katestine | Entries tagged with wine

Thursday was my best day of rock climbing this year. ( Black Fly, Nice 5.9 Climb, RMC, Jane ) By then we were quite beat, so he gave me a ride to the station and I read all the way home. It was a great day.

Friday morning, I woke up and decided I need to climb a mountain, bc summer is ending and I have nothing booked and no plans. I was debating between a 12-day alpine rock leading class in the Bugaboos, a 6-day alpine ice class, or a quickie up Rainier. Chose the last, largely bc with no training, it was the most do-able, but also bc my guide from the Himalayas would be there. Spent the rest of the day booking that. Fri night, I went to Ct and had dinner at the best bar in town.

Saturday morning, bc Jon and I were there, my mum had us clean the pool furniture to bring to my brother's new house. Cleaning with a son of Hestia is So. Hard. but he made lots of inappropriate funnies, so I forgave him. My brother's new place is huge and gorgeous. It turned out to be quite a party, even though really, the best parts of the day were playing in the pool with his daughter and watching my mother ride around in her granddaughter's Power Wheels car.

We came back to the city in just enough time to dress for the Living Social Glow-in-the-Dark 5K, the worst race I've ever "run". The course was barely marked and they didn't sort people by time, so with thousands running, it was more an obstacle course, especially in the dark. There were some cool light decorations on the course, but I'd never do this again unless I had an opportunity to get high first. Once we finished in Citi Field, there weren't enough bars/food stands open. Jon and I danced for a bit, which was fun, then we got something to eat and watched the monitors, before heading home.

I woke pretty early on Sunday, washed my hair one last time, and finished packing. I'd planned to pack only my expedition duffle, but with extra boots, clothes for a play party, etc. I ended up with a rolling carry-on as well. oops. Eventually Jon got me out the door and I rode the subway all the way to JFK. I was earlyish for my flight, which is a shame bc Delta's new T4 really isn't ready for prime time. Still, I had a nice lunch at Marcus Samuelsson's Uptown Brasserie, Swedish meatballs and a cocktail. My flight sat on the runway for 2 hours, which would have been more annoying if I wasn't sitting next to the former head sommelier at the Bellagio, who had stories.

TWH cheerfully picked me up at the airport and even though she's just finished moving and was leaving the country a few days later, was the absolute perfect hostess. She had things for me to eat at her house (even though we eat opposite things), she made me tea, she sent me home with almost as many books as I returned. It made me wish I'd visited her in Seattle sooner. She took me to Glow for cream cheese and raspberry stuffed French toast and then drove me to the car rental agency.

To be continued...

I've never been anywhere that required context more than Venice. Without it, Venice is an old town with bizarre transportation; with context, Venice is a glittering museum, a carefully preserved monument to trade and its benefits. Julian arranged for a private historic walking tour that included take-home maps and charts. How cool is that? I don't think a walking tour was the most efficient way to download that knowledge, but no book that I'd read before the trip pulled it all together the way Michael did. I knew that the Venetians had stolen the body of St. Mark; I hadn't realized the deep political considerations that eventually made it a symbol of the city. Even City of Fortune, Roger Crowley's otherwise superb economic history of the city in the first half of the last millennium, fails to mention that the Normans against whom the Venetians fought on behalf of the Byzantine empire (for which they received valuable trading rights in the empire) were actually mainland Italians, ruled by the HRE. ( Things we learned )

Then we did our bit to help the city's commerce by heading to the Rialto. I stopped at a random store and picked out jewelry for Julian's female relatives, as well as a scarf ring for me. I haven't been able to find documentary evidence, but I have a deep suspicion that we wandered into the exact same store where my father and sister bought me a Murano glass necklace when THEY were in Venice three years ago. Then we bought masks at another store and headed to dinner.

Antiche Carampane is rated #57 out of Venice's 980 restaurants by TripAdvisor and it was my favorite meal of the trip. ( what we ate ) I remember being very full and very drunk and ordering dessert and dessert wine anyhow. And then I was very happy. I bet I drunkenly sang to Julian all the way home.

It's a good thing Julian was super-excited and super-organized for our trip, bc I did a rubbish job of prepping. ( Books I sorta almost read ) but I'm glad I did, because otherwise I'd've had absolutely no idea who San Marco was.

We started Friday in the campanile, getting an aerial view of the city. Then we took a quick walk around the basilica itself. I wish I'd known more about the Fourth Crusade before we went, bc otherwise the reliquary is just a creepy room full of bones. I'd also have known to wonder if the art we saw in the Treasury was Venetian or Byzantine; probably the latter, I guess. Both Julian and I were much more impressed with the gilt work we saw than by the paintings in the Academia. About a particularly exquisite crystal Virgin Mary, Julian commented, "It blows my mind that by the fourth century, they could make that, but they didn't know how to draw a nose." I think it was Roger Crowley who talks about how the basilica was a combination of propaganda and treasure house, displaying all the loot stolen from fellow Christians. ur doin' Christianity wrong.

Next was the "Secret Itinerary" tour of the Doge's Palace, mostly a ploy to avoid the line into the site, but also filled with amusing factoids about the Council of Ten and Casanova. I'm surprised Julian and I didn't spend more time talking about the Republic's philosophical impact on the Founding Fathers. Instead, we discussed what kind of play party we'd throw and whether the strapado stand would be a good place for a suspension *facepalm* Also, I'm beginning to suspect I like first millenium Islamic architecture, although I like the Venetians' interp better than, say, the Alhambra, so when I am queen, my palace will probably bear a distinct resemblance to the Doge's Palace.

Julian had to work, so he missed Museo Correr, which is one of the coolest museums I've ever visited. ( a private collection from a unique time ) It'd be a great place to take a clever tween.

We had Friday night dinner in Il Ghetto at L'Anice Stellato. ( delicious )

I'm having trouble writing about my trip to Geneva bc I feel bad about being so negative. On the other hand, one of the top 5 things that happened on the trip was my niece pooping herself and trying to eat it, involving her mother plaintively calling my brother to help. It was kinda awesome, really.

Part of the problem is that Geneva is the most boring European city I've ever been to. Jon and I were so bored, we ended up at a museum about the Reformation. They actually had a really cool multimedia presentation about the history from Luther to Calvin, although I found the one about predestination confusing. It also made it clear that if part of your identity is being a Calvinist city, you're not going to have gorgeous churches or art. I also decided, based on the room about the 8 French religious wars in 40 years, that I'm never studying French history again ever.

Oh, and when one of your biggest tourist features is a water jet, ur doin it rong. Being surrounded by dull, French-speaking people brought out my worst ugly American impulses, but every waterpark in America has a jet like that. I ran past it 6 times bc the boardwalk around Lake Geneva doesn't go all the way to the French border. I almost ended up in France on my longest run that week.

It's also horrifyingly expensive. My mom wanted to meet a friend of hers at admittedly one of the nice bars in town. My Cuban rum was delicious and not insanely expensive for a hotel bar in Europe, maybe 17F? Which is roughly $17. However, at $45 for a burger, I decided I'd rather have blood sugar issues after a run than buy one.

The weather was pure fall, which is to say terrible for outdoor activities. We failed to go biking. We took an overnight trip to Chamonix, except it poured most of the first day we were there. When we spoke to a guide about doing something, anything, technical, they said the rocks were too water-logged for climbing and they weren't sure if the snow was waist-deep or chest-deep bc no one had been up to the high mountains in a while. The weather wasn't anyone's fault, but why my mum didn't learn that all but one of the cable cars would be closed by October when she was there in July I don't understand. Jon figured out the reason I was so very snarly the first half of the trip was that it was a series of unplanned, let alone optimized, rest days and he pointed out that when we travel, I'm not even very pleasant on planned rest days. oops.

It also would've helped if people had let me sleep more. The first night, Jon and I slept until noon on my brother's $3K mattress, but after that, my mum would bang on our door between 7 and 9am every morning, yelling that we were late for some activity she'd discovered since leaving my brother's place at midnight the night before.

I forgave her for doing that the morning we woke in Chamonix. The Aiguille du Midi is a GREAT example of why cable cars >> mountaineering. I was jealous of the people with harnesses, helmets, ice axes, and rope in the car up, but watching all the walking they would do to see not much more than we did, even I had to admit it was a retarded benefit-cost ratio. We got at least 80% of the benefit with <20% of the effort. Moreover, we had hot chocolate with rum and whipped cream at the top.

I still don't know if my mum particularly scheduled our day trip to Gruyere for Columbus Day Actual, but it was awesome. ( Mmm... dairy ) Yum.

We also took day trips to the wineries at Vevey and Yvoire and while I enjoyed walking through the vineyards, the pretty daughter of the winemaker serving us all their (not tasty) wines, and the delicious fried trout? perch? overlooking the water, the constant confusion and lack of optimization was irritating.

So really, the best part of the trip was teaching my niece how to use her walker, how to use a sippy cup, and sometimes it's good to eat things that don't come from nipples.

The emergent themes of the weekend were navigation failure and decision fatigue. Bc my roofdeck is closed and boats on the river were overpriced, our sole July Fourth activity was a barbecue at Lbro's place, hosted by Bbro for his friends, what with Lbro being in Switzerland and all. I'm glad we went bc not only does my brother not know how to work our brother's stereo, he's never grilled in his life. So basically my boyfriend spent Independence Day chained to a grill, cooking for people he'd just met, most of whom turned out to be baby lawyers. Then we went home and did laundry together and he was still cracking jokes. Most. Long-suffering. Boyfriend. Evuh!

Thurs we spent so much time discussing what we might do, we only managed to go to the gym. We were going to go kayaking in the evening, but I discovered I was too tired and felt light-headed, so we punted and had dinner with my parents and sister instead. When my mum first told me we were having dinner at Lincoln, I assumed it was some mediocre American restaurant. Well, it's an American restaurant - an extraordinarily elegant one in Lincoln Center. oops. I loved the drinks and our appetizer, but mostly I loved our bartender and server.

We came home too sleepy & drunk to pack, so Fri morning was rough and we turned up 1.5hrs late for our free day of guided climbing. When guides need (re)certification, they need practice clients and NRod is such a good customer of this guiding company, they invited her and us for a day of top-roping at the Gunks. It started slow, but Pongo got to follow a guide up Bunny (**) including a 5.6 roof, and NRod and I worked on the 5.10a roof, Shit or Go Blind. Eventually one of the guides put in some directionals so we could figure out the 5.8 roof instead.

It was nice not having to rush back to the city: we shared beers with NRod at her bucolic house before some shopping and then dinner at the Gilded Otter. Note to self: their black & blue, a combination of cream stout and blueberry lager, tastes delish. I =have= to get back there before it rotates off the menu.

( musings on adventures )

The drive back to NYC was pretty countryside and we got Boston Market on the way home. We dashed out some push-ups, mostly for entertainment purposes. I was mucking about on Fitocracy when Pongo got dressed to go to his gym and threatened dire things if I was on the couch when he got back. What could I do but go to the Park? I had 4.5mi left to run this week, so I ran up to the Great Hill Oval, ran 2 sprints (in 7 and 8mins booyah!), and got lost trying to get home again. oops. When I walked in the door, Pongo said, "I don't want to exercise any more." We showered and collapsed in bed, not emerging until 10 the next morning.

The city might've been empty, but my sister couldn't get brunch reservations for my mum's birthday, so we went for dim sum. Pongo won big points for trying every weird thing we put in front of him and I learned that disliking cauliflower is an old Jewish guy thing. Bbro jokingly invited us back to his apt and was alarmed when we went. Turns out my mother considers mani-pedis quality time, even when we don't talk to each other. w00h00! We hit Shake Shack for a quick snack before heading to kayaking.

Kayaking Week got off to a slow start: while I'm not convinced the sit on top kayaks were that much less maneuverable than the decked ones, my arms got sore quickly and paddling against the current was hard. The guide didn't seem interested in improving our form, even though it was just Evil English, Pongo, and myself. I did like bouncing the front of my kayak on the waves though and I can't wait for whitewater. Afterward, the three of us headed off to a most agreeable meal at Tia Pol. The waitress accidentally brought us a bottle of rioja that's older than I am, which almost makes this morning's hangover worthwhile.

I woke up at 6am on Sun morning, with plenty of time to go to lessons the only morning both Academy and adult group lessons meet -- and realized I'd be better off getting some extra sleep to treat my cold. Slept for another 3 hours, then dressed for the family gathering. ( ah family ) I spent an embarrassing part of the evening reading about and then calling guiding companies, before Pongo turned up. I keep edibles in the house for perhaps longer than my menfolk consider wise, but wine ought to be fine, right? We opened a half-bottle of Grgich Hills fume blanc and while it was from 2005, I was surprised at how dark the color was. It also tasted a lot heavier than I expected, although still interesting. It didn't go particularly well with salmon leftovers either. I'm not sure if it was that or being too excited about talking about the Himalayas that made it hard for me stay asleep. oops.

It was awfully nice to go skating at 9am on Mon: the rink was quieter and I got to watch an old couple ice dance -- before he went off to practice with a male instructor. So very hot. ( skating ) I had a surprisingly small window that afternoon to research new landline phones and call medical offices before it was time to head to Pongo's for Valentine's Day observed. He made cracktatoes and London broil. The brunello my boss bought for my party didn't turn out to be a particularly good pairing but it was alcoholic and then we watched surprisingly good porn. ( less plot would have been more enjoyable )

I met a new instructor at Tues morning's Academy lesson and she showed me a trick for practicing 3-turns with a scarf. David complimented my forward stroking *facepalm* Met a former cow orker for lunch but the very bestest part was Julian's double-take when he saw me quietly sitting in his work lobby. MUAHAHAHAHA. After lunch, he and I went to Starbucks (first since I got laid off?!) and he brought me pig caramels and homemade truffles. I win! I dropped off my skates for sharpening, came home, and collapsed. Pongo told me if I was tired, maybe a quiet night alone at home would help and he was absolutely right. Best. Boyfriend. Evuh. I read a horrible book for a few hours and went to bed.

Weds morning I ran for the first time in 3 weeks. It was drizzly and I was unmotivated, so I went back for an extra jacket I knew I didn't need and listened to James Bond rather than my usual logistics porn. Middle 4 in 45mins, but I didn't have to ice my knee after, so that's that. Then I had breakfast with my neighbor my former coworker, who told me about her house hunt and let me talk through vacation time, regulatory requirements. Then I went to my eye appt. ( I should've stuck to my usual doc )

My therapist tells me I need to make time for vegging. Considering I was scheduled for 8 things on Weds, she might be right. My former cow orkers went to the 'burbs to celebrate Donut Day, so instead I picked up my skates from sharpening. I punted evening skating, the tech/patent-related networking event, and a class of tying up men to... read half a relevant book and half-pack.

Thurs morning I went... skating. The Academy lesson was dull: we spent the whole time working on "tempo" in crossovers. The only good part is I realized how bad I am at back crossovers, so I practiced those after. I was very bad and signed up for a private lesson with David. WHICH WAS AWESOME. I hadn't realized how good a lesson can be. ( Read more... )

Unfortunately, it cut into packing time, so I ran around frantically and barely made my train to NJ. It was so very nice to see GMac at the station and then we went to Gravity Vault. ( climbing ) Then it was off to the diner for dinner and home for quiet reading before bed.

puppy dog bailed on me Fri night bc of his other mistress' birthday: so far, he's bailed on me the last two times and I've bailed on him once. That I know this says everything about what's happened to our relationship. Instead I finished Harry Connolly's Child of Fire, which is perfectly decent magic noir.

Despite going to bed at a reasonable hour, I was all sorts of cranky pants when it was time to go skating the next morning. I wasn't even interested in going for a private lesson, although I had so much fun in the group lesson, I went for it anyhow. ( Read more... )

I did 3 loads of laundry and finished unpacking from my last two adventures and packing for my weekend. I can't believe that took so much of the day! or how tired I was after! Which made me way late for Pongo's cassoulet party.

The irony is, I regularly complain about how I hate French food bc it's yucky-I-mean-fancy, but really, cassoulet is stew from our last 5 meals. Of course, being post-modern hipsters, our chef had to make each dish before finally assembling it on cooking day. As well as making the crusty bread to go with it. Someday I'll date someone who takes the easy way out. Julian brought a French wine that paired beautifully and

viviane212 brought an Aussie shiraz that was just plain awesome. And then after all that - and not letting us help with cleanup - Pongo made his famous French toast for breakfast!

Suitably fortified, everyone agreed to go to the Brooklyn Museum with me. I still don't understand how Youth and Beauty: American Art of the 1920s wasn't mobbed, considering they've had subway posters for a month now and Sunday was the last day. I didn't know much about the art of the period, but it turns out all my fave photographers were working then. It was also interesting to go directly from that exhibit to the end of Hide/Seek, to go from the 20s view of the human body, when it first started being okay for people to wear bodycon clothes, to sexuality in the last 2 decades. I liked the former exhibit better, bc they explained the trends with wall notes, but given the highly political nature of the latter, maybe that's for the best. I also liked the end of the exhibit better than the beginning, bc the gay identity was more explicitly and better explained. As

misterjulian observed, a random photo of Walt Whitman does not illuminate his omnisexuality.

It does strip the gears a bit to go straight from there to my niece's bedside at the hospital. 7lbs 13oz and nobody seems to know her length. She has a full head of black hair, a nose that got caught and necessitated a c-section, long toes -- and the cutest thing about her is watching how tenderly my brother coos at her. At least, that's what I think he was doing through the window of the NICU. They got a belly iPod and he recorded the following message to play to her in utero: Hello [name]. This is your daddy. I like numbers and I know you will too. 1, 2, 3... The brainwashing starts young in my family. I got to meet my niece's grandmother and LBro and I carved out a bit of time to chat about family matters before I headed home.

~~This post will be moved to its appropriate place in the timeline in a few days.~~

I'm not sure any more how I learned there's ice climbing around Banff: I picked it bc my mum said the scenery is amazing and Pongo seemed interested in skiing. Then we got on the plane and I opened Will Gadd's Ice and Mixed Climbing and discovered every picture in the book is from that bit of Canada. oops.

Our guide Patrick is possibly the best guide I've ever had. ( And the Junkyards in Canmore are pretty awesome for a crag that's practically in town ) Then it got better.

Patrick said the weather was right to do Lake Louise Falls, so the next day, we ( did ) We actually got back so early, Pongo and I hit the hot tub before showers and dinner at the concierge's best recommendation for a steakhouse, Saltlik, which happened to be one of the restaurants I wanted to try based on Frommers. I can't remember which special we started with, but we shared a bodacious rib eye. It was indeed very tasty, although I remember it being not quite enough food, even with lobster mashed potatoes and asparagus. We also tried a Canadian merlot, which Pongo wouldn't let me order as our bottle, bc apparently "not tasting like a merlot" is not a reason to order a merlot. oh well.

Weds was our rest day: we lingered over the buffet breakfast and then headed to a corner of the castle with a view of the curling courts and some big mountain in the distance. I feel bad that my bf was reading patent applications while I flipped through Cosmo, but considering how revved my engine was when we got back to the room, he's talking about getting me a subscription. We had decent massages and bought chocolate, before heading to the ski shop around the corner from our hotel. Unfortunately, by the time we were done getting fitted and buying lift tickets, we couldn't get a reservation for dinner, so we headed to the Waldhaus Pub. It was crowded, which I can deal with, having lived in NYC for over a decade, but the bartender didn't seem interested in serving drinks and they had no discernible system for getting people queued for tables. The service was terrible all night and it was emblematic of the irritations of our trip.

I was nearly as impressed with our ski instructor. ( And Sunshine Village is a gorgeous ski resort )

Thurs night, we had another magnficent dinner at Maple Leaf Grill. We started with the game platter, which included venison? carpaccio, more bison sausage, duck pate?, duck thingy, and a few other local animals. I think Pongo had the bison meatballs and pasta. I had two appetizers, possibly a salad? and cheddar & apple wontons which were totally delish. I finished with a glass of ice wine with a honey like sweetness made by somebody & somebody. argh.

btw, as if he didn't deserve major props for driving me everywhere, knowing exactly how to get our car fixed when it misbehaved, having good grace through all challenges, oh yeah AND SURVIVING A KATE-STYLE VACATION, Pongo totally wins points for letting me drag him to a local smelly face stuff store AND a tea shop where I deliberated and bought one of everything. And tried to lend me cash to do so. He's a saint.

Our concierge couldn't get us reservations for the fondue place in town and suggested we tried the Waldhaus in the hotel. I carelessly said, "Is it a different menu than the (Waldhaus Pub) downstairs? Bc the food was ok, but I wouldn't go back." He made us a reservation for Fri night and told us that he'd ask for us to get a fireplace table, one of the best in the house, as an apology for Weds night. oops. Then the manager (who imho had been a little bitchy on Weds) apologized, brought us bubbly, and checked on us all night. ARGH. I was miffed, but NOT seppuku miffed. The fondue was also awesome. I eat as much fondue as possible and I thought their cheese concoction was particularly tasty. I loved their chocolate fondue as well, but really, I was thankful we could catch a shuttle bus back to our doorstep, instead of walking.

The piece de resistance of the trip was dogsledding. I've jumped out of planes, leapt from bridges, dived with penguins and seahorses - but dogsledding was the wildest thing I've ever done. We were introduced to each of our furry engines and "helped" harness them. When that sled took off, it was crazy: we were on a sled! dragged by animals! that can't talk! eek! The itinerary was perfect: just long enough for us to chat with the driver, enjoy the scenery, and get a frisson of fear. They took us 5km out on Spray Lake to a magnificent view and fed us hot chocolate and cookies. I particularly like that Pongo got to see the remarkable scenery, instead of just driving through it.

The one part of the trip that I really failed to plan was New Year's: I hadn't considered the cross-implications of a 1.5hr drive to the airport for an international flight that left at 7am on New Year's Day. Instead, we grabbed kobe burgers at The Eddie Burger & Bar before heading home to pack. Pongo got to use the hemp he'd brought to Canada and we fell asleep before the ball dropped, happy in each other's arms.

I hate the UN, although I admit I have less tolerance for Obama's visits than I did for Bush's. (Possibly bc I was less worried about Bush sucking up to Dinnerjacket.) The only car company that had anything available was Lincoln Limousine -- which sent us a white stretch limo, but an hour late. Grr. Fortunately, our flight was delayed half an hour. NRod seemed to think being the driver meant she got to choose the route, but she was wrong and I directed her through I-64/77, which took 75mins door to door.

I thought The Loft room at the Morris Harvey was creepy when I saw it last year, but it was the only room with private bath available for this more busy weekend. At 11pm, the second bedroom was even creepier, with pastel drawings of children everywhere. NRod and I decided to share the full in the other room rather than sleep there. Finding National Geographics from 1951, the hall lightbulb burning out, and regularly bumping our heads didn't improve our impression of the room.

After we booked, we discovered it was a Chicks With Picks weekend. While I've been curious about their events, we'd be missing the Fri night dinner and they only provide a half day of climbing on Sunday, so NRod and I went on our own. We couldn't go with last year's guides, bc they were all doing the Chicks event, so we went out with Hard Rock Climbing. Jessa was inexperienced as a guide, but sweet, eager-to-please, an excellent climber/leader, and our height. ( The climbing made up for everything, from the very first morning )

The Secret Sandwich Society is no longer open in the mornings, so we had to drive 15mins back to town for lunch. The owner was a bit bitchy this year and the McKinley seemed to have more mayo? this year. My system was unhappy the next morning, like last year, although in both cases I don't know if it was the McKinley or salads at Pies & Pints. I'd still go back to SSS, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it.

( Classic crack )

When I packed for the trip, I noticed the rubber splitting on my only pair of climbing shoes. I thought I'd send it in for re-soling in December, before I left for Ouray, so I could take a few weeks off and not have to rent shoes. By mid-morning on Saturday, both shoes had split rubber and I could feel my feet slipping more than they ought. I asked Jessa about borrowing shoes from her company, but she said even my cracked Mythos would be better. ( Kate goes shoe shopping in West Virginia ) I have shoes by Gucci and Prada in my closet, but I love these better.

After the shoe shopping adventure, we picked up lunch and headed to Beauty Mountain, where we finally encountered the Chicks Sans Picks ( and climbed some more sweet Nutall sandstone )

This year we went to Pies & Pints on Sat night and Vandalian's on Sun, which was a mistake. P&P was a zoo, with a bachelorette party and rowdy rafters. Vandalian's was delicious as always and they served MacMurray pinot noir, one of the few wines I've ever gone back to buy more of for my cellar. Unfortunately, half a bottle was enough for me to sleep badly and wake with night terrors about the movie The Others (the only horror film I've seen in the past decade). The drive to CRW was smooth enough and we found a rest stop with a gas station on 64/77 that I should remember from the drive out. Unfortunately, NRod was snarly when I offered help backing out and then in the cab from the airport - we should've dropped her off first, but I didn't choose the order. I came back awfully grumpy considering what great climbing we had.

,bc bail is expensive.

my new white peep toe pumps. <$100, comfortable, and oh so sexy.
losing 2lbs bc I've switched to sex rather than restaurant dinners for my dates.
sexy, smart people who are relentless in making plans with me, sometimes for restaurant dinners, sometimes for sex.
being able to say no.
all the awesome people in my life who like showtunes. Especially the one who sings back at me when I absentmindedly start singing on the street, in the shower, etc.
my climbing mentor who not only tolerates my incompetence, but spends cycles thinking of climbs I might enjoy.
a fully stocked cellar ranging from "what was I thinking?" to sublime. Tonight's selection was so very bad, I'm mixing it with diet tonic water.

Current Mood: I feel better already

I had a whole bunch of things I wanted to do in Virginia, and with TWH leaving in the foreseeable future, I'm glad I convinced a bunch of friends to do them.

Fri night, Evil English and I went to 1-2-3 Burger-Shot-Beer to try and use a $30 Groupon. Somehow this required 4 shots each, oops, which still wasn't enough to make the Bolt Bus scrum pleasant, double oops. I have to say, we took Bolt down and Vamoose back and the latter is ever so much more comfortable, mostly bc boarding is organized. I also kinda wondered about the racial mixes: the people running Vamoose appeared to be African-American, whereas many of the clients seemed to be Jewish. weird. Maybe that's bc they pick up in Bethesda? I dunno.

Sat we went to brunch with the Mauses. I've never been to Cracker Barrel for breakfast before, but country ham made my eggs almost in the hole just right. Then we drove to Charlottesville for wine tasting. (I wasn't kidding when I told Pongo Sat was too much food and alcohol day.)

I was terribly disappointed by both Barboursville and Horton this time. ( Read more... )

Then we checked into the hotel and drove to the microbrewery. It was too dark to see the gorgeous scenery and frankly the roads were creepy deserted. I had the smokehouse platter, which included chicken, ribs, and turkey in this case; I could still taste the strong smoke the next day. My Hefweizen was fine, but I was more shocked by my companion's beer: it wasn't a Hefweizen but it also didn't taste nasty. Like, whoa.

Sun morning we tested the sturdiness of the Courtyard's sofa before slowly making our way to breakfast. I once more ordered the country ham, which my companions declared to be the size of some countries. The banana pecan pancakes were delish, which was good, bc we had a big day ahead.

It was about 1:22pm before we finally set off on our hike. I was worried and considered switching to a shorter route, as the one we were on is described as "strenuous" by Shenandoah's NP rangers. ( It all worked out in the very end. )

I was ready to let everyone sleep in the next day, but we ended up going to Manassas after all. I'd done a terrible job of prepping this part of the trip: I hadn't even read the Wiki article on the second battle. d'oh! I was impressed with the museum and visitor's center at Gettysburg; I'm even more impressed with Manassas. They had a fantastic 3D map which lit up in time with a narration of the battle: seeing the terrain like that, it made perfect sense what happened and why. The movie made it even more clear. Unfortunately, the museum doesn't have as good an explanation of Second Manassas: Pongo tells me it's bc the second battle was bigger. We stopped at the bookstore, where I picked up a souvenir magazine -- and my evil gf found a book on geology and the battle. yeargh. Then we walked out to Henry Hill House and took a picture with the statue of Thomas Jackson. So yeah, now we've visited the scene of a big Northern victory and a big Southern victory (or two). And I really want to read more books about Porter Alexander and Mosby and counterinsurgency and tactics and and and.

The best thing about the weekend was how ordinary it was - nothing death-defying, just stuff people do when they're on vacation - and yet it was incredibly wonderful. I took an egg cheat and had breakfast in a perfectly ordinary diner; after having been in so many places trying for that ambience, it was amusing to have (delicious!) eggs and coffee in the real deal.

Frommer's guide to NY state lists "Black Mountain" as the best hike in the southern 'dacks; ( it was at least my best )

The nearest Zagat-rated restaurant was 42mi away, so after showers, we went to a random restaurant I found in the local ad supplement, with the superb name of The Lobster Pot. Bc really, any summer when you haven't eaten lobster outside is wasted. I was a wuss and had the lobster tail, which was fine. I also had a bikini-tini and proper clam chowder. It was a random choice - and it was exactly right. (Like so much of the trip.) Then we played pirate-themed mini-golf, which was superb: I was really awful at it and laughed and made faces when my ball did untoward things. Then we got ice cream at Stewart's and got a night cap and everyone was just so friendly/helpful/nice. Yaay travel!

Sun morning we woke to thunderstorms: so much for the boat ride. Instead we went to Lake George's best vegan restaurant, a burger shoppe, where I had a veggie burger. It was not awful, although my companion had to save me from the amount of jalapenos I'd eaten. Wandering through town, we happened on the Adirondack Winery, the worst winery I've been to in my life. ( Read more... )

I'm personally very proud of the logistics of this trip bc the transportation went so smoothly, even though I overestimated the driving times. Which meant that Sun night, I had time to hit the gym for balance work and order Chinese food. Mon, I ran an extra mile during my run bc I felt so good. I did all sorts of things I'd been dawdling on, like finishing my book about Darwin and finally cooking seitanic jambalaya.

I've had Veganomicon since before the experiment started, bc I'd been planning to cook for Lbro, but I don't have time for LJ, let alone cooking. It was the most intriguing recipe in the book, bc I *heart* jambalaya and it's a good, filling lunch. Cooking was rather dramatic: I forgot to scale down the recipe so even though I didn't have enough beans, it was still threatening to overflow the pot. Halfway through, I realized it finishes in the oven, so I ended up using a casserole dish for the overflow. The rice took far longer to cook than expected, so I had to keep checking it, which also involved balancing the amount of water between the two pots. At one point I started ladling water from one container to another, but it was spilling, so I grabbed for the handle to move the pots together. That would be the metal handle that had been in the oven for 40mins. OWOWOWOW. I ran my hand under running cold water for 3 10min intervals (between checking the food for doneness), but I'm afraid my long-suffering gf heard me whining about it our whole conversation.

Pongo was kind enough to do the research and tell me the Macys fireworks would be over the Hudson this year. I don't know how I've lived in this building for 6 years and never seen them before. ( The Long Ka-boom )

Thurs night, I baked cupcakes for the first ever, using a yellow cake and chocolate ganache recipe from Cook's Illustrated's website. It turned out to be far easier than expected, although I found the cake boring and a little tough, and the frosting was also too sweet bc I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet instead of good chocolate. It's harder than making muffins in that it requires the mixer and two steps, but mmm... batter.

I was making cupcakes bc Sat is Petite Fromage's birthday and his new midshipwoman makes decorated cupcakes, the bitch. I knew my cake would be better and I'm still bitter about him abandoning me to CaseusUrsine untender mercies, so I made cupcakes and planned to decorate, take a picture, and bring them to work for our 2pm meeting on Fri. The decorating thing didn't work out - heck, The Joy of Cooking was so wrong about being able to dip the cupcakes into the frosting head first and have something lovely come out. Oh well. Everyone liked them bc, well, cupcakes! And Petite Fromage said I was mean to not bring him cupcakes and both Raita and Evil English sent him taunting emails, so mission accomplished.

Fri night I took the bus to New Paltz. ( GMac is very silly ) ( what we climbed ) I said I'd be willing to lead something and Easy V, a 5.2 **(!) PG, was nearby. It took me for-farkin'-ever and I think my pieces were rarely good and there was one section that was "run out" (meaning: I was pretty far above my last piece such that if I fell, I'd fall a long ways) and there was a ton of rope drag and the less said of my anchor, the better. But I did it!!

GMac tried to convince me to ride home with him and catch a train to Penn Station from NJ, which I felt bad declining, but I got on the bus and fell asleep before we got on the highway. I barely got myself home and slept for 8 hours. Felt like I'd been run over by a truck the next morning: I was so sore! From a short, not particularly hard (the afternoon anyway) day. Recovery is hard.

I accomplished very little on Sunday, although I put away all my luggage. Sun evening, Evil English and I went kayaking on the Hudson with Manhattan Kayak Co as part of a GroupOn I found the day I returned from Mt. Whitney. The instruction was far more thorough than anything I'd done in the past - I didn't realize the height of the high hand was so important - and I felt like I was cruising at times, even going against the current. Going straight is hard though. The secondary instructor is handsome and has an English accent - and started telling me about the whitewater upstate, near New Paltz natch, and how he gives lessons. heh. All in all, I had fun and like a teensy bit better than skiing, bc I don't know how to do it yet, so I would go if I had folks to do it with.

Funny enough, when I'd groused a few months back about LBro being allowed to stay with his gf in the guest bedroom at my parents' house, Pongo commented, "Well, your mom does want grandkids." Mischief managed. ( Read more... ) So yeah, soon the Stine gear collective will have onesies and a Bugaboo, as well as ski gloves and hats.

Tia Pol, aka the restaurant I love about as much as Le Bernardin, happens to be between kayaking and the subway, so I stopped in to celebrate. ( what I ate ) I stumbled home, lay in bed for two hours, and called my long-suffering gf. When all's said and done, there's no one who is as dependable - and awesome - as her. I'm very lucky.

Current Music: (Grand Hotel) "The Grand Waltz"

Apparently I can be drunk but still feel ankle pain. Dammit. I was relaxing with a glass of Pedro Ximenez on Thurs night when I read something triggery on FB and switched to bourbon and emails from happier times. bleh. The only way out is through, etc.

I've mentioned the royal wedding party from Fri morning. Evil English served homemade scones and the like and I had a glass of prosecco and watched The Kiss (TM) and more importantly, saw the hat live.

Had a lovely lunch at Bar Americain, which I've concluded is my third or fourth favorite restaurant near work. I do like their sweet potato crusted chicken pot pie, although that seems to be the only unusual things I like on their menu. I don't think I had anything to drink...

After work, we had drinks for someone leaving the macro team: he's so popular, they made flyers with clip art and a photo from DWTS, even though he is just going to another group. *snorts* Anyhow, the Press Box at the Ink hotel has an incredible view: it's perched all the way on the west side, but at the edge of Hell's Kitchen, so there are no tall buildings to obscure the view of midtown. Gorgeous, although one of their drinks was enough to get me drunk. *le sighs*

I felt bad going to the Sephardi synagogue on CPW, as I've been promising the big guy all along that I'd check it out, but it IS the nearest synagogue. They're a bit more Orthodox or perhaps it's just the age of the building, but they really do have a balcony for the women. They have a gorgeous choir - at eye level with the women; is that normal? - but other than that, it wasn't really different from any other synagogue that I've attended. ( the service ) I had a thimble of wine for the kiddush before I headed to the farmer's market. I'd never cooked pollack before and if I remember, I never will again.

I'm honored Jane & Julian invited me to his vanilla birthday party at Lana Kai. I ended up being the only single person there and my idea of tiki wear is apparently more low cut than most, but I don't think our hostess minded. The food was good - couldn't stop eating the fried snapper. We headed to Brandy Library for the after-party. I'm always surprised at the least evidence of my doe-eyed wiles working on Manhattan doorkeepers. I had some sort of frou-frou bourbon-based drink, but after hearing

alanesq's exclamations over his Midleton very rare, I want to try that next time. The whole thing was almost 8 hours yet somehow I felt energized and happier afterward, even though I'm an introvert.

OperaBoss was kind enough to come all the way to the Upper West to visit me and so we went to Salumeria Rosi. I love that place, it's in my neighborhood, and yet I never go! 5 small plates was probably too many for two, but it was tasty, as was whatever I drank. The remainder of the evening wasn't all that productive, but no hangover!

Contrary to what I've said on Twitter, I wasn't actually crazy when I decided to invite 40 people (including my boss, his former boss, and the latter's replacement) to my place for a next "small gathering" next Friday. My boss' then-boss asked me to throw a holiday party 2 years ago and my apt buying/renovations/furniture shopping involved so much work time, I feel like I have to. And I wanted to do it before I leave the firm, so this December was it. It's just that I'm still prepping the apt, let alone planning the party: I shudder to think how much worse it would've been without Nala's ample assistance. ( madness^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Looking for advice. )

My boss said he'd bring any wine I like to the party, bc he's awesome like that (and bc I give him advice on wine.) If I knew of an awesome amarone under $60, I might ask for that, although I'm not sure if that would be good with all this stuff (or if I want to share it with my guests). I'm considering asking for a Stag's Leap cab (if they are under $60) or a Grgich Hills fume blanc, even though the latter definitely doesn't go with the food I'm serving, bc those are wines that I love and don't buy myself bc they are dear.

If I can't get the bldg's coat rack for Friday, I'm screwed: I will probably have to pull an all-nighter early in the week to get everything done in time. As it is, I have to figure out which is open later - Bed, Bath & Beyond or Trader Joe's - so I can hit both Monday night, consolidate three boxes into two, and clear all the flat surfaces in my apt. Wish me luck.

Thurs night, I went to a random women's networking event to which I was invited by a chick from the last MITEF event I went to, mostly bc it was a tasting (and discussion) of MarieBelle chocolate. ( Read more... )

I was grateful my father forced my mother to take me straight home from the train station this time and after hearing about last week's insomnia, I think my mum was glad too. She commented I had dark circles under my eyes and when I woke up (after 11 hours) the next day, she'd been telling her sister about it. *sighs* ( long chat ) Later in the weekend, she bought me a large bottle of melatonin, unasked - I gotta go read up to find out how that stuff works.

I was mostly home to see the orthodontist for a follow-up to his model building. Turns out my upper teeth are lovely, just about right - and the treatment for the lower teeth (which is what brought me to his office) might mess up the upper teeth. He's very conservative, he doesn't do Invisalign, and he thinks the enamel is too thin to strip enough off the lower teeth to give me a rounded arch. *sighs*

Spent the afternoon playing with my baby cousin. ( Read more... ) The best part of the day though was at dinner, when her mother started making the oysters and calamari talk to me: she's been sick for a while, so it was lovely to see her so animated. Got back too late to go out though and went straight to bed.

Sun I went to Race to the Ends of the Earth at the AMNH. I've been critical of most AMNH exhibits, but this one's terrific. It's a dramatic story and they use every trick to keep visitors of all ages engaged. I bet I learned more from this exhibit than if I read about the two guys. One thing that's been on my mind is that it's hard to give Scott credit when you know how badly it turned out: in a warm museum, it's easy to say, "well, duh, you didn't plan for enough food and in expedition planning, you need to maximize your window." If Amundsen had been unlucky, maybe we'd be mocking his single point of failure transportation. That said, there's a big difference between people who've been training for something their entire life vs. someone who fell into a job. I'm so glad Buzz Lightyear highly recommended it to me: I might not have gone otherwise.

Ironically, I went straight from the museum to Patagonia, to redeem a coupon I got at last week's AAC dinner. I mostly went bc I was curious what kind of bag they were giving out this year; they were out though, so they gave me one of these instead. I have too many plastic bag replacements as it is, but the blue is so pretty!! And I immediately took it to the farmer's market, where I bought mustard greens, lamb sausage, tomatoes, yogurt, black sea bass, and apple bread. I need to remember to never eat black sea bass again, bc it's got too many bones (even Esca couldn't get them all out). The mustard greens were way too pungent, in a bad way, and I could barely finish my salad.

Spent the rest of the night working on a photo book of my Cascades trip. Stayed up until 3 - and then was up until 11 on Monday to finish it, but I made it in time to redeem my GroupOn. I'm rather pleased with the result and can't wait to see the pictures in print.

Fri night, I missed the happy hour my new cubemate organized, so I came home in the mood for a drink. Last time I was looking around in my cellar, I broke the seal on a bottle of Pedro Ximenez I brought back from Spain, so I opened it. wow. It really is raisiny and thick, so when Julian reminded me that people eat it over ice cream, I tried it and it was delicious. It also inspired some creative writing, for which I decided to look something up, which made me realize there must be another box of books somewhere in the apt, bc I couldn't find any books on what is sometimes referred to euphemistically in this household as macrame. In the hobbies closet, I found an entire shelf of pr0n - and a box of books which is now waiting to be sorted. It's a pity it's too late to donate to LPN, bc surely I can get rid of some of those books.

My biggest accomplishment on Sat was sleeping until 10:30. I was mentally ready to tidy, but instead I made some lunch, played on my computer, and went running. ( whining, in which Kate concludes to just do it )

My father and his bff's third annual birthday extravaganza was ok. For some reason, we did dinner at the Boathouse rather than brunch and the meal just dragged. ( Ain't family grand? )

Leading lessons with JBeau weren't as much fun as with SR: I think the problem is JBeau seems to be discouraging, rather than enabling. I also found him to be far less systematic in the way he teaches things. Unfortunately, switching instructors (by geographic necessity) also feels like we spent half a day going over stuff I already knew, bc JBeau doesn't seem to get that I'm the anti-hotdog. *sighs* ( Read more... ) As an instructor though, I'm sticking with him anyhow: he tries hard, he doesn't nickle-and-dime the end of the day, he occasionally has great ideas, and I think a consistent instructor saves time.

Edit: while looking for the links for this post, it dawned on me I should've done the "like having a baby hard" workout this morning behind my house, instead of thinking about going to the gym near work for a Russ workout, which never happens in the morning, which is why I'm weak and doomed to remain foreverso. *whine*

Edit2: Continued here bc italics are allegedly hard to read.

Fri night, my phlegmatic phriend at work suggested we celebrate the building power-down with a drink at the usual watering hole, where we stumbled upon "good to see you again" drinks for one of the posse. It was supposed to be just one drink and I only had two, but I didn't realize even when they're pouring from the bottle, that's still too much. Fucking Riedel. Stumbled home and my parents were kind enough to not notice that I was drunk as we discussed goodness knows what.

We celebrated the new year with my uncle's caramelized pork, which somehow wasn't as tasty as my grandma's, and fried rice cakes. Watched The Time Traveler's Wife, which is pretty much the saddest movie ever, and the best 3 episodes of House, which were running back to back on Bravo. Stayed up 'til 2 chatting with my parents and siblings about weighty subjects like the best weapon for Bbro's new career as a Somali pirate and who you would rather be, Batman, Superman, or Spiderman. (My brother pointed out that my father pretty much thinks he's Batman, which is extra-funny/scary if you know some of my friends.) Apparently Humpday polls are genetic.

We hadn't planned to spend all day in Ct on Sunday, but for some reason, my mother decided to start telling stories, in order, about our family, in far more detail than we've ever gotten, so it was 5pm before we left the house. I thought our local creperie would be busy, but it was empty. I had a country pate sandwich with cornichons, salad, and mustard that was pretty much the best thing I ate all weekend. And then I had a (third of a) crepe filled with orange peel and suzette ice cream. It's good to be me.

Finally made it to Impact/Suspension. I'm glad I went, esp. since I got to see old friends and played a little with a woofy leatherman, but it's not worth coming home at 3am on a school night. Which this wasn't, thank goodness.

Brunch = quality time and then it was off to climb. MPHC's walls look short after climbing at Chelsea Piers, but the overhanging routes were fun and the company was excellent. The cute guy seems more interested in the vivacious chick, alas, but there's something about him that reminds me strongly of someone I miss, so I was content when I got home. MPHC apparently changes their routes every week, and their private lessons are comparable in cost to group lessons to Chelsea Piers, so I think I'll be climbing there more often.

I finished some irritating (but important!) tasks last night, but still had trouble falling asleep and slept badly :(

Fri night I went to the museums as I mentioned. The NYU museum had closed early but I went to see the Velasquez at the Met. Is it just me or does the Met no longer borrow pieces from other museums, let alone stage blockbuster exhibits? ( Read more... )

In spite of my fears, I managed to sleep! 12 hours! on Fri night. I even woke up at 8, went to the bathroom - and went back to bed! Slept 8 hours on Sat too. I win!!

Sat I moved my computer to its new home, which was unexpectedly time-consuming. Then I went to back-to-back trap and silk, which was unexpectedly difficult in strength endurance and disappointing educationally. Una was subbing and she was flustered by the wildly disparate skill levels in a way that was as unhelpful as possible. On the plus side, she teaches with the trap high enough to beat and we did front and back balances and pullovers. On silks we worked on star drops.

Went for drinks with the astronomer on Sat night. I'm amused that he told a friend about me in glowing terms, but I'm not sure if it's my intelligence or my politics: he was in raptures when I was making some sort of objectivist comment (we were discussing the economy). We had an absolutely amazing sauvignon blanc called Beyond? from South Africa - it had all sorts of subtle notes. However, he was more than a little put out when after almost three hours of drinks, I wouldn't come back to his place. Dude, I don't like ANYBODY enough to spend that much time these days.

I spent Sun morning doing laundry and tidying. After three hours of that, my will to tidy was gone. I also discovered that apparently coughing + blowing my nose = cold. I cooked a horrible mess of beans, chatted on the phone, and futzed on the computer. I also watched United 93. Believe it or not, it was my first time seeing WTC footage - I was out of the country and staying in youth hostels for almost a month after, so. The hijacking was more horrifying than I expected, the drama was more overwrought than I expected.

Busy-busy week ahead, not the least of which is that I have to clean my desk at work this week, sort out speed dating leftovers and other social stuff, and make progress on my eleventy-seven urgent projects while occasionally making it to the gym. bleh.

This week has been sucking - work, nobody returns my emails, I'm so fat from the holidays, overwhelmed by how much self-improvement I'm doing, Bluebeard is a pigfucker - so I started writing the five happy things meme (I figure of all the signature items to steal from someone else's lj, this is least karmically bad, right? or is it the worst?) and one of them was going to be about the package of books I'd ordered arriving ON Kate Day. And I thought about getting a picture, or at least opening the package, so I opened it... and discovered it was actually a present! I got to open wrapping paper! Moreover, it was a book I wanted so badly, I, er, ordered it in the package which, uh, I guess is getting here tonight. *laughs happily*

The rest of the list:

Kate day wishes from far and wide
good eye makeup
apparently I now retain water once a month and even mild Atkins-ing has an effect, so half that holiday weight gain went away with 3 days of good food choices
irritating orthopod's office gave me a new prescription without making me come in
friendly fun salesguy helped me buy two bourbons for gifts last night
onigiri for breakfast

BOOKS!! MINEALLMINENEVERHAVETOGIVEITBACKMINE!

Current Music: I don't have a sufficiently joyous icon

Else what's a heaven for?

Alpine Stockholm Syndrome

16 Things I Learned about Mercantile Venice

Don't Know Much about history

(Lack of) Adventures in Swiss-occupied France

Unemployed, Not Sedentary

I do stuff other than skate when I'm unemployed!

Identity is hard

The Actually Frozen North

Sequels are never as good

5 things that make me happy

I think country ham was the underlying theme

In which Kate does ordinary things

Good weather = lots of exercise

The Weekend of Continuous Drinking and No Hangovers

I plan expeditions, not parties

Potpourri

It felt like a boring, quiet weekend

How I celebrated that well-known family weekend

Quiet Weekend, Busy Week

5 Happy Things interrupted

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