Text 5321, 111 rader
Skriven 2006-09-08 22:33:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: last day in CA 189
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Main courses:
My chicken livers (asked for rare) came in a garlicked brown
sauce with lots of mushrooms. They were just done, very pink
inside, quite good. The sauce, although heavy, went well with
rice. Mark had a great-looking filet; it was tender, pink
to the core, and quite tasty, having been smoked in a
similar fashion as Trader Vic's's, only it was better. The
ladies both ordered calamari "steak" in butter-wine sauce
with mushrooms - a very tender (artificially?) slab of
snow-white protein, lightly battered and fried, and then
gooed up with a pretty nice sauce, which did good things for
the flavor and bad things for the texture. Each of them
managed to eat only half of their dinner, and the point was
made by the gentlemen splitting the tab that they would have
done well to share one order. The vegetable of the day for
everyone was boiled Brussels sprouts done in such a way that
they were mushy outside and raw inside. We each tried a
maximum of one before giving up on them. A side order of
creamed spinach for the table, on the other hand, was very
palatable and excessive in size - too much for us to eat,
even though we'd rejected the Brussels sprouts.

For wines: Bolla Pinot Grigio (I didn't even know they made
one) was as expected, nothing special; then the Rodney
Strong Knotty Vines Zin 03 came: this went quite well with
the livers and the beef but didn't destroy the calamari.
It was a classic brambly, plummy, ripe Zin, with a touch of
racy pineapple-mango and pepper; it showed better with food
than it had on the various tastings I've had at the winery.
I noticed that Mark wasn't drinking his wine: I asked him
if he found something wrong with it? No; it turned out that
the lack of sleep and the plethora of booze (there was this
cruise, apparently, and then first class on United) were
taking their toll. And could it be ... us?

After all that food (two big takeaway boxes were filled
with leftovers) we were too full for dessert (though there
was a nectarine shortcake calling Carol's name, to no avail)
or even coffee.

I hope our friends got home in one piece, as they were _very_
tired after their 4 am rousal for their flights.

Carol wanted to drive down El Camino Real back to the hotel;
this took only a few minutes longer than the freeway.

After which we finished up the bottle of Pinot Grigio in
the room. Dinah's is very civilized: in addition to offering
beer and wine in the minibar, it also provides a churchkey
and a corkscrew for those who wish to drink better.
=

We got up a little late so didn't have breakfast at the
hotel restaurant - instead we checked out at 10 and went
down El Camino Real in search of an In-n-Out burger, of
which we found one in Mountain View at 10:05 and then one
in Sunnyvale at 10:10, still too early. Decided to browse
the nearby Long's drugstore (Carol has fond memories of
the Long's stores on Oahu, which were crampacked with good
stuff) and found various interesting cosmetic items at
decent prices, California wines at terrible prices, very
cheap Australian wines, inexpensive top-shelf liquors, and
horribly overpriced vitamins. That took us to opening time.

Carol had a double-double, animal style, animal style fries,
extra crispy, and a vanilla-Diet Coke float. Translation:
two 2-oz burgers and two slices of cheese, cooked in mustard
sauce, with grilled onions and Russian dressing and lettuce
on a bun; well-done fries with cheese and Russian dressing.

I had a 2 x meat with grilled onions and a 1 x meat
animal style protein style, water to drink. Translation:
two burgers with grilled onions and dressing and lettuce
on a bun; one burger cooked in mustard sauce with grilled
onions and dressing folded into a large lettuce leaf.

This is a chain that we'd be comfortable returning to,
despite the burgers' being not that different from
Five Guys (which rubbed me the wrong way).

Then on to rental car return and the airport. We got there
about 90 minutes ahead.

There's an observation deck at Norman Mineta International
(what's this with naming facilities for dubious politicians
who aren't even dead yet?) that I'd not noticed before: rusty
stairs lead to a maybe 10 x 20 platform from which you can
see a runway and a Delta gate.

And on to Martini Monkey, which was irresistible if only
because of the name. It's a pleasantly atmospheric little
bar with a big mural of tropical sensuality on the opposite
wall. Carol ordered a Beefeater Gibson, which was properly
done, and I a draft Sierra Nevada. We'll draw a discreet
veil over the bill. We asked the bartender how long she
thought security would take. She pondered a moment and
said "5 to 7 minutes." I thought that a bit optimistic and
perhaps an attempt to sell another round, so we took off
about 20 minutes before scheduled boarding. Security took
about 7 minutes, most of which Carol spent chatting with
another satisfied Averatec laptop owner. The procedure
itself was very quick, and as we were still a tad early
we sat around a while - parked ourselves next to some TSA
people on their break, and Carol started giving me a hard
time about my having forgot to discard my toothpaste. I
pulled out the tube and smeared some on my toothbrush and
went into the rest room. Nobody went in to arrest me.

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