Notice anything?

A week ago we flew out to Vancouver, and because it's a four-hour flight, we upgraded. Yes, we're spoiled. Not that the food is super-fabulous (though I'd legitimately argue that it's better than the food served on campus, especially when you get pretty much as much wine as you'd like) but it wasn't a bad lunch of sandwich and soup. But wait, what is that unusual thing I spy?


No, not there. Kind of standard but reasonable food.


No, look here:A metal knife. What? Was this some weird fluke? Did the orange or yellow alert get all beige on us? We don't know, but it happened again with our food on the way back home to Chicago. Kind of nice to see it back, in a small, curious way....

one thing I miss about BC

Time for bed very soon, I think. Still more photos to come from the long Easter weekend in BC, but for now, a couple of shots Conrad took out the plane window as we got closer to BC. I concede, these may be somewhere in Washington state, but really, we can just think of that as an extension of the province above!

:-)

language barriers

I'm always amused when people in this country talk about me having a "Canadian" accent. As if everyone in Canada were from Ontario and said things like "oat and aboat" or "oot and aboot" or however we supposedly say it. Or as if I end every sentence with "eh". Good luck catching me saying that one.

No, there is no single Canadian accent just as there is no single American accent. Correspondingly, we use different vocabulary from Americans at times, and we also use different vocabulary depending on the part of the country we're from.

Okay, I'm not a linguist. Others have done studies, and the results likely contradict what I think. Still, there are words or expressions in use in one part of Canada and not in others. My favourite?



That was a sign in the Renaissance Hotel in Vancouver. Conrad is used to such oddities now. It's one term only, but it's a useful one for picking the BCers out of a crowd. Allison and I have had fun discussing some of them in e-mail.

A few years back the oral surgeon I went to see for my wisdom teeth managed to pick me out as a BCer based upon my pronunciation of "again", which I thought an impressive feat.

Austin (delayed, quick wrap up)

Busy life. Bad cold. You've heard these excuses from me before. On to the Austin photos from the end of March/start of April before I blog the recent Vancouver trip. It's that anal-librarian-chronological order thing I have.

So then, let's see...

...arrived on a gloomy Friday and the threat of much rain.



Dinner that night was at Truluck's. In retrospect, the crab cake we shared and the simply prepared Gulf snapper with chef's toppings were not masterworks of cuisine, but gosh darn was it what I was wanting that night. We ate better in Austin, but that night, after going a week without seeing Conrad, I was having the most wonderful time of it.



Threat of rain? Threat of sunburn! A shame that the cold I still have or allergies or something was again kicking me around (that makes three weekends out of town this year when I've been under the weather. Grrr!) because the sunshine was lovely. After breakfast we walked around the University of Texas campus, taking photos and buying a few t-shirts. Conrad is an alum, after all!









We managed to get an early reservation at a place called Wink that sounded promising. Was it ever! I'll single out Debra, the waitress, as the single best thing about the place, and that's high praise. Many wines by the glass - and she offered us some tastings before we settled on our choices. Who knew I'd like the Italian red so much? The food was delightful as well, gaining in strength as the evening luxuriously unrolled. Spinach salad with granny smith apple, toasted walnuts, baby leeks, and rochetta buttermilk:

Vermouth steamed PEI mussels with verjus pickled garlic and tomato confit:

Dayboat scallops on endive and roasted muscat grape salad with foie gras vinaigrette:

Seared quail breast on fava bean and baby arugula salad with roasted tomato vinaigrette:

Butter basted skatewing with caramelized salsify, spring shallots, and caper pan sauce:

Happy, still sniffling some...


... I made it through to the cheese course before the dessert, which we devoured before we thought to take photos.


I'm embarrassed I can't remember the name of the coffeehouse/diner where we ate breakfast at the counter the next day, but I thought the Coca Cola Cake looked like a hoot. Made with the pop itself. Ah well, I shouldn't laugh: my birthday cake every year was mayonnaise cake.


Between breakfast and the airport we wandered in and around the Capitol. It's a handsome complex, decorated with stars and the state name as much as possible. One surprise was seeing amongst the portraits of Texan governors the face of a woman - back in the 1920s. Elected again in the 1930s. Texas is more progressive than stereotypes might make you think, I guess.

A few more shots from Austin

It's late-ish. I haven't managed to get done a fraction of the things I wanted to do tonight. Too occupied with swimming, cooking dinner, booking ferries on Easter Sunday and brunch with the family. Blah blah blah. My difficult life.

Uh huh.

Anyway, I thought I'd get a few more Austin shots up before I turn in for the night. More to come, including some food. Oh, and speaking of which, no shots tonight of dinner, but I made an interesting side dish. I based it on a Georgian (as in, the former Soviet republic) recipe for a salad of red beans and walnuts. It was strongly flavoured: coriander seed, a bunch of garlic, some onion, a whole bunch of walnuts (I'm on a HUGE walnut kick these days), vinegar, and chile flakes all added some potency to the puree. Yummy with the chicken breast, though, and so bold that we were able to pair the dinner with a nice little half bottle of Qupe Syrah. And then we opened a bottle of a different Syrah to continue sipping while family and Easter were aggravating the heck out of me.

:-P

On to photos:

Cows in Chicago a few years back, guitars in Austin. This was near a place on South Congress (SoCo) where we ate breakfast. The art is from the cover of the Los Lobos album La Pistola y El Corazon, a CD I haven't listened to a great deal lately but do like immensely. We shopped in a neat little store tucked in the strip behind me as well.

The view north on Congress. I have more photos of the Capitol to pull off the camera chip still.


Two views from our room at the Omni, which was a rare case (in my experience) of windows facing an internal space and yet somehow still making for an attractive room. Alas, those are offices right across from us in the same building, and Conrad and I ran the risk of providing free shows had we not kept the drapes pulled whenever we dashed into the shower.

Two nights in Baltimore

I'd already counted Maryland on my list of visited states - in accordance with Geoff's rules (a visit is official if it is outside of an airport and involves a meal, an overnight stay, or use of a washroom). Before last week I'd done two of those - and more than once each - and now I can say I've spent the night in the state. Two nights, in fact.

Baltimore hosted this year's ACRL Conference, but I decided I couldn't justify the expense of registration for a conference I've not gotten a lot from in its two most recent iterations (Charlotte 2003 and Minneapolis 2005). I went in, presented my pre-conference, had a couple of nice dinners, came home. Saw a few people, too, including Kathryn and David who were there working for ACRL.



I will admit, I kind of thought the city would be a bit like Cleveland on the East Coast. Quiet. Old buildings. No life after dark. Dingy. I think there must be parts of Baltimore that are like that. However, I came away thinking I'd like to visit the city when I don't have a work reason so to do. The area around the Inner Harbor was lively, and there seemed to be a good range of shops, restaurants, and attractions. Plus, the weather was entirely springlike and pleasant. What little I saw of the city left a good impression on me.

My hotel did not leave a great impression on me, but it wasn't horrid. The views weren't too bad.
I took a few other photos about the city when I remembered to as well.




The food was good. I spared Anne the ordeal of me photographing dinner when we ate at Pazo, but I'd recommend a return visit. I especially liked the albondigas - lamb meatballs in a sauce in which the saffron was sufficiently assertive. Good stuff. I'll also say that the waitress was friendly and helpful, and her wine recommendation was altogether decent.

Dinner the second night wasn't quite as good ,though it was nicely inexpensive, and the Malbec we ordered (two bottles) was a good match for the Cuban food. Babalu Grill was where I dined with CG, SC (great to see him!), and Heather.



The scallops looked a bit much in their coating and deep red sauce, but they were a highlight.

I do hope to get back to Baltimore one day and roam around a little more. It does seem to be a fine city in its own right, and I'm sorry I was limited to my pre-conference experience.