Restaurants – Riveted

A Week in Texas

Laura Domela — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 22:40:07 +0000

By now it’s probably become apparent that we’ve moved all our boat-related updates and travel to our other site, Slowboat, and since most of the travel we do during the summer is by boat, there hasn’t been much news here on Riveted. But we spent last week on business in Texas and visited a few cool spots while we were there, so I thought I’d share!

We started in San Antonio and had a quick visit with Kevin’s mom. We usually try to take her out to dinner someplace cool when we’re in town, and since we’d gone to Cured the last two times we visited, we opted to try a new place this time — Clementine. It’s small and bright, the food was creative and delicious, and the service was spot on. I took no photos, but we’d definitely go back.

In the morning, we headed back to the airport to pick up our rental car and drove into Austin for our first set of meetings. Road Trip!!! I’d found us a little boutique hotel (which turned out to be absolutely lovely) called Austin’s Inn at Pearl.

Austin’s Inn at Pearl

The inn is actually several small buildings that each contain a few rooms, each distinct in their decoration. We were early, but were told our room was ready and directed to this room below, which turned out not to be our room, but was very cute. (It’s called the Library Room and is located on the ground floor of the main yellow building. Our room was actually the Bombay Room, and was on the second floor of the blue building behind, and was wonderful, but I took no photos of it.)

The Library Room at Inn at Pearl

For dinner, we returned to one of our longtime favorites in Austin, Uchiko. We had the chef’s tasting omakase, and again, took no photos, but it was incredible, as usual. Just check out some of the gorgeous food photos (from their website) and you’ll get the idea:

While in Austin, we also tried a new taco place, just down the street from where we stayed, called Keso’s Tacos. We shared a handful of tacos so we could try more than two. Along with the usual carnitas (great), barbacoa, and fish, they have fried avocado tacos, brisket tacos, and one of our favorites, the “Fire Chick” which has hand-battered fried chicken (fried in their Fire Red salsa), lettuce, pico de gallo, and is topped with cilantro ranch & queso, served on a flour tortilla. Delicious!

Next, it was on to Dallas on Thursday. Dallas is about a 3.5 hour drive from Austin, but we had no meetings on Thursday so we took our time and decided to stop in Waco for a little exploring. If you ever watch HGTV you probably know who Chip and Joanna Gaines are. If you don’t, they’re a couple with an extremely popular show called Fixer Upper, which has morphed into a gigantic successful brand that now has its own television network called Magnolia Network. They specialize in turning what starts out as kind of a crappy house into a farmhouse chic, magazine-photo-shoot-ready abode, and they do it well with a fairly specific aesthetic. (Shiplap!!!)

Anyway, we stopped in Waco and decided to check out the Magnolia Market at the Silos (because old silos! turned into a market!), which as it turns out, is a boutique home decor market that is also part of the Chip and Joanna Gaines thing). However, there was a big event going on there on this day and all the roads adjacent to the market were blocked off for event parking and tour buses and such. We googled and learned the event was called Silobration, which was basically an expanded home decor fair with local artisans in matching white booths lining the street out in front of the Market at the Silos, plus a handful of food trucks, and a stage with live music. We parked a few blocks away and made our way to the entrance, through security (yep, security, with scanners and everything). We walked the street/aisle flanked by several dozen booths where artisans displayed their clothing, leather bags, candles, jewelry, etc., most of them with the same color palette as everything else in the Magnolia Market. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very nice aesthetic, it’s just strange to see almost everything in the same place, from different designers, all with the same muted palette. Even the attendees had a themed similarity to them! Mostly young 30-something women, often with kids, many with long hair all curled with the same curling iron tecnique, all carrying stylish little bags with perfect little goodies inside. It was pretty great, actually.

Magnolia Market at the Silos, during Silobration 2019

Silobration, with people taking photos out front with Chip’s parents (yes, really)

Silos Baking Company, Waco TX

Silos!

We walked around for a bit, went in and out of the market, and then headed the several blocks back to our rental car and moved on.

Mural near the silos

We parked down by the river and took a walk along the waterfront, and then across the Brazos River and back via the Waco Suspension Bridge. Here’s some info on the plaque at the base:

Waco Suspension Bridge with several of the (many) bronze cattle sculptures leading up to it

The Waco Suspension Bridge was built as a way to get cattle across the Brazos River. It was part of the Chisolm Trail, used during the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in Texas to Kansas railheads.

View from the suspension bridge

The Brazos River appears to be home to some cool-looking water birds, some biggish fish we didn’t get more than a quick glance at as they briefly splashed the surface, as well as a whole lot of red-eared sliders (turtles!)

Red-eared sliders and birds in the Brazos River

After our walk along the river, we continued on to Dallas. We checked into our hotel and did some work for a bit, and then we headed off to another restaurant I found that sounded interesting, this one in the Deep Ellum neighborhood of Dallas. It’s called the Purepeche Room, and is in the back room of a spot called Revolver Taco Lounge.

Revolver Taco Lounge wall paintings

Revolver Taco Lounge, bathroom graffiti

The Purepecha Room has two seatings per night, holds 14 people max, and the menu is a fixed price tasting menu prepared by the chef and his mom in the kitchen that opens right into the seating area. (On this night, it was the chef’s aunt filling in for his mom while she was out of town.)

Kitchen, from our table

The place is small and quaint and feels a little like you’re hanging out in someone’s home while they cook for you. We had the early seating (6:00pm) and as it turned out we were the only ones there. The food was fantastic and I actually did manage to take some photos this time.

Chef Regino Rojas puts the final touches on what turned out to be my favorite dish of the night (ceviche, pictured below)

Ceviche with spot prawn, grapefruit, cucumber, leaves and flowers, salmon roe, fresh fish (I forgot what kind) and a little bit of puffed rice for texture. The flavors in this dish were amazing!

This was a braised lamb dish with rice and potatoes and homemade tortillas, with a delicious broth

I think this was pheasant mole, with rice and a grilled fig

Pork carnitas and quail with salsas

Everything was wonderful, and we’d definitely come back, but I’d like to see them slow down a bit. There was so much food and we were completely finished by 7:30pm. We could definitely have benefitted from a little more time to breathe between courses. Since the second seating isn’t until 8:30pm, seems like there would be enough time to spread things out a little better. Also, the waitress was exceptionally sweet, but seemed very new. She recommended we have white wine with the first four courses and red with the second four, but then recommended a bottle that was $105, which didn’t come by the glass. What would we have done with a whole bottle of wine for the first four courses that came out so rapidly? Anyway, we did some by-the-glass wines that worked out great. Dessert was wonderful (traditional flan and a small slice of local pecan pie), but the coffee!!! Oh my goodness the coffee was fabulous. Café de olla is a traditional Mexican coffee with panela (whole cane sugar) and cinnamon, cooked on the stovetop and served in an earthen clay pot. Super yum!

We walked around the neighborhood a bit after dinner, gave the guy who promised to “watch our car” a few bucks, then headed back to our hotel.

Friday after the rest of our meetings, we caught our evening flight back to Portland. We’re now home and in the middle of a gigantic purging push, which consists of cleaning out the garage, closets, and other hidey-holes, getting rid of stuff we don’t use anymore, and many, many, many trips to Goodwill. We seem to do this every time we get back from a summer on that boat (just not as well as we’re doing it now), when we are once again reminded just how little we need to be happy — in fact, it’s the opposite. The “stuff” eventually becomes the boss, and gets in the way of so many things. It feels good to be getting rid of more. I’d like to be able to relax and breathe at home as well as we are able to do on the boat!

Cured in San Antonio TX

Laura Domela — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 00:53:32 +0000

We just finished a bit of a whirlwind business trip. We returned from Mexico on Friday night, spent the weekend at home, and then left on Monday morning again. This week’s travels took us to San Antonio, Austin, and Denver.

Before we left Portland, we read that chef Steve McHugh of Cured was a 2018 nominee for “Best Chef” Southwest. We hadn’t heard of Cured, but figured that while in San Antonio, we should check it out! We took Kevin’s mom out to a fun dinner on Monday night. Cured is located in the 22-acre Pearl Brewery (operating from 1883 to 2001) complex north of downtown.

The Astroturf out front serves as a little park during the day.

Cured is inside a charming, stand-alone building that once housed the administrative offices of the Pearl Brewery.

Check out the metal work on the front steps!

If you haven’t already figured out what to expect from the name of the restaurant, once inside there’s no question (although it’s worth knowing that they also have wonderful vegetarian options, and you can sit without a view of the curing meat if you wish).

Charcuterie can be ordered in 3 item, 6 item, or 9 item combinations. We opted for 6 items: Apple Jalapeño Pork Rillettes, Smoked Duck Ham, Bresaola, Orange & Pecan Salami, a Salami Diabla, and the cheese of the day. This was likely the best charcuterie board we’ve ever had. The homemade crackers were perfection, and the plate came with several interesting spreads and mustards…a beet mustard, a chimichurri mustard, a kumquat marmalade, some house-made pickles…it was all just perfect and delicious. The apple jalapeño pork rillettes and the salami diabla were probably our favorite things on the board.

Next we tried the beet salad, which was also wonderful — beet, avocado, and citrus with local yogurt and beet cracklins. Oh yeah, and our waiter Mark was THE BEST. He had such good recommendations and he was super fun and friendly and obviously very proud of the food he was serving.

Mark even recommended a bottle of TEXAN rosé, and we went for it. That’s how much we trusted him. (2016 Cinsault/Mourvedre from Lewis Wines in the Hill Country about an hour north of San Antonio.)

We next shared chicken-fried chicken livers (delicious), crawfish pie (also delicious), and the bison tartare with huitlacoche puree, bourbon, cured farm egg yolk, and brioche (hey guess what? It was delicious too!) These three little plates came out at the same time so I was too distracted and didn’t take any photos.

We shared two entrees between the three of us (which was too much, but we were on a roll and really wanted to try more stuff): grilled flat iron with mushrooms agrodolce and fries, and a red wattle pork chop with sweet potato puree and capirotada.

We were so full, but Mark made us order one dessert to share, the Vinegar Pie (with sweet potato puree, oats, blueberries, and fermented barley syrup). It was not too sweet, and super different from anything you expect for dessert, but it totally worked and was great.

Cured after dark.

So…next time we’re back in San Antonio, guess where we’re going for dinner?

Casa Kimberly and The Iguana

Laura Domela — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 21:00:10 +0000

Last night was our last night in Puerto Vallarta. One of the things I did when we booked this trip originally was to make a dinner reservation at The Iguana Restaurant up at Casa Kimberly. We’d heard good things about the restaurant, and the history of Casa Kimberly is kinda cool, and…the place looked amazing (and fancy!) in photos so we thought it would be a nice last night in PV (and an excuse to celebrate our anniversary…again!)

We arrived up at Casa Kimberly after a difficult (for the driver) Uber ride from the Zona Romantica. The streets in these hills are narrow and steep!

Casa Kimberly originally was a casita belonging to Elizabeth Taylor. In the 1960s, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton came to Puerto Vallarta to film Night of the Iguana. They had met a few years prior on the set of Cleopatra, and apparently were “in the whirl of a scandalous romance.” Richard Burton bought Casa Kimberly for Elizabeth Taylor for her 32nd birthday, and the place across the street from his own casita, and had a bridge built over the street that connected their two homes. Not much of the original structures still stand, aside from the bridge and a few other things. (Ms. Taylor’s heart-shaped jacuzzi is in what is now the “Elizabeth Taylor Suite“, and Mr. Burton’s azure pool is still on the grounds as well.)

Upon arrival, we noticed the glass door at the street level is locked (to keep the riff raff out, I assume) and we were to ring a big bell hanging over the door to announce our arrival. (The rope hangs just far enough down so you can grab it and ring…well, it’s more of a “clank”…the bell.)

We were met for our reservation and led upstairs to The Iguana, where we were given a lovely table overlooking the city, right atop the bridge that previously joined Taylor and Burton’s residences.

Because it was our anniversary, they started us out with a cold glass of prosecco while we took in the beautiful view.

We decided that the mariachis here at Casa Kimberly were the best we’ve ever heard, and between Kevin and I (growing up in Texas and Los Angeles, respectfully) we’ve heard a LOT of mariachi music. These guys were really, REALLY good. They’re called Mariachi La Joya de Mexico, and they’re apparently one of Mexico’s most famous Mariachi troupes. I get it. They’re super good.

The cocktail menu has two different tequila martinis, which sounded intriguing. We ordered the reposado martinis, but our waiter, Miguel, said he much preferred the one made with blanco tequila. We decided to trust him (which would prove a very wise choice for the rest of the evening). The cocktail is made with blanco tequila, lime juice, orange juice, Cointreau, and something else I missed, with a cucumber and a berry on a stick with Tajín rim. (Tajín is a blend of lime, chilies, and sea salt, and I have two bottles in my bag now as we head home. This is apparently a very common condiment/seasoning here, and it turns out you can get it on amazon, but I found it for less than half the price in the PV airport.)

This tequila martini was delicious and I’ll be attempting to replicate it at home.

We had a perfect view of the sunset from our table.

We ordered a couple starters: ceviche (scallops, octopus, and shrimp marinated in a roasted habanero vinaigrette), and squash blossoms (filled with requesón cheese and poblano chile, served over breaded panela cheese with a black bean and poblano chile sauce). Both appetizers were fantastic. Miguel said we really shouldn’t miss one of his favorites though, a cup of the black bean soup (I can’t find the description of this) but wow, we definitely would have overlooked it — because soup, hot day, Mexico — and it turned out to possibly be our favorite thing of the night!

Of course after the martini and the soup, we let Miguel steer us toward our entrees: grilled salmon served over huitlacoche, squash blossoms, roasted sweet corn and a jalapeño cream, and a sea bass dish with a tamarind sauce that was incredible! The sea bass dish was really different…the richness of this fish combined with the tangy tamarind sauce was such a cool balance of flavors. Of course after this we couldn’t ignore Miguel’s recommendation for dessert. A guava tarte type of thing that I never would have ordered over flan or something else with chocolate… We probably wouldn’t have gotten dessert in the first place, since we were a bit on the full side by this point, though the portions were perfect and not too big…but OMG this guava thing!! Super wow. I told Miguel he should have the “Miguel’s Choice Server’s Menu”

After dinner we walked around the grounds a little and took in the beautiful architecture and environment, and then walked back to our hotel (much easier going back than it was getting here).

Wall art on our walk home along the river:

You could do a whole tour on the street/wall art in Puerto Vallarta. There’s some great stuff!

It was a lovely evening!

This morning we returned to Azul Bistro for breakfast, and Cesar made us two totally different dishes from what we had yesterday: 1) tostadas with mole, feta, and an over easy egg (amazing! the mole!) and 2) an omelette with bacon, gouda, feta, and another cheese I forgot, topped with some delicious red orange salsa. Cesar and his wife are ALL ABOUT the sauces/salsas, and they do a great job experimenting to find interesting combinations of flavors. If you are in Puerto Vallarta and need a non-touristy breakfast spot that will become your new favorite, check out the Azul Bistro!

We are at the airport now waiting for our flight back to Portland, doing some work and people-watching. We used Uber this time to get here (Uber has been here in PV for about 6 months) and it was SUCH a nice change from the crazy taxi ride we had on our first day in town. Our Uber driver was chill and awesome, from Guadalajara, and says he’s working to learn English in ONE MONTH! He’s killin’ it, too!

I thought we’d be disappointed spending two days in Puerto Vallarta after 9 days in Yelapa, but we weren’t at all. It’s definitely different, and more crowded and more touristy, but if you seek out something other than the beach and the tourist shops (unless that’s all you’re into, then cool), you’ll find a lot more here than what you might have expected.

Exploring Puerto Vallarta

Laura Domela — Thu, 15 Mar 2018 22:29:43 +0000

We left Yelapa (and might or might not have shed a couple of quiet tears as we said goodbye to our glorious room) and hopped on the 11am water taxi to Puerta Vallarta. (But guess what?? We booked our same room at Casa Pericos for later this year, so see you again in November, Yelapa!)

Waiting on Playa Isabel for the water taxi, while they chat with our buddies aboard Iza (Garcia Charters)

Burros were getting loaded up and sent down the path, carrying groceries, water, and other supplies. As soon as they had their load, they’d just slowly wander down the path, munching on greens along the way.

The water was relatively calm, so we had a nice chill ride to Puerto Vallarta that took only 30 minutes from our last stop in Yelapa to the Los Muertos Pier in Puerto Vallarta.

Waiting to dock at the Los Muertos Pier while passengers load onto another water taxi.

We walked the couple of short blocks to our hotel, but we were a bit early for check in, so we opted to spend the two hours sitting at a lovely table in the shade in the courtyard, doing a bit of work and reading.

From the courtyard at Casa Doña Susana, looking back out toward the street.

Stairs in the inner courtyard at Casa Doña Susana.

Looking straight up from the courtyard at Casa Doña Susana (there’s a pool on the roof!)

Courtyard vines

Two hours turned into three and a half or four, but by the time our room was ready we were happy for the air conditioning (and the couple of free drink coupons the front desk gave us for being so patient). I’d have to say though…based on watching other interactions besides ours (as well as my experience booking online in the first place) this is not the most organized operation. Our room (No. 202) is fine, but the one they first showed us as an option if we didn’t want to wait had two double beds, zero windows, and opened out directly into the traffic path. I said “It’s our wedding anniversary, so no thank you, I think we’ll wait.” The concierge said “Yes, this one is not so appealing, I agree.” Anyway, we got settled, hung out a bit, and then walked over to dinner at the Merida Grill, which came highly recommended by our friend Joni.

Cool birdcage/light fixtures hang from the high ceilings

Everyone here is super friendly, and they go out of their way to make you feel welcome (and not at ALL in an annoying way…SO genuine and wonderful). We ordered a bottle of champagne, because (1) anniversary, and (2) we’ve had plenty of margaritas in the past two weeks…it was a nice change! We shared some ceviche, and a nojol salad (grilled cactus, greens, some delicious cheese, tomatoes, avocado), and then shared two entrees: cochinita pibil and grilled octopus.

The cochinita pibil was my favorite, but both were delicious.

A soft, low-light photo of the cochinita pibil taken with my iPhone, but you get the idea.

Grilled octopus with vegetables…gorgeous presentation.

Cochinita pibil is a traditional Mexican slow-roasted pork dish from the Yucatán Peninsula. Traditional cochinita pibil involves marinating the meat in acidic citrus juice, seasoning it with achiote paste/annatto seed which gives it a vivid dark red/orange color, and roasting the meat while it is wrapped in banana leaf. At Merida Grill, they cook it in a big pot that’s lowered into a pit inside a brick oven, and I had a ringside seat when they opened the oven doors.

After dinner, we walked around a bit, then down to El Malecon boardwalk, which is basically just a wide sidewalk along the beach populated by mostly tourists, bordered by shops, buskers, sidewalk vendors, and restaurants (and in our case last night, some really drunk chicks belting out “YMCA” by the Village People–might have been karaoke, but I could only hear them—trying to get people to join them…no thanks).

We slept well, considering the sound of the surf crashing below our room in Yelapa had been rudely replaced by the erratic hum of an AC on the wall above our heads here in PV. Heh.

After a little work this morning, we ventured out for some breakfast. Originally I’d picked out a place for us to go down on the beach that had good reviews, but last minute changed my mind and opted for a more local vibe (still with great Yelp reviews) and we ended up at Azul Bistro, a few blocks from our hotel.

Azul Bistro is small, and has a few outdoor tables (which is where we sat…nicely in the shade)

We ordered the Huevos Azul (poached eggs, breaded/fried and served on a spinach puree) and the Bienadictos Mexicanos (english muffin, skirt steak, poached eggs, chipotle sauce). Both dishes were excellent (that chipotle sauce!!), and we decided to go back tomorrow morning for breakfast so we can try two new things. Cesar said he’d make us something completely different tomorrow, but I heard our table-neighbors RAVING about the mole sauce on their order (and how they were ALSO coming back tomorrow), so I’m pretty sure we can’t go wrong. (Note: they do dinners here on Saturday nights only. This Saturday it’s Chile en Nogada…reserve early because the place fills up!)

Huevos Azul, payapa, cantaloupe, and a potato/coconut hash.

Bienedictos Mexicanos, cantaloupe and papaya, and the potato/coconut hash.

After breakfast, we walked the neighborhood a bit, and decided to stop in Galleria Dante. (It’s #7 of 172 Things to do in Puerto Vallarta on Trip Advisor!) This place is packed with local and mostly/kinda/localish work, and there were quite a few pieces we liked, including these paintings by Emilio Rama:

These are some of the paintings we liked…

…and I think we’re coming home with this one

After the gallery, we just wandered all around town randomly. Here are some photos, in no particular order.

Typical street in the Zona Romantica

No one here seems very fond of Trump (shocker, I know). There are “F@#$ Trump” t-shirts, signs that say “Don’t worry, you’re on the fun side of the wall”…stuff like that, but I really liked these Trump piñatas we walked past today.

We took a break from the sun and are doing some work (and some blogging, obviously) back in our room now. Later this evening, we’ll go out for our (fancier) anniversary dinner up at The Iguana at Casa Kimberly. Casa Kimberly was once the vacation home of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. According to the owner, Burton bought the property for Taylor back in 1964 for her 32nd birthday. The two vacationed in Casa Kimberly for decades, and Elizabeth Taylor eventually sold it in 1990 after Burton’s death in 1984. (I think they filmed some of “Night of the Iguana” in the bar there.) Reviews of the food on both Yelp and Trip Advisor are very good…we’ll let you know tomorrow. There’s a dress code, and you’re not supposed to wear “beach or board shorts, t-shirts, or flip flops” so I’m hoping I don’t get ousted for my flip flops (they’re fashionable flip flops, not the usual beach rubber ones, so I’m hopeful they pass because it’s what I’ve got).

Headin’ South

Laura Domela — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 11:44:42 +0000

We are headed to Seattle this week for the 2018 Seattle Boat Show, where our Slowboat team will be giving a handful (well, two handfuls — 10!) of seminars about subjects that include cruising the Inside Passage to Alaska, flying drones from boats, photography, and how to live on a boat in Seattle without a permanent slip. Check out the full list here if you’re interested.

We left Anacortes Monday morning just before 10am. We took the Swinomish Channel route since it was an hour before max ebb at Deception Pass and well, we’ve done that before. We had a nice easy cruise down to Langley, with winds in the 5-10kts range, and only one spot with enough chop to get the windows salty. Tuesday in the San Juans is supposed to be a little nasty (E wind 25 to 35kts becoming SE 30 to 40kts in the afternoon. Wind waves 5 to 7 ft) but Puget Sound doesn’t sound bad.

Seals here on the dock at Langley, Whidbey Island

I had the helm all day while Kevin wrote an article and did some work, and when we got settled we showered and did more work before walking up to town for dinner and groceries.

Langley at dusk.

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Langley waterfront at dusk

We had an early dinner at one of our favorites spots in Langley — Prima Bistro (where we took no food photos, but we shared some kusshi oysters and charcuterie for starters, then ordered two entrees to share: the cassoulet and the pan roasted chicken with polenta, braised endive, and rosemary-gorgonzola pan jus). Everything was delicious, and we took more than half the cassoulet back to Airship for another meal.

The Star Store mercantile next door is open until 8pm so we grabbed some fresh produce and eggs and called it an early night!

We left Langley this morning before 9am. The weather was gray and rainy but we never saw more than about 10kts of wind.

We did, however, pass a big submarine as it headed north:

Pretty cool to see at such close range!

All Tucked In (but not for long!)

Laura Domela — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 19:57:44 +0000

Before leaving Victoria on Tuesday, Kevin and I walked over to old town to get some breakfast at Jam Cafe. A local had recommended this spot earlier in the week, and I in turn had passed that recommendation on to boat neighbors Jeff and Kim a few days prior (hi guys!!). Jeff and Kim went for brunch on Sunday and raved about it, so we really had no choice but to check it out before leaving, and we’re glad we did! The food was delicious, and we’ll definitely go back next time we’re in town. (I had an off-menu special — pulled pork on a crunchy tortilla, topped with poached eggs and some sauce I forgot what kind and avocado and I dunno what else but it was amazing, and Kevin had a “Charlie Bowl”–Jam’s version of a hash with crumbled biscuit, hash browns, diced ham, bacon, corn salsa, peas, green onions, cheddar and sausage gravy topped with two sunny side eggs. I liked mine the best.)

The cruise back to Anacortes from Victoria was foggy then sunny but the whole time calm calm calm!

The forecast for Tuesday for the Strait of Juan de Fuca was spot-on…and a great day to cross back into the U.S. We cleared U.S. Customs easily and by phone (yay Nexus!) and returned to Anacortes right around 4pm.

In the morning, we got up fairly early to start the process of cleaning and unpacking. I began by washing Airship, and Kevin went to see if the truck would start. Unfortunately, the battery was dead, in spite of the solar trickle charger we’d left on it (the one that worked great last summer), so he took it (in a dock cart) over to a local shop to have charged and/or replaced if that didn’t work. (That worked…battery’s great and the truck started fine with it after a couple hours of charging.)

After Airship was shiny, we needed to address the leak in the dinghy. We thought we’d found the tiny pinprick hole (ahem, someone wasn’t careful with their fishhook!) and patched it successfully, but the port side was still slowly losing air. We removed the outboard and took it in a cart up to the truck (we’ll take it back to the shop where we bought it for its annual maintenance) and then pulled the dinghy up onto the dock for inspection. After spraying soapy water all around the area on and adjacent to the first hole we patched, we found TWO more tiny pinpricks that were leaking air. One patch covered them both, and we think we’re good to go. (Be careful of those fishhooks!)

While we were working on finding the leak, we also started a bit of dinghy cleaning…which turned into a whole ‘nother project. We’d never been able to find anything that worked WELL for cleaning the dinghy…everything we tried required SO. MUCH. SCRUBBING! Our dinghy is mounted on a davit off the swim step, and the port bow of it gets a bit of exhaust while under way, and that gray builds up fast. For some reason, we’d never tried (until now) this cleaner that West Marine carries, called (creatively): Inflatable Boat Cleaner (and Protectant…comes in a two-pack).

We used one entire bottle of the cleaner and went back for two more — it worked so well!! We’re going to have a clean dinghy from now on!

So, after washing Airship (which is always a good way to quell any thoughts of a bigger boat…at least for a day or so), scrubbing the Zodiac, removing the outboard, several trips to deal with the truck battery issue, and I don’t know how many trips hauling stuff in dock carts to the truck, cleaning the interior of Airship so she’s all ready for whatever comes next…we were ready to head back to Portland…at 5:30pm. We stopped for dinner at Coa Mexican Eatery in Mt. Vernon (figuring the longer we waited, the less traffic through Seattle we’d hit…plus, those prawns!) and returned to Portland just after 10:30pm. We unloaded the truck, had a glass of wine, and then hit the sack. Long day!

After some work trips and a couple photo shoots in my studio here in Portland over the next two weeks, we’ll be heading back up to meet friends in the San Juans. I already can’t wait. We have a lovely home here in Portland, but my heart is on the water.

Victoria, B.C. | Gorge Waterway and Fisherman’s Wharf

Laura Domela — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 22:50:49 +0000

The other day Kevin and I decided to take the dinghy out to explore the Gorge. The Gorge Waterway is a narrow tidal inlet that connects Victoria Harbour to Portage Inlet. Here’s what it looks like on the chart (with the yellow line being our cruise from Causeway Floats, up and back about 7.2 nautical miles):

From Victoria’s Inner Harbour the scenery changes from city, to industrial, to urban nature park. The speed limit is 5 knots, so we just puttered up about 3.5 miles and then back. It was a beautiful day for it!

As we returned to the Inner Harbour, the bridge was up to let a big tug and barge through.

This handsome vessel was docked nearby and we got a good look at her from the dinghy. Launched in 1930 as “The Chieftain” (she’s now called the St. Eval), she spent 60 years operating under the British flag escorting British warships during WWII. In 1992, she was purchased by Dennis Washington, and after extensive renovation (including a hot tub on the top deck with wood that matches the pilothouse perfectly!) she now operates as a personal pleasure yacht and is based here in Victoria.

Evening light on The Empress:

On Friday, Kevin flew to NY to cover the World Maker Faire for EE Journal, and I stayed with Airship to hold down the fort.

This morning I walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf along the David Foster Harbour Pathway, which winds along the waterfront of the Inner Harbour.

Fisherman’s Wharf is about a mile walk from Causeway Floats, and it was a perfect, quiet Sunday morning for a walk. I left Airship around 10:30am, thinking I might have a late breakfast/early lunch at one of the little floating restaurants in the wharf.

After reading several reviews I settled on the Floating Fish Store. I ordered one halibut taco and six Kusshi oysters with a cucumber jalapeño mignonette. It was all fantastic! So fantastic, in fact, that I brought a dozen Kusshis back to the boat, along with a sockeye salmon rice wrap and a cup of salmon chowder to have for dinner tonight.

View from my brunch

Halibut taco and Kusshi oysters from the Floating Fish House

(What I didn’t realize when I left the dock is that I’d be missing the very last Water Taxi Water Ballet of the summer, that took place RIGHT BEHIND WHERE WE’RE DOCKED! How did I not know this was going on? So disappointing!)

As I made my way back along the waterfront trail, once I could see Airship and the Empress Hotel, I could also see there were multiple fire engines with their lights flashing up on Government Street (between the Causeway Floats and the Empress Hotel). The fire engines had ladders up, but I couldn’t tell what was going on. I didn’t see smoke, so that was a good sign!

As I got closer, I could see an enormous Canadian flag hanging from two of the ladders, and as I returned to Airship, I watched as the firemen raised the ladders on two more fire trucks, and then spread an equally large British Columbian flag from those.

I decided to take a walk down to the art supply store near Chinatown (Opus Art Supply, if you’re interested…very well-stocked art supply store!), and on the way, check out what was going on up top! Turns out it was a British Columbia Law Enforcement Memorial. The street was closed off and there were all types of law enforcement and military, along with some really good bagpipers (unlike that one guy).

They paraded down Government Street and over to the front lawn of the Parliament buildings where they assembled for the memorial (complete with rifle fire and trumpets and more bagpipes).

I can say that being docked downtown is most definitely not boring!

Airship in Victoria B.C.

Laura Domela — Tue, 19 Sep 2017 01:27:56 +0000

We arrived in Victoria on Sunday afternoon. We’re now docked at the Causeway Floats, directly in front of the Empress Hotel. It’s so great being right in the inner harbour here…it’s touristy, yes, but from a distance — there’s a coded gate at the top of the ramp. It’s not an inexpensive moorage, but totally worth the slight splurge…so much to do nearby!

We both thought we remembered the Empress being covered in thick ivy, and after a little Googling, we learned we were right. They removed the ivy not that long ago, embarked on a brick restoration project, and I believe the hotel had its “grand reopening” in June of this year. The building’s ivy coat was definitely a fabulous look, but apparently rodents had taken up residence in the ivy and the vines were wreaking havoc on the facade. (Here’s an image of what it looked like with its ivy coat.)

After we were settled in, we headed out to stretch our legs and explore the city a bit.

The water taxis here are adorable!

We had a late lunch/early dinner at Tacofino, and were not disappointed…at all. The tacos were better than we remembered from the original taco truck spot in Tofino! We ordered four tacos total and shared: one crispy ling cod (cabbage, chipotle mayo, salsa fresca), one tuna (soy, sesame, wakame, ginger, wasabi mayo), one crispy chicken (guacamole, black chili oil, radish, sprouts, cilantro, green onion), and one steak (pickled carrot/onion/daikon, sriracha mayo, cilantro). We were prepared to like the fish tacos the best, but we both REALLY liked the crispy chicken and steak tacos.

Crispy chicken in front, steak in back

If you don’t eat meat, they have some creative vegetarian taco options: a tempura yam taco with chipotle mayo and salsa fresca, and a bean taco with crema, salsa fresca, and queso. Most taco options appear to also be available as burrito options. This is a VERY casual spot. It’s a brick and mortar place, but it feels closer to the taco truck vibe of the original Tofino location. Anyway…Tacofino. We love it. We’ll probably go back for another round while we’re here!

The Empress, behind the wall, with businesspeople

Last night’s view from Airship (Parliament buildings on the left)

Parliament buildings at night, taken from the pilothouse of Airship

Today we got up on the early side and worked most of the morning until we were hungry, which was about noon, so we walked up and visited the ramen joint we scoped during yesterday’s walk. It’s called the Menbow Ramen Bar and it’s just around the corner from Tacofino. Everything is made in-house. We both ordered the spicy pork broth ramen (toppings of soft boiled egg, fish cake, BBQ pork, seaweed, bean sprouts, etc.) and it was fantastic.

Back at Airship we cranked out some more work and we’ll probably just hang here and do dinner in tonight. (So nice to have the option of meals cooked by someone else! Ah, the benefits of boating in the city!)

We’ll be joined tomorrow by some friends (Carol and Parker, on Akeeva, from our Slowboat flotilla to Alaska), and we have a few more fun things on the list for the next couple of days: the Royal BC Museum, the Maritime Museum, Butchart Gardens, more tacos, and dinner out at Il Terrazzo on Wednesday night (with some laundry-doing and grocery shopping thrown in for good measure).

Exploring the West Side of Vancouver Island | Part 2

Laura Domela — Sat, 16 Sep 2017 23:30:15 +0000

From Hot Springs Cove we cruised over to Clayoquot Sound. There are many little inlets and anchorages to explore (as well as one of our favorite towns on Vancouver Island — Tofino. Our first stop was Bottleneck Bay, which as the name suggests, has a narrow entrance channel (we never saw less than 25 feet under the keel). Inside is a large, secure anchorage.

Bottleneck Bay anchorage from the air, Clayoquot Sound

Bottleneck Bay, Clayoquot Sound

We spent the following night in Bacchante Bay, and then continued on to Tofino. Tofino is a great town to visit, and as I said in the Part 1 post, the last time we were in Tofino was with the Airstream in 2014. Arriving by boat is a whole different ball game.

Tofino waterfront

Tofino really doesn’t cater to pleasure boats, at all. We tried hailing the harbormaster at the public docks but received no answer. The transient docks appeared full, with small boats rafted two and three deep. We continued down to Crab Dock which looked like it had space, but the current was running to about 4 knots, and the narrow channel there is bordered by sand bars and smaller islands, all with small whale-watching and fishing boats buzzing past at 8-10 knots while you try to figure out where to go. We called Tofino Resort and Marina (formerly Weigh West Marina), and they said they had space for us and told us where to tie up. This facility has recently been completely remodeled and updated. Included in the moorage rate (which is a bit expensive) are power, water, laundry, WiFi, and showers. The staff is friendly and helpful, and they take reservations. We would definitely stay here in the future.

While in Tofino we reprovisioned with groceries, beer, and wine. We also dined out! We had oysters in the afternoon at Tough City Sushi on the waterfront, an evening cocktail (cedar-infused rye!) at Wolf in the Fog, and a delicious late dinner at Shelter.

On to Barkley Sound! Our first anchorage was a lovely, well-protected spot in the Broken Group, behind Turtle Island. We anchored and then took the dinghy out to explore.

Topiary islet near our anchorage in the Broken Group, Barkely Sound

View from our anchorage near Turtle Island, Broken Group in Barkley Sound

Next we headed inside a bit further, and anchored in a spot next to Refuge Island so we could go up Lucky Creek with the dinghies:

Heading out in the dinghies to see what’s up Lucky Creek (anchored at Refuge Bay, Barkley Sound)

At the head…a waterfall and some tallish cliffs

Lucky Creek waterfall

We secured the dinghies to the rocks and climbed up to see what was at the top of the waterfall

…more pools and more waterfalls!

…and a rope swing! If it had been hotter out, we’d have been swimming!

Back at Airship and Safe Harbour, anchored near Refuge Island

We had a calm and sunny cruise back out to the Broken Group, and anchored in Effingham Bay, right on the edge of the ocean.

View from our anchorage in Effingham Bay, Barkely Sound

We beached the dinghies on this sand spit/islet near our anchorage at Effingham Bay and walked around a bit.

More island topiary

Sea caves on the outside of Austin Island, near our anchorage at Effingham Bay, Barkley Sound

Another sandy islet, Broken Group, Barkley Sound

Beach textures

Scratched up bull kelp

The next morning we cruised from Effingham Bay over to the town of Bamfield. Bamfield is a tiny town separated into two halves that border Bamfield Harbour — the east side is where the road is, and the west side is on a peninsula. All the buildings are linked by boardwalks and is not connected to the main part of town by road at all. It’s really a very charming little town! We tied to the government dock on the west side and took off on foot to explore the boardwalk trail.

Bamfield has a small general store on the west side that had a surprising amount of great-looking produce!

Next we took the dinghies across to the east side, which was fine but not as charming. There is another store (called “The Market”) that also had quite a bit of produce. (Is it obvious what we care about as cruisers in remote areas? Fresh produce!!!) We stopped at the pub (called “The Pub”) and had a beer and some yam fries, and then headed back to the boats for some work and a late supper.

It was looking like our window to do the last (long) leg of the outside (and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca) was going to be Saturday, which is why we decided to come into Bamfield instead of staying out in the islands. It’s a good jumping off point, and though we could spend weeks more exploring out here, we need to be in Victoria by the 20th…so we’ll be a little early, but at least we won’t get stuck! The trip is about 75 nautical miles (and about 10 hours underway) from Bamfield to Sooke, and fortunately for us, the forecast for the morning until late afternoon was for minimal winds, low swells, and fog.

Leaving Bamfield at first light:

As soon as we got outside of Barkley Sound we entered the thick fog bank:

Fog can make for a rather boring cruise. There’s not much to see, but you need to keep even more of a watch than on a good visibility day. We have GPS and radar and AIS, and with calm conditions we were pretty low on complaints for the day.

Happily breaking up the boredom were two Orcas (not together) — one younger one (splashy and active, and very close to Airship)…

…and another larger one with a much taller dorsal fin, further away:

We also saw more than a dozen humpbacks (most of them in the fog), including two enormous ones right in our path. We stopped and waited until they dove.

Entering the Strait of Juan de Fuca…conditions were still calm, and the fog eventually cleared for us, but remained thick at the east entrance. Approaching Sooke Harbour:

We anchored just on the inside of Whiffen Spit, which is a lovely location but for all the crab traps and speeding fishing boats zooming in and out all day. Those little guys can throw quite a wake, which is not awesome when you’re rafted to another boat!

Kevin and I decided to see if we could get in for an early dinner at the Sooke Harbour House. (Since we were anchored right out front basically, and could easily dinghy over and back…we figured we’d never be closer!) We managed to score the corner window table, with a killer view of the water, and opted for the three course dinner plus wine pairings. Everything was fabulous, and the food was better than we remembered from when we visited three years ago. Definitely worth a visit!

After dinner we walked the length of the spit and back, and then dinghied home.

From Sooke, we’re heading over to Victoria for a few days. Another new destination for Airship!

Driftwood fort on the beach at Whiffen Spit

A Quick Trip to the Boat

Laura Domela — Sun, 05 Mar 2017 00:22:07 +0000

Guess what? We’re going to be in the Airstream for a WHOLE WEEK this month! The last time we were Airstreaming it was October 2015! That’s nuts, isn’t it? (We really REALLY like boating.) Anyway, we realized that our cool internet setup was still up at the boat, so we decided to drive up to get it so we’d have good internet for the week at the Oregon Coast this month, because…well, work, duh.

As we were heading out of Portland, I got a cool view of the water tower on top of the old Towne Storage building as we sat in traffic at a stoplight. The Towne Storage building is such a neat old building and when I first moved to Portland to go to art school I dreamed of one day having a grungy brick-walled studio in this building. Since then (I had a different grungy brick walled studio in a different part of town) I’ve had many artist friends with studios in this building and it’s sad to see it changing, but at least it’s not being torn town, right?

Anyway, we’ve had kind of a tough couple weeks, so we figured we’d keep the trip up a quick one, but rather than drive up and back in one day, we’d spend a night or two on the boat before returning to Portland.

We left Portland late on Thursday and didn’t get up to Anacortes until almost 10pm. We were hungry on the way, and I found (via Yelp) a Mexican food spot not to far off of I-5 in Centralia that sounded killer from the reviews. It’s called La Tarasca, and it was amazing! (Fun fact: the restaurant is totally gluten-free.)

Great food, super friendly service, happy/chill atmosphere…so good. We ordered the carnitas plate (their specialty, and it’s obvious why), and the steak taco plate. The tortillas are homemade and delicious. Their homemade salsa is very good as well, and is served with pickled carrot slices…no tortilla chips (which is actually a nice change…neither of us felt overly full when we’d finished our meal). We shared plates, and Kevin said it was a toss up to him as to what he liked best, but I’d have a hard time ordering anything but the carnitas next time. We took two pork tamales to go and steamed them up for lunch the next day and they were fantastic also. Anyway, highly recommended stop if you’re hungry in or near Centralia.

On Friday morning once the wind calmed down, we cruised over to a nice protected anchorage off of Orcas Island, near Double Island. There was no one out there but the occasional crab boat picking up pots. Friday was calm and gray and rainy and SO nice to have a little quiet boat time.

Double Island on the left, Alegria Island on the right:

For last night’s dinner I made prawn tacos with a lime cilantro slaw, loosely based on this recipe. They came out great!