Recently in Travel Category

The blogging has been a bit sparse in 2009, and for once, I have a good excuse. Two words: Battlestar Galactica. Yes, I've been sucked into the geekdom that is the BSG university. Free time is spent not only working my way through the episodes (thank goodness for the punctuality of Netflix), but reading up on the shows, pondering the plot twists and turns, the what-ifs, the theological and moral messages woven so brilliantly into every episode.

Now, just because I've been eyes glued to the TV does not mean that I have not been cooking and eating (although, the alcohol consumption on board the Galactica and surrounding civilian ships is fairly impressive, the food they eat is barely mentioned or considered, except for one crucial story arc. Moving on). I'm saving a few things for their own entries, but thought that I'd cover some topics:

Crispy Tacos. I am so in love with Smitten Kitchen. Her recipes are rock solid, her writing is fabulous and pictures are beautiful. I've made the crispy black bean tacos with slaw and feta cheese approximately a dozen times, and am still not bored. If the weather doesn't feel like bbq today, it's tacos for me. Speaking of tacos...

Rancho Bravo: Capitol Hill now has a taqueria, Rancho Brav. Woo-hoo! Originally a taco truck in Wallingford (tasty food in those taco trucks, as I've discovered since moving to Seattle), they've set up shop in a former KFC. Just about as good as Bay Area taquerias, plus with the added bonus of the soullessness of the former KFC as the taqueria. I'm eager to see how they morph and evolve and become even better.

Vietnamese Sandwiches: After hearing people rave about Saigon Deli in the International District, I finally gave it a try. Wow - the best Vietnamese sandwich I have ever had. Light fluffy bread, a generous helping of pickled vegetables and the meat, oh soo tasty. I have always loved the sandwiches, but Saigon Deli has raised the bar to a whole new level.

Pork and Vegas: I spent a February weekend in warm Las Vegas, visiting Adam and Aimee and their three kids (two more and they have a basketball team!) Somehow, I succeeded in eating some variant of pork with every meal: Adam grilled ribs for dinner (plus bacon in the beans and corn casserole), bacon both mornings for breakfast, pork leftovers for lunch, and I just couldn't resist the spicy shredded pork taco from Rubio's. I've been to Vegas at least a dozen times in the past 10+ years, but this was the first time that I didn't go for work. Except for seeing the hotel skyline - which, from a distance, looks a lot like the skyscrapers of every major American city, only those skyscrapers aren't filled with offices and condos, rather, hotel rooms - I barely knew that I was in Vegas. No crazy days filled with too many meetings in the LVCC, no presentations to stress over, no client/press events, no hangovers. It was really, really nice. Oh, and worth mentioning: Red Rock Canyon is exceptionally beautiful. I highly recommend. And Retro Cupcakes - honey and peanut butter, yum! Finally, I'm awarding Aimee with the best hostess ever prize: she actually emailed me before my visit asking for my breakfast food preferences!

St. Patrick's Day: Mom and Dad came to visit the weekend before St. Patrick's Day, and since it was the season, I decided to make corned beef. Elise at Simply Recipes wrote about baked corned beef, so I gave it a try. The corned beef wasn't bad, and the recipe for caramelized onions and cabbage absolutely rocked, but there is a reason most recipes call for boiling corned beef.

Finally, the weather. I'm not going to lie, and the following statement probably doesn't surprise you: this has been another long Seattle winter. Cold, rain and more snow than I ever expected in the Emerald City. Luckily, the 2008 snowpocalypse hasn't quite repeated in 2009 (although we still have November and December 2009), but there have been plenty of "oh my goodness, more snow" moments. Like when it started snowing about 2 minutes into my 15-minute walk to a bar to celebrate Pete's birthday, and I had to wait in line in the snow for another 10 minutes to get in (I still can't figure out why they didn't let me, a girl, into the *gay* bar). I walked in, found Pete, and he laughed and told me that I looked like a drowned rat. I then spent 5 minutes in the bathroom drying my hair with paper towels. (Pete was properly punished for that comment with a wicked hangover the next day). Or the St. Paddy's Day Dash: nothing really spices up a run more than running in a combination of snow, sleet and driving rain. Or, the Friday morning just a few weeks ago when I left my house at 6 for a run, and was greeted by cars dusted in a layer of snow. That was the most terrifying, when I did the math and realized that boot camp was starting in 6 short days. (First boot camp run: on mud-covered trails, in the rain). But, spring is now here, sort of. The cherry blossoms are gorgeous (check out this link for pictures of cherry blossoms in my neighborhood), flowers are blooming, the Mariners are playing, sunglasses are now worn more often, and I've been opening windows, sitting on my little balcony and renewed my spring relationship with Claritin. Yep, summer is almost here.

A few weeks ago, I got to bust out of the cold and drear of Seattle and head to LA for a quick trip. Two notable food moments: La Salsa, a Cali taqueria chain, where I ate tacos and sat outside; and airline food. Why write about airline food? Because Virgin Air America rocks.

Look at the picture below - it's a fruit and cheese box lunch. Yes, that's fresh fruit. Yes, that cheese is not an overly processed piece of who knows what preservatives its' filled with wrapped in plastic cheese attempting to pass as cheese. For $7, I had generous hunks of cheddar, brie and manchego. A bunch of grapes. Walnuts. Dried apricots. Delicious.

I should note that not only was the food tasty, but the service was impeccable and friendly, the planes were clean (as in scrubbed regularly), they even had Method soap in the bathrooms. I hope that Virgin survives, because it's a damn fine airline. I can't wait to fly them again, and for the first time in years, my airline choice is not made in an attempt to maintain status.

And, to clear up any misconceptions, I absolutely do not mind paying for airplane food. My objections are really about the high price of mediocre food. Seriously, give me decent, non-processed food that warrants the cost.

PS: While I was slaving over a hot stove, cooking an absolutely fabulous dinner, my dinner guest inserted these lines into entry: BTW - My friend Pete totally rocks. There isn't a better friend out there.. Hmmph.

I've always said that street food is tasty, tasty, tasty, a point proven correct once again during a trip to Mexico. Pictured below is my favorite meal of the trip, found at one of the food stalls that dotted Merida's central square. Sadly, I forget the name of this dish, but what matters is that it was delicious. A crispy tortilla stuffed with a bit of cheese, then topped with marinated grilled steak, cheese, pickled onions and a bit of spicy tomato-based sauce. Delicious, I tell you, delicious.

The marquesita was my second favorite food, also bought from a street vendor. The pictures doesn't quite do it justice, but imagine something similar to a waffle cone cooked in front of you, then sprinkled with grated Gouda cheese and rolled up. Non-savory marquesitas used nutella (my favorite food to eat with a spoon), caramel and/or some type of sweetened condensed milk.

Ceviche is fairly common in the Yucatan - definitely a different taste than the Panamanian (especially the Panamian, which absolutely bursts with enough citrus to cause some puckering), Peruvian and Brazilian types of ceviche that I've feasted on in the past. There was also some sauteed squid, some plantains, some tacos, chorizo, bacon, eggs and potatoes for breakfast, a salbute (may be the wrong name, but soft tortilla smeared with beans and topped with marinated steak, iceburg lettuce and pickled onion) and lots of delicious, delicious black beans. Oh, and all washed down with margaritas and/or beer, because it was vacation.

Among other tidbits about the trip: bribing the policia; some long, very long, road trips in the about ready to fall apart rental car (and especially, holding our breath each time we went over a tope, a huge speed bump capable of causing serious damage); lounging by the pool; exploring Mayan ruins at Chichin Itza and Dzibilchaltun; getting chased by dogs while jogging; and accidentally making margaritas with rum instead of tequila. Finally, my favorite moment of the entire trip - swimming in the cenote at Dzibilchaltun. I can be found in the very center of the picture, with a smile on my face.

For some reason, going on a two week business trip for the second half of October seemed like a good idea a month before I booked hotels and flights and vendors and a conference. The day before I left, well, it suddenly wasn't a good idea. Fourteen days, seven beds, three cities and two towns later, I arrived home. Despite the length, it was a good trip. A very interesting conference, time with family on both coasts (East Coast was already written about, at least the cake part), and after nearly a year, finally returning to San Francisco (the March trip doesn't count due to illness) and seeing friends whom I hadn't seen in about a year.

Culinary highlights, just for all of you:

Francine Bistro, Camden, Maine: Camden is a cute little town in Maine along some sort of body of water, where we attended a conference. I found Francine Bistro on Yelp, and we loved so much the first time, we returned a second night. Absolutely delicious, including the spinach soup, duck and multi-colored beet salad with grated apple and the most amazing lemon-based dressing I have ever tasted. My lemon salad dressings are always acidic - which I love - but I would LOVE to know how to make a non-acidic, lemony and sweet lemony dressing. The second part of Camden of note was the Blue Harbor House, a bed and breakfast with absolutely scrumptious breakfasts. Day one: poached pears with ginger and vanilla cream and blueberry pancakes with coconut butter and maple syrup. Day two: poached fruit with vanilla yogurt and egg and tomato omelet with Irish soda bread. Day three: poached fruit with vanilla yogurt and French toast brulee, cubes of French toast baked with a cinnamon syrup.

Grotto, Boston: Good, old-fashioned Italian food. My colleague ordered a heaping plate of delicious spaghetti and meatballs, and Tracy won the award for the prettiest plated dish, risotto in a pumpkin.

The Temple Bar, Boston: Delicious, delicious, delicious food. My ahi poke on a rice cake was delightful and just what I needed.

The Berkshire, Denver: A flight of bacon. I really have nothing else to say except for if you're in Denver, hit the Berkshire for the flight of bacon. I also found my new favorite line stenciled on the wall: "Temptation, libation...and a bacon station".

The Tamale Stand, Denver: Sadly, my favorite tamale vendor in Denver was sold out of tamales both mornings. Can you believe that someone came and bought all three dozen of his tamales at one time? Bitch, I say, bitch. Ahem. However, that did give me the perfect opportunity to try his burritos. At most taquerias, his would be considered "chico" sized, which gave me the perfect excuse for two samples at a time. Egg and chorizo, bean and beef and bean and chile - what else would you ever want for breakfast?

Pizzeria Delfina, San Francisco: Pizzeria Delfina moved in to Pac Heights, and Carrie and I went on Halloween. Slightly different atmosphere than the place I love in the Mission, but still just as delicious. We started with their radicchio salad, enjoyed a bite of our neighbors' fennel salad (hey, it pays to be friendly) and then enjoyed the clam pie and the margharita pie. The leftovers the next day were just as delicious.

Suppenkuche, San Francisco. Delicious German food, as always. After a German charcuterie platter, I feasted on sausages, spaetzle and purple sauerkraut. It was also a birthday celebration, back in my former hood.

Slanted Door, San Francisco: I met Mom and Dad at the Ferry Building, and we decided to try the Slanted Door for dinner. I have to say - I was pleasantly surprised, I had always heard mixed things about the upscale Vietnamese place. Before going for dinner, I had only had drinks and oysters, all delicious...and dinner was just as delicious. We started with oysters (like any Olhava would pass up oysters) and spring rolls, then scallops cooked in a clay pot in some sort of soy and oyster sauce and ginger deliciousness, a perfectly brined and grilled pork chop, sautéed spinach and delicious, delicious eggplant. I should note, the Manhattan was quite tasty. The only bad thing about our meal - the service. Not sure what was going on, but considering the price and reputation, I really expected better.

Bourbon & Branch, San Francisco: The San Francisco speakeasy, requiring either a reservation or a password, or both. We had the password, and "luckily", they had three bar seats for us. Little do they know that the bar is always my favorite seat, and in this case, it was fascinating watching the bartenders in action. Drinks were definitely worth the cost of admission: the autumn Manhattan (it tasted like fall, and let's leave it at that), and the Black Manhattan, made with bourbon and a shot of Averna (yeah Averna, my new favorite appertif).

I spent last week in Baltimore, DC and Denver. Before getting to the topic at hand, a few notes:

--If you ever go tubing, avoid families by showing up after 1:00, spring for the floating cooler, and plan on stopping somewhere along the river bank for something from that floating cooler. Despite taking not having taken my words of wisdom, tubing down the Shenandoah was pretty cool, both from a "hey, I'm tubing" and temperature sense. Plus, the historical nature of the Shenandoah, including historic battlefields, was somewhat inspiring. And then, a very nice picnic after with Tony's excellent potato casserole, my new favorite grape/feta/mint picnic salad and a few other treats.
--Baltimore is a shell of a city. It feels depressed. Beautiful row houses are boarded up and disintegrating. Crime is rampant. With the exception of a few blocks, the city is dead at night. A few people are trying...and the rest aren't. As you'd expect, the food scene is pretty sad. I did have good Afghani food (thank you Tony) and very nice brunch at Jillian's (at the free to the public at all times Baltimore City Art Museum, thank you Julie). I really do thank the visionaries of Seattle and San Francisco (plus the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake) for ensuring that I'm able to live in such vibrant, lovely cities.
--If you're going to Baltimore, don't fly into Reagen International. It turns out that despite being in a colony where it's easy to knock through 5 states in a day, Reagen isn't that close to anything, except the capitol.
--Morton's in Bethesda is overpriced and not worth it. I'm also trying not to be bitter that the bartender didn't tell me about the burger special (Sunday nights only, delicious looking hamburger with sides and fries, all proceeds for some children's fundraiser, the plates coming out of the kitchen looked far better than my crab cake and chopped salad).
--I've gone on two business trips with Char. Both times, I've ended up sick. We now share an office. I think I need to start watching my back.

Now, to the real point of this blog. Denver. Or more specifically, the $0.75 tamale.

With the exception of the airport, I've never spent any time in Denver. Tracy has always sung its praises, and I've heard many good things about Colorado in general. After spending a few days in Denver, I have to agree, it's pretty damn cool.

Twenty years ago, someone had a dream. The downtown area is revitalized, seamlessly blending commercial stores and restaurants with Old Frontier construction, especially once you get past the commercial strip; the frontier buildings reminded me of downtown Napa and Yreka, both also frontier towns. The Denver Arts area intermingles effortlessly with the Capitol building (did you know before reading this entry that Denver is the capitol of Colorado?), the Colorado river and the convention center (where the Democrats are heading). And amazingly, unlike other areas, such as LA and Seattle, the convention center doesn't look like it was dropped into the middle of the city, but rather, thoughtfully integrated within what already existed.

Tracy briefly mentioned that Denver has good Mexican food, which immediately set my foodie instincts aflutter. While walking to Tamayo, a very tasty and slightly upscale Mexican restaurant for lunch (so good, we ate there twice), we passed a few carts selling a selection of burritos and tamales. Street food, in my opinion, can only be good...and the next day, we were stopped. If it were bad, we reasoned, we would have only spent $1.50. If it was good, that would be $1.50 of deliciousness.

Luckily for us, the red chile pork tamale was in that second category.

The masa was the perfect blend of not too dry, but moist enough to stay together. The pork was braised, slightly spicy in the red pepper sauce. I fell in love on the spot, practically choking back tears as I ate. Pure perfection, wrapped in a corn husk. The tamale was worth more than $0.75, in my mind.

"I'm going to buy some to take home," I told Char, and promptly marched up to the seller. A conversation later, he promised me that I'd have two dozen to take home the next day, a dozen of the green chile and cheese, a dozen of the red chile and pork. He claimed the chile and cheese were "very good", and who was I to doubt the man that had brought me red chile pork tamales? Char and I decided to split the cache.

See that picture below? Look closely. That's my suitcase, holding a dozen delicious green chile and cheese tamales. I have always kept a few gallon size ziploc bags in my suitcase for emergencies, of what sort, I didn't know until now. Tamale emergencies.

Tonight, I made a grilled tomato salsa and guacamole, heated up a few tamales, and feasted. The dish, prefeast, in the picture below. Tomorrow night, I'm looking forward to the pork tamales. Good Mexican food...so hard to find here, so delicious (and cheap) elsewhere.

By the way, we had to stay in the Denver Ritz Carlton. Powers outside of my control upgraded me to a suite, which was only slightly smaller than my condo. I gave the five-minute tour of my suite: sitting room, bedroom (most comfy hotel bed ever), dressing room and giant bathroom. Two HD TVs meant some serious Olympic viewing time, reminding me that it's time to upgrade from the analog and rabbit ears to HD for football season. Oh, and Elway's oatmeal brulee, delicious. Think creme brulee, but with creamy oatmeal enclosed in the warm sugar crust.

I’ve just wrapped up a business trip to the UK, where I tacked a few extra days on the front end to visit Nilay and then a weekend at the back end with Tracy, before heading off on the second part of the trip, to Sweden and Denmark. It’s been a hard trip, but one also marked by some excellent meals and quality pub and bar time.

Nilay, a fellow foodie, drug me to Borough Market (located at the London Bridge tube stop) promising that it was a spectacular famer’s market. Nilay was right. I loved it, and convinced Tracy to come with a week later. It is not dissimilar to the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmer’s market, only bigger and more crowded.

Both times, I gazed at the vegetables and fruit and meat and fish on display, pondering cooking adventures. Ostrich steaks, with roasted new potatoes, asparagus and beets. Fish with a side of fresh rocket mixed with strawberries or apples and blue cheese and nuts. Freshly slaughtered rabbit, cooked with thyme and served with carrots and peas and buttermilk and herbed mashed potatoes, tied together with some type of red wine reduction. Or a picnic, with hand made salamis (rivaling Seattle’s Salumi), any number of cheeses, walnut bread and brownie for dessert. I couldn’t help but notice shopping lists in many hands.

I ate well during both visits to Borough, sampling from many stalls, bits of cheese and meats and other assorted things, and buying a few other things. Monmouth Coffee, which makes coffee a la Blue Bottle in San Francisco, hand dripped, using high quality beans. Freshly squeezed juices. Ostrich burgers. Seared scallops, nestled on a bed of ground bacon, bean sprouts and thinly sliced carrots. Wraps, with tsatziki sauce and couscous and a mound of sautéed veggies. And sausages, of every variety, all accompanied by salad and chutney and mustard and onions on freshly baked crusty bread.

Produce at the market:

Delicious rabbits:

Freshly squeezed juice:

Other culinary points to note about London…Indian food at a still being remodeled Clapham restaurant, which marked the beginning of my “I have to order saag [spinch] with every single Indian meal” trend. High-brow Indian food at Red Fort in SoHo (if you go to Red Fort, get the duck. Trust me). English roast – lamb, cheesey cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, potatoes and Yorkshire pudding united by tasty brown gravy. Mussels at Belgo Centraal. Vegetarian Indian (again with tasty saag). Giovanni’s, an excellent Italian hole in the wall, with a personality filled owner and impressive food to match the owner’s personality. It’s important to note that while Giovanni’s is in Covent Garden, it’s not easy to find, tucked down an alley.

I have three things to write about my trip outside of London, to Coventry and Leamington Spa. First, if you ever find yourself in the general area of Leamington Spa, eat at Wilde’s. I wanted to return a second night, only Tracy wouldn’t let me. We started with squid and chorizo sautéed with shallots and scallions, then mixed with rocket, and an amazing bruschetta covered in some type of rich tomato sauce and roasted eggplant and broiled with a generous slice of goat cheese. I demolished a duck breast, perfectly rare with a crispy skin, laid atop a demi-glace. For dessert, I had Wilde’s Eton Mess, a true mess of strawberries and berries and pieces of meringue, folded with whipped heavy cream.

Wilde's Duck:

Wilde's lovely Eton Mess:

Second, I visited a company that had the best quality machine coffee that I have ever tasted. I could choose from black coffee, white coffee, black tea and white tea. It absolutely made the iCup taste like swill.

And third, the London train system is a bit shaky, even when you take the privately run Virgin train. After boarding the London Euston bound train in Coventry, we were dumped off at Rugby Station a few minutes later because of a signal problem. We went back to Coventry on a standing room only train, and over the next hour, heard much conflicting information about schedules – regardless, it wouldn’t be a straight shot to London. We passed on the first train – there was no room for three people, luggage and any sort of fresh oxygen. We tried to board the second train, to Leamington Spa (from where we’d transfer trains to go to London) only to be unable to get on. The cars were full, except for the one we were trying to board, which was empty in the middle because a cranky old man was standing and refused to move down to allow other passengers on board. People, including myself, were shouting at him to move down. In desperation, I banged on the window, and others followed. Eventually, we started to curse the man, who refused to budge. At the end, I pulled out Shakespeare: “May there be a curse upon your house!”

A few minutes after the banging on train windows debacle, we tried to get our money back to take a very expensive cab ride back to London, and discovered that the signal had been fixed. So after all, we did take the train back to Euston Station. We did even better when we were quietly told that one of the first class cars had been decommissioned for all passengers…from that point on, our weekend in London was absolutely lovely, with a stay at the Hotel 41 and of course, cheer and eating.

About the cheer – much to write about, for another blog entry.

And one last thing to mention…thanks to a generous employer, I flew SAS business class to Europe. SAS business class rules, for so many, many reasons, which range from the obvious to easily overlooked. By comparison, United business class is, well, kind of junky. Oh U.S. airlines…why must you fail so spectacularly?

Pictures to be posted later.

Correction: I received a comment that the entire British railway system is privatized, and since becoming privatized, has turned to "rot". A Maggie Thatcher legacy...and duly corrected in the entry.

Business travel is both a blessing and a curse. Blessing: the chance to visit new places, catch up with friends and family, possibly new adventures. Curse: the monotony of solo travel, or worse, travel with annoying people, managing home logistics while on the road (online bill pay, yeah, getting others to collect my mail, not so yeah), and the worst of all fates, struck by illness while on a business trip.

Since mid-February, work travel has ramped up and will likely remain at a steady pace through July – and the blessings and curses have reared their fabulous and ugly heads.

In February, I spent a week in Tampa, Florida. Not exactly a tourist/culinary destination, although I did get a chance to visit Lakeland, square in the middle of the state between the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic. I am still kicking myself for not trying the local café’s Coca Cola cake (I did find a recipe, hooray!). Tracy and I spent a weekend on Treasure Island at the Gambino family funded Thunderbird Resort, an island and resort stuck firmly in 1952. Absolutely fabulous, in so many ways. Rooms faced a large pool, bordered by a tiki bar and a vast expanse of beach, littered by more 1950s era resorts, hotels and cottages.

Life at the Thunderbird centered around the pool and beach; the spectacular sunset punctuated happy hour each day (I couldn't help but draw a comparison between the sunset at Salvador, where the horizon engulfed the sun, rather than the sun slipping below the horizon). And speaking of happy hour, Tracy and I discovered that Corona is actually available in cans and as the "young Seattle girls", politely accepted drinks from men old enough to be our fathers. As one would expect in the Florida area, the older set was fairly prominent.

A few weeks later, I booked a long business trip, extending it to spend Easter weekend in Boston and the following weekend in San Francisco, before heading off to Phoenix, where amazingly enough, I would have a chance to see Drew and Suzette.

Luckily, the culinary highlights in Boston were much better than in Florida. Alex, my 3 ½ year old nephew, is enchanted by all things baking. We made chocolate chip cookies (sans mixer), and later, raspberry chiffon pie for Easter Dessert. For the crust, I used Cook’s Illustrated’s new recipe (with vodka!), which was not as perfect as I'd hoped. Not cooked enough, it also shrunk a bit too much. Any number of factors probably contributed, including using all butter rather than half butter/half Crisco, an Alex meltdown (a nice reminder of how unfit I am in the parental arena), and baking the pie improperly weighted. Check out the picture - those are nails. It turns out that my brother, the non-baker, assumed that when I asked if he had beans for the pie crust, didn't understand that I meant dried, not canned beans. I'm not sure how fool-proof the recipe is, as Carrie had mixed results. In the end though, the pie was delicious. As a side note, if I make the pie again, I'll cut down on the sugar. I also substituted fresh blackberries for the fresh raspberries, and am thinking that any kind of fresh berry will work well. Hello strawberries!

Easter dinner was really amazing. Ed baked a tasty leg of lamb, studded with garlic and rosemary, and then covered with a mustard bread crumb mixture. The meat was cooked perfectly, a crispy skin surrounding deliciously pink meat. For sides, new potatoes with mint, and an asparagus lemon casserole. We eventually liked the casserole, but also came to the conclusion that some foods, such as asparagus, are better in a simple state. I should also point out, this year, the oven did not catch on fire.

I also hit Sauncie for dinner, a once upon a time favorite on Newberry Street. Dinner with the company of Amy was fabulous, but the quality of the food was not at such the high standard. Our main course, butternut squash ravioli with prosciutto, was decent, but just that. I thought that the prosciutto would have been mixed with the butternut squash, but rather, the ravioli was placed over two slices of prosciutto. A bundle of unseasoned spinach in the middle of the dish was distracting. This is my second so-so meal at Sauncie in two years, making me think that I won’t be going back. On a positive note, I did have one of the best French 75's I've ever drank at the Lennox Hotel bar after. Tasty!

All fell apart when I woke up in Boston with what I thought was just a sore throat, which got worse after 6 hours on a plane. By day two in San Francisco, my sore throat had morphed into the flu. I tried to cure my flu by treating life as normal, including somewhat normal food, in San Francisco and continuing to work. Take out Won Ton pho at the slanted door, lasagna from Café Delle Stelle delivered to the focus group facility. I decided that cupcakes could provide some type of restorative powers as well, so picked up a few to share from Miette. In my world of cupcake reviews, Miette ranks high on the list. The chocolate cake was full of structure and bite and incredibly moist. And the frosting, was well, frostinglicious. Not a typical buttercream, but an egg white frosting, so lighter and fluffier and not quite as cloying. Sadly, the restorative powers didn’t work.

I finally threw in the towel and skipped out on the weekend in Bay Area and seeing Drew and Suzette in Phoenix, which makes me sad, for so many reasons. Being sick is horrible…but being sick in a hotel room and not that close to home and having to fly to get home is really the worst of all worlds.

Sigh…There you have it, the blessings and curses of business travel.