One night Lynn and I went to dinner with Noah and his girlfriend. Noah suggested the Bell location of Havana Cafe, which sounded pretty good since I like their Camelback location. When we got there Lynn immediately ordered a mojito with half light rum and half dark rum (what I hypothesized would be the perfect mix for a mojito, but never got around to trying). Well, it was better than the pure dark rum or pure light rum versions having just the right amount of sweetness without an overly alcoholic flavor.
Noah started with an order of calypso chips. He thought they tasted funny, but it didn't stop him from eating them. They tasted just fine to me. We also got the pastelitos de carne [beef in puff pastry], calamari, papas rellenas [beef croquettes], and camarones al ajillo [shrimp in a wine sauce]. The pastelitos de carne tasted funny. Normally they're my favorite item, but I couldn't get past the flavor enough to finish the two servings. We'd never had the calamari at Havana Cafe before so we were happy that they were mostly tender and crispy. They weren't anything special, but how often is calamari special? The papas rellenas (Lynn's favorite appetizer at Havana Cafe) were salty. I didn't care for them, they didn't have that much flavor despite being salty, but Lynn was happy with them. The camarones al ajillo were shrimpy tasting, but I half blamed myself for ordering seafood on a Monday (a day notorious for less than fresh seafood).
Normally Lynn and I order nothing but appetizers at Havana Cafe because we haven't found entrees worth eating there, but Noah made an entree recommendation so we got the dinner sampler: masas de puerco fritas [fried pork with lime and garlic], ropa vieja [stewed beef with tomatoes and onions], pollo cubano [chicken with onions in a lime, orange, and garlic sauce], and rice and beans. The dinner sampler fared better than our appetizers although the beans in the rice and beans were dry. The fried pork was crispy and tender in the right spots, but they needed something flavor-wise that even the garlic sauce didn't provide. Lynn told me to try the pork with the red onion, and the sharpness from the onion was enough to brighten the flavor. The onion made the dish pretty decent, but it didn't make it good enough that I'd order it. The stewed beef tasted like pot roast; make of that what you will. The chicken was in a citrus reduction which was unique, kind of intense, mildly sour, and mildly hot all at the same time. It was sort of strange, but pretty good. If I was going to order an entree at Havana Cafe that would be it. As you can tell, I still wasn't convinced that I was missing something by not getting entrees.
I had ordered the pastelitos de guava [guava filled puff pastry] for dessert, and they tasted as odd as the pastelitos de carne. When I had the pastelitos de carne I thought the meat was the problem, but after tasting the pastelitos de guava I knew it was the dough. I don't know what they did or didn't do to it, but it was terrible. I also noticed that the pastry was missing the cream cheese in the filling. I probably should have sent the dessert back, but I didn't since I figured I had learned my lesson, which was never to go back to the Bell location of Havana Cafe. If they took the dessert off the bill it wouldn't have changed my mind. It's possible that it was an off night for them, but I've never had a bad lunch (assuming I didn't order an entree) at the Camelback location of Havana Cafe.
[Previous visit to Havana Cafe (Camelback location).]
Today I received an email with video previews of Cirque du Soleil's new show in Las Vegas, "KÀ". If you remember, a couple of weeks ago I was excited about it. Not anymore. You would think they'd show the really cool stuff in the video previews, but one video was of a juggling act while the other alternated between being really cool and really boring. I suppose if they were juggling something challenging (like wild rabid weasels) I'd be impressed, but I don't see myself spending money to watch this show anymore.
After a wine tasting at Sun Devil Liquors Lynn and I went to El Charro for dinner. Before we walked into the restaurant I could smell the fried Sonoran food from the outside; it smelled delicious. The restaurant had a typical hole in wall atmosphere, but it was crowded. When Lynn looked at the menu she said it looked pretty "white".
Lynn ordered the green chile con carne, and I was taken aback when the waiter asked Lynn if she wanted coleslaw, salad, or macaroni. I then understood why Lynn said the menu looked white. I got the El Charro special which came with a sour cream enchilada, a beef hard taco, a Sonoran enchilada, and a chile relleno. Lynn's chile con carne tasted like roast beef with green chiles; it wasn't bad, but it didn't taste like green chile either. The sour cream enchilada was a cheese enchilada covered in sour cream and slices of green chile. It probably wouldn't have been bad it if wasn't served cold (which made the cheese hard and nasty). The beef hard taco was greasy. Hard tacos are always greasy, but their appeal is that they're crunchy. This taco wasn't crunchy, and the beef didn't taste that good either. Unfortunately it was the best item on my plate (which really made me wish I didn't promise myself not to go back to Via Marie). The Sonoran enchilada was a gordita [a small thick corn tortilla] covered in a one dimensional red chile sauce. The red chile enchiladas at Mi Casita have conditioned me to expect better. The chile relleno wasn't bad, but it was too eggy for my tastes.
Neither one of us found anything worth returning for at El Charro. In fact I haven't had Mexican food that bad since the time I ate at a Mexican restaurant in Payson.
For once we've actually made it to Rigatony's twice in the same month. I had a glass of Chateau St. Michelle "Riesling" which reminded me of the "Vouvray" I had just a few days earlier at 98 South. It was sweet with a slightly thick texture, and I probably would have enjoyed it on a normal night, but I wasn't in the mood for sweet wine so I didn't care for it.
In my effort to find an appetizer I actually like at Rigatony's I tried the fried cheese ravioli with tomato cream sauce. The fried ravioli weren't large (the way I've seen them most often), but there were four of them on the plate. The tomato cream sauce had a good flavor, but most of the flavor was muted by the dense ravioli. The ravioli themselves weren't bad, but they were amazingly filling, and the entire appetizer would have served four people better than two. It almost ruined our appetite for our entrees. I think if the ravioli weren't fried the appetizer would have tasted better, and would have worked better to whet the appetite instead of kill it.
Lynn had liked my sausage cacciatore so much last time that she tried the chicken cacciatore. I had a daily special of shrimp and bay scallops with mushrooms in a sherry cream sauce. My dish had an excellent flavor although it was a little salty, and the mushrooms were a nice change from the seafood. Lynn thought the kitchen might have been a little off that night because the marinara sauce in her cactore didn't taste quite right to her, and we both thought that the salad dressing tasted a little different (spicy, but not in a way that worked with the salad). If they were off that night they're still better than most Italian restaurants I've been to.
Last week Lynn went to Famous Dave's, some barbecue chain that just opened up in Phoenix, for lunch with a friend of her's from work who raved about the place (or at least the roast chicken). I couldn't join Lynn because she ducked out of work early to go there (punk). She was nice enough to bring me back food though. She got me a two meat combo with spareribs and chopped pork, and she had a little leftover beef brisket that I got to taste too. The brisket was tender, but it tasted oversmoked. Lynn said it didn't taste that smokey the day before, and I noticed it wasn't so overwhelming after the first bite so who knows. The chopped pork was terrible: it wasn't tasty or tender. The spareribs were odd because one of the ribs was delicious while the others didn't taste nearly as good. I don't think I've ever had that happen before.
Famous Dave's has quite a few barbecue sauces to choose from, and I got to taste four of them: the Devil's Spit, Sweet & Zesty, Georgia Mustard, and Texas Pit. The Georgia Mustard was a vinegary mustard concoction that brought back bad memories of Tom's Barbecue. They were similar in the respect that they are both to be avoided. The Devil's Spit was spicy and tasted very similar to the habanero barbecue sauce at Joe's Real Barbecue. It was my favorite, not because it was great, but because it was the closest thing to a barbecue sauce I actually liked. The Sweet & Zesty tasted exactly like KC Masterpiece or any other overly sweet molasses based barbecue sauce. Lynn's favorite was the Texas Pit, and it wasn't bad, but I stopped eating it as soon as I tasted the Devil's Spit.
Lynn had some of her friend's roast chicken and said it was pretty good. I'm wondering if her friend lucked upon the best thing in the restaurant (since that's the only thing she's tried there). Lynn also thought the beef brisket at Famous Dave's was on par with Joe's Real Barbecue so I'm not sure how to take her evaluation of the chicken since I think the brisket at Joe's Real Barbecue is far superior (on a good day, on a bad day it's only decent). Of course it's not fair to judge barbecue the day after it's been made since there's hardly any barbecue that actually tastes as good on the second day as it did the first (with the exception of the brisket at Joe's Real Barbecue, on a good day of course). I guess I'll have to go to Famous Dave's myself someday to try the chicken, and maybe the brisket, to give them a fair assessment.
Friday night Lynn and I went to Sun Devil Liquors to try some Northern Italian wines from Masi. Just as with our previous experience with Northern Italian wines, we didn't really like any of the wines we tried. There were a couple of wines that were interesting though; their "Campofiorin" and "Amarone" are both wines I'd like to set down for a few years and try again.
Saturday we went to Red Kangaroo for their Marquis Philips tasting. Our visit was also intended to conduct a little more research on our future competition (which was the only way I could get Lynn to return the place after our last visit). I was surprised to see a respectable number of people at the shop (including someone who was actually working!), but I'm really not fond of the place either. I'd heard good things about Marquis Philips, but I didn't really care for their wines. The best of the bunch was "Sarah's Blend 2003" (a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Merlot) which was good, but not nearly as tasty as Echo Canyon's "Triad 2002" (which I believe is the same blend).
This November we were hoping to go back to Napa Valley for some wine tasting and fine dining, but I started toying with ideas about other California wine regions. Yesterday afternoon I suggested to Lynn that we go to Monterey instead, and she wasn't opposed to the idea. Last night I then saw an ad for the Monterey Great Wine Escape, which happens to be on the same dates as we were planning on taking our vacation. The events look pretty cool so we just might be going to Monterey this November. [Make that we are going to Monterey in November. Yea!]
Yesterday we went house shopping, and actually found a couple of houses we liked. One was actually a new house that was so cool that it overrode my normal disdain for new homes. This particular one had a loft that I thought had a lot of promise. Even though it was a little more money than I wanted to spend I would have bought one if they hadn't sold out of that design. Lynn and I were both disappointed. The other place was a town house that had an interesting layout, and a rear patio that was frequented by ducks. We returned to our realtor's office to make an offer, but the town house owner had already accepted one. That was almost ok because we then found out that the town house had a $180 home owner association fee that would have made me rethink buying it. I'm torn between thinking it was a good day because I found two houses I liked, or thinking it was a crappy day because I didn't get either one of them.
After six hours of looking at houses we had to eat lunch. I wanted something good, or at least new to me (like Cyclo), but Lynn wanted In-N-Out Burger. I used to like In-N-Out Burger, but the more I ate there the more I disliked their burgers. I thought it was probably just the Chandler location because I've had food from other locations that I've liked. Well the burgers we had yesterday, at the Chandler location, were pretty damn good. I couldn't believe it. Well, Lynn solved the whole In-N-Out Burger enigma: we have to eat there in person. Almost all the times I've really liked the burgers at In-N-Out we've eaten in the restaurant. I just don't like their burgers to go for some reason. I'm glad Lynn figured it out because it now gives me another fast food option.
Last week Murray and I were going to lunch and couldn't think of where to eat. Murray remembered that Aria Pastry offers two things that can pass for lunch: a teriyaki chicken sandwich and a chicken salad with bread. I'm addicted to their mugicha [roasted barley tea], and I really dig the nikupan [meat filled bread] and UFOs (custard filled bread), so it sounded like a good idea.
Murray got the teriyaki chicken sandwich while I got the chicken salad. I thought the chicken salad was a chicken salad sandwich, but I eventually figured out that it was a salad with chicken on it (I noticed a sign that said as much after I had ordered). The salad was romaine lettuce with cherry tomatoes, cranberries, two types of cheese, and chicken with a thick ginger sauce on top. It also came with two dressings (a sesame vinaigrette and a very thick creamy dressing), and a small bread roll. The combination of the creamy dressing and the ginger sauce with the rest of the ingredients was very tasty. I'd get the salad again. The teriyaki chicken sandwich came on two extremely thick slices of bread that killed the flavor of almost everything except for the overly sweet teriyaki sauce and the wasabi. I didn't like the teriyaki chicken sandwich. Arai is very hit and miss, but at least they're pretty damn good when they're good.
It's odd how sometimes I go from wanting nothing to wanting everything. Lynn asked me what I wanted for my birthday a few weeks ago, and I couldn't think of anything. Then this week it seems like I've been running across cool, but completely useless, stuff that I want. It started with the pocket knives with Damascus steel blades from William Henry. Damascus steel is made differently from regular steel so it's supposed to be practically indestructible, but the part that attracted me to it is that it has quite a unique look to it. I couldn't find a good picture of one of the great looking knives of William Henry, but the picture below will give you an idea just how cool a Damascus steel blade looks. (Click on the thumbnails to see a larger picture. Normally I would have put a border on the pictures to make it obvious that they're clickable, but it didn't look good because of the pictures' white backgrounds.)
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Next were the speakers by Jason Siu, which are vinyl figures with speakers as part of their visual design. They just look too damn cool. The one things that bothers me about them though is that I don't know how they sound, and they'd be a waste of money if they didn't sound any good. Below are the two models that I dig the most.
![The "N-3B" Speaker](javascript:WriteContent('/images/n3btr.jpg','The "N-3B" is a three way speaker that\'ll handle 150 watts.',363,425,190,260,'#FFFFFF','#000000'))
![The "Spearhead" Speaker](javascript:WriteContent('/images/sprtr.jpg','The "Spearhead" looks cool, but would only be useful as a computer speaker since it can only handle 25 watts.',365,450,149,300,'#FFFFFF','#000000'))
Somehow I've managed to avoid buying overly expensive knives or speakers I don't need, or asking Lynn to buy them for me, but yesterday I found a cheap travel package that includes air fare and six nights hotel stay in Paris (the package costs less than round trip tickets to Belize right now, to give you an idea how cheap it is). That's something I'd be perfectly willing to spend money on, but Lynn doesn't want to go. She's the one who loved Paris so I was surprised by her reaction. She mentioned that I don't even like Paris, which is true, but not to the point that I wouldn't go back there. I think it'd be fun to get to see more of Paris since it's a big city with lots to see. Plus, it's cheap. I guess what Lynn doesn't understand about me is that I'm a travel whore, and I'll go practically anywhere if it's cheap enough. Anyway, I'm sure she thinks that the trip would keep us from getting a house, but the two aren't related in my mind. Oh well, maybe another deal for Venice will come up someday, and I'll go with Steve and leave Lynn at home.
A week or two ago Lynn and I returned to 98 South, a meal I was looking forward to because the potential their menu showed the first time we were there. I had hoped to try a couple of entrees this time, but looking at the menu I still didn't see any entrees that appealed to me. Lynn saw something that looked good to her, but I talked her into doing appetizers only.
We started with a couple of glasses of wine, and as dinner progressed we got a couple more. My first glass was a Domain Pichot "Vouvray", and my second glass was a Concannon "Petite Sirah". The Domain Pichot was kind of sweet, and not bad, but I don't think I was in the mood for a sweet wine that night. The Concannon had a mellow fruity flavor with plenty of creaminess. I thought it was impressively tasty. I didn't taste Lynn's wines that night so I didn't bother to write them down.
I ordered six appetizers so I had the waiter bring them out in pairs (like courses). The first pair was crab cakes with sweet potato puree and charred basil shrimp (an appetizer of the day). I couldn't really taste the crab in the crab cake, and the sweet potato puree was so overpowering that it was the only thing you could taste when you had anything with it. The charred basil shrimp were definitely charred, but the shrimp were still nicely undercooked. The basil gave the shrimp a nice flavor, but the shrimp were so charred that we had a difficult time tasting them. The shrimp came with some creamy mashed potatoes that were pretty decent.
The second pair was tortilla soup (Lynn's choice, not mine) and a caprese salad (served bruschetta style). The tortilla soup was thin and somewhat tasteless. I couldn't really tell if the tortilla soup was worse than the first time, but Lynn liked it the first time around, and seriously disliked it this time. I was more consistent and hated it equally both times. All of the ingredients were correct for the caprese salad, but it felt like there was something missing so it was only decent.
The final pair was the hummus and roasted vegetable plate and the cheese plate (with St. Andre, brie, drunken goat, manchego, and Maytag blue cheeses). The roasted vegetables, which were one of the high points of our first meal, were so oily they started making me nauseous. The only good thing on the plate were the roasted baby beets. The cheese plate had disappointingly small little wedges of cheese, but in my head I knew that they were appropriately sized since it wasn't about to eat all the cheese we had. The St. Andre had an odd, almost gritty, texture that I suspect was due to poor handling. The brie was very good, and gave the Domain Pichot a fruity aftertaste. Lynn didn't like the brie, which is odd since she's the brie fan. The drunken goat was the best cheese of the bunch with a creamy texture, and just a hint of goat in the flavor. Lynn described the manchego as "plastic goat butt", and that described it to a tee; I couldn't get the taste of it out of my mouth fast enough. The Maytag blue was very good stuff, but it was terrible with the Concannon so it looks like I'm still looking for a wine to pair with blue cheese.
I was ready for the check when our waiter disappeared. I really hate it when waiters disappear when I'm ready to leave, and I've been tempted more than once just to walk out on the check. I haven't gone that far yet, but I have subtracted my aggravation from their tip before. He was lucky that I wasn't the one leaving the tip that night because while Lynn wasn't happy about the fact that she had to ask him about the specials (twice) she still left him a good tip. He ended up earning his tip because he chased us down in the parking lot to give Lynn her credit card, which she left on the table.
The first meal we had at 98 South wasn't great, but there were some stand out items. I hoped the food would get better, but instead it got worse so I'm not really inclined to return to 98 South anytime soon. Lynn was a lot more forgiving about this meal than I was, and already has plans for what she'll have the next time we go there. I guess we'll see how long it takes me to forget this meal.
[Previous visit to 98 South.]
One day that Lynn and I had off of work I wanted to go to Roaring Fork for lunch. If I had looked at their web site ahead of time I would have noticed that they aren't open for lunch so we found at the hard way instead. We headed up Scottsdale Road looking for something to eat, but we were at a loss as to where since neither one of us is familiar with Scottsdale. On the corner of Scottsdale and Indian Bend we saw a Roy's. Neither one of us had been to one before so we thought we'd give it a try. Turns out they aren't open for lunch either. In the same shopping as Roy's was a restaurant named The Cove Trattoria that looked interesting.
The Cove Trattoria specializes in wood oven baked pizzas, and that sounded good to me. I got a pizza rustica (portobello mushrooms, roasted red peppers, spinach, caramelized onions, provolone, and goat cheese) while Lynn got the "perfect pizza" which was a Margherita pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil) and Greek side salad. The pizza had a tasty crispy crust that was one of best I remember tasting. The topping combination of sweet onions, meaty mushrooms, and gamey goat cheese was balanced and very good. The provolone didn't taste good without onions for some reason I couldn't figure out. The spinach and red peppers didn't added anything to the pizza, and I thought the spinach was actually a bad addition to the pizza because it just didn't match anything else. Lynn's Margherita pizza didn't have any fresh basil on it, only dried basil in the sauce. I would say it wasn't a Margherita pizza because of its lack of basil. The tomato sauce was bright, and pretty good, but the pizza sorely needed basil. The Greek salad was good, but it was mixed greens topped with a balsamic vinaigrette so it could have been any ol' bag salad with some feta and olives added.
I'm always on the lookout for good pizza, and I have to give The Cove Trattoria credit for making damn good pizza (just not a good Margherita pizza). One interesting bit of trivia about The Cove Trattoria is that they did something I've never seen another pizza place with a wood burning oven do; they made pizza (not just one, but two) without burning one little bit of crust. As good as their crust was it was a bonus to be able to eat all of it.
I've been to Mi Casita three times since the last time I wrote about them. These days they're open an hour later (9 o'clock), and they offer horchata. The horchata tastes like it has hot cinnamon in it so I don't like the flavor. I had the gorditas one night and Lynn had them on a different night, and we both agree that they didn't taste as good as the first time. Where we disagreed was the cause of their loss of tasty goodness; I thought the beef wasn't as well seasoned while Lynn thought the tortilla dough wasn't as good. Either way I'm not enthusiastic about ordering the gorditas again.
We've also had the opportunity to try three items we've never tried at Mi Casita: the tacos al carbon [roasted strips of pork served with grilled green onions], a carne asada [grilled beef] burrito with guacamole, and carne adobada [red chile marinated pork]. The tacos al carbon had tender pieces of pork that had a good flavor. The green onions were good, but they were difficult to eat because when you bit into one you almost had to eat the entire thing since green onions don't get any less stringy when cooked. Even though everything was tasty the tacos al carbon needed something else, like cilantro. The carne asada came with delicious caramelized onions, and had quite a good flavor on its own. I think it my be my new favorite at Mi Casita (not that I had a designated favorite yet). The carne adobada was served in a thick red chile sauce that only tasted of red chile and Mexican oregano. It was so bad I couldn't finish it. Well every restaurant has at least one stinker, and this was Mi Casita's. They still make a lot more good food than bad though.
[Previous visit to Mi Casita.]
Here are some of the infrared pictures I took when we were camping last week. I would have had more pictures, but the two spare batteries I brought (that I thought were charged) were dead. I stole the battery from my other camera, but it only lasted for five minutes after that. I had even thought before we left the house that I should bring the car charger, but I dismissed the idea since I had four batteries with me. I'm never dismissing useful ideas like that again. The following are pictures of the camp ground.
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When I was taking some pictures a large beetle landed on my camera bag. Apparently he liked the color black because he kept following me around. You can see him in the first picture.
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Here's a regular shot of the beetle trying to catch up to me.
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I was listening to What Do You Know? Saturday when I heard Michael Feldman talk about some kids who were denied entrance to a George Bush campaign rally in Mankato, MI. I thought it was a joke, and then Michael interviewed one of the teens (here's the actual audio interview). I thought it was ridiculous that they wouldn't let the kids see the President, even if they are Democrats. Since when do you have to agree with a politician to see one in person? What harm could they possibly do? I went looking for an article about the situation and it didn't take long to find "Nick Coleman: Hearing Bush took some doing".
In the process of looking for that article I also found the story of two people who were arrested at a Bush rally because they wore shirts that said "Love America Hate Bush". I thought it couldn't be true because that's blatantly illegal, and the sources seemed questionable too, until I found "Charges Dropped Against 2 Bush Protesters". Some of the questionable sources also mentioned people having to sign oaths to vote for Bush in order to get into one of these events. Could this get any more preposterous? I found many creditable news sources that had written stories about the oaths, like "Obtaining Cheney Rally Ticket Requires Signing Bush Endorsement".
Apparently this treatment is common to all the Bush rallies says "Bush Camp Controlling Admission to Events", and it's easy to believe with the various stories coming from different cities that have hosted these events. Does anyone else find this at least insulting? I find it disturbing because it seems our President thinks our individual rights are optional.
It had been quite some time since I'd been to Peruanitos (the last time might have been the "fried chicken" incident). I finally rectified the extended absence a couple of weeks ago when the urge for papas rellenas [beef filled potato croquettes] was too great. Lynn immediately ordered a sangria, and it wasn't the same as it used to be. The old sangria was fruity, but tasted distinctly like wine. The new sangria had a sweet bubblegum flavor that reminded me of an alcoholic Big Red soda. It was pretty good if you like your drinks sweet.
I looked at the menu, and didn't see the papas rellenas. I asked the waiter about it, and he said they don't make them anymore. That was pretty sad since they made the best version of papas rellenas that I knew of (much better than Havana Cafe despite whatever Lynn may think). It took me some time to figure what I wanted in place of the croquettes. I went with the papas a la huancaina [potatoes in a spicy cheese sauce]. It had a good cheesy flavor with occasional flashes of heat. There was also a peculiar flavor that I think was caused by the pepper that bothered Lynn. We also tried the chupe de camarones [shrimp soup] for the first time. The soup was creamy with a tasty rosemary flavor that reminded me of the shrimp a la Basque from Citrus Cafe although not as rich. There was egg, potato, rice, and part of a corn on the cob in the soup. The potato and corn seemed out of place, and the corn tasted odd. The shrimp overcooked, but eatable. The egg was the tastiest thing in the bowl with a flavor the complimented the cream and rosemary. I wished there were two eggs in the soup instead of some of the other stuff. Overall the soup was pretty good, but it tasted like it needed something else.
Lynn went with the aji de gallina [a chicken pot pie type dish with chicken in a cream sauce (her favorite dish)], and I had the steak lomo saltado [pan fried steak, fries, onions, and tomatoes (my favorite dish)]. The chicken dish had a good flavor, but the texture was too thick for my tastes (probably because it was towards the end of the night and it had cooked down). Lynn dug it regardless. The entire steak dish was excellent, and reminded me why it was my favorite dish at Peruanitos.
Peruanitos has some tasty stuff, but I wish they'd bring back the papas rellenas.
Yesterday I was in central Phoenix to get my haircut. While I was there I asked Gary, my barber, if he'd heard anything about Uncle Tom's Broasted Chicken and Pizza (which is located across the street from his shop). He said some customer of his tried the place a week or two ago and said it was pretty good. That was encouraging because I had seen Uncle Tom's for months, and was determined to try them. I'd never heard of broasted chicken, but it piqued my curiosity.
After getting my haircut I picked up my mail from my post office box. While I was in the neighborhood I stopped at Karl's Quality Bakery and picked up an apple turnover, strawberry tart, and apple strudel. [The apple turnover was buttery with a flaky crust, and pretty damn good. The strawberry tart was decent. The apple strudel had an odd sort of flavor, and wasn't something I'd get again. With the three or four times I've been to Karl's I haven't been impressed.] I headed down 7th Avenue to Uncle Tom's Broasted Chicken, but they were closed. Dejected, I didn't lack other places to choose from.
It had been months since I'd been to Tommy's Burger Place so that's where I went to lunch. I got a bacon cheese burger (with grilled onions) combination, which includes their fried sliced potatoes. While I was waiting for my food I opened my mail, and found a booklet for Rick Steves' 2005 Europe tours. I'm not a huge fan of guided tours, but flipping through the booklet I had an overwhelming urge to take one. At that time I realized I didn't care about starting a business nearly as much as I cared about traveling. I'd rather spend all my money on having a good time rather than work hard and risk everything on a chance at something very rewarding; that's the main reason I'll never be rich or hugely successful. I found it depressing to know that about myself, and not care enough to change it. My appetite was shot. I hope Lynn is motivated enough for the both of us.
I knew about Cirque du Soleil long before I ever got around to seeing one of their shows. I had heard from someone that "O" (the show with a pool located in the Bellagio) was an amazing show, and even saw some tv show about it that convinced me to see it, so that was the very first Cirque show I went to. That was one of the few things in life to live up to the hype; it was a magical and creative spectacle (although not necessarily coherent). Lynn likened it to watching someone else's dream (which would explain the lack of cohesion).
We were so impressed with "O" that we were ready to go to other shows. The next one was "Mystère" in the Mirage (I believe it was the first permanent Cirque show in Vegas). It was amusing and whimsical, but we both kept comparing it to "O" and found it lacking. The next show we saw was "Dralion" when it stopped in Phoenix. Lynn was impressed, but I didn't really care for it. I figured out that I like their stage shows better than their traveling shows because a permanent location allows for a lot more production. I decided not to go to any more of their traveling shows, and was sort of put off by all their shows since "O" was the only one that seemed worth the price of admission, so when "Varekai" came to Phoenix I let it pass me by.
When I heard about "Zumanity" (at the New York New York) I was tempted to see it since a provocative Cirque du Soleil show sounded promising. I was still a little reluctant though, and since we haven't been to Vegas since "Zumanity" opened, it's been an easy show to avoid. Not that long ago I got an email about "KÀ", their new show at the MGM Grand, and I really want to check it out. It looks like it's the first show that will be able to compete with "O" visually, and it seems to have more of a story than the normal Cirque du Soleil show. I might make a trip to Vegas just to see it, but that'll get expensive with my eating habits and the selection of high end restaurants in Vegas. We'll see what happens.
I like movies that make you think, but that only works if there's some kind of message to think about. If there was a message in "Suicide Circle", a Japanese movie about suicide, I missed it. For a while I thought I was getting close to understanding it, but it just got too weird at the end for me to make any sense of it. The only thing I liked about the movie was the song at the end that Lynn and I disagreed about the meaning of. I thought the song was about choosing life over suicide while Lynn thought it was the little girls singing about killing themselves; it changes what the movie could mean depending on how you take the song, and it was interesting that Lynn's point of view was the complete opposite of mine. Anyway, this was a terrible, bizarre movie.
It had been forever since the first time I had been to Citrus Cafe so I was due to try them again. We were seated and brought a menu (a white board with the entire menu written on it; a good sign since it means the menu probably changes often). Before we even decided on food Lynn got a kir royal [a French aperitif of Champagne and cassis liqueur], which we had for the first time when we went to Europe in April. The drink was perfectly prepared, and brought back memories for both of us.
The menu was straight forward French, with some interesting items. We weren't excessively hungry so we just went with a single appetizer, the shrimp a la Basque. I wasn't sure what it was going to be, but the southern region of France has some tasty dishes. The shrimp were served swimming in a thin sharp rosemary sauce that was very similar to the drunken shrimp at Iguana Mack's (except replace the beer in the drunken shrimp sauce with butter). This version was extremely rich, and after we finished our shrimp I was tempted to use all the bread at our table to sop up the sauce. Needless to say, I'd order it again.
We ordered a couple of glasses of Oxford Landing (a "Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon" for Lynn and a "Shiraz" for me) to go with Lynn's filet au poivre and my lamb chops with red potatoes and julienned vegetables. I've been looking for a restaurant that has great lamb since Cafe ah PWAH stopped serving Colorado lamb, and it seems that Citrus Cafe is the place. Their lamb was pretty close to perfect (not quite Irene's Cuisine in New Orleans or Cafe ah PWAH, but close). My Shiraz wasn't a good match with my lamb so I tried Lynn's Shiraz blend, and that was very nice. The roasted red potatoes were only ok, but the vegetables were better. Lynn's pepper crusted steak came in a green peppercorn sauce. Lynn enjoyed it, but I'll never understand the combination of peppery beef with a pepper sauce; it's completely unbalanced to me. The beef did have a good flavor, but I couldn't help thinking that the version at Christopher's Fermier Brasserie was much better thought out (New York strip steak instead of tenderloin, and some sort of red wine reduction instead of a green peppercorn sauce).
Like any good French restaurant Citrus Cafe gives you some difficult choices for dessert (since you probably aren't going to order everything that sounds good to you). Lynn got their hazelnut creme brulee while I tried the tarte tatin [an apple tart made with butter and sugar and a pastry crust on top that's flipped over before serving] with cinnamon ice cream to see if a tarte tatin from a good restaurant was much better then the terrible one I had at a cheap cafe in Paris. The hazelnut creme brulee was sweet with crunchy pieces of hazelnut, and very tasty. Lynn loved it, and I thought it was excellent. It was interesting because the hazelnut creme brulee we had at the Hunt Room Grill in New Orleans (which I also thought was excellent) was subtle while this one was exuberant. My tarte tatin, on the other hand, was almost as bad as the one from the cheap cafe; it had large chunks of apple and didn't taste like anything good. I may give up trying tarte tatins because when they're bad they aren't edible. At least it gives me a reason to try the frozen meringue next time.
I don't remember the first time I ate at Citrus Cafe, but I'll remember it this time since all my food was excellent, except for the tarte tatin. The only thing that keeps me from eating at Citrus Cafe more often is my low tolerance for straight French food.
I hadn't read about "Hero" before I saw it so I didn't know what to expect, except that Steve dug it. It turned out to be a martial arts film (the casting of Jet Li is the obvious tip off) that was visually amazing with a compelling story (much better than the story of a talented, but bratty martial artist who doesn't learn anything from "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"). The style of story telling was unique; in the beginning I thought some of the visuals were just pointless cinematography tricks, but it turned out they were visual cues that were important to how the story was told. The movie was also surprisingly emotional with the story of Broken Sword and Flying Snow (two of the characters). I had a couple of minor issues with the movie, but this was one of the best movies I've seen all year.
Nielsen's Frozen Custard (also the home of the tasty, but undersized, roast beef and guacamole grinder) is open until 10:30 on week nights. I'd say who knew, but the place was busy after 9 on a Tuesday night. That's something I wish I knew a while ago.
Lately I haven't felt like writing anything, and worse, I've looked at older restaurant reviews I've written and I like them a lot better than anything I've written in the recently. I wonder if this has anything to do with the MUD-like game [Multi User Dungeon (basically you get to run around and kill things)] I found on the Miniclip site? When I was introduced to MUDs in college I would stay up until morning playing them (I don't have to tell you what it did to my grades).
Pink Pepper isn't one of my favorite restaurants (it is one of Lynn's), but they do have a tendency to surprise me in a good way. The most recent surprise I had there was the eggplant salad with shrimp. When it was brought to our table I could smell sesame oil and cilantro. The dish looked great too. The flavor was spicy, and mildly hot, but the written word can't express how much we enjoyed that salad. It was simple, but the flavors were just perfect together. Even the shrimp (which were grilled) were really good.
I had the grilled orange roughy with spicy lemon-garlic sauce while Lynn ordered her usual gaeng kari [yellow curry with chicken and potatoes]. The fish was pan fried crispy and the edges were dry, but I like my fish with dry edges (unless it's salmon). The sauce had a sweet flavor that wasn't spicy or garlicky. It was disappointing, but not bad with the fish. The gaeng kari at Pink Pepper has to be their most inconsistent dish; sometimes it's overly spicy while other times it's mild enough for little children, and sometimes the potatoes are perfectly creamy, and other times under-cooked. This time it was mild and boring. I think Lynn loves their perfect version (which is impressive) so much that she's willing to take all their mistakes along the way, but I wouldn't keep ordering the gaeng kari.
[I looked at my old reviews and found out that I've had the eggplant salad before. This time it was better prepared than the first. I've also had the orange roughy before, and that was better the first time. It looks like Pink Pepper has a lot of inconsistency issues.]
Lynn and I went to Lotus Asian Cafe a couple of weeks ago and saw a sign on the door that said, "Please wait to be seated". That was a surprise since they aren't that kind of restaurant. We walked in, and the interior was a bit different; they cut off part of their bar and added more tables to the restaurant. We were greeted by a new girl, who seated us.
We started dinner with the vegetable fritters, and I swear they tasted better this time than they did the first time I had them (and I liked them a lot then). I had the galanga fried chicken (my favorite dish) while Lynn had the chipotle grilled chicken (a new dish for us). The galanga fried chicken was tasty and juicy, but I wanted it with some sambal so I asked the new girl for some. She brought me a cup of sambal that was a brighter red and a thinner consistency than the one I was used to. I tried it and it was good, but not as good as the other stuff. Lynn's chicken was spicy with a one dimensional chipotle-lemongrass flavor. I didn't enjoy it, but Lynn did; her only problem with it was that it was too spicy for her.
At the end of the meal I asked the new girl if they were using a different kind of sambal, and she said no. I told her that was weird because the stuff I had before was drier and thicker. She then knew I was talking about sambal bajak and said they had like three different sambals they use, then she packed me the sambal bajak to take with my left overs.
When we were going home Lynn told me she was burning out on Lotus Asian Cafe, which is a shame since I could eat there once a week.
[Previous visit to Lotus Asian Cafe & Grill.]
I like restaurants that stay open late because, invariably, I need to eat late. Jong Wah is open until 9:30 on weekdays, and that extra half an hour was important to me one night because they were my only real eating option.
We started dinner with the chicken lettuce wraps (diced chicken and vegetables wrapped up in an iceberg lettuce leaf - P.F. Chang's makes the most well known version of this, and it's actually pretty tasty there too). The vegetables were crunchy, but they needed some salt. A little plum sauce added just the right amount of saltiness and flavor. It was something I'd definitely order again.
The first time we were at Jong Wah I didn't order like I normally would so this time I over ordered and got Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce, hunan chicken, and Lynn got the scallops in garlic sauce (one of her favorite dishes at Lins Chinese Dining). The Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce had a sesame seed flavor that was very good in the leaves. I couldn't taste any oyster sauce, which was disappointing, but was ultimately fine. The hunan chicken looked so much like the scallops in garlic sauce that I thought they were both served in garlic sauce. Nope, they were very different sauces; the scallops were in a spicy garlic sauce that was very tasty, but not a good match for scallops (sound familiar?), while the hunan chicken was served in that typical tasteless Chinese brown sauce, and very disappointing.
There are still about a dozen items at Jong Wah I'd like to try, and they seem good enough to merit actually trying them. Hopefully I won't wait until 9 at night to eat there again.
[Previous visit to Jong Wah.]
Last night Lynn had a frozen pizza that I thought looked absolutely horrendous when I saw it. I wouldn't have eaten it so naturally I wanted to take a picture of it. I was going for something raw and unappealing like the Walker Evans Polaroid of a half-eaten blueberry pie.
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I like the color version of the picture, but I also made a black and white version just out of curiosity. I think the black and white version looks almost unreal, but I'm not sure what to make of it.
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Last Friday I took the day off and Lynn and I went Cigar King for their Montesino event. I'd never been there before so it was interesting to get a tour of their cigar warehouse. We also got a free Montesino "Toro" while we were there. The cigar wasn't that good; there wasn't much to the flavor and the smoke stunk (which wasn't good because with so many people smoking the free cigar there our clothes smelt pretty nasty when we were through). I think part of the problem with the cigar was that it was overhumified, and even Lynn noticed that it was kind of moist when she punched it. While we were there we met Saul (someone whose read my web site and communicated with me through email, but I'd never actually met before). It was a good time, and I walked away with too many new cigars.
That night Lynn and I went to Christopher's Fermier Brasserie for my birthday dinner. There were a couple of disappointing moments, but overall is was an excellent meal, and the presentation they made to say "Happy Birthday" was outrageous. (I should have a picture of it posted with the review, when I write it.)
My internet connection was down all last weekend, and this week, so my backlog of stuff to write has grown far larger than even my general laziness can account for.
The bar management class has been interesting, but the reading material has been dry, and reading 70 to 90 pages for class each week has been tough. The teacher is French, and he has an interesting sense of humor. Last night he said, "You know the alcohol evaporates in the bottle. Sometimes it evaporates faster depending on the bartender." I think only three people got it. This class has me considering details I didn't know about, and probably details I didn't want to know about, so I hope it doesn't destroy my desire to open a wine bar.
We haven't heard from our realtor in a week and a half so he's fired. I don't even know if I should call him to tell him since I don't know if we'll ever hear from him again.
Today is my birthday. I'm officially old now.
This weekend I finally get to go camping up in Flagstaff. I'm looking forward to taking lots of pictures. I was disappointed to find out that Echo Canyon isn't open to the public. They offer a tour of the facility and tastings through Sun Country Adventures, but I don't want to pay $95 per person. I guess we'll see what happens come Saturday.
[I forgot to mention that tonight is the start of the NFL season, which means it's also the start of fantasy football season. Hopefully I do better this year than I did last year.]
The last time I went to McGurkee's they were renovating. Gone was the ancient paint, the heavily carved school benches, and all the bric-a-brac (real yard sale type stuff instead of the junk that's manufactured for T.G.I. McApplebee's) that made the place unique. Now they have booths, and they look like they're going to expand into the space next door. I'm not sure I care for the physical "improvements", but the sandwiches are still great. My Sicilian (a warm sub that doesn't resemble anything you'd get from Subway) was still served on a toasted sesame seed bun, and the ingredients were excellent and as tasty as ever.
Steve scored some passes to the preview of "Zatoichi". I was looking forward to seeing a more recent version of the old Zatoichi movies Lynn and I would watch Sunday mornings on the Independent Film Channel when they used to have "Samurai Sundays". Watching the opening credits for this "Zatoichi" I saw that the director was Beat Takeshi ("Brother", "Kikujiro", and other films that weren't as good). I wasn't happy about that since Takeshi has a peculiar style that I didn't think would apply very well to my favorite samurai series. That was confirmed immediately when the movie opened up to Beat Takeshi playing a blond Zatoichi! It really made me miss Katsu Shintaro (the original Zatoichi). If you don't understand the significance of it then imagine you went to a James Bond movie and James Bond had blond hair.
At times Takeshi's Zatoichi seemed to act more drunk than blind, but there was plenty of Takeshi's trademark humor to make up for it. There were two things that didn't fit with the original series that bothered me: the first I can't mention because it would ruin the movie, and the second was that Zatoichi didn't kill if he didn't have to, but in this one he killed an entire group of guys when they didn't even threaten his life. Part of Zatoichi's appeal was that he was a reluctant killer. This movie was also gory when the series wasn't, and I'm not sure it added anything to this movie, but it didn't bother me.
This movie almost had me taking back my initial reaction to Beat Takeshi's direction, but the last 20 minutes felt hurried, and the plot suffered for it. Choppy editing aside it still wasn't terrible until the last 10 minutes of the movie, which was downright ridiculous. I think this movie would only appeal to Beat Takeshi fans; Zatoichi fans, and everybody else is left out in the cold.
"The Guru" in an American Bollywood style movie that's goofy, and self aware at the same time. The story is absurd (Indian guy comes to the United States to become a huge movie star and finds himself learning sex secrets from a porn star), but once you get past that it gets even sillier with dance numbers (I did say it was Bollywood style). It's entertaining though, and it's the only movie I've ever really liked Heather Graham in.
Last weekend I got my camera and infrared filter in the mail, and was able to take some infrared pictures. I was feeling lazy so I didn't go anywhere special to take the pictures, just the patio. The first two images are the most obvious infrared subjects, which is foliage. In black and white infrared pictures foliage usually shows up white because leaves reflect infrared light. In color infrared pictures it's difficult to say what color they'll turn out since color infrared pictures display "false colors" (the human eye can't see infrared light so digital cameras/film sort of make up a color scheme to represent infrared light). I never liked the film version of color infrared, it's too psychedelic for my tastes, but I find the digital camera version pleasant.
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Scenery is nice, but trees are boring; I prefer people (or at least buildings). Here are some pictures I took of Lynn reading. The black and white was made using the Channel Mixer techniquefrom Luminous Landscape.
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The final two pictures are just things I like purely for mood. I hate the recent trend in out of focus art photography, but I think it works for these two pictures. (Lynn thinks I look pissed in my self portrait.)
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Half the pictures were shot hand held, but I was lucky those pictures didn't have camera shake because of the slow shutter speeds. I ended up buying a tripod this weekend so I could get a steady exposure. Tripod purchasing was aggravating since the vast majority of tripods available at electronic stores felt cheap, and the only one that didn't cost $100. I ended up getting a $30 model at Walmart that felt better than most $70 versions.
I was worried that getting another camera just for infrared photography would be a waste of money, but it's caused me to be excited about photography again so it was worth it.
Murray and I simultaneously had an urge for tonkatsu don [fried pork over rice topped with a sweet sauce with onions and egg] a few weeks ago so we went to Tokyo Stop for lunch. When we got there they had a special on the white board for chicken yakisoba [the Japanese equivalent of chicken lo mein]. It sounded good to both of us so we split an order of yakisoba in addition to our tonkatsu dons. The tonkatsu don was as good (in its odd way) as always. The chicken yakisoba had a lot of chicken (more than I care for really), vegetables, and firm noodles in a slightly sweet sauce. It was very good, and I'd order it again. Later Murray and I took Long to Tokyo Stop, and he we all got the yakisoba. Long's hooked on it now.
After lunch at Tokyo Stop we went to Arai Pastry so I could get some snacks. I got a "UFO", a fruit tart, and a bag of assorted cookies. The Japanese aren't known for their cookies, and I found out why; most of the cookies were hard and not very tasty. The best one was the "coconuts [sic]" cookie, which was moist and wasn't overly coconut. The fruit tart was good, but I think I'm losing my taste for them. The "UFO" is a small custard filled bread that's topped with a sugar topping. It wasn't nearly as sweet as it sounded, but I enjoyed its mild flavor. Arai started serving mugicha [Japanese cold barley tea that's served in the summer], and Murray bought me one to try. The mugicha was a big surprise because Murray described the flavor as a wet brown paper bag (real appetizing right?), but it tasted kind of like coffee without all the nasty bitterness of coffee (in my opinion as a non-coffee drinker). Murray's never had coffee so he wouldn't know it tasted like coffee. The tea was very refreshing, and somewhat addictive; I get a mugicha and a "UFO" every time I'm by Arai now.
[The question to the Jeopardy style subject/answer is "What is Japanese cuisine?".]
A couple of weeks ago Lynn and I met Sarah and Jamie (a couple we met from Chowhound) at Efes Turkish Cuisine. None of us had had Turkish food before so it was going to be an experience. Since everything was new we tried the sampler appetizer platter (hummus, patlican ezme [babagannosh], patlican soslu [stewed tomatoes, green peppers, and garlic], acili ezme [finely chopped bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and crushed chili peppers], yaprak sarmasi [grape leaves stuffed with rice, pine nuts, and currants]) and the sampler meat platter (ground lamb, ground chicken, grilled beef, grilled chicken, grilled lamb). The waitress also talked us into the iskender kebab (grilled beef over pita bread with yogurt and tomato sauce) because it was the only meat dish not included in the sampler.
The hummus was ok while the babagannosh had a good flavor, but not a very appetizing texture. The stuffed grape leaves had a sweet flavor that was pleasant, but they tasted a little too odd for me. The stewed vegetables had a very nice flavor, and I'd order them again. My favorite item was the bell pepper dish which was spicy and very tasty. It's one of those unique dishes that would draw me back to Efes.
Our entrees came with coleslaw and rice pilaf. The rice pilaf was ok; it didn't really taste like much. The coleslaw was minty and unique, but not something I enjoyed. The meats were better, somewhat. The ground lamb was very lamby tasting, and the grilled chicken reminded me of a chicken burger. The grilled lamb was very tender, but not flavorful. The grilled beef wasn't bad, but it also didn't seem to have too much flavor. The grilled chicken had the most flavor of the bunch, but the chicken was a little dry. (The chicken boti sultani at Copper Kettle is much better.) The iskender kebab was odd the first time I tasted it, kind of bready and cheesy. I wasn't even sure I wanted to try it a second time. I did, it grew on me, and it was easily my favorite meat dish.
We finished our meal with baklava and rice pudding. The baklava wasn't very sweet, and it had a good pastry flavor. It was one of the better baklavas I've had. The rice pudding was creamy with cinnamon and cardamon flavors. It was good, but I thought the flavors would have been more appropriate in bread pudding than rice pudding.
The meat dishes at Efes were decent, but other than the iskender kebab, they wouldn't be my reason for going to Efes; the vegetable dishes seem like the best bet for something interesting and tasty.
I've watched as the country has become more politically polarized in the last couple of years, but "Food Companies Offering 'W' Ketchup" takes the cake. I don't know if it's more ridiculous or sad.
Today I received a marketing email from US Airways, who I've been unhappy with for various reasons that I've written about before, about their future plans, and now they've given me yet another reason to dislike them. They seem to be trying to put a positive spin on their attempt to cut their employees' salaries/benefits. Here's an excerpt from the email.
The core of our Transformation Plan focuses on achieving a more competitive cost structure and adapting to the new airline marketplace realities, like simpler fares and more point-to-point service. That also means further improving our productivity and operational efficiencies. As part of this effort, we continue to negotiate with our labor unions to achieve the necessary employee cost reductions that are part of our overall cost reduction effort. While the negotiations are a required part of implementing our plan, they have no direct impact on our ability to professionally serve you, nor do they affect your ability to earn or redeem Dividend Miles to the more than 750 worldwide destinations we offer as a Star Alliance member airline.
Is it just me or does it sound like they're trying to blame their unions for their monetary problems? It's what's implied to me when they say "necessary employee cost reductions". Who deemed the employee cost reductions necessary? Was it the same people who decided to give out free tickets which could never be redeemed, or was it the same people who created a frequent flyer program that's more of an irritation to use than a reward? Maybe it was the same people who decided to cut the in-flight perks Southwest Airlines style, but forgot to lower the prices accordingly? Most likely it's the same people who've already run the airline into bankruptcy.
"Improving our productivity and operational efficiencies" should mean they're trying to improve processes to lower costs, but as they stated they're clearly trying to cut salaries. Lynn's father works for US Airways, and I know his union has allowed concessions (a nice word for pay/benefit cuts) at least once when the company declared bankruptcy, and more than once according to "US Airways' Pilots Union to Resume Talks With Airline". Other unions have also allowed concessions. It seems like the main focus of US Airways "improving our productivity and operational efficiencies" effort (or $800 million of the $1.5 billion of their proposed cost cutting according to "US Airways Union Says Labor Deal Is Near") is cutting their employees pay until the company stops bleeding red. Are the executives also taking a pay cut? They should be because they seem to miss the fact that the problem with their company isn't how much they're paying their employees, but the fact that they don't know how to make money.
Anyway, I feel sorry for Lynn's dad because I think US Airways is a terrible company, and I doubt it'll survive for much longer, no matter how often they cut employee salaries.
Steve had told us how good Buono's Pizza was so we met him there one night. We started with fried zucchini and mushrooms. They were good, but a little greasy. We tried to order a bacon and pepperoni pizza, but they were out of bacon. I settled for a pepperoni and onion pizza, and Steve got a pineapple and ham pizza. The crust, toppings, and sauce were all pretty good, but I think La Famiglia is better for New York style pizza.
Later that night I got heartburn for the first time in years. It was so bad I was considering going to Fry's to pick up some antacids (it had been so long since the last time I had heartburn that I threw out my antacids), but I eventually remembered that milk is somewhat basic, and drank enough of it to counteract the excess stomach acid. The next day I told Steve that his pizza gave me heartburn. He asked if I was sure it wasn't the fried zucchini and mushrooms. I wasn't sure, but this would be only the second time food has ever caused me heartburn. It's unlikely I'll be rushing back to Buono's.
A while ago Lynn and I went to Naples, but my notes weren't great so this will be quick. We started with a bowl of the pasta e fagioli soup (pasta, bean, and pancetta), and it had a very good flavor. It's definitely something I'd order again, but I'm a real sucker for bean soups. The house salad at Naples didn't make an impression, but it never does. They had a special of shrimp and crab over spinach pasta in a pesto cream sauce that sounded good to me so I got it. Lynn got the capellini tre pini (shrimp and angel hair pasta in a tomato cream sauce). I didn't care for the shrimp in Lynn's dish because it had a shrimpy flavor to me, but overall it was really tasty (due to the tomato cream sauce of course). The special was rich and tasty, and one of the best things I've had at Naples. When the bill came I thought it cost too much though. I should have asked what it cost ahead of time.
Naples is another one of those restaurants I don't eat at often enough, but the only thing I remember enjoying there is their tomato cream sauce so it's not a surprise.
Lynn really likes mindless comedies so we've been watching a few lately. "Old School" had a few funny moments, but it wasn't that good. Do we really need to see middle aged guys trying to relive their college days? It was at least better than the road trip/teen sex movie "Eurotrip", which had fewer funny moments. I'm glad I didn't pay to watch either in theaters.
The best of the comedies was "Starsky & Hutch" which wasn't as mindless as I thought it was going to be. Some of the scenes with Snoop Dogg were hilarious. It would have been great if the rest of the movie was as funny as the first 15 minutes, but any movie that can make a bit using Luxembourg can't be all bad.
I started off last weekend well by purchasing a used Canon Powershot G1 on ebay. The only reason I got it is because the G1 is sensitive to infrared light, and I've wanted to get into infrared photography for a long time, but never got around to it. Infrared in film can be a little tricky, but the results are immediate with digital so I skipped the film route. I should have the camera and an infrared filter (which filters out most visible light so that only the high end of the red frequency of light and infrared get past the filter) by this weekend so hopefully I'll take some pictures. Landscapes are the traditional subjects of infrared photography because leaves tend to reflect a lot of infrared light making them appear white (which makes for a surreal landscape), but I've always wondered how other things look. Now's my time to find out.
Lynn and I stopped going to Sun Devil Liqueurs for about a month because of how busy things were, but we're back into our routine of attending their Friday night tastings. Sun Devil Liqueurs isn't the most comfortable place, but they are nice and I think they're the only wine shop that has their tastings until 8. (I wish other wine shops would stop assuming that everyone gets out of work at 4:30 and ending their tastings at 7.) Neither Lynn or I liked the Chilean wine that was poured last Friday. It didn't help that the guy pouring acted like he had someplace he'd rather be. We actually thought the last wine (some reserve Merlot) was above average, but we weren't going to buy it. At least not until Lynn found out that they ran out of it. Heh, psychology; you have to love how the easiest way to make someone want something is just to tell them they can't have it. I don't mind if Lynn wants to buy the Merlot though because it's only $13.
After the wine tasting we went to Peruanitos, which we hadn't been to in forever. I guess it took me a while to get over the "fried chicken incident". I really wanted some papas rellanas (beef filled potato croquettes), but they don't make them anymore. It was a disappointment, but at least the food was just as good as I remembered it.
Saturday we helped Steve move from his apartment in Tempe (where his car was broken into, had parts removed [stolen] from the engine in a separate incident, and was finally stolen altogether) to an apartment in North Scottsdale. It was pretty uneventful until some ditzy girl rear-ended Steve's parked U-Haul. She freaked out and wanted to blame Steve for her accident because he wasn't parked in an "official" parking space. She eventually calmed down and probably realized it was her fault because she backed into something that could have easily been an elephant or a house or any other obviously large object any normal person would have noticed in their rear view mirror if they were looking. Moving Steve's stuff was pretty easy, but none of us had actually eaten anything before we started moving so we were all pooped at the end.
There's an AJ's Fine Foods by Steve's so Lynn and I stopped in there to get a bite to eat. The only thing that looked good to me was the grilled asparagus, and at $10 a pound that wasn't going to happen. I did pick up a couple of bottles of wine, three different cheeses (St. Andre, manchego, and Point Reyes blue cheese), and a sesame seed covered baguette. A quick stop at Filiberto's for a carne asada burro, a chicken taco, and a cinnamony horchata that wasn't too bad tided us over until we could get the cheese arranged. The St. Andre was super creamy, with just a hint of gaminess. It was quite a tasty cheese, and it paired well with the sesame seeds on the bread. The manchego was semi-soft, and had a pleasant mild flavor, but I'd rather have it with food then by itself. The Point Reyes blue cheese was on the mild side and not challenging. The Veritas Winery "Barossa Valley Tokay 1990" I had opened the night before was an amazing match with the St. Andre, the cheese bringing out a sweetness and flavor the wine didn't have previously. It didn't go very well with the other two cheeses. I felt challenged to find something that went with the blue cheese. I thought the Ficklin Vineyards "Tinta Port" might be good since it wasn't that tawny and might stand up to the blue, but it wasn't a good match either. Neither was the Yalumba "Antique Tawny". I wish I had a bottle of big red port already open, but I'll probably open something this week to give it a try.
Sunday we started looking at houses. Our realtor's name is Ralph, and he's probably the flakiest guy I've ever met. I wonder if he's artistically inclined since a lot of the artists I've met have been huge flakes. Anyway, we didn't see any houses we liked. The house we liked the most was a house that needed some work (like all new interior and exterior paint), and I don't know that I want to put that much time into a house right now. We'll keep looking.
Later we met Steve and his girlfriend at Classic Italian Pizza as he was treating us to dinner since we helped him move. We tried the spinach pizza (spinach, mushrooms, zucchini, artichoke hearts, plus the optional garlic) for the first time, and it was pretty good. Especially the garlic. As good as this pizza was it still couldn't compare to their Italian sausage pizza. We left Classic Italian Pizza to go to Angel Sweet for some gelato. Banana and raspberry gelato was a good way to end the weekend.
One of my favorite restaurants is Rigatony's, and like all of my favorite restaurants I don't eat there often enough. One of the reasons I love Rigatony's is their house antipasto salad, which is one of the best salads served anywhere. Naturally Lynn doesn't like the salad as much as I do.
It had been so long since I last had a pizza at Rigatony's I forgot if they were any good. To jog my memory we started dinner with a Margarita pizza (fresh tomato, mozzarella, and basil). The crust was thin and tasty, but I didn't care for the slices of tomato on the pizza. (That shouldn't come as a surprise since I don't like fresh tomato on pizza.) If I took the tomato off the pizza it was pretty decent, but I wouldn't compare it with the Margarita pizza from Pizzeria Bianco.
I had a difficult time choosing between a couple of dishes I hadn't tried before, but I had a serious hankering for Italian sausage so I went with the sausage cacciatore (onion and peppers in a marinara sauce). Lynn went with the special of the night, scallop and chicken fettucine primavera in a vodka tomato cream sauce. Normally I don't like the Italian sausage served in restaurants because the texture tends to be too fine, but this sausage had my preferred course texture with an excellent flavor and a touch of heat. The marinara sauce was the thicker, heartier variety, and went well with the sausage. Lynn loved my dish. Her tomato cream sauce was so light in color that I wouldn't have known it was a tomato sauce unless I had seen it written on the black board. It definitely tasted more like a cream sauce than a tomato sauce too. It did have a good flavor that complimented the scallops well, but the combination of chicken and scallops didn't work for either of us; the dish would have been much better with scallops and shrimp or practically any other seafood. The vegetables were appropriately undercooked, and they loved the sauce. If I had ordered Lynn's dish I would have been disappointed because I would have expected a tomato cream sauce like they make at Naples, but since I didn't order it I enjoyed it a lot. Lynn liked it overall, but she really didn't like the chicken in the dish.
Normally I stick with my two favorite dishes at Rigatony's (the shrimp scampi and the grilled chicken linguine), but the times I've tried something new I've been usually pretty happy with them. I only have two gripes with Rigatony's: one, the inconsistent preparation of the shrimp scampi drives me nuts, and two, I wish they had an appetizer there that I liked.
Speaking of birthday dinners, it's about that time of year again for me to figure out where I want to spend my birthday dinner. Each year I always have a tough time choosing between something I love or something new. Last year I went to Kai for the first time. This year I want something I love. Lynn reminded me that Janos existed, and I was looking forward to return to one of the few restaurants where I've had a perfect four course meal, but my recent disappointing experience at J Bar combined with my desire to go to Flagstaff before I go back to Tucson changed my mind. The excellent meal at Shinbay compels me to return, but the restaurant is silent like a library, and not the sort of place I want to celebrate. Right now I'm thinking Christopher's Fermier Brasserie is the perfect combination of great food and ambience, but I could change my mind again before Lynn forces me to make a choice.
I've been to the Phoenix location of Tomaso's a couple of times, and I've enjoyed the meals I've had there. I've always wondered how the Chandler location was, but never got around to eating there. When DJ wanted Italian for his birthday dinner I couldn't think of any place close enough at that late hour to go to besides the Chandler location of Tomaso's. It was a good excuse.
The interior of Tomaso's was cavernous, and only seemed more so since it was almost empty (it really was late though) except for a large party of drunk people on the patio. I started with a glass of Principe di Corleone "Nero d'Avola", an Italian red wine that had the peculiar flavor I almost always notice in Cotes de Rhones. I'm not fond of that flavor, but it wasn't strong in this wine so it wasn't too bad.
We started with a bowl of stracciatella (chicken broth, spinach, egg and parmesan cheese), and an order of calamari. The stracciatella was decent, but no as nearly as good as the one from Marco Polo Supper club. The calamari was chewy, but spicy tomato sauce that came with it helped a lot. There were a couple of seafood dishes that sounded great to me, but I opted for the mixed Mediterranean grill: chicken picatta, stuffed veal, filet mignon, lamb chops, green beans, and mashed potatoes. The lamp chops were the tastiest thing on the plate (nice and herby) followed by the filet mignon (pretty good), chicken picatta (not bad), and the stuffed veal (which had an odd flavor). The sides went well with the ol' "meat o' rama" too. Lynn had the butternut squash ravioli in a cream sauce, which is one of her favorite dishes from the Phoenix location. This version was different in that the ravioli dough was too thick, and Lynn thought the flavor was too sweet (even though the other one resembles pumpkin pie). I liked the ravioli much better than Lynn did.
The Phoenix location of Tomaso's can be a little cramped, and the restaurant gets loud when it's crowded, but I think their cooking is a little better and I just prefer the feel of the original location.
A long time ago Lynn and I went to Santisi Brothers to meet Ken for dinner. We started with the calamari with spicy marinara sauce, but the marinara sauce didn't taste spicy. I thought I just remembered the marinara sauce incorrectly, but Lynn ended up getting it with her Philly cheese steak, and it was reassuringly spicy. The calamari didn't taste nearly as good without a spicy marinara sauce to perk it up. Lynn's cheese steak wouldn't have tasted anything better than decent if it wasn't for the spicy marinara sauce too. Apparently the spicy marinara sauce is the MSG of Santisi Brothers.
Something that doesn't require the spicy marinara sauce to be great is the pizza at Santisi Brothers. Normally I find cheese pizza a little bland, but the Santisis' cheese pizza didn't make me miss bacon (even though that still would have made the pizza taste better). They'd definitely be my go to pizza place if I lived closer to I-17 and Bell.
Ken had told me the New York strip steak was very good, and he hasn't steered me wrong at Santisi Brothers yet, so I gave it a try. The New York strip came with fried onions and a baked potato, and it was one of the better flavored steaks I've had at any restaurant. The fried onions were tasty too and reminded me of the classic Bavarian steak dish served with fried onions. Ken has probably tried every item on the menu by now, and he always has a suggestion for something new and excellent. I'm constantly amazed at the depth of the menu at Santisi Brothers, which puts most regular restaurants to shame, and it's especially astonishing considering they're a sports bar. Writing this review just now reminds me how much I wish I could get to Santisi Brothers more often.
A few weeks ago Lynn and I went to My Wine Cellar for a free wine tasting. The wine we were there to taste was decent, but I didn't taste anything I was crazy about. While we were there we tried their hummus with fried pita chips, bread, tomato, olives, and cucumbers (Lynn's choice). Did I miss the memo that said all wine bars must serve hummus? I guess I just don't understand its ubiquity. Anyway, the hummus was very good, as were the pita chips. I didn't care for any of the other stuff with the hummus, and I thought the hummus plate with roasted vegetables at 98 South was much better. Lynn liked the bread and the tomatoes, and thought that the hummus plate at 98 South was only a little better. The thing that bothered me about the hummus at My Wine Cellar is that it tasted exactly like the hummus I got from Costco when they were selling it with pita chips (which, incidentally, were the same pita chips that came with this hummus). I like the Costco hummus and pita chips, but I don't want to pay someone else for the privilege of serving it to me. I thought the bruschetta tasted like it came from Costco too, so it's doubtful I'll be ordering any more appetizers at My Wine Cellar.
I had tried to order the crumb cake, but they were out of it. They were out of the pecan pie too. I wanted something sweet to snack on to go with my glass of Penfolds "Club Tawny" port so I went with a dessert special, fresh fruits (strawberries, peaches, blueberries) in fresh whipped cream. The whipped cream could have used some sugar because it didn't have any kind of sweetness, and the fruit wasn't ripe so they weren't contributing any sugar. Lynn didn't mind the whipped cream because she grew up with it that way, but I believe some things require sugar like meat requires salt; you don't need enough to taste it, just enough so that you don't notice it's missing. Whipped cream is one of things (meringue is another). Anyway, I was unsatisfied with the dessert. The port was decent, with buttery flavors that were accentuated by the dessert.
I noticed I didn't look for any wine this visit because all the tables in front of the wine racks were occupied. I still don't like the restaurant/wine shop combination. I do hope to check out Atlas Bistro, the restaurant adjacent to AZ Wine, someday to see if having the restaurant completely separate from the wine shop seems any better.
The project at work is basically over for me. The only thing I do now in relation to the project is make minor data corrections as needed. It's a good position to be in because it means that my weekends are my own again. Of course my weeks aren't my own now because my beverage management class starts tomorrow. I'd prefer not to have to wake up really early Wednesday mornings, but it does bring me closer to having the expertise to run a wine shop.
I still want to go camping, and visit Echo Canyon, but that's not going to happen in the next two weeks. In the meantime, reading Lynn's Europe journal has motivated me to start work on my own. I looked over my notes, and I thought I had written in some detail, but I only wrote my usual journal shorthand of brief descriptions of what I wanted to write about. It was disappointing, but the memories are still fresh so this shouldn't be too difficult.
Every once in a while we get a craving for the excellent creamy jalapeno soup at Rockfish. That and the grilled scallops are the only things we know we like there, but that may not be the case anymore. This last time we went to Rockfish we found the creamy jalapeno soup disappointing because the flavor wasn't quite right, and the texture was thin. It wasn't the same soup that we loved.
I had a salad with grilled scallops on top of it. The salad and the vinaigrette were both pretty good. The scallops were well prepared and plentiful; in the end there was actually more scallops than I could eat. Lynn went with the special for the night, a pecan crusted tilapia with potatoes and spinach in a Champagne butter sauce. It was nasty and Lynn ended up sending it back. I thought it was the Champagne butter sauce that made it taste fishy, but Lynn thought it was the tilapia itself. Either way they tried to get Lynn something else, which didn't work because Lynn loses her appetite easily when she runs into a problem with her food, and took it off the bill.
I don't know if it was just an off night for the soup (which is unusual for soup since it's so easy to reproduce) or a permanent change to the recipe, but we'll probably find out the next time the urge strikes us. If their soup isn't what it used to be then we won't have any reason to return to Rockfish.
Have you ever asked the question, "How much of a fictional back story can you create for a painting?" Neither have I. Well "Girl with a Pearl Earring" answers the question anyway in a surprisingly entertaining manner. The story wasn't great and I got tired of Scarlett Johansson constantly looking guilty for being alive, but the movie kept my interest the entire time. If you're into period pieces or the painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring", then you'd probably enjoy this movie even more than I did.
I finally got around to reading through Lynn's entire Europe journal. Her journal is written train of thought style, and I find it difficult to read. It does get better after the first couple of days though. I went through and corrected her spelling (excluding proper nouns and anything French), but I hardly corrected her grammar since there was too much to fix. Below is what I think is the best piece of writing from her journal. (Lynn might actually write better when she's drunk, and don't be fooled by what she wrote, she was drunk.)
I was 3 sheets to the wind, almost. Just mostly buzzed. I'm finally happy, I mean I was happy in some of the other places, but something about Heidelberg resonates in my soul. Maybe it's the German that my mom kept pressing on me, or my genes, or something. Maybe I was conceived after my dad came through Germany from one of his tdy tours and that affected my personality. I don't know, but I was very happy. It could be how much I love Mario sitting across a dinner table with me. It could be everything.
So I'll give you a warning about language, inappropriateness, bad grammar, and just plain one-sided cluelessness. If you're still interested in reading it, here's her journal. (If you don't want to read it you can always just look at the pictures.)
One night I was working late, when I saw Murray carrying a button making machine.
Well, I was feeling creative and sleep deprived so I had an overwhelming urge
to make myself a button. I didn't know what kind of button to make, but I
needed something to occupy my mind that wasn't work related.
I ended up taking a print screen of a character from the
tokyoplastic web
site that they developed for an animated short they did for Aiwa TV called
"Music Box". (I would have linked "Music Box", but it looks like Aiwa recently
removed it from their web site.)
I took their black and white image and added some color to it to give it some
life. I liked the depth the color added, but the picture felt empty. I wanted to add
some sort of clever text to it, but couldn't think of anything clever. I
decided something written in Japanese would be appropriate and look cool, plus it
had the added bonus of
not needing to make sense since no one could read it anyway. I added the kanji
for "Taiko no Tetsujin" ["Taiko Master"], which is a Japanese video game two people
compete against each other by beating taiko drums to J-Pop (Japanese
pop music), because in an odd way the image reminded me of the game.
I was finally happy with the image, but when I tried to make a button with it
I mangled the button. Twice. I guess I should have read the directions on the
button machine a little closer. When I finally worked out the directions it
didn't do any good because the button making machine sucked, and couldn't seem
to make a button that wasn't
screwed up. Oh well, at least it was fun tweaking the image.
At my job us programmers don't get paid for overtime, but the powers that be have decided to be kind to us and make a onetime exception. We were only paid at time instead of the time and a half that people normally get for overtime, but it's better than nothing. Today I looked at my paycheck to figure out how much of the overtime I worked actually got into my checking account (because overtime is taxed at such an absurdly high rate), and the result was $666. Now I know why overtime's always felt wrong to me.
A few of weeks ago I stopped at Pane Bianco for lunch. The market sandwich (smoked bacon, tomato, and gruyere) sounded interesting so I got it. I also picked up a market salad (cucumber, red onion, wild oregano, and basil) for myself and a market focaccia (crushed tomatoes, cheese, garlic, and basil) for Lynn. The sandwich had a good flavor, and the occasional bit of basil was very good, but it tasted like the sandwich needed something. At the very least it needed more gruyere. The cucumber salad had a very good vinegar-oregano flavor, but I prefer my cucumber salads on the sweet side. Lynn tried the focaccia, and didn't like it. The bread looked like it was a quarter of a larger focaccia instead of the single serving focaccia they normally serve. The larger focaccia was thicker, and it didn't have as good a flavor as the thinner focaccia. The layer of crushed tomatoes was so thick that you couldn't really taste the flavor of the cheese and garlic. I took about three bites, and I was done with it.
Often Pane Bianco serves some absolutely brilliant stuff, but this wasn't one of those times. It's doesn't discourage me though because I could always go with their regular sandwiches if I wanted to play it safe.
Fixing things we broke on Friday night and cleaning up data has kept me busy at work these days. Outside of work I was finishing up the text of my New Orleans 12/03 trip. I also wrote a little something in Babble. I should be getting back to writing about food soon.
It looks like my 2.2 gigabyte Magicstor microdrive is permanently locked (basically completely useless). I got the Magicstor specifically for our Europe trip last April, and pretty early in the trip the drive went corrupt. Luckily I brought a couple of spare compact flash cards so I could afford to not use the Magicstor until I got home and could spend the time to recover the pictures I had already saved on it. Earlier this week I was just screwing around taking pictures of Gandalf (one of Lynn's cats) because he looked really cute curled up in a shoe box. While I was taking pictures the Magicstor experienced an error, and the drive has been locked ever since. Right now I'm not concerned with recovering any pictures; I'd just be happy if it worked again. I've tried formatting it through the camera and the laptop, but all attempts have failed.
Less than five months of use would seem an appropriate end to my entire Magicstor experience. It all started when I ordered the microdrive from Prism Blue. I had ordered the Magicstor with plenty of time before I was going to leave on my trip, but the drive was out of stock. After Prism Blue initially sent me an email about it being out of stock I couldn't get any response from them after that about when they expected the drives to arrive. I tried to cancel my order several times, but they ignored those emails and mailed the drive to me anyone. I still needed a high capacity compact flash/microdrive for my camera so I didn't return it. I should have on principal, but I was desperate.
After I had ordered my drive I read about people having problems with Magicstor microdrives, but I thought they were aberrations. Little did I know that I was going to be one of those people. Right now I'm trying to figure out a way to get the drive unlocked, but if I can't I'll have to send it back to Magicstor for them to replace. I read somewhere that it cost about $50 to send it to them in Hong Kong, and $50 is too much money to spend replacing faulty equipment with another piece of faulty equipment. I'll see for myself how much it'll cost to get the drive replaced by Magicstor, otherwise it looks like my money was wasted.
(For the record, I've had a 1 gigabyte Hitachi microdrive for over a year and I've never had a problem with it.)
Work had settled down for a week or so as my application was being tested and everything worked. This last week was spent getting ready for production, and it kept me busy working out configuration issues because the production environment was different from the test environment. Everything came to a head yesterday when we implemented the entire system last night, and made changes to almost every production system we have at work at the same time. Things were finally working well enough so that everyone was able to return home at 4 in the morning.
Three out of the four available programmers were at work today. I'm not sure how I got out of being there, but I'm not going to complain about it. I wonder how busy things are going to be this week.
After a disappointing lunch at El Torito in Phoenix today I was still in the mood for good Mexican so we went to Mi Casita tonight. I tried the chile relleno, and Lynn got the combination enchilada plate. The chile relleno is the first thing I've had at Mi Casita that I didn't really like; the relleno batter was too eggy, and ended up tasting like huevos rancheros. The sauce on the chile relleno did make the rice and refried beans (both of which I normally don't like) pretty tasty. Lynn asked for her cheese enchilada without onions, and they applied that request to her beef enchilada too. It was too bad because the onions in the beef provide a lot of flavor, and without them the beef enchilada just isn't as good.
This meal was disappointing, but it hasn't deterred me since it had to happen eventually. Mi Casita still has quite a few things on their menu I really like, plus I still have a couple of new things left to try on the menu.
Last Friday night Lynn, myself, and my mom drove down to Tucson, and had dinner at J Bar (Janos Wilder's other restaurant). Both Lynn and I thought it was an amazingly disappointing meal, but maybe expecting something as good as Janos was unfair. Even taken without those expectations the meal was still mediocre though.
After dinner we went to our hotel, the Courtyard Marriott by the airport, which I'm still not crazy about, but the location was where I wanted to be, and the price was still what I was willing to pay on Priceline.
Saturday morning we got up early (for me), and had breakfast at Denny's. We figured that picking grapes is hard work so it required a hearty breakfast. We got to Charron Vineyards a little after 8, and got to picking after Leo gave us some quick instructions. The physical exertion was a nice change to my now sedentary lifestyle. About two hours later the vineyard was picked clean. Just over thirty people showed up at Charron, and some people had started picking as early as 5:30. I thought the picking would take most of the day so I was at a loss as to what to do with all the spare time. Before we left Charron Lynn got one of the last cases Leo had for sale of his 2003. I can't wait until the 2004 is available, especially knowing that we helped with the harvest.
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We drove to Callaghan Vineyards to try their new wines. The first was "Ann's Cuvee 2003", and it was one of the best whites I've tasted in a long time. I wish I could describe it, but the only thing I can remember about it is how impressed I was. The "Lisa's Selection 2003" was ok, but tasting after the "Ann's" probably didn't do it any favors. The "Vin Gris 2003" had an amazing strawberry scent for a semi-dry rosé without much flavor. I think it would probably taste better chilled, but I've never been a rosé fan since I can't get the expectation that something the color pink should be sweet out of my mind. Lynn liked it. I didn't remember trying the "Junior 2002" last time I was at Callaghan, so even though it wasn't technically a new wine, it was new to me. It was very dry with an intense flavor; not my sort of thing. The last wine was a new one I didn't even know about until I saw it on the list, "Claire's Spirited Selection 2000". I'm a huge fan of the 1999 so I was excited about the 2000. It was very creamy, mildly fruity, and very good. I like the '99 better, but the 2000 is still one of the better port style wines around.
While at Callaghan we picked up a pamphlet for Arizona Wines, and there were a couple of new wineries listed. While I was at Leo's I also met the enthusiastic owner of Rancho Maria Vineyards (hope I remembered the name correctly), so it looks like the area is really developing into a wine country. Twenty years from now I might not even recognize the place.
I had heard from a couple of people that Grasslands Bakery was good so before we left Sonoita I picked up a couple of loaves of bread from them, one green chile cornbread and one blackberry-walnut bread. I like my cornbread savory, but this one was sweet. Too sweet for me. The blackberry-walnut bread was very dense and crumbly. The flavor was good, but there was something not quite right about it (like too much molasses?). Maybe the people who told me about Grasslands were talking about their regular bread or pastries? I really should have gotten more specific information about the place.
We tried to go to Cafe Poca Cosa for a late lunch/early dinner, but they were closed for their annual (three week long) summer vacation. It was disappointing, but it did provide an opportunity to try Karuna's Thai Plate, which I'd seen once or twice on previous visits to Tucson, but had never eaten at. The food at Karuna's Thai Plate was pretty good.
I went to Tucson Mall to look for an import art shop that used to be on 4th Ave., but it wasn't at the mall anymore. We did a little shopping and returned back to the hotel to get some sleep. (See how screwed up sitting in front of a computer all day has me, a little hard work and I'm out.)
Sunday we drove out to Bowie, AZ (which I didn't realize was only like 30 miles from New Mexico) to Fort Bowie Vineyards. Fort Bowie Vineyards made one of the best Chardonnays I'd tasted early in my wine drinking experience, so I was curious to see if I still felt the same way about it after all the Chardonnays I've tried since. I started my tasting with their "Arizona Sweet Water", which was sweet with a good fruity flavor. I thought it was refreshing and tasty stuff. The "Bowie Blush" seemed like a pink version of the "Arizona Sweet Water", and I didn't like it as much. Their "Chablis" was light with a crisp flavor. It didn't have quite the same flavor as the French Chablis (plural) I've had, but that was a good thing since I haven't liked them. Lynn (who actually likes French Chablis) liked this one a lot too. The "Arizona Chardonnay 2002" (under the Chiricahua Cellars label) was still one of the best Chardonnays I've had. The flavor was creamy, complex, and just plain tasty. The "Burgundy" was a lighter, semi-dry red wine that was kind of fruity. I thought it was decent, and Lynn liked it a lot. The last two wines were under the Chiricahua Cellars label: the "Merlot" (dry, tasteless, and smooth just like practically every Merlot I've ever had), and the "Syrah" (thin texture with a light, but good flavor). I ended up getting a case of wine (most of it was mercifully cheap, except for the "Arizona Chardonnay 2002", which made up half the case [which was still pretty cheap after I looked up how much I paid]), and a slice of pecan pie. The pecan pie was super sweet, but it had an excellent flavor. I should have got an entire pie, but I had the two loaves of bread from Grasslands I hadn't even tried yet.
I was hungry when we got to Fort Bowie Vineyards so I desperately needed food after all the wine I had there. We had seen Salsa Fiesta (I don't know if they could have come up with any other name that sounded as cheesy and as intriguing to me as that) in Wilcox on the way to Fort Bowie Vineyards, but didn't stop there. We stopped there on the way back and had a pretty good lunch.
That's the trip in a nutshell. Southern Arizona is growing on me, and seeing everything green from the monsoon rains was great, but I still can't wait to go to northern Arizona to visit Echo Canyon, and get some camping in.
The last time Lynn and I were in Tucson we had lunch at Cafe Poca Cosa, one of our all time favorite restaurants. We both got the plato Poca Cosa (a plate with three random dishes chosen by the chef, which usually includes one chicken dish, one beef dish, and one corn casserole), and mine had amarillo mole chicken, beef with a hearty bacon sauce, and a corn casserole topped with mango. Lynn's plate had the regular mole chicken (the only dish we don't like at Poca Cosa), some sort of beef dish, and a corn casserole topped with sweet potato. The amarillo mole had a complex, amazing flavor that would make you rethink how you felt about mole if you don't like mole. I loved the amarillo mole. The standard mole was actually pretty good for a change. This was the latest we'd ever been to Cafe Poca Cosa for lunch so I think the mole just needed a couple more hours on the stove for the flavors to marry properly. My beef dish had a heavier and thicker flavor than Lynn's, but they were both delicious. Both of the corn casseroles were very sweet (almost too sweet), and would have served as dessert if we didn't plan on ordering the chocolate mousse. I would have preferred a corn casserole in asparagus cream sauce, or a sunny yellow tomato sauce, but it seems like the chef keeps leaning farther towards sweet, instead of savory, for her corn casserole dishes. Maybe we just catch her on her sweet days?
We did finish lunch with an order of chocolate mousse, but we could hardly eat half of it between the two of us. It's one of the best uber-rich type desserts though, and well worth getting even for a little taste.
I don't think there's ever been a meal I've had at Cafe Poca Cosa that's made me regret eating there on those trips where I only get one meal in Tucson, and I'm a fiend for new experiences (which applies to cigars, wines, and restaurants).
Tonight Lynn, myself, and my mom head down to Tucson to help Leo at Charron Vineyards pick some grapes tomorrow. Before we start all that hard work we'll get in a meal at J Bar (which I've never been to before). Sunday I hope to stop at Callaghan Vineyards to try their new whites. It looks like it's going to be a good weekend.
Another restaurant that's starting to feel like my own is Mi Casita, and that was only after the first visit. This last visit only reinforced that feeling. This time I ordered the combination plate with three gorditas and Lynn ordered the green chile. The gorditas were small, thick, deep fried tortillas stuffed with ground beef, some sort of white cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes; it tasted a lot better than your standard Sonoran cuisine (much like Via Marie). The green chile wasn't as good as the green chile we make at home, but it was close. (Making green chile is a lot of work so I'd rather buy one that's almost as good as our's instead of going to all the trouble of making it myself.) I think there was less tomatoes in the Spanish rice because the rice actually tasted decent this time.
We finished dinner with some sopapillas and honey. They were tasty. I can't wait to go back to Mi Casita to try their chile rellenos, tamales, and carne adobada.
I haven't had any usable web site statistics for the last three or four months because the "other" domain my web site was coming up under was throwing everything off. A couple weeks ago I finally got around to doing something about it, and it's working, but I miss seeing the interesting search terms people use to find my site. Just out of curiosity I checked on the stats for my old Geocities site (which is still around, but not updated), and almost half the people who found my old homepage used the search terms "angelina jolie's feet in bbq sauce" to find it. I'm not sure how that happened, but at least it's amusing.
It's been such a long time since I've seen a great movie that I didn't think I was ever going to see one again. At least I don't have to worry about it after having seen "This Charming Man", a Danish short film that's a play on the classic boy meets girl story with a good bit of social commentary thrown in. Amazingly, it's much more entertaining than it sounds. (I am beginning to think I have a weakness for cute movies though.)
Lotus Cafe is really starting to feel like my restaurant these days; I've had a craving for their galanga fried chicken for a week or two now. We started our dinner with their beef filled potato croquettes. I don't if they were actually better or if I just in the mood for them this time, but they tasted better this time than the first time we had them. They still make me want to go to Peruanitos for some croquettes though.
The house fried noodles with chicken and shrimp and the Javanese fried chicken both looked good to me so I ordered both of them. (I wanted the galanga fried chicken that came with the coconut rice, but I wanted to see how the Javanese fried chicken was different. Turns out they were the same chicken.) Lynn went for a combination of beef rendang [curry] and shrimp with green beans. The chicken was excellent (moist and nicely spiced), especially using the sambal bajak [chili paste] to taste. The noodles were prepared exactly like chow mein, and these noodles had a beautiful wok flavor and some sweetness. I really loved the flavor, but the noodles could have been a little firmer. Lynn's beef rendang was a hearty dish with a hint of coconut milk and a complex spicy flavor that reminded me of the best Indian dishes I've had even though the beef wasn't tender. (I'm sure the beef is probably better when they aren't just about to close for the night.) Lynn and I both thought we should order by itself next time. The shrimp with green beans also had a lot of potato, and an earthy, starchy flavor. There was also a slow heat to the dish that made it a little better, but neither Lynn or I would order it again.
With the exception of the day we tried nothing but sates, it seems like I'm always finding something at Lotus Cafe that I want to order again. I'm glad this place is only a couple of miles from our house.
I'd heard about 98 South on Chowhound, and some lady from Lynn's work told Lynn she liked the place, so I decided to check out our future competition. We went to dinner there on a Tuesday night, and I was amazed to see almost every table in the restaurant occupied. The atmosphere was appropriately dark, and the ambient noise was pretty loud.
We looked at the wine list and were happy to see that in addition to offering wines by the glass, they also had "tastes" (smaller pours than a regular glass) which ranged from about $2.50 to $4. At $2.50 I wanted to try three or four different wines, but I restrained myself and kept to one taste (with the option for a second). I ordered the Joseph Matrot "Chardonnay 2000" just because it was French and I hadn't found a French Chardonnay I liked yet (unless you count the Taittinger "1995 Blanc de Blancs" Champagne). The Joseph Matrot was creamy with an excellent flavor, and it didn't taste like the other French Chardonnays I'd had before; I really dug it. Lynn had a glass of Perrier Jouet Champagne. She really enjoyed it, and even though it had the typical apple flavor I'm not fond of, it was very smooth and pretty good for its style.
We looked at the menu and none of the entrees looked good to us so we went with a selection of appetizers: tortilla soup, skirt steak, hummus and grilled vegetables, the citrus salad, and panko [Japanese rice flour bread crumbs] crusted calamari. Lynn wanted a red wine to go with some of the items so she got a taste of the Chateau Saint-Roch "Cote du Rhone". She liked it, but I couldn't really taste it.
Skirt steak is my second favorite cut of beef, and this appetizer was a good example why; the meat had a great flavor even though it was over seasoned. It came with a horseradish potato cake which should have tasted better than it did in both flavor (which was sort of dull) and texture (which was that of flattened mashed potatoes). There was also spinach and a smoked tomato sauce that weren't too bad. The tortilla soup tasted like red chile. The best thing we had was, surprisingly, the hummus and grilled vegetables. The flavor of the grilled asparagus took me back to memories of the antipasto plate at Pizzeria Bianco. It was that good, and we didn't have to wait an hour to get in! The grilled portobello mushrooms and pearl onions were great too. Even the roast orange beets weren't bad. I thought the hummus was excellent, and Lynn enjoyed it too, but she noticed it was salty. Once she pointed it out I noticed it too. Oh well, there was always the mixed greens and chive sour cream when the salt became too much. I was in the mood for a salad so I was looking forward to the citrus salad, which was roasted fennel, mandarin oranges, walnuts, mixed greens, and a citrus vinaigrette. The salad was good, but it wasn't balanced so it wasn't as good as it could have been. The big loser of the night was the panko crusted calamari with cilantro-plum sauce. Where was the panko??? Normally panko comes in Arborio rice size pieces that fry up into a perfectly crispy crust, but someone must have ground the panko down into nothing because there wasn't a crispy crust or any discernible pieces of panko. The sauce wasn't doing the calamari any favors either since it tasted like an overly sweet hoisin sauce. The idea seemed good, but I think they seriously need to reconsider the execution.
All night I watched as some dessert was being delivered to one table or another. I couldn't tell what it was, but it certainly seemed popular. I wondered if the other diners were more experienced with 98 South, and knew which dessert was the dessert. When we got the dessert menu I knew the dessert I had been seeing all night was the peach cobbler. Lynn didn't feel like cobbler so she got the chocolate cake covered with chocolate ganache. To go with dessert we got a glass of Franz Reh "Eiswein" and EXP "Late Harvest Viognier". Lynn's chocolate cake was a little dry, but the flavor was good and the ganache was great. (I ended up taking it home, and the next day the cake was actually moister.) The peach cobbler was very good, with lots of thinly sliced peaches, but the biscuit like top was too thick. It was very good topped with ice cream so it's a relatively small complaint. The EXP had an intense scent and a spicy, tasty flavor that reminded me of the excellent Bonny Doon "Muscat Vin de Glaciere". It was also an excellent match for the cobbler. The Franz Reh was a little too sweet for me, but it had a good flavor. I don't remember how it matched with anything.
It looked like there was only one waitress for the entire restaurant that night, but Wojo (the waitress) did a decent job with service. It wasn't great service, but it wasn't bad either. After dinner I looked at the wines at the front of the restaurant, and found the Joseph Matrot for only $10! I was amazed they found a Bourgogne Chardonnay so cheap, and a tasty one at that. I really liked 98 South, and I'll definitely be back. It seems like 98 South is a restaurant that retails wine on the side though. Not that it's a bad thing, but I still think the whole wine shop-restaurant combination is awkward. What are your feelings about it? Do you think a wine bar can survive without a full kitchen? What do you think the is minimum amount of food a decent wine bar can offer? Email me your comments, they'll be appreciated.
One of the things that sucks about working late is that I'd rather go out to eat instead of helping with dinner. I'd found out that Chase's Diner is open later so I made a point of stopping there one night when I was at work late. The place had the standard '50's diner look to it, including the table top jukeboxes. The menu also contained standard diner fare. Lynn might have been nostalgia when she tried their vanilla shake and liked it, but it tasted like they used cheap vanilla ice cream to me. I hoped their food was going to be better.
Lynn tried their barbecued brisket with a baked potato, and I had the fried chicken with potato salad. The beef was smoky, but it didn't have any of the tenderness you'd get from brisket at a true barbecue place. We both agreed it was pretty terrible. I should have known better than to think barbecue from a non-barbecue place would be any good, even if they do have a smoker out front. I didn't try Lynn's baked potato, but it was served with a cup filled with margarine. The fried chicken was amazingly crispy, but it lacked flavor. After a couple of healthy dashes of salt I could taste the mildly sweet flavor the buttermilk batter. It was good, but the potato salad was the sweet, overly creamy variety that I don't care for.
I might return to Chase's if I could get only white meat fried chicken and a decent side dish, but it's unlikely I'll go there a second time to find out.
Because of our recent discovery of the closure of Cafe ah PWAH, and hearing of a rumor last week of Convivo closing, I had to go to Convivo just in case they really were closing. On Thursday I called and made a reservation for Saturday. I was surprised that I got the time I wanted. I couldn't remember the name of the waiter we had last time (I should have just searched my web site) to ask to be seated at one of the other waiter's tables so I hoped that if we got seated in his area we could switch to the other waiter's area.
We got to Convivo a little late for our reservation, and I was surprised to see the restaurant only about half full at 7 on a Saturday night. Maybe there was some truth to the rumor? We were seated in the waiter's area I wanted so I was happy. We looked at the wine menu before the regular menu, and Lynn got a glass of sekt (German sparkling wine) while I got a glass of Wolf Blass "Shiraz". The Sekt was slightly sweet, but still crisp with a good toasty flavor. (It's exactly how I wanted the disturbingly sweet Moet & Chandon "Nectar Imperial" to taste the last two times we had it.)
I looked at the dinner menu, and nothing really looked good to me; it was all the same ingredients (ono, salmon, flat iron steak, pork chop, chicken) with different preparations. I wish they'd change things up with duck, lamb, or at least a decent cut of beef. Our waiter (Pete, who I guess I'll have to refer to as "bearded Pete" since the other waiter's name is Peter) told us about the special of the day, which was grilled sweet shrimp marinated in sake, miso, and soy sauce served with orzo, snap peas, and Chinese long beans. Lynn and I both wanted to jump on it, but I ordered the chicken breast with polenta and peppered broccoli instead just so we wouldn't both have the same dish. For appetizers I went with the lobster tamale, since nothing else really looked good, and Lynn went with Himalayan rice soup topped with asagio cheese.
The lobster tamale was tasty as usual. The Sekt wasn't too bad with the tamale, but it brought out the pepper in the sweet-pepper sauce on the tamale. The soup had a hearty brown broth filled with mushrooms, chicken, and noodles in it. (Oddly enough there wasn't any rice in the soup so maybe Himalayan rice is a type of noodle?) The asagio complimented the flavor of the broth as did everything except for the mushrooms, which just didn't seem quite right in the soup. It was a pretty good soup, and brought out the fruit flavor in the Wolf Blass.
Lynn was looking for a wine to go with the shrimp so I suggested the Kuntz Bas "Pinot Blanc" so she got a glass. The wine had a strong tropical fruit scent, but the fruit flavor was subdued and the wine crisp. The shrimp really were sweet, in a good way, and had just the right amount of saltiness; basically, they were pretty damn tasty. The shrimp were decent with the wine, but the orzo was a better match making the wine's flavor rounder and fruitier. The orzo wasn't too bad by itself either. The snap peas were still crispy and tasty, but the Chinese long beans didn't taste like much (I think the only way I like them is Chinese style, with garlic and ground pork). My chicken breast was tender and had a nice, mild smoky flavor, but it was still only chicken. It was served with a thicker than normal version of Convivo's apple wood smoked tomato sauce, but I didn't like it with the chicken. The polenta had a good flavor, but it was too herby to eat in any kind of quantity. The broccoli had a lemon flavor that was too strong for me.
For dessert we had a glass of Heitz "Ink Grade Port 1997" for my caramel bread pudding with espresso ice cream (a dessert of the day) and Lynn's ancho chile brownie. The port had a sort of chocolate flavor that was pretty decent, and a good match for both desserts. The ancho chile brownie was still tasty, but after the fifth or sixth time in a row I just can't get excited about it. The caramel bread pudding had a nice caramel flavor, but there were some spots without custard that just tasted like bread. I'd still order the bread pudding again if I had the option. The bread pudding also came with slices of banana topped with cinnamon that was better tasting with the caramel sauce than you'd expect. The one part of the dessert that wasn't well thought out was the espresso ice cream, meant for a chocolate cake, which didn't match the caramel bread pudding at all. The cinnamon ice cream that came with the ancho chile brownie was a much better match.
At the end of the meal Lynn asked bearded Pete about the rumor, and he said he hadn't heard a thing about the restaurant closing. Before we left I heard him mention it to Jeffrey (the chef-owner), and Jeffrey didn't sound happy about it. At least we know now, but I'd still like to see some variety in the menu.
Yesterday morning I started my car and the engine barely turned over. I took my car back to Autozone, sure that my alternator was bad, but it turned out that Autozone sold me a bad battery. I'm annoyed that Autozone cost me an hour of time I was supposed to be at work.
Today my car battery died. I called Hyundai's 24 hour roadside assistance, and they sent someone to jump my car. My car right started up, and I went to Autozone to replace my battery (where I was keeping time with three other guys who also were there to replace their batteries). Today was a good day to be late to work though since there wasn't much going on and I actually got to leave work on time for a change. I'll be glad when this project is over.
Lynn noticed a new place by the name of Mi Casita in our neighborhood about a month ago. The other night we both decided it was time to try them out. Mi Casita means "my little house" in Spanish, and it's an apt name since the restaurant is tiny. A quick look around and a gander at the menu told me this was New Mexican food instead of a typical taco shop; my feelings about New Mexican food are neutral. It turns out that one of the ladies who runs the place is from Deming, New Mexico (a small town in southwestern New Mexico).
After we ordered we were given a plate of thick tortilla chips and two kinds of salsa. The smooth red chile salsa was my favorite because of its smokiness, heat, and overall excellent flavor. Lynn preferred the somewhat brown salsa, which also had a really good flavor, but didn't light her mouth on fire.
There were a couple things on the menu that looked good to me, but the fry bread with green chile beef practically jumped off the menu at me. Lynn got an enchilada plate with one beef and one cheese enchilada, Spanish rice, and refried beans. The fry bread was covered in refried beans, green chile, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. It was a tasty combination, but I could have used more green chile. The fry bread itself was very crispy and it had a really nice flavor to it. (Ironically, the reason I don't eat the green chile beef fry bread at Sylvia's La Canasta anymore is because there's is crispy, but doesn't taste good.) Lynn had me try her beef enchilada, which looked like it was filled with ground beef, and it was far better than expected. The enchilada sauce had some real heat to it, and Lynn was lucky that there was a healthy dollop of sour cream on top of the enchiladas. Lynn liked the Spanish rice so she wanted me to try it. She knows I hate Spanish rice, and I hated this one too; the combination of cooked tomatoes and rice will never taste natural to me unless there's copious amounts of lard involved and almost no tomato flavor.
Lynn complained about the uncooked white onion in the cheese enchilada (which seems to be a trait of New Mexican enchiladas), but overall she was pleased with her food. I must have been in the mood for the type of food that we got because I was extremely happy with the food from Mi Casita and walked out of there practically glowing. It's nice to have a neighborhood Mexican restaurant we can both agree on so I don't have to drag Lynn to dinner there, unlike Charo's, which is like trying to bathe a cat.
The maple bacon from Von Hanson's Meats was too sweet. It was more like fully-caramelized-with-maple-lacquered bacon, which is fine if you like that sort of thing.
Recently I had the watermelon and tranditional Italian cream gelatos from Angel Sweet while Lynn had the lemon and raspberry (a good traditional sorbetti combination of sweet and sour). The Italian cream had a good flavor, but the watermelon was so light that I almost couldn't taste it. Lynn's raspberry was really good, and would have been a better match with the Italian cream. I think I'm going to stick with things made from berries when I order anything fruit flavored at Angel Sweet from now on.
That Heinz Tabasco ketchup is addictive. We've already gone through half a bottle of the stuff!
I never noticed that cannelloni seem like the Italian version of enchiladas until I got some from Costco. I think enchiladas are the better of the two.
For the first time since the Korean people took over Bangkok Express they actually made the pad gaprow perfect a couple of weeks ago. I was hoping this was the start of a "pad gaprow with crispy bits of ground pork" trend, but the last couple pad gaprows been the pasty white versions I've come to expect from them.
The seasonal fruit at used to be actual fresh fruit, the seasonal fruit for today was canned fruit cocktail. Why'd they have to ruin the only good side dish that wasn't deep fried?
Tonight Lynn and I tried to eat dinner at Cafe ah PWAH, only to find the windows papered over and the restaurant closed. There was also a notice on the door about a pending liquor license for Euro Cafe (apparently a new outpost for the people on Longmore). It looked like the closure of ah PWAH was recent so Lynn now blames me for us not getting one last meal there since our vacation in April. Funny how I don't recall Lynn volunteering to call Cafe ah PWAH to see if their menu changed (which was my only prerequisite to eating at ah PWAH again).
I'll miss Cafe ah PWAH since it used to be one of my favorite restaurants, and I've had some amazing food there that I'll never likely get anywhere else. Mike, if you ever read this, email me; we've got a bottle of French red wine for you from our trip that we were going to give to you tonight.
My application was going through its final testing this week, and school ended on Wednesday night so I thought my nights would return to being my own. Turns out I still had to spend extra time at work Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as the tests for my application kept increasing in scale (which was good, because as the scale increased we found new problems). As of today the testers are integration testing to see how a student or faculty would experience the system the entire system. I believe my application will perform as it should, but there were a lot more problems then I anticipated so what do I know?
Hopefully it doesn't sound like I'm whining about how much time this process is taking, but because of how much time it's occupied it's really been the only thing I've been doing for the past couple of weeks. I would also like to point out that I realize that Murray (who's been patiently testing my application, among other things) has probably worked at least over three times the amount of overtime I have. I just dislike overtime more than he does because I don't get paid for it.
I've driven past Jong Wah a couple of times later at night and noticed they were still open. I like to encourage restaurants to stay open later at night so I made an effort to remember to visit them someday. Someday was this last week after class. The menu was typical, but the specials looked good. Unfortunately I wasn't in the mood to experiment so I went with crab puffs and barbecue pork chow fun (dry). Lynn ordered her usual Chinese restaurant yardstick, hot and sour soup, and pepper beef (which she almost never orders, but she was in the mood). The crab puffs were made with real crab, and there was the occasional bit of green onion, but the crab puffs still weren't great; there wasn't enough crab and the green onions were overcooked. Oh well, the search for great crab puffs continues. I found the hot and sour soup near tasteless with only a hint of vinegar. Lynn, the hot and sour soup connoisseur, thought it needed more pepper and vinegar, but she enjoyed it more than I did.
Both the barbecue pork chow fun and the pepper beef smelled amazing when they got to the table. I thought I was going to get a lot of wok flavor from the chow fun, but it didn't happen. The chow fun was decent, but that was it. The barbecue pork in the chow fun wasn't very good, and I wouldn't order it in anything at Jong Wah again. The pepper beef tasted only ok to me, but Lynn, who thought it could have used some soy sauce, liked it.
Our waitress was so nice and so concerned with how we enjoyed our food, that I wanted to like Jong Wah more than I did, but the food we had was mediocre. Next time I'm there we'll order more interesting stuff (maybe duck, seafood, and some vegetable dishes) to get a better idea as to the quality of their food. I think the next time I go out for Chinese it's going to be at Lin because it's been a while, and they're still my favorite Chinese restaurant.
I've been dying to go out of town for any number of reasons: Callaghan Vineyards has some new white wines they're pouring at their vineyard that I'd like to try, I still haven't visited Echo Canyon in northern Arizona, and I'd like to go camping sometime this summer. Working on Saturdays has kept me tethered to Phoenix though. Yesterday should be my last working Saturday until the weekend of August 21st, when we deploy the entire project to the public.
I'm looking forward to the weekend of August 7th because I know I'll be down at Charron Vineyards to help them pick grapes. I didn't think it sounded like a good idea when Leo mentioned it, but the more I thought about it the more it sounded like a once in a lifetime experience. Hopefully it's not too hot.
Our lease is up September, and Lynn's going to kill me if we don't start looking for a house sometime soon.
I've never really liked the beef at Fry's so when Lynn and I first saw Von Hanson's Meat & Spirits I knew we had to visit there someday. Lynn was actually the one to stop there first, buying smoked bacon, beer bratwurst, and beef jerky. The bacon was sliced so thick that we only got eight slices in the half pound Lynn got! It was pretty tasty, and so was the beef jerky. The beer brats were the best I've had (that I've made myself).
Today I actually got to see the place for myself. Lynn said the wine selection at Von Hanson's was pretty good, but the selection was typical of a Fry's or Walgreens. We didn't get any wine, but we did get a couple of New York strips steaks. At $13 a pound so I had high expectations. Amazingly enough the steaks met them. We made them our usual way, and they were great; flavorful and very tender. The steaks are pricey, but they're worth it. I'd like to compare the meat to the steaks at AJ's Fine Foods, but I hardly get to AJ's so that may never happen.
Before the Sarah McLachlan concert we stopped at La Guadalupana Restaurante for dinner. Lynn noticed tortilla soup on the menu, and had to order it. She also got the cheese echiladas while I got the shrimp al mojo de ajo. The tortilla soup came with crispy strips of tortilla and chunks of soft white cheese. The cheese made the soup very salty, and taste like chicken (in a bad way). Without the cheese the soup had a decent flavor, but it wasn't anything special. The enchiladas had an overly vinegar flavor that made them almost inedible. The shells of my shrimp were over salted so I ended up peeling my shrimp to eat them. The entire meal was disappointing and I have to think that there must have been a different chef in the kitchen then the first time we were there.
Last night Lynn, Dave, and I went to the Sarah McLachlan concert. Butterfly Boucher opened, and while she was cute Lynn and I didn't think she was any good. Sarah McLachlan was pretty good, but she's not my kind of music. I do have to give her credit for an excellent stage show though. Lynn loved the concert.
I was impressed with how quick and easy it was to get out of the Glendale Arena parking lot. It's obvious that they put some thought into ingress and egress (which I notice thanks to that small business class).
"Thomas in Love" had a rather unique concept, and the movie actually got you to think. It was interesting to see how much you could get to know someone without seeing them. I'd recommend it if you ever have the chance to watch it.
"Nine Queens" was a well made movie about two con men, but it was still the usual "which con man is going to screw which" scenario. I would have enjoyed the movie a lot more if I didn't see the last minute of it.
Lynn was really nice to me one night and bought me "A Good Year", Peter Mayle's book centered around wine. It was fiction, but it ended up reading more like the fantasy of every working person who hates their job; the main character quits his job and inherits a chateau and vineyard in the south of France. It was completely unrealistic, but it made for mindless entertaining summer reading.
Work still has me extremely busy; my application is being tested and I had two days of nonstop bug fixes. The thing that has me aggravated about the process is that most of the problems I've fixed weren't mine (one of my major pet peeves is having to clean up after other people). My programming was less than perfect too, but most of my problems took five minutes or less to fix, and they didn't impede testing. Debugging the active directory component took over two days, and I still don't know if caught everything. Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow.
The other night we were too hungry to cook and too lazy to go out so we ordered pizza delivery from Papa John's. They had a barbecue chicken pizza with bacon and onions that sounded too good for me to pass up. It had almost all the exact same ingredients as the tasty barbecue chicken pizza at Western Pizza, but it wasn't nearly as good as Western Pizza. The crust was fluffy, although not the tastiest crust, and topped with a barbecue sauce that was so sweet it tasted like cheap sweet and sour sauce with barbecue flavor. I almost couldn't eat it because it was so sweet. Lynn didn't think the barbecue sauce was as sweet as I did, and she said she even tasted tomatoes in the sauce. I don't see how she tasted tomatoes since the sauce seemed like it was made from corn syrup. The next time I want a pizza like Western Pizza I'll just go to Western Pizza.
I was walking around today and noticed how amazingly hot it was. I've pretty much noticed how hot it's been all week. When I start paying attention to the heat it's time for me to start one of my favorite summer past times, making root beer floats. I picked up a half gallon of Breyers french vanilla ice cream to go with the Barq's root beer we had in the refrigerator so I could make a float today. When I got home I remembered that I still had one New Belgium Brewing "1554" beer in the fridge, and that I still hadn't tried the beer float I said I was going to try so long ago. I figured the "1554" would be a good match for the ice cream because of its rich coffee flavor, but the ice cream emphasized the hoppiness of the beer (which you can't even taste normally). So much for that experiment. I still have a New Belgium Brewing "Sunshine Wheat" that may make a good beer float, but I'll use less ice cream if I decide to actually try it.
Today I spent all day in driving school to work off the ticket I got from my traffic accident in June. It sucked. When I walked into the room for registration I thought the room was a little too small for the number of people in the course. I hoped we'd move to a different room after registration, but that was not to be. I caught the instructor giving some misinformation early in the class so for the rest of the class I mentally questioned his accuracy on everything that I didn't already know. I'd taken a traffic class once before, and I actually learned a little something from that course, but this course was an exercise in endurance. If you ever find yourself needing to attend traffic school I wouldn't recommend AZ "Crash Course" in Traffic Safety.
I wanted to get into work early yesterday morning, but when the alarm went off I couldn't bring myself to get up. I thought when I got into work, at 9:30 in the morning, someone would have a laundry list of things for me to fix in my application. I had also thought of something when I was driving into work that was going to be an issue (if they hadn't already run into it). Turns out they hadn't deployed my application. I told them to hold off until I had fixed the problem I had knew about.
The problem was that my application uses several other applications to complete its tasks so my application needs references to those applications to know where they're located. The references I had were good for my development machine, but they weren't correct for the production environment since those applications would be located on a different server. I thought all I'd have to do is update my references, until I found out that those two applications didn't exist on either one of the production servers. Both the applications had to be deployed before I could update my references, and they didn't have automated deployment packages like my and Long's applications. Long walked one of the guys through creating the new deployment package while I helped the other guy with his. They were both deployed, and I updated my references, but I still couldn't deploy because the project manager needed to talk to me.
The project manager had some questions for me, some of which turned into last minute changes. Making some of the changes immediately resulted in my project not being ready for deployment until 2:30 in the afternoon. It didn't get deployed until 5 because the testing team was too busy with a different application. We ran into two problems immediately, and I spent a late night at work fixing them. (One of the problems might be that we're deploying things incorrectly, but I won't know that until Monday.) When I left work I was dying to have some galanga fried chicken from Lotus Asian Cafe or some enchiladas from La Guadalupana, but Lotus Asian Cafe was closed and La Guadalupana was in the opposite direction. I had to settle for Wendy's instead (which wasn't as bad as it sounded).
This morning the testing team went to work, but they ran into a problem immediately with the testing setup. I was trying my best not to have to go into work so I walked Murray through fixing the problem over the phone. It turns out they ran into another problem (not in my application) that caused them to give up testing for today. I have to wait until Monday for them to test my application again. *sigh*
Since I couldn't get to Lotus Asian Cafe last night Lynn and I went there for lunch today. We were going to sample all sorts of sates so I knew I shouldn't have ordered an appetizer, but I really wanted to try the crab puffs (since my favorite source of crab puffs closed). Just looking at the crab puffs I knew they were made with real crab; they were made with rice paper, and you could see the crab meat through it. They were also golden brown, and looked like they were the answer to my crab puff needs. The texture was crunchy, and the crab was very assertive, but because the strength of the crab flavor I thought the crab was fake. The texture of the meat proved it was definitely genuine crab. The cheese didn't taste like cream cheese so the flavor of the crab puff wasn't quite right, and it could have used a bit of green onion. The sauce served with the crab puffs was vinegary, sweet, and a little spicy; a good match for the crab puffs. Even though the crab puffs used real crab, and were well made, they weren't the crab puffs I'm looking for.
We got dinner orders (ten skewers) of the chicken sate and shrimp sate (which was a daily special). We got lunch order of the lamb sate and pork sate. The chicken sate was just as good as it was the first time we tried it, and we were both slathering our chicken with the peanut sauce. The shrimp sate was made with a lime-turmeric-chile sauce that wasn't nearly as spicy as it sounded, but there was a heat to it that snuck up on you if you ate enough of it. I was majorly disappointed because the shrimp lacked the good grilled flavor shrimp normally gets when they're grilled, but Lynn didn't mind. The pork sate had a pleasant sweet flavor, but the meat was fatty. I like pork fat, but it has to be well cooked, and this fat wasn't well cooked. The lamb sate had a shallot-chile sauce that gave the lamb a punchy flavor. The only thing that would have made the lamb better was some salt.
Overall I was disappointed with this meal; the only thing I really enjoyed was the chicken sate. I guess I'll be sticking to the regular entree items in the future.
I tried Tabasco infused ketchup for the first time today. Lynn saw it at the grocery store and told me it was good stuff. Since we needed ketchup anyway, it was worth a try. I'm not a big fan of Tabasco, but there was just enough Tabasco in the ketchup to give it an interesting flavor, and a bit of spice. Too bad I don't use ketchup very often.
This week has been full of programming highs and lows for me at work as I've tried to create a useful deployment package for my application. In the end I totally owned the creating deployment package process, which had been severely underutalized before I got into it. Tomorrow my application will be deployed and tested. I already told Murray (who will be one of the people responsible for testing it) that it'll either work perfectly or fail completely. I know my code is pretty tight so I'm confident that'll it'll work well, but there are a couple of pieces of the implementation that I'm not sure about (hence the fail completely portion of that statement). I also didn't get a chance to test the Active Directory component (which was written by someone else, and only finished yesterday) so that's another probable point of failure. We'll see how bad things are when I get into work tomorrow morning.
The same day Lynn and I had the odd experience at Red Kangaroo we ate lunch at Kona Grill. We had been there once before and I had remembered enjoying their appetizers. In fact I wanted to order nothing but appetizers, but Lynn wanted a cheese burger. We started with the calamari (which we had before) and the "tuna wasabi" (spicy rare tuna wrapped in tortilla, deep fried, and topped with wasabi sour cream, which we hadn't had before). The calamari was pretty tasty, although a bit salty, and we both enjoyed the spicy aioli that came with it. The "tuna wasabi" had almost the exact same ingredients as the "wasabi taco" at NOLA in New Orleans, but the two dishes were completely different. The "wasabi taco" was a brilliant combination of tastes and textures, but the "tuna wasabi" was indistinctive. The best thing on the plate was the fried rice the "tuna wasabi" was served with, which was slightly sweet and buttery with the seldom seem Chinese sausage. I should've checked the menu to see if they had fried rice as an entree.
Lynn's cheese burger was huge and it tasted like they didn't salt their meat. At least the fries that came with the burger were good. I got the sweet-chile glazed chicken and my chicken was pounded flat and grilled to perfect overdoneness. The cardboard chicken was doused in a sweet sauce that didn't improve the flavor. Once again the best thing on the plate was the side dish, baby bok choy; it was buttery and very tasty.
It still looks like the best thing at Kona Grill really is the appetizers.
A while ago Lynn, Steve, and I went to Blue Adobe Grille for dinner. The restaurant was oddly vacant for a Friday night, but it was probably because it was some holiday weekend. Lynn wanted to try their green chile corn chowder while I wanted the spinach salad with grilled shrimp (a daily special). The soup was decent, but sweet; it wasn't something I wanted sweet. The grilled shrimp on the salad were delicious, and the strawberries in the spinach salad gave it a unique flavor. Too bad the salad wasn't a regular dish.
Lynn and I both had combination plates while Steve got the steak with red chile lobster sauce. My plate had the tenderloin burro, smoked pork tamale, and carne adovada covered in red chile and Lynn's plate had a honey pork tamale, tenderloin relleno, and shrimp enchilada covered in green chile. I thought the chile would be on the side or something, and if I knew it was going to cover everything I wouldn't have got it. The red chile at Blue Adobe was one dimensional and pretty terrible; I had to scrape it off of everything. The burro was nondescript, and the tamale was ok. I don't even remember the adovada. Lynn's tamale was really sweet, and not something I enjoyed. The relleno and enchilada were both pretty good, and worth ordering again. Steve's steak was decent and the sauce was very spicy, but I didn't taste any lobster flavor in it.
Overall I wasn't impressed with the food, but we had some decent items. I wish I could remember the meal we had there before.
I didn't get my project completed on Wednesday because they pulled one of the programmers working on it so the deadline was bumped to Friday. I didn't get my project completed on Friday either, but it wasn't that big of a deal because of my project's dependency on someone else's work (who didn't have their piece completed on Friday). I still felt bad about it and went in for a little while on Saturday to finish my piece so that come Tuesday all the pressure will be on the other guy.
This weekend Lynn and I have been working on the business plan since we have to turn in the financial section next week. It actually seems to be turning into a decent document, but I'm developing serious reservations about opening this shop with Lynn. I really don't know if she's going to put in the effort necessary to make the shop successful. I guess I'll see as we continue this process.
Saturday we had planned to go to AZ Wine Company, and have lunch at their Atlas Bistro, then check out My Wine Cellar/Lucy's Place. We got to AZ Wine Company, and found out that Atlas Bistro is a dinner only establishment. What a disappointment. We browsed their selection, and they had quite a selection. AZ Wine Company wasn't a bad place, and they at least had someone at the register to take my money.
I knew that Lucy's Place was the restaurant inside My Wine Cellar so we went to lunch there instead. We started with the brushetta, which didn't have as much flavor as it should, and I thought it tasted like it came out of a large plastic bucket of premade brushetta. Lynn didn't think it was as bad as I did. I had a New Jersey club sandwich (fried Taylor ham and cheddar) with potato salad. The bread was crisp, and the sandwich was pretty decent. The potato salad was sweet and very creamy; pretty good even if you don't like your potato salad that way. Lynn got a thin crust Margarita pizza (tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil). The crust was thin and crispy with cheese loaded on top; too much cheese for a pizza without tomato sauce. Neither one of us liked the pizza. We finished lunch with a slice of crumb cake for dessert, and I got a glass of Baileyana Pinot Noir port. The crumb cake was moist, and very tasty. The port had a light, flat flavor that tasted chocolaty to me. Lynn didn't taste the chocolate flavor, but she liked how the port matched the cinnamon in the crumb cake.
My Wine Cellar was having a great sale so I grabbed a couple of bottles. I found the restaurant a little distracting inside of a wine shop, but the overall environment was friendly. I even got to speak to one of the owners, and he was a pretty nice guy. Lynn didn't like the "I Love Lucy" theme of Lucy's Place, but I didn't even notice it, much less let it bother me.
I had heard about the gelato at Angel Sweet a while ago, but I tend not to get south of Warner too often. The other night when Lynn and I went to Lotus Asian Cafe I wanted to finish the night with something sweet so Angel Sweet came to mind. We got there after nine, and the place was packed; apparently it's a Chandler favorite. Everything looked really good, but I settled on a medium (8 ounce cup) with a combination of strawberry and panna cotta gelato. Lynn got a small (6 ounce cup) with a combination of hazelnut and chocolate gelato. The strawberry was very creamy and even had strawberry seeds in it (which I enjoy). The panna cotta had a ribbon of caramel in it and a good flavor, but I thought it tasted more like creme caramel than panna cotta. Both were quite rich, and it wasn't too long before I realized that a medium was more gelato than I could handle (just like frozen custard). Lynn's hazelnut tasted exactly like that, but her chocolate was more like mocha. We both found the chocolate disappointing, and Lynn wouldn't order it again.
Angel Sweet serves up some rich and tasty gelato. They've definitely earned themselves a position with my other favorite frozen dessert places, Nielsen's Frozen Custard and Mary Coyle's Ice Cream.
Recently I had heard about Lotus Asian Cafe & Grill, the only Indonesian restaurant in Phoenix. I'd never had Indonesian before, and they were only located two miles away so I made an effort to pay them a visit. Earlier this week Lynn and I made it there for dinner. We started with two appetizers: the beef filled potato croquettes and corn-vegetable fritters. The croquets were good, but nothing special; definitely comfort food. They came with a peanut sauce that I couldn't figure out if I liked them with the croquettes or not (Lynn did). I may be overly hard on the croquettes though since I always seem to be comparing potato croquettes to the ones Steve's host mom in Japan made, which were amazing. The corn fritters looked like pakoras, and even had a bit of turmeric in them. They were served with a vinegar based chile sauce that's not normally something I like, but it well with the corn fritters. The corn in the fritters gave them an interesting popcorn flavor to them that was unique. I'd order the corn fritters again.
Our entrees were the crispy tilapia in a tomato, lemongrass, and chile sauce, and the sweet soy grilled chicken. The tilapia was crispy, as advertised, very spicy, and very tasty. The flavor was really familiar, and it took a while before I placed it as the same flavor as the chicken balti at Copper Kettle (which has a tomato, onion, and ginger sauce). I found it interesting how the ginger in the balti and the lemongrass in the sauce for the tilapia tasted similar even though they have completely different flavors normally. I was also surprised that I had two dishes with Indian flavors at an Indonesian restaurant. Lynn's grilled chicken was decent, but it reminded me of the chicken at Yoshi's.
The best thing we had that night was the young coconut drink. The top of a young coconut was hacked off exposing the coconut flesh and water, and it was served with a dollop of fruit syrup in the coconut water. The coconut water wasn't especially sweet or tasty, but the syrup gave it an interesting flavor, and we had a great time scraping the coconut flesh from the shell. As we scraped the flesh from the shell the coconut water took on a kind of creamy flavor that was really pleasant. The young coconut flesh was pretty good too. Next time I get one of these I'll ask for two dollops of fruit syrup because I would like it a little sweeter. (Talking to Long, I found out that Vietnamese restaurants also serve young coconuts, but they don't put fruit syrup in the coconut water. That alone will keep me from ordering it at a Vietnamese restaurants, but it's good to know if you don't care about the fruit syrup.)
I didn't have any food epiphanies, but the food was delicious, and quite worthy of return visits. We wanted something interesting to eat tonight so we returned to Lotus Asian Cafe. This time we tried the lumpia (Filipino chicken spring roll) and the fried shrimp and chicken stuffed tofu (I tried to order the crab puffs, but they were out). The lumpia (singular because you only get one) was greasy, and the ingredients seemed too coarsely chopped. I didn't think it was very good, but I'd never had a lumpia before. Lynn has had lumpias before and she said it didn't taste like the lumpias she had before. I'm not a huge fan of tofu, but I'll try things. The fried tofu had a very distinctive tofu flavor that I think only tofu fans probably like.
Lynn went for the chicken sate while I had the coconut rice with galangal (a type of seasoning) fried chicken and tempeh. The chicken sate was very tasty, and I was tempted to get another order when the lady told me that they were out of crab puffs. At first I didn't like the coconut rice, but when I got some of the fried shallots the flavor was much improved. I wasn't familiar with tempeh, but one bite told me that it involved dried fish. Closer inspection revealed tiny little dried fish in the dish. The tempeh also had a good amount of spice to go along with the strong fishiness. I liked it, but I could only take it in small quantities. The galangal fried chicken was great! The chicken was moist and the marinade was salty and spicy. The lady also gave me some chili sauce to make the chicken even spicier (which I did about half the time).
I was extremely pleased with the entrees we had tonight. If you combined the appetizers we had during our first meal with the entrees from tonight you'd have a very fine meal.
Today I went to C-Fu Gourmet for dim sum, and it was disappointing. On the weekend the selection is good and the carts make the rounds at decent intervals, but today there were only two to three carts, and they seemed only be out for two minutes before they disappeared for at least five. The food was just as good as always, but it looks like I'll be sticking to dim sum on the weekends.
