August happy hour

Last night was our monthly online happy hour, and we left it up to the soon-to-be groom to pick a theme.  So he went with "extra, not basic", and we did our best.

I made two cocktails for me and Van to sample and gave him the one he preferred.  The light, greenish-yellow one in the photos is The Aphrodisiac.  I took extra down a joking road there, what with Chris' wedding coming up.  Van chose that one.  It was tasty enough, I agree, but unremarkable.  The reddish one took extra in a different sense:  starting from the basic negroni recipe, I revised it and added to it, resulting in a GInger Negroni Spritz.  I liked it fine enough, but I think the ginger could pop out a little more.

For round two, I didn't worry about being too extra.  I actually made a couple of other drinks first, neither of which I liked and poured out after a few sips.  I didn't want to go too boozy because of the Champagne dinner ahead, so that factored in.  I dug up one I hadn't made in a while, the Fino Collins.  Presumably a variation on a Tom Collins, but using fino sherry.  A light drink, which was welcome.

Next month, in honour of Allison, it's Britpop! 

fried chicken and Champagne

It's funny how it can sometimes take a long time to try something out.  No, not fried chicken, or Champagne.  Please!  I've had them each plenty of times.  I don't think I've had them together, but the combination absolutely makes sense to me.

No, I mean, it's funny that a restaurant can open in your neighbourhood, and you can walk by it dozens of times, and yet, it takes a couple of years to go in.  So, my apologies to Holy Saints! for taking so long.

In fact, Conrad and Van had dined there once when I was out of town, and they did enjoy it.  And I have tried twice to go but found myself stymied by something or another.  So it took me a while.  We have our favourites, as you should know from this blog, and we try to keep up with them instead.  Just the same, it is nice to try some place new.  Van was on their mailing list and learned about them doing a special dinner tonight, so we went.

The good:  the fried chicken was excellent.  A half chicken between the two of us, and with the hot sauce on the side. 

Can I confess?  I don't get having something crispy fried and then dousing it or drizzling it with something wet.  Makes no sense to me.  The cacio e pepe mac and cheese was tasty, too. 

I liked the radicchio and fennel slaw as well - a nice little bite of mustard in the vinaigrette. 

And the biscuits

were nicely baked but perhaps not as fresh out of the oven as I would have wanted so as to make the barbecue butter melt into them.  Oh, and the Champagne was fine.

The bad:  nothing.  Nope.  Great service, no protracted wait for food, all of it was good.  OK, one small thing - we needed a bigger table!

Van and I had a lovely evening, and I will want to go back there to try their regular fare.  My summer of eating well continues! 

Sharona

A quick entry to hold us all until I do some real blogging.  Tonight’s cocktail:  the Sharona.  Tasty!

coyote

A short post on my lunch break.  A morning walk as usual today, and when I set out and crossed the street to the park, I realized that what I thought was a large dog being walked was in fact not tethered to anyone by a leash and was a coyote.

I've seen lots of coyotes in Pasadena over the years, but they tend not to be this close to the busier commercial area of the city.  Mind you, at that time of morning, things are quiet enough all around.

The coyote loped along across the park lawn, stopping over at the base of a palm tree where it began pawing at the ground.  I headed the other way, giving it a wide berth.

But with that sighting and all the parrots having roosted in the trees on the south end of the park and nearby, kicking up a cacophonous chorus, it was quite the morning for Pasadena wildlife! 

a weekend done

And... I am home.

I'll post more on the weekend tomorrow or after.  But it was a lovely weekend.  Truly.  It's also nice to get away with Van, and L'Horizon is a lovely hotel.  I am happy to say I splashed/soaked in the pool every day that I was there.

I miss the desert.  Perhaps more than I admit to Conrad and Van.  I honestly could see living down there even with the weather that I claim to loathe.  Yes yes yes, give me autumn and winter, give me frost and snow.  But wow, do I like it there.  Cool architecture and a lot of amenities.  Wonderful to visit, but maybe not wonderful to live in?  I may never know.

Just the same, I had a great weekend there, and I look forward to the next one whenever that will be! 

coming home from vacation

I could have rolled this entry in with the Tuesday of vacation entry, I concede.  But I think it's worth a separate reflection.

On the Wednesday, we flew home.  And it's that last word that's the interesting one here.  Home is where I live and where Conrad and Van and Olive are.  That makes home Pasadena.  But boy oh boy, do I have conflicted feelings about home and what it really means.  This bubbles up any time I come back from a trip to Canada, especially to BC.  Because that is what feels like home to me.

Because look, here was my morning walk.

And here's what I flew home to.

And while I have been at home in both, one of these speaks more to me than the other 

This is not a dump-on-the-US or on LA kind of post, no.  Just the admission that every trip to Canada takes an emotional toll that I often need at least a few days to recover from.  I posted earlier this week that it's been 25 years down here.  If I am still here in five years (very likely), then I will have lived half my life in the US.  I have already lived in California longer than I did in Chicago, and Pasadena is now the place I have lived second-longest in my life (and I haven't done the math, but I think that come September or some time then, it will be the place I will have lived the longest uninterrupted).  I have a great life here.

But I miss my country.  Simple as that. 

back in PS

It’s Saturday morning at 7:07 as I start to write this, and it is a little sweaty outside.  

Ah, the desert in summer.  I haven’t been down here in over two years, not since Van sold his house.  Still, heat and all, it’s good to be back.

It will be a day of relaxing with perhaps some poking in shops.  I’ll do a longer blog entry about the weekend after I get home.  For now, let me shut off a bit and melt into the day ahead.  Goodness knows I have the setting for it here!

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. 

brown-spirited

Last night Van and I decided we wanted a cocktail before dinner, and that we didn't want anything citrusy.  We so often make our usual:  The Last Word.  And our usual is delicious.  But it wasn't what we wanted.  No, inspired by his cocktail at Saltie Girl two nights ago, we went for brown spirits and began digging into various recipe books to find some new things. 

The results:  the Duboudreau (on the left) and the Divine Lorraine (on the right).  His was sweeter, mine had an edge to it thanks to some Fernet Branca.  His was bourbon and lower proof than mine, which used rye.  Curiously, both of them included elderflower liqueur.

We sat outside and toasted a day done and an evening ahead.  I think the Divine Lorraine will become a semi-regular in the repertoire. 

Monday in Vancouver

We had one full day in Vancouver to enjoy with Courtney and Robert.  Both of them had been to the city before, but Robert had never really seen it outside of the confines of a conference center or perhaps, IIRC, UBC.  We didn't have a car, but the weather was fine for being on foot, and we each had a transit card to use.  That made things easy.  A day lay ahead with moderate adventure to enjoy.

But I did get time alone as usual in the morning, arising before everyone else and heading out for a walk.  Passing through the northern edge of downtown to Coal Harbour where I watched the last moments of a Disney cruise ship coming in to dock, then headed past various art pieces and seaplanes, getting my steps in.  Nice, quiet time to myself, and I appreciated such a glorious morning for it.  Vancouver in the summer sunshine is exquisite.  So, a photodump of scenes from that walk, and then on with the rest of the day....

Our first plan for the day:  walk a nice mile to False Creek and hop a ferry

(well, an Aquabus)

and cross over to Granville Island.  Lunch (with margarita) at Alimentaria Mexicana,

and a mission to find postcards for Courtney and Nanaimo bars and butter tarts for Robert.  We successfully did all of those and more, poking around in a few stores and galleries on the Island, including stopping in to shop from and say hello to Hilary Morris, and then partaking of a spirits tasting at Liberty Distillery. 

I liked a couple of the gins enough that I bought a small bottle of one to bring home.  Robert was less enthused about the brown spirits, but he enjoyed doing a tasting.

Eventually we wandered past the marina

and under the bridge

and off-island so that Conrad could show them the Waterfall Building.  We poked in a gallery nearby, then caught a bus back to the hotel so that we could all get a naptime in before our evening plans began.

I should add that all of us, save Van, popped over to the Club for a drink late afternoon.  It was a boozy Monday, as you'll see!  But neither Courtney nor Robert had been to the Club, and I thought it would be nice to take them there. 

That Monday night, friends, it was a long-awaited return to The Shameful Tiki Room. 

With my sister, Chris, and Allister in tow, we had every intention of getting the Volcano Bowl.  And friends, we did! 

And then we each got our own drinks.  The Rum Barrel

and then the Three Dots and a Dash for me. 

We grazed through the various shared plates on their menu and had a really terrific time together.  Sated, it was outside

to wait for the bus - all of us sharing the same route at least at first

- and back to the hotel.  Courtney and Robert were due to leave the next afternoon, but I think we managed to have some fun in Vancouver with them.