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Category Archives: Travel
Chan Chan, Peru
Salaverry is a northern port in Peru near the city of Trujillo. Our tour took us on a short drive through Trujillo to the Dragon Temple, a pyramid surrounded by a high wall. Our guide, Elver was quite informative, as … Continue reading
Lima, Peru
For this year’s trip Linda and I set our goal to visit the last continent on our list, South America. (We’re not expecting to get to number seven, Antarctica, any time soon.) It seems ironic that the only inhabited continent … Continue reading
France Conquers Italy
Not since the days of Napoleon has it been so clear who ruled Europe. Keith Edwards organized an extraordinarily informative tasting designed to compare ten Italian merlots with ten Bordeaux wines consisting of at least 75% merlot. In attendance were Keith, … Continue reading
Wine Lunch on Hillstone’s Dock
Ron arranged this lovely Saturday afternoon event for a fairly large group. The weather was cool and blustery, but plastic panels kept out most of the wind, and it was a delightful venue, with great service by Laura and delicious food by … Continue reading
Grilled Salmon with Citrus Salad
For my birthday, Linda fixed this recipe which she modified from a version at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/grilled-salmon-with-citrus-salsa-verde-recipe/index.html She also made a tuna tartare, avocado and cucumber vorspeisenringe. We enjoyed all three on the veranda and then went in the spa. Ah, Orlando in … Continue reading
Harold’s House of Omelets
When we used to live in Westlake Village, Harold’s House of Omelets was our favorite spot for breakfast. Sometimes we close the Alcorn McBride office and head over there for a late breakfast, because Harold’s wasn’t open for lunch! Wednesday … Continue reading
Posted in Dani, Dining, Los Angeles
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Stellar Old Wines at Luma
Ron organized a great event in the downstairs room at Luma. Although the food wasn’t quite as good as our spectacular dinner there last month, the wines were stellar, spanning the great years, from 1947 (all time best Burgundy year) … Continue reading
Farewell to Celebrity
Here are a couple of last photos from our final two sea days aboard the Celebrity Constellation. The bottom line is that I’d recommend this line if you’re looking for a Royal Caribbean type experience with better entertainment, but not … Continue reading
Celebrity Cruises Observations
Celebrity seems little different than its parent, Royal Caribbean, with only slightly better food, similar accommodations, and similar passengers. Although positioned as a premium cruise line, and voted the top premium cruise line for three years, this must be for … Continue reading
Posted in Travel
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Porto
Porto isn’t far from Vigo—just 84 kilometers—but it’s a different country and different wine-making. Our shore excursion took us to the Douro Valley, two hours away, where port comes from. Although port is named after Porto, the city has nothing … Continue reading
Vigo
Vigo is one of the southern most cities in Northern Spain, located only 20 miles from Portugal. It is Europe’s main hub for shipping fish, and the 10 mile long harbor is filled with platforms used to raise mussels, oysters … Continue reading
Bilbao
After a workout Friday morning we spent a restful day on the ship. originally we had a dinner scheduled in a Michelin-starred chef’s kitchen, but it was cancelled, and since it was rainy we decided to spend the day on … Continue reading
Margaux
I’ve been struck on this “wine themed cruise” by how little the other passengers know about wine: basically that it has alcohol in it and isn’t beer. Today’s excursion to Margaux included a few passengers who seemed to know their … Continue reading
Bordeaux
The last time I was in Bordeaux, I stepped off the ship onto the main street along the waterfront. This time our ship is larger, and we are docked two hours away, in Le Verdon. This obviously makes every shore … Continue reading
Sea Days
Sea days are often the best days on a cruise. With nothing scheduled and no early wake up times for shore excursions, it’s easy to relax. Today started with surprisingly rough seas, which made the tread mill and interesting exercise, … Continue reading
Livarot and Calvados
Linda’s birthday! Morning workout in the gym and then buffet lunch. Salad bar is okay, nothing spectacular. Our tour today is all about fermented apples and cheese. First stop is the Graindorge Fromagerie, which by coincidence is an Alcorn McBride … Continue reading
Etretat
We got up at 10:00 am, but I’m going to use the one hour time change between England and France as the excuse. They have a nice assortment of workout machine on the gym, although I realized that when Linda … Continue reading
Southampton
Eddie Manning’s limo service provided our transfer to Southampton, and despite the skepticism with which we viewed the mountain of luggage for the five of us, it fit easily into the back of the seven-passenger Mercedes van. We were at … Continue reading
Natural History and Pied-à-terre
After a lazy morning Linda and I took the tube to Kensington for an Indian lunch at the lovely Bombay Brasserie, then walked to the Natural History Museum to visit the dinosaurs. The Natural History Museum is BIG. It must … Continue reading
The Phantom of Westminster Abbey and Clos Maggiore
Linda and I spent today on our own while our friends were off doing other stuff. We slept in and then found a nearby teeny tiny Japanese restaurant, Ichi-Ricki, for lunch. I’m glad the reviews I’d read warned me it … Continue reading
London
We’re off to London for a few days before heading out of Southampton on a twelve night wine cruise. This was Linda’s first experience with the airline beds that recline all the way, and they certainly make a difference; we … Continue reading
Epcot’s 30th Anniversary
Jim, Martin, Jeremy and I visited Epcot to celebrate the 30th anniversary on October 1, 2012. The park was crowded, but not insanely so. There were lots of people there wearing vintage Epcot shirts, so it was rewarding to see … Continue reading
Posted in Orlando, Theme Parks
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Luma
Ron and Bev hosted a dinner at Luma for Allan Frischman, in town from Hart Davis Hart. Also in attendance were Keith and Parlo, and Andres and Paula. Linda had early construction site meetings all week and couldn’t attend. Because … Continue reading
1985 & 1985 Bordeaux
Every year Hart Davis Hart hosts a comprehensive Bordeaux retrospective, and this year’s event focused on 1985 and 1986 Bordeaux. HDH pulled out all the stops, with two bottles of almost every notable wine, including the first growths. There was … Continue reading
Tru
Five years ago Dani and I visited Tru while on her college tour, and we had one of the greatest meals of my life. But then a year later Linda and I returned, and had seven courses of glop in … Continue reading
NU
I took a walk with Dani around the Northern Evanston area and the North part of the Northwestern University campus so she could put up flyers about her thesis project. I hadn’t been on that part of the campus before, … Continue reading
Kitchen Remodelling
Our final remodeling project for the summer was the kitchen. It was Dani’s idea to add stone to the walls above the backsplashes, and she also picked the ceramic murals for above the sink and stove. Quite a difference! Before: … Continue reading
Posted in Evanston
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Wynton Marsalis
We decided to check out the downtown venue used by the Chicago Symphony, but since they are playing opera at Ravinia, we went to a jazz concert by the Wynton Marsalis Quintet. Before the concert we had lunch at one … Continue reading
Posted in Dani, Dining, Evanston, Music, Photography
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Roller Derby
Last night Dani took me to her highly anticipated roller derby game. She explained the rules before we went, which helped me to understand what was going on. It was a little hard to understand the announcer, so things were … Continue reading
Gotye and Missy Higgins
Last night we went to Chicago’s other outstanding outdoor performance space, The Charter One Pavilion near the Field Museum, to see Missy Higgins and Gotye. Charter One Pavilion offers a great view of the city, and you can walk along … Continue reading