It was inevitable, the development behind us is winding down. I haven’t decided if the blocking of the evening wind is worth change in our view.
Backyard View
Weak signal
Sandy owns an iPhone and the AT&T signal in our house is terrible. The same is true for my iPad. What’s odd is I can see the cell tower from the guest bedroom. So in previous wall opening session for speaker installations I noticed horizontal metal bars throughout the walls. Anyway not to get technical, in order to get a better signal I was looking into a cell phone repeater, but that meant I’d have to run cables through the walls mount an antenna in the attic. I had the items in my Amazon cart for months as I dreaded doing that. One day I just happened to stumble upon an AT&T Microcell. This unit has an antenna and it routes cell signals from your phone to your router. We had it for a few weeks and we haven’t had any dropped calls. It is only for the iPhone though.
A week in LA
Down in LA for training. Best thing about being stuck at the office is I get to have lunch with my beautiful buddy Mary Ann. BTW her desk is outta control.
On Wednesday night, I had dinner with Tawny. Her choice was Natas Pastries in Sherman Oaks. This was my first exposure to Portuguese food and I found it to be very good. Tawn got the Caldeirada, while I enjoyed the Bacalhau Com Natas. She insisted we try the pastry desserts even though it went against my better judgement.
Thursday night was an evening out with some of the office folks.
Friday after work I drove straight to LAX to pick up Sandy. We dropped by my Ma’s house to deliver her birthday presents which I forgot to photograph. We checked on my Father’s orchids. Sandy also gave me my Valentine’s Day present, no photo will be provided of me wearing them.
Saturday started with a Hawaiian breakfast at Bob’s Hawaiian Style Restaurant. Lunch was of course Kakuni Ramen at Ramen Yamadaya. For dinner we introduced my Ma to Filipino food via Gerry’s Grill. She loved it!
Sunday we met the SD folks for breakfast at King’s Hawaiian Bread Bakery. Maxie played her ukulele and sang Happy Birthday to my Ma. Of course I forgot to photograph that. We then made the long drive back home.
Loco Fire
Our oven died just before Christmas and we finally got our replacement installed yesterday. The first meal to break it in… Loco Moco with a shitake mushroom gravy. I was trying to recreate the breakfast I had at the Hula Grill the other day. I did substitute turkey for beef though.
Honolulu Feb 2012
Another 24hr trip. Just work and no play. I did have a nice dinner at Japengo in the Hyatt. Loco Moco at the Hula Grill was pretty good as well. The Shitake Mushroom Gravy is what made it so yummy.
Sonoma Dinner
Tonight we dined in Sonoma wine country. Della Santina’s is located right off the main square.
La Penca lunch
Had a nice lunch at our local La Penca Azul today.
Finally…
Our prayers have been answered. Single serving Spam!
Ramen Quest updates
Checked out a few new places. Ramen Palor & Ramen Dojo in San Mateo, Shoki 2 in Sacramento.
Ramen Palor & Shoki are very good. Ramen Dojo is very spicy so it’s hard to compare. Orenchi is probably still top dog.
Oakland Restaurant Week 2012
Tonight we met up with Aunty Sachi & Uncle Russell. We decided to take advantage of Oakland’s Restaurant week. Aunty chose Camino on Grand Avenue. The prefix menu was vegetarian which is something I usually shy away from, but I’m trying to eat better so I went ahead and tried it. I ended up eating everything. The dishes were simple but good.
