Tag: dining

Lobsters while leaving Athens

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Written at about 8:52 PM July 9

We all met up for dinner in our main dining room at 6:15 PM. We were told that tonight, lobster would be on the menu, and sure enough it was. Even though I had lobster last night, when lobster is on the menu, I simply can’t pass it up. But I was not as gluttonous as I was over the last several meals. I ordered the lobster tails (which were delicious, and which were served with rice, cauliflower, and broccoli), and also ordered a plate of hummus to share with the table. It was a very pleasant dinner. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned before but our table is on starboard side of the ship, right next to a window, which gave us a great view of our departure from Athens. We’re heading to Mykonos tomorrow. For dessert, I had a brownie and, of course, the chocolate mousse.

Since then, I’ve been here in the Wheelhouse lounge writing up the last two blog entries (which total more than 2,000 words!) We are having some satellite reception problems, so I’m not sure when they will get posted, but I will post them as soon as I can.

First and second dinners

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Posted at about 5:30 PM local time, on July 9

Tonight, we had dinner reservations at one of the two specialty restaurants on the ship, Sabatini’s. These restaurants charge a cover charge, but otherwise, the food is included as part of the cruise. I made the reservations for 9:30 PM because I thought that it would be nice to have a late dinner.

Having done that, and having completed the vow renewal ceremony for Mom and Dad, I decided that I wanted to go to our regular seating at dinner as well, which is at 6:15 PM. At first I don’t think anyone else was planning on going, but everyone ended up going after I decided to do it. I stuck to three courses for First dinner, which turned out to be a good thing. For my appetizer, I had a mushroom torte with truffle oil. For dinner, I had a salmon steak. And for dessert, of course, I had the chocolate mousse.

When I finished dinner it was just after 7 PM and I decided I needed to relax. I grabbed my laptop, went to the Wheelhouse lounge, and played Solitaire for an hour or two, listening to the live music, which I thought was very good. Then it was time to get ready for dinner at Sabatini’s.

We arrived on scheduled and were seated and they explained to us how it works. We pick our main courses, and then they basically bring us everything else on the menu to try. In essence, it is a 10 or 11 course meal. I know some of you enjoy the descriptions of the food here. If you don’t, you’ll want to skip to the bottom. Here is what I had and keep in mind this is just 3 hours after eating first dinner. I was at my most gluttonous.

Read all about the gluttony

An evening in Venice

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View from my hotel room
Originally uploaded by jamietr.

9:18 PM local time.

We did some roaming around Venice this evening. I met Mom and Dad at 5:30 and we headed out into the streets of Venice. It’s really so cool. I’ve never been in a city quite like this. Lots of people everywhere and a labyrinth of wide and narrow passageways. I had this image in my mind of running through the city on a night when the entire city was deserted.

And speaking of images, I have posted a set of pictures from Munich and Venice for those interested in checking them out. (The pictures are on my Flickr account, so feel free to post comments to the pics.)

I was eager to see Piazza San Marcos since vickyandnorm had built it up so much in my mind. I was not disappointed. It was exactly as they described it, full of people and pigeons and music from the sidewalk cafes. I wanted to go up in the Campanile, which is the tall tower in the piazza which gives a birds-eye view of the city, but I decided to wait until tomorrow to do that. Instead, we wandered about the maze of canals and passageways, taking photos, window-shopping (Mom, anyway), and delighted in the fact that I was in a city as old and famous as Venice. (Shakespeare wrote about Venice; he never wrote about New York*.)

After wandering around the city for a while, we came back to the hotel and then decided to go find a place to have dinner. We wandered a short distance from the hotel and finally settled on a quiet, canal-side restaurant called Restaurante da Raffaele. We sat outside and had a great meal. Spaghetti and meat sauce, bread sticks, and an Italian beer called Sans Souci. I had ice cream for dessert and I managed to clean my plates.

We came back to the hotel and I was pretty wiped out at this point. I came up to the room, posted pictures and now, I’m about to read myself to sleep. I’m beat and I need a good night’s sleep so that I can be ready for a full day tomorrow. We board the cruise ship at 1 PM-ish but the ship stays docked in Venice for 24 hours after that so we still have time to explore the city. And he11o_sunshine and jkashlock arrive tomorrow as well.

* Steve Martin might say Shakespeare wrote about Los Angeles, but I’m not sure I believe it.

Saturday in D.C.

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We were all up by about 8:30 AM and headed to IHOP for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed back to the house and then across the street to the park. Jason and I threw a ball around while Jen sat on a bench and read. It wasn’t too long before my right arm was aching and I needed to call it quits.

We walked around the neighborhood and through the gardens at the Riversdale Mansion, and then finally back to the house, where we watched TV for a while, while Jen took a nap.

Eventually, we headed downtown to Austin Grill, and sat outside, having some drinks and appetizers. The weather was perfect, especially in the shade, with a very nice breeze blowing and we sat around for a while soaking it all up. We had 5:30 PM tickets to see Ocean’s 13 and so after leaving the restaurant, we took a leisurely walk along the Mall, heading toward Foggy Bottom, and finally, Georgetown, where we saw the movie.

After the movie, we walked to the waterfront and eventually ended up a Sequoia, where we waited at the bar for about 45 minutes until our table was ready. We got an outdoor table, and had a leisurely, late dinner. I had the steak filet and it was delicious, as was the chocolate cake I had for dessert. By the time dinner was over, I think we were all pretty tired and we walked back to the Foggy Bottom metro station, and lucked out: we didn’t have to wait long for either of the trains we took back home. It was a fun day, but a long one.

A day in the city

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Jason left before 5 AM this morning to head to a NASCAR-thing that one of his client’s was sponsoring. Still, Jen and I were up pretty early and headed out for a walk in the park. We stopped to watch a few innings of a little league game, and then meandered through the park until we reached the Boathouse Restaurant, where we stopped for brunch. As usual, the Boathouse brunch was delicious. I had the steak and eggs, and it was the first time I can recall ever ordering steak and eggs off of a menu.

We continued through the park, finally relaxing on a bench for a while. Jen had called Jon and Hollie to see if they were around and they called us back while we were sitting, and we headed over to their place to visit. I got to meet William for the first time, who is a very cute, extremely well-behaved baby. And I got to see their place now that their kitchen remodeling was complete. We spent a few hours there and then headed back across to the park toward home.

We decided to stop at Mustang, and sat outside next to a large street fair on Second Ave. We had some drinks, and went through plenty of appetizers and desserts, spending a couple of hours sitting, talking, people watching. It was a lot of fun.

Jason got home later in the evening and we headed to a local Italian place for dinner and by that time, I was pretty beat. We watched some TV after we got back to their place, but it wasn’t long before we were getting ready for bed.

Dinner and dessert, NYC-style

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When I got to Jen and Jason’s the apartment was already filled with the smell of cooking. Jen was making dinner and it was worth the wait (we watched the Yankees game while we waited. When dinner was served, it was delicious. he11o_sunshine will have to describe exactly what she did, but she made a pork dish of some kind with an outstanding sauce, and a spicy broccoli side, both of which had me digging for seconds.

For dessert, we took the train to Union Square and headed into Max Brenner‘s. If you’ve never been there before, and you love chocolate, then you must make a pilgrimage. Almost everything on the menu is chocolate (Jason even had a chocolate beer!) and delicious!

The evening air was almost Hawaiian in it’s quality and we decided to see if we could walk from Union Square back to Jen and Jason’s place on 85th, and only stopped because Jason has to get up very early in the morning and needed to go to bed.

He comes home a winner (Las Vegas, Day 2)

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Yesterday was a long day and today felt even longer. You already know that yesterday (Sunday) started at about 6 AM for me, when I headed to the gym for a light workout (arms and shoulders). Well, eventually, Jen and Jason got up and we all scrambled off to First Breakfast. I had a massive waffle with a hunk of whipped cream the size of a softball on it. After breakfast, we went back to the room, but with Doug still sound asleep, we figured we needed to be elsewhere.

Las Vegas, Day 2

Saturday surprise!

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[Written on May 27 and backdated to May 26]

Saturday was a long day! I was up at 5 AM because I couldn’t sleep any longer. I packed up the remainder of my stuff and headed off to LAX to catch my plane to Las Vegas. There were no lines. I checked in at the Premier check-in counter, went through the premium security “line” (there was no one in line) and was at my gate 10 minutes after arriving at the airport.

I had some time to kill so I watched the season finale of Heroes which I hadn’t seen yet, and which I thought was terrific! I made sure I was the first person on the plane because I didn’t want to run into Mom and Dad, who were taking a flight about 2 hours after mine. Mom was still in the dark about the big surprise in Vegas. She thought I was flying home today.

The flight was short and uneventful. So short, in fact, that I couldn’t complete the crossword puzzle in the magazine. When I got to the gate, I found that he11o_sunshine and jkashlock‘s flight was getting in early, so I walked over to their gate to meet them. We then headed to baggage claim so I could get my bag. We were also able to check into the hotel. All that was left was to wait for Doug.

His flight got in early but we couldn’t find him and he wasn’t answering his phone. Finally, at close to 11 AM, Jen spotted him wandering around upstairs. We found out that his phone was broken and he had been wandering around looking for us. We caught a taxi to the hotel, checked in, and then headed to another hotel for lunch so that we didn’t run into Mom and Dad prematurely.

Finally, around 2 PM or so, Dad called and told us to meet him at the Bally’s sports book. We walked over there (in the near 100 degree sun) and met him. He led us to where mom was sitting at video poker. He told her he had a surprise for her, while we all hung back. She closed her eyes as instructed and we all stood around her. Then she opened her eyes. From her reaction, I think she was pretty surprised!

Lots of activities the rest of the day. We had drinks at a bar in the Bellagio. Then we decided to go to the pool, which we did. I would be remiss to mention the fact that at one point, I was spirited away by a bunch of bachelorettes, as a part of a bachelorette party, which Doug and Jason would have no part in. I didn’t mind. After, I went back to the hotel room to rest for a little while. At 6:30, we headed to Emeril’s for dinner. More drinks. And excellent food. Doug and I shared some tuna steak tartare for an appetizer and I had–you guessed it–the copper river salmon for the main course.

After dinner people wanted to go gamble but I was beat. I headed back up to the room and went to sleep. I don’t even remember Jen and Jason getting back. But I did hear Doug come in just before 3 AM. He had lots of beads and he said he’d lost $100 all told. It was a fun day.

Friday in Santa Monica

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[Written on May 27 and backdated]

We had the second half of our “retreat” Friday morning. Overall, I think it was successful, but time will tell for sure. I had lunch with Derrick and Pam on Friday, which was fun. Our CIO let everyone go home at 3 PM in order to get a head start on the long holiday weekend. Seeing as how I was having dinner with Jim and Janet, however, I stuck around. I got some extra reading on CVS implementations done. We’ve been using CVS at work for some of our revision control, but we are looking at switching to it wholesale so that we only use a single system.

I did have dinner with Jim and Janet tonight. We went to Cezzane and it was very good, as usual. I got back to the hotel room by about 8 PM, packed up all of my stuff and headed off to bed early. I fly to Las Vegas tomorrow morning.

Copper River Salmon

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[Written on May 27 and backdated to May 24]

I had dinner for the second night in a row at Ocean Avenue Seafood, and this time, they had copper river salmon on the menu. After work, I went out for drinks with Eric, Danny, and Enrique. Afterward, Danny drove me over to Ocean Avenue Seafood, where I met Lisa, Andy and a pregnant-looking Mandy for dinner. We had a very nice dinner and I even managed to convince Andy to try the copper river salmon, which he did and which he enjoyed. It was outstanding, certainly well worth the wait.

After dinner I said goodbye to everyone and then walked back to the hotel. It was a very nice evening.

The social animal

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I am becoming more and more of a social animal. There are, for instance, Friday Happy Hours, of which I have become an enthusiastic participant. There is softball. There is my attendance at science fiction conventions and my participation in a writer’s group. Who’d of thunk it!

I was reminded of this when I looked at my lunch and dinner calendar for next week when I am in L.A. for work.

My busy social calendar for the week of May 21