Captain's Dinner

January 24, 2006

As most of you know, I am a co-captain of a San Francisco Ultimate Club (SFUC) winter league team, with Dave Brokaw. One of biggest incentives for captaining a team each season is the raucous captain's dinner that takes place every January. Last season, we went to Buca di Beppo, where we had the "Cardinal Room", and redefined the concept of the captain's dinner. Let's just say that there was mistaken raisin wine consumption and mistaken birthday girl celebrations leading to an impromptu Italian lap-dance. Yes, oh my.

This year, we returned to Buca di Beppo, and to the Cardinal Room. I have no idea what everyone was eating, but at our table, we definitely enjoyed:

- BUCA TRIO PLATTER (large only) crispy shrimp, fried calamari and pan fried fresh mozzarella
- CRISPY SHRIMP
- MIXED GREEN SALAD WITH PROSCIUTTO & GORGONZOLA
- MACARONI ROSA with chicken, broccoli, mushrooms, peas and fresh bruschetta in a rosa sauce
- PENNE ARRABBIATA with spicy fennel sausage and crushed red pepper in a zesty marinara
- CHICKEN MARSALA with fresh mushrooms
- TIRAMISU rum and espresso soaked ladyfingers layered with custard, topped with cocoa and biscotti with almonds

And for the record, I think that our group (approximately 30 people) consumed at least (8) 3-liter bottles of Chianti...that's about 24 liters of vino...and did it ever show.

There were lots of photos on my camera when I looked this morning (104 photos), but I've only posted a fraction of those...I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...






















So, you know that it's been a good night when the manager of Buca di Beppo comes into the Cardinal Room and says "You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here"...

I think the night is best summed up by Dave Brokaw, who sent out an e-mail this morning:

Curse you Henrik for exposing me to the awful truth that I am NOT, as previously stated, "impervious to alcohol". Alcohol has many varied effects on me. All of which are decidedly unpleasant.

I know that I definitely had to reach for the Tylenol this morning...

Mott Canyon

January 22, 2006

I just got home from another weekend up at the cabin in South Lake Tahoe.

It was a gong-show in terms of sheer number of people at the cabin, 19 on Friday night and 20 on Saturday night. Our friend, Adam, was in town for work (he does big things for The North Face, who's corporate office is in San Rafael), and he joined Will and I on Friday afternoon to head up to the mountains.

With so many people in the cabin at one time, it was difficult to sleep in, so for two weeks in a row, the majority of the cabin folk was up and about around 8 am (usually unheard of when there's not fresh powder as incentive). Logistically, it's not a good idea to try to plan to have 15-20 people ski/board/meet up with eachother on the mountain. We had loosely agreed to a 10:30-10:45 am meeting point at the bottom fo Sky Express on the California side of Heavenly.

Adam with his morning cup o' joe, in line for the Powder Express

I did 4 laps of Canyon express as "warm-up" in time to meet up with majority of the crew at Sky Express. From there, Jojo and I did one more lap on Canyon and headed up Sky to go over to Nevada, where we both had one of the best days boarding...ever...

Jojo and I seem to be at the same skill/attitude level in terms of snowboarding. We can both handle tough or tricky terrain and we are both willing to try anything. As Adam says, confidence level is all in the "miles", and he's right, practice makes perfect. I'm finally at the level where I don't worry about catching my edge, traverses aren't so earth-shattering, and I don't need to "think" about the mechanics of turning.

We headed over to Mott Canyon, an advanced area of Heavenly's Nevada side where the Mott Canyon lift services all double-black terrain. I had only been to Mott Canyon once before and that was on 2-planks (a.k.a. skis), and was psyched to tackle it on my snowboard. We were able to have a really good time mastering new terrain and challenges.

Looking down "Southern Comfort" in Mott Canyon



Jojo, my riding buddy



We kept running into most of the crew at the bottom of the Mott lift, so it was nice to ride up with everyone and see them sporadically. Dave Brokaw joined Jojo and I on our Mott adventures. We accidentally overshot the trail to meet up with everyone at 1 pm for lunch and were a little late (the Galaxy chair is soooo slow!).

After lunch, Jackie joined the three of us and we all had a dandy time. At the end of the day, we headed back to the California side (through Maggie's Bowl..weeee!) and then took on "The Face" of Gunbarrel. It was just grand.

Around 4 pm, we called it quits and headed to the bar at California Lodge to enjoy some brew. Another full day of boarding!

A defeated plate of nachos at the California Lodge Bar

Back at the cabin, all 20 peeps fended for themselves for food (chinese, thai, pizza, lasagna, etc.) and there was lots of hot-tubbing. Some fools (JonZ, Jim, Pete, Bruss & Bryn) were in the hot tub for 1.5 hours...that can't be good for you.

There was a viewing of "Napoleon Dynamite". And then, Matt Bruss broke out "Safety" Blockhead. You may recall that I discovered this game back in November at the crab party. Instead of the actual boardgame, Bruss had purchased a bag of brightly colored styrofoam building blocks (which were very similar to the Blockhead pieces) and was using these as substitutes. That's right, a group of 20 adults were entertained with building blocks (ages 2 and above) for a couple hours.













A mind-blowing combination of "Safety" Blockhead pieces

Jojo and Gail

Around 10:30 pm, cabin ADD results in ending the Blockhead game. Liquor is disappearing at a rapid rate. I call Yellow Cab and order 4 cabs.

The first cab appears within 10 minutes and whisks away Will, Adam, Brokaw, Jackie and I. Brokaw and Jackie, inspired by the fashion-forward consciousness of "Napoleon Dynamite", don some pretty fantastic "moon boots" that Brokaw had lying around at the cabin.

Brokaw and Jackie at the BofA ATM in their moon boots



We started at Harrah's, got quickly scared off by the crowds of people, and headed off to Bill's in search of cheaper tables to gamble at. There were no such tables at Bill's, but we stayed anyway, to the chagrin of our wallets.

(BTW: I had no idea that Harrah's, Bill's and Harvey's are all affiliated sister casinos, which may explain the blatant lack of $5 tables that used to be present at Bill's...harumph).

Brokaw paying homage to the "Captain", who was treating us very well that night

I play blackjack with Will, which does not go well. Then we jump ship and head to the craps table, which also does not go well. Adam and Abe came out on top (I could have just given them my money and saved us all some time and cigarette smoke intake). We wandered over to Cabo Wabo in Harveys, where the girls were dancing the night away.

Lots of cheesy people-watching and Corona intake was on hand. Around 2 am, a big group of us bailed and went into the blustery night in search of cab to head back to the cabin. A hard-core grouping stayed on (Wendy, Ashley, JonZ, Jim, Pete Rive) to enjoy more of Cabo Wabo's fine entertainment.

When we got back to the cabin, Abe had put on an old classic movie "The Warriors", and of course, most of us were captivated and stayed up watching until after 3 am. We are fools.

Not surprisingly, most of the cabin folk slept in. It was definitely a lazy Sunday morning. Abe, Wendy and I headed to the Nevada side of Heavenly at 11:30 am to meet up with Trent, who was doing a one-day strike to the mountains. The three of us were on skis this time.

I was super excited to try out my ski boots now that I finally went to a Master Bootfitter to get them fit properly (see blog entry here). We had a pretty fun time hitting the groomers before meeting up with Trent. After we found him, we headed over to the Dipper and Canyon chairs. It was definitely less busy on Sunday than Saturday, which was very nice.

Skiing was a blast. The boots were fantastic and I found that I haven't lost all my skiing mojo, despite the 7 year break. We even went down Milky Way bowl and the Aries Woods (black runs), but couldn't convince Abe to head into Mott Canyon. But, we gotta give the guy a break, it was his 6th time on skis and he was killing the black runs. Go Abe!



Adam, so excitable

I met up with Will and Adam at the bottom of Stagecoach lift and we headed back to the cabin to pack our stuff up. We had to get Adam to the Sacramento International Airport by 7 pm to catch his flight.

All in all, a very successful snow weekend....super!

Ledisi & Ashley

January 19, 2006

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!
Happy Birthday Ashley!
Happy Belated Birthday Trenty! (January 17)

It's been a pretty busy and social week so far. Delfina on Monday, Frisson on Tuesday, Will's work post-holiday holiday social last night at Steelhead Brewery in Burlingame, and now it's Thursday (...is this still the new Saturday??? I can't keep up.)

For my birthday, my former boss/mentor, Kerstin, had given me a lovely gift of tickets to see R&B/Jazz artist Ledisi at Yoshi's in Oakland. I was pretty psyched because I had seen Ledisi perform at least 4 years ago when she used have a residency at Cafe Du Nord. Also, I've been wanting to go see a show at Yoshi's since moving to the bay area, as it is a must-do.


Yoshi's is located in Jack London Square, and is known as "a world-class jazz venue showcasing legends at their zenith and young turks on their way up". Yoshi's is at least 25 years old and was located in the Claremont district of Oakland before it moved to its current space in JLS in 1997.

We had 8 pm show tickets, and it's general admission in the 400 person capacity Jazz House, and adjacent to the Jazz House is the Yoshi's Sushis restaurant. So, we made reservations for dinner in the restaurant, saved seats in the Jazz House, and had dinner before the show. The food was pretty good fare, despite all the mixed reviews I read.

For dinner:
Appetizers
- miso soup
- gyoza
- sunomono salad
- spicy scallop roll

Entrees
- Will: sashimi dinner
- Bea: Hamachi don (fresh Hamachi sashimi over a bowl of rice)

Cocktails
- Will: Yoshi's raspberry-infused sake
- Bea: Rum Diaries (a specialty cocktail that tasted like a jazzed-up Shirley Temple...yum!)

So we headed over to the Jazz House around 8 pm. We crammed into our seats around a small table that we shared with another couple and prepared to be jazz-ified. Ledisi is a tremendously talented singer. She definitely made a huge impression on me compared to when I saw her years ago. She's funny, entertaining and has a very talented band. I got into the groove so much that I knocked Will's glass of Oban single malt scotch into his lap...egads.



The show ended around 9:40 pm and we headed back into the city to catch up with Ashley's 29th birthday extravaganza.

We made a quick detour home so that Will could change his Oban-soaked pants and we walked down to Abe & Wendy's casa, where they had hosted a sushi-making party for Ashley. From there, we wandered down to one of our favorite Mission watering holes, the Elbo Room, where the infamous Ocean Beach cocktail is the reason why I don't drink fruit punch Gatorade anymore...(long but funny story that I maybe should leave off the blog)...

Ashley and Reba rocking the pool tables



Frodo and Ashley, with Wendy avoiding the blog exposure

Whitney, Ashley & Carrie





The good ol' ELbo Room Photo Booth



Will and I pulled the chute around 1 am (woo woo, we're soooo crazy!).

I'm so tired.

A New Crown and A New Tire

January 19, 2006

I realized that I only seem to post the good and fun things that I get to do and don't really talk about the crappy, "real-life" things that also pepper the day-to-day, so here goes...

Two days ago, I had to go to the dentist to get a permanent crown. My dentist is Dr. Stephen Henry, who I've been going to for five years and who is located in Foster City. I had gone in December for my usual cleaning right before the end of the year and they somehow convinced me to finally get a crown on one of my rear molars. I had avoided this for at least 3 years. After a painful visit a few weeks ago, I was not happy. I had a temporary molar that afforded all the issues of hot-cold temperature nerve pain and fear of sticky, gummy substances pulling it out.

So, I was on my way to Foster City when I noticed a strange sound from my car. It was coming from the rear passenger side of my car and it sounded like a flat tire. I stomached the awful flapping-whomping sounds and made it to the dentist, where I confirmed that I did, indeed, have a flat tire.

The permanent crown installation only took a half hour, I got to read the latest People Magazine (yes, Brad and Angelina are pregnant and they're sooo happy!), and the AAA dude came and replaced my tire with my spare at the same time. That AAA membership sure comes in handy sometimes. Turns out a nail had punctured my tire and pierced through the sidewall, so my tire had no chance of being saved.

The thought of driving a spare tire at less than 50 mph all the way back to the city and having to deal with it some other time was making me ill, so I rolled over to Costco, which was conveniently located only 5 minutes from my dentist. I love Costco, but their Tire Installation service is always a drag and takes forever. Sure enough, they tell me that it will take 4 hours to change the tire. Four hours!?! I'm supposed to be in the city eating Dine About Town at Frisson in 4 hours! Oh well.

A vente soy chai tea latte, a full reading of the SF Chronicle, a half-hearted stab at the crossword, a very brief attempt at the sudoku puzzle, and an hour of wandering around Costco later, my tire was done. Those tricky guys underpromised and overdelivered the new tire in only 2 hours.

At least my molar didn't hurt any more.

Dine About Town

January 18, 2006

Every January, I get a little excited because of a little program called Dine About Town. Dine About Town is in its fifth year of existence and is a month-long promotional program that enlists an impressive gaggle of SF restaurants to participate. During January, you can go to the participating restaurants for a three-course meal for lunch that costs $21.95 or dinner that costs $31.95.

Usually, this provides a great opportunity to go and try restaurants that I've been wanting to try, and for a reasonable cost. I say reasonable, not cheap, because it's usually a good deal, but in combination with cocktails or wine, it can still add up to a hefty bill. I also would think that it's a good chance for restaurants to woo new customers with their culinary wares to come back and try their regular menu, especially in the "slow" dining season post-holidays.

Ozumo on Friday, January 13

Key and I drove up from South SF to meet up with Will and JonZ last Friday for lunch. I had always wanted to try Ozumo, but I had heard that it was very costly, yet very good. And seeing as how you can get really good sushi pretty much anywhere in the city, I had yet to stretch my wallet at Ozumo. And Ozumo was where Abe had the infamous $40 toro.

For the Dine About Town menu, you could only choose the third course for the meal. The first course was a mixed salad with miso dressing, second course was sashimi (tuna, salmon, hamachi), and for the third course, I chose the chicken teriyaki bowl. I also had a mango-raspberry spritzer (I felt a little cheesy ordering it, but damn was it good). All in all, it was a good meal, but not anything to gush on and on about. I didn't feel that Ozumo did a very good job "woo-ing" us, and now I can officially check this "Top 100" restaurant off my list.

Frisson on Tuesday, January 17

Will, Wendy, Key and I went to Frisson last night. Frisson is a poshy Financial District restaurant that is known for exotic cocktails, clientele of famous actors, and New York chef Sarah Schafer's New American cuisine. A definite place to try during Dine About Town.

There were choices at each course, except dessert, when they ran out of one of the selections:
Appetizers
Will = parsnip soup • quince chutney, swiss chard, oxtail raviolis
Bea = sea scallops • tarragon-beet puree, mâche salad, chilean olive oil, vanilla bean vinaigrette

Entrees
Bea = seared duck breast • brandied raisin soft polenta, roasted cipollini onions, baby bok choy, calvados jus
Will = mirin & miso glazed salmon• beech mushrooms, celery root puree, napa cabbage, shiro dashi, daikon sprouts

Dessert
chocolate hazelnut ganache • vanilla -malted pound cake, warm hazelnut foam
Wine
Ross Estate Grenache

The meal was good, the portions were a little smaller than other places, but probably better for the waistline. Another check off the list.

Delfina...Finally!

January 17, 2006

Last night, Will and I met up with his co-worker, Frederick, and his wife, Liz (who used to work with Will too). It was a lovely double-date and we need to do it more often.

I finally got a chance to try a little Mission Dolores jem called Delfina.



For dinner:
Appetizers
- Will: grilled calamari and white bean salad
- Bea: cured foie gras and greens

Entree
- Will: mixed meat grill (rabbit and quail)
- Bea: prosciutto and mascarpone ravioli

Dessert
- buttermilk panna cotta with blood oranges

The meal was to die for, and it fully met my expectations of the restaurant. Delfina opened in 1998 and has maintained a reputation for being an exciting and moderately priced neighborhood restaurant that is full every night. Delfina has also made Michael Bauer's SF Chronicle list of Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area since 2000.

One of Michael Bauer's reviews:
Few restaurants capture the lusty spirit of Italy better than this Mission District restaurant. Chef-owner Craig Stoll doesn't dazzle you with creativity, but seduces with his rich, robust flavors. The menu is compact, but everything is delicious. The interior sports a modern industrial look, with hardwood floors, wood benches and sand-blasted glass beakers that hang from the ceiling. The tattooed and pierced staff members look as if they're plucked right from the neighborhood, and are extremely efficient.