Visalia

I had a birthday last week.  Not a major one, not at all.  I joked with Conrad and Van that for a gift they could agree that for that day (and that day only) I was 38, but alas, I am older.  Much older.  My beard is almost entirely white now, there is much grey in among what used to be strawberry blond on my head.

No matter, though.  It was a nice day, and we took advantage of it by hitting the road after lunch to head to Visalia.

I had been to Visalia once before, a little over four years ago.  As cities go, it's not major - I think I read that at 142,000, it doesn't quite crack the top forty list of biggest cities in this state alone.  But I think it's got some importance to it.  It's the county seat, it has a community college as well.  There's a lot of agricultural business that passes through town, and there's a lot of related services.  It's the gateway to Sequoia National Park (and somewhat to Kings Canyon as well).  It has some well-preserved history as well.

We stayed the night at the Darling Hotel in Visalia, a courthouse annex that has been converted into a boutique hotel. 

It's a handsome building, Art Deco style, and it seems to be a successful conversion.  Our room was perhaps a little small - a chair might have been nice to have, but where? - but the beds were very comfortable. 

And, really, the marketing is so ace. 

It was a scorching day, easily 100 degrees, and so we did what we don't often do:  head to the pool!

I have a local friend in Visalia I hadn't seen since last I was there.  Tyler lives a short walk (though in that heat he drove) from the hotel, so he came to join us for a dip before dinner.  Dinner itself was also in the building, in the rooftop restaurant, Elderwood.  Inside, please - I am sure the views are fantastic outside at cooler times of the year, but not that evening.

We had heard and have since heard again that Elderwood is one of the finest places in Visalia, but it's better for cocktails than food.  Certainly, their bar program was admirable - we got Green Points without any difficulty, for example.  I started out with the PB&B, a peanut-washed bourbon with lemon and banana liqueur. 

A whiskey sour, in other words, but kicked up a few notches.  We all were impressed with our drinks. 

I thought the food was fine enough - I was a little doubtful about mahi mahi with a three-cheese ravioli, but it made sense with the carrot sauce and the carrot top gremolata.  I don't know how, but it did.  The little blackberry and goat cheese tarts to start were tasty,

the Caesar salad was basic but fine, and the carrot cake for dessert hit the spot. 

Darn those guys for getting a candle on it!  Van treated us all (with Jennifer and Sanders buying a round of drinks through him), Conrad was at my side, and Tyler was great company, too. 

The birthday wound down, and I slept well.

The next morning, Conrad and I got up to stroll nearby to Bread Savage to meet Tyler for morning coffee and pastry. 

That gave us a chance to admire some of the downtown heritage - the legacy sequoia planted in 1936 (I think)

and the fine WPA era post office

- before tucking into a baked treat.  Van, of course, was asleep, but we did bring him something from Starbucks.  We were in no rush that morning, so Conrad and I strolled a little more,

then came back to the room with Van's oleato drink.  It was time to pack and head east after a nice night in a Central Valley city.

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Hello you one or two loyal readers out there!

I was away (yes, again!) this past weekend, and I will be posting about it, definitely, but give me a day or two, please.  Gosh, that's a lot of commas in one sentence!

A long weekend birthday getaway for me, and it was a lovely escape.  For now, though, a placeholder post with a nice photo taken in the Big Stump Grove in Kings Canyon National Park.

Chat soon!

Sunday dinner with Erik

It feels as though I've been dining out a lot lately, what with travel here and there (and more to come this week) and the like.  It was good, then, to spend my Sunday in the kitchen.  Not toiling away, sweating and swearing, but moving through the planning and preparation of a dinner at a nice pace.

Conrad and I had invited our next door neighbour, Erik, over.  It had been some weeks since we'd caught up with him, and we thought it would be nice to hear how his summer was going.  He shower up at 6:30 with a gift of Norwegian gin in hand, we poured him a cocktail, and from there dinner played out.

Up first:  burrata served with tomato and nectarine slices, some fresh basil, and a light sherry vinegar and garlic dressing.  Sweet and tangy and creamy and herbacious.  I thought it was a nice start.

The main course:  rack of lamb that I served as double chops to each of us atop some eggplant and green pea curry (needed more salt and cayenne) along with some rice and an apple and golden raisin chutney.  It was fine, not quite reaching what I was going for.  But fine enough.

Dessert:  olive oil cake with roasted strawberry and nectarine sherbet, nectarine macerated with mint, and a piece of almond praline.  The cake was a little dry, alas, but otherwise, it was all good.

Final grade?  A solid B, maybe a B+.  I'm hard on myself, I know, but I have made this food better.  Nonetheless, we had a nice evening with Erik, enjoying some good wines and the dinner.

an anniversary

This past Saturday, Conrad, Van, and I celebrated a small anniversary.  Four years previously, Van had come to dinner for the first time.  He and I had met online, and on that date, we were meeting in person.  I made short ribs for the three of us, and we sat outside.  It was a lovely evening.

And now look at us.

So happy anniversary to us, and hooray for a Saturday to celebrate properly.  We started the day with breakfast at Amara, and then Conrad and I got things done at the condo.  Later that afternoon, we hopped onto the A line and headed down to the Broad Museum to take in the Keith Haring show

as well as some of the regular collections. 

The show was excellent, and I liked the Kara Walker gallery, but the museum was a bit of a zoo of tourists taking selfies with some well-known pieces of pop and modern art.  I didn't mind leaving at closing time.  A short walk through among some skyscrapers and public art

then past the library, and we were at Drago Centro for dinner.

I didn't take photos at dinner until Conrad demanded that I photograph the dessert.  A chocolate dessert, with an extra scoop of salted caramel ice cream, which was a great idea. 

We had a very nice time in a shockingly almost empty restaurant.  It's not a place that we go to often at all, but it is a place we keep in mind for special occasions, such as this.  We splurged on a nicely aged (1995) Chianti, and stretched our meal out over 2.5 hours.

It was a lovely, leisurely afternoon and evening for the three of us.  At the end of it, we took an Uber home to Olive, contented, glad that we celebrated something worth celebrating.

Friday night celebration

So... I have a birthday coming up soon.  I shan't say when exactly, nor how old (but if you wish to believe I will be 38, who am I to stop you?).  But soon, yes.  Last night we went to dinner with Natasha as an early celebration for my birthday, and - unsurprisingly - we visited our favourite local place:  Maestro.

I love Maestro.  I love the vibe and the people who own it and work there and the cocktails and the food.  It's a place I want to bring friends to because it's just so easy to enjoy.  So when it came to picking a place, it was a no-brainer.

So it was that we were seated outside last night, listening to the live music, having a good dinner.  Conrad and Van across from me,

Natasha next to me. 

I didn't photograph all of the food, but I did get a few snapshots.  The tamale and esquites with bone marrow special. 

The mole chicken

and the shrimp tacos

from the main menu.  We ate very well, indeed.

Thank you, then, to Conrad, Van, and Natasha for celebrating my birthday early with me.  Hooray for getting older!

who, her?

Yep, her.  Still cute.  So darn adorable.🐕💗

36-ish hours in the homeland

Prior to this past Sunday, I had been up to Canada once - only once - since the end of 2019.  I have now doubled that number.  Yes, two whole visits to the homeland in 3.5 years.  It's just so odd for me to realize that.

Conrad and I, as long time (ha!) readers of this blog may know, have owned a condo in Vancouver since 2007. 

We used it as a second home, a vacation retreat for a number of years, but in 2019, we were forced to rent it out to long-term tenants or else be liable for the empty homes tax.  For almost 4 years now, we have not used the condo ourselves, and after all this time, we decided we no longer wanted to hold onto it.  Accordingly, we recently began working with a realtor up there, and this past weekend we met her in person at the condo.  The sale will move forward.

That was the reason for this most recent visit:  business.  Oh, we squeezed in other things as well.  But we kept ourselves to 36 hours up there, that's all.  I have work obligations, and the hotel room rates are TERRIBLE.  Cruise ship season, right?

We flew in on Sunday afternoon and got ourselves settled into the hotel.  A little spartan, perhaps, but nice enough. 

Conveniently located downtown, so we appreciated that. 

After unpacking and refreshing, we met our friends Steven and Jenny for dinner.  I didn't photograph the food, no - it was almost secondary to us enjoying catching up with them after so long without seeing them.  After the dinner, we went out walking past the Pan Pacific and Canada Place and on down into Coal Harbour,

getting some gelato, admiring the views as the sun went down. 

So good seeing them again.

Conrad had a Monday meeting, so I set out on foot toward Stanley Park,

delighting in a fine summer morning before it was time to get to our meetings related to the condo sale.  Ah, the condo.  First time in almost four years seeing it, and it breaks my heart a little.  It's not our home, it's the tenants' home, but I wish we could reclaim it and spruce it back up and use it again.  Alas.

Conrad and I fit in a short swim after that, then met Marie for a drink at the club before the three of us headed to Chambar to meet Chris and Allister for dinner. 

I had only ever been to Chambar once, and I recall not being that into it (it was a brunch, it was ok).  I really liked our dinner, though.  We were able to have a nice chat with the bartender before heading to our table, and he gave us some insights into the gins.  That shaped my ordering, and I had a Rolling Tide (a seashore-forward martini garnished with nori)

and then a cocktail he made using the salal-infused gin. 

We shared charcuterie,

I had a bit tub of mussels with fries (and we had some thick, toasted slices of sourdough, too),

and then I ordered the cheeses

for dessert simply because I knew Conrad wanted someone to share them with him.  I was already full.  I wanted Marie's pavlova instead. 

No matter.  We dined plenty well, believe me!

Conrad and I got out on foot again on the Tuesday morning - we had plenty of time before our departure.  We also had another short swim, and oh man oh man, my muscles hate me for not swimming more often.  Packing, airport, delay, home.

36-ish hours visiting Vancouver.  We'll next be up that way for Labour Day weekend.  I can't wait.