I am on a plane

Packing yesterday, flying today.  Van picked us up and got us to the airport in good time to enjoy a little lounge time.  

Boarding, lovely seats,

and now flying.  Yes, I paid for wifi!

Two hours or so into the flight, and having had one of the best airplane meals I’ve had in a long while,

I am going to get comfy for the next several hours, doze a whole eventually.  Oh, I should mention that we have pajamas!

Tokyo ahead,

not our last stop though.  Stay tuned!

Tuesday night at Maestro/Wednesday morning at Amara

Friends, I have finished packing.  I am all set for tomorrow.  It's the last day of September.  One last blog entry for the month.  Short and sweet folks, short and sweet.

Because of travel and Conrad's case of Covid, we've missed a lot of time at Maestro and Amara lately.  And we have missed them, truly.  Since we can't go in this weekend or any other Friday/Saturday until near the end of October, we took care of this before we leave.  So, it was a Tuesday night at Maestro, sitting outside, enjoying the warm weather, chatting with Sergio, Paul, Rigo, and Nestor when they came by the table.  Guacamole to start,

cochinita pibil as a shared main. 

I had their drink special, a mezcal and ginger cocktail that was nice and light. 

We enjoyed our meal, said our goodnights and told them we'd see them in three weeks, and brought home a piece of their tres leches carrot cake for us to enjoy when we were tired of doing travel prep for the evening.

This morning:  a very short walk and on to Amara for right after they opened.  The usual for each of us, the arepa for me and a breakfast croissant for Conrad. 

Oh yes, the decaf latte as well. 

We had a nice little chat with Amara, and then home in time to begin getting all the things done today that we needed to do.

Van will come over for dinner with Olive, and then he'll take us to the airport in the morning.  Gosh, 18 hours until we are in the air! 

last weekend of September

It's Sunday night.  Conrad and I are are  our laptops, doing various things.  Thursday looms.  The trip is so soon.  We did a massive shop today to complement the massive online shop recently, and I think (and hope!) we have plenty of clothes for the climate we're heading to.  Fingers crossed!

Oh!  And Conrad is testing negative at last.  THANK GOODNESS.  Boring for him and for me to live in different parts of the condo and seldom interact in person.  I'm glad to have him back, so to speak.

Anyway, as the weekend closes, let's do the weekend that was.

Friday we stayed in.  I cooked us up a pork tenderloin (no photos of it, sorry), and I made myself a Blue Sky (there's something about blue Curacao that just makes cocktails kind of icky). 

Conrad was still not 100%, so it was a mild little evening.  Yeah, not the most interesting report.

Yesterday I ventured out on a short walk, then got Conrad to go for one with me, stopping at Amara to pick up breakfast for us.  The rest of the day was largely separate.  It was nice that Van came over to freshen up the plants.  I know Olive was thrilled to see Conrad again.  I experimented with a cocktail for today's online happy hour.  Our theme was CanLit (and I made Conrad a drink today inspired by a Robert Munsch book, resulting in a Blackberry [Subway] Jam and Gin cocktail),

so I opted for a book by a favourite author to guide me:  The Manticore by Robertson Davies. 

Not a bad cocktail, a little sweet.  The cinnamon and mint were a good pair, though.  I made Conrad and me some turkey cutlets with a whole-grain mustard sauce.  Another mild little evening.

Today, as I mentioned, Conrad was negative, so we got his butt out the door

on a walk before coming home to have breakfast and coffee.  Shopping followed, then he napped when we got home while I baked two batches of scones (oh, right:  I baked banana bread yesterday).  We did happy hour (Oh!  I also took inspiration from another Robertson Davies book, The Lyre of Orpheus, and made an Orpheus as my second cocktail),

then baked a frozen pizza and watched some Cougar Town.  And now it's back to our life of getting things done for later this week.

Blogging is sure to be erratic through October, but please do stick with me! 

So... there.  The weekend that was.  Not the most 

not much to report this week

Howdy, folks!  It's been a week at work, I tell you.  Everything that can come up before the big trip next week has come up.  Yay?  Ah well.  But also, ugh.

Anyway, it's been quiet nights at home, making dinner for Conrad and bringing it up to him. Yep, still testing positive.  Poor guy.  He's bored and frustrated.  I feel for him.

I did get out last night, though.  Van and I went to a friend's professional/social over at Barbrix,

and you know what?  We had a great time.  A few drinks, very light bites (we grabbed a late dinner afterward), and a lot of chat with a nice gay couple whom we'd like to invite over some time and get to know better.

And now it's Friday evening, I have made dinner and had a cocktail (the Blue Sky),

and Conrad is still isolated.  Sigh.  May the weekend free him! 

third weekend in September

Sunday evening as I write this, Monday when I post it.  I feel a little overwhelmed with the trip ahead (three weeks out of country!) and Conrad still getting over Covid.  He's better, not 100%.  Hooray for improvement!

Anyway, let me check in on how things are going here!

For one thing, a lot of shopping online.  Clothing and other items for the trip.  There we go, the trip again!  Also, laundry.  Cooking meals for us.  Napping.  Flu and Covid shots.  Watching a lot of Cougar Town (how the heck did I never watch that before - man, that's an awesome show!).  But I'm honestly bored without Conrad to be with.  I love his company, simple as that.

Anyway, a snippet or two of the weekend that was.

There were some mild morning walks.  I have had difficulty waking up early since my time with Van, darn it.  So, no early morning walks, but some shorter walks.  I did walk back and forth to massage on Saturday and flu vaccine on Sunday, and that added up nicely.  Sunday morning walk, I took a few photos of the sights of Pasadena. 

A grey morning, but some nice things to see in the area.

And, hey!  Cute t-shirt, right?

I didn't photograph the chicken meatloaves I made on Saturday, but I did get shots of Friday (pork tenderloin with roasted cabbage stuffed with prosciutto)

and Sunday (shrimp cooked in a Creole sauce with rice and a little cole slaw) dinners. 

I've already posted the cocktails from the weekend.  Not bad, I have to say.

And that's the weekend.  Again, Sunday evening as I write this, so I might dig into some cards and post cards and send out pre-travel hellos to folks! 

long weekend in Washington (minus the music)

A whole big, long, fun-filled weekend in Washington state for two and then three of us.  I can go chronologically here, but let's do it thematically instead for a change.  Or something like that.

Dining.  Meals good and ok.  Our first night, at our hotel in Seattle, we had dinner at the restaurant in the lobby.  A shared serving of their genuinely good clam chowder with smoked salmon, a shared burger with their rather substantial fries.  A boulevardier, not the best I ever had but reasonable.

  

Night two we had dinner at Visconti's,

where we had dined four years before.  Thomas, the (slightly nerdily but also muscular) bartender that night took care of us at the bar, making us each a Last Word with the last of his green chartreuse and recommended the Dungeness crab and lemon pasta for me, and he was right.  Van and I split a date, gorgonzola, and pancetta appetizer and chocolate ricotta filled cannoli.

Lunch the next day was at The Huck @ Pybus where I had a burger that started great and then veered too much into the huckleberry in the jam on the burger.  Really great fries.  The huckleberry mimosa was kind of fun, but I remain not an especial fan of mimosas.  Huckleberries are good, though!

 

Night three we went back to Visconti's.  If it ain't broke....  The place was funnily waaaay busier on a Sunday night than it was on the Friday.  We sat at a table rather than the bar, but Thomas still took care of us.  A boulevardier for me, and then a pork chop that I had eyed on the menu before and Thomas steered me from.  Sigh.  The pork was fine, a little overcooked, but the risotto was, well, not great.  Ah well.  I did like the lemon tart we shared.

Last night was in Seattle, and we went to Bar Cantinetta, meeting up with Jessica for dinner.  Natasha was supposed to join us, but she was still getting over a case of pneumonia.  A Last Word to start with, a little on the tart side, and then switching to wine.  We shared a great meal there that was surprisingly mushroom heavy:  a fontina fondutta that had truffle butter, a lobster mushroom and chickpea dish, and a chanterelle pizza.  There were also two pasta dishes, and although the papardelle and ragu was tasty, I liked the more lightly-sauced rici more.  A gem lettuce salad for some green stuff.  Zepolle that were tasty, and a pistachio-ricotta cake that was delightfully light and not too sweet.

 

Driving to and from.  We took one route to and another route back.  The way there we went through Cle Elum as we did before, stopping at the bakery we remembered and picking up a few treats.  Nice little town. 

It seems like a place where monied people from Seattle buy second homes to have a Cascades retreat for fishing/hunting/outdoor activities. We poked in another store, walked up and down the main drag a bit, and then got on the road again.  On the way back to Seattle we took what I thought was a nicer drive, into the Wenatchee National Forest

then on through Leavenworth, stopping only momentarily.  The next stop was in Skykomish, a cute little village with some history tucked in a river valley.  I loved how when we left Wenatchee, it was clear and sunny, but in the village in the valley, it was overcast and dreary. 

Perfect Pacific Northwest weather!  A nice stop.  We also took a quick break in Sultan (not photos) where Chris and Amos live, then to Seattle to the hotel.

Flying to and from.  Van and I were upgraded on the way to Seattle, which means we had a little meal of a salad on the plane. 

Not bad!  But it was cool seeing Mount Rainier relatively close as we approached Seattle. 

Comfortable trip!

Hotels.  Two Residence Inns and an airport hotel whose room smelled a little of mildew.  I took no photos of the rooms, but they were fine enough for what we needed.  The views were not much, alas.

Seattle.  Not much time spent there, alas.  I do like that city.  At least there was a nice walk with Conrad in the morning to Starbucks that took us through the University of Washington campus on the way back. 

Before we headed to the airport, we headed to the Filson flagship store so that Van could shop, then went nearby to Macrina for a little lunch. 

Not even 24 hours in the city.  We'll be back.

Wenatchee.  Not our first time in Wenatchee.  I liked that this time we stayed on the west side of the Columbia River, in the main city, instead of over in East Wenatchee.  East Wenatchee does have nice parts and the pricier real estate in town (plus good views of Wenatchee and the mountains beyond) as we found on a Sunday afternoon drive and adventure. 

But Wenatchee is a nice little town in and of itself.  For one thing, they've done a very nice job of parks and pathways along (and above!) the Columbia River. 

A bonus is the wealth of public art in the parks, downtown, and elsewhere. 

The downtown has a few blocks of stores that feel at least somewhat vital, which is nice to see, and some other nicer old and new buildings. 

Not everything was open on a grey, damp Sunday, but we poked in a few.  And then there is Pybus Public Market, which also had a farmers market outside on the Saturday. 

It seems to be a thriving town, what with the all the fruit growing in the area and packing and shipping going on. 

It also seems to be kind of Republican.  The expensive houses had great views and were large but not very interesting.  Oh, stop being a bitch, Peter.  We won't move there, but two visits there have been quite fine.

Other.  Nope, that's it!

We had a good weekend, truly.  Saw some sights, ate some good for the most part.  I look forward to a next trip up to Washington, to Seattle, to the Gorge.  We shall see....