Chicago (April 2025)

For spring break (well not ours but the nieces/nephews), my sister had mentioned taking her kids to Chicago (to check out colleges for the oldest). We decided to sorta tag along (they were flying to the East coast and then driving to Chicago whereas we would just fly into the city). D had never been so I thought it’d be fun to show her around the city, and also I wanted to visit my alum, Northwestern University.

I found a decent deal for flights on Southwest but that also meant flying into Midway (at least the flight there was direct). From Midway, we grabbed a taxi into the city to our hotel, Intercontinental Chicago Magnificent Mile. We had previously stayed at the Intercontinental in NYC and figured we’d stick with them – cost was comparable to other places. The location was fairly ideal in that we were in the River North neighborhood right on Michigan Ave, which is also known as the Magnificent Mile.

Chicago is definitely an eater’s town and we had planned much of our meals prior to arriving. We didn’t plan far enough ahead to get reservations at a steakhouse that we wanted to try, Bavette’s. Given Chicago’s history as the center of the country’s meatpacking industry we knew we had to get steaks at least once. D had read that you could possibly get a walk-in table at Bavette’s, especially on a Tuesday night. After dropping off our luggage we walked over to Bavette’s. We put our names on the wait list but eventually found a spot at their downstairs bar (which also serves a full dinner menu). I started with a couple of fresh oysters and we shared the mixed greens and apple salad. They’re also known for their hand-made sourdough bread so we got some of that. I will say that the bread and butter was a highlight of the meal. For our main, we shared the Dry-Aged Bone-in ribeye (20 oz 42 day dry aged) along with a side of broiled asparagus. For drinks I had a Rittenhouse Rye Old Fashioned and a Cognac Sazerac. Both very good.

On the walk back we stopped at CVS to pick up some things and happened upon the Wings of Mexico, a permanent art installation by artist Jorge Marin in the Plaza of the Americas. We grabbed some pictures here. I had seen people posting pictures of this but didn’t know the backstory.

Greater Seattle trip (2025)

Earlier this month took a trip to Seattle, more specifically to explore the areas surrounding Seattle. One of our goals for the future is to find a place to live that has more greenery and nature (which isn’t that hard to do when compared with the concrete jungle of LA).

After a bit of a delay with our first flight and our connecting flight, we landed at SeaTac after 11 pm. We grabbed our rental car and then started our way over to that night’s accommodations in Tacoma. Leaving the airport we were first hit with some mild snow that quickly turned to rain and then finally drizzle by the time we arrived at the Silvercloud Hotel Tacoma – Waterfront. Luckily their front desk is staffed 24/7 and we were greeted and checked in quickly.

When we got up in the morning, we were greeted to some spectacular water views from our hotel windows. Luckily the rain was holding off and it was just overcast. The Silver Cloud hotel had some fairly standard fare food for free breakfast and then we were off. We decided to go check out Gig Harbor first (not as somewhere we’d be thinking of moving but just to see the quaint little village). This sleepy hamlet was cute and it was quiet (we were there on a Tuesday morning).

San Diego (March 2025)

I used to work and live in the San Diego region for a year about 15 years ago. A former colleague of mine let me know she was retiring and moving away and so we decided to head down for a few days to see her and just enjoy San Diego. Unfortunately we have been on the mend from our first bout with COVID so weren’t 100%. At least I was no longer shedding so I felt okay still visiting. After moving back to southern CA last year, it’s a relatively short drive down to SD. We left on a Sunday morning making the drive that much easier without any traffic. Our AirBnB wouldn’t be ready to check in until the afternoon so we headed straight for Pacific Beach (PB) to get some lunch.

We haven’t been down to the area in probably 10 years now so I had done some research on food places. We settled on the Pacific Beach Fish Shop. This place is unique in that you choose the fish and then the means of getting it into your mouth (taco, salad, sandwich, plate). D had two of their pre-made recipe tacos: TKO Taco (Mahi Mahi) & Pineapple Express taco (Mahi Mahi) while I had their fresh catches of the day: Halibut taco & Rockfish taco. Overall I think they were tasty though one of D’s fish was kinda dry and there wasn’t any sauce on that one. We grabbed some coffee two doors down at Elixir Espresso Bar.

We then made our way over to the actual beach in Pacific Beach (we tend to go towards Law Street Beach). It had rained very briefly while we were getting coffee but cleared up by the time we made our way to the beach, though it was still quite windy so we didn’t stay too long.

Houston, TX (February 2025)

Last month we made the trek to Houston for my cousin’s wedding. This turned out to also be a huge family reunion of sorts since all the cousins were converging for the family event. I hadn’t seen a couple of cousins in maybe 10+ years?

We flew into Houston early on a Saturday morning as the wedding reception was later in the day on Saturday. We also happened to fly out with both my sisters and one of the nephews. After arriving, my sister had rented a car and we drove the 40 ish minutes towards our hotel. On the way we wanted to grab some food for a late lunch (turned out to be prescient as they ended up not serving dinner until a bit later into the reception). I had a couple of cuisines that I wanted to try while in Houston: BBQ, TexMex, Vietnamese food.

We stopped at Lopez Mexican Restaurant, since it was on our way to the hotel and we were a bit pressed for time to get changed and get to the reception. Here I was able to try Chile con queso (shared with everyone), and then I tried their Ocampo (Two cheese enchiladas, a beef taco guacamole salad, and a chile con queso puff). Being from CA, I wasn’t looking for authentic Mexican food but wanted to try some true Tex-Mex so was happy we were able to try this.

After checking into the hotel, we rapidly changed and then headed over to the reception at Lam Bo Ballroom. This was a mixed Vietnamese-Chinese wedding (which actually was pretty similar). There was a very elaborate (and loud) dragon dance to start things off. And then instead of starting with food, they started with some speeches as well as some dances. While this was happening, they did start to bring out some food. Prior to all this, there was a cocktail and Hors d’Ouevres hour. We had adjusted our seating so we could hang out with some of the cousins that we haven’t seen in a long time so it was overall a good time. It was hard to speak too much though because the sound volume was very high with the speeches and music.

Homemade ragu

Many years ago now on an episode of No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain was in Italy visiting and ended up having Sunday dinner at one of their local minder’s (or cameraman) grandma’s house. Very commonly they make a Sunday gravy or Ragu that is cooked all day. At the end of it, you have a wonderfully deep ragu sauce along with a plate of meat (that is used to flavor the sauce as it cooks). From what I remember, you have the ragu sauce on some pasta and then can eat the meat separately. There isn’t a specific recipe and many people have basically just put together the ingredients by watching the episode closely. I think I first made this dish back in 2011 for D’s birthday. Since then I probably try to make it at least once a year.

Since there isn’t a specific recipe that I follow, I just kind of go with my gut in terms of amounts. Also I have done variations depending on the availability of products (usually the types of meat that I can find). Here’s a rough outline of what I do and what I put in it (again these recipes are usually for me to reference in the future rather than trying to find where I originally used a recipe).

Tomato Puree (1 jar)
Crushed/diced/whole canned tomato (28 oz)
Garlic (1-4 cloves)
Onion (yellow, sweet)
Beef stock / chicken broth / water (have done all of these before)
Pine nuts
Raisins
Rind of parmigiana Reggiano
Fresh basil
Sweet Italian Sausage (2-4)
Beef ribs / cap of beef rib / veal / Braciola
Bay leaf
Dried Oregano
Salt/pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Brown meats in large stock pot, then remove
Sauté onion (diced), then add garlic (sliced)
Add tomato puree and other tomato products, add bay leaves
Wrap pine nuts, raisins, rind of parmigiana in cheese cloth and tie with string and add to pot
Add in chopped basil
Add meat back into pot with the stock/water (and oregano)
Bring to boil then reduce heat until occasional burbling happens
Remove fat that rises to surface
Cook for as long as desired (minimum probably 2-3 hours but could go much longer) – I cooked mine mostly uncovered, stirring intermittently.
Remove meat and cheesecloth and bay leaves
Add Italian parsley
Add pasta water and combine with pasta and top with freshly grated parmigiana Reggiano