jimsjoint

Tahoe "beans and rice" Tour - 2009

So Barb and I are up in Tahoe for Team Downing's 25th wedding anniversary party on Saturday. Everybody that's anybody in "Downing world" will be partying on Pope Beach day after tomorrow.  I guess the crowds start arriving today.  Yesterday was a fun day. We rode our bikes (5 miles) to see Michelle and Olivia at their cabin. We hung out  awhile then decided to go check out some Mexican food places in preparation for the party on Saturday. The anniversery party  menu is carne asada, pollo, rice and beans.  Rather than cook everything (good idea!!) Michelle was going to have the rice and beans catered, then all they would have to do is cook up the steak and chicken. So our goal yesterday was to go on a rice and bean tasting tour. YAY!! It was pretty cool because, first of all, we got to tour around south shore in Michelle's Sebring convertible!. Plus, its just me and the three girls. Plus we get to eat!!!

So we cruise around to about 5 or 6 Mexican places. Olivia, Barb and I wait in the car. Michelle goes in to do business.  Sooner or later, she  would come out, with a smile on her face, and a little sample of beans and rice. All of us take bites of each, then critique each while Michelle gives us the rundown on the dealio. In each place she it asking for prices on beans and rice to feed forty people. So, as we are sampling, she gives us pricing information as well as ancillary information, All in an effort to come to an overall conclusion on the best (and most affordable) beans and rice in South Shore.  Place after place, we would stop, Michelle would go in, then come out with samples. This was starting to be fun! We joked, could you bring a margarita with that? Maybe some chips? Each time out though, Michelle would come out with her little samples and be smiling like the Cheshire cat, and we ate like kings. Kings of rice and beans anyway.

I think we covered just about every Mexican eatery in South Shore. From hole in the wall to upscale cantina. Surprisingly, beans and rice are not just beans and rice. Each place offered samples with different flavors, consistency and presentation. AND PRICE!! You'd think plain old rice and beans would be pretty inexpensive, but when you are asking for 40 servings, the prices start to go up.  The highest was $90!!!!! FOR BEANS AND RICE!!!  That's almost like movies charging $10 for popcorn. Along the way we talked about all the places we tried and in the end, we all voted for the first place we tried. The Grandma/Grandpa hole in the wall was the best!

Happy Birthday Kate! Sorry its Late : (

Ya know, sometimes,  I forget that people actually read this blog.  I check the stats once in a while, and see that, on average, I get about 15-20 hits per day on jimsjoint.  I'm thinking most of those are me!  Now with the popularity of Facebook, and everyone using that, I was beginning to think that jimsjoint's popularity was starting to diminish. Then I realized that I have one reader of jimsjoint that is maybe more important than anyone else out there. My Marine.

It was her birthday Monday. We sent her a card, some goodies, and even Skyped with her. I was even the first one to wish her a  HAPPY BIRTHDAY on her facebook wall.  All was well intended, but I neglected to put up a happy birthday posting here on jimsjoint. For that I have earned the wrath of my Marine.  MY BAD!!  On the bright side, it made me realize that I'm not just posting these posts for my own benefit. People actually read them. Kate actually reads them!   Another lifeline to home.  Man I love that kid!

So our baby turned 21.  Away from home, with her Marine buddys, and feeling maybe just a little homesick, we agreed that we would have her birthday party when she comes home in a few weeks. August 15th. Schwing by!  Drink a shot with the 21 year old.  Shotgun a few brewskies before she heads off to Okinawa. 

Seriously though, I couldn't be prouder of Kate. She has been gone 8 month now!  Has gone through sooooo much, has learned soooooo much and has grown soooooo much. She is not only a Marine, but now she is a full fledged adult!  Our baby is 21.

I love you honey!

Lapdogs

The Crazies at Google

So Kate is going to be stationed in Okinawa. Of course, since we heard the news we've been scouring the net for information on Kate's future home.  Looks pretty nice to me. Its smack dab in the middle of some prime snorkel territory!   What I really wanted was to see where Okinawa is on the map in relation to California.   So I pull up Google Maps, and just for fun,  used the "Get Directions" option, and typed "California" in one field and "Okinawa" in the next.

To my surprise (and delight) , Google provided  directions!!  It would be 9003 miles and take 36 days and 17 hours!

 I will spare you the details of the 95 different steps.  The first 17 steps make me drive from California to Washington state and the coast.  Not sure why.  Step 17 states  "Kayak across the Pacific ocean - 2756 miles".   Step 18 is  "slight right at Turtle Bay Hilton"  HAWAII BABY!  Then you are forced onto city streets in Honolulu (UGH!) .   Step 30 puts you back into the mighty Pacific on your Kayak,  this time for a 3879 mile paddle to Japan!!!!

After that it gets confusing because the directions are in Japanese.  It looks like the last 800 miles you are driving toll roads and taking ferries, and eventually ending up in Okinawa!

I just paddled in and boy, are my arms tired!

Thanks Google. You made my day

The Long and Wine Ding Road

Turned out to be a pretty good Sunday. We were invited to a wine tasting and tour of Byington Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Vicky V had bid on and won a  '20 person wine party' at the Holy Spirit crab feed earlier in the year. We were one of the lucky couples to be invited.  The address for the winery was Bear Creek Road in Los Gatos. The winery was on Bear Creek road but it was about as far from downtown Los Gatos as you can be. Five winding miles up Bear Creek road. WAY back up in the Santa Cruz mountains. Eventually, mountain homes and cabins gave way to vineyards. Byington Vineyards was on a nice piece or property. Built in the late 80s early 90s (dotcom money I'd guess), the 'castle like' winery was nestled into the hills with sweeping views looking west towards to coast.

After most people showed up, we got a short tour and history of the winery.  The Vineyard, the crush room, wine storage (they even bore their own cave into the hill), the bottling area. At each stop along the tour we sampled a different wine.  I took a sip of each, then poured the rest into Barb's (or Michelle's) glass. At the end of the tour we had a nice lunch out on the front lawn.  We played a little bocce ball after lunch then people started to filter out. Steve and Vicky were spending the night in Los Gatos, so we decided to go into town and have dinner with them. They had to check in so Downing and Flahertys went to Carry Nations ( a bar ) for a REAL drink while we waited for Vandenbuschs. After they showed up, and another drink, we headed down the street for Mexican food. Great Mexican dinner with good friends. After that, we walked back to our car, drove Vicky and Steve back to their hotel, then drove home. Dropped off John and Michelle and we were back home by 7pm, exhausted, full, and happy.=

Kelly --- The Great Communicator

Kelly has a couple of articles in this weeks edition of the Pioneer. The College newspaper that once featured her and her water polo team mates as they made their way towards the 2008 division III national championships, now has Kelly as a staff writer.

She co-wrote the lead story on the front page and wrote  a nice little  review of a local Caffe' shop near campus on page 4.   Check it out!

http://pioneer.csueastbay.edu/PioneerWeb/PioneerNews7-9-09/PioneerFrame7-9-09.html

Like'n Skype'n

We've been doing regular video calls with Kate lately. We even learned how to Take a snapshot from the video feed and save it to our pictures. Its so good to see that smiling face and beautiful blue eyes. She is about half way through "construction wire man" school out there at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls Texas. Looking good Flaherty!!

The Dream spot - and 4th of July fun

The plan - head to Carmel for some Independence Day beach time. The players - Flahertys and Downings. We set out at 9am under cloudy skies. Beach chairs, ice chests, blankets and money (remember, this is Carmel!!) Heading down 101 all was good. A little apprehension as we realized that it was race weekend at Laguna Seca. Turned out to be a non-issue as "race" traffic wasn't too bad. In less than 2 hours we were in Carmel, driving down Ocean Street to the beach.  Unfortunately so was everyone else! Traffic was thick and slow. We were still three blocks from the beach, stuck in traffic, and already trying to figure out  plan "B". We decided we would turn around at the bottom of the hill, get a side street heading south, and find a less crowded beach. Slowly we inched our way down to the turn-around at the beach. Right when we thought all hope was lost, WAIT!!! THAT GUY IS LEAVING!!!  Some guy right in front of us was pulling out. A DREAM SPOT!!  There were maybe 10 parking places that are right on the beach. All the rest were up the hill. We were golden!!

You could really tell it was a holiday. People were streaming onto the the beach. Most were walking down the hill because they couldn't get a great parking spot like us!  It was really busy there. Most people were taking the main entrance onto the beach. We chose to take the path to the left and head down where it wasn't so busy.  As we were walking we were trying to eye a good spot to spend the day.  We settled on a spot that had to be one of the best spots on the beach.  A DREAM SPOT!!   Up on a little bluff, overlooking the beach.  In the distance to our right,  we could see the 17th and 18th holes at Pebble Beach. It was almost like we had a corner booth on the beach. We had ice plant behind us and to the left, and being on a small bluff, nobody was setting up in front of us.  It was almost  in a sea of people. Really cool.

After a few hours of beach time, we walked up into town for lunch.  The eight block up hill walk felt good.  Checking out the cool, multi-million dollar houses, the shops, the people, the dogs (Carmel is "dog friendly").   We found the deli (Bruno's!) we were looking for.  We split a half bbq'd chicken, tri-tip sandwich, corn on the cob and a soda. YUM!  Only problem, where to eat this holiday feast?  Too far to walk back to the beach with all this food.  Everything was CROWDED. People everywhere!  We decided to head across the street to the park where the city was hosting its 4th of July festivities. A good, old-fashioned 4th of July picnic.  We'd find a place to sit and eat. The park was crowded with people. Some kid was just finishing singing songs from Oliver Twist.  The 6-8 year old sack race was just starting.  John took a quick right and headed to the back of the park, away from the crowd, and....DREAM SPOT!!!   An empty park bench!   ITS GREAT TO BE AN AMERICAN!!!  We settled in and ate our lunch.  We were tempted to take part in the adult pie eating contest but decided against it. We walked back down to the beach to chill. The sun was out and the beach was crowded, and life was good.  Sipped a cold beverage, soaked in the summer sun, talked, laughed and savored our freedom.

At some point, and regretfully, (hated to give up that parking spot! HA HA), we decided to head home.  John and Michelle had some Black Angus gift cards that were burning a hole in their pockets. I guess Black Angus's are closing down all over, so they wanted to spend them before they went out of  business altogether.  And who better to spend them with but us? :  )   A little back seat sluething ( I called directory assistance)  showed  a  Black Angus in San Jose!  We took a short detour to Blossom Hill Road and were there before we knew it. We  finished off our great day with a 4th of July feast!   Ribeye steak on 4th of July is about as American as you can get!   From appitizer (onion rings and grilled artichokes) to dessert (root beer floats and Choc fudge cake w/vanilla ice cream),  it was all good. We've found some good friends in Michelle and John,  and its great to spend some fun times with them. And I'm not just saying that because they  bought dinner! 

Dinner was over and we were back on the road and heading home right at  the time all the  fireworks  were starting.   Made for a nice conclusion to our 4th of July.  We could see rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air all the way home. 

God Bless America

Happy Birthday Barbie!!

For the first time in many years, we are NOT in Tahoe for Barb's birthday.  Most years we are up there for 4th of July festivities,  and also arrange things so we are there for Barb's birthday.  Always  good times (and many good memories)  up there. This year we chose to avoid the hustle bustle of south shore on a holiday weekend, and just kick it at home for a change.   Barb's folks are coming into town today. We'll have a nice dinner out tonight.  This time of year is also the dreaded anniversary of her 2007  breast cancer diagnosis. The further we get from that day the better!  Barb is really back on track towards a healthful life. Cancer free and getting stronger and better everyday.   Here is a great picture of the birthday girl. We took a ride last week to the end of the creek trail. What a beauty!  Happy Birthday baby.  Enjoy your day!