i had the fortunate opportunity to share a bottle of wine with my little “sister” last night (quotations because we are not related by blood.) i’ve known her for 15 of her 29 years, and when we first met, she was an awkward tomboy with probably a bit too much baby fat and bad haircut. she was very insecure about herself mostly because she felt vastly inferior to her older sisters and her parents weren’t the most supportive either. she needed a big brother, and i happened to have been around to fill that role. she moved out of the bay area to go to university, and somewhere along the way, we lost touch. we reconnected in the last year or so, when it was me, who was in desperate need of some friends, and i’m very glad to have her back in my life. although she’s doesn’t live in the bay area, her family still does and when she comes to visit them, she always makes time to visit her big bro as well.

we were catching up over a bottle of wine at the hotel biron wine bar and art gallery, when she told me about this man she was seeing, and how she was “the other woman.” i found this deeply disturbing. although awkward and chubby as a teenager, she has blossomed into a beautiful young woman (and in my opinion, a bit too skinny) and just on those merits alone she has no need to be anyones “other woman.”
i proceeded to give her a very disapproving look….
i asked, “is he going to leave his gf?”
in which she replied “no.”
she wanted more from him, while he just wanted a booty call. she then asked me if i thought she was a bad person? i quickly said “no,” but i told her what she was doing was bad. i firmly told her to not disrespect herself, and reminded her that she should never knowingly and willingly cause pain to someone else (in this case, it would be the gf). if he’s going to be a bastard, that’s his problem, but i told her not to be an enabler. we talked a bit more, and in the end, she promised me she was going to be “smarter” about things, and i guess that’s all i can ask for.

i woke up this morning wondering whether or not i was a bit harsh on her. were my opinions too close minded? i recall people telling me that i should keep my opinions to myself. that my opinions may be “right” for me, but not “right” for others. should i have just told her to do whatever makes her happy? at the end of the day, aren’t we all just looking for moments of joy, and if she’s happy being the “other woman”, then who cares about the guy’s girlfriend? why should she care about anyone but herself?

i guess i’m just old fashioned.

i attempt to make osso buco. used beef shanks instead of veal shank. plating is a bit messy, but i’ve never really cared about presentation, i’m about the flavor and it was pretty good for a first try. beefy, marrow goodness

i had a friend in town who loves wine, so i took the opportunity to take her to wine county.  i think deep down inside, i wanted to go as much as she did, even though that would mean i would have to get up less than 10 hours after i had come home from my spain/nyc trip.  oh well, suck it up right?!  after lunch at the rutherford grill, we dropped by william harrison where our gracious host, deb, informed us that [iron chef] morimoto, had recently opened a restaurant in napa.  as we were heading to silver oak for our next wine tasting, we decided to give morimoto a call and see if we can get a reservation.  we were able to get in at 5:30.  a bit early, considering we had just had lunch around 2:00, but, these restaurants are notoriously hard to get a reservation for, so we couldn’t let the opportunity pass.  we finished our tasting at silver oak and headed to morimoto, located near main st. in downtown napa.  unfortunately morimoto was not at the restaurant, we missed him by a couple of days.

we were presented with the menu, and although there were a lot of very interesting entrees and a la carte sushi items, we decided it would be wrong to be at morimoto and not do the omakase (chef’s choice).  we also decided on the sake pairing.

course #1, tuna tartare with various dipping items, to be scraped and eaten with a mini okonomiyaki spatula

course #2, kampachi (amber jack) sashimi in a very chinese style soy-ginger-oil sauce

course #3, baña cata (fresh local vegetables, fish and chicken cube to be dipped in a hot oil with anchove paste bath)
 

course #4, foie gras chawanmushi (tofu soup).  the sake pairing with this was morimoto’s wood aged sake, which is why it has the nontraditional golden color.

palette cleansing kelp tea

course #5, sushi (chu-toro, snapper, mackeral, a fish that i forgot that was wrapped in banana leaf, and some kind of clam)

course #6, surf & turf (lobster, medallions of wagyu loin, and pork loin).  the lobster was excellent, the only other lobster i enjoyed this much was a main course i tasted at gary danko.  the wagyu loin was very good, however, paled in comparison to the real kobe beef i had in tokyo.

#7 pear ice cream

great experience, took about 2 hours. would definitely do it again, and the sake pairing was excellent.  some of the best sake i’ve ever had.

what started out as an idea in my head to spend a few months traveling europe alone (starting in portugal, and making my way through spain, france, italy, and greece) to do some soul-searching, personal reflection, and trying to figure out what my next career move would be, ended up being a 2 week romp through Spain. given that i have some pretty hefty financial responsibilities to take care of, i felt it would be irresponsible for me to just fall off the grid for several months. after telling of my travel plans over dinner at a friend’s place in vancouver, a few friends expressed interest in joining me.  in the end, it would be only wayne who would be able to take the time off necessary.

so the original plan was to fly to lisbon, head south to lagos, east across the border to sevilla, up through madrid, and then to barcelona and ibiza.  that plan was a bit too ambitious.  flying across portugal to spain was costly, and bus/train was too time consuming.  portugal got axed, and i would have to go there some other time.  after several reiterations of our plan, we would fly to barcelona, immediately jump to the island of ibiza, for some “yeah-i’m-in-my-thirties-but-i-look-and-feel-like-i’m-in-my-twenties” partying.  then fly to malaga, to spend a night, then grab a rental car and drive to granada, spend a day and a night, then drive to sevilla, spend a few days there, then fly back to barcelona, for a few more days.  after that i would stop off in nyc to visit my friends and to see their new baby.

barcelona aiport (el prat) terminal 2

breakfast of champions (bacon burgers with cava (spanish sparkling wine) and coffee

flying on ryanair, was cheap, but they have VERY STRICT baggage requirements (only 1 carry on, and it MUST fit in that little box thing), otherwise, 15 euros if you prepay for baggage, or 35 euros at the gate.  fortunately, mike packs light.

no caption requred

tapas for lunch

the summer had ended, and the hordes of people were gone from ibiza, leaving a beautiful serene beach resort

until you get to the clubs….
we went to see tiesto @ priviledge


the “release yourself” closing party @ amnesia

and the “la troya” foam party @ amnesia
(i’m in that mess somewhere)
note to all those who are considering going to a foam party.  wear shoes that will dry easy or you’re willing to throw away, and bring heavy duty zip log bags for your belongings.

more tapas

after 3 days of partying in ibiza, we start the more relaxed portion of our trip.  off to malaga, a beach resort town in spain….for spaniards….if you’re not a spaniard, you have no business there.  the cab drivers don’t speak english and are not friendly.  we only came here to stop off, rest up the night, before driving to granada

view from our hotel in malaga.

granada, the old center of spain during the moorish rule.  i love the old world charm of this city

making an appointment to see the alhambra didn’t quite work, so we went to see it at night, where no appointment would be necessary
 
heading to dinner in the city center near the cathedral.  seems like every city in spain, all the activity centers around a cathedral.

ate at a half decent seafood restaurant “la cunini”

off to sevilla



we arrive in sevilla, and first and foremost, sevilla is one ludicrously confusing city.  especially if decided to stay in the santa cruz area near all the sites.  if you’re driving, you WILL GET LOST.  gps is USESLESS.  well, i shouldn’t say useless, it will get you close, but it has no idea how to navigate all the one way streets, the streets that are too narrow for your car, and the streets that seem to not exist.

we rented a wonderful 2 bedroom penthouse apartment triangulated by three of the major sites.  problem was the gps could only find its way within 3 blocks of the place.  i then proceeded to foot it…using my incredible navigation skills, it only took me 30 mins, directions from 2 hotels and the flamenco museum to find my apartment on parajitos, which was conveniently hidden on the above map by the sign “oliver weber.”  the non-english speaking lady waiting for me to give me the keys was not pleased.  she was also not pleased when i didn’t have cash to pay, didn’t know where the atm was, and didn’t know how to find wayne, who was waiting for me in the car, with the cash. she was probably not impressed when i said in my gringo spanish “mi amigo tiene el dinero para el apartamento y él está con el coche y no sé donde está el coche.”

view from our terrace

near one of the churches, there was a wedding    

time for tapas and sangrias
 

at home, we made our own

off to see the sites

plaza de espana

cadetral de sevilla, the largest gothic cathedral in the world

more food

view from across the river in Triana

off to barcelona.  we check into our 1 bedroom + loft apartment in the barri gotic

in desperate need to do laundry….and then realizing this thing doesn’t have a dry function!

tapas time!

time for some Gaudi


    

barcelona beache

cocktail before dinner

dinner at the famous inopia, now renamed lolita.  inopia was opened by the younger brother of the owner of el bulli (the former #1 restaurant in the world). we got there early, to make sure we can get in, as they do not accept reservations.

our wonderful server who was dancing around the kitchen with every step.  i think she was the only genuinely friendly server we had all trip.

sardine on bread in the front, cured wagyu beef in the rear

some kind of ham recommended by our server

fried shrimp

grilled prawns

grilled sausage

some deep fried peppers that our dining neighbors ordered by accident, which i then offered to take which turned out to be fantastic.  little sweet peppers deep fried with salt and pepper

quail egg on top of various cold beans

some cured bacon on bread

great meal at inopia/lolita, and reasonably priced.  having said that, we spotted a fish market across the street from the restaurant, with some fantastic seafood.  they had what looked like, some form of mantis shrimp (cigalas to be exact).  they happened to still be open after we ate, so we went ahead and purchased 6 of these bad boys….

then was fortunate enough to have found an asian market, where we picked up some garlic, soy sauce and oil.

took them home, and proceeded to wreck shop.  no we weren’t hungry.  yes we were going to eat again.

this was to be our last night in spain.

on our way home, we would stop off at manhattan and stamford connecticut to visit a few friends.
had to get some Joe’s Shanghai action

little sight seeing
 

construction at ground zero

got a chance to walk across the brooklyn bridge.  quite beautiful, except having pedestrians (tourists) and cyclists share a path is not a good idea.

and went to see my buddy Den’s 1 year old baby boy
 

Warning: EXPLICIT LYRICS!!!

Few things I learned about my blackberry that others may find useful.

Now that my berry is no longer being paid for by the company, I try not to incur any roaming charges that are not necessary, but would like to retain as much functionality as possible.  the free way to do that is to use wifi if you can find a free hotspot like in your hotel room, or cafe.

many smartphones have a lot of apps that pulls data randomly (such as google maps) even when you’re not using it, so its a good idea to turn off your data, since roaming data charges are pretty pricey.  however, turning off data services with the drop down menu from Manage Connections/Mobile Network Options/Data Services is not recommended, since this may disable data through wifi as well! (yes very lame)

i would recommend in the Manage Connections/Mobile Network/Data Services/While Roaming option, set it to “prompt”.  when you start roaming, your berry will ask you if you want to disable data, just select “yes” and doing it this way, will not cripple your wifi data.  then when you find a hotspot, just connect wifi, and you will have access to your email/internet/blackberry messenger/etc.