happy birthday, Van!

A weekend that started well with a dinner in Santa Monica, a Jane Siberry performance, and picking up Conrad (late as it was) at the airport got even better with a Saturday celebration of Van's birthday.  Another trip around the sun completed.  Hooray!

Conrad and I sent Van downtown to the Conrad hotel for a relaxing massage and spa session in the afternoon, then met him at the hotel for dinner at San Laurel.  We were last there for a birthday dinner for me, so this felt appropriate.  Conrad and I

arrived a little before Van, so we ordered a martini for him and a Polka Dotted Coleman for me,

and settled in to wait and have a nice dinner when he joined us.

And it was a nice dinner.  Van enjoyed the same cocktail as me,

and although we ordered our own entrees, we shared a bunch of things:  jamon profiteroles,

fennel soup with crab,

stracciatella salad,

eggplant,

and a Basque cheesecake among them. 

I liked my scallops,

but I loved the vermicelli mac and cheese that we shared as a side dish.  Service was good, though there was a bit of mix up in the kitchen.  Our waiter kept us updated and checked in and even brought out some jamon to enjoy because of a delay.  Thank you, Sebastian, for that.

I woke up before the others today, unsurprisingly.  Olive and I got out the door for a walk. 

It's autumn now, clearly,

and we even had a light bit of rain.  After the walk, I relaxed until the other two were up and around, then I picked up Starbucks

for us to enjoy along with a pannetone. 

I think I'll be shoveling back a lot of that delicious bread/cake in the weeks ahead!

So, then, happy birthday to Van!  Months to go until mine, the next one we'll celebrate.

Conrad came home, and all is back to normal

2:30ish.  Precise time?  Not sure.  I just wanted to pick him up and get home.  We were parked in the building here at 2:51, and I think we were asleep by 3:10.

But, Conrad is home. 

Yay!  What an ordeal for him yesterday.  Delays are never fun.  I know he - and probably I will as well - will need a nap later.  This morning, though?  Amara!  Back to normal for us.  Decaf latte for me,

an arepa for breakfast. 

And all is right for a Saturday morning.

Jane Siberry in concert

Oh dear, it's late.  1:05 AM as I start this, and I'm waiting for Conrad to come home.  He was due to land hours ago, but he's only just now in the air en route from SFO.  Lots of delays in SFO.  Ugh.  A late night.

So, why not blog?

Van and I had a date night in Santa Monica tonight. 

Dinner and a musical performance.  Nice!  It's always fun to get out of Pasadena and go to another part of the metro.  Happily, traffic wasn't bad, and we made our reservation without problem.  First ones in the restaurant.  Oh, which one?  The Georgian Room in the lower level of the Georgian Hotel. 

Delightful.  Classic.  Sophisticated.  Modern old school.  A steak for each of us, a pair of Vespers for me.  Fine service.  Live piano.  Everything just right, it felt.  A dress code!  And no photos or cellphones inside!  So that means no shots of the food or from dinner, only from outside the hotel.  But we liked it, truly, and we would love to go back.

After that lovely, leisurely dinner, it was on to McCabe's Guitar Shop.  A small venue

for an artist I have loved for decades:  Jane Siberry. 

Van did not know her music, but he had a good time.  The highlight was an absolute gem of a performance of Love Is Everything.  Jane seemed to be trying out recently recorded songs, and honestly?  Her songwriting is not as tight and focused as twenty, thirty, forty years ago.  Her performances are almost as much spoken word as it is singing.  And you know, you just go with it.  Follow her where she goes.  And so we did.

First time in Santa Monica in a year or two, I think.  First time seeing Jane Siberry perform since about 2013 or 2014.  A night for rare experiences!

Now then, I hope Conrad will land soon.  And I still have to go to Burbank to pick him up.  Sigh.

I did look pretty tonight, I think.

curry for dinner (plus a sunrise)

I turned to a recipe yesterday that I hadn't made in a while.  In truth, I don't even remember where I have the recipe written down.  At this point, I'm just going off recollections of things and winging it when I make the dish.  It's a long time favourite of mine, though:  eggplant and green pea curry. 

Tasty stuff.  A mound of rice, a dollop of yogurt, and it's a satisfying vegetarian dinner.  Take away the yogurt, and Bob's your uncle:  vegan!  Happy to have returned to this one again and make it for Van.

In other news (and thanks to Van for the photo), I am gay as a French horn and a real ham at times.

It's Friday, and Conrad comes home tonight.  Alas, we'll be down in Santa Monica for dinner and a concert (and I hope to blog those) and unable to pick him up.  It will be good to have him home, though.  It's an easy Friday so far, working away on program review today, a nice walk under my belt shortly after sunrise this morning.  And oh, a pretty sunrise through the oaks trees!

Happy weekend!

Hugo spritzes

Another in a series of short posts this week - the weekend will bring some richer content to share, I think - and it's simply Tuesday evening aperitifs while Van and I caught up on the day and waited for dinner to finish reheating (leftovers for us).  A pair of Hugo spritzes.  We'd been wanting to do them for some time, but first I found that my elderflower liqueur had oxidized, then I had no club soda, then Van found that his elderflower liqueur had oxidized.  Yesterday, at long last, we had our act together, and spritzes were had.

Yum!

early mornings

I seem to have clawed my way back to some earlier mornings lately, waking up in advance of 6AM and getting out the door not long after.  Nice to do that.  So it was that I saw 6:01AM colouring the sky on my walk yesterday

and 5:57AM from a similar vantage point today.

I know people who rail against the shorter days, but I don't mind them at all.  I rather hate that I am missing out on a winter storm pummeling Vancouver, and I wish I were there, cozy inside our old condo, snow and wind and darkness outside.

I'm a romantic at heart, I guess.  😉

Hanky Panky!

When I was younger, the main (hotel) bar in town that we all went to and danced and did shots and hung out at late was Hanky Panky’s.  We derisively referred to it as Stinky Panties.  Many good times there.

Pre-dinner cocktails tonight.  A Hanky Panky for me (left), a Sazerac for Van (right).  Nice to sip while dinner was in the oven!

Bar Chelou

Conrad is in Chicago, and Van and I have a handful of days together here, so we went out on a dinner date last night.  Destination?  Bar Chelou!

Van had been there at least a couple of times, but it was a first for me.  The restaurant has had good buzz in its relatively short lifespan, garnering a mention last year in the LA Times top 101 list.  And good for it!  I'm glad that there was Pasadena representation on that list, and I think - based on our experience - that the mention was merited.

We settled in the lounge

to wait for our table on arrival, but we were soon seated.  A Sazerac for Van,

something spirit forward and fragrant with thyme called the Coquette for me. 

We shared four savoury dishes and two desserts, and I would be hard-pressed to pick favourites.  The carrots were a surprise, not just because I expected a roasted preparation but also because I kept finding new flavours in them. 

The sprouted cauliflower came in a delicious sauce that I would have happily had with a steak. 

The heritage tomato pan tomate was one of the best iterations of that simple Spanish classic that I have ever enjoyed.  The lamb ribs were meaty and satisfying. 

I loved the combination of lemon and chamomile in the semi-freddo,

and the buttery crumble with the roasted peach sorbet was excellent.

Other things I liked:  very friendly service, the fact that we had a table tucked in a back corner that gave us a somewhat quieter setting for dining and talking (Conrad would love the food, but as with many restaurants, the din among the hard surfaces would make hearing conversation difficult).

Meanwhile, the Pasadena Playhouse, whose structure is the home to Bar Chelou, was having a big evening.  The red carpet opening of a production of La Cage aux Folles starring Cheyenne Jackson and including a queen I recognized from Drag Race.  Fun.  We might consider going to it before it closes.  But when Van and I left the restaurant, it was intermission, and Van spotted among the gatherees outside my erstwhile twin, Jesse Tyler Ferguson.  A rare celebrity spotting in the wild!  I hope he enjoyed the show.  Van and I certainly enjoyed our date!

Sunday scones

My gosh, it takes me back to remember how I used to bake scones early every Saturday morning, or almost that often.  Scones for Smelts, and I would bring baggies of them to the pool to give out to teammates.  I don't make them nearly as often these days, alas, but once in a while the urge grips me.  All the better when I have buttermilk in the fridge that needs using.  And so it was the case this morning.

Two batches.  Dried cranberries in the first batch,

chunks of bittersweet chocolate and crystallized ginger in the other. 

I had one of the latter as my breakfast, I'll take some to Van's, and the rest will go in the freezer here for gentle reheating on future mornings when we want to have a mellow start to the day and something to go along with coffee.

Yum!

an easy Saturday

It feels good to have a Saturday at home.  It feels like it's been ages, but my perception is skewed by Conrad's recent travel as well.  In fact, save for one Saturday in December, I'll be home - we'll be home - every Saturday the rest of 2024.  Hooray!

It was an easy Saturday.  A brisk start to the morning - 43 when I got up! - and a short walk because there were things I wanted to get done at home, including brewing some decaf.  We were planning to meet Van for a later breakfast, so I wanted something hot to sip while I did some association work and otherwise putter around.  A lot of puttering around yesterday, and more this morning after I take Conrad to the airport.  Yes, he's off again, back later in the week.  And I, for one, would love a tidy home.  So putter it is.

But we did meet Van at Amara yesterday and had a leisurely time of it. 

I didn't photograph my plate, but I opted for a breakfast burrito dish instead of my usual arepa.  Just changing it up a bit so that I don't get bored of my regular order.  A satisfying breakfast in my belly, and it was back home to get things done.

That included dinner.  Van and Olive came over, and I served up pork chops for the humans.  A simple recipe:  a few onions sliced, fresh time, salt and pepper.  Layer the onions and thyme below and above the pork and season well.  Cover it all and pop in a low-ish oven to bake for a few hours.  The meat bakes and braises in the juices from the onions, creating it's own little savoury jus to serve with.  Some farro and some Brussels sprouts, and that was a good meal. 

Filling!

And then cracking into another mystery novel before bed.  Easy, right?

We'll see what the week ahead brings.  A concert at the end of it, but it promises to be mostly mild before then.  I'll check in when I can!

Chicago, quickly

Wednesday morning I did not head to work, no.  It was Burbank Airport for me. 

A flight to Denver, and then a flight from there. 

Final destination:  Chicago.

Look, I love Chicago.  Yes, I was a little tired and kind of peeved

by the transient person smoking on the Blue Line, but I love Chicago.  I always appreciate any chance to visit.  But one day of meeting (that could have been a Zoom!)?  Come on.  Make my long trip worthwhile.

Enough griping, though.  I am in my favourite USian city, far and away.  What even comes close?  Nothing.  And how is this for adding to that feeling:  a welcome bowl of junk food in my hotel room. 

I shan't say how much has been devoured already.

Yesterday morning, after a choppy night of sleep, started out with a good walk with a friend. 

Chicago was kind of socked in, and we had a lot to catch up on, so I didn't grab photos, sorry.  But a welcome walk after a day on a plane.  I put on my official bow tie (insert eye roll emoji),

and headed off for the meeting.  We were done by 3:00.

And then it was a relaxing evening.

I met a former boss of mine for dinner at Purple Pig. 

It was nice to see him, but bittersweet.  We all diminish with age, I know.  I'll leave it there.  The restaurant - his suggestion - was unfortunately loud, but the food was good.  I savoured the confit turkey leg,

and I can only wish that my US Thanksgiving turkey in two weeks will be as tender.  And then back to the hotel with me to grab a boulevardier at the hotel bar and call it a night.

I can't wait to go back to Chicago, for longer.  Please.  But I will be glad to be home as we draw closer to the holidays.

and while we're in a moderate blogging lull...

... just remember:  Olive is a pretty girl.