Go Buffs!

Can we laugh and call me butch for this one?  I mean, we can laugh, but I doubt anyone can call me butch.  This is the third time now that we've been invited by Robert to join him in his box for a Buffs game at Folsom Field in Boulder, and I remain mystified by football.  Why didn't the clock stop there?  Why did it stop there?  First downs and strategy and such.  It's opaque to me.

And yet, it was a blast to get to go to the opener for the University of Colorado yesterday!

As I said, the third time we've been lucky enough to be invited to join Robert and Courtney. 

The box had wonderful views of the whole stadium and of the mountains beyond Boulder. 

A birds eye view of the field below for all the goings on.  Not just the game in play, but the marching band

and the running of Ralphie, the buffalo

(and sorry, folks, buffalo and bison are the same animal in North America)(which made it all the funnier that the Buffaloes were playing the North Dakota State University Bison!).  Americans do sports events right, I tell you.  We had on our CU-Boulder gear. 

There were beaded necklaces and silly hats and more for the box guests. 

The Buffs won to start the season.  It was close, and it really did go down to the end to make sure they held their lead that they won back in the second half.  That made for an exciting time.  And a late night - the traffic out of Boulder was slow and congested, and it was almost eleven when we got home.

So, go Buffs!  Have a great season!  And thank you, Robert, for inviting us.

DEN

Folks, all two of you, we are in Colorado.  As I write, we are en route from Denver airport to Courtney and Robert’s home.  I’ll take care of some work there, and then we’ll head into Boulder for the game.  So then, more to come!  For now, a view from inside the A concourse at DEN..

Wednesday night sushi

Just a little glimpse at dinner tonight.  Conrad and I went with our next door neighbours to Mama M for sushi, sitting outside in the mild evening.  A very enjoyable time, as you can see!

It's off to Colorado tomorrow for two nights.  Yes, again.  Stay tuned!

Rockets

No, sorry, my USian friends and family, not Smarties.  Rockets.  A whole big bunch of them to put out in a bowl at the library for the students these early weeks to help themselves to.  They were put out on Tuesday at lunchtime.  I wonder how long until they are all gone....

it really just keeps getting worse

I swear that I am at my fattest and in my worst shape since I was, oh, in my early twenties.  It's awful, and it shows up in so many ways.  Like on the rare occasion lately when I splash in the pool ever so briefly.  Ugh.

So yeah, I swam today.  And this fall I can swim on Fridays at my work, which will be welcome.  But ugh.  It's just so pathetic what shape I am in.

The Vespa

Monthly online drinks took place last night, and our theme was the dog days of summer.  So, dog cocktails, summer cocktails, let your mind go.  And I did.  Who is our favourite dog?  Olive!  So let's find a cocktail with olive somehow as an ingredient.

Friends, I give you The Vespa. 

A vesper variation that includes limoncello and tonic water and a few drops of olive oil.  Deliciously, it also includes a garnish of half a yellow cherry tomato topped with flakes of salt.  Yum!  We all enjoyed that one.

I also taste-tested with Conrad a different cocktail, the Aperontini,

a cross between a negroni and an Aperol Spritz that used olive brine in the mix and was garnished with olives. 

Not bad, truly, but not anything near as good as our winner.  The Vespa - I'll be making that one again.

an anniversary dinner downtown

Van's sister Cathy and her husband Bob came to town this weekend, a short trip to California for them to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary.  How lovely to see them!  And as a treat to them (and to us), Van bought all of us dinner at 71Above.

I think I've written about the restaurant before.  We took Van for his last birthday, I believe.  It's a handsome space perched on the 71st floor of the US Bank building, which is almost on the highest part of downtown LA.  The food is terrific, the service is great, the views are stunning.  Cathy and Bob were pretty floored by it all.

Our table was at the window, but not facing the rest of downtown and the sunset.  Instead, we were almost atop the Disney Hall and had views up toward Pasadena, which felt right somehow.  We made sure that Cathy and Bob had the window seats, and settled in to enjoy a very good and unrushed dinner.

Cocktails first!  The Buena Park for me, which had rye, rum, Aperol, lemon, and blueberry. 

A nice drink, not too sweet.  However, I also opted for the wine pairings (with the menu, you pay a set price and choose one each from the appetizers, mains, and desserts, so you can also have the wine pairings), and when they poured the first one, I realized that I very much had not needed that cocktail!  The pourings were generous, I was delighted to see.

I didn't get photos to the others' meals.  I never do that.  I did taste a little of Cathy's pork, and I liked it a lot.  Conrad's dumpling appetizer was also outstanding.  For my part, I had the Caledonian shrimp, which were smoky and salty and served with a cabbage foam.  Yum! 

My main was the ribeye, an unusual choice for me, but I felt like red meat.  I liked it. 

My dessert was a sabayon with peaches, and although I wished the peaches were a little more caramelized (as described on the menu), the sabayon itself was a treat.

All in all, an outstanding meal, and I think Cathy and Bob enjoyed it a lot, felt very special because of it.  71Above is a superb choice for a special occasion, after all, but you know, it would also make for a lovely date night in and of itself.

When we got back down to ground level and awaited the car,

I grabbed a few photos of the buildings of DTLA,

including the LA Public Library across the street. 

The night was mild, and we were home in Pasadena by shortly after 10.  Thank you so much to Van for his generous treat.  It was a delight through and through.

three Vancouver meals with friends

(and let me pause before launching into this to say that, with this post, I will essentially have caught up on the backlog of travel and dining and more)

(and let me also say, Peter: it's about bloody time!)

Anyone who has even casually skimmed this blog would know that I like to eat well and drink well.  Our brief visit to Vancouver afforded us opportunities to do so, happily.  Let's dig in!

Thursday evening Conrad and I walked and trained and walked on over to Zarak to meet Chris

and Allister

for dinner.  The restaurant, which features Afghani cuisine, was Chris' suggestion.  And you know, well done, Chris.  Very well done.

All of us had cocktails, save for Conrad who started with a bottle of wine that we eventually shared (and ordered a second one of).  I liked mine, a light cocktail called Heritage

that seemed not to be alcoholic at all, which means it was dangerous.  Chris, however, got the show thanks to ordering the Dr. Damji's Negroni.  Fun!

And then we got down to food.  Oh, what food!  I didn't get a shot of the green beans, but they were a highlight.  The mantu were beautiful but not as flavourful as the beans. 

I still enjoyed them.  The buttermilk fried chicken was a delight. 

The lamb shoulder was equally as delightful. 

The bolani was fine, the least memorable of our dishes (and yet, still tasty enough). 

The Uzbeki palaw was a jewel. 

Piping hot, the rice grains each distinct, chunks of tender meat hidden in there.  I would go back just for that dish alone.

We also ordered one of each dessert (there were four).  I wasn't all that interested in vegan chocolate mousse, and although I tasted it and thought it was fine, it proved to be the least interesting to me. 

The tres leches cake was tasty but I still don't understand what it was doing on that menu. 

The shir yakh was lovely - I like rose water as a flavour, and having it in an ice cream tamed it well. 

The firni, a milk pudding, I dismissed at first, but I kept coming back to because the subtlety lured me in. 

My favourite of the desserts.

An excellent dinner, and we've been spreading the word about the place since.

Friday!  Friday lunch was at the club, sitting out on the terrace under mostly cloudy skies but still enjoying being out there.  Our friends from Germany, Gerd

and Uwe,

joined us.  The day before had been Uwe's 60th birthday, and Gerd's 60th will be in October, so we wanted to treat them to a meal.  This is the second time that we have met up with these friends on a Vancouver vacation - our original connection is through the magic of Instagram.  We sipped a BC white and had a leisurely lunch.  My seafood Cobb salad

was different than I have had it before, I think - they could have dialed back on the tomatoes (which I didn't even get to, the salad was so big) and maybe not used such a mix of greens (it was a little rough by contrast to the seafood).  But I didn't go hungry, that's for sure!

Dinner was with Jenny and Steven, whom we always enjoy seeing when we're in town.  We went to the Main Street location of Sula for Indian food.  The restaurant had a good cocktail program, which is not something I have seen very often in Indian restaurants, and a nice wine list.  The bar

sent out our drinks, and mine was a light variation on a Last Word. 

Refreshing!  When I ordered wine with the meal, the waitress let us know that they were out of the one I ordered and instead recommended an Indian red wine.  She let me try some, I liked it, and it turned out to be a doubly good recommendation:  we had a nice wine with the meal, and it was a first time trying wine from India.  Oh, and the winery?  Also named Sula.

I didn't photograph much of the food.  A few of the dishes were meats or vegetables or cheese in a sauce, a curry or gravy, however we might call it.  And, sorry, those don't always make for the most interesting photos, alas.  Not a worry.  Here is the appetizer platter we shared. 

All of it was good.  Sula is on the list of places to go back to, I have to say.

After dinner, Conrad and I went to see Steven and Jenny's new (to us) home and sat and had a bit more wine before heading back to the hotel.  It was a full day of food (and steps for me!), and a very good one all in all.

appreciation for the city

Two nights in Vancouver, two morning walks, both of them without Conrad, who opted to stay in bed.  He's so cute.

I think I might have said this before, but I didn't like Vancouver when I was younger.  Too big, too much for a smalltown boy to deal with.  I knew very little of the city (and I won't pretend to know all that much all that well now).  It wasn't my favourite place despite it being my birthplace.  My, how things change.

I could see myself living in Vancouver one day.  Or Victoria.  Or the Sunshine Coast.  But Vancouver offers a lot.  On the Friday morning, I set off southeast-ish

then came along the False Creek waterfront and eventually back to the hotel.  I caught some photos,

but mostly walked and listened to music and felt great about being back in the city.  When I got back to the room, Conrad was up and around, and we wandered the the nearby Honolulu Coffee Company to start our day together.

Saturday morning I set out in the opposite-ish direction,

walking a bunch through the West End before coming along the water in English Bay

and back to the hotel.  I took almost no photos on that walk, but just enjoyed the sunny, cool weather and being out on foot.

I'm not dumb.  Vancouver is a city with the problems of a city.  Our condo when we owned it looked out on a lot of those problems.  It is a far from perfect place.  But then you walk about, see the bigger and smaller details, and you think how delightful the place really can be.