Found my way to Sao Paolo yesterday. Three flights, many Miller Lites and a decent car ride in, I found myself in Faria Lima meeting up with Martin. The rest of the day was pretty low key, mainly comprised of caipirinhas, some walking around, more caipirinhas, a nap, a little work, even more caipirinhas, and a pariillada at the Argentinian steakhouse.
Martin took a few pics and I'll load later, but overall a pretty chill day. Weather is hot (completely different from what's going on back in Chicago), and I'll get more pics of the city and scene during the stay.
More to follow...
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Skipping ahead to 2011...
Over the weekend we hosted a NYE party with some of our friends. To kick off the festivities we started out with dinner around the corner at Graham Elliot. Amazing.
7 Courses. With pairings. Phenomenal meal. What a way to close out 2010.
Follow that with the party at our place, and I made three punches. The first was a spin on the Chatham Artillery Punch from David Wondrich. Essentially it is muddled lemon peels in sugar, lemon juice, and a ratio of rye, brandy, rum and sparkling wine along the lines of 1:1:1:3. It turned out very well; definitely better than the original trial.
The second punch was adapted from a bar in New York called Cienfuegos. The recipe for Hotel Nacional Punch involved rum, pineapple juice, apricot brandy, fresh lime juice and simple syrup. Lower potency, but tasted amazing. Topping off with a little champagne really did a lot for this punch.
The final recipe, for the non-alcoholic crowd, resulted in a concentrated syrup of cinnamon, clove, lemon juice, peppermint extract, slivered mint leaves and diced candied ginger. That syrup, poured over some carbonated beverage (either club soda or sparkling wine), was great.
On top of all that, around 20 bottles of wine, full bar, and a serious food spread for everyone. To be honest, I wanted to invite more people than Lauren was interested in hosting, but that's alright. We weren't sure how many people were going to come over, but at one point we had around 30 people in the place. With the weather unseasonably warm we were able to use the deck as well.
Hello 2011. Nice to meet you. Glad to start off on the right foot.
7 Courses. With pairings. Phenomenal meal. What a way to close out 2010.
Follow that with the party at our place, and I made three punches. The first was a spin on the Chatham Artillery Punch from David Wondrich. Essentially it is muddled lemon peels in sugar, lemon juice, and a ratio of rye, brandy, rum and sparkling wine along the lines of 1:1:1:3. It turned out very well; definitely better than the original trial.
The second punch was adapted from a bar in New York called Cienfuegos. The recipe for Hotel Nacional Punch involved rum, pineapple juice, apricot brandy, fresh lime juice and simple syrup. Lower potency, but tasted amazing. Topping off with a little champagne really did a lot for this punch.
The final recipe, for the non-alcoholic crowd, resulted in a concentrated syrup of cinnamon, clove, lemon juice, peppermint extract, slivered mint leaves and diced candied ginger. That syrup, poured over some carbonated beverage (either club soda or sparkling wine), was great.
On top of all that, around 20 bottles of wine, full bar, and a serious food spread for everyone. To be honest, I wanted to invite more people than Lauren was interested in hosting, but that's alright. We weren't sure how many people were going to come over, but at one point we had around 30 people in the place. With the weather unseasonably warm we were able to use the deck as well.
Hello 2011. Nice to meet you. Glad to start off on the right foot.
Photos to make up for lost time
This is an attempt to summarize some of our final travels from the summer and fall of 2010.
Staring down a pier towards Oakland in SF
First trip to SF togeter
The 'farm' outside The French Laundry in Yountville
Vineyards in Napa
Pebble Beach
Frog's Leap Winery - Napa Valley
Big Ben - London
Lauren and J at the Tower of London - Tower Bridge in background
Parliament and Big Ben from across the Thames
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Make up for lost time
Obviously, the California trip hasn't made it up yet, so it's probably about time for a brief summary of that trip.
We started out for a few days in San Francisco and were able to spend some time with Andrew and Corinna. I was good to see them in their element, and the Cali lifestyle definitely suits them. We also had a chance to meet Tuf, and she seems like a great new addition to the family.
Pictures of our time will be added shortly.
One of the funnier moments of the SF part of the trip actually occurred at dinner on Sunday night. Lauren and I went to dinner at Salt House, which i have been to a few times before on work trips. Our reservation was mildly late for a Sunday evening But not too bad. After we had been sitting for about 15 minutes, in walks Adrian Grenier of Entourage fame. Needless to say, Lauren thought it was pretty cool and instantly had to text Leanne. A great meal made even more memorable.
From SF we drove up to Napa to spend a few days in wine country before driving down the coast to LA. we spend a few days checking out Napa, and picked our way around the larger and smaller wineries in the valley. By no means a comprehensive trip, it was more to get a sense of everything that was offered so we can be a little more guided on future trips. A few of the best places we went were:
- Mumm Napa was a great place to see a large-scale producer of sparkling wine
- Frog's Leap was a real gem located in Rutherford
- Smith-Madrone (Ashwin suggested) was amazing! A few hippies from Berkley started a winery in the 70s and still have it going. We even got to try their next vintage Riesling while it was still in the steel vats. Very cool.
Best dinner while we were out there was at Ad Hoc in Yountville. It wasn't the fried chicken dinner (BBQ instead) but it was awesome.
Next post will cover the remainder of the trip, including driving down PCH, Central Coast wineries, and our time in/around LA.
We started out for a few days in San Francisco and were able to spend some time with Andrew and Corinna. I was good to see them in their element, and the Cali lifestyle definitely suits them. We also had a chance to meet Tuf, and she seems like a great new addition to the family.
Pictures of our time will be added shortly.
One of the funnier moments of the SF part of the trip actually occurred at dinner on Sunday night. Lauren and I went to dinner at Salt House, which i have been to a few times before on work trips. Our reservation was mildly late for a Sunday evening But not too bad. After we had been sitting for about 15 minutes, in walks Adrian Grenier of Entourage fame. Needless to say, Lauren thought it was pretty cool and instantly had to text Leanne. A great meal made even more memorable.
From SF we drove up to Napa to spend a few days in wine country before driving down the coast to LA. we spend a few days checking out Napa, and picked our way around the larger and smaller wineries in the valley. By no means a comprehensive trip, it was more to get a sense of everything that was offered so we can be a little more guided on future trips. A few of the best places we went were:
- Mumm Napa was a great place to see a large-scale producer of sparkling wine
- Frog's Leap was a real gem located in Rutherford
- Smith-Madrone (Ashwin suggested) was amazing! A few hippies from Berkley started a winery in the 70s and still have it going. We even got to try their next vintage Riesling while it was still in the steel vats. Very cool.
Best dinner while we were out there was at Ad Hoc in Yountville. It wasn't the fried chicken dinner (BBQ instead) but it was awesome.
Next post will cover the remainder of the trip, including driving down PCH, Central Coast wineries, and our time in/around LA.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Catching up to do...
Well,
I suppose I didn't sufficiently chronicle my trip to Argentina. Or any trip since for that matter. So it goes...
Argentina, was a blast. I ate like a champ, drank like a fish, and had to take the first half of March off from alcohol. I was retired for 17 days, right up St. Patrick's Day. It was a rest that was well deserved...
Some trips deserve entries, while others can only live in memories. One of the 'memory' trips is The Battle. As the mystique grows each year, so do the stories, and it's better not to have a written record of anything that goes on during those four magical days. Suffice it to say, The Fuz Invitational is by far the best way to get The Battle going. That is, unless you're sitting in First Class on the ride down and have 8 drinks in you by the time you get to the shuttle bus.
This year the Night Putters, with yours truly, were victorious.
Lauren and I just went to California, and a few phases of the trip deserve their own posts. They'll follow in the next few days.
I suppose I didn't sufficiently chronicle my trip to Argentina. Or any trip since for that matter. So it goes...
Argentina, was a blast. I ate like a champ, drank like a fish, and had to take the first half of March off from alcohol. I was retired for 17 days, right up St. Patrick's Day. It was a rest that was well deserved...
Some trips deserve entries, while others can only live in memories. One of the 'memory' trips is The Battle. As the mystique grows each year, so do the stories, and it's better not to have a written record of anything that goes on during those four magical days. Suffice it to say, The Fuz Invitational is by far the best way to get The Battle going. That is, unless you're sitting in First Class on the ride down and have 8 drinks in you by the time you get to the shuttle bus.
This year the Night Putters, with yours truly, were victorious.
Lauren and I just went to California, and a few phases of the trip deserve their own posts. They'll follow in the next few days.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Upcoming trip to Argentina
I just booked a trip to Argentina to visit Nick. He's been down there since November (almost 4 months) and preparing to get back to the US. I've been itching to go down and visit since he got there, and I finally bit the bullet and bought the ticket. Not the cheapest flight, especially for a 5 day trip, but I'm sure once I get down there it'll all be worth it. Lots of living to do in the few days that I'm there.
As a reference, Nick's blog that he's been keeping for his trip is here.
All that's left now is passport, camera, journal, and a boarding pass.
As a reference, Nick's blog that he's been keeping for his trip is here.
All that's left now is passport, camera, journal, and a boarding pass.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Brief synopsis from my Tokyo trip
I was really excited about getting back to Asia. Being able to go for work, do a few tough days of interviews with physician and key opinion leaders, and then having a little down time for checking out Tokyo is not a hard sell. At least it isn't for me. Sign me up. Put me on a place. Meet me there.
I arrived a little later than I expected, so I really didn't have much of an opportunity to check out Tokyo the first night I was there. I did walk around Ebisu for a bit, but got hungry so just stopped in a place for a cheap (but good) bite to eat.
The next morning I took some pictures from my hotel room of the area that I was walking around, and it was pretty shocking. The panorama was a little more interesting than I remember from the night before.
I did get a chance to walk around a little bit between interviews on the first full day. Shinjuku is a crazy place. Incredibly crowded, yet very peaceful. It's a little different in that crowds like that in Chicago and New York seemed to have a little more aggressive energy. The Japanese just lacked the 'edge' that New Yorkers have. I don't know any other way to describe it.
There was one cool area where I was able to check out some old buildings from pre-World War 2 that didn't burn down. Now they look like some old alley or something, but in every doorway there are a few stools and a bar advertising cheap beer. There were even stairways leading up to second and third-floor bars in a few of the buildings, as well as signs indicating other 'pleasures' that could be had for a price. My colleague (and tour guide) for my stay in Tokyo, Tetsuya Hatano, said that intelligence officers are rumored to use that area for information exchange because it gets so crowded at night. I'm sure it gets crowded,but I was shocked by how empty it was at 5:30pm on a Friday.
The little bit of sight seeing involved a brief stroll through one of the gardens around the Imperial Palace (cool water fountains) and then hanging out at the New York Bar at the Park Hyatt Hotel. Incredible views. There were several scenes from Lost in Translation filmed in that bar, and it was really a unique experience. I was able to listen to some live jazz, got 360-degree views of Tokyo, and relax to soak it all in.
Very cool, and I'm definitely going to have to go back.
I arrived a little later than I expected, so I really didn't have much of an opportunity to check out Tokyo the first night I was there. I did walk around Ebisu for a bit, but got hungry so just stopped in a place for a cheap (but good) bite to eat.
The next morning I took some pictures from my hotel room of the area that I was walking around, and it was pretty shocking. The panorama was a little more interesting than I remember from the night before.
I did get a chance to walk around a little bit between interviews on the first full day. Shinjuku is a crazy place. Incredibly crowded, yet very peaceful. It's a little different in that crowds like that in Chicago and New York seemed to have a little more aggressive energy. The Japanese just lacked the 'edge' that New Yorkers have. I don't know any other way to describe it.
There was one cool area where I was able to check out some old buildings from pre-World War 2 that didn't burn down. Now they look like some old alley or something, but in every doorway there are a few stools and a bar advertising cheap beer. There were even stairways leading up to second and third-floor bars in a few of the buildings, as well as signs indicating other 'pleasures' that could be had for a price. My colleague (and tour guide) for my stay in Tokyo, Tetsuya Hatano, said that intelligence officers are rumored to use that area for information exchange because it gets so crowded at night. I'm sure it gets crowded,but I was shocked by how empty it was at 5:30pm on a Friday.
The little bit of sight seeing involved a brief stroll through one of the gardens around the Imperial Palace (cool water fountains) and then hanging out at the New York Bar at the Park Hyatt Hotel. Incredible views. There were several scenes from Lost in Translation filmed in that bar, and it was really a unique experience. I was able to listen to some live jazz, got 360-degree views of Tokyo, and relax to soak it all in.
Very cool, and I'm definitely going to have to go back.
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