Tuesday, March 6th 2007

Having friends down here on my home turf is something I really enjoy; and it doesn’t happen enough – believe me. So I was quite pleased when Boy Wonder said he would be able to come out for a visit this weekend. We had a project to work on and many things to discuss, but that was just the side salad to our main course of relaxation and fun.

A co-worker of mine invited us over for dinner Saturday night. His boyfriend cooked a traditional French dinner, a tarragon turkey breast with country style potatoes. It was delicious and very heavy, it was French after all. After that we all went over to Hunters for a little outing. We were sitting outside and my friend Michael remarked that he loves raffles and always wins; we were about to be asked to participate in the raffle they were having later. The man did not ask Boy Wonder or me to purchase any tickets, but gave Michael and his partner two for free. Michael shouted with glee and proceeded to tell us what he has won in the past. He really has won quite a bit. At about 11:30 they began to announce the winning numbers. Michael got the tickets out of his pocket in a confident stride and asked “So what am I winning?” I had no clue since I was left out of the pool. The first number was drawn. Not his. The second was announced and as cool as a clam Michael said “Ok I’ll be right back, I won” I didn’t believe him as he walked towards the table in the front to claim his prize. He returned moments later with two tickets to “Taste of Palm Springs”, sponsored by Kaluha. It is a dinner event with food and wine donated by local restaurants and wineries; it is a chance for them to showcase their products to the public in the hopes that they will either return for dinner or keep them in mind when choosing a wine for their next party. It should be really cool and since Michael won’t be here I get to go for him!

Sunday it was time to work, but not before a little brunch. I do not eat out here so the choice for brunch was left to an unverified recommendation from someone. “A Bit of Country” is what the place was called, but soon after we were seated I thought it would be best if it were re-named “A Bit of Crap”. Our cutlery was a step above plastic and the chairs were clearly designed for different tables; I almost asked for a booster seat. Our waitress was either completely swamped or completely oblivious, either way I was not happy. I gave her thirty seconds to come back for our order after arriving earlier to take our drink requests. After seeing her race frantically from front to back several times all the while apologizing to the tables around us for just about everything I began to count a little faster. She came back at 26. We gave her our order and she asked if we wanted anything to drink – again. We told her just coffee. She giggled and apologized – again.

Everything came to the table at about 15 min thereafter. Boy Wonder was pleased with his waffle and was happy to see the butter was melted, probably because she forgot about the dish sitting under a heat lamp. My eggs were scrambled with Chorizo and resembled Kibbles and Bits. This was not what I had envisioned and it reminded me just why I cook at home.

After that culinary insult we were off to the Aerial Tramway, a huge rotating cable car, (the largest in the Western Hemisphere) and Palm Springs’ main attraction. It goes right to the top of Southern California’s second highest peak. Going from 75 degrees, flip flops and palm trees to snow, pine cones and boots was something. I had been up there before, but that did not help me remember to wear boots; I had socks with my athletic sandals thinking it would be sufficient. As my feet began to get wet with snow I cursed myself for such a stupid oversight. Still we had a nice hike and the ride is always fun – definitely a “must-do” when you’re here. Just get a load of the view.

Lunch was better, kind of, at least for me. We ate Mexican. Not because we wanted to, but because we couldn’t come up with a better idea when we discovered the vegetarian restaurant we wanted to try is closed on Sundays. I had fish tacos and Boy Wonder was brave and ordered the ceviche. The fish was not so fresh. He craved bread, anything to try and remove the memory of the pasty dish. Right after that near mid day disaster meal it was time to get to work for the next 4 hours. I think it went well, time will tell, but I can’t right now because it’s a secret.

I am happy to report that dinner went very well. We had tapas at “Azul”, a cute little outdoor space that serves till 2, every day. Poor guys. We had deep fried wonton blue crab ravioli over shitakes in a light cream sauce, beef skewers and a cold tomato, eggplant napoleon with Buffalo Mozzarella dressed with Balsamic. We hashed around ideas, talked about what we liked and what we didn’t about our work day and grooved to some really great tunes.

It was a great weekend even if the food wasn’t.

This entry was posted by Johnny on Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 at 12:10 PM and is filed under Food & Wine, Local Color & Atmosphere, Media, Out & About, Photos, Tunes & Grooves, Watch Johnny. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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