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! 

Girl and the Goat with Amy, Andrew, and Ed

I've blogged the Rose Mary dinner, now for the other Top Chef meal.  Girl and the Goat, now a Chicago establishment, the flagship for Stephanie Izard since she became the first woman (and first Chicago chef) to win the show back in season 4.  I hadn't been in years although I had been to the LA outpost with Conrad and Van and had also been to Little Goat a couple of times when that was still open.  It would prove to be a welcome return.

I am a fan of Chef Izard.  During her season, she showed time and again that she was creative, technically skilled, managed her time well, and wasn't into drama.  Immensely likable on television, small wonder there was such buzz for Girl and the Goat when it opened - the fans wanted it.  And she delivered.  The first time we went there many years back, Conrad and I were joined by vegetarian friends.  For a restaurant that has goat as part of its name and identity, Girl and the Goat delivered on vegetables.  We had a wonderful meal.  Since the restaurant wasn't too far a walk from work, I went a few times after that for early bites with friends.  I don't think, however, that I had been back since we moved to SoCal.

Sunday dinner at conference was a nice little group affair, with Amy, Andrew, and Ed joining me and Conrad.  Three friends I absolutely treasure, and I know they all like good food, so I was excited about our meal.  The five of us rode the green line several stops, then walked on down to the restaurant.  We had a nice table tucked just inside the door, which gave us a view of the street or the busy restaurant interior.  We ordered cocktails - the Sun Kid for me

- and then food.  Ready? Here we go:

Green garlic brioche. 

Who doesn't love starting with some bread?  This was tasty!

Chickpea fritters. 

Oh, I loved these.  These were a surprise - no one was wowed about them on seeing them on the menu, but my gosh were they tender and good.

Goat empanadas. 

And I loved these as well.  A cocktail, two rounds of these, and a green vegetable, and we would have been happy with just that.

Roasted asparagus. 

Quite fine.

Pan-roasted halibut. 

Cooked nicely, and it was good, but it was also just halibut.  Happily, I rather like halibut.

Roasted pig face. 

Yum!  So good.  I love that they are getting that meat and using it.

I didn't get photos of the other four savoury dishes, but we had kohlrabi salad, grilled kalbi short ribs, wood fired chicken, and crispy pork belly.  The pork belly was good - I often find that pork belly is crispy outside and then a ton of fat, and this wasn't nearly so fatty.  The ribs were my least favourite course.  Not bad, just kind of chewy and alright.

For dessert, we got all of them.  All four. 

I wish that restaurants would post their dessert menus online more consistently.  I can't remember what all four were, but there was one that I think was an homage to ball parks with caramel and corn involved,  It was also the best of the four.  I liked the desserts, but they all struck me as more or less some sort of cake base with an ice cream, and some greater variety would have been terrific.  But I quibble, and we did finish off all of those desserts, after all. 

All in all, a terrific meal.  A couple of items that didn't shine as brightly, but nothing at all that I didn't like, and lots more that I would have been happy to try.  Aside from our friends being such good company, a group meant we could try and share a lot more from the menu than just two of us would.  We had such a nice night, then capped it off with drinks back at the hotel with some others.  And oh yes, I'd be very happy to go back to Girl and the Goat again some day. 

Manuela

While Conrad was out of town, Van

and I took advantage of some gift cards he had on hand and got ourselves to DTLA for dinner at Manuela, a place I've been a few times now.  And you know, I think it was a better experience this time than last time.  So, let's jump back to a week ago yesterday and talk a little about that meal.

Our waiter, whose name I've forgotten now (sorry!) was great.  Maybe a little extra, but certainly attentive enough and helpful with advice on the food and drinks.  That was one big point in favour of the place.  It was on to cocktails from there,

with me opting for the I'm Your Huckleberry (it went down nice and easy) and Van for the Florida Man. 

I also had a glass of a British wine, a rose, with my dinner, but no photo.  Ah well.  Cheers to us.  We sipped and awaited food.

The food?  Terrific.  A delightful salad to share,

a nice piece of halibut for my main. 

The okra side dish was very good, too.  But really, what do we go to Manuela for?  The biscuits and ham. 

The last time I was at Manuela, I thought the biscuits were lacking.  This time?  So good.  I'd still rank them below Everson Royce Bar, but I cheerily, greedily, shoveled back my share of them.

We did get a dessert as well, but no photo of it.  Fig leaf gelato, and it was really superb, but it was also too much food at that point.  Bellies full, we brought date night downtown to a close and headed home.  Yep, we'll be back! 

Tuesday in Vancouver

The Tuesday of the trip was our own last full day in Vancouver, and truly?  It could not have been more low-key.  I did some walking of my own, then Conrad, Courtney, and Robert all joined me for a stroll.  Yes, that means a few more waterfront photos.  It's a theme, I know.

Courtney and Robert did have enough time before heading to the airport for the five of us (Van was awake by then) to have brunch in the hotel restaurant.  Eggs Benedict for me, and they were fine. 

It was a nice send-off for Courtney and Robert, who made it home smoothly and safely and have, since then, moved from Colorado to Austin, TX.  Expect to see TX blog entries one day, I would suggest.

That left an easy day for the three of us, and we took full advantage by... doing next to nothing.  Napping, reading.  Not much more.  And that was so welcome.  Imagine that:  down time on a vacation.  How novel!

Our evening plan was easy as well:  hop the Canada Line and head to Yaletown to meet my younger brother Mark and his girlfriend Linda for dinner at Provence Marinaside. 

A long time since we last dined there, and also a long time since I last saw Mark and Linda.  I think it may have been a lunch, along with our brother Carlos, in 2022?  That sounds like so long ago, and it was.  I don't have a challenging relationship with that side of the family (I don't think I do, at least), but I also don't stay in touch nearly as well as I should.  Mark and Linda shared some family gossip (our brother Nigel moved to Bolivia?!?!?!), and we otherwise had a tasty meal with oysters

and then halibut for me,

Last Words to start, a nice BC red to share, and a cocktail called the Robert Frost for me

with the clafoutis we shared for dessert.

And that was Tuesday.  A simple, easy day.  I've really come to love my vacations being like that. 

13

No, not the Blur album.  Good album!  One of my faves by them, and I do like a lot of their stuff.  I'm getting off track....

Yesterday marked 13 years of marriage for us.  23 years since our first date as well - that anniversary was this past Saturday.  Hooray for us!

No going out to celebrate this year.  We'll save that for a milestone ahead, perhaps.  Or just a regular date night.  No, I wanted to cook us a nice dinner.  And I somewhat succeeded - that halibut was a little over, sorry to say.  But anyway....

Shopping at Eataly this past weekend helped.  We started with a Vesper each

and some tarallini to snack on while I put together a simple burrata platter. 

Once that was on the table (and oh, what lovely flowers from Van to celebrate our anniversary - that was so sweet of him),

I poured us each some chenin blanc.  Music in the background, no other distraction.  Sitting and enjoying food and wine and talking.  I told Conrad it would be a slow meal - finish making one course and then it was on to the next.  Our second course was a simple pasta with some truffles. 

Reminiscent of what we had in Italy, but the truffles were preserved from a jar.  Not the same as the fresh item, of course, but it was pretty decent anyway.  And a splurge.  Speaking of splurge, a 2012 Amarone della Valpolicella - an Eataly purchase.  We enjoyed that one,

but when I went to the wine fridge to retrieve it, I found that we also had a 2006 of the same style of wine but a different vintner.  That one will be saved for Christmas, and may it have survived what likely have been years of moves and doubtless variation in storage condition.  We shall.  Anyway, I cooked us a bit of halibut with some lightly roasted carrots, drizzled with some olive oil we brought back from our Italian vacation and dotted lightly with some very good aged balsamic vinegar.

That was a lot, and we decided to forego the cookies and ice cream I had for us for dessert.  Otherwise just a nice and - yes, truly - simple dinner at home with some good wine to toast each other and 13 years of marriage!

Saturday, June 22

My conference is over, a long weekend(ish - I am working from home tomorrow) lies ahead, and I have neglected this blog more than enough!  I shan't try to recreate ever moment from the past few weeks, but let me catch up a little.

All the way back to June 22 with us, then!

I cooked for a small group of us that night.  Natasha and Marina came over, and the five (well, six - Olive was there, too) of us caught up over a dinner I cooked.

I won't say it was my best effort, but it wasn't bad.  I was pleased with how tender the pastry on the fried quesadillas turned out,

and the zucchini and onion mixture complemented the cheese in the filling nicely.  The halibut was fine, but the pieces were huge, and perhaps unevenly cooked. 

The achiote marinade was good, though.  The plum cardamom cake looked a mess - the fruit slid off somewhat -

but it was tasty as ever. 

I sent that home with the others so I would not keep snacking on it!

A nice night for us. 

I haven't cooked much since then, so I look forward to getting back in the kitchen!

recent meals at home

I've done a little cooking at home the past couple of days, and I've been decently pleased with what I have made.

On Sunday I swung past Bristol Farms to pick up some nice fish.  Not cheap, but worth it.  That became a nice little dinner of curry salt crusted halibut on a pea puree.  I was pleased with it.  We sat outside, had some white wine, and enjoyed the meal.

Last night I put some lamb blade chops in the oven along with fresh thyme, onions, carrots, and potatoes to slow cook together.  The vegetables became a puree to serve underneath the chops, and I spooned the juices (and stray onion pieces) over top.  A few Brussels sprouts, and that was our dinner along with a modest Pinot Noir.  Not too bad.

Oh!  And we had some apple-cranberry crisp, too!

I work late tonight, so it will be up to Conrad to provide dinner for us.  Takeaway pizza is most likely, I think...