most of my time in Monterey and the Santa Cruz area with the local franchise owners. Brought my camera and thought I'd get some shots in but long days and a complete lack of imagination conspired against me this week.

Stayed at a hotel right by the beach and the old boardwalk. Took some photos but all dreck. This is in the arcade area on the boardwalk

vacation

Had a terrific vacation this past weekend. Went to Miami with my homegirl, Tami and just chilled for a few days at the Hotel of South Beach. Just a great place, from the location and rooms to the staff. We took a red eye in from LA and arrived at 7 am. Desk clerk let us check in early with no questions. This is the third time that I have stayed at the hotel and I would recommend to anyone. The first night, we had dinner at the hotel's restaurant "Wish" and had a terrific 5 course tasting meal. Ate at the bar while the last of the Central American storm that destroyed Guatamala blew through Florida and met some interesting people.

Beautiful lobby with a cool veranda that looks out on Collins and the crowds that drift by on their way to Ocean Ave.

Tami's new drink of choice. She grilled the bartenders on how to make so I think it might be making a SoCal appearance at the house this summer.

Went to Joe's Stone Crab on Saturday and then after spent time on Ocean drive taking some photos. The spicy rock shrimp and grits were my favorite dish. Unfortunately, stone crab is now out of season so you have to "make do" with other menu items. Had a wonderful soft shell crab entree instead.




Food display in front of the Colony hotel. Tami wanted to name it "bad day for a fish"