jimsjoint

Red Tie Gala

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Red Tie Gala is a biennial event that enjoys the distinct reputation of being a highly successful fundraiser that is also an evening of fun, glamour, celebrities, culinary delights and libations and festive entertainment. Join the social event that has become one of the most popular evening galas in the city.

This event benefits the Little Sisters of the Poor in San Francisco, an organization that has been housing, caring for and serving the elderly poor of San Francisco.

Does it get any better than this?  I can't imagine.  Barb and I,  dressed to the nines,  with our good friends, enjoying a once in a lifetime evening up in the city.   The Red Tie Gala is a charity event to benefit the Little Sisters of the Poor in San Francisco. Vicky's Mom and Dad were very involved in this charity and actually helped start the Red Tie Gala years ago.  Since they have both passed away, Vicky and Steve wanted to keep the tradition alive and were kind and generous enough to invite us and a few  of their friends.  The event is held at Neiman Marcus on Union Square. The store is closed to public and set up for a party.  Live band on every floor,  big band to rock and roll. Food and drink from the best restaurants in the city.    

We picked up the Downings and head to the city.  Steve and Vicky had a room booked at the St. Francis and were hosting a pre-gala reception. They had a great room on the 8th floor that looked out over Union Square and the hustle bustle of the city. We could even see the crowd gathered at the entrance to Neiman Marcus across the way. After a cocktail and a few pictures, we headed over to the Gala.  The best way to describe this event is - a different party on every floor.  Right when we walked in, we see Elvis singing and people mingling.  Up the escalator.  Next floor, 20 piece orchestra playing all the oldies from the rat pack.  Even a couple of showgirls in full regalia.  Up again, Rock and Roll baby!!   Great band with go-go girls to boot!  We settled here for a while,  had a drink and sampled some of the food. Everywhere you looked there were tables setup where we  sampled appetizers from most of San Francisco's finest restaurants.  There were also drink stations. Vodka bar, gin bar, tequila bar, plus a full service bar on every floor.   It was so much fun.  We danced  the night away and had a great time.

The event was wrapping up around 11pm, but the night was not over.  We were invited to an exclusive after party at Alexandria's, a top the St Francis, hosted by close friends of Vicky's parents. The St. Francis on Friday night was hopping!  Up to the 32nd floor. WOW.  Sweeping views of the city and the beautiful people  (us among them) enjoying  each others company.  This party was really really REALLY nice.  Like I said, once in a lifetime experience. We were like the Gatsbys!   All good things must come to an end. We said our good-nights sometime after midnight and headed back home to reality. Ahhhhh.....the good life.

........on to the thanks!!!!!

Thanks to Barb for looking FANTASTIC.  You complete me.  Thanks for not screaming too loud when I stepped on your toes while dancing. 

Special Thanks to Vicky for the invite AND for dressing me.  I looked so good in her dad's Armani tux that I had to beat the chicks off with a stick.  Even a  Little Sister of the Poor was hitting on me!  Amidst all the fun I did reflect a bit, and hope that I made Peter Brusati proud.

Thanks to John Downing for being the designated driver. Lots of CHP on the way home, but we were golden!

Thanks for looking at the photo album here

We even have incriminating video!

Cal Bears

  For those of you that don't follow college football, a few short weeks ago the Cal Bears were on there way to a #1 national ranking and were cruising to a Rose Bowl birth.   A great start to the season and a MONSTER upset by arch rival Stanford over USC,  put Cal at #2 in the nation and started them smelling roses.  Then came three straight losses and a dizzying fall from grace. From #2 to #12 then out of the top 25 all together.  Ouch. To salvage any hopes of a trip to ANY bowl, the Bears had to turn it around last night with a win against the Cougars of Washington State University.  When a team starts hot and then hits the skids, you start to look for something to turn the team around. By the third loss the team is pulling out all stops to turn things around. The fans are looking for the lucky charm. The magic bullet.  The Bears found what they needed in a  rare Saturday night game last night at Memorial Stadium.. The magic bullet? Barb and Jim!

Some time last week our friends Michelle and John invited us to the Cal game. John is a Cal alum and they have been season ticket holders for the last 10 years. The rare 7pm start meant the Bears would be playing under the lights at Memorial Stadium. College Football Night in America! What a treat for us. Barb had just started feeling well enough for a night out. John and Michelle picked us up at 4pm and we headed up to Berkeley in their Sebring convertible.   It was a BEAUTIFUL November day in the Bay Area. Sunshine and temps is the 80's. We cruised with the top down all the way! Woohoo! CALIFORNIA BABY!! We got there early enough so we could stop at a local watering hole for some pizza and beer and hook up with some other friends of the Downings. Nothing like the excitement of gameday in Bear Territory. We made our way into the stadium and settled in with another 55,711 fans for what was supposed to be a high scoring game. It turned into a low scoring nailbiter, but a 20-17 win none-the-less. Although the Bears took an early lead and never gave it up, they never really put the game away either.  Even though the hardnosed Bear fans were fretting, Barb and I were having a great time, just enjoying the night.  In the end, the Bears closed it out with minutes to play to perserve the win. A win is a win and everyone leaves happy!  Thanks to John and Michelle for a great night out. We needed that!

Soul2Soul II

The best of times..... Faith Hill and Tim McGraw were in town for the Soul2Soul tour.  We saw this concert when they were in town last year. Staci got hooked so when they extended the tour and added a couple of shows in California at the tail end of the tour,  Staci joined the Faith Hill fan club so she could get premium seats for the show in Sacramento. She asked if we wanted her to get us tickets for the San Jose show. Even though we had seen them just 12 short month ago, they are so good that we decided it was worth it to see them again.    Kelly and Kate came along.  A family outing! YEA!

Of course the show was great.  Check out some of the pictures here.

Dinner at Wine Spectator Greystone

Barb and I traveled  to Napa for dinner yesterday evening. Staci had given us a "special dinner out" for Christmas and made reservations for us at the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant in the Culinary Institute of America, St Helena, in the heart of the Napa valley wine country. Grey Sky in Fremont made way to blue Sky in Napa. We arrived a bit early so we stopped at V. Sattui winery for a quick wine tasting before we headed to dinner. A drink on the outside patio while we waited for our table. Sunny spring day in Napa. Seated at a table for two inside, we settled in for a great meal. We shared most everything and ordered the Heirloom Apple Salad with mesclun greens, gorgonzola dolce.  Grilled Angus Hanger Steak with  porcini mushroom-mizuna salad, toasted brioche, sauce Poivrade. Barb ordered the Pan Seared Day Boat Scallops with housemade gnocchi, Jerusalem artichokes, chanterelles, porcini foam. Capped things off with the Molten Chocolate Lava Cake, Pineapple Tart with coconut ice cream, coffee and cappuccino.  What a fantastic meal! Everything (and I mean EVERYTHING!) was great. Thanks Staci!

Dinner @ McCovey's

We were just sitting around yesterday when Linda called and asked if we were ready for our dinner out?  I forgot that we had committed to going out when we talked on the phone last week. Either way, we are always up for dinner with the Loberts.  Tim and Linda were taking us out to dinner and not telling us where.  How fun.  They picked us up a little after 5pm yesterday and off we went. Heading up 880, I thought maybe a drive into the city or maybe Jack London Square. Then they take the 580/238 exit and I'm confused. Where can we  going out this way?  Truck Stop in Tracy? Anderson's Pea Soup in Santa Nella?  Then we get on 680 north and I figure is has to be someplace in the Walnut Creek area. When the GPS said "you have reached your destination".....

We were at McCovey's restaurant!

If you haven't heard of this place, its the bomb!  With Stretch's seal of approval,  a local restaurateur has turned this corner in yuppified Walnut Creek into the place to be! We rolled in a little after six and the place was packed!!!! STANDING ROOM ONLY!  Good thing Tim had made a reservation. The place was totally cool. Sports memorabilia everywhere. All with the seal of approval from Willie Mac himself. Hundreds upon hundreds of signed baseballs, bats, jerseys, pictures. EVERYTHING!  The hostess would announce names "now batting, Suzy party of two", On deck Sam Party of two". If Suzy didnt show up in time it was, "Suzy has struck out, now batting, Sam party of two". Very cool. The inside of the place was set up to look a litte like Pac Bell Park, complete with the right field arches, where McCovey cove would lie behind.

We sat in the Ernie Banks booth, right in the middle of the place, in between the Pete Rose and Roberto Clemente Booths. Direct views of two huge screen tvs,  multiple other tvs showing the end of the pro bowl then college basketball. Right behind us was a huge piece of memorabilia, Ticket stubs to every game where Barry Bonds hit a homer during his 73 home run year.  Above us a huge high ceiling complete with rotunda with an equally huge number 44 emblazed in orange and black. This place WAS McCovey's.  And the place was hoppin.

Cocktails and chicken wings while we settled in and drank in the ambiance, and perused the large menu. Great choice of standard type pub food, with a couple of Willie's favorites as well.  I settled on the fish tacos. Barb got the mahi mahi with a great coconut rice, Timmy had the fish and chips and Linda had the Chicken fingers appetizer.  All good. We had a great time visiting and catching up. Since we haven't seen the Loberts in a while, we had a lot of catching up to do.  Wrapped things up all splitting New York cheesecake and fudge brownie sundae. That along with a cappucino made for a great end to a fantastic meal. Oh YEAH!   Thought I was gonna explode!

Took a nice ride home through Niles Canyon and was back home by 9:30 What a great night it turned out to be!  Thanks to Tim and Linda for a good dinner and a great time!

Weekend Round up

Off to CSUEB on Friday afternoon to watch a little water polo. Kelly and the girls were hosting Cal Maritime in CSUEB's homecoming game. The game turned into a route early and our girls went on to win by a score of 22-7. Kelly scored a couple, one on a 5-meter penalty shot, the other on a last second steal in the 4th quarter.  Then it was off to dinner with the Sturms at Mirchi Cafe here in Fremont. I had the Chicken Punjabi Burger and Barb had the eggplant parm.  All great!

Got in a bike ride and a couple of walks this weekend too! I made some turkey chili, BBQ chicken and grilled Italian sausage with pepper and onions for Super Bowl. Yum! 

Toto's weekend

What a great winter weekend. The rain has stayed away and the cold spell that settled into the area the last couple of weeks finally moved on, making for a sunny, mild California weekend. Got in a bike ride Saturday morning. Nice 18 miler out the creek trail to Coyote and back. The flamingo is still there. Went to Kelly's first water polo game of the season. The alumni game was a tuneup for the Davis invitational next Sunday. Then a walk in the late afternoon with Barb.  While on the trail we ran into team Lewellyn,  who were also on a walk!  We talked about our plans to eat at Toto's pizza later that evening.  Both couples getting in a pre-pizza walk to counteract the calorie intake later!

Toto's was great.  We came with Kelly and her bud Jackie, while team Lewellyn brought along Number 2 daughter and Number 1 son and rent-a-guest, Nick. We had the usual extra large #2 with garlic.  Kelly likes the cheese with garlic so she and jackie had that. When the pizza pie comes to the table it smells sooooooo good!  Sometimes I can dine on the smell alone.

Sunday was a kick back day. Went for an early walk then settled in to watch some championship football. Left over pizza for lunch and frozen yogurt for dinner.

Thanks for the hat Steve!

Mr. X Rocks City Beach

In a city that is struggling to find a  nightlife, Fremont's City Beach  hosted roadhouse rockers, Mr. X  friday night in what can be described as a breakout performance by the band.  After making its debute just weeks earlier at a nightclub in Sunnyvale, Mr. X hit on all cylinders friday night as they powered through a tight set with a great  mix of roadhouse rock and gin joint blues.  Barb and I arrived a few minutes before the 10pm start and found a nice little corner table in the bar.  The place was hopping with a young, albiet nerdy, diverse crowd.  Joe and the boys were really good,  Muddy Waters, Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Skynyrd, all played at near perfection, to a crowd that wasn't even born when Hendrix was in his prime.  Not sure this band and this crowd was a good fit but it seemed that Mr. X won the crowd over. Getting more applause as the night went on, and even getting some requests from the crowd. Only the best is ahead for this group of veteran musicians as they begin to make their mark on the bay area music scene. Look for Mr. X at a venue near you!

Man, I hate those Dodgers

Another great weekend in Northern California!!  A couple of Giants / Dodgers games, with a Mission Peak hike and Coyote Hills bike ride thrown in for good measure. Barb and I went on a nice 16 mile bike ride after work on Friday. Beautiful cruise out to, and around Coyote Hills. Saturday morning we had planned on hiking Mission Peak and invited  team Vandenbusch along for the walk. Started at Ohlone College at 9am and made our way up while there was still some morning cloud cover. Team Vandenbusch was leading a grueling pace and pushing us up that hill at near record pace. We were atop the peak in 1 hour 15 minutes! I had planned ahead and brought some bloody mary makings (ice included) and other morning nutrition. Had a nice rest at the peak and recharged a bit. Great way to start the day! We were back down the hill, gone to Starbucks for iced green tea lemonades and back home by noon. The Mission Peak hike is a tough one. Not so much (ok, yes so much) on the way up or down, but afterwards. Usually need at least an hour to regroup after a hike like that. Not to mention the next day (and day after and day after) muscle aches!. Today my legs are still screaming! Walking like an old man.

I had bought tickets to the Saturday Giants / Dodgers game months ago. The  reason I got these tickets was because it was the Dodgers, it was a Saturday night (rare 6pm start!), and the seats were on the aisle. What more could you ask for? We met up with Tim and Linda at our house and I drove to the game. Parked at pier 48 and walked into AT&T park. It was "BEAT L.A." night so everyone got a 'BEAT LA" Giants cap. YAY!!!!!! Our seats were special. Section 302 in "view reserved",  which means nosebleed territory. Our seats were 3 rows from the top row at the last section on the right field side. Our section was "reversed pie shaped". At the top row there was only one seat. There were only four seats in our entire row! Pretty darn cool (and windy!) up there, with a great view of the field, McCovey Cove, the Bay Bridge and most of the Bay Area!  Great seats!   Unfortunately, we were stuck in a section that had a lot of Dodger fans. and even more unfortunately, the Dodger scored 10 runs in the first two innings. UGH!!. Still a fun night though. (check out the pictures here) The Giants ended up losing 14-7. Man I hate those Dodgers.

Sunday morning it was time to get ready for yet another Giants Dodgers matchup!. Redemption day!  Al Shull had called Friday night and invited me (along with Holy Spirit chums Steve and Phil) to the Sunday game. How could I resist!  Friday night I thought I could be witness to a sweep of the Dodgers!! By Sunday,  I was hoping that we would at least salvage a series win against the hated boys from Socal. The four men took BART from Fremont to the Embarcadero, then streetcar to the park. We arrived a bit early so we stopped in the ACME Chop House and sat at the bar for a pregame cocktail. The Chop House is "inside" the park and aside from Mo Mo's, the "place to be" before or after a Giants game. So we had a drink, got one "to go", and made our way to our seats for the 1:05 start. Shull is a season ticket holder who has four nice seat in the upper reserved. We sat in these seats last year when Al wanted some representation at Irish night at SBC Park. The seats were great, the day was great,  but the game stunk. When you can't hit AND can't pitch it makes luck your only hope. We did have some hope but luck ran out in the 9th. Bases loaded, tying run at the plate situation and two strike outs to end the game. Man I hate those Dodgers.

What a surprise to see Annette and Debbie show up at the game in the 8th inning!! They somehow  had gotten a couple of tickets and a premium parking pass to the game so they arrived late and surprised us!! Good thing the girlfriends were in line for beer at the time or it would have been an awkward moment! : ) It was nice to see Annette and Deb!  Al and Steve were especially happy. Al even got the added good news when he gets home he had a clogged toilet and had flooded the bathroom to deal with. YAY!  We said goodbye to Annette and Deb  and boarded the streetcar then BART train home with all the other dejected Giant fans, for the ride back to Fremont. Good thing there were no Dodger fans in sight or it could've got ugly : ) All in all a good weekend, but man, I hate those Dodgers

Gotta Have Faith

Back in 1996 Barb and I (and the kids) had season tickets to Shoreline Amphitheater.  For a few years back then, we were going to a lot of concerts. It was a real fun time for us as a family. We saw a lot of great shows.  One of the best was Tim McGraw's Spontaneous Combustion Tour. The tour where Tim McGraw and Faith Hill met and fell in love. By the time they came to California in late summer, word had already spread that Tim and Faith "liked each other" and were flirting big time on stage when they sang a duet. We were so lucky. Of all the concert tickets we bought through the season ticket program, the Tim and Faith tix were the best. Row E, which turned out to be 6 rows from the stage!  The entire concert was fantastic. Faith Hill has a fantastic voice. Tim McGraw puts on a rockin show! Yes, you could feel the chemistry between Tim and Faith on stage, they kissed after the duet!   There was however, a moment during the concert that is cemented in my mind forever.  We had bought the girls these little Faith Hill bandanas as a souvenir. A red girly bandana with FAITH HILL printed on it that the girls were holding up and dancing with. We were so close to the stage that Faith could easily see these cute little girls (then 8 & 9 years old) dancing and showing the bandanas they just bought. All through her set Faith waved to Kate and Kelly and smiled that dazzling, beautiful smile. Faith loved our girls!  It was totally cool.  The topper was that when Faith was singing her then #1 hit “wild One” and sang the line:

“When she was 3 years old on her daddy's knee, He said you can be anything you want to be!"

She pointed right at Kelly and Kate and sang "you can be anything you want to be" Barb and I looked at eachother. "did that just happen?" We were excited; "she just sang to the girls!" It was THAT moment that made us Faith Hill fans forever!