Archive for category Food
A Week Since My Last Update
Yeah.. busy week… to summarize….
I am back in California this week, same place as last week and it will be the same place next week.. I am coming home for the weekend though since I have a bunch of things to do and want to go get my newsed car registered on Monday.
Still trying to deal with VW on the situation with my car but I bought a Saab in the mean time to get me around when I am home. I figure once I get my car back I will either go enter a demolition derby with the Saab, or sell it. Depends on my mood at the time.
So CA is not all that interesting, I am working 11-17 hour days while I am here, and working is not really working since I sit here, and watch a computer screen and try to clear up any problems that happen.
Their system keeps locking up because of the way our programmers programmed the system, they fucked up so I need to sit and keep this thing on life support while they write new code to try to compensate for the problem.
Fuck, but on the upside, I am earning a ton of FF miles, Holiday Inn Priority points, I am not spending any of my own money on anything, and I am really cranking up the billable hours!!! I think I might almost be at my quarterly amount and I am only a couple weeks into the year!
What I am really waiting for is 11 days from now for my paycheck, that is gonna be the nice one, my 4th quarter bonus and then all the leftover from my 2nd and 3rd quarters that they held back from me last year.
I had tried to write a couple blogs earlier this week but the damn thing kept screwing up on me so I could not post em… oh well….
if you are ever in Watsonville, CA – then definitely check out Green Valley Grill and Cilantro’s Mexican restaurants. They are both really good. I had a very nice double breast of duck with a juniper, raspberry and red wine reduction with saphron rice and then at Cilantros I had some soft tacos ‘con carne asada’ and orange rice, and they were all really really good!
I am on the red eye home tonight, same as last week and same as planned for next week. That was the reason I did not make it to the show last week, I was totally drained and slept off and on Sat afternoon and was just too wiped to go out in public!
have a great weekend and hope all is well with all of you!
What The Flying F People?
Ok, can no one in New Jersey drive?
First off, you are worse at merging than any other place I have ever been, there is a lane for you to get up to speed with the rest of the road for a reason, USE IT! and drive more than 10MPH in it!
Second, What the hell is up with everyone stopping at the end of an on-ramp onto the highway? I can see once in awhile being stuck behind someone who does, but I have witnessed it at least 5 times and i have not even been in the state 24 hours yet!
Third, I just saw 4 accidents in less than 3 miles on Rt 17, and not just fender bender bumps either, 3 of the 4 were real accidents with 3 or more vehicles!
Fourth, Where the hell are the Chinese food restaurants?!?!?
Small Town Benefits
Food and Drink.
Small towns, although I think this technically qualifies as a city, they have a WalMart and a Target, and more than one Grocery Store.
but still, for example…
I went out to dinner tonight at a place called The Drake – Willie Maze Sports Bar, I had a small 8 oz fillet, Texas toast, and a Caesar salad for dinner. Then on top of that I had 2 tall Citron and Sprites with enough booze in each for 2.5 drinks and then finished it off with a piece of caramel apple pie with a scoop of ice cream(yes, I remember my blog, I have been good so I splurged a little) but the total for all that was only $16. $$16 that is practically unheard of to get all that for that money!!
And it was really really good too! I can do without the pie next time, but I think I will be back to The Drake again while I am here.
I talked to a nice old guy who was next to me at the bar, gave me a heads up on where to check out for lunch and breakfast while I am here….
and yeah… Prop planes suck….. way too much lateral movement on a take off and landing for my tastes….
So Very Nice Out Here
Very nice out here, but it isn’t Boston…
I think the drivers out here are actually worse than in Boston, I know people say Boston is the worst, but LA area has them beat as far as I am concerned, especially when dealing with 6 lanes of traffic!
Now what would a blog spot from me be without a reference to a meal I ate somewhere right?
Well I had dinner tonight in the Hotel Sushi Bar, and it was fabulous! SO much better than the sushi around the Boston Area.
I had….
California Roll(fitting don’t you think?) which was crabmeat and avocado with sticky rice in a seaweed wrap
Maguro which is raw tuna on sticky rice with a spot of wasabi
Hamachi which is raw yellowtail on sticky rice with a spot of wasabi
Sake which is raw salmon on sticky rice with a spot of wasabi
Ebi which is cooked shrimp on sticky rice with a spot of wasabi
Hotate which is scallops in a spicy sauce, baked briefly and then put on top of sticky rice with a seaweed wrap
Albacore Tataki which is albacore tuna, lightly pan seared but raw on the inside on top of cucumber strips, with a sesame dressing
All as very tasty and filling while not being too much food either. I really liked the albacore, it melted in your mouth and was practically falling apart when picking it up with the chop stix, the tuna and yellowtail were great as well, and salmon was so so, just confirmed that I am not a huge fan of Salmon in general.
I am gonna head back there tomorrow to try out some other things, Uni(sea urchin) and Tako(octopus) looked very tasty so they may be on the menu for tomorrow night.
Harey Carey in Chicago
No, I am not going to commit it, although I might have considered it if I lived or had to stay near the landfill we drove past earlier today! NEVER smelled anything that bad before coming from a landfill.
But anyway, been in Chicago since yesterday, well not really Chicago, right outside near O’hare. Not a terrible area, but very industrial, which makes sense since the software we sell is for manufacturing and that is usually in an industrial area.
I wish I had been closer to Chicago so I could go in and check it out, maybe next time I will be able to have a car and do my own traveling around here.
We hit up a place called Harey Carey for dinner, and it was totally not as good as the prices would indicate, $37 for a 16 oz Sirloin is just totally way too high, I cannot imagine any steak being THAT good, but whatever, I went with the penne with asparagus, sun dried tomatoes, and pesto sauce. The pesto sauce was really good though, very fresh basil and not too much olive oil, and no pine nuts – I like em, just sick of places putting them in the pesto as a filler.
Well, I fly back to Logan tomorrow, I picked the 9:30 flight instead of the 6:30 flight, no need to wake up at like 4:30 to go home.
I also get to go to court tomorrow to try and get the money back from Rob. Such an annoying ordeal, and I hope that it can get the judgment go my way, and then deal with trying to collect it. it really is a shame he didn’t just deal with me and forced my hand to this extreme, since it would be a lot less money that he would end up having to pay me, plus no lawyer costs, and he never would have had to move out! People really confuse me sometimes.
Also, on another positive note, I have a guy coming to fix the hot tub tomorrow!! WOOHOOO!
Who is up for naked hot tubbing after it is fixed, filled, and heated?!?!?
DONE!
Posted by nedster in Food, Home Improvement on 2006/02/04
ALL DONE!
Stove is installed and all done!, It works and looks fabulous!
Dinner is cooking, I just need to figure out what to do with some of the empty space between the stove and one cabinet, but whatever, that can come later! I just am glad to have an oven again!!!
I have a pork tenderloin and some potatos roasting in the oven right now…….
YUMMMMMMMMMMMM
and no, I cannot explain my mood right now, not even sure why I am!
Hagan’s Grille – Hampton, NH
Went to dinner here on Friday night, spur of the moment kind of thing since I was up there anyway, needed dinner, did not want to get Domino’s like the group of people at the house were planning on and it was just mentioned to my friend Jenn by the hairdresser she had been at just a short time earlier.
So Jenn went on her date, so me and her roomate Kelly went to check it out, it was either that or go to the same restaurant as Jenn and her date and harass them, we decided to save that for another time when we can go as a group of 5 or 6 to harass her and her date.
The prices were a tad higher than expected for somewhere in Hampton, however the atmosphere, and food blew our minds! Very much worth the money!
They start you off with bread and butter like most places, except they definitely bake this bread themselves and the butter was no ordinary butter, it was whipped with red pepper and sage(I think). Very tasty.
Appetizers looked good, but we passed on them, maybe another time.
I had a cup of the mussel and roasted corn chowder – excellent!!
Then for my main course I had the spinach and garlic raviolis in a lobster citron sauce which was absolutely awesome as well.
Kelly had the haddock wrapped in parchment, which was a nice slice of haddock wrapped in parchment paper along with julienne vegetables and steamed. It was very good as well, very tender and sort of unique to eat with the way it was prepared. It came with grilled zucchini and garlic mashed potatoes which were quite good as well.
Portions were good sized, enough to make you feel full without the feeling of busting a gut if you finished your entire plate.
There was a live band playing while we were there, 2 guitarists and a stand up bass, it gave it some nice atmosphere and was much better than any canned music from a speaker system.
Long wine list and a full bar, but we only had water and sodas.
$40 for 2 people, probably $60 if you each have a real drink and an appetizer, but well worth it in the end.
Also, not a place to take children to.