Death has a way of bringing out the worse in people. Perhaps it is only our western culture, though. I hope so, it is a sad world and it can only be sadder if every family is like mine. I am going to bore everyone with background. Of course, it is the world as I have come to know it, some of it contains the truth of others, but most of it is my own.
First off, let me say we were never a close family. We all had our secrets. I tried to keep the darkest family secret, as I knew it, from my siblings and anyone from the outside. No one was allowed to come over; our mother would not permit visitors outside of family members because the house was always disorganized. I think she had an ideal in her head that if wasn’t matched, than no one should know. Was the place really that dirty? I think much of it was not in good repair. Seems like my dad tried to do things and never finished the jobs he started.
The house we all grew up in was not too exciting, yet contained a remarkable feature. There were big windows, so there was a lot of light. The house was situated facing west, with a back slider for the backyard, facing east. Two of the bedrooms had a one window, which went from floor to ceiling. The other bedroom had a window along the entire east wall and the south wall had a high window. This one was the largest bedroom and eventually, it housed the three youngest children, two girls and a boy, in order of age, Shannon, Daniel, and Stacy. Our sister Micki and I shared the front bedroom with the large window and our parents had the other rear bedroom, with that one large window. I don’t have the history of this decision, but Dad and mom decided these two large windows needed to be only half as big, so the bottom half was removed. That required making a wall, framing, tar paper, chicken wire, stucco and all. My parents window was completed, the outside of the other one never was. Well, I can’t really say never, it might have been sometime after my dad bought our mom out of the house in the early 1980’s.
The house had two halls, one short one that came in from the front door, and the other that made a right turn off of it and ran to the back of the house. Off of this longer hall was the bathrooms and all bedrooms, included was the closet where the furnace was and at the end of the hall a ‘linen’ closet. The shorter hall had two closets off of it, one was not very large and contained the water heater and the other was large with room to hang things on both sides. The shelves above the coat racks held such mysteries as the 8 mm camera that was never used in my memory, and board with large flood lights attached, I presume to use for light for the filming. Other items that were out of reach were an old pair of binoculars, but nothing else of interest I can remember. My dad moved the water heater from the small closet, made it only a few inches wide (I think we kept the broom in there) and left the door. The space that was the closet was opened up to the kitchen, which was situated just off the short hall, to the left, as you walked in the front door. This gave us a pantry once the washer and dryer were moved from the kitchen. The floor of which was never finished, there were no doors, and so the shelving dad added, made of plywood, was open. The water heater and laundry machines were moved to the ‘breeze way’ that separated the house from the garage. The garage wasn’t totally detached, there was a roof that ran from the house to the garage. Dad closed it in, putting a door on either side and plumbed it with a utility sink, making the breeze way, which is what we always called it, a laundry room.
Another adventure in remodeling was removing the ¾ wall between the kitchen and the dining area. A half wall was built closer to the living room, but, once again, never finished. The mish mash of odd jobs left the house untidy. On top of that, there were always small children around, five of us born with seven years of each other. My mom was a stay at home mom and my dad was always working. Well, I don’t think he was always working so much as he didn’t like to be home, so he didn’t come home. Where does one go when one doesn’t want to come home? A pub / bar. If you drink every night, you become addicted to alcoholic beverages.
Some how, I ended up being the one to take care of things around home. I have to admit I was full of ideas of what was right and how things ought to be. I missed having my dad to hang around with. When I was young, and being the oldest, we spent more time together – or should I say I would hang out with him. He disappeared into a side business, owning taverns. Too bad for the family; he was gone now on the weekends, every night, and I am certain many times it was to be away from our mom. He probably didn’t want a big family, but he never said it to us kids. That was what matters, and I know he loved all of us, if he wasn’t always proud or happy with us.
Years went by, he moved away or mom kicked him out – either way, there was less money for everything because he now had to support his own home and ours. I know he was not comfortable seeing mom and he visits with his kids on the weekends were strained at times, but he never skipped a weekend with us that I remember. He did, however, become more dependent on alcohol. In the meantime, at the age of 49, he had a heart attack while feeling bad and in the hospital, lucky for us and him because they could save him, with quintuple bypass surgery, he was a ‘new’ man. He gave up smoking and drinking for only a short time. He got more exercise (golf) but not enough and he was soon smoking and drinking again. Perhaps he was more moderate with it, but he would never be free of the addictions that were killing him.
Eventually, he bought half the house from mom, she had money to go to live in Oregon and he now had the house, which he shared with Daniel. Dad had a stroke in October of 1988. I was in Australia playing softball and found out about it on my way back to the states. I could not take time off to care for him, but he had my sister Micki willing and able to help, and Daniel lived with him. Only Daniel did not accept how bad off dad was. Micki was beside herself with taking care of him without the help of Daniel to watch him when she wasn’t around. Did dad need watching? Sure, he could not remember to take medication, but he could remember how to get to the local bar and Daniel did not take the car keys away from him. My dad, who could not remember to eat, cook, form four word sentences, or speak coherently, could drive a ½ mile away to find drink.
I took dad for a visit to the speech therapist at the local hospital. She was more like a cognition therapist because she dealt with understanding, or communication both in and out. She said the girls in the family, Micki and I, had no problem understanding the importance of this therapy. Our brother, however, would try to complete dad’s tasks for him and would say things like, “c’mon, you know you can do this, stop messing around.” She said that it is the boys who have a hard time accepting that their dad isn’t the strong man he once was. The morning I took dad to the therapist, I could smell a stale odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath and about his person. Being an expert at intoxication, I knew he had not recovered from the effects of his alcoholic beverage consumption from the night before. I remember being furious at my brother for not taking steps to prevent this from happening. It was just a couple of days later that my dad suffered a final stroke while at the corner bar. He started acting strange, so the barkeep called my brother to come get him. Daniel arrived in time to see my dad collapse. He tried CPR, but nothing would have prevented dad’s death this time.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Friday, August 04, 2006
Death and my f %$#@d up family.
How dare my mom claim that she wasn’t allowed to grieve for our father, whom she was divorced from, when he died in 1988. Its 2006, what 18 years have gone by and she carries resentment for … wait until you get this … me! Yes, she blames me! How do you figure? Here is the crooked logic; I was cold to her at my dad’s funeral. Let’s see, I had stopped being clingy to my mom years before, as I grew up and as a teenager just could not take care of being the mom of the family. She had checked out of being responsible and I took over when I was young, hey, someone had to do it and I didn’t know it wasn’t my job.
It was hard to hear her talk about the abusive man my dad was to her. Yes, I did witness family violence, or shall I say, the aftermath. Dad rarely got into it with her in front of us kids. He also never spoke badly about her, even when I lived with him. I didn’t ask, but he didn’t volunteer… not like our mom, boy did she blurt out whatever she felt had on her mind. She was abusive verbally to us kids, very much so. I understand she was frustrated. I can accept that, but it did not help my feelings about myself and my abiding insecurities.
Oh, back to the cold at the funeral thing. I remember thinking I did not want to comfort my mom. I guess because I never have understood how she could speak in such a hateful way about dad over many years – as if I was a confidant, or therapist who should hear these things. To think she was feeling grief for herself was foreign to me and I if I wanted comfort, I certainly did not expect to gain it from her. Instead, I remember thinking this and still do, I would find no comforting but instead would have to give it, as I have given so much all of my life with mom.
I once got hurt at work, had to go to the hospital after a high speed, high impact traffic collision in which I was rear-ended. The one thing I did not want was mom to know about it. I did not want her taking a trip to my house and ‘take care of me’ because I believe it would be me taking care of her. I was in barely in condition to take care of myself, let alone anyone else, emotionally or any other way.
So how does she figure I didn’t let her grieve when our dad died? She gives too much power over herself to others. That is the operative issue here, she gives power away in order to be powerless, thereby blaming others for … everything that goes wrong.
It was hard to hear her talk about the abusive man my dad was to her. Yes, I did witness family violence, or shall I say, the aftermath. Dad rarely got into it with her in front of us kids. He also never spoke badly about her, even when I lived with him. I didn’t ask, but he didn’t volunteer… not like our mom, boy did she blurt out whatever she felt had on her mind. She was abusive verbally to us kids, very much so. I understand she was frustrated. I can accept that, but it did not help my feelings about myself and my abiding insecurities.
Oh, back to the cold at the funeral thing. I remember thinking I did not want to comfort my mom. I guess because I never have understood how she could speak in such a hateful way about dad over many years – as if I was a confidant, or therapist who should hear these things. To think she was feeling grief for herself was foreign to me and I if I wanted comfort, I certainly did not expect to gain it from her. Instead, I remember thinking this and still do, I would find no comforting but instead would have to give it, as I have given so much all of my life with mom.
I once got hurt at work, had to go to the hospital after a high speed, high impact traffic collision in which I was rear-ended. The one thing I did not want was mom to know about it. I did not want her taking a trip to my house and ‘take care of me’ because I believe it would be me taking care of her. I was in barely in condition to take care of myself, let alone anyone else, emotionally or any other way.
So how does she figure I didn’t let her grieve when our dad died? She gives too much power over herself to others. That is the operative issue here, she gives power away in order to be powerless, thereby blaming others for … everything that goes wrong.
Monday, May 15, 2006
I hate it when ...
I'm trying to just hang out in my hotel room, on a business trip, catching some public television, all happy to watch a travel show... Berlin it was. Then Rick Steves is following with a trip to I thought Paris, with a lead in like, his favorite place on a Sunday morning is Ste Sulpice (you Da Vinci Code readers will recognize the name of the church). He likes to go there because it has one of the largest pipe organs in Europe. Rick starts talking the church and how the bellows had to be filled manually, and speaks about Paris being the cultural center of Europe ... and I'm getting all happy when on comes a bunch of public tv style commercials (which are just public service announcements) and then ... NO MORE RICK STEVES. Darn, instead the Los Angeles School District cuts in with school board meeting.
Shoot, so now I gotta channel surf. Just makes Cranky more cranky.
Shoot, so now I gotta channel surf. Just makes Cranky more cranky.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
River City Brewing Company - Sacramento, CA
River City Brewing Company - Sacramento, CA
Don't bother says Cranky.
I have been going to this place periodically over the last 10 years, and I realize it is TIRED. It used to be a busy place, but the food is the same yet nothing exciting. They must shake it up. Beer is good, but not fantastic. Wait staff, lord, the worse. We chose outside dining, many tables, umbrellas, heaters, and a 3 foot iron fence around a wide area. There was a rash of homeless or beggars there as well and no one from the restaurant kept them out. We were approached twice by people wanting to sell something or just plain ask for money.
STAFF: What service? Immediately seated, the hostess did not take drink orders, perhaps she should. We had water and a little bread right away, then it took 10 minutes, no lie, for the waitress to get to us. By then the bread is gone and the water nearly so. We order beer, the waitress dashes off, and after another 10 minutes we are wondering, what the heck, it isn't like the place was busy, we only ordered beer, how long could it take? The waitress comes back and tells me my choice was "out." Ok, waitresses can't always know that ahead of time, perhaps they just ran out. I dunno, but it took nearly another 10 to get our two pints of beer. Naomi had the stout and I had a Woodenhead ale (from experience, I knew this is one of River City's best). Good thing we ordered food when the waitress brought us the beer, or our wait would have really dragged on. She gave us an excuse about they got slammed and one table had taken all her time - but there were no big groups there, and I didn't see any trouble folks. I don't care, just bring me food and beverage.
DRINKS: The beer here is usually good, but the last few times I have come in, River City was out of at least one of the brews they had advertised as available. The Stout was "thin" but tasty and the Woodenhead was excellent. River City missed a chance to have us consume more beer since it took nearly 30 minutes to bring us our first drinks which arrived shortly before food. We could have drank two over the entire time we were there (about an hour) but...
FOOD: River City must re-ignite the menu. It is old and I've eaten most of what is there. It's good and tasty.
Cranky rates River City a one happy face. Someplace I will only pop into for a brew when I am at the mall downtown Sac, and definately if there is only bar seating.
Don't bother says Cranky.
I have been going to this place periodically over the last 10 years, and I realize it is TIRED. It used to be a busy place, but the food is the same yet nothing exciting. They must shake it up. Beer is good, but not fantastic. Wait staff, lord, the worse. We chose outside dining, many tables, umbrellas, heaters, and a 3 foot iron fence around a wide area. There was a rash of homeless or beggars there as well and no one from the restaurant kept them out. We were approached twice by people wanting to sell something or just plain ask for money.
STAFF: What service? Immediately seated, the hostess did not take drink orders, perhaps she should. We had water and a little bread right away, then it took 10 minutes, no lie, for the waitress to get to us. By then the bread is gone and the water nearly so. We order beer, the waitress dashes off, and after another 10 minutes we are wondering, what the heck, it isn't like the place was busy, we only ordered beer, how long could it take? The waitress comes back and tells me my choice was "out." Ok, waitresses can't always know that ahead of time, perhaps they just ran out. I dunno, but it took nearly another 10 to get our two pints of beer. Naomi had the stout and I had a Woodenhead ale (from experience, I knew this is one of River City's best). Good thing we ordered food when the waitress brought us the beer, or our wait would have really dragged on. She gave us an excuse about they got slammed and one table had taken all her time - but there were no big groups there, and I didn't see any trouble folks. I don't care, just bring me food and beverage.
DRINKS: The beer here is usually good, but the last few times I have come in, River City was out of at least one of the brews they had advertised as available. The Stout was "thin" but tasty and the Woodenhead was excellent. River City missed a chance to have us consume more beer since it took nearly 30 minutes to bring us our first drinks which arrived shortly before food. We could have drank two over the entire time we were there (about an hour) but...
FOOD: River City must re-ignite the menu. It is old and I've eaten most of what is there. It's good and tasty.
Cranky rates River City a one happy face. Someplace I will only pop into for a brew when I am at the mall downtown Sac, and definately if there is only bar seating.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
ABC's 'Commander in Chief' sinking into lame-duck status
ABC's 'Commander in Chief' sinking into lame-duck status
Well, that is really too bad. Seems like only situational TV can offer honest discussion about politics - exploring ethics and morals where real media, and sadly our real leaders fail. This and West Wing were good commentaries on our social / political beings. So long.
What will we see next? Goofy leaders in sitcoms? Or more "Reality" shows that aren't?
(Cranky looking sad)
Well, that is really too bad. Seems like only situational TV can offer honest discussion about politics - exploring ethics and morals where real media, and sadly our real leaders fail. This and West Wing were good commentaries on our social / political beings. So long.
What will we see next? Goofy leaders in sitcoms? Or more "Reality" shows that aren't?
(Cranky looking sad)
Monday, April 17, 2006
Beer Menu at Suppenk�che
Beer Menu at Suppenk�che
Ah, beer.... This Easter weekend, my partner and I traveled to my favorite US town (San Francisco - hey I lived there for 14 years and still love and miss it). We met my little friend Charm and her beau for some beer drinking fun at Suppenkuche - German cuisine and all beers either German, Dutch, or Belgian. Mmmmm.
WAIT STAFF: Very busy, but our drinks were never over-delayed. It was Saturday and when we got there around 5:30 pm it was already a full house with only two empty tables in the front dining room.
FOOD: Rich fare - a pork dish with a huge 'dumpling' that was a stuffing ball and sauerkraut. Naomi had a leg o' lamb with kale and onions and mashed potatoes. Hard bread and butter was there as well. We shared a "bee sting" cake that was light, fluffy, and sweet. Sweet always goes with beer, that or salty.
DRINKS: We tried many different kinds of beer, only two in a bottle. Naomi tried the smoke beer and stuck with that, having another one. Unfortunately, I'm not a German speaker and remembering the long name is impossible, nor is it up on Suppenkuche's web site. I started with a Weltenburger Dunkel (Weltenburger is a name and Dunkel means brown), then Charm had one later, while I switched to a Belgian Trappist beer, Leffe. The Dunkel was full of flavors and had a sweet hint. The Leffe was traditional and lighter than a barley wine, but strong flavors. As I like my Chimay, I liked this as well. Charm started with an Optimator, a good standby and Scott had a beer that was a bock starting with a K that unfortunately didn't make the website either. Lastly, Scott finished with a Celebrator. 4 people, 8 beers of 7 varieties. We took the BART and Muni so as to minimize any risks associated with driving.
Cranky will give the Suppenkuche 4 happy faces.
Ah, beer.... This Easter weekend, my partner and I traveled to my favorite US town (San Francisco - hey I lived there for 14 years and still love and miss it). We met my little friend Charm and her beau for some beer drinking fun at Suppenkuche - German cuisine and all beers either German, Dutch, or Belgian. Mmmmm.
WAIT STAFF: Very busy, but our drinks were never over-delayed. It was Saturday and when we got there around 5:30 pm it was already a full house with only two empty tables in the front dining room.
FOOD: Rich fare - a pork dish with a huge 'dumpling' that was a stuffing ball and sauerkraut. Naomi had a leg o' lamb with kale and onions and mashed potatoes. Hard bread and butter was there as well. We shared a "bee sting" cake that was light, fluffy, and sweet. Sweet always goes with beer, that or salty.
DRINKS: We tried many different kinds of beer, only two in a bottle. Naomi tried the smoke beer and stuck with that, having another one. Unfortunately, I'm not a German speaker and remembering the long name is impossible, nor is it up on Suppenkuche's web site. I started with a Weltenburger Dunkel (Weltenburger is a name and Dunkel means brown), then Charm had one later, while I switched to a Belgian Trappist beer, Leffe. The Dunkel was full of flavors and had a sweet hint. The Leffe was traditional and lighter than a barley wine, but strong flavors. As I like my Chimay, I liked this as well. Charm started with an Optimator, a good standby and Scott had a beer that was a bock starting with a K that unfortunately didn't make the website either. Lastly, Scott finished with a Celebrator. 4 people, 8 beers of 7 varieties. We took the BART and Muni so as to minimize any risks associated with driving.
Cranky will give the Suppenkuche 4 happy faces.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Sushi in Irvine
Mitsui -
Quail Hill Pkwy (off Sand Cyn and I405) in Irvine - while on a business trip, always eat comfort food, for me that's SUSHI. Mitsui is well decorated, accomodating large and small groups. I was with an 8 person group.
WAIT STAFF:
Ethnic, helpful with suggestions, prompt.
DRINKS:
Beer and saki, what else? The usual, Asahi reserve and some nigori saki.
FOOD:
The stuffed tomato, not really a tomato, was one of the most delicious things I ate there. Red tuna, wrapped to look like a red tomato stuffed with crab meat and a scallop atop. Some small amount of sauce (was it orange?) and a bit of tobiko. The rolls were all interesting and good. The nigiri, unagi was all I ordered in this style, was generous.
Price was right - so overall, Mitsui gets 4 happy faces from cranky pants.
Quail Hill Pkwy (off Sand Cyn and I405) in Irvine - while on a business trip, always eat comfort food, for me that's SUSHI. Mitsui is well decorated, accomodating large and small groups. I was with an 8 person group.
WAIT STAFF:
Ethnic, helpful with suggestions, prompt.
DRINKS:
Beer and saki, what else? The usual, Asahi reserve and some nigori saki.
FOOD:
The stuffed tomato, not really a tomato, was one of the most delicious things I ate there. Red tuna, wrapped to look like a red tomato stuffed with crab meat and a scallop atop. Some small amount of sauce (was it orange?) and a bit of tobiko. The rolls were all interesting and good. The nigiri, unagi was all I ordered in this style, was generous.
Price was right - so overall, Mitsui gets 4 happy faces from cranky pants.
Out of Town Eats
Rockin' Baja Lobster
April 13 - in Irvine for business. The training class I was helping train had a night out and 18 of us went out to the Newport Beach Pier area to grab some grub. Now, Newport Beach has great memories for me as I spent a few teenage summers hanging out there. The fondest for me is staying with the Buuck's at the rental they rented each year. OK, I could go on and on about that and them... but, I'm here to write about food and eateries.Rockin' Baja Lobster has quite the theme - and that theme is BUCKETS. Buckets o' beer (6 for the price of 5, about $3.50 each, not bad, actually) and buckets o' shell fish - most of it fried. Fried slipper lobster tails (that would be crawdads on steroids), shrimp fried, the crabs were steamed or boiled, no chips and salsa, all you can eat ceasar salad, and family-style servings of refried beans and spanish rice (no other choices of beans).
WAIT STAFF:Young and helpful, somewhat forgetful about water, but other than that, they worked hard.
DRINKS:Hey, this was business, so I had only one beer, a Negro Modelo. The beer menu was not huge, but some variety. The drinks looked interesting - pitchers of margeritas, but the 3 different mojitos sounded yummy - but I was driving, so only the one beer for me. Perhaps I can come back and have a mojioto.
FOOD:As described above, made to be served fast - but the quantities only sound big. A bucket of shrimp (Shrimp Lover's Bucket) is $16.95, and like all buckets, is half filled with paper, so the food is at the top two inches of the cute galvanized quart-sized buckets. The buckets were pretty much the same with paper and food, except the snow crab, but they are long. I had the Lobster Lover's Combo, a fried lobster taco, which was good, only fried, a lobster enchalada, and a cup of lobster and corn chowder. I got beans and rice with that and the salad and salsa bar. It wasn't so bad, $13.95 is reasonable for lobster. I think the fact that the restaurant is not generous with the ubiquitous chips rubbed me wrong. The best part of the salsa bar was chili butter, smeared on a tortilla was tasty. Eighteen people produced a bill of $463.88. ouch.
Rockin' Baja Lobster gets one happy face on the cranky scale. It would have gotten two happy's except the no-choice of rice and beans and zero free chips was just not generous enough for this theme restaurant. (It must be the tourists who get sucked in, I don't see locals comin' back)
April 13 - in Irvine for business. The training class I was helping train had a night out and 18 of us went out to the Newport Beach Pier area to grab some grub. Now, Newport Beach has great memories for me as I spent a few teenage summers hanging out there. The fondest for me is staying with the Buuck's at the rental they rented each year. OK, I could go on and on about that and them... but, I'm here to write about food and eateries.Rockin' Baja Lobster has quite the theme - and that theme is BUCKETS. Buckets o' beer (6 for the price of 5, about $3.50 each, not bad, actually) and buckets o' shell fish - most of it fried. Fried slipper lobster tails (that would be crawdads on steroids), shrimp fried, the crabs were steamed or boiled, no chips and salsa, all you can eat ceasar salad, and family-style servings of refried beans and spanish rice (no other choices of beans).
WAIT STAFF:Young and helpful, somewhat forgetful about water, but other than that, they worked hard.
DRINKS:Hey, this was business, so I had only one beer, a Negro Modelo. The beer menu was not huge, but some variety. The drinks looked interesting - pitchers of margeritas, but the 3 different mojitos sounded yummy - but I was driving, so only the one beer for me. Perhaps I can come back and have a mojioto.
FOOD:As described above, made to be served fast - but the quantities only sound big. A bucket of shrimp (Shrimp Lover's Bucket) is $16.95, and like all buckets, is half filled with paper, so the food is at the top two inches of the cute galvanized quart-sized buckets. The buckets were pretty much the same with paper and food, except the snow crab, but they are long. I had the Lobster Lover's Combo, a fried lobster taco, which was good, only fried, a lobster enchalada, and a cup of lobster and corn chowder. I got beans and rice with that and the salad and salsa bar. It wasn't so bad, $13.95 is reasonable for lobster. I think the fact that the restaurant is not generous with the ubiquitous chips rubbed me wrong. The best part of the salsa bar was chili butter, smeared on a tortilla was tasty. Eighteen people produced a bill of $463.88. ouch.
Rockin' Baja Lobster gets one happy face on the cranky scale. It would have gotten two happy's except the no-choice of rice and beans and zero free chips was just not generous enough for this theme restaurant. (It must be the tourists who get sucked in, I don't see locals comin' back)
Monday, April 03, 2006
Rate the Hyatt Long Beach, CA
http://longbeach.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp?src=tig_lgbrl_brand_google
Cranky was sent to a conference in Long Beach, CA. Since the conference was at the Hyatt, I stayed there. Just a few observations:
OVERALL: Nice setting, great rooms.
GOOD: The most comfortable beds, elevators aplenty and fast. And very very clean.
BAD:
Why do all hotels still have the most awful coffee on earth in those little coffee makers in the rooms? Why oh why? When most of them serve a brand name (Starbucks) on site, do the rooms still have awful coffee?
This is a very nice hotel, yet, it seemed like the Hyatt was trying to make money off of every little trivial thing. #1, no drinking fountains, so you have to buy bottled water - just plain everyday bottled water - $3.00 (come on, this isn't a movie theater).
I would also think the Hyatt, being so high end here in Long Beach, would have free internet, WiFi, but no, they teamed up with T-Mobile for the cursed $9.99 a day service.
Drinks at the bar? $6.50 for nothing-to-get-excited about wine.
It was ridiculous the way the Hyatt nickeled and dimed us guests.
*** That said, I would still come back because the rooms were so good and clean and comfortable ***
Cranky was sent to a conference in Long Beach, CA. Since the conference was at the Hyatt, I stayed there. Just a few observations:
OVERALL: Nice setting, great rooms.
GOOD: The most comfortable beds, elevators aplenty and fast. And very very clean.
BAD:
Why do all hotels still have the most awful coffee on earth in those little coffee makers in the rooms? Why oh why? When most of them serve a brand name (Starbucks) on site, do the rooms still have awful coffee?
This is a very nice hotel, yet, it seemed like the Hyatt was trying to make money off of every little trivial thing. #1, no drinking fountains, so you have to buy bottled water - just plain everyday bottled water - $3.00 (come on, this isn't a movie theater).
I would also think the Hyatt, being so high end here in Long Beach, would have free internet, WiFi, but no, they teamed up with T-Mobile for the cursed $9.99 a day service.
Drinks at the bar? $6.50 for nothing-to-get-excited about wine.
It was ridiculous the way the Hyatt nickeled and dimed us guests.
*** That said, I would still come back because the rooms were so good and clean and comfortable ***
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One good visit deserves another, so we have been back twice more. We brought friends both times, once sitting at a table, the next time in our favorite place on the cushioned bench with low tables.
WAIT STAFF: They were busy both times, yet attentive. On our second return trip, I felt like we were getting our food in a hurry and felt rushed.
DRINKS: Kasbah has been out of their featured Mediterranean beers, with only one available, for the last two months. Too bad. If they could not make it more consistent, they should have had the menu say "ask us about our Mediterranean beers.' Just a suggestion.
FOOD: In addition to the other dishes we already love, we had Stuffed Dates and Kefta. Excellent. The fiery cheese dish is also a hit. The only strange thing was this; the dates were small and seemed to be breaded before fried, and there were six of 'em, on our first return visit. The second time, they were almost tempura style, large, only four. But both times, equally delicious.
The Kasbah still rates all the happy faces Ole Cranky gave it last time. It is someplace I'll take adventurous out-of-town guests to.
More on the Kasbah Lounge.
One good visit deserves another, so we have been back twice more. We brought friends both times, once sitting at a table, the next time in our favorite place on the cushioned bench with low tables.
WAIT STAFF: They were busy both times, yet attentive. On our second return trip, I felt like we were getting our food in a hurry and felt rushed.
DRINKS: Kasbah has been out of their featured Mediterranean beers, with only one available, for the last two months. Too bad. If they could not make it more consistent, they should have had the menu say "ask us about our Mediterranean beers.' Just a suggestion.
FOOD: In addition to the other dishes we already love, we had Stuffed Dates and Kefta. Excellent. The fiery cheese dish is also a hit. The only strange thing was this; the dates were small and seemed to be breaded before fried, and there were six of 'em, on our first return visit. The second time, they were almost tempura style, large, only four. But both times, equally delicious.
The Kasbah still rates all the happy faces Ole Cranky gave it last time. It is someplace I'll take adventurous out-of-town guests to.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Sacramento's very good burger places
STOCKTON BURGER
It is better than Ford's. When I moved here some friends said Ford's was the best, but I disagree. Stockton is good, old fashioned, big bun, meat patty the same size and juicy. Just plain ole' cheddar cheese, iceburg lettuce, tomato, and thousand island dressing. Perfect. Steak cut fries only tops it off. No nonsense interior area to dine and at lunch it was filled with a true mix of people. They serve a teriyaki chicken plate that I will have to try sometime, it looked good and a lot of people were ordering it.
Cranky thinkgs Stockton Burger deserves 4 happy faces.
It is better than Ford's. When I moved here some friends said Ford's was the best, but I disagree. Stockton is good, old fashioned, big bun, meat patty the same size and juicy. Just plain ole' cheddar cheese, iceburg lettuce, tomato, and thousand island dressing. Perfect. Steak cut fries only tops it off. No nonsense interior area to dine and at lunch it was filled with a true mix of people. They serve a teriyaki chicken plate that I will have to try sometime, it looked good and a lot of people were ordering it.
Cranky thinkgs Stockton Burger deserves 4 happy faces.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Dining at the Kasbah Lounge
kasbah
Now that is more like it!
After a stressful week, I just wanted to go someplace peaceful and forget the week. We ate here on March 10, 2006
The link above takes you to the website. The decor is not as glamorous as, say Dar Maghreb in Los Angeles, the restaurant itself is not very large, but this is one pleasant place. Various seating available, from tall tables and stools (with backs), bar seating, table seating, or the best of all, row type seating on a low cushioned bench, with cushions for your back and a low table for two. The only draw back is those little tables, they seem wobbly, and there isn't much room if you have more than two dishes of food going at once, plus your drinks. We chose the comfy seats where we could lean back and just watch. There are light sconces everywhere, projecting soft light, the seating along the walls has drapes of material overhead to give a tent-like feeling. The items along the walls fit in with my perception of what a Moroccan eatery would look like. There are small votive candles on the tables (one per table) but the lighting is soft to the point it makes reading the menu difficult. Perhaps bigger print, certainly I would hate to have more light spoil the atmosphere.
WAIT STAFF:
Prompt, not overly intrusive when they check on you, and offering suggestions on drink and food, friendly (young, my gosh).
DRINKS:
The menu listed 5 foreign beers, but only two were on hand. My partner tried the lager from Morocco and, although it was yellow beer, said it wasn't too bad. I had one of the Kasbah's signature drinks, an aged rum from Brazil with mashed up lemons and limes. It was perfect, and served in a large round goblet, so one was plenty - and at $8.50 I didn't want to pay for two.
FOOD:
Of course, we want to try a little of everything, so we had Fatima's Palette, which was three 'dips,' hummus (very good), lebne (a yogurt based dip, also very good), and baba ganoush. The baba ganoush was strange, it tasted like an avocado dip and I think I would have preferred something different like tabouli. There was never ending pita bread wedges. This dish was $9.
We also had Merguez, for $9.50, it was 4 skewers of lamb sausages, red onion, red pepper, and lime and kumquats (or lowquats). The mix of a bite of sausage and kumquat was delicious, and 4 skewers was plentiful, glad to see a good amount of food.
Lastly, we had B'stella rolls. Usually B'stella is more like a pie, but this was the same crust, with almonds and cinnamon sugar mix sprinkled atop, and filled with chicken and egg. $8 for 4 fat rolls was a great value. It tasted delicious.
CRANKY RATING:
Overall - this place gets 4 happy faces from ole cranky. Price was right, food plentiful and tasty. I will definitely be sharing this spot with friends and out of town visitors.
Incidentally, this is the place with hukas I spoke of a couple of critiques back. Tonight it was too chilly to sit outside and enjoy one - of course, with hot sweetened mint tea... maybe in a future trip.
Now that is more like it!
After a stressful week, I just wanted to go someplace peaceful and forget the week. We ate here on March 10, 2006
The link above takes you to the website. The decor is not as glamorous as, say Dar Maghreb in Los Angeles, the restaurant itself is not very large, but this is one pleasant place. Various seating available, from tall tables and stools (with backs), bar seating, table seating, or the best of all, row type seating on a low cushioned bench, with cushions for your back and a low table for two. The only draw back is those little tables, they seem wobbly, and there isn't much room if you have more than two dishes of food going at once, plus your drinks. We chose the comfy seats where we could lean back and just watch. There are light sconces everywhere, projecting soft light, the seating along the walls has drapes of material overhead to give a tent-like feeling. The items along the walls fit in with my perception of what a Moroccan eatery would look like. There are small votive candles on the tables (one per table) but the lighting is soft to the point it makes reading the menu difficult. Perhaps bigger print, certainly I would hate to have more light spoil the atmosphere.
WAIT STAFF:
Prompt, not overly intrusive when they check on you, and offering suggestions on drink and food, friendly (young, my gosh).
DRINKS:
The menu listed 5 foreign beers, but only two were on hand. My partner tried the lager from Morocco and, although it was yellow beer, said it wasn't too bad. I had one of the Kasbah's signature drinks, an aged rum from Brazil with mashed up lemons and limes. It was perfect, and served in a large round goblet, so one was plenty - and at $8.50 I didn't want to pay for two.
FOOD:
Of course, we want to try a little of everything, so we had Fatima's Palette, which was three 'dips,' hummus (very good), lebne (a yogurt based dip, also very good), and baba ganoush. The baba ganoush was strange, it tasted like an avocado dip and I think I would have preferred something different like tabouli. There was never ending pita bread wedges. This dish was $9.
We also had Merguez, for $9.50, it was 4 skewers of lamb sausages, red onion, red pepper, and lime and kumquats (or lowquats). The mix of a bite of sausage and kumquat was delicious, and 4 skewers was plentiful, glad to see a good amount of food.
Lastly, we had B'stella rolls. Usually B'stella is more like a pie, but this was the same crust, with almonds and cinnamon sugar mix sprinkled atop, and filled with chicken and egg. $8 for 4 fat rolls was a great value. It tasted delicious.
CRANKY RATING:
Overall - this place gets 4 happy faces from ole cranky. Price was right, food plentiful and tasty. I will definitely be sharing this spot with friends and out of town visitors.
Incidentally, this is the place with hukas I spoke of a couple of critiques back. Tonight it was too chilly to sit outside and enjoy one - of course, with hot sweetened mint tea... maybe in a future trip.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Tapa The World/index
Tapa The World/index
February 24, 2006
Click on the above link, and see the next place we dined at.
TAPA THE WORLD, cafe and bar, Spanish and World Cuisine. Right next door is Kasbah Lounge. Tapa has beer and wine and the bar staff has to duck next door to the Kasbah to access a full bar. Just before we left, Tapa had live music, a fella playing Spanish-style guitar; pleasant. There was outside seating, that would be small tables on the sidewalk (fenced in with a short iron fence). It was cold, so we went inside. It was packed, but there were openings at the bar, so... Once again, we were at the bar and, of course, that means appetizers for us.
HELP STAFF:
Staff was cheerful, the bar guys were busy, but the did not do too bad a job of getting to us. The only problem with staff was catching their eye for a refill and the bill. The host was very cheerful and really drew us in.
DRINKS:
I had the beer of the month, Lagunitas' Hairy Eye. Not normally a fan of Lagunitas, this one was good, so I had two. Naomi had one as well, and some other beer that I can't remember.
FOOD:
Overall, Tapa the World gets only 1 happy face from ole cranky pants here.
February 24, 2006
Click on the above link, and see the next place we dined at.
TAPA THE WORLD, cafe and bar, Spanish and World Cuisine. Right next door is Kasbah Lounge. Tapa has beer and wine and the bar staff has to duck next door to the Kasbah to access a full bar. Just before we left, Tapa had live music, a fella playing Spanish-style guitar; pleasant. There was outside seating, that would be small tables on the sidewalk (fenced in with a short iron fence). It was cold, so we went inside. It was packed, but there were openings at the bar, so... Once again, we were at the bar and, of course, that means appetizers for us.
HELP STAFF:
Staff was cheerful, the bar guys were busy, but the did not do too bad a job of getting to us. The only problem with staff was catching their eye for a refill and the bill. The host was very cheerful and really drew us in.
DRINKS:
I had the beer of the month, Lagunitas' Hairy Eye. Not normally a fan of Lagunitas, this one was good, so I had two. Naomi had one as well, and some other beer that I can't remember.
FOOD:
Doesn't cheese of the day from Spain sound good? I thought so, but what we got when we ordered Queso Español del DÃa was 4 not too thin slices and some greens. That was it, 4 thin slices. What was strange is, the bread served (kinda like chips and salsa). Which one complimented the cheese? You would have to try both to figure it out, and one didn't. There was a baguette cut up and some peppery, soft bread. The peppery bread, good as it was, did not compliment the cheese, it hid it. Patatas Bravas, potato cubes with a spicketchupup, exactly what the bartender said it was, and it was tasty. Pinchos Morunos, a pork skewer with a dry rub ochiliesis and cumin. It was good, but very dry and should have come with a sauce. Kobe beef was very good. We had desert, Chocolate Strawberry Addiction, well worth the price.
PRICE: I was very surprised at the high price. The cheese dish was $5.50, probably the worse ratio of satisfaction for the money. We dropped over $70 there, so I am certain we had other appetizers that I can't remember. I think they charged for the extra bread.Overall, Tapa the World gets only 1 happy face from ole cranky pants here.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
My restaurant adventures in Sacramento
Background: I once lived in a suburban part of Los Angeles. It is hard not to think of the whole LA basin as anything but one city because everything looks the same. The cities blend together. I had moved to one of these cities and began, what came to be known by me and my girlfriend, as the TEN WORSE RESTAURANT TOUR. I had similar experiences in San Francisco, as well. So, why not share my critiques of Sacramento (my new home town). This doesn't mean that all the places I've been have been bad.
Late January, 2006-
"CELESTIN'S restaurant and voodou lounge" - cute spelling of voodoo and all. I dined with my partner on a Friday.
Celestin's has a full bar and patio. I saw sidewalk seating, behind low iron fencing, so I can't say if this is the patio (I did not check out back... next time I will be more thorough).
HELP STAFF/BAR STAFF
It was cold out and not many were sitting outside. There was friendly staff to greet us. The crowd was young and I believe I was the only over-50 person there. We sat at the bar as most tables were already filled at 7 pm. The bar help was attentive and my only complaint would be we had to wait for a while to get refills on drinks as the passing of an hour and a half meant more customers ordering drinks; it took a while to get the final tab, well after the time we wanted to leave and our drinks were empty.
DRINKS
I had the mojito - ok, I had two. There were excellent
My partner had a draft beer, Jamaican Red, which was good, then she had a sangria, which she also liked. I agree with her assessment.
FOOD
We felt the best thing for us would be appetizer and one of the many gumbos on the menu. We went with the house gumbo, a mix of shrimp, scallops, tilapia (whatever that is) chicken and kielbasa sausage. It was quite good, just spicy enough and I was happy that the scallops were big enough to tell they were scallops. The appetizers we chose were: sweet potato fries which were awesome, grio (marinated chunks of pork, served with an interesting sauce) which was tasty, and fritailles (a combo of grio, the fries, crispy fried plantains, and lamb fritters) which we enjoyed.
PRICE: Appetizers were all under $10 and ranged from $9.5 for the most expensive fritailles, to the $6 for the sweet potatoes. The house gumbo is their most expensive, at $16.50 (the other versions featuring only two of the meats in combination are $12 and $14). For the food, and the clean cheerful atmosphere, the people watching opportunity (for them and me), good drinks - more than I like to pay, but it is cheaper than getting an airport beer - I would say the expense was a good trade.
CELESTIN'S gets 3 "happys" on the Cranky scale . That would be 3 smiley faces, but I can't seem to make those in the blog :-) :-) :-) .
Late January, 2006-
"CELESTIN'S restaurant and voodou lounge" - cute spelling of voodoo and all. I dined with my partner on a Friday.
Celestin's has a full bar and patio. I saw sidewalk seating, behind low iron fencing, so I can't say if this is the patio (I did not check out back... next time I will be more thorough).
HELP STAFF/BAR STAFF
It was cold out and not many were sitting outside. There was friendly staff to greet us. The crowd was young and I believe I was the only over-50 person there. We sat at the bar as most tables were already filled at 7 pm. The bar help was attentive and my only complaint would be we had to wait for a while to get refills on drinks as the passing of an hour and a half meant more customers ordering drinks; it took a while to get the final tab, well after the time we wanted to leave and our drinks were empty.
DRINKS
I had the mojito - ok, I had two. There were excellent
My partner had a draft beer, Jamaican Red, which was good, then she had a sangria, which she also liked. I agree with her assessment.
FOOD
We felt the best thing for us would be appetizer and one of the many gumbos on the menu. We went with the house gumbo, a mix of shrimp, scallops, tilapia (whatever that is) chicken and kielbasa sausage. It was quite good, just spicy enough and I was happy that the scallops were big enough to tell they were scallops. The appetizers we chose were: sweet potato fries which were awesome, grio (marinated chunks of pork, served with an interesting sauce) which was tasty, and fritailles (a combo of grio, the fries, crispy fried plantains, and lamb fritters) which we enjoyed.
PRICE: Appetizers were all under $10 and ranged from $9.5 for the most expensive fritailles, to the $6 for the sweet potatoes. The house gumbo is their most expensive, at $16.50 (the other versions featuring only two of the meats in combination are $12 and $14). For the food, and the clean cheerful atmosphere, the people watching opportunity (for them and me), good drinks - more than I like to pay, but it is cheaper than getting an airport beer - I would say the expense was a good trade.
CELESTIN'S gets 3 "happys" on the Cranky scale . That would be 3 smiley faces, but I can't seem to make those in the blog :-) :-) :-) .
Thursday, February 02, 2006
SF Gate: News and Information for the San Francisco Bay Area
SF Gate: News and Information for the San Francisco Bay Area
Do you know how hard it is to find you 'hometown' newspaper in Sacramento? Delivered to the house is double the home delivery rate when I lived in the City - transportation costs is the reason.
It is chaper at the news stand - but those are unrealiable. The jam, or in the rain, the papers get wet.
Do you know how hard it is to find you 'hometown' newspaper in Sacramento? Delivered to the house is double the home delivery rate when I lived in the City - transportation costs is the reason.
It is chaper at the news stand - but those are unrealiable. The jam, or in the rain, the papers get wet.
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