2017-07-16 - Sunday - Biltmore House

Sunday we took friends and family to the Biltmore House. We toured the whole house, had lunch in the restaurant, and had a wine tasting. It was another good day.

The house.

The grounds.

The drain spouts.

Another drain spout.

The whole front.

The view from the front.

By the way, here are the signs Leo made for the reception yesterday.
These helped guide guests to the reception.

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2014-12-23 - Tuesday - Leo

On Tuesday Karen, Stephanie, and I drove over to Hackensack, NJ to visit my buddy Leo and his family. We went to lunch at The Crow's Nest. It was a nice seafood restaurant not far from his parent's and sister's home. We had some great conversation and caught up with current events.

After lunch we took a ride over to Leo's and my old hometown of Bogota, NJ. I showed Stephanie my old house, Leo's old house, my grammar school, our high school, and several other landmarks. I don't know if she was impressed, but it sure was good to see some of the old haunts.

Leo and Stephanie.

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Friday - San Francisco

Friday we drove to San Francisco and ended up at Fisherman's Wharf.  Once again it was (very) windy and chilly but we had some great views and a lot of fun with an old friend.

After we walked, snacked, and laughed, we went back to San Jose to pick up Tom for dinner.  We went to the Britannia Arms and had another fine meal.  After eating, we went back to the house and spent some time talking.

All too soon it was time for bed and off to the airport in the morning to head home.

That's a big boy.

Another big boy.

Fisherman's Wharf.

Crab sculpture.

City behind the wharf.

Alcatraz.
Look at those flags straight out.

A closer look at the island.

Hardy souls out on a day like this.

Pretzel break.

Leo.

An actual VW bus as a takeout window.

All these people getting into one cab?

Harry Potter's pier?

Apparently you shouldn't enter the diner.

Karen and Tom

Leo.

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Thursday - On to San Jose

On Thursday we had to get up at 3:00 am to catch the 4:20 am shuttle to the airport for our 6:20 am flight.  When we got there we found out our suitcase was 8 pounds over the 50 pound limit which would have cost us another $100 penalty (on top of the $25 we already paid to fly it).  We quickly opened it at the check-in counter and pulled out newly purchased t-shirts, candy and other items.  We felt like the Beverly Hillbillies carrying armfuls of t-shirts under our jackets.

We couldn't actually take off until 6:30 am since the planes have to fly over the city.  No flights are allowed after 11:30 pm or before 6:30 am and there is only one runway.

We arrived in San Jose and immediately went to by high school friend Leo's house.  After catching up with him and meeting Tom, one of his two other roommates, we went to get some breakfast.

After fueling up, we went to Santa Cruz and drove out on the pier to watch the sea lions and get some fish and chips.  Next we hit the Santa Cruz boardwalk and Leo and I rode the Giant Dipper, a wooden roller coaster built in 1924.  Riding the Giant Dipper is a tradition since the time I visited him when he lived in Santa Cruz.

After that, we went back to San Jose to pick up Tom and go out to dinner at --The Fish Market.  We found out it's a chain with a handful of locations.  We had another good meal and back to the house to relax and hit the sack.

Breakfast with Leo.

Sea lions under the Santa Cruz pier.

Another one.

One swimming in to the pier.

I spotted this sea otter having a snack
about 200 feet off the pier.
The seagull stuck close, hoping for leftovers.

Seagull sitting on a Mercedes.

Karen and Leo on the pier.

Ordering fish and chips.

And here it is.

The seagulls stayed close, hoping for snacks.

Pretty eyes.

Another diner fed one.

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2009-08-16 Sunday - Oil and Vinegar

I was picking up sub sandwiches for my daughters at Harris Teeter recently and asked the person making it to put the oil and vinegar on the bread as usual. That's the best way if you're having an Italian-style sub. The oil and vinegar soak into the bread and stay there. If you put them on the sandwich ingredients, they run out when the sandwich is closed and wrapped in the wax paper. On the way home it made me think back to where I learned that...

When I was a kid growing up in northern New Jersey, there was a "pizza place" around the corner --literally. Three houses up to the corner and one store (a barber shop) away. I don't remember the name of the place (it being just "the pizza place") and I don't remember the name of the owner although I spent a lot of time both inside and walking past it to school and other stores and friends houses. I do remember that pizza was twenty-five cents a slice and Sicilian was thirty. Sub sandwiches were one dollar and during the making of one of those sandwiches the owner explained that I should always put the oil and vinegar on the bread. Good advice sticks with you. Stores don't. Later the storefront became a photo studio and then an insurance office.



I don't remember buying a whole pizza from "the pizza place", although I'm sure we did at one time or another. Our family pizza place was Angelo's, a take-out only place a little more than a quarter mile away. Well within walking distance, but not if you like your pizza hot. So we would call in the order and then drive. The folks at Angelo's made great pizzas for $2.50. (I know, I'm old.) On a Friday or Saturday night, there wasn't even double parking available in front of the place so we'd have to park in the A&P parking lot next door and I would have to hoof it around the corner for the pizza.

After "the pizza place" around the corner closed, I gravitated to "The Pizza Pub" across town (one square mile of a town). I was hanging out with my high school friends at that point at The Pub and even after we started driving we would end up there more often than not when we wanted a snack. The Pub always had three shakers on the tables: parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, and oregano --lovely oregano. To this day when we get a pizza I look for the piece with the most oregano on it.

During my high school years another place opened called "Hogan's Heroes" that only sold sandwiches (no pizza) and hot dogs. My friends and I would walk (that's all we could do) to "Hogan's" and get sandwiches or sometimes hot dogs with everything on them (kraut, mustard, chili, and relish).

The woman who owned it got to know us pretty well and we'd hang out and talk for a while sometimes. Once she asked me and my friend if we liked rice pudding and gave us two good-sized tubs that were getting close to expiring. She wouldn't take anything for them, saying she just didn't want them to go to waste and rice pudding wasn't selling well. I will always remember walking down the street in a light, chilly drizzle, eating rice pudding with my friend, Leo.

Long before we moved to the town with all those places we lived in another town with a sandwich place three doors down and four up, across from the Grand Union supermarket. "Roma III" gave me my introduction to Italian subs and I will forever be grateful to them. It was 1966 and I would beg money from Mom for a sandwich. Whenever she gave in, I would head over there with my crew cut and "my" money clenched in my fist. I couldn't wait to order my Italian sub and put that money up on the counter, running home with my prize to unwrap it on the kitchen table and guard it from my mooching little brother.

I don't remember if the folks at Roma III put the oil and vinegar on the bread, but they probably did...