OC Restaurant Week, Take 2

10YT was very motivated to take full advantage of OC restaurant week. After an appointment fell through for me a couple Saturdays ago, I signed up to be her dining buddy once again. This time we went to Old Vine Cafe, which several of our friends had raved about in the past.

I started off with the Caprese of Mozarella Buratta: Buratta, Flash Fried Arugula, Grape Tomatoes & Citrus Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil. This was perfection. The flash fried arugula added a really nice bit of texture and salt to the dish.

10YT had the Crispy Blue Salad: Certified Organic Greens, Crispy Proscuitto, Fried Onions & Maytag Blue Cheese Dressing. This looked delectable.
We were both in a berry champagne cocktail kind of mood.

For my main, I ordered a Pulled Pork Panini: Tender Pulled Pork & Chef’s BBQ Sauce with Smoked Gouda Cheese. The pork was very tender and well seasoned. It could also easily feed more than one person.

10YT had ordered the Porcini Mushroom Mac & Cheese: Macaroni, Porcini Mushrooms and a blend of Artisan Cheeses. I sampled a portion; it was heavenly. We had opted to sit indoors, which afforded us a lovely view of a shady nook at The Camp.

For dessert we both had cheesecake. I judge a cheesecake by its crust and this one did not disappoint at all. It was also the perfect portion: just enough to satisfy one's sweet tooth, but not enough to make one feel sluggish.

Two thumbs up for Old Vine! I hope to return soon.

Not Quite Nirvana

I'm still woefully behind on blogging about the spring and summer, but how about something a bit more recent in the meantime? Two weeks ago I met up with some friends for brunch at Nirvana Grille at the start of OC Restaurant Week.

Champagne is a good start to any brunch. 10YT agrees with me! Rather than buying individual champagne cocktails, the four of us split a couple bottles and added our own peach, pomegranate or blood orange purees. Blood orange definitely packed the most flavor.
Mrs50% and I started off with the salmon toasts. These were yummy. So were the chicken wontons that 10YT and Serendipitie ordered.
Mrs50% had the Nirvana Rancheros, which looked fantastic.

10YT and Serendipitie had the heirloom tomato sandwich served with thyme fries.

I ordered the Nirvana Poached Benedict served with house potatoes. It was good, but needed just a tad more salt. It was a good decision to order a side of bacon (more on that later).

10YT had apple pie for dessert.

Mrs50% had a molten chocolate cake that was divine.

Remember my side order of bacon? I saved half of it so that Serendipitie and I could jazz up our desserts.

Much to our dining companions disgust, Dipitie and I both ordered roasted figs served with maple ice cream flecked with pieces of crumbled goat cheese. This was good on its own, but a piece of crumbled bacon took it to the next level. The saltiness of the bacon set off the sweetness of the dessert and provided a nice contrast in textures.

So far so good, right? Good company, good food, decent service ..... what could I possibly complain about? How about the waiter stalking me down as I was exiting alone and inquiring about the amount of the tip we had left?

That's right. Our waiter stopped me as I was leaving the ladies' room and asked me if the amount we each paid on our respective cards was intended to cover a tip as well. When I said "yes" his response was that we left him only a 10% tip. I instinctively knew that couldn't be right, but he kept going on and on about it as I was trying to do some math in my head. At this point, a rational person would have asked to see the bill, gone over it and attempt to figure out any discrepancy. I was not that rational person. Serendipitie was. I was the deer in the headlights, please get me out of here, god I hate awkward situations, here take $10 type of person. Thanks Dipitie for getting my $10 back!

One place where I did not spend any of my money was the LF store, which we wandered into after lunch. If you ever feel like old costumes from Madonna's or Michael Jackson's tours in the '80s, head here quickly.

No outing would be complete without a group pic. Thank you ladies for a lovely afternoon!

Not All Of Them Are Gay

If you haven't guessed yet, this post is mostly about the men's competition. Without fail, almost every non-skating fan I talk to about ice skating asks me at some point whether all of the guys in the sport are gay. Some of them are, but, no, they all aren't. Even if they are wearing sequins. And does it really matter? I've never quite understood why this question gets asked so much. So let's move on.

See all these Canadians that were sitting across from us at the arena?
I couldn't escape them all week. They were staying with a tour group in my hotel, crowding the bar and the elevators. They even followed me to Panini Cafe one morning for breakfast. This lone CA(lifornia) girl sitting on the side patio was forgotten about as the CA(nadian) mob overtook the front of the restaurant. The food at Panini Cafe was okay: good mimosa, good bacon, good bread, good coffee. But my eggs were overdone. Blech. I hate overcooked eggs.

Lunch later on that day at The Farm was a lot better. The fact that we waited twenty minutes for a table while standing shoulder to shoulder with the legendary Dorothy Hamill and current U.S. ladies' silver medalist Rachael Flatt had nothing to do with it. ;-) I swear, those twenty minutes were the most quiet we had been all week. We were desperately hoping to overhear some hot (or cool?) skating gossip. After we were seated I ordered ahi tuna, served three ways.

I also mooched off of V's cheese platter.

The men's short program had more interesting audio moments than visual moments. Did you know techno music is just not for raves? It seems the be the go-to music for most men.

The U.S. men's champion, Evan Lysacek, bucked the trend, but by skating to Bolero. For those of you not as obsessed as I am, Bolero is the iconic ice dancing piece skated by Torvill and Dean at the 1984 Olympics. Their performance revolutionized ice dance. Those two pretty much owned that piece of music for almost two decades. No one else dared to skate to it because how could one possibly live up to the expectations? Over the last five years though, Bolero has snuck back into the repertoire of skating music. I still raise my eyebrow when I hear someone skating to it; I expect them to bring it. Despite his excessive arm flailing, Evan brought it.

Evan's primary compeition was French skater Brian Joubert. Brian opted for a lively techno number, that seemed more like a piece for show skating. Much to the delight of tweens and cougars, he worked in some Chippendale-esque hip thrusts into his routine.

We ended up back at the Yard House that night. From left to right: R, Me, C, A, A's Fabulous Mom, V and L. L is the woman responsible for having brought most of us together. Back in 2002, when we were still all strangers on FSU, L arranged a block of group seating for FSUers for the '02 U.S. Nationals, which were also held at Staples Center. The area has changed quite a bit since then -- all for the better! C befriended us at the '06 U.S. Nationals in St. Louis. Having been seated in the row in front of us, he overheard all our snark and couldn't stay away. We were thankful we didn't scare him away with our chatter. We met A and her mom at Worlds, although A already seemed to familiar through her posts on the board.

The (over)use of techno made an appearance in the men's long program too. I forgave this guy for it as he was vastly entertaining, channeling his inner Mr. Roboto.

The other crowd pleaser of the evening was Italian skater Samuel Contesti. He skated a program with a spaghetti western theme. Plus he's easy on the eyes.

This is the joy of victory. Evan Lysacek skated a stellar long program to Rhapsody in Blue.

This is the agony of defeat. Brian Joubert skated a sloppy program to the soundtrack of The Matrix (for like the third season in a row). He broke the cardinal rule of being a good competitor and tried to change his program elements as he skated. That's a big no-no, since muscle memory is a vital part of being a good skater. Changing elements mid-program also shifts your mental focus. If it works out, then it's great. But more often than not it results in silly mistakes, as Brian learned the hard way, falling on what should have been an easy double axel.

The final standings. The pleasant suprise was the silver-place finish by Canadian skater Patrick Chan. He and Brian Joubert had quite the war of words in the press regarding the necessity of doing quadruple jumps. Patrick = no quad. Brian = quad. On this night, the quad lost. It was the first time a U.S. man has won the gold at Worlds since Todd Eldredge's win in 1996.

I only took this picture because Dr. Debi Thomas and Tiffany Chin were presenting the medals to the men. Those two were my idols when I skated as a kid. I still have some of Debi's performances on VHS.

The guys had to do a lot of posing for the media.

After all the media shots were done, the skaters stuck around for their fans. Brian Joubert came over to our section. L hustled down to the front and returned with the most funny and bizarre story of the week. L always gets the best stories and gossip:

Apparently a middle-aged woman came rushing down the stairs toward Brian, holding an envelope. She shouted at him, "Brian I have something for you," while handing over the envelope. Then she insisted that he open it. Most people assumed it was perhaps a photo she wanted him to sign, or a racy photo of herself she wanted him to have. Instead it was a picture of her cat. A cat she named "Brian Joubert", because she is such a huge fan. Skater Joubert politely smiled, thanked her, then tried to return the photo of Cat Joubert. The woman, however, refused to take it back and said she printed that photo out especially for him.

And you all thought I'm a crazy skating fan ;-) ......

In the Company of Greatness

Last week I met up with Weezermonkey for one of the lectures presented as part of the L.A. Library's ALOUD program. The evening was described as a conversation between actor Hector Elizondo and author Abraham Verghese. In addition to being an author, a physician and a professor, Abraham is also my sister-in-law's cousin. And his older brother is married to the daughter of a long-time family friend. Due to the broad, unique way that Indians define family, my parents and brother fully expected me to turn out for this event despite the fact I had never met Abraham before.

The lecture's topics were centered around the themes and concepts contained within Abraham's most recent release, Cutting for Stone. This is his third book, but first novel, which was eight years in the making. Abraham really amazes me with his intelligence, creativity and compassion. Not to mention that I think he is a total rock star for being able to balance medicine, writing and family life. Having read Cutting for Stone, as well as My Own Country, I feel like these personal qualities are carried over into his characters and descriptions. With regard to Cutting for Stone, I easily got swept away into the story and its characters. It is really a wonderful novel and I'm not just saying that because he is "family"!

After the lecture there was an opportunity to have books signed.

Dorkiness personifed: Here I am introducing myself and explaining to Abraham how I know him. I'm really not good at stuff like this.
After the event, Weezermonkey and I headed to the The Restaurant at The Standard. It was a dim for picture taking, although Weezermonkey did teach me how to change my ISO settings. It was a great evening all around, with great company!

More pictures and thoughts available here.

It's a GTG!

What is a GTG? It's an afternoon of food, laughter, cute dogs and cool women all getting together to hang out and have a good time. Yesterday, 10Years welcomed the ladies of OC, LA and the IE into her home for a fun-filled time. WeezerMonkey documented the day with many pictures, but left out a photo of one of the best parts of the day: live entertainment by the talented Monkey!

I couldn't figure out what type of food item to bring, so I arrived with a pitcher of sangria instead. I used to refer to it as Cha Cha Cha Sangria, since the recipe was inspired by the featured drink served at Cha Cha Cha. But at the suggestion of Marshmalo, I might refer to it as Memory Inhibiting Sangria in the future.

You will need:

• 1 bottle dry white wine (I use a sauvignon blanc with fruity notes)
• 1 bottle red wine (preferably a beaujolais)
• 1 orange
• 1 lemon
• 1 cup of sugar
• assorted fruits (I always use red grapes and strawberries)
• 1-2 ounces of brandy (optional)

1. In a large non-metal bowl, mix the wines together, along with the cup of sugar. Stir for a few minutes.
2. Slice the orange and lemon into thin slices (1/8 - 1/4 of an inch). Add to the wine and stir.
3. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
4. In the morning, add in your other fruits and the brandy. Stir again, pour into a pitcher and chill until it's time to party!

This sangria goes down so easy you may forget you're drinking alcohol. Plan accordingly. ;-) On the rare occasion you have some leftover, skim out the fruit and store the rest in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Two Years Ago Today .....

Note: these are a mix of pro and non-pro pics.

(psst ... can you tell why we had our wedding in SF?)