Holiday
It was back to the grindstone this week after taking Thanksgiving week off. Since it was a short week, the backload of email was merely unreasonable as opposed to insane. Next week we’re having an all hands meeting at my office. I’m looking forward to some brainstorming, team building and free meals. I managed to wangle Monday’s meal at Arcadia, Michael Mina’s entry in the San Jose dining scene. During dinner, I plan to socialize some ideas. However, I will keep the messaging neutral, in the spirit of transparency.
http://www.michaelmina.net/arcadia/
It was a great week off. Fun was had by all, especially those hanging with me. We had a wine tasting in downtown San Mateo, started off by sparkling Shiraz. I ended up buying a few bottles, for which I garnered 4M‘s opprobrium the next day. Apparently that’s a big no no in the confines of his high end wine world. In addition to the red bubbly, we had several reds from the automated wine dispenser, and then tried some others they were featuring. The Exec schmoozed one of the winery reps, so we got a taste of the top of the line stuff. They also served some tasty hors d'oeuvre. After that it was back to The Exec’s house for more vino and an excellent steak dinner, prepared by The Exec and his chums from Minneapolis. #2 provided some appetizers. TCG served as chauffeur to SM so he had done his part. I brought radicchio crostini and a boatload of charisma.
http://750ml-sanmateo.com/Home.htm
The next day it was off to Vegas. 4M, The Upgrade King and I flew out of SFO on Virgin America for a two day stint in Sin City. I may have to change UK to RG, Regular Guy. Sadly, he did not get the expected room upgrade at The Palms. I really shouldn’t toy with the elaborate and arcane naming convention I’ve established here. I’ve done it to protect the anonymity of my friends, since this blog’s readership is bound to take off any day. I did once threaten to drop #1 to #2.5 or some such thing but couldn’t bring myself to do it. So UK remains, even though he had to wallow in the same drab setting that 4M and I shared. By the way, 4M says I snore. What BS!
After we got settled in, they paid me the $5 they each owed me because I won the lack of upgrade bet. They whined about it all the way to that evening’s destination: Lotus of Siam. Known as one of the best Thai restaurants in the country, it features an extensive and very reasonably priced wine list. 4M and I shared a whole deep-fried catfish. We also had a couple orders of shrimp but it was too spicy for me. It was all washed down with two bottles of Riesling. 4M gave us a tutorial, discussing the differences between the Austrian and German products. Like a dog hears only, “blah, blah blah Rover”, I heard “blah, blah, blah Riesling”
http://www.saipinchutima.com/
As we stepped out of the restaurant, we realized we were not in the best neighborhood. It was a down at the heels strip mall. We got approached by an unsavory looking taxi driver, or at least that what he claimed to be. We spurned his offer and then met up with an aspiring artist. She was drawing a portrait for a couple drunk guys and then drew Marilyn Monroe for us in about 5 seconds. I was about to tell her to hit the road when my good bud 4M gave her two bucks for her work. His crusty exterior hides a soft side.
Back at the hotel, we had gotten free passes to The Ghost Bar, on the roof. I savored a $13 martini as we met a few of the other patrons. We then went to the world’s only remaining Playboy Club. They can get rid of that one too, as far as I’m concerned. We thought we had free passes there too but they were “line passes”, which meant we could go to the front of the line. Oddly, there was no line. We paid $20 each for the privilege of having overpriced drinks while being assaulted by a sound system blasting contemporary drek. I hit the sack pretty early that night, right after dropping a quick Franklin at the blackjack tables.
I got about 11 hours of sleep and then we were back on the scene. We started the day at the patio bar of The Daniel Boulud Brasserie at Wynn. I nursed a Bloody Mary and 4M picked up where he left off, with a glass of Riesling. The UK was the smart one among us, re-hydrating with an iced tea. He even went back to the hotel for a nap afterwards. 4M and I headed “downtown” to the old Vegas, where the glitz is left behind. I dropped another $100 there as my bud watched the Texas hold ‘em games.
We regrouped for dinner. We loosened up with a drink at the bar of Little Buddha then were off to Stripsteak at Mandalay Bay. This is another outpost of the Mina empire. I could have dropped $125 or so on some Kobe beef but decided to stick with a reasonably priced fillet at $52. Of course everything was a la carte. 4M had the truffled macaroni and cheese to accompany his steak. We enjoyed a bottle of champagne to start and then moved on to one of the lower priced – comparatively- reds.
http://www.mandalaybay.com/dining/StripSteak.aspx
Are you getting the sense I’m one of those foodies? I don’t think so, but I’ll have to get opinions from the Exec and #1 tonight when we go to Chapeau. Once the credit card maxes out, I’ll go back to mac and cheese, the untruffled variety.
http://bistrochapeau.ypguides.net/
We left Vegas Tuesday afternoon and headed back to reality. But we had Turkey Day to look forward to. We had 15 people at our house for the event. All were fellow villagers except for my brother. He was more voluble than usual, holding forth on Eastern European history, aided by dry vodka martinis I was mixing at a furious rate. My brother knows even more about the Tito regime than I do. I point you to my 4/2/07 post. Gosh, I've developed such an oeuvre that I’ve become self-referential.
We all had our fill. Our visitors brought some outstanding side dishes and we provided a 16 pound bird. There were a lot less leftovers than in past years. We were done with it all by the time the work week started.
So that’s about it. Hope you all had a great holiday as well. I’ll close by giving my sweet daughter a plug. She scored 17 points in her first varsity basketball game. To quote the Marin Independent Journal, she "had her way on the inside for most of the night". That’s my kid! The only downside is that I’m now expecting double digits every game.
http://www.michaelmina.net/arcadia/
It was a great week off. Fun was had by all, especially those hanging with me. We had a wine tasting in downtown San Mateo, started off by sparkling Shiraz. I ended up buying a few bottles, for which I garnered 4M‘s opprobrium the next day. Apparently that’s a big no no in the confines of his high end wine world. In addition to the red bubbly, we had several reds from the automated wine dispenser, and then tried some others they were featuring. The Exec schmoozed one of the winery reps, so we got a taste of the top of the line stuff. They also served some tasty hors d'oeuvre. After that it was back to The Exec’s house for more vino and an excellent steak dinner, prepared by The Exec and his chums from Minneapolis. #2 provided some appetizers. TCG served as chauffeur to SM so he had done his part. I brought radicchio crostini and a boatload of charisma.
http://750ml-sanmateo.com/Home.htm
The next day it was off to Vegas. 4M, The Upgrade King and I flew out of SFO on Virgin America for a two day stint in Sin City. I may have to change UK to RG, Regular Guy. Sadly, he did not get the expected room upgrade at The Palms. I really shouldn’t toy with the elaborate and arcane naming convention I’ve established here. I’ve done it to protect the anonymity of my friends, since this blog’s readership is bound to take off any day. I did once threaten to drop #1 to #2.5 or some such thing but couldn’t bring myself to do it. So UK remains, even though he had to wallow in the same drab setting that 4M and I shared. By the way, 4M says I snore. What BS!
After we got settled in, they paid me the $5 they each owed me because I won the lack of upgrade bet. They whined about it all the way to that evening’s destination: Lotus of Siam. Known as one of the best Thai restaurants in the country, it features an extensive and very reasonably priced wine list. 4M and I shared a whole deep-fried catfish. We also had a couple orders of shrimp but it was too spicy for me. It was all washed down with two bottles of Riesling. 4M gave us a tutorial, discussing the differences between the Austrian and German products. Like a dog hears only, “blah, blah blah Rover”, I heard “blah, blah, blah Riesling”
http://www.saipinchutima.com/
As we stepped out of the restaurant, we realized we were not in the best neighborhood. It was a down at the heels strip mall. We got approached by an unsavory looking taxi driver, or at least that what he claimed to be. We spurned his offer and then met up with an aspiring artist. She was drawing a portrait for a couple drunk guys and then drew Marilyn Monroe for us in about 5 seconds. I was about to tell her to hit the road when my good bud 4M gave her two bucks for her work. His crusty exterior hides a soft side.
Back at the hotel, we had gotten free passes to The Ghost Bar, on the roof. I savored a $13 martini as we met a few of the other patrons. We then went to the world’s only remaining Playboy Club. They can get rid of that one too, as far as I’m concerned. We thought we had free passes there too but they were “line passes”, which meant we could go to the front of the line. Oddly, there was no line. We paid $20 each for the privilege of having overpriced drinks while being assaulted by a sound system blasting contemporary drek. I hit the sack pretty early that night, right after dropping a quick Franklin at the blackjack tables.
I got about 11 hours of sleep and then we were back on the scene. We started the day at the patio bar of The Daniel Boulud Brasserie at Wynn. I nursed a Bloody Mary and 4M picked up where he left off, with a glass of Riesling. The UK was the smart one among us, re-hydrating with an iced tea. He even went back to the hotel for a nap afterwards. 4M and I headed “downtown” to the old Vegas, where the glitz is left behind. I dropped another $100 there as my bud watched the Texas hold ‘em games.
We regrouped for dinner. We loosened up with a drink at the bar of Little Buddha then were off to Stripsteak at Mandalay Bay. This is another outpost of the Mina empire. I could have dropped $125 or so on some Kobe beef but decided to stick with a reasonably priced fillet at $52. Of course everything was a la carte. 4M had the truffled macaroni and cheese to accompany his steak. We enjoyed a bottle of champagne to start and then moved on to one of the lower priced – comparatively- reds.
http://www.mandalaybay.com/dining/StripSteak.aspx
Are you getting the sense I’m one of those foodies? I don’t think so, but I’ll have to get opinions from the Exec and #1 tonight when we go to Chapeau. Once the credit card maxes out, I’ll go back to mac and cheese, the untruffled variety.
http://bistrochapeau.ypguides.net/
We left Vegas Tuesday afternoon and headed back to reality. But we had Turkey Day to look forward to. We had 15 people at our house for the event. All were fellow villagers except for my brother. He was more voluble than usual, holding forth on Eastern European history, aided by dry vodka martinis I was mixing at a furious rate. My brother knows even more about the Tito regime than I do. I point you to my 4/2/07 post. Gosh, I've developed such an oeuvre that I’ve become self-referential.
We all had our fill. Our visitors brought some outstanding side dishes and we provided a 16 pound bird. There were a lot less leftovers than in past years. We were done with it all by the time the work week started.
So that’s about it. Hope you all had a great holiday as well. I’ll close by giving my sweet daughter a plug. She scored 17 points in her first varsity basketball game. To quote the Marin Independent Journal, she "had her way on the inside for most of the night". That’s my kid! The only downside is that I’m now expecting double digits every game.
posted by DJ @ 2:04 PM
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