They Declared a Pandemic on my Birthday

I had a major milestone birthday on March 11th.  We got to go out and celebrate.  But it was also the day that the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a worldwide pandemic. 

I’ve been meaning to blog about my birthday for a long time now (2 months).  But things have been SO different since then that it’s hard to even go back to when it was kind of normal.  Things like eating out and going to an art supply store.  But here it is, for memory’s sake! 

Todd took the day off work to celebrate with me.  It was also the day that his company declared that everyone should work from home from that day on, until May 1st.  They’ve since extended WFH indefinitely.  The day began with Todd showering me with gifts. 

I got an Apple Pencil, a tracing board with lighting, and a Baby Yoda sketch book.  Great gifts!  I had been into drawing already so these were prescient gifts for quarantine, it turns out.

I wore my “Fifty Years Young” Baby Yoda shirt that I bought from Disney Store online.  We were supposed to spend a few days at Disneyland for my birthday.  I was looking forward to all the new Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge rides and attractions.  But the pandemic changed all that.  Disneyland was closed, and I didn’t get to go.  But I still had my shirt!

We had my birthday lunch at Bencotto in Little Italy.  They had already instituted social distancing, so the seating was spread out and only at around 50% capacity max. 

I had squid ink gnocchi with shrimp and it was delicious!

Todd had gnocchi with spicy marinara sauce and sausage.  He really enjoyed it.

After lunch, we walked down the street to Blick Arts so I could peruse art supplies.  I purchased a few pens in their loose pen section.  Some of my favorite types of pens, where I didn’t have the colors yet.  Then we walked over to Extraordinary Desserts, where we seem to celebrate our birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  We got my favorite cake there, Truffe Framboise, and took it home to share later that day.

In the evening, we went to the movie theater and saw “Onward”, the new Pixar movie.  It was great!  It was right before movie theaters shut down, but after people pretty much stopped going to movies.  So there was hardly anyone there and we were naturally socially-distanced.  I really enjoyed the movie.

It was a wonderful birthday! 

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Fall Trip | Vancouver Day 4 Gastronomic Gastown Tour

Continuing on our trip report to Vancouver… On Sunday 10/6 after we went to Stanley Park in the morning, we went on the Gastronomic Gastown Tour from 3-6 PM.  We booked the tour ahead of time, because we wanted to experience a foodie tour while in Vancouver, and this one is an official Canadian Signature Experience! 

We took the bus from near our hotel into Gastown to meet up at the Gassy Jack Statue on Carrall Street.  It was raining slightly but our spirits weren’t dampened by a little rain!  There were four other people in our tour group for a total of six.

We walked around the Gastown neighborhood and checked out the Woodward’s Building.

Our first stop was at Meat & Bread, Vancouver’s top sandwich place. 

Our tour guide Jesse led us into the restaurant.  They had a table prepared for us and we sat down. 

For this tour, there was the non-alcohol version and alcohol pairing version.  We thought that meant we didn’t get any drinks, but that wasn’t the case!  Each restaurant actually prepared non-alcoholic mocktails for us!  At Meat & Bread, we got a lemon inspired mocktail and a crispy porchetta sandwich. 

And boy was it good!  I could have eaten more of it if it weren’t for three more stops at other restaurants!  The pork was tender and crispy and the salsa verde and bread were top-notch.

We walked around and checked out more buildings in Gastown.

We walked to our next stop, La Mezcaleria, a Mexican restaurant.  Being from San Diego, we came to this experience skeptical of having good Mexican food in Vancouver.  But they proved us wrong!

At La Mezcaleria, they had a table ready for us.  We had a choice of three types of tacos:  beef, fish, and pork.  I chose the beef taco and it was actually really good.  Todd had the fish taco but I didn’t get a good photo of it.  Our non-alcohol drink pairing was Horchata de Coco, which was an iced cinnamon and coconut milk horchata.  It was the most delicious horchata I’ve ever had!  They also served us house-made chips and salsa.

Our next stop was Tuc Craft Kitchen, a Canadian comfort food farm-to-table restaurant.

The interiors were nicely designed and decorated.

We had tempura bacon scotch egg, pork belly crackling, and crispy parsnip fries (not pictured).  Everything was quite good, but I got to eat Todd’s egg because he doesn’t like eggs.

Our last stop was Wildebeest for dessert. 

I can’t recall what our non-alcohol drink pairing was.  It was sour & bitter with lemon taste in it.  For dessert, we had the Silky Creme Brulee with Currant Flower Gel, containing locally harvested honey and currants.  It was delicious!

The three hour progressive dining tour was very fun and one of the highlights of our trip to Vancouver.  Our tour ended at the Gastown Steam Clock, where we watched with the crowd as it turned 6pm and steam and music emitted from the clock.

There was a David’s Tea right there on the corner of the street, so we stopped in to buy some tea.  We had ordered David’s Tea in the US a few years back and enjoyed the teas a lot.  They have stores in California but none are near San Diego.  We bought two types of tea to take home.

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Nashville Trip | The Eats

In July we went to Nashville, TN for the 3-day Con of Thrones convention.  It is the biggest Game of Thrones convention, and it encompassed both the TV show and George R. R. Martin’s “Song of Ice And Fire” book series.  Nashville was the first of our six trips this year, celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.  Today’s post will be all about the places we ate at in Nashville.  There will be two other posts about the convention itself:  programming and cosplay.

We flew into Nashville on Thursday 7/11, arriving at night.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express by the airport for convenience, because our return flight was at 6am and we wanted to make it as painless as possible.  The drive from the hotel to the Music City Center (convention center) downtown was only about 10 minutes.  After checking into the hotel, we looked on Yelp and decided to eat dinner at Mission BBQ at Opry Mills.  We arrived around 8:30 PM local time and the restaurant closed at 9PM.  But the lady at the counter was super nice.  She even called me “honey”, ha ha.  She gave good food suggestions too.  This is probably a stereotype but when we travel to the South or Midwest, I feel like people are much nicer in public than here in CA. 

We shared a Meat Market Sampler with three meats, a side of mac n cheese, corn bread, and a banana pudding dessert.  We chose brisket, pulled pork, and sausage for the three meats.

It was quite yummy.  The portion was meant for only one person, I think.  But it was enough food for us.  After all, there was more noms the next day!  :)

Friday 7/12 was the first day of Con of Thrones convention.  We ate breakfast at the hotel, and had decent Tex Mex food at the convention center food cart for lunch.  There’s convention panels and programming the whole day, including lunch time, so we didn’t leave the convention center for lunch all three days.  Twice we had this Tex Mex taco salad, and then once we had pizza.  They were both pretty good for convention center food.

Music City Center was really architecturally beautiful.  The outside resembles a guitar.  We enjoyed the facilities a lot.  There was room for all the panel discussions and main stage, and plenty of bathrooms too. 

Friday evening we walked over to Broadway, which is the craziest party street with bars and the biggest live music scene.  It is similar to Austin’s Sixth Street. 

We had no idea that Nashville was a big bachelorette party destination.  We saw tons of flat-bed trucks full of women just cruising up and down Broadway.  You could hear loud live music as you walk past bar doors.

We ended up at The Stillery, which had live music but not country music.  We saw two musical acts and they were both very good.  One was a solo artist and one was a band.

One of Todd’s ex-bandmates from The Northstar Session, Matt Szlachetka, now lives in Nashville.  (The one on the right.  Photo from their performance at the 2005 San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon.)

At The Stillery, we got the brussels sprouts appetizer.  It wasn’t as tasty as we had at other restaurants.

I got the strawberry gargonzola salad.  It was pretty good.

Todd decided to get the hot chicken tenders, which is a thing to get in Nashville.  He liked it.

We were there for a couple of hours eating and listening to music.  After dinner, we walked by Savannah’s Candy Kitchen and had to check it out.

On Saturday (7/13) night, we had dinner at an upscale restaurant by our hotel called Darfons.  The food there was actually really good, but we forgot to take photos.  Oopsies!  The only thing I have a photo of is the bread pudding dessert!  Todd got some sort of roasted vegetables plate and I had a salad with chicken. 

On Sunday night (7/14), our last night in Nashville, we decided to visit a famous BBQ place by the convention center called “Martin’s BBQ Joint”.  There was a line out the door.  Luckily, it moved pretty fast.  We got inside in about 15-20 minutes.  Once inside, you order at the counter.

Then you sit down and they bring the food to you when ready.  I got ribs with broccoli and mac n cheese sides.

Todd got beef brisket with fries and green beans.

The food was good and we enjoyed it!  I guess when in Nashville, have BBQ or hot chicken!  That’s it for our culinary adventures in Nashville.  Stay tuned for more Con of Thrones posts!

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