Lena's Prognosis

We got the results back from the cytologist -- a specialized kind of pathologist -- for the fluid aspirations they took from Lena's liver and spleen. As suspected, they are not favorable. Our wonderfully attentive veterinarian said they are indicative of lymphoma, at stage IV. The prognosis is median survival time from this level of cancer is 4 weeks, although they had plenty of disclaimers around that time. The tumors have not metastized into her lungs and bones yet though.

The options are limited at this late stage. There is a palliative drug treatment that does not actually extend the lifespan but may reduce some of the symptoms, such as fatigue and anorexia. If we were more aggressive, and the dog was younger, there is the possibility of administering chemotherapy by taking the animal in for intravenous injections weekly. At her stage, and age, they think that has about a 50% chance of adding 6 months to her lifespan. We have decided not to put her through that, and will make a donation in her name instead to our local clinic.

The growths are not "comfortable", and the weariness/fatigue she is experiencing will only increase, but she is not in pain currently. Jenn and I are closely monitoring her mood and activity to determine when we add pain management drugs for the final stages.

To get her tail wagging again we grilled a big T bone for her, which she chewed on with unusual relish. Realizing our time together is limited, we are full of joy to spend time with Lena. Every hound-doggy howl, each wag of the tail, every piggy snore is a blessing.

Snout Update

Following up on Dr. Jex's referral from Vermont, we took Lena to the top notch Animal Med Center in NYC, which is happily only a few blocks from the apartment. We took our aging basset hound in yesterday for an ultrasound on her liver & spleen. The procedure was handled by an actual radiologist, not a lab tech, and they interpreted everything right away. [When I have had radiology done for myself, it is generally handled by a bored lab tech, and results don't come back for days.] The follow on was that she went in for tissue aspirations today and they are trying to figure out if she has lymphoma or something benign. Pretty amazingly we live next to one of the nations best vet centers. It is staffed 24/7/365 and has 90 vets, with all kinds of specialities (oncology, radiology, ob/gyn etc). It's not cheap, but when you compare it to the delays and indifferent care you get in the human emergency room, it's clear how much unfunded mandates have hurt healthcare.

Anyways she is home and sleeping now.

What we have been doing the last few weeks....

Let's see ... my sister had us over to her apartment for dinner, where she and a friend made some great Italian food. You can see our loyal low altitude sidekick pestering both of them for nibblings.



My sister has done a good job decluttering her apartment and it has turned into a nice compact home that gets good light. The kitchen is pretty usable in fact; it doesn't really matter how big or small your workspace is since Lena will always get underfoot.



Our dear friends Jacques & Jill had a nice pool party out in Westchester, which was blessed by perfect swimming weather and great food and wine. I took the train up there and was graciously ferried back and forth to his house by Dale and Pappa.

There were a lot of serious old wines there, including 69 Heitz C block, 89 Fleur de Gay, lots of Corton Charlemagne and Batard Montrachet and more. Gio brought a pair of Dom's to compare 95 to 96 side by side, which was cool, but probably overkill by that point.


Zamfir after coming back from the groomers, reposing on his silk pillow. Whenever new sheets get put on the bed, he quickly pounces on them. He also loves to snooze in clean laundry; but he's learned the danger of sitting in the dirty laundry basket.

Paella = Yum Yum !

J. made her family's once a year paella recipe this weekend which requires a weeks worth of advance preparation and a day and a half of cooking. It's wonderful and a one of a kind treat, although the pets don't like the invasion of crustaceans before. As you can see Lena is taking a exploratory whiff/sniff of the Maine lobsters as they clatter along the patio, trying to avoid their Appointment in Samarra, a stock pot full of boiling water. Lena wasn't very curious in their non edible stage.

This is the full blown Valencia style seafood paella - chock full of lobster, shrimp, mussels, chicken, chorizo, pancetta, and prosciutto plus olives, peppers, onions, garbanzos, and saffron. I'm sure there are other things I'm missing too. We had something called paella at a restaurant recently, although it was a pale imitiation of what this was. Something like this is just too tricky to do off a menu though.

We started with chilled Fino sherry and warm nuts, pickled eel, olives and Manchego cheese outside. Ramon and Marina had brought over an older Rioja they had picked up traveling in Spain along with an authentic crema Catalena they made themselves, which made an impressive dessert. We were lucky that it was neither too hot nor wet to use the patio for apertifs.

Ed brought over Nora and her sister as well. We had gone to school with Nora (on the right) in Massachusetts; she was actually Sara's roommate as freshman. But it was great catching up after a decade or so. We drank a lot of wine with them, and then had the dessert muscat with the flan like custard that Marina had brought over. That was stunningly dense and tasty -- much more impressive than a creme brulee. Nora still speaks very fast, like playing a record at the wrong speed on your old fashioned phonograph. Ed just nodded his head, as if he could understand, while he wondered how bad of an allergic reaction he would get from the massive overdose of shellfish.

Hot & Busy Weekend

Hi everyone. We had a pretty busy weekend. On Friday, we picked up some friends and went down to the South Street Seaport, on the tip of Manhattan where we had dinner at Salut, a South American tapas restaurant, which featured lots of little plates of food. It was hot and crowded down there, but is a good place to go with a car since there isn't much public transport and parking is usually easy to find.

On Saturday we went to Bed Bath & Beyond to pick up a bunch of household sundry items. We found one of their ubiquitous coupons which made some of the sundries free. After that we stopped at the grocery store to get some munchies to take to a party we were going to later. When we got home we stuffed some squash flowers and sauteed them; they were great but labor intensive. Then we attended a big Bach celebration and reception in the early evening which featured lots of classical music. Then we popped into Lisa's apartment for a movie party which started late. We got home at midnight at which point we were pretty tired.

This morning we had some blueberries and whipped cream for breakfast and then headed off to church, which was unusually long. We didn't finish that til 1:30 or so. Then we came home and rested while we figured out dinner. We had some fresh vegetables from Vermont still, so we made egg noodles tossed with pancetta and leeks with a side of zucchini. We finally used one of our wedding gift cards and ordered some lobster for a dinner we are having next weekend. I'm doing a few search related things now and then we're going to wind down by watching a movie.

It's been a busy, and hot weekend. But we're fine and happy. The pets love that we keep the air conditioning on for them.

4th of July

Jenn and Lisa went crazy in the kitchen making her grandmother's fried chicken recipe, along with mini apple pies, with crisp Granny Smith apples. It was way too much chicken, so plenty went into the freezer. This is something that is so messy that it isn't going to be made more than once a year!

Last Christmas we got the cats this squishy foam multi colored box, which they promptly ignored in the surplus of wrapping papers, shiny baubles, and tinsel. Come a more Spartan summer, they have started squabbling over possession of the Fortress of Solitude. Right now the fatter cat has possession, guarding the entrance from his covetous littermate.

All Jenn and Lisa's picnic fixin's were for naught as torrential rains forced us to leave the Grafton Symphony and Fireworks festival and retreat back to the deck. So we put the basket on the table and pretended we had pesky ants and rocks under the blanket.

On the 4th of July, we went into the village to see the old war graves. I rode my bike down there while Lena hitched a ride with the girls in the car. There are plenty of Revolutionary war fighters interred there, their resting places marked by flags from the DAR.

Here we are on the village green, with the cemetary behind us and our loyal yet inattentive basset in front of us. She was pretty sick when the photo was taken so was even more subdued than her typical lethargic self.

In Idaho, Ski Resort's Promise Fades (WSJ)

From Boom to Bust. Sigh. I remember mentioning this two years ago in happier times. Here's the story from today's WSJ. That link will probably work til July 15 or so, if not here's the story below.
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In Idaho, Ski Resort's Promise Fades
By JUSTIN SCHECKJuly 7, 2008; Page A3
DONNELLY, Idaho -- The real-estate downturn is taking Western locales like this tiny mountain village down a familiar path: from boom to bust.
Tamarack
Construction halted at Tamarack village in Donnelly, Idaho after financing for the ski resort dried up.
A half-century ago, timber brought prosperity that ended abruptly in the 1990s. This time, a luxury ski development called Tamarack Resort has whipsawed the town's 158 residents.
Tamarack gained headlines in 2003 when it became one of the few new ski resorts to be approved in the West in two decades. From 2004, when its lifts opened and the first homes sold, through last year, buyers committed more than $500 million for condos, houses and building sites. Fancy homes brought a rush of money, with newcomers buying land for stores and restaurants. Landlords tripled rents.
Then, last winter, building all but stopped. While Tamarack's lifts continued to run, motel occupancy plummeted. Rustica, a gift shop, closed down this year. McPaws, an animal shelter, endured a funding crisis. According to state estimates, the May 2008 unemployment rate was 6.1% in Valley County, where the town lies -- nearly double the year-earlier rate. Idaho's May statewide unemployment was an estimated 3.6%.
"This place just quit," says Gordon Cruickshank, a Valley County commissioner.
The luxury-resort boom brought windfalls to once-sleepy towns throughout the Rockies, as developers planned resorts with secluded homes and memberships to golf and ski clubs. Banks such as Credit Suisse Group, which syndicated nearly $1 billion in loans to luxury developments in the West, fueled the boom.
A resort's success was often staked to real-estate sales: As a Tamarack lender recounted in recent court filings, the resort had a business model in which "operating expenses would exceed revenue and the primary source of profit would be generated by the sale of real estate."
When the bust came, Donnelly was hit hard. It didn't have much of an economic base before Tamarack. The town, 95 miles from Boise, had thrived on lumber until federal restrictions gutted the industry in the 1990s. A succession of developers failed to build a ski resort on Donnelly's West Mountain. Valley County had one of Idaho's highest unemployment rates.
Mexican developer Alfredo Miguel Afif began planning Tamarack in the late 1990s. He brought in Jean-Pierre Boespflug, a former executive at Cisco Systems Inc., as chief executive. Mr. Boespflug helped persuade Idaho's governor to support Tamarack's development plan, which got final approval in 2003.
EARLIER

• The New American Gentry: Wealthy folks are colonizing rural areas, bringing cash, culture -- and controversy Page One, Jan. 19, 2008
Real estate in the area quickly boomed. Tennis stars Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf agreed to develop a Fairmont Hotel as part of the resort. Mr. Boespflug personally wooed prospective buyers, leading hiking tours. Construction attracted workers who spent at hotels, restaurants and bars. Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter last year declared April 27 "Alfredo Miguel Afif Day."
Things abruptly changed in June 2007, Mr. Boespflug says, when he traveled to the East Coast to meet with another investor in Tamarack's planned Fairmont Hotel. Buyers had just committed more than $100 million for an initial offering of Fairmont condos, so "we were hoping to be greeted by big cheers and a check," he says. Instead, the investor, who had already put up money for the hotel, said, "'We don't have the money,'" Mr. Boespflug says.
The investor confirmed his group has decided not to put up any more money for the hotel, but wouldn't comment in detail because of legal proceedings.
Funding shortages forced the resort to slow construction on the base village and hotel. With Tamarack in danger of missing a payment to Credit Suisse, Mr. Boespflug arranged a $118 million credit line with French bank Société Générale.
But in February, amid weakening real-estate prices squeezed by the credit crunch, the bank withdrew the line "due to market conditions," says Société Générale spokesman Jim Galvin.
Tamarack went into default on its Credit Suisse payments. Business entities owned by Messrs. Boespflug and Miguel, which hold a majority ownership stake in Tamarack, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February. Credit Suisse followed with a foreclosure suit, seeking to take over Tamarack's majority-ownership stake, according to state and federal court filings.
Donnelly's boomtown air is gone. Tamarack and its contractors have laid off many. Jerry Frank, a Boise contractor who is part of the Tamarack Club -- $60,000 a membership, at current rates -- says he closed his Tamarack office. Mike Pannell, a developer who bought the Little Firefly Cafe this spring, says breakfast business is down about 40% from last spring.
Lani Anderson, who manages the local Long Valley motel, says occupancy has fallen at least 65%. "All I'm catering to now is the weary traveler, and there's not a whole lot of them with gas prices," she says.
Locals lament the town's fleeting promise. Lorie Mauk had moved back to the Donnelly area last year for a Tamarack job, having left the area years ago. But Tamarack laid her off in February, and she says the town's job situation is back to how it was before the resort brought prosperity.
Tamarack's base village is unfinished. The area slated for a Thai restaurant is roofless. The ski shop and pub are in plastic tents.
Home sales have withered, says Judy Land, a local real-estate agent. In 2006, 1,250-square-foot Tamarack cottages sold for more than $900,000, the resort says; Ms. Land says she recently sold one for $650,000.
The resort is continuing visitor operations over the summer, with lifts running for mountain bikers, and expects to run ski operations this winter. Ms. Land expects the resort to recover. But for now, she says, the few potential buyers "want to get away from the depression, from a resort that's in trouble."

We just got the dog back from the vet

She's doing better now.

Every Day is a Gift.

Grooming day

Much to their dismay, the cats were taken in for a grooming today, bundled up in their carry all bags, bellies empty and fire in their eyes. And as an extra penalty, the pet grooming salon was flooded from some kind of leak from the floors above, so a dirty brownish water covered everything. We were all too happy to leave the caterwauling animals and go up to Fairway Market in Harlem where we stocked up on produce for the holiday week coming up. If you get there early in the morning its not such an aggravation to shop there. I got a nice slab of hake for tomorrows supper.

The photo on the left is last night's dinner -- mustard/mint lamb rib chops with red potatoes with provencal spices. It was pretty good, but cleaning up the brazier was a pain.

Drizzly Dog Weekend

This is Nikolai watching the Catsitter DVD up in Vermont. Pretty amazingly, the cats are fascinated by the gerbils, birds and chipmunks on the disc. They bat the TV with their paws and then they look behind the TV after it has been turned off trying to figure where their prey has gone.

These are the new flowering plants we got for the patio; pretty good deal for $21 total !



For dinner, I grilled a lemon stuffed 2.5 lb red snapper, Russian fingerling potatoes and some endives on the Weber last week. It worked out pretty well but that big fish only feeds about two people, with a little leftover for fussy cats.

This is Lena enjoying doggie ice cream; this brand is called FrostyPaws. It can keep her absorbed for 20 min per cup -- no brain freeze for this lady! She's back on her Piroxicam by the way, which has made a world of difference in her mobility and mood.
Our peonies have come out in bloom and you can see them in this "Before" picture of dinner. We prepared skewers of yellow/green squash, pork loin kebabs, onions, and pineapple rum boats in the back. Shish kabobs are time consuming which explains why prepared ones seem costlier than they ought to be. Anyways we like to custom cut ours and then put our own different Penzeys spices on each item, so we make this ourselves. You can not see it here but we also had some great lemon/scallion/cilantro rice to go with this.

And this is the "After" picture on the grill. The squash skewers are a little too long.

J. made a bonfire too after I dug out the firepit from a couple of seasons worth of ashes. I put the ashes into the plowscrape scars on the front lawn, so hopefully that will help them get filled in with new grass. It started getting cold and rainy, and we lost the electrical power (which happens once a year or so) so we came back earlier than usual on Sunday. Remember you can click on the pictures to look at high resolution larger versions of them.

Extra bonus - our friends Mike & Lisa just had a new baby !

And as previously mentioned - I am thinking strongly about this good deal from the Vail network of resorts. It really makes skiing/riding their system much more cost effective. They will probably be more crowded as a result, but this pass looks good. If you are interested, or end up getting one, let me know so maybe we can work our 09 group trips around that.

A trip to Curry Hill and a spice store

So this weekend we met some family friends at the Madras vegetarian chain gone global, Saravanaas, in NYC's Curry Hill neighborhood.

The food was excellent and spicy, but the service was weak --enough so that I'm not sure I would go back. They charge gratuity on the bill, which is legal in NYC if you disclose that, but I think when a venues opts for that there must be a reasonable level of service. I walked out thinking the service sucked and I don't think I'd go back. You can see the enormity of their fried bread known as poori's on the left side. The specialty of the house are the crispy rice griddle cades called dosai, also in the picture to the right

Afterwards, we went two streets up to the famed specialty spice store, Kalustyan's which stocks a massive array of spices known along with an incredible range of dried food and grains. I counted something like 30 different kinds of rice alone. They do a substantial amount of business to the restaurant trade, so their pricing for retail customers is on the high side. But its helpful to shop there just to see all the different things they have.
While we were there, we picked up a number of exotic spices that we can't easily find including florals like rosewater, jasmine, and lavender. Then in the picture to the right, you can see the big jars of goods, where we found glaceed orange rinds, apricots, and blanched almonds. Then in the powdered spice section we got some file powder, biryani blend, and Japanese dried bonito flakes. And then we also found some sour cherry juice, Peruvian hot sauces, and dried morels. It was quite the expensive shopping trip.

Indiana Jones New Movie - It was nothing special

We had a relaxing weekend in the city, taking care of household chores and seeing friends. On Saturday we started with our once a quarter visit to Costco to load up on pet food, kitty litter, and swiffers. After we came back and unloaded a car full of dry goods, we got ready to see some friends, Jesse & Susan. We met them at a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant (Ah Chiuhaha!) around the corner where we had some tacos and salsa. After that we went to see the new Indiana Jones movie that just came out. It was ok, nothing special, and certainly not as good as the prior three.

The next morning we baked cinnamon scones and then went to church, which seemed sparsely attended, and then went shopping afterwards. The city was shut down for a parade on 5th avenue so getting across town was a headache. So we walked for a while and stopped for an iced chai and jello while going home. Then we went to the Japanese market to get rice vinegar, bok choy, and various other Oriental spices. Afterwards I opened up a light Italian rose wine for dinner.

Last night for dinner Jenn made veal marsala, mashed potatoes and green beans which we ate on the patio. The patio is now covered with a dozen flowering plants which are all in various stages of bloom. They are quite thirsty though and need 3 gallons of water just about every other day; the pets like to snooze outside while we water them.

Memorial Day Weekend in Vermont

We had a nice relaxing weekend up in Vermont. It was pretty cool for late May and we still have not switched the sheets from flannel to cotton in the bedrooms. We got up there on Thursday night and worked from home on Friday. The new DSL line up there lets us work on the internet and phone at the same time which is helpful.
The lilacs (see right) are blooming and we put those all over the kitchen; you can smell them all over the house. A little spring cleaning was needed so we cleaned up the bedrooms and their closets, and gave a bunch of clothes to a local charity. After that we went to the animal feed store to get some special cat food for Zamfir who is having stomach issues. Unfortunately he did not care for this, rejecting it (as you can see in the picture) -- so we will have to find something else. Even Lena, who never rejects food, did not want to eat her kibble this weekend. Eventually when nothing else was offered, she realized thiswas the best she was going to get.
We took the Corvette up to the new green grocer in Ludlow where we purchased fresh zucchini, endives, fennel, beets, fiddleheads, and more. Jenn pressure cooked the beets for a nice pickled salad later. Then we stopped at the butcher and got some chicken and beef for the grill. We stuffed the chicken with tarragon and it grilled up perfectly after a brine bath in bay leaves, sugar, and salt. After we got home, the pets and I built a big bonfire to be lit at nighttime. The wood was quite dry and this was probablythe largest and easiest bonfire I've ever lit. It took one match to light the whole thing with no extra work. Once it had settled down to glowing embers we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores, celebrating the weekend we got engaged, two years ago on Memorial Day Weekend at Matt & Rebecca's wedding.


On Sunday we took the Corvette across the mountains to Manchester where we looked for cotton sheets at the outlet store of Garnet Hill. We ended up getting Lena some new pillow cases for her cushions, but didn't find exactly what we wanted. Although we did not come home empty handed Jenn got a new dress and I got a new pair of US Ski Team sunglasses at a sale nearby. After all that, we stopped at a Friendly's ice cream where the dog got a sticky bowl of vanilla ice cream to cool her down. It was a nice weekend -- here are some pictures.(The odd looking 'fan' potato is a Hasselback potato. A whole potoato is cut partially into slices but still connected and stuffed with shallots, then rubbed with oil, wrapped in foil and put on the grill. When it comes out it's topped with breadcrumbs and spices -- very tasty and a recipe from a hotel in Stockholm.Labor intensive but nice for a special baked tater treat!)

Just back from Hong Kong & California

It's been a long ten days, having just gotten back from Hong Kong and San Francisco.


HK was very exciting and I hope to get back there soon. Until I have time to post more, here are few pictures from the trip.


It was like a weird blend of Chinatown, Las Vegas, San Francisco and skyscrapers.

Chinese building ski resorts

Could this be the ultimate bubble - ski real estate and China in one investment meme?

Depending on the quality of the snow, this could be like getting in to Vail in the 70's or Aspen in the 60's. I have also heard exceptional things about the quality of Japan's snow, although the resorts are not so world class in amenities.

Two Bits about Okemo, and the rest of our weekend

Some of you may have heard that Okemo was hit by a credit card fraud scheme, so if you used your card there recently, keep an eye on your charges/activity. It is vexatious to get things removed if they are false. And on a brighter note, Okemo had a fantastic season as far as attendance and sales went, the best they've had in a half dozen years. Despite the high prices and (sometimes) crowds, it is better to have a healthy profitable local ski area than a bankrupt one. Just look at property prices around Magic Mountain or Suicide Six if you still convincing on that point.

In other news, we went to the Indian enclave of Edison, NJ over the weekend to do some shopping for a family friend's upcoming wedding. The girls found a large number of shops purveying the latest in high fashion and garish colors. But most importantly they found Asok, the tailor who works in a mirrored dressing room, who will be able to make their modifications in time for the big ceremony.

While they were wrangling with the sari proprietors, I wandered around the area exploring various niche retailers. I was able to find a good Indian grocery there and stocked up on all kinds of obscure spices, chili's, and flours. We also picked up some of the tropical fruit juices that are handy to have around. (And along the way, I discovered that the ancient and honorable custom of bargaining was banned in Edison, NJ.)

While we were there, we made time to have an excellent lunch at Mughul restaurant, which is buried in the back of a mall, quite far set back from the main road. This is a picture of just a few of the dishes they had. It's more upscale than the Jackson Diner, and slightly better, although it has more eclectic dishes than one would expect. The dishes in the photo from front to back are - goat curry, tandoori chicken and vegetable pilaf.

It was a good jaunt, made even better by J. preparing the spicy southern Indian polenta like dish -- upma -- the next day from my mom's recipe with the ingredients purchased on the excursion.

The final ski day of the season

Today was the last ski day of the year for me, courtesy of Okemo's free day for FlexCard holders. It was warm, slushy and sparsely attended but I still got a couple of pleasant hours in.

I doubt the temperature was below freezing last night, because the snow felt like a slurpee, without the sticky red syrup. In conditions like that you have to lean back a little bit more than usual, because if you hit soft patches your skis suddenly start going slower and you will lose your balance if your center of gravity is too far forward.

It's unnerving to ski like that because you have less control and causes your skis to slide around. Still it was a fun day, although I would not have spent the $50 or so I saw some others laying out for the privilege.

It is difficult to do much spring skiing once it stops freezing overnight. That freeze / thaw cycle is needed so that the ice clusters can recrystallize which makes for hard/fast conditions in the morning but nice soft "corn" a little before noon.

Superb skiing at Okemo on March 30

We had a late March snow squall and, in exchange for the driveway being impassable, got some great late season skiing at Okemo on the last weekend of the month. J. and I got accidentally separated but we still got in a good amount of vertical. I don't think I've ever skied more vertical feet in a shorter period of a time - I hit the Northstar lift 7 times in about an hour and half. This meant skiing fast, no stopping at all, and going quickly through the singles line. It was almost like skiing in the Rockies - fresh soft new snow, bright clear blue skies, and warm temperatures in the 30's. And because of the late season, no crowds at all. There was a big difference in the feel of the snow underfoot between the southern oriented runs and northern/shady runs. I stayed on the right sides of the trails which tended to be drier.

It was great skiing, perhaps the last of the season for us. Much different than a few years ago.

Sunny Skiing in California

We just got back from a trip to California where we visited family, and squeezed in a few days skiing at Northstar, a forested bowl on the North Lake. To the left is the mid mountain lodge, which had a handy taco shack for quick lunches. A trio of 3 lifts fan out from this area.

This is J. after finishing a nice run on the sunny side of the bowl. Northstar is well protected from the wind, and this pocket is particularly sunny. That can mean the snow gets soft by the end of the day, making the skiing slow, but it was very easy to turn on.

Here is a picture from the top of the mountain facing down the sunnier West ridge. There is a particularly good long classic intermediate trail here from the top of the mountain, winding first on the top of the ridge all the way down to a notch in the side, where it broadens out to a tree lined gully back to the main lift areas. At the very top, when you first start, you can catch a glimpse of the vast alpine Lake Tahoe.

The next day I went to ski the backside, which was steeper and had longer runs. I thought the snow was harder on this side, although the runs were more challenging than I remembered from the last time here, although that was in better mid-winter conditions. For Tahoe, there is a lot of vertical to do in one lift here, 1800 vertical feet, without any crosswalks to interrupt it.

While we were visiting family in LA, J's parents threw us a nice cocktail party, where (among other things) J. made a baked brie en croute, with slices of crisp apples and pears to dig the gooey cheese out. (You can kind see the cheese oozing out of as it lost its form over time) Like most parties, there was tons of leftover food that was sent home with family friends, Justin and Randall.

We also had lunch by the seashore, in Newport Beach, where I had yet more of that particularly Californian invention, fish tacos. It's a scenic drive to there, worth the trouble. I can see why its a popular place for vacationers and residents.

After wanting to visit for many years, the stars and schedules finally lined up to view the Ronald Reagan Presidential library in Simi Valley. It's an unusually beautiful hilly site, with surrounding views for perhaps 50 miles. On the clear sunny day we spent there it was remarkable in its serenity and --although we did not bring one -- a perfect spot for a picnic. The museum takes 2-3 hours to explore and covers the various stages of Ron and Nancy's life well, although Jane Wyman (Reagan's first wife) seemed conspicuous by her ommission.

Upon our return to Sacramento, my mother gathered a large group of friends and hosted a lovely brunch at a local Punjabi restaurant where we had a buffet, followed by a splash of young Coutet. It was great seeing local friends again, especially those who had not been able to join us in New York last year. The food was good, but nothing to make us forget our fiery hot and greasy Jackson Heights Diner in Queens.