fourth weekend in August

Most of the week gone, almost the next weekend, the last weekend in August.  What better time to check in on the previous weekend, right?  And I know, I know.  Maestro and Amara again, right, Peter?  Well, yes.  Unapologetically.

So let's kick it off with the usual:  seats at an end of the bar late Friday afternoon/early Friday evening at Maestro. 

I did NOT, however, go with the usual drink.  A Guayabita for me this time to start with,

followed by a glass of rose. 

Sometimes it's good to switch things up!  We ate relatively light, given the heat.  Oysters to start,

some chicken mole to share. 

Did we have queso as well?  No photo, but I dimly recall we may have, which totally makes a lie of the eating light.  We came home and watched some television, winding down, having a mellow time of it.

Saturday morning there was a mild walk, but yep, Amara.  Lattes and a shared burrito (they're pretty filling for one). 

Back at home, there was the usual assortment of things to get done, and I added the baking of two banana bread loaves to that list. 

Check!  They'll make for nice slices some mornings with coffee.  By early evening, we were swinging by Bristol Farms and picking up fixings for dinner.  Van wanted shrimp cocktails, and we obliged. 

I also bought a nice piece of coho salmon and served it atop a warm okra salad and Israeli couscous.

After dinner the guys showed me the photos of their recent road trip, telling me more of the stories.  Nice to see.  No television after they were done - it was too late for that.  We headed to bed.

Sunday morning I didn't get up early for a solo walk despite best intentions.  I slept really well, but when I finally got up, I soon heard Conrad.  And if Conrad gets up, that means Olive is awake with him.  She really loves him.  A short walk for the three of us, then a further short walk for me to get some more steps. 

Conrad and I had coffee while Van slept in, then the four of us headed off to Starbucks because we weren't quite up for a big breakfast at home.  Conrad and I got home around noon, and then it was an afternoon devoted to online happy hour.  Sushi and television to finish the day.

That, friends, was a very regular, normal, no-frills weekend for us.  Nice one, I have to say.

second weekend in May

You know, yesterday was so gosh darn lazy that I really could have sat down after dinner and written a summary of the weekend, and maybe, just maybe, I would have felt as though I had accomplished something.  Yes, it really was that kind of a day, hanging out in comfy sweats for most of it. 

Oh, I didn't do absolutely nothing.  I cooked us dinner, and we finally stumbled out of the condo after 8 for a short walk past restaurants still thronged with Mother's Day diners.  But otherwise, not a heck of a lot.

But we did get up to things the first half of the weekend!  So let me report on that, yes?

Van came by late Friday afternoon, and the three of us headed over to Maestro (with a stop in a new store to check it out - we'll have to pop back in another time to do some actual shopping) for dinner outside. 

It was a nice, leisurely dinner, no rush to it at all.  I had a tasty passionfruit and tequila cocktail to start,

and we all shared queso fundido, a beet salad,

calamari,

and the cochinita pibil. 

Bellies full from that, we wandered home to wind down, Van heading back to feed Olive.  An easy Friday evening where we got to catch up with the folks at Maestro and have some good food and drink.

Saturday was the busy day, but even then it wasn't so bad.  I went out for a walk without Conrad then collected him so that we could enjoy breakfast at Amara as usual. 

From there it was on to a massage session for me, and then Conrad and I did the week's groceries.  Back at home, there was laundry on the go, and while I worked in the kitchen, Conrad de-cluttered a storage closet in the condo.

Van and Olive were due for dinner, and it was nice to cook for all of us at home.  I had made a brown butter blueberry tart earlier in the day for our dessert. 

For dinner, I seared a few petit filets, topped them with caramelized onion and blue cheese, served them on spinach and a roasted slice of Japanese sweet potato, and spooned around a red wine reduction sauce. 

Decent little dinner, I have to say!  By the time we were done, we felt it a little late to start a movie or watch some television, and that was fine, too.

Van is away this coming weekend, and all of us are away together the next.  A few adventures coming up.  This week, however, promises/threatens to be a little dull.  I'll chime in when I can! 

brown butter raspberry tart

One of my favourite dessert recipes gleaned from my years at the restaurant was the brown butter blueberry tart.  Brown butter was a revelation to me back in the 90s.  What flavour! So good.  It wasn’t an especially popular dessert in my recollection of those days, but it was an easy one to make.  I glance at the recipe once in a while to remind myself of proportions, but I can essentially make it from memory.  I also seldom use blueberries.  I like something more tart against the sweetness of the filling, and mango is my usual choice followed by raspberries.

We had Geoff over for dinner last night.  He and Kent are back in California after months in France.  We had thought they were moving there for good, but no.  Alas, they are also no longer together.  It was good to catch up.  I made us all ribs, we enjoyed some drinks with dinner, and there was the tart for dessert.  

Tasty!

Olive loved getting a car ride over, the treats and attention.  She had been a rather subdued little girl in recent times, but it seems that treatment for an ear infection has helped whatever had her feeling low.  She happily sat, getting attention and affection from her daddy while we kept chatting after dinner.

A nice dinner, and now we have leftovers of the tart to enjoy for a few nights!

fourth weekend in March

Sunday night here, and we are done a nice online happy hour catching up with Courtney and Robert during which we munched our way through all kinds of stuff, including some of the mango tart I made this afternoon. 

Conrad is supposed to be packing to head to Louisville tomorrow, the first of a few trips that will keep us apart for much of April.  I think I will see him less than half the month.  I'll see Van a bunch at least, though.

Speaking of Van, it was a nice, easy night there last night catching up with him and Olive,

having cocktails

and a simple dinner and watching television.  Meanwhile, earlier Saturday Conrad and I did our usual morning at Amara,

though I had a breakfast burrito rather than my arepa. 

Once in a while I switch it up!

And that's the weekend, more or less.  I baked a few other things.  Conrad and I decided to stay in Friday night and do sushi.  And that's the last weekend in March in a nutshell!

a Tuesday dinner

Conrad messaged me late afternoon yesterday, before he got home from the office but after I was home from a day of meetings at an airport hotel.  A frustrating day for him, he said.  Being the good (I hope I am good) husband that I try to be, I knew that dinner had to be a nice one for him.

And I think it was.

Humble bragging or something?  Perhaps.  But sometimes the cooking is going just right.  I set to work on dessert first, using up the leftover fresh rhubarb from the weekend to make a few individual crisps from the Mark Miller recipe that I've relied on for decades. 

Then it was on to the pork tenderloin.  I know, I make that often - it's an easy cut of meat to cook, doesn't take too long, and we both enjoy it.  I made a saffron carrot puree and cooked a bit of asparagus to go along with the pork. 

Tasty!  I was pleased with it all.

Conrad sipped a martini, I enjoyed a white wine from Paso Robles,

we watched the first episode of the new season of Top Chef, and then we strolled around the neighbourhood before I tackled dishes.  I think that I gave him a nice evening to unwind.  It was, at least, a delicious enough time!

first weekend in March

By the time this goes live, I'll be enjoying the second weekend of March, in San Francisco.  So that means that this is grossly overdue.  Ah well.  Better late than something something.  I love cliches!  😜

Some of last weekend will be rinse and repeat.  Friday night sitting at an end of the bar

at Maestro, enjoying cocktails

(sorry, Conrad, but I couldn't resist this photo of you and a margarita!)

and a light meal of queso fundido

and fried quesadillas. 

Cheese was our watchword that night, it seems.  Van didn't join us, but we had his company for a lot of the rest of the weekend.

Saturday morning? 

Amara Cafe and our usual favourites. 

Always welcome!  I headed out for a haircut

and errands after breakfast, and it was a moderately productive day.

Saturday night was a nice evening. 

We met up with Heath and Nicole for dinner in DTLA.  In among the taller buildings,

a film shoot going on a block away,

we dined at Settecento, a new restaurant in a space on one end of the central LAPL building.  It was mild enough to sit outside with only a little assistance from a heater.  The company was great - Heath and Nicole are such lovely people, and it's been good getting to know them since, in a sense, they are Van's family.  The restaurant was fine.  I liked the food (I only got a shot of my appetizer, a deep-fried egg on spinach with a Parmesan cream),

but it needs a little more oomph and refinement, I think.  Service was friendly enough, but the gaps in service were noticeable.  No matter.  We had a nice time with Heath and Nicole, and the restaurant is fairly new and deserves time to find its footing more solidly and a return visit then.

Sunday came, and it was over to Van's that evening.  The Oscars, y'all, Gay Superbowl!  I joke, but I do like seeing the dresses.  I made us some oven-braised chicken in a tomatillo sauce

and a batch of perhaps the best biscuits I have ever made. 

I was pleased with those.  For dessert I had put together a walnut gateau breton

and served it with some cheese.  We snacked, we cocktailed, we ate dinner, we watched the spectacle on television.  Olive got some early attention and otherwise only paid us heed when we ate. 

It was a nice evening all in all.

Alright, I am surely in SF and at our hotel now, soon heading for a first dinner in the city.  Happy second weekend!