road trip to Death Valley, day one

We're home from the long weekend.  It's back to work tomorrow for a couple of days, then out of town again for me.  I'll blog that when the time comes, no worries.  For now, let me tell the tale of the weekend that was.

We set out late Saturday morning, heading up the 210 to the 14 and through Palmdale and Lancaster, cities I knew of from work but had never ventured to.  From there it was onto smaller roads

that took us past the Trona Pinnacles

and Searles Lake, through the settlement of Trona (I was on the other side of the car from the town's buildings)

with its ongoing chemical mining operations, and then through Ridgecrest where we stopped for lunch.  After that, it was back on small roads that opened up onto the Panamint Valley, one valley west from Death Valley. 

We dropped down into it, and drove toward the park, stopping at the marker for the ghost town of Ballarat

and then at the sign for the entrance to Death Valley National Park. 

There were a few blooms already visible,

though I think it won't be a great year for flowers unless we get more rain.  We took pictures at the sign,

including of the Panamint Range and the snow on Telescope Peak,

then we headed east, deeper into the park.

There will be more sights from Death Valley in coming blog posts, but the first one that we got to admire (and come back to the next day) was the Mesquite Flat Dunes. 

Gorgeous with the approaching sunset.  A real delight.  The sun dipped behind the Panamint Range,

and we made it to the hotel in dimming light.

Ah, the hotel.  The Oasis at Death Valley.  An historic site, a classic national parks hotel still nicely maintained.  We stayed down below the main building, in the casitas. 

But ah, what a fine building the main lodge is. 

Come 7:00, we were sitting down to dinner in the dining room.  Salmon for me, nicely prepared. 

After dinner, we stopped by the pool bar,

and then it was home to the casita to unwind and head to bed so that we would be properly rested for a day of exploration.

road trip weekend

This morning, at 10ish (well, more ish than 10, but that’s fine), we set out on the 210 for a weekend away road trip.

And by sunset, folks, we made it.

Our base of operations until we head home Monday:  the Oasis at Death Valley.  Lovely.  

And what a fantastic drive.

I’ll post more in days ahead and when I get home, for sure.  But hooray for a little California adventure and for being here!

quickly, before we go

A hello on a Saturday morning of a long weekend.  Conrad and I are soon out the door, Van picking us up, and the three of us off to Death Valley National Park for a couple of nights.  We've thrown some things into a bag here this morning, and that was after a wee walk and a breakfast.  Yep, our good friends at Amara.  And yep, the arepa for me.  If it ain't broke...

vespers

A Friday evening at home, and a fine (and boozy!) cocktail to sip with dinner.  Vespers for us.  I rather like Lillet (try it with tonic water!), and the idea of a martini rounded out with that wine-based aperitif is so appealing.  So, cheers!

Steven!

In among all the busyness of conference coming up and such, it was a lovely midweek treat to have Steven come for dinner last night.  He flew in to LA the day before, and he will be in SoCal for some days yet, but this was my only chance at catching up with him.  Plus, he got to meet Van and Olive, a nice bonus.  I made us a meaty stew and some biscuits and a raspberry tart, we had some cocktails and wine, and a nice evening was had.

Ah, if only we could convince him to move west....

sushi night in

Ah.

An easy night in tonight.  Tomorrow starts a lot of my professional association stuff (best way to describe it all), and I am off to conference next week.  Tonight?  Sushi. 

A bit of wine and a cocktail. 

An episode of Canada's Drag Race.  Travel planning.  Life is pretty darn good.

jambalaya cakes

I am absolutely certain that anyone from Louisiana would be horrified by my "quick" and easy jambalaya I made yesterday.  Really, let's just call it a rice casserole and be honest, right?  Ah well.  It was ok.  I winged it, no recipe.  And it was edible.  The rice was overcooked and a little clumpy, I admit.  Ah well, that same clumpiness gave me the idea for dinner tonight:  repurpose the jambalaya as lightly breaded and fried rice cakes.

You know?  Better than last night.  Not bad at all.  A small pat on the back for something a little different.

a lovely January weekend

I shan't break up the weekend into multiple posts.  No, let me simply tell you about the whole thing, start to finish(-ish) in one post and move on to the new week.

Friday evening Conrad and I reclaimed our favourite seats at the bar at Maestro.  It was a quiet evening there, even when we left (we always arrive right at opening because we learned from experience years ago that the bar seats can be claimed quickly).  We chatted with the owners, both of whom took off early because it was going to be a slow night.  We said hi to Gabriel, who was going to be playing music outside to goodness knows how many or few diners on a chilly evening.  We talked with Marco at the bar.  We had our cocktails, starting with the Don Vanitos for me. 

Some guacamole and plantain chips. 

A really great new special, too, the cochinita pibil. 

A nice time of it.  Then we came home, watched some Canada's Drag Race, and sipped a little wine before bed.

On Saturday morning we got up a little late and did a good walk down to Van's, getting him out of bed for a late breakfast at Amara.  We parted ways after that, with him heading home to Olive and to having us over later, and with us coming home to take down Christmas and put it away for the year.  A little sad, I have to admit.  Ah well.  It's good to have the condo restored, but I am sorry not to see the tree when I look down the hallway to the living room.

For Saturday evening, we went back over to Van's where he plied us with mai tais

and made us dinner

before we all watched the first episode of the new season of RuPaul's Drag Race together.  Yes, a very drag race kind of weekend.  It was to bed at a not too late hour after that.

This morning I left everyone sleeping and set out on a walk into San Marino, a nice few miles on a sunny Sunday. 

Conrad and Olive met up with me near the end, but as soon as we got home, she wanted to go back to her daddy.  Conrad and I hung around with lattes, and Van eventually got up.  A little loving for Olive to end the morning,

and then we came home.

I've made a jambalaya, not my best effort, but it will do.  I have a little work to do for meetings this week.  Conrad has tried napping.  I think he's also doing a bit of research for the Japan trip ahead.

And tomorrow it's back to work.  A full week of it in town, and then the next two weeks have travel cutting things short.  It's been an easy, enjoyable weekend, but also an accomplished one here.  And that, friends, is my report!

Friday morning

A short post, a simple post, a lovely morning.  I was out the door before seven to walk a few miles, and oh, the morning sky. 

A hint of bad weather, red sky in the morning, but we have no rain in the forecast for days to come, so maybe it's just a beautiful morning sky.

And then a morning of working from home, decaf in hand!  Friday, underway successfully.

The Epiphany

In my head, I'm being an 11-year old boy by calling it the Epi-FANNY!

Sorry.

Online happy hour last night, and the theme was holidays.  Any holiday.  So I opted to make a somewhat timely drink.  Epiphany is January 6, and so I made a drink I found called the Epiphany.  Or a version thereof - the recipe calls for a blackberry liqueur, but I had none on hand.  I do have cassis, though - black currant.  Not the same, but close enough for what I wanted to do.

It was fine, a little sweet.  Some citrus in it would be welcome.  Still, I would consider it again.

Next online happy hour will be weeks away with a Leap Year theme.  Time to plot and plan for that! 

you see the darnedest things

After dinner last night, Conrad and I took a little stroll around the neighbourhood to see how it was recovering from the parade and such.  As we were heading home, we caught sight of a slow moving procession heading south on Fair Oaks.  A police car in the lead, two vehicles trailing, and the South Pasadena float

from the New Year's Day Tournament of Roses Parade in between, slowly rolling along.

Years ago, in one of our first years here, Conrad and I had the happy fortune of seeing several floats roll past on their way to the warehouses on South Raymond.  This had that same little thrill, and how nice to see the detail so close!

Another Rose Bowl event all done, and Pasadena can go back to normal.  We'll take down the tree this weekend and bid farewell to a holiday season we'll happily put behind us.  And then it's onward with 2024!

first swim of 2024

Relax, there will not be a vast and irritating series of posts of the first this-that-or-the-other-thing of 2024.  Maybe one or two such posts, but I'll soon veer into other topics, I promise.

However...

...first swim of 2024.  And yeah, it was a swim.  I came home from the pool, from a short swim (because I had to get myself going to work), and when Conrad asked, I just said, it was a swim.  And he chided me (gently) not to be down on myself.  To which I responded that I was just being real.  It wasn't a long swim, it wasn't especially enjoyable, it wasn't great technique, it wasn't fast.  But I got in the pool and I did that little bit, which is more than zero.

So, it was a swim.  The first of 2024.  Not the last, surely!

an easy start to 2024

It's Monday, January 1, as I write this.  I'll have to get some dinner cooking soon, and then prepare myself mentally for being back in the office tomorrow for the first time in almost four weeks (though I've done remote work since then).  That all will be a challenge to shift back into the going to work mindset.  I'll manage.

Happily, today was a nice, easy, mellow start to 2024.  We were to bed late (but not overindulged, thankfully!), but I was still up by 7:30.  Yes, I needed a short nap later on, but I got myself going out the door before 8:00, leaving the others to sleep more.  A nice little walk around the neighbourhood, including a glimpse of the Goodyear blimp.

Late morning was a Starbucks run, a bit to eat, and finishing the dishes.  Eventually the three of us got out the door together to take Olive over to a park in San Marino.  A walk for the little girl.

For all of us, really - my step count this year is way ahead of last year. 

And then Conrad and I headed back to the condo to wind down the day here.

Looking forward to all of the easy weekend mornings that the three of us (the four of us!) can have in 2024!

NYE, 2023

2023 is now behind us.  Barely, but behind us nonetheless!

Conrad and I started the last day of the year pretty gently.  Conrad and I walked down to Whole Foods to pick up a few things, then swung over to Amara for a last breakfast there for 2023. 

My usual, an arepa, for me,

and my decaf latte. 

Nice to say hello to the folks there and wish them all a happy new year before we came home.

I spent much of the day in the kitchen.  Just one dish, a cake:  Imposantniy Chokoliadovo Bilkoviy Tort. 

That's the name of it from the cookbook.  Essentially, it's a fatless sponge flavoured with dark chocolate and ground walnuts, layered with meringues, coffee-flavoured whipped cream, and sour cherry preserves, then glazed with chocolate.  It's been a long time since I last made it, and it's a bunch of work, for sure.  That damn glaze seized up on me four times, and I had to send Conrad out to get more chocolate!  But I got it done in time to bring it over to Van's for dinner.

Dinner was a treat.  Van cooked lobster tails for us along with baked potatoes.  Mitch and Ted came over with a roasted beef tenderloin, and it made for a surf and turf dinner. 

I helped out in the kitchen.  Conrad kept his favourite girl company. 

We tried a new cocktail, an apple cider margarita. 

Champagne and red wine with dinner, and then before and after dessert, it was a couple of games of That's What She Said.

Bedtime was 1:30.  We finished the dishes and cleaning up late this morning.