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!

Catching Up | Seattle Boat Show, Snowpocalypse, and the Grammys

Laura Domela — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 21:32:39 +0000

We’ve been busy! (New) Airship was out of the water for two months getting new floors, new upholstery, new electronics, and a handful of other fun upgrades (if you want to take a look at some before and after photos, click here). We finally got her back in the water just in time to cruise down to the Seattle Boat Show.

We got a nice view of the Super Blood Wolf Moon from Airship in Anacortes before we headed south

We took two days making our way down to Seattle, stopping in Oak Harbor for (cheap) fuel and staying overnight in Langley. It’s so nice to finally be on the water in our new boat!

Airship at Bell Harbor Marina

Kevin presenting “WiFi in the Wilderness” at the Seattle Boat Show

Our Slowboat seminars all went great and were well-attended–another successful boat show in the books!

A few weeks back, we learned that Kevin’s brother, Craig (a classical trumpet player) was nominated for a Grammy in the “Best Instrumental Classical Solo Performance” category, for his solo trumpet recording “Glass: 3 Pieces in the Shape of a Square” of music by composer Philip Glass. We were super excited about his nomination for this album, and then just as we were heading to Seattle, he told us he’d been invited to perform at the Grammy Premiere show, and he was inviting us to come join him! We quickly scheduled ourselves a little shopping party in Seattle to find something to wear, and planned a trip to Los Angeles!

Leaving Seattle

We stopped in Langley again on our way back north. The weather was supposed to get nasty (35-45mph winds, more snow) so we stayed two nights and let the wind pass.

We woke the next morning to snow-covered docks, and spent most of the day cozy inside

It was windy enough to blow a bunch up snow up against the cockpit door, even!

Icicles on the scuppers!

When we got back to Portland, there was a bit of snow as well, and the forecast was for it to dump more starting the night before our flight to L.A., so we opted to stay in a hotel at the airport to ensure a higher likelihood of catching our flight. In the morning it had snowed a bit more, but there were probably only 3-4 inches. Our house is at about 1000 feet and we normally get a bit more snow than the lower elevations, making our steep driveway not so much fun, so we were glad for the easy commute!

View from our hotel

Flights were all on time with no issues.

Portland Airport

We arrived at LAX and grabbed a Lyft to our hotel. I found us a cool hotel online without knowing anything about it, and it was even better in person! We stayed at the Mayfair, not far from Staples Center. I chose the hotel because it was convenient, and because it looked like a boutique hotel with some fun L.A. style. We were pleasantly surprised and would definitely stay here again if, for instance, someone was nominated for another Grammy and invited us to come back.

View from our room

One interesting thing about this hotel that I learned after I’d booked our room was that they had a fantastic art and music program:

“Artist-in-Residence, internationally renowned artist Kelly “RISK” Graval has curated a multi-million-dollar collection that beautifully reflects L.A.’s vibrant and invigorating contemporary art scene. The extraordinary art collection on display at The Mayfair was curated by legendary artist and illustrator RISK, in collaboration with artists Shepard Fairey, Geoff Melville, Richard Mirando, and more. From his early days as a USC Fine Arts student and pioneering graffiti artist, to his celebrated gallery and museum showcases around the world, RISK has left an indelible mark on the contemporary art world and become a hometown hero of the Los Angeles art scene.” [from the Mayfair website]

The really cool thing about this is that I know RISK’s work from back when I lived in Long Beach and Los Angeles in my 20s, and in fact for a number of years there was a large 4×4 foot piece of RISK’s work hanging over my sofa in the house I shared with my then-boyfriend. Said then-boyfriend was a director and he’d done a short segment on RISK for a television show, and RISK had given him/us the colorful, spray-painted 4×4 ft piece of plexiglass he’d made during the filming of the show. I drilled holes in the corners, bolted it a few inches off a piece of painted black plywood, and hung it in our living room. Of course when we broke up, then-boyfriend kept the artwork (as he should have), but I was happy to learn RISK was still working and thriving in the Los Angeles art scene.

Artwork in the lobby by RISK (Kelly Graval)

As we checked into our room and I posted the photo below on Instagram, up came a little pop-up notice on my phone that there was a “RISK Pop-Up Print Sale: Out of the Vault” going on downstairs. Craig had invited us to go to this Grammy rehearsal with him, and we only had about 10 minutes before we needed to be in the lobby, but we hustled down to the gallery and in less than 5 minutes I found find a print I liked, purchased said print, and took it back to our room. Total score!

Lobby of the Mayfair hotel

And off we went to Grammy rehearsal!

Craig and Federico going over their music

The piece from Craig’s album that the Grammy committee wanted him to play was the most complicated piece (of course), and is actually a duet where Craig recorded both parts. Easy to do on an album, but much more difficult to perform in person — so he sought accompaniment from his student and TA at University of Miami, a talented trumpet player named Federico Montes, originally from Columbia. Federico is a wonderful trumpet player and a super nice guy, and they made a great team.

Setting up the music stands, all twelve of them, in the shape of a square

Craig and Federico getting mic’d up

Empty stage with lighting

Rehearsal went great! Craig and Federico played through the piece three times, and they were both extremely pleased with how it sounded! You can hear Craig’s original recording here, if you’re interested. We think it’s pretty cool!

Teleprompter

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Teleprompter in mostly empty theatre

On Sunday morning we arrived early for the Premiere show and hung out in Craig’s dressing room (next door to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ dressing room) until it was time to be seated. The Premiere show was great, and Craig and Federico’s performance was fantastic. What a treat to be able to experience this with him!

Audience, with Craig and Federico on the big screen as they made their way around the square of music stands, playing as they went

Craig did not win the Grammy, but having the opportunity to perform was a pretty big deal, and I doubt this will be his only nomination.

As the Grammy Premiere show was wrapping up, we were driven (via black SUV) over to the red carpet for the telecast show at Staples Center.

Waiting in line with all the other black vehicles

Attendants with mirrors checked underneath the cars for bombs (really)…

…and police officers with canine help kept a nose out for drugs.

Red carpet chaos

Craig and Federico live-streaming the red carpet

Photographers work hard to get J-Lo’s attention

Don’t let Ashanti’s dress touch the ground!

Don’t let St. Vincent’s dress touch the ground either!

The red carpet was enormously fun to get to do. Somehow (probably because we had credentials that said “Talent” on them) we were able to walk through with Craig, and it was a blast. We saw a ton of musicians and actors we recognized (Fred Armisen and Natasha Lyonne, Cardi B., a Kardashian or two, St. Vincent, Ashanti, Jennifer Lopez, etc.), and I’m sure many others we should have recognized but didn’t.

Once inside, Craig and his wife Karen went to their seats on the floor (down there by the circular stage) and we went to ours (see view from our seats, below). When you aren’t nominated for a Grammy, your seats are not quite as good, but no matter…we had a blast.

One benefit of seats up high — we could see down into both performance areas as they were preparing/building the stages for each performance! That’s the stage for Janelle Monae being set up on the right.

After the show, we wandered next door to the official Grammy after party (our tickets got us into both shows and the after party).

“Transforming the LA Convention Center into “Grammy Land,” which emulated the spirit of the classic children’s game, “Candy Land,” oversized candy displays, enchanting water features, and grandiose design elements were brought to life by a troupe of live entertainers, dancers, acrobats, and aerialists to amplify the visual projections. Equating to over three football fields in size, the official Grammy After Party encompassed more than 600 catering and service staff, 400 production team members, 60 dancers and acrobats, and four live performances as it hosted over 5,000 attended guests.” [source]

We had some food, some drinks, and socialized a bit, taking it all in, and then headed back to our hotel to change (SHOES!!!!) and then wandered down to a local bar for a nightcap and some quieter conversation. What a fun night!!

We’re back at home now and after one more business trip we’ll head back up to Airship for some more projects. We need to get the dinghy off the top deck (and decide if we want to keep the Boston Whaler or sell it and get a RIB), finalize the stern davit installation, clean out and organize some lockers, and just generally start getting ready for the summer of cruising to SE Alaska. May isn’t that far away, and we still have a lot to do!

Here are a few photos of Airship in the snow that our friend Glen sent. Sounds like they eventually had about 8 inches up there, but here in Portland, we have zero.

Our Airstream is For Sale

Laura Domela — Wed, 26 Dec 2018 20:46:35 +0000

We bought our 2010 Airstream International CCD 27FB brand new in 2010 (when we traded in our 2005 22′ Airstream International for five more feet). We’ve traveled much of the US and big chunks of Canada, and have had some incredible experiences and met some of the best people we know because of this Airstream.

Four+ years ago we bought a boat, and things changed a bit for us. The on-the-water lifestyle is one we seem to be living now, to the exclusion of many other things we still love but don’t use. In the last four years, we’ve spent over 900 nights on our boat, and we’ve used our Airstream for two weekends, a year or so apart.

Rather than keep this beautiful trailer tucked away in a cozy RV garage without sunshine and fresh air, we’d love to find it a wonderful new home with people who want to take it hiking and kayaking and exploring beautiful landscapes.

Click here for specs and more info

(Floor plan image courtesy of Airstream.)

Ten Days in Yelapa, Our Shower Iguana, and a Bigger Airship

Laura Domela — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 02:15:39 +0000

A lot has happened since I last posted (in May!) We lead the first flotilla from the San Juan Islands to Juneau, Alaska, then met our next flotilla in Port McNeill and headed down the west side of Vancouver Island, then made one full flotilla circle around Vancouver Island starting in Roche Harbor and ending in Victoria, BC. We had a blast, and we have five more flotillas planned for the summer of 2019.

Toward the end of our last flotilla (while on the outside of Vancouver Island), we learned of a Nordic Tug 42 for sale out of Sidney, BC. Photos looked good, specs sounded good, and to make a long story short, we sold smaller Airship (our Nordic Tug 34) and have now moved up to a 42! If you want more details and photos, here they are.

We sold the airplane before we left for Alaska, and we’ll be selling the Airstream any day now (2010 27’FB International CCD with a ton of upgrades — let us know if you’re interested…it’s not listed yet but will be soon). So we’re putting all our eggs into the boat basket, since it has proven to be the vessel of choice these days. We spent over 900 nights aboard Airship/34 in the four years we had her, and I know we’ll keep up the trend on the new Airship, so why not streamline?

But right now, we’re back in Yelapa, Jalisco, Mexico, enjoying the sun and sea (and tequila). Our friends Tiffani and Deke met us in Puerto Vallarta about a week ago and we water taxi’d to Yelapa where they spent a week with us (left yesterday, sad face). We’ll spend four more days before heading back to Portland and then up to the boat to help with upgrade projects that are happening now!

For Thanksgiving, we had the cooks from a local cafe (Cafe Eclipse) come to our casa and cook dinner for us: homemade guacamole and salsa, margaritas, carne asada, grilled fish, veggies, homemade tortillas, and coconut and chocolate pie from the Yelapa pie lady. It was delicious, and we even watched two humpbacks breaching out in the bay right from the dinner table. Pretty great!

Here are some photos from the past week:

Leaving Puerto Vallarta by water taxi

The view from Casa Pericos

After getting settled, we headed into town to grab dinner at one of our favorite eateries–Taqueria Los Abuelos. Tiffani and I had tacos (very good), and Kevin and Deke both ordered the special, which was a Chile Relleno con Camarones. It was extra delicious, and I wish it was on their permanent menu!

Sunset from Casa Pericos, first night in Yelapa

Path through town as it crosses the river

Local signage

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Local signage

We picked up a few things at the market for breakfasts and snacks (eggs, chorizo, stuff to make salsa, coffee, tortillas and chips), as well as a bottle of the locally made raicilla to try (which comes in this fancy bottle):

Raicilla is made from the agave plant, but is less of a mezcal or tequila, and more of a local “moonshine” specific to this area of Jalisco. Until recently, buying it here from the locals is the only way to get it, but there is now one distiller, La Venenosa, that has started to market a legal brand of raicilla. It got an interesting flavor and some definite similarities to mezcal, but it’s for sure its own thing (and there’s no way we’ll be able to really even dent this bottle we bought, so we’ll find someone to pass it on to before we leave).

Tuesday was the first of our two charter outings with Garcia Charters.

We trolled for about five minutes before we caught our first fish (a bonito). Today brought in 3 bonito, and about 30 skipjack. (We kept one skipjack that Juan Carlos made ceviche with, and threw the rest back.)

The lighthouse at the southernmost tip of Banderas Bay.

Back at Casa Pericos, we learned that we had a shower iguana (he’s still here).

The next day we thought we’d wander over to La Playa (the more touristy area of Yelapa). The moon is nearly full so the tides have been high, which means shoes off to wade across this area to the beach.

Heading to La Playa

We sat at a table and had some lunch, while this big iguana came a little too close to Tiffani’s shoes

Back at Casa Pericos, Tiffani and Deke heading out for a paddle (photo taken from our room).

We went out again with Garcia Charters on Friday after Thanksgiving: fishing first, then a stop out at Islas Marietas

Geared up and ready to swim through the sea cave/tunnel into “Playa del Amor” — a white sand beach inside a crater! Tiffani and Deke on the left, and one of our charter guides, Jonas, on the right.

This is such a cool thing to do from Yelapa (or Puerto Vallarta). Next time we may spend the first part of our charter snorkeling at the islands instead of fishing, since there’s much to see out here, but today we just had a quick swim into the crater with a great view of the local blue-footed boobies. (Two of them were positioned right at the sea cave opening, showing off their bright blue feet, just like Disney would have designed if this was a ride!) If you want to get a good overview of what this place looks like, check out this image search result.

Late morning view from Casa Pericos

On Saturday, we headed back over to La Playa and the far side of town. Deke decided that since Tiffani had never parasailed, today was going to be her day.

Making our way through town. We rarely get lost now after a few days navigating the winding cobblestone paths.

Looking down into the village/bay from the path above town

Local foliage

When we arrived at the spot to cross the river, it was WAY higher than it was the previous time, so we walked further on the path up river and crossed at the bridge.

Looking up river, taken from the bridge

The bridge across the river

Love this cool structure

Wood slat details

Kevin, Deke, and Tiffani

We arrived at La Playa and found the parasail guy, who he quickly got Tiffani ready, called the boat, and made it all happen!

Getting instructions for take off

There she is, flying over Yelapa

Coming in for a landing

Tiffani said she was super scared at the beginning, but that after she relaxed into a little bit that it was really fun and the view was amazing.

We had such a nice time with Tiffani and Deke, and we’re enjoying the last few days here just relaxing and cooking and watching the sea life from our balcony–the other day we watched a manta ray jumping out of the water over and over again just out near the rocks in front.

Flotilla-ing to Alaska Again

Laura Domela — Thu, 10 May 2018 15:48:11 +0000

It’s that time of year again, and we’re leading a flotilla of boats up the Inside Passage from the San Juan Islands to SE Alaska! We’ll be documenting this trip on our Slowboat website, so for more than just an occasional highlight reel, head over there and subscribe if you want the day-to-day reports! We’re on Day 5 (of 35!) now and it’s shaping up to be a great adventure!

Sunrise as we left Silva Bay on Gabriola Island headed across the Strait of Georgia

Sunrise on the Strait of Georgia

BC Ferry, Strait of Georgia BC

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BC Ferry, Strait of Georgia BC

Dall’s Porpoises surfing our bow

Anchored in Squirrel Cove, BC

Public dock Squirrel Cove BC

Eagles fishing between Yuculta Rapids and Gillard Pass

Airship and Safe Harbour (the Slowboat raft!) in Forward Harbour, BC

We hope you’ll join us!

Provisioning for the Summer

Laura Domela — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 22:50:09 +0000

Summer provisioning is underway in earnest. Partially filled crates clutter the dining room, and list items are being added and checked off pretty much daily.

We went up to Airship for a few days last week/weekend and managed to take up a good size load of stuff (nice not to leave it all for the final trip to the boat!). Last Friday night I gave a photography presentation at the Anacortes Yacht Club…showing some of my work, giving some tips for getting better photos from a boat, photographing wildlife, a little about camera gear, and some about drone photography. It was a great time and a fun group of people, and I very much appreciate that they invited me!

We’ll be giving a two-hour seminar on photography (from land, boats, and drones) at Trawlerfest in Bremerton on May 2 (plus two other seminars on May 1) so look us up if you’re interested! After that, we’ll be on our way to Alaska!

It rained most of the time we were in Anacortes.

A few the things on our “Take” list this year (that I might not easily find along the route): masa flour for making tortillas, Italian pearled farro (great as a one-bowl meal topped with veggies and grilled protein), and two bags of morita chiles for making this salsa. (We can’t get enough of this delicious, smoky/earthy condiment after trying it in Mexico last month, so I’ve been making my own.) I made a big batch of it at home and brought it up to Airship in this half-liter jar. This oughta last us a while, but I’ve got the supplies to make more!

Morita salsa

Morita salsa is made with chipotle morita chiles — a variety of smoked dried jalapeños. You throw a handful into a pan with some hot oil, wait a few minutes until they start to puff up. (If you leave them too long they’ll get bitter and the first batch of salsa you make will be a bust…don’t ask me how I know that.) Remove the puffed peppers (plus the rest that might not have “puffed” from the oil and soak them in hot water for 10 minutes or so. Remove them from the water, cut them open and remove most of the seeds, and then I like to hand chop the peppers. I tried them in my mini Cuisinart and they just gummed up and didn’t chop well at all. My friend Julie tried it in her Vitamix which worked great, but the intense chopping made the salsa much smoother and alas, much hotter. So far, hand chopping is my recommendation. Add oil (the stuff you used to fry them in) plus more in the jar to cover the mixture. I like to use extra virgin olive oil. The grassy flavor is a nice complement to the smoky chilies. Add salt to taste. This salsa will last quite a while and is great in tacos, on eggs, fish…well, so far it’s good on just about everything we’ve tried it on! (I get my moritas online here.)

Why is it that I can’t ever take a level photo of the inside of a cupboard??

A few weeks ago we tried a bottle of some smoked tequila that was on sale at our local liquor store, and it was surprisingly good! We’ve been on a “tequila martini” kick since we were in Yelapa last month, which means we’re gonna have to keep stocked with fresh limes…how hard is THAT going to be??

Update: I just read on the internet that you can easily freeze fresh squeezed lime juice and it lasts for months! Life-changing!

Tequila Martini (makes 2 cocktails)

4.5 oz tequila blanco
3 oz of fresh squeezed juice (half lime juice, half orange juice)
2.25 oz (or so) of Cointreau
Splash of simple syrup (we used Traeger smoked simple syrup, but plain would be fine)
Tajín for the glass rim (or a combo of salt and your favorite chili/chipotle powder if you like it a little spicy)

Note: Tajín is a seasoning mix made from ground chili peppers, salt, and dehydrated lime juice, and it’s great on the rim of a tequila cocktail. You can get it here.

Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker with crushed ice (and a chopped serrano pepper if you want a little spice). Shake well and strain into rimmed cocktail glass.

Another note: We also put some tequila in a bottle with a chopped fresh serrano for 30 minutes or so to infuse the tequila with pepper, which worked a little too well and we ended up only using 1/3 infused tequila to 2/3 regular tequila for the cocktails.

———————–

As far as other pre-made things we plan to have on Airship for the summer, here’s what’s going into the freezer so far:

Homemade bolognese sauce (maybe 10 or so meals worth, vacuum sealed into bags and frozen flat to save space)
Several packages of cauliflower pizza crusts from Cali’flour Foods. These are very thin crusts, kept frozen, and the ingredients are cauliflower, mozzarella cheese, eggs, basil, and garlic. We tested them out last night with friends and they were good!! They are a little finicky to pre-bake because they’re so thin, so I picked up a couple of these baking screens to try out next time.
Chimichurri sauce I made at home and froze…great as a condiment on grilled meats.
Several 1lb vacuum-sealed bags of chicken chorizo (good in breakfast tacos with eggs, slightly healthier than pork chorizo)
Light Flour Tortillas from La Tortilla Factory (for breakfast tacos, and taco nights with the flotilla). These are great, freeze well, and are 1/3 the calories of regular tortillas. Are you starting to sense a theme with some of the carbohydrates yet?
Several 1lb packages of grass-fed ground beef (for tacos, soups, burgers, etc.)
A few pounds of fish and some steaks

Pomi pizza sauce in cartons (for when we’re being lazy and not making our own), one of our favorite hot sauces from El Machete in Los Angeles, and some rosemary sourdough flatbread crackers for happy hours.

Notes about things still to do/make/bring:

A couple weeks ago we smoked some Cotija cheese at home on the Traeger and it turned out great. Cotija is good crumbled on salads or tacos, and we plan to smoke more and then freeze it to bring along.
Grated parmesan also freezes well. I use it to make my own caesar salad dressing, so I freeze it in small batches to grab when I need to make dressing or to use on pizzas or pastas.
I’ve been trying to come up with some healthy/creative alternatives to the “crackers, cheese, salami” happy hour appetizers to throw into the mix for happy hours. I picked up a couple of those round packages of polenta and I’m going to see about cooking some slices of that and topping them with a spoonful of sautéed wild mushrooms and garlic. I think they’d also be good topped with some bright fresh bruschetta.
It seems like this year I’ve focused more on sauces and condiments than in previous years (bolognese, chimichurri, morita salsa…) which is kinda fun since you can use condiments and sauces in such a variety of ways. Pesto is another sauce that freezes well, so I may make some of that before we leave (though it’s not hard to find in most supermarkets).
Last year I tried blanching different vegetables and then vacuum sealing them to freeze for later use. The asparagus was terrible (super watery) and the green beans were just okay. I think I won’t do this again, and I’ll just pick up a few bags of frozen organic green beans and maybe some cauliflower rice at Trader Joe’s, as well as some frozen spinach. Frozen spinach isn’t my favorite on its own, but it’s great to add to soups, an egg scramble, or on top of pizzas for a dose of leafy greens in the boonies.

We’ll let you know if we come up with any other cool ideas, and please feel free to share any of your ideas in the comments!

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).

Sunrise, Sunset, and Fishing in Yelapa

Laura Domela — Mon, 12 Mar 2018 20:15:44 +0000

Yesterday after breakfast in our casa, we walked into the village and caught the 9:30am water taxi into Puerto Vallarta. Not because we wanted to go to Puerto Vallarta…but because we needed a bit more cash. There are no ATMs in Yelapa, so if you come to visit, make sure to get enough pesos to last the entire length of your stay.

Sunrise from Casa Pericos, looking toward the village

We walked around Puerto Vallarta for an hour or so, found the hotel we’ll be staying in for two nights before we come back to Portland, got some cash, and hopped on the 11:30am water taxi back to Yelapa. We relaxed a bit in the afternoon, and Kevin took the Mavic off right from our room to get a few drone shots of our fantastic location.

The water looks SO green when the sun shines on it!

Later in the evening we wandered back into the village to have dinner at Pollo Bollo. This place is a favorite among locals and it did not disappoint. We ordered one plate of BBQ chicken, one plate of arrachera (marinated and grilled beef…can be hangar steak, flank steak…) that came with sides of arroz y frijoles y ensalada.

Sunset from our casa after dinner

We packed up our bag last night for today’s fishing excursion, and tested our alarm sounds to make sure we had the most annoying one that could be heard over the sound of the surf below. It worked!!

Sunrise in Yelapa

So early it was almost still dark!

Our charter boat (Ixa from Garcia Charters…obviously highly recommended…we’re going out with them again in the same week!)) picked us up once again on Playa Isabel and off we went to try to catch some fish! (And by fish, we mean more ceviche.)

We headed south this time, looking for red snapper, but after a few hours of trolling up and down the coast we were still empty-hooked. Luckily, it was beautiful out and we were in good company and Juan Carlos humored us and we were able to practice a LOT of Spanish while we were waiting for the fish that never materialized.

Rocky coastline

Jonas driving the boat!

We noticed a lot of bird action and splashing around a little further out than we were, so we went to check it out.

Seagills, frigates, pelicans…everyone was here!

Most of the splashing came from a ZILLION dolphins (delfínes en espanol)!

Delfínes!

Mas delfínes!

Muchos delfínes!

Kevin and Jonas were still casting lines out, and Kevin got a bite on his…whatever he had was strong! We caught a glimpse of it before it took off with a bunch of line…a Jack Crevalle (in Spanish they call this fish “Toro” — the bull). This is not a good fish to eat, but it’s a REALLY fun fish to catch. It’s a super duper fighter and makes for a great workout just getting it to the boat.

Kevin got it aboard, we took the obligatory photos, and then let it to back in to chase or be chased by dolphins.

So…no ceviche today, but we had a great time regardless. We had a wonderful boat ride down the coast, saw a ton of dolphins and even a mama and baby humpback just south of Yelapa a little way…we even saw the baby whale breach a few times…very cool! Maybe we’ll see the very same whales (las ballenas) in Alaska this summer!

Tonight we’ll probably walk into the village for dinner (because, no fish). Todo bueno.