Bottomless Bloody Marys, a Rock Star, and a Band Geek...

Sunday turned out to be a pretty darn good day. We started out over at Madison's for some football-watching. We each ordered a Bloody Mary, only to find out that for a mere $2 more we could make them "bottomless." It's sort of brilliant, in that the more you drink the better the deal becomes... This deal is not recommended, however, if you want to do anything remotely productive with the rest of your morning...

To accompany our beverages we ordered up some brekky. I got a seriously good Chorizo Burrito, (left) while Steph went with an egg and sausage sandwich with a pepper jack sauce (right)... That was one damn fine breakfast burrito...
After the Bucs finished making my day a happier place, we did a bit of sitting around (as bottomless Bloody Marys tend to make a person want to do) before hopping in the car to head to LA to see the totally awesome Ranchero Brothers in concert. We used to go to Largo pretty frequently when I lived in Santa Barbara, but they have since moved to a new location so this was a new experience for us. The plan was to get to LA a bit early, hit a Cuban restaurant for dinner, then hit the show. We were making good time, when it was pointed out to us by a neighboring motorist that we had a flat tire... Sure enough, we had managed to drive over a nail at some point in the last... week? I have no idea... Anyway, we called AAA and they came to put the donut on the car and we were on our way again, but now with only enough time to grab take-out from the restaurant. Behold the ambiance as we ate our Cuban sandwiches:
After dinner we made it to the new Largo, and the show was fantastic. (Stools where Rhett and Murry would sit shown below, since there was no photography allowed during the show.) When you see the Old 97s, it's easy to be distracted by Rhett (given that he is a freaking rock star) and forget about how totally and completely awesome Murry (the band geek) is. Rhett was having some throat issues during the show, making him a bit raspier than usual, but he still rocked it. Murry told some of the most hilarious stories I've ever heard and did some seriously impressive yodeling to boot. I was hoping to hear Up the Devil's Pay, but at least I got my yodeling fix in a different song and once they played Valentine I was content with whatever. They played a lot of the super-old material and some newer stuff, including the hilarious and awesome Jack the Necrophiliac as their finale, which brought the house down. Jon Brion came out to tear things up on the piano during the encore, which is always amazing to see. In summary: totally awesome show. So glad the New Kids concert got canceled so I could come see this...

Food, Wine, and the Joys of Spontaneity

On Saturday Steph and I decided to drive up to Santa Ynez to do a bit of wine tasting in my old stomping grounds. Unlike our usual method, in which we pack a picnic and plan out where exactly we want to go over the course of the day, this time we decided to go with a more spontaneous approach. I've been trying to embrace this "spontaneity" thing lately (which seems to have become much easier for me after my time in Malaysia and Thailand), and on Saturday it worked out quite nicely indeed. We didn't even know what we would be making for dinner when we set out in the morning (this would normally stress me out), but even that portion of the day ended up being awesome.

We started out at Curtis, where I worked in the tasting room for a few years when I lived in Santa Barbara. (The corner of the counter that I still think of as "mine" is shown below.) Most of the people I worked with there over the years have moved on, but there was a familiar face in the tasting room on Saturday and he poured us some really nice wines. From there we headed (far) up the road to Foxen for still more fantastic wine. Foxen is one of my favorite wineries in the area and I can't recall ever being disappointed with the quality of their wines. We drove over to Los Alamos next to stop at Bedford Thompson, where the fun is as much about great conversation with the winemaker as it is about the wine.
Our original vague plan (conceived on the drive up) was to head in to Los Olivos for lunch, but a winery in the opposite direction had just been recommended to us, so we instead went two doors down from Bedford Thompson to eat at the Quackenbush Cafe. With a menu of mostly sandwiches and salads (pretty much all of which look delicious) it was a great stop for lunch. I went with Dungeness Crab Cakes (plated atop on crispy wontons with a really nice coleslaw and served with a salad dressed in a nice balsamic vinaigrette), which were made pretty much entirely out of crab (minimal filler) and were seriously delicious. Steph ordered a smoked pork tenderloin sandwich with roasted yellow peppers and feta, which got good reviews as well.
After lunch we headed east on a dirt road. In theory, this road would eventually take us past Dierberg-Star Lane winery before intersecting with the 246 freeway. On the way we were treated to some breathtaking views of the mountains and valleys in the area (pictures below taken while our 90's station on XM radio was hilariously blasting "High Enough" by Damn Yankees), and eventually we arrived at the winery as promised. The wines here (particularly the Merlot and the Pinot) were pretty darn nice, though I found it funny that they gave separate glasses for Bordeaux and Burgandy varietals (which is good) but that neither glass had been properly cleaned (which is bad, particularly if you're implying that glassware is so important).
We intended to hit a couple wineries along the 246, but we didn't have a map (because we're too cool for such things) and ended up turning west (towards home) rather than east (towards those wineries), meaning we needed a new plan. We headed into Solvang at this point to check out Stolpman, where we hadn't tasted in a few years. After trying their wines again, I can't imagine why we stopped going for so long. I love everything they pour at Stolpman (their L'Avion Roussanne in particular kills me) and the staff are always extremely friendly and helpful.

We decided this was enough wine tasting for the day and headed back down the mountain to grab some groceries and cook up some yummy food. (Attempt at capturing the sunset behind us in the rear view mirror below...)
We knew we needed to make something to pair with a Syrah, since I had shipped almost a case of Syrah from my cellar in Portland to enjoy with friends here. In the end we pulled together ingredients for Grilled Tri-Tip with Roasted Onion and Blue Cheese Cream Sauce. We've made this a few times before, but we had to change things up a bit this time since our memory of the necessary ingredients was a bit inaccurate while we were grocery shopping... and it was te best the sauce has ever tasted. We are brilliant.
This was a really nice day with a mix of old and new. Today we're off to watch the Bucs game, then driving to LA for what promises to be an amazing concert. More on that later...

Totally Awesome Awesomeness

I don't plan to start reviewing movies here, but I feel compelled to post about the movie we watched last night (which also gives me an excuse to post a picture of our awesome dinner)...

For those of you who don't know, Center Stage is one of the greatest movies ever made. For a couple years when we were housemates, Steph and I had each seen bits and pieces of this movie on TV and thought it seemed cheesy and fun, but it wasn't until we rented the DVD (including extended dance sequences!) that we realized how totally and completely awesome it really is. I would guess we've each seen this movie over 50 times, and I'm still not even close to being tired of it. Needless to say, we were both pretty psyched to hear that a sequel (Center Stage: Turn It Up) was being released. We won't be able to get the DVD until late January, but Oxygen aired a slightly edited version last week which Steph was wise enough to record on her DVR, so last night we got a sneak preview.
If I were to say that this movie was totally amazing I would probably be accused of stretching the truth, but I will say it was much better than I'd dared to hope. The acting is fairly sketchy since the cast members (other than Peter Gallagher) were chosen for their ability to dance, but I found the plot to be refreshingly unpredictable at several points. Sure, the movie was totally cheesy and clichéd, but it was totally cheesy and clichéd in a really fabulous way... Plus, we got to see Cooper and Jonathan again! I can't wait for the DVD release so I can get me some extended dance sequences...

Speaking of dancing, the movie finished up just in time for Dancing with the Stars, a show that I'd never seen before but had been curious about ever since I heard that my beloved Warren Sapp had joined the cast. I've gotta say, it warmed the cockles of my cold, cold heart to see Sapp out there dancing his ass off and charming the heck out of the crowd. I suspect he's over-matched by Lance Bass, but I'm holding out hope that he can win...
In culinary news, we had some fantastic ahi sashimi for dinner, thanks to the big hunk of super-fresh fish we bought off of the dude on the pier at Avila Beach. Served up on sushi rice with a sprinkling of scallions and toasted sesame seeds, then seasoned some spicy mayo* (bottom picture) and a drizzle of soy sauce to taste, this was some seriously good dinner (and it actually paired perfectly with the $5 Trader Joe's Viognier we drank with it, not wanting to open a fancy wine when there was so much spiciness involved). Good stuff...
*To make your own spicy mayo, combine mayonnaise with a hearty squeeze of Sriracha and a few drops of sesame oil to taste.

Emily's Totally Awesome 3-Day Weekend...

One great thing about being a woman of leisure is that you don't need to wait for a holiday to go on an exciting 3-day weekend, although it does help to have friends who are willing to take a day off of work and come with you on your adventure. When I lived in Santa Barbara, Steph and I (and assorted friends, varying from year to year) would go on annual 3-day weekend wine-tasting trips to Paso Robles. Since I'm not sure when I'll make it back to Santa Barbara, this visit seemed like a good time to go on one more Paso trip. Apologies in advance for the length of this post, which I anticipate will be somewhat excessive...

Friday: Remembering How Much I Love Syrah
On Friday morning we packed up the rental car and left the smoke-filled air of Santa Barbara to head 2 hours north to Paso Robles. Our traditional first stop (Mastantuono) no longer exists, so we went up to another that we usually enjoy to get things started. I'm won't mention the name here because the wine was pretty underwhelming on this trip. I was actually a little worried that 2 months traveling and not having any great wine had messed up my palate, but our second stop of the day, Booker Vineyards, proved me wrong. This is a small-production (1200-case) winery with absolutely spectacular Rhones. I met a Syrah there (which now resides in my cellar) that reminded me why I love Syrah so much.
After two more stops (at wineries that were good, but not mind-blowingly so) we stopped for a picnic at Castoro. After years of wine-tasting experience, Steph and I pack a mean picnic. The selection this trip included pate, Smoked Salmon Spread, a stinky delicious cheese, Port Salut, apples, rotisserie chicken, and pita chips. After lunch, we tasted at Castoro before heading on to 4 more wineries. Denner was another winery that made me very very happy, again with Rhone varietals. We also had fun wine-and-cheese pairings at both Jada and Sylvester, and caught a gorgeous sunset coming over the mountains as we drove home.
When we got back to the always-classy Motel 6, we prepared our traditional wine-tasting-trip aperitif (equal parts muscat and sparkling wine) to sip as we and got things ready for dinner. Our assignment for the wine-tasting day is usually to track down a wine to pair with diner, and for our rib-eye steak dinner on Friday (note the lovely Motel 6 bedspread backdrop...) we found a nice Petit Verdot at Midnight Cellars. We used to get strange looks and comments from people when we grilled at the Motel 6, but things went off without incident this time.

Saturday: A Reunion and the Quest for Something Good
On Saturday morning Mel came down from the Bay area to join us for our second day of tasting. I hadn't seen her in 2 years, so it was a lot of fun to hang out again, and by the end of the day it was feeling just the good old days when the three of us lived in the same city...
We started out at Adelaida (view from the tasting room pictured above), which is one of my all-time favorite Paso wineries. (It was an Adelaida Pinot Noir 4 years ago that was the first wine to ever really blow my mind, so they have a special place in my heart...) Their wines were totally awesome (as usual) and it was a great start to the day. After two average wineries, we found our way to a fairly new winery called Dubost and were quite pleasantly surprised. Everything they poured for us was fantastic, and the owner was totally awesome. From Dubost we headed over to Tablas Creek, a winery specializing in Rhone varietals. Steph and I had tasted there a few years ago and had been rather underwhelmed at that time, but on this trip we found it difficult to refrain from bringing home one of every wine they poured. I'm so glad we decided to give them another try. At this point the day was going fairly well, with 3 fantastic wineries and 2 average ones. After this point, however, things started going downhill.
We arrived at our next stop and opened the trunk to get the cooler containing our picnic lunch... only to discover that we'd left it at the hotel. This made us feel like freaking geniuses, especially since we'd opened the trunk several times already that day to put our wine purchases back there... We got back in the car and drove to the hotel, noting several times during the trip how absolutely brilliant we all are. We deposited our wine in the room (better not to have it in the trunk anyway) and retrieved our picnic, then headed back out to the winery where we'd planned to picnic originally. After our delicious picnic we did some tasting at the winery, only to find that everything was extremely mediocre. We went on to a winery that we'd enjoyed a few years ago and found that... everything was extremely mediocre (despite the presence of an adorable winery dog, pictured below). We then went to another winery that came highly recommended and that we vaguely remembered enjoying a couple years ago, where we found that... everything was extremely mediocre.
At this point Mel and I were getting a bit tired and cranky. I had no energy for more mediocre wine, but I didn't want our last day of tasting to end on such a lame note... Before our last mediocre stop I proposed the idea that, if this winery wasn't good (really good), then we needed to just get off the beaten path and drive out to Cass. So, after 3 straight mediocre stops and fears from Mel that lunch had somehow ruined our palates, we made it over to Cass and discovered that, in fact, our palates were just fine. We don't always make it to Cass when we come to Paso since it's not really on the way to anywhere else, but it's definitely one of my favorites. After our first sip of Grenache our spirits were lifted and we knew that everything would be OK after all...
Back at the hotel we again made a batch of champagne-and-muscat tasty beverages to imbibe while we did the prep work for our dinner of Indian-Spiced Chicken Salad. I love this dish, and it pairs beautifully with Viognier (in this case an amazing Viognier we found at Adelaida that morning). It may seem like a lot of work to prep nice, somewhat involved dinners in a Motel 6 room, but that's just how we roll.

Sunday: Pub Food and Football...
My original plan on this trip was to wake up crazy-early on Sunday and make it back to Santa Barbara in time for the Bucs-Vikings game. As we lounged around enjoying great food and wine Saturday night, however, this plan began to seem deeply stupid. We made some calls and found that Downtown Brewing Company would be showing my game on a big ol' HD TV and decided that a liesurely morning featuring brekky with Mel before she headed back up north made much more sense.

I won't get into the details of the game again, but the pub breakfast was pretty decent and it ended up being a fun morning. The pub is only open for breakfast on weekends, so the only two menu options were an egg sandwich:
or a breakfast burrito:
The beers ranged from delicious (Porter and Wheat) to pretty good (Red) to sort of gross (IPA and (Steph tells me from a previous experiment) Blueberry). We ordered some nachos and jalepeno poppers (below) around halftime of the game, and were reminded of why these foods are always a much better idea in theory than in practice...
Ah, well. The important thing was that the Bucs won and that I got to watch it in vivid crisp detail at a reasonable time of day rather than streaming a slightly-pixelated version at some ungodly hour... As much as I loved traveling, I'm so glad to be back in a country where such things are possible. (This is quite possibly my favorite thing about America, in fact...)

Steph and I stopped at Avila Beach (pictured below) near Pismo on the way home and picked up a gorgeous hunk of Ahi from a fisherman at the pier there, which will be our dinner tonight...
In summary, it was a totally awesome weekend and I'm loving being back in California... I'm trying not to think about the stupid laws in Massachusetts preventing these fantastic wineries from shipping me their wines after I've moved to Boston...

A Bit of Excitement and Some Kick-Ass Food...

I came down to Santa Barbara yesterday, and things ended up being a bit more exciting than I had anticipated.... The afternoon started tamely enough, as we picked up the rental car and went to get some good picnicking groceries for our trip to Paso Robles today. We were driving our separate cars downtown to Steph's apartment, and I noticed as soon as I turned onto Carillo that there was a pretty big fire on the side of the mountain in front of us. (Somehow Steph failed to notice this, even as she listened to the radio in her car reporting on said fire.)

It's extremely dry and windy here, and within 2 hours (my first sighting of the fire was apparently within 15 minutes of when it started) the fire had grown seriously bigger. It's hard to photograph, but there were some ridiculously high flames on that mountain. If it wasn't for the fact that it was destroying hundreds of acres and over 80 homes, I would say it's absolutely beautiful. The night took on a bit of the feeling of being in a town in a state of emergency. The power was going out all over town... The streets were filled with people standing around watching the fire burn (pictures above were taken outside of Steph's apartment as we did the same)... Ash fluttered through the air and landed in eyes... The entire city reeked of smoke (and still does)... We could hear helicopters flying over fairly regularly (and still can, actually)... The fire has moved across the mountain and out of sight towards Montecito now, but apparently it's still burning strong...

Our immediate concern when we saw the power going out all around us as we drove to get dinner was that Super Cuca's might lose power and thus not be able to provide us with delicious trashy Mexican food, which would have been tragic (though not on the scale of a massive wildfire). Luckily, the power outages didn't reach that neighborhood and we were able to order our traditional Emily's-first-night-in-Santa-Barbara dinner...
Super Cuca's seems to be a bit of a controversial choice for the title of Favorite Trashy Mexican Food in Santa Barbara (with many supporters of La Superica Taqueria out there), but I maintain that there's none better. Tradition dictates that Steph and I each order a Super Plate (she the carne asada, me the carnitas) and a Shrimp Quesadilla to split (which ensures ample leftovers for lunch the next day). The Super Plate is your basic pile of goodness featuring rice, beans, meat, pico de galla, and a little bit of cheese, and served with freshly made corn and/or flour tortillas (carnitas version pictured below).
The Shrimp Quesadilla is sort of genius (although it got a bit mangled on it's trip to the cutting board when we got home, it's usually beautiful as well as delicious...). When we first ordered this a couple years ago, we thought it would be one of those lame ones with a few bay shrimp and a handful of orange cheese melted between tortillas. We were very very wrong. One of the restaurant's giant homemade flour tortillas is filled with large grilled shrimp, cheese, lightly caramelized sliced onion and zucchini, green bell pepper, mushroom, and tomato. The onions and zucchini are absolutely brilliant and match perfectly with the shrimp. So very yummy...
As we listened to the sounds of the state of emergency outside, we sat at a table featuring this lovely spread of tasty, tasty food and waited to see if the power would stay on long enough to provide entertainment for us until the jet-lagged among us had to go to bed... (It did.) All in all, an interesting welcome back to the US city that feels most like "home" to me... In a few hours we're heading up to Paso Robles for a bit of wine-tasting and a reunion with an old friend...
Update: Steph just received a 5am reverse-911 call warning that people in this neighborhood may need to evacuate (although that seems unlikely given that the fire looks like it's moved over the ridge of the mountains and away from us). They said "on the north side of [Steph's Street]," but Steph lives on the south side of tha street, so it should be fine either way... Fires can't cross streets, right?

Sweet, Sweet Kennedy School...

This can by no means be considered an "adventure," given that on each trip to Portland it's never more than a few days before I head over there, but I had lunch yesterday at the Kennedy School McMenamins and figured I'd go ahead and post about it. The service was some of the worst I've ever had there and they changed the recipe on my favorite menu item to make it not as good as it once was, but the beer is still fantastic and I can't help but love this place.

For those of you not from the Portland area, Kennedy School is my favorite McMenamins restaurant/pub, located in an elementary school building that had sat empty for over 20 years after closing in 1975. McMenamins moved in 11 years ago and converted the building into a bed & breakfast, movie theater, restuarant, several unique small bars in various old classrooms, and a brewery. The combination of ambiance with delicious beer makes it definitely worth a visit.
I am always torn between the Terminator Stout (pictured at left below), which is probably my favorite stout that I've ever tried, and the Hammerhead Pale Ale (second from the left), which is a highly drinkable yet complex beer and was my order on this visit. My mom traditionally goes with the Ruby (the other beer in the picture, next to the water), which is made with raspberries and is fresh and tasty but a bit too fruity for a kid like me on a winter day (though I could see it being nice in the summer).
The fries at Kennedy School tend to be a safe bet. I'm not a big french fry person, but I am a fan of the ones at Kennedy School.
In tragic news, they've gone and changed the recipe on my favorite burger while I was away. The Captain Neon, which features bacon and blue cheese (along with lettuce, tomato, red onion, and pickles) used to be made with creamy blue cheese dressing and is now just made with blue cheese crumbles. The new version is much less messy to consume, but at what cost to flavor? This made me sad. I guess I'll stick to making Captian Neon burgers at home from now on (Emily-style Neons often feature avocado, too, which adds to their awesomeness...), but I'm sure I'll keep coming back to Kennedy School whenever I come back to Portland...

Back in the States...

After a very long day of travel, I made it back to the US yesterday. Portland is beautiful and cold and rainy, just like I always remember it. (For this reason I prefer to visit Portland in autumn or winter... Summer visits don't ever provide enough cold rainy days for a kid like me...)

I have about two and a half days in Portland before I head down to Santa Barbara, so I think this time will primarily be used to recover from jet-lag, leaving Portland culinary adventures to wait until I'm back in town in two weeks...

Last Day in Dubai...

So... Here I am, already on my last day in Dubai... It's so clichéd to talk about how time flies when you're having fun, but it really really does. Although, as much as it feels like I just got here, it also feels like my time Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand was months ago...

We spent my last weekend day here in relatively laid-back fashion, cooking up brunch (including Smoked Salmon Pizzas), watching a few classic episodes of The Simpsons, then doing a bit of prep for an awesome dinner. Our Seafood Extravaganza dinner feast was quite a success, I would say, and a nice way to celebrate my last night in Dubai. Alicia and Stanley are back at work today, and I'm packing up for my trip to Portland.

It's been such a great experience seeing Dubai and getting an idea of what life here is like for my big brother and his special lady friend. I still selfishly hope they'll wake up one day and say "Hey! We should totally move to Boston!" but I'm glad to have had the chance see how nice their life is over here and to get a better sense of why we may not be seeing them living back stateside any time too soon...

Good Times in the Desert...

Last night was our Desert Safari, and we were all quite pleasantly surprised by how awesome it was. Often these things can be a bit lame, so we came in with relatively low expectations and proceeded to be quite impressed by how well-run this tour is (arranged by FunTours Dubai: "We put the Fun in Tours"...). Our driver picked us up at the apartment and drove us about an hour outside of town where we met up with the rest of the safari-goers. When we piled back into the 4x4s to get things started, a super-cool chick (originally from Serbia but living in the US for 7 years now) joined us and definitely added to our enjoyment of the evening as we all hung out together for the rest of the safari. I'm feeling uncharacteristically short on words this fine morning, so hopefully Stanley and Alicia can help me out with their own account of what went down over at salazmeyer.

First up was the dune bashing portion of the safari, which is sort of like a roller coaster only with less idea of what's going to happen next. Totally awesome. I've posted a video below in an attempt to give a sense of it, but it's difficult to really convey the awesomeness. Stanley and Alicia are now more convinced than ever that they would like to get themselves a 4x4 for some desert exploration.

After the dune bashing came the camel rides (in which you sit on a camel's back while he is led in a small circle) as the sun began to set. When you'd had enough of looking at the camels, you could head down to the camp area where you had access to free shisha (aka Hubbllee Bubblee, apparently...), henna painting, sand skiing (seriously anti-climactic), arabic coffee, and soft drinks, along with a reasonably priced cash bar. I enjoyed my shisha-smoking much more this time (I think being surrounded by fresh air rather than in a closed room sitting 2 feet from a man chain-smoking cigarettes helped with that), and can now see why my brother is such a fan.

The buffet dinner was actually quite good as far as such things go, and was followed by a belly dancing performance. This was fairly entertaining, particularly at the end when a large portion of the audience joined the belly dancer on stage for a dancing free-for-all, including a few guys trying to break-dance on the carpeted stage. There is now a video of that, including Stanley shaking his groove thing with the always-lovely Alicia, over at salazmeyer.

We only signed on for the evening safari (as opposed to the overnight) in part because we lacked the minimum number of people for the overnight, but mostly because it sounded good to experience the desert for a while but then head home to sleep in our soft comfy beds... In summary: This was a really fun night and something I know I'll remember for a long time. I'm heading to the US tomorrow night, and this was a great way to celebrate my last weekend here... Today we'll be mostly staying close to home, cooking up some yummy brunch and then a bit of a Seafood Extravaganza for dinner... Hard to believe how fast my time here has gone. It still sort of feels like I just got here...

Seriously, California? Seriously?!?!

So, like many of my chardonnay-swilling arugula-eating comrades in the liberal elite, I've been experiencing an unfamiliar feeling for the last 24 hours... I think I've moved beyond "cautiously optimistic" about the direction things in America are headed and gone straight to "hopeful." I can't remember the last time I had any positive feelings about our government, much less any sense of hope for the future. It's quite refreshing, actually... Nicely done, America.

Then, just as I'm feeling so very good about the fact that Americans seem capable of moving beyond irrational prejudice to make decisions that are best for the country, I find out that the voters in California are still holding tight to a different irrational prejudice. I guess I'm pretty closed-minded, because I cannot even begin fathom how anybody could believe that the marriage of two people unrelated to you in any way can have any impact on your own life/marriage to the extent that you feel you must ban unions you don't approve of. I thought California was better than this, but I guess I was wrong... I'm honestly feeling pretty angry about this right now, but mostly I guess I'm just feeling extremely disappointed in people...

Anyway, the just-barely-a-majority group of prejudiced hateful voters in California aside, the election did restore a bit of my faith in the this whole "democracy" thing we've got working in America. It was nice sipping champagne with Stanley and Alicia to celebrate in the early morning hours here in Dubai. We all agree that it was quite a bit more fun than our experiences four years ago when we watched those (horribly depressing) election results roll in...