Why? Because We Have Something To Live For

Heavy Drinkers Outlive Nondrinkers, Study Finds - TIME: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Walkabout 2010: Day 9

Michelle and Ryan’s wedding is without doubt the greatest wedding I’ve ever attended.  Just look at those fucking pictures from Ryan’s parents backyard in Anacortes.  And if that wasn’t enough, there were some of the best crab cakes of the entire trip.

Facebookers can see the pretty pictures HERE.

Walkabout 2010: Day 6

Another lazy day on Whidbey Island.  I drove around a bit and found Coupeville and Toby’s Tavern which I reviewed earlier.

Afterwards VW and I did some hiking in Oak Harbor and then took the ferry to Port Towsend to continue on to Sequim.

Unfortunately, Sequim is largely  retirement community and most everything, including The Three Crabs which Clare from the Pink Door told us to go. 

So we headed to the local Indian casino.  If you think the casino boats in Shreveport are depressing, try a small town Washington casino.  But it was hard to say no to $2 black jack.  Two of the three dealers we had were fairly fun and animated.  But the dude we had in between, Michael, was about as lifeless a human being as there has ever been.  His expression never changed and his monotone never changed except when someone doubled down when he would growl “Duuuuble Dooooooowwwwwn”.

I finished up $20.  Not bad.

Facebookers can see the pretty pictures HERE.

Walkabout 2010: Day 7

 

I’m finally at a point where I can catch up on my blogging.  So I’m going to start out with the the highlights and backfill with some of the lesser days.

Day 7 was easily the best day of an already amazingly awesome trip.  Starting out in Sequim I headed for a local diner for my fill of French toast.  It was ok.  I then wondered out to the Dungeness Bay.  But there wasn’t much there except Three Crab’s that Clare from the Pink Door had told us about.

The day was foggy and grey for much of the morning and didn’t have much faith in being able to see anything in the much ballyhooed Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.  Entering the park, it’s 17 miles to the top of the ridge.  And for the first 14 miles there was a thick fog to drive through.  But then the clouds part and one of the most beautiful area of North America become visible.

While on the ridge we met Admiral Nigel Jingjing III (the chipmunk) and Norman Skeeze (the young buck that walked up to us).  I know some of these pictures look photo shopped, but I assure you they are not.

Facebookers can see the pretty pictures HERE.

Eating Coupeville: Toby’s Tavern

Where you don't fuck with Sue and leave your fucking kids at home.

Continuing on with my quest to eat some form of halibut every day, I stumbled upon an extremely old looking bar in Coupeville claiming to have Fine Food.  That’s really all the endorsement I need.  So I entered.

Since I had halibut fish & chips the previous day at the yet to be reviewed Sunbolt’s I went with the only slightly different crispy halibut burger.  It was essentially a round filet of halibut fried and placed on a buttered bun.  It was delicious and paired well with a Bridgeport IPA. 

Seeing that the Toby’s had their own beer, I ordered up a Toby’s Parrot Head Red Ale for dessert.  Despite it being flat and fairly flavorless, I went ahead an purchased an accompanying pint glass.

I don’t know why anyone reading this would ever be in Coupeville, but if you are, you do need to check this place out.  Decent bar food, many good beers on tap and salty bartendrixes make this the only “go-to” place in Coupeville in my books.

B+  (on the dive bar scale)

 

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8 Front St Coupeville, WA

Location:Front St NW,Coupeville,United States

Walkabout 2010: Day 5 Pictures

A lazy day in Oak Harbor.  There’s not really much to do here.  I now know why Clare from the Pink Door made a face every time it was mentioned.

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Walkabout 2010: Day 3 Pictures

 

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Eating Portland: The Farm Cafe

Synopsis	A snarky Dallas blogger escapes the heat and flies into Portland and meets a  funny-named wine that proves to be the star of the big show on this very special episode of Eating Portland.
The Food	Apps Williams Baked Brie - Slice of brie served warm with toasted sugar, roasted hazelnuts, seasonal fruit, and Ken’s baguette. It’s amazing how the fruit and the brie and hazelnuts work flawlessly together in the mouth hole to form a perfect union of flavorfulishness     Clams and Mussels  Fresh local clams and mussels sautéed in golden ale with garlic, butter and red chili flakes, served with grilled bread. Seriously, some of the best mussels I’ve ever had.  The hint of tarragon put these bad boys over the top.  And there was plenty of juice for sopping.  And you know how much I like-a da juice. Entree Flame-grilled Halibut Fresh halibut fillet flame-grilled and served with grilled squash, French lentil salad and cilantro pesto. Sorry, no picture.  While this was a nice piece of halibut, it did seem a bit bland compared to the apps.  The grilled squash was a very tasty accompaniment while the lentils were a bit too al dente.  But that’s just picking nits. Dessert Blueberry Bread Pudding This may be the best bread pudding ever -- blueberryy and delicious.
What I Liked	Everything Love & Squalor Pinot Noir – I like picking wines that have a funny name.  It’s how I discovered Pinot Evil.  Although a bit on the sweet side, it was full of great noiry flavor and the aroma was amazing.  It may be the one wine I would rather smell than drink but not because it tastes bad.  It just smells that good.
What I Disliked	Feeling very underly tattooed.  But it’s Portland, so I may have this feeling for a while.
Conclusion	Eat here be happy. I’m adjusting my grading scale to accommodate the great foods of the PacNW.  I can’t start off with an A and then have no room for conceivably better places to come. B   10 SE 7th Ave Portland OR

Worst Hotel Ever

“How quaint”, I thought as we checked in. “Real keys instead of key cards.  I can’t remember the last time I was at a hotel with actual keys”.

That should have gone under the heading of “Signs and Portents”.

But the initial reaction of this charming throwback to a bygone era, known as Hotel Seattle, soon became screams of abject horror and near death.

OK, that was hyperbole.  Nothing almost died, except maybe a tiny bit of our humanity.

I ask few things from a hotel.  The point of a vacation is to spend as little time in the hotel as possible.  So I don’t need mints on the pillow or gold plated shower heads or Tuscan marble foyers.   What I do need is a toilet that can flush.

Let me explain.

Sunday morning I got up “early” to go to Top Pot for the best donuts ever.  But before heading out I needed to tinkle and upon flushing the toilet, it never stopped.  Water flowed continuously.  Since water conservation is a priority of mine (anyone who has seen my front lawn will confirm this) I alerted the dude at the front desk.

“Hmmm.  Our maintenance guy has the day off.  But I’ll see what I can do.”

OK.  It’s not really my problem or my water bill.  So I proceeded to Top Pot.

Once back at the hotel, I was told by (in order not to embarrass her I will keep her identity a secret and only refer to here by some random German automobile initials) VW that the toilet had stopped flushing and she thought that would be an excellent time to “take the Browns to the Superbowl”, “drop the kids off at the pool”, “make gorilla fingers”…..

“YES! YES! I get it.”  I exclaimed.

“Well, just so you’re warned.  The toilet doesn’t flush anymore.  And there’s stuff in it”.

After cleaning up my puke and assuring myself that VW is the only one of her kind to do such disgusting things (maybe she got a bad oyster, yeah, that’s got to be it), I informed the front desk that the toilet had stopped flushing and now wouldn’t flush at all.  The front desk dude told me that the maintenance man would be up shortly.

The maintenance dude came and went and we were told that the water pressure had to build back up in order to flush.  36 hours later and still no flush.

Awesome.

Oh, and don’t lean on the sink or you’ll knock it over.

Walkabout 2010: Day 2 Pictures

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Walkabout 2010: Day 1 Pregame

Woohoo! Although my flight was originally departing from Terminal C, it got changed to the new and swanky Terminal D. More preflight food and booze options!

Thankfully I got a ride to the airport since my American Airlines iPhone app tells me my return flight arrives in Terminal C and thus won't have to deal with interterminal transportation. Has anyone ever had an American flight that departed and arrived at the same terminal? I guess they're too busy figuring out new method of assraping their passengers with ticky-tack fees to get that action item to the completed state.

I got here in plenty of time for a beer and late lunch at Reata. Mmmm Sam Adams Boston Lager. Probably the most pedestrian beer I'll drink for the next 16 days.

Quick review: If you want to pay $20 for a meal on a meal similar in quality to Taco Cabana, then Reatta in Terminal D is for you. The beef fajita meat is the same mushy proceed cow that TC specializes in. Oh and if you want tortillas with your carne asada, that's an extra $1.50. At least the 22oz beer was cold.


-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Unnamed Rd,Grapevine,United States

A Great Announcement on The Worst Day of the Year

It's about fucking time.

clipped from: blogs.dallasobserver.com

And The People Rejoiced: Green Room Opens Today, and We Have the Menus

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​The Green Room, the Deep Ellum legend that's back in business as of this afternoon, has put quail eggs and halibut cheeks on its elegant opening menu.

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But it's unlikely The Green Room's most ardent fans will ever order many of the announced dishes, since the "Feed Me" option's back: For $47 -- or $68 with wine -- guests get "a unique four-course menu" created specifically for the table.

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While there are plans to add brunch and lunch service, the Green Room is now open Tues.-Sat., 5 p.m.-11 p.m. For reservations, e-mail reservations@greenroomdallas.com. Check out the opening menus on the next page.

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The Green Room
2715 Elm St.
214-748-7666