The Silent "I"

World Cup: Where to Watch in Palo Alto/Stanford (San Francisco Peninsula)

My hometown of Palo Alto, California is a melting pot of cultures, and as international community as you are likely to find anywhere in the world.  Home to Stanford University, Palo Alto is an upscale mecca for students, entrepreneurs, and regular folks alike.  When the World Cup takes center stage every four years, Palo Altans and our neighbors from around the world gather to celebrate our national allegiances, and commiserate our losses to soccer powerhouses like Germany, Brazil and...Ghana?

This time around, I was determined to find a way to celebrate the event with other people, so I investigated where there were gatherings to watch the games being held in South Africa.  Although the HD TV in my house is just fine for viewing, it's more fun to watch with a group.

Here are some of the places I've watched these past few weeks, in case you're looking to watch the elimination games in Palo Alto or Stanford:

Pasta? Palo Alto: Pasta? as the name suggests is an Italian Restaurant in downtown Palo Alto on University Avenue.  The food is good, but the mood was somewhat subdued on the day I dragged my co-workers out for lunch to see the game. It was not nearly as exciting as some of the other venues, because I think the crowd was a mixture of soccer fans and people who just wandered in for lunch.  Pasta? is located at 326 University Avenue, Palo Alto, and is normally open from 10 am - 10 pm. 

Tresidder Student Union & Coffee House (CoHo): The Stanford Coffee House or CoHo as it's known on campus has two large HD TVs set up for game-viewing.  The day I was there, a group of Dutch students were lined up in front of one of the TVs like big orange birds on a wire wearing soccer ball hats, cheering on their team.  CoHo has not only coffee drinks, but also a great selection of salads and sandwiches.  It gets crowded at lunch time, so plan those 11:30 am games ahead of time.  I was also told that there are TVs set up in the lounges in Tresidder for viewing, but I didn't see where these were located.  CoHo is located at 459 Lagunita in the Tresidder Student Union, and is open 7 am - midnight weekdays and 9 am - midnight on weekends.

Chugach National Forest: Ice, Ice, Baby

 On our final day in Alaska, we had the opportunity to take the 26 Glaciers Cruise out of Whittier.  This was a special excursion for the people attending Frank's EIPBN Conference, and there were some special buses chartered for the attendees to drive them down to Whittier.  We opted for the van, so for the second day in a row, we headed down to Whittier from Anchorage.  This time, there was a line of traffic waiting to go through the Whittier Tunnel, so the experience was quite different than being the sole car through the day, as we were on our fishing trip.

It was pouring rain in Whittier, and it didn't look good for our glacier viewing extravaganza. Nonetheless, we boarded the double-decker catamaran Klondike Express with high hopes of seeing some cool glaciers in action on our trip.  Since Frank was in charge of booking the tour, he scored the best seats in the house on the top floor in the front of the boat for our various family members. 

Hotel Review: Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa

 

While I was attending the Disney World of Color event last week, I had the opportunity to stay at the Disney Grand Californian Hotel and Spa.  Disney paid for my accommodations, and I was thrilled to have a chance to check out the hotel.  I was assigned to a small suite with a park view.  The desk clerk warned me that it might seem kind of odd for a single guest to have a set of bunkbeds in her room, but this was considered an upgrade, so I didn't object.

The hotel reminded me of the Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone, a kind of throwback to the 1940's lodge experience.  I loved the details in the decor, from the Arts & Crafts style lantern lamps to the wood silhouettes in the headboard.  With a fastidious attention to detail, the Grand Californian seems to be a little slice of a bygone era, with all the conveniences of the 21st Century.

Restaurant Review: Piperade in San Francisco

I have been dying to try Chef Gerald Hirigoyen's Piperade Restaurant in San Franciso since hearing him speak at the Cooking for Solutions event in Monterey. I tried the Garlic Soup with bacon, egg and shrimp as the first course. The soup was tangy, but not overpowering with garlic flavor.  I would never have thought of putting shrimp, bacon, eggs and bread together in a soup.  It was like a sophisticated omelet soup. 

For the main course, I had a perfectly grilled halibut steak topped with crispy garlic and a spicy pepper on top.  The dish was flavorful, and the fish was buttery and delicious.  Frank had a tender duck that melted in your mouth.

I didn't know much about Basque cuisine going into the restaurant, but our friendly, cheerful Basque waitress was more than happy to explain things to us and make recommendations.  She recommended the Gateaux Basque for desert, a dense cake with a layer of cream and a compote of sherry-infused cherries.  I had a custardy mousse made of almonds, pistachios, and cream with sweet, crispy almonds on top that the waitress explained was a result of the Arab influence and history in Spain.  Wherever they came from, both were the perfect note to end the perfect meal.

I can't wait to go back to Piperade to find out what else Chef Hirigoyen has up his sleeve.  I bought a copy of his book, Pintxos: Small Plates in the Basque Tradition at the Monterey event, and now that I have some reference to what it's supposed to taste like, I might have to try a few things.

I saw one older child in the restaurant of about 11 or 12, but I would not recommend this for kids. I don't think that kids would be unwelcome, I just don't think that you or the kids would be comfortable.  Our son was not with us, so I don't know if they have a child-friendly menu, but the flavors are probably a little too powerful for small fry. This is a great place for a date night or a special celebration with friends.

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Disney World of Color Slideshow

"Disney's World of Color Premiere"

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I created this slideshow on Picnik.com of all the pictures I took on the Disney World of Color Blue Carpet and at the event. Some I've posted before, and some are new. Enjoy!

Disney's World of Color Blue Carpet: Or, In Which I Officially Join the Celebrity Snarkerazzi

Part of the Disney World of Color Premiere night was a chance for the mombloggers to line up with the other papparazzi members of the legitimate media to take pictures and chat with celebrities on the red carpet. Only this carpet was blue, because this is Disney and water is blue. Get it?

Anyway, I've never been to a red or blue or rainbow-colored carpet event before, and it was pretty exciting.  I've seen or met a few celebrities in my day, mostly at airports or stalking them in back alleys after the theatre.  This was more like seeing them in their natural habitat, swimming frantically upstream to spawn or make it into the next issue of Us Magazine, or whatever payoff comes from walking down a blue carpet with people screaming at you and being forced to smile into various digital devices while total strangers gawk at you.

 

Of all the various TV and movie personalities who came sauntering down the field of blue, Teri Hatcher was probably the most accommodating.  She was a total doll and spent quite a bit of time with the moms, taking questions, posing for pictures, and just looking gorgeous in a green dress.  She even took a few arms-length photos of herself and fans, which was probably way beyond what was required of her. She has a new website called Get Hatched on Disney Family that she was promoting, and someone very likely astutely pointed out to her that mombloggers were both her target audience and likely her biggest allies. Well played, Teri, well played.

Disney's World of Color Premiere: Lights! Cameras!...Water!

I had the great privilege of being invited to Disney's World of Color premiere at Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim, California on Thursday, June 10.  Disney sponsored myself and other family travel and mombloggers to be part of the media contingent who were allowed in for the opening night festivities.  Along with viewing the show, we also got to hang out on the red blue carpet with celebrities, meet Disney executives and Imagineers, and hear about what's next for the Disney Parks, Resorts, and Cruises.  It was a hectic but fun two day adventure, and I was honored to take part in it.

The show itself is a visual and auditory extravaganza, a stunning display of animation, waterworks, fireworks, and lights.  I had seen preview clips of the show, but none of them did justice to what we witnessed.  The show was introduced by none other than the Mouse Himself, and a series of spectacular fireworks.

Whittier, Alaska: Fishing with Grandpa, Just for the Halibut

 
One of the highlights of our recent trip to Alaska was going fishing with my dad and son in Prince William Sound.  We chartered a boat through Bread n Butter Charters in Whittier, Alaska, based on a recommendation from an avid fisherman who lives next door to my friend, Susanne, in Anchorage.  He told Susanne that Bread n Butter would not disappoint us, and he was right. 

We got up at 3:45 am to drive down to Whittier so we wouldn't miss our 7 am launch.  Fortunately, it was light outside, so it didn't seem as early as it actually was.  When my dad says we're leaving at 4:15, by golly, we are leaving at 4:15.  We ended up driving Apollo 14 Astronaut Edgar Mitchell to the airport on our way out.  Dr. Mitchell was a featured speaker at the conference, and asked if he could hitch a ride, so we obliged.  He is a lovely man, and it's not every day you get to hang out with a true American hero. Dr. Mitchell, my dad, Alex, Ralph, and I all bundled into the car at exactly 4:15 am and set out.

The reason for the early rise was that we had to catch the Whittier Tunnel opening by 6:30 am, or we might miss the boat.  The Whittier tunnel is a one lane tunnel through the mountains that is used by cars and the train.  You have to time your trips to and from Whittier to coincide with the tunnel's schedule, or be off by an hour. We made it to the tunnel at 5:45, and were the last car through before they opened for traffic going back the other way. 

The tunnel was carved out by the Army, to connect their former secret military installation there to the main road for supplies.  We heard that they managed to blast out the two and a half mile tunnel in 6 months, with two crews working on each side, meeting up within 6 inches of each other in the middle.  The crudely carved-out tunnel looked like John Henry himself had just used his pick axe all the way through it.  It was kind of dark and creepy inside, and we were the only cars passing through at 5:30 am.

Bread n Butter Charters is owned and operated by Mary & Jim Norris.  Jim is the captain of the boat, and Mary does the bookings.  We got to the Charter office at the marina before they opened, but there was already another group waiting.  They were going on a different boat.  Mary came to open the office, and sold us our fishing licenses and took our payments for the trip.  The trip was pricey ($280/per person), but we were going out with an expert guide and would be out all day long.  I figured that I probably wouldn't have the chance to fish in Alaska with my dad again, so it was well worth it.

Alaska Native Heritage Center: A Walk in the Woods

We had the opportunity to attend a banquet at the Alaska Native Heritage Center while we were in Alaska, as part of Frank's EIPBN Conference.  It is a very special place, with living exhibits of Native life in each of the five cultural groupings that are indigenous to Alaska.  There are actually eleven distinct groups, but the Native Heritage Center has them grouped into five, based on linguistic similarities and geographic location.  Within the five groups, there are many distinct languages and cultures.

At the Center, the main building housing exhibits is situated on a lovely, small lake.  You take a path around the lake to see examples of different types of dwellings used by the five distinct groups of indigenous people represented in Alaska.  I didn't get to see the exhibits, but I did take a walk around the lake to see the dwellings.

I think I went the wrong direction, because I arrived late and went left to go clockwise around the lake.  The rest of the tour groups were going counter-clockwise.  I'm not sure it mattered that much.  The first building I came to was a gorgeous Eyak Log House with a totem pole next to it.  The Eyak people live in the southern part of Alaska.

Disney World of Color Premiere #disneyWOC

This was the view of Paradise Pier after last night's premiere of the. fabulous World of Color show. I was invited along with a number of other bloggers to cover it. More to come...

Posted via email from glennia's posterous