second weekend in August

You know, it was a nice weekend.  And an easy one.  Isn't that lovely when those two things coincide?

As I did the Friday before, I started out my day with a good and lengthy walk from Van's place. 

No, not nearly so long as the week before, but a respectable distance just the same.  It was a work from home day, and that allowed me to shift hours around and go pick up Conrad from LAX in the middle of the day before getting back to the laptop.  Come 5:00, or a few minutes thereafter, he and I were seated at the bar at Maestro for a regular Friday night.  A cherry-tomato cocktail for me,

some oysters to start,

followed by the roasted beet salad we've been enjoying a lot lately,

and then the shortrib burritas. 

We were home fairly early and settled down to a bit of television and then music and reading before bed.

Saturday was lazier.  A shorter walk that culminated in a satisfying breakfast at Amara. 

A bunch of laundry, some reading, and I'm pretty sure I recall there being a nap in there somewhere.  Van picked us up that evening,

and we headed to Little Beast

over in Eagle Rock for dinner with Mitch and Ted.  Nice evening, too.  The biscuits with ham were a good starter to share,

and I also enjoyed the salad that Van, Conrad, and I split. 

My salmon dish was good although I thought the salmon was a little overcooked. 

Still, the curry sauce and the chickpea cake were terrific accompaniments.  Oh, and the cocktail, the Dark Til Dawn, was a success. 

None of us were wowed by the dessert menu, alas, so we headed home, and I had a little Amaro Breva as we wound down.

If Saturday was lazy, well, Sunday outdid it.  An even shorter walk, no laundry, more reading, and again some napping.  The highlight was a nice FaceTime chat with Courtney and Robert.  We had plans for leftovers for dinner, so there really wasn't any cooking save for a bit of rice.  Conrad started making a little pre-dinner set-up for us, and he did get the food plated, but I shook up the cocktails, and that was a great little pre-dinner treat, sitting at the counter and chatting. 

We watched some television, then I hopped online to buy things I think will make nice little party favours/guest goody bag fillers for Conrad's big birthday party later this year.  That brought Sunday and the weekend to an end.

The days ahead may be a little mild for me in terms of posting.  Conrad and Van are heading on a road trip, and I will be taking care of Olive.  I have few plans during my week with her.  Still, if I throw together something halfway edible, it may just get posted here. 

second weekend in July

The weekend that was, and really, it was a good weekend.  It's Sunday night now as I start this, I've had some decent, moderately-priced wine.  We've watched a little of Cougar Town, an older television show we're now getting into.  I have a ticket purchased for tennis in the desert this fall.  Why not start the weekend check-in?

And let's extend the weekend back to last Thursday.  A cheat, but Fridays during the summer are WFH, and although that's not a day off (there's always something or things to deal with), it is a little easier for not having the drive.  Anyway, Thursday evening was nice for having had friends invite us over. 

That's a rare thing.  People get intimidated or weird about cooking for me, and I swear, I SWEAR

EVEN. IF. YOU. MAKE. ME. A. BOX. OF. KD. I. WILL. BE. GRATEFUL. THAT. YOU. COOKED. FOR. ME.

I mean it.

Jennifer and Sanders, however, provided us with a dinner beyond Kraft Dinner, with halibut cooked on the grill

and some very juicy and sweet corn on the cob.  Lovely!  We sat outside and had a great chat, the five of us.  Very good food!

Friday came, and it was off to Maestro that evening.  Sooooo long since last we were there.  They had closed for some renovations, and before they reopened I was off to the Midwest, so it had been weeks.  Too long.  So it was so very good to be back.  YAY!  We sat outside, the three of us, and shared gaucamole, a roasted beet salad, the tetela, calamari, and the bone marrow esquites. 

Such a nice evening there.  We came back to the condo to have some little pastries from Bu Pastry Bar. 

A nice way to finish the evening as we watched some Stanley Tucci in Italy.

Saturday!  Saturday I was up early, but I lingered as I heard Conrad stirring upstairs.  We eventually went out on our walk, a nice casual one.  And then it was Amara.  So, yes, a proper and regular weekend for us.  Our usual breakfast after all this time,

and a second round of lattes to boot!

 

Then there was the SG Lewis concert, a good walk this morning, a great and bountiful breakfast at Van's, a new pair of shoes for walking, dinner with some television.  Nothing especially photo-worthy, or moments where taking photos wasn't at front of mind.

All in all, a good mix of busy and not busy this past weekend. We're almost halfway through the month, which doesn't feel real, to be honest.  Fall semester will be upon us in no time at all! 

last weekend of April

Sunday evening here.  Dinner is done, dishes are done.  We're all caught up on Top Chef.  My arm hurts, but not terribly so at this moment - I had my second (and last) shingles vaccine today.  I've arranged tomorrow so I can work at home in case it feels worse (I've been told the second shot is worse than the second, and the first was painful for a few days).  I've had a day of walking Olive and getting the vaccine and grocery shopping and making banana bread and napping and cooking dinner.  Now to finish up the weekend with a blog entry on the weekend that was.

I have nothing to share about Friday.  There was a work event that had me at the library until 6 that day.  I then came home and had a very basic meal that was essentially instant ramen noodles and frozen peas.  Yep.  I have my cheats.  Nothing to drink.  I had to pick up Conrad at about 9 at Burbank Airport.  Got him home, wound down, headed to bed.  And that was Friday!

Saturday morning we headed out for a walk.  We hadn't done a walk together since our last morning in Boston, and even that was a little shorter than usual.  So it was nice to get out for a few miles or so on a mildly cool and cloudy morning.  Of course we ended up at Amara. 

Arepa for me, breakfast croissant for Conrad, and lattes. 

That felt like a little return to home and normalcy.  Very welcome.

Saturday was consumed with laundry and a few other things at home.  I always like when we get some things done but not too much.  Enough to feel accomplished but not so much that we don't feel relaxed.  A good balance during the day.  Come 5:00, and we were heading for the car to drive to Van's.

Weeks back, Van's dear friend and former colleague, Mitch,

celebrated his 65th birthday (my gosh, all the birthdays we celebrate these days are in the 50s to 70s).  Alas, a dental emergency on his end meant that we had to postpone dinner out together until last night.  We met him and his husband, Ted,

in Santa Monica at The Georgian. 

It seems to be the place we go to for special occasions now, and I'm not upset about that.  They frown on photos inside, so I really have none of the dinner, but good cocktails, an excellent tuna tartare, and a tasty steak for me.  It was a lovely evening in a terrific setting, so good to see them again.

I was up before 7 this morning despite how cozy bed was.  Conrad and I got some gear on and a harness and leash on Olive and took her out for a walk.  Shockingly, Van was awake and out of bed before 9, so we popped up to Starbucks for the three of us and then talked a little about the plans for next weekend's party.  And then it was on to the day that I outlined above.  I made a simple dinner for us - a couple of mediocre tuna steaks with some rice and boy choy.  Conrad made himself a martini, I had a Naked and Famous, and we sat outside despite how chilly it felt to us.

Time to wind down here.  Monday will come soon.  May you have had a good weekend wherever you are! 

first full weekend in March

It was a nice weekend, this past one.  Yep, simple as that.  End of blog entry.

No, sorry, just kidding.  It was a nice weekend, but I'll certainly blog at greater length than that!  And share photos.

That said, it wasn't an especially interesting weekend.  That is, we didn't do a lot out of the ordinary.  Still, the ordinary is rather enjoyable.  So it was that we were back at Maestro on Friday night.  A light meal, though - we weren't especially hungry.  Just guacamole

and then enmoladas to share. 

I am trying to do a mostly dry month, so I had a mocktail

made with non-alcoholic tequila. 

Nice little drink!  On the way home, we saw that the little cheesecake pop up

had a sign out, so we bought a few pieces for eating tonight when Van and Olive come over.  We otherwise got home from dinner early and enjoyed an evening of music and reading before bed.

Saturday morning was a good little walk for us on a sunny

but windy day.  We ended up at Amara, of course, and had breakfast. 

And then it was home to... nothing, really.  It was truly a day off, and I did very little.  We had plans for later, and until then, I was utterly, happily lazy.

Saturday night was supposed to be dinner downtown for Mitch's 65th birthday, but that got postponed, alas.  So, the three of us

pivoted and ended up going to see Hamnet (good film, Buckley was outstanding in it) and then on to dinner at Smitty's where, shockingly, I did NOT have the liver special.  A lobster roll for me instead. 

We all shared a salad and a dessert,

and because I had intended to raise a glass to Mitch, I let myself have a drink at dinner, a Toronto. 

A slow sipper through the meal.  Nice evening!

I took no photos yesterday, sorry.  But I did get some things done:  groceries bright and early, baked two banana bread loaves and two batches of scones, got some laundry through the machines.  Not a bad day.  Conrad and I finished it off sitting outside with a grazing board for dinner, watching some television on the iPad together.  I ended the day with the last of season 4 of Bridgerton, and that, friends, was the first full weekend in March.   

the nice thing about a remote working day...

... is that I get back the time the drive and such would take.  

This morning I was out the door early for a walk before Conrad joined me.  After a good stroll and gab, we ended up at Amara for a bite of breakfast.  My usual, his usual. 

A lovely morning for it, cool and sunny.  We chatted with Amara for a bit, finished up, came home.  We were in the door earlier than when I've been going in to work so far this week.  I brewed some decaf, fired up the laptop, and now here we are:  lunchtime, munching on some leftovers, posting a quick blog entry.

Back in the office again on Monday!  The nice thing about that is that I'll get to see folks in person.  And you know, I like the drive time because I listen to CBC Radio programs, something I otherwise don't afford myself much opportunity to do.

Happy Wednesday!