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! 

Friday night before vacation

Writing this on Friday night, posting on Saturday.  Conrad and I have an afternoon flight from Burbank to Denver and an overnight at the Westin at the airport there.  I wish we were getting together with Laurie and Marc, but next time.  I hope!  My spring break looms, and time in New England beckons.  And what better way to head off on vacation than by enjoying dinner at Maestro?  You got me!

Mild evening temperatures meant we could sit outside.  No live music tonight, alas, but we still had a good time, and the restaurant (indeed, many of the restaurants in the neighbourhood), was doing some good business.  We ordered cocktails - a mezcal negroni for me

- and a starter of queso fundido,

and settled in to enjoy the evening.  Conrad and Van were across the table from me,

sipping their drinks.  Conversation ranged all over.  We had a good time.

Calamari followed the queso,

and then the cochinita pibil. 

My gosh, that last one, a pork dish, is so good.  Yum.

No dessert for us.  We came back to the condo for a bit, discussed Olympics tickets purchases, and then Van headed home.  A nice night before heading out of town, very welcome.

Happy Saturday, happy Easter weekend! 

first weekend of February

Happy Sunday, happy February!  It's been a good weekend at home - some of our usual fun, some things done.  So I'm happy to check in and share a little of what we did.  Ready?  Let's go!

Friday means Maestro, and we duly found ourselves at a corner of the bar. 

A mocktail

and some guacamole to start with, and then we dug into the special LA dining week menu.  Tetela for Conrad and Van each to start with,

calamari for me. 

I had duck carnitas as my meal,

and then each of us ordered the jericalla for dessert. 

An early meal, and a mild, early night - Van had headed home by 7:30, and Conrad and I just relaxed with reading and music the rest of the night.

Saturday morning was a lovely morning for a walk on the earlier side, then over to Amara, each of us having what we so often do. 

A decaf latte for me,

an arepa for my breakfast. 

Satisfying!

And then we came home and got stuff done.  Post-Christmas de-cluttering, badly needed.  Wines in the new wine fridge, books weeded out and the shelves re-arranged.  It was quite the undertaking, truly.  But ah, I love seeing those tidier shelves!

Last night we spent the evening at Van's.  We had every intention of a full night of Drag Race, but we only made it through one episode after dinner.  Nice enough dinner, though:  steak topped with caramelized onions and blue cheese. 

Cooked perhaps too rare, but ah well.  Huge steaks!  Not one of us could finish them.  A pear crisp for dessert as well - that was a nice one.  I sipped some red wine with dinner -

February 1, and my dry month was done.  We actually each had a cocktail to start with -

Last Words, of course -

and I have to say that after a month of no drinking, that cocktail was POTENT.  I shan't have anything with our pizza and the Grammys tonight, and I'll keep things under control in days and weeks ahead.

A good weekend, not yet done.  I've managed a lot of reading, listened to some new music, did a five-mile walk this morning by myself.  Laundry is on the go.  Productive, relaxing.  A great mix.

midweek jaunt to Eataly

The good thing about the library being closed is that I had the time on a Thursday to head over to the west side and go to Eataly with Conrad and Van.  Yay!  I've always loved that place in Chicago and NYC, and now I love it here, too.  Tarallini!  We needed it!

We got to Eataly in time for lunch, and rather than a counter, we went for full sit down service.  A good idea, as it turned out - customers in their seated dining areas received 20% off everything but alcohol.  And goodness knows we shopped today!  Van got some new Nick and Nora glasses.  We all picked up mortadella and tarallini.  Wine for Christmas dinner.  Van picked up a gin and some other spirits.  Cheese!  Chocolate!  Panettone!  We shopped very well indeed.

Lunch was good, though.  Some calamari and zucchini to share to start with,

and then I ordered a pizza with an artichoke cream, smoked mozzarella, crispy pancetta, and ricotta. 

Tasty!  I've badly needed decent pizza since U Street closed in September.

Shopping done, we had a loooooong slog home.  Weirdly long.  Ah well.  Rainbows - a double set - showed us the way.

Friday/Saturday normalcy

This will post about the time that guests are here, and I am pouring them wine or making them cocktails.  An atypical Saturday night.  Last night and this morning, however, we more typical of the weekend for us.

We were parked on stools in a corner of the bar at Maestro last night, enjoying our drinks and chatting with the staff and owners and each other.  I only got a shot of the calamari we shared in between the guacamole and the mole with chicken,

so you'll have to take my word on it that the rest was a familiarly good as hoped.

And then this morning we headed for Amara.  No walk for Conrad, who is nursing a sore leg still from a tumble a few days ago, but our usuals for breakfast.  An arepa for me, and - of course! - a decaf latte.

I had better get myself going on more party prep here!

overdue (but we made it in the end!)

As mentioned before, we were overdue for Maestro, and our intention was to make it there.  And friends, we did.  Saturday evening, sitting outside enjoying food and music and saying hello to the staff we've missed.  How lovely it all was, even if we might have wished for it to be a little warmer!

I tried a new cocktail special, a tangerine smash,

and liked it, though I did switch to my usual, the mezcal campfire, after the first drink.  We shared everything, starting with the guacamole and plantain chips

and the queso fundido,

then moving on to the calamari. 

The cochinita pibil

and the esquites with bone marrow

were our mains, and for dessert, we opted to have the Oaxacan chocolate mole torte. 

All of it was so very good.

We should be back there on Friday, and I cannot wait!

and then we made it to Chicago

Conrad still thinks - I think! - that I hate his family.  I don't.  Far from it.  And I don't hate his hometown either.  But I have to admit, I don't find it especially fun or interesting to venture up there.  It's like my own hometown - small, centered on a dying industry, brain drain, isolated.  The advantage to going to my home town (twice since 2003, that's it) is that I still know people there.  When we go to Escanaba, we visit no one.  No friends.  Just family.  Lovely family, but as they grow older, we do less and less with them.  I wish we did more.  Ah well.

I am writing this on Sunday night (May 28).  A week ago, Conrad and I flew down from Green Bay to Chicago. 

I love Chicago.  Come on - if you have read this blog in its distant past, you will know that I - we - had a rich, happy life in Chicago.  Ten years in SoCal, and yet, Chicago remains my favourite US city so readily.  Bring me there any time.

We made the rookie mistake of taking the Blue Line

into the city from ORD to our hotel - I say that because we were blithely unaware of service disruptions because of line improvement.  An hour and a half later, which included a shuttle bus between Addison and Western, we made it to the hotel.  And then it was over an hour until we could check in.  We wandered up to Eataly and grabbed an afternoon snack of calamari

and a spritz. 

At long last, though, we checked into the hotel.  Ahhhhhh.

So good to be back in the city no matter the inconvenience!