Pier 39

Yesterday Andi and I took a trip across the bay to Pier 39. Mostly it's a large tourist trap with overpriced seafood, cheap souvenirs, and hobo's begging for money. However, there were a couple of highlights.

 The pier is home to dozens of sea lions.

This isn't the best video as my phone had trouble recording in the correct direction(or I did! :P) but you can hear the seals!

 

Ms. Andi posing by the water with the Golden Gate Bridge 

and a huge ship in the back.

 

We did find one really cool place-a museum of vintage arcade games!

Creepy......

 

This one was Andi's favorite. You put a quarter in, the doors open and.....

.....you get to see someone get their head cut off!!

They also had newer games within the last 30 years. One of Atari's first!

I remember playing this Star Wars game as a kid at the Jersey Shore.

Spy Hunter sucked up a lot of my quarters....:P

 

We also found an old Wack A Mole game!

 Wait for the end of this video....Andi's reactions our funny!!

 

Lake Tahoe Day 2

On our second day, I signed us up for a guided snowmobile tour on one of the mountains just outside of South Lake Tahoe.

Ms. Andi getting ready for our ride.

The route they took us on was a closed off road that had a MAD amount of snow on it as you can tell from the buried road signs.

Us on the trail.

Andi posing on our snowmobile.

 

We stopped several times along the trail but this was the only good photo I was able to get. It's amazing traveling along the trails and not seeing a single animal. Most our scared away by the noise or hibernating. It's really quite peaceful.

After the snow ride, we drove into Nevada and saw the lake from the east side.

Also found a cabin that had the lamp from The Christmas Story!!

 Our driving partner on the way back!

And as with any trip we take, my narcoleptic wife passes out.....

Lake Tahoe Day 1

So finally after all the craziness at work, I was finally able to take a little time off. Andi and I decided to plan a trip to Lake Tahoe where we booked a hotel right on the lake.

 

 

 

The mountains and lake are absolutely breathtaking. In the picture above, I labeled the rock on the left "nipple rock!"

 

Andi and Sophie having fun in the snow!

 

 

 

This picture is actually of the sand at the bottom of the lake. You can't even tell there is water it's so clear!! 

We scoped out a fine dining restaurant in Tahoe City on the west side of the lake called Christy Hill.

We started off with Pan Seared Gnocchi with Bourbon Braised Pork Belly, Chanterelles, Glazed Baby Carrots, Port Jus & Circulated Organic Hen Egg. I felt the dish had all the components to be great but just didn't come together well. Everything was crammed onto a small rectangular plate and could have benefited by a little sea salt.

Next we had Hamachi tartare with Apple, Radish, Cucumber, Pinenuts,
Chilis, Avocado, Cilantro, Wakame & Ginger-Ponzu Vinaigrette. Really good! Everything complimented each other perfectly!

 

Andi's entree was Slow Roasted Breast & Duck Leg Confit, Chinese Long Beans,
Caramelized Root Vegetables, Herb Salad & Port Jus. The duck was cooked perfectly but overall the dish was nothing special.

 

This photo didn't come out to great. It was my entree which was Braised Short Rib of Bison with Horseradish Potato Puree, Bloomsdale Spinach & Red Wine Shallot Jus. Once again, not much going on here. I was expecting the bison to be slightly gamey(which I enjoy) but if you would have put it side by side with beef short rib I couldn't have told the difference.

 

Side dish of Salt Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Herbed Aioli. Roasted perfectly, well done with the aioli.

 

For dessert, I had a Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding with a nice, crisp, glass of ice wine. Not as heavy as I would have thought and went perfectly with the ice wine. But hey, what doesn't!!

 

Andi had an Espresso Cheese Cake that was super dense but very tasty!

Overall a great first day! :)

My Crazy Job

 

Well, the craziness is almost over. For the past couple of months, it's been insane at work. The Daily Grill is located right in the heart of the shopping area in San Francisco. We are right across from Union Square and across the street from Macy's. Not to mention, all of the little shops located all around us. It started with prepping up for a huge Thanksgiving, feeding 950 people all day not including the bar area which we can't count(all numbers will not include the bar). Then the day after was Black Friday which led to feeding another 1163 people. We continued to stay pretty busy the couple of weeks following with people out doing last minute Christmas shopping, not to mention all of the tourist as well.

Then came prepping up for Christmas and feeding 973 people on Christmas Eve and 1161 people on Christmas. No down time after that however, with New Years right on it's heals. We continued prepping and feed 1165 people on New Years Eve and 963 people on New Years day. Now, we have the last push- JP Morgan. They pretty much buy out the entire hotel and set up meetings, making billion dollar deals over lunch!! They are here for the next 4 days and each day we are making fruit platters, muffin and croissant platters, and sandwich platters for 300-400 people all of which have a specific time frame. I'm in at 5:30am for the next several days and will become a great sandwich maker!! :P Then, and only then, will we have a chance to breath.

6 Days Till X-Mas

Busy

So it's been almost a month since I've posted anything just because I'm crazy busy. Right now is the shopping season and where The Daily Grill is located in downtown San Fransisco is a crazy time. It will slow down again toward the middle of January and I should have more free time then. In the meantime, I'm going to try and continue to find time to squeak something in here and there. For now, here are some funny photo's!!

 

 

This one's my favorite!!