photo geek holidays

When words escape take a picture. It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe so.


Hyatt Regency San Francisco holiday decorations.


Christmas Eve lunch buffet provided by generous employer

After Christmas lunch at California Grill in Novato. Smoked brisket with garlic mashers and slaw for me. Chinese Chicken salad for my lady.

Happy Holidaze!

This time of year time seems fly by and fills all my hours. We have been having a great time but did not take the time to put it into words. About ten days ago we used some of the wife's hotel points and did a run away weekend to the Marriott Courtyard in San Francisco. We love this south of market hotel because it has an indoor pool and hot tub in addition to all the other amenities. To make it even more fun the hotel decided to upgraded us to a king with a hot tub in our very own room! I would include the normal pictures to go with the blog but the wife insisted on a no photo zone. We hit the tub and swam and had a jolly good time. We broke the normal frugal dining rule and had meals in the hotel. They have a limited cafe menu for dinner. Splitting a Caesar salad and a pizza kept the bill on the low but provided lots of food. The breakfast buffet was outstanding but topped twenty dollars per person.

Last weekend we kept to the old homestead to prepare for the holidays. I made a pot of Rancho Gordo Pinto beans, butternut squash soup and chili for later use. Years ago we used Carroll Shelby's chili mix and I had not seen it on the shelves in a while. It is really just a spice mix that you could create yourself but is convenient and makes a darn good bowl of chili. Happy holidays to all.


Butternut squash soup garnished with leftover french onion dip

Work that B Day

I used my B day to justify another run away weekend. I searched the Internet and found a reasonably priced hotel near the University of California Davis. The downtown area is a laid back college enclave with lots of youthful energy.There are many bars and restaurants and spectacular people watching. It is also the location of my first attempt at blogging in 2005. We stayed at the Hallmark Inn, which has been remodeled and looks spectacular. The rate includes breakfast and cocktails in the evening so that keeps the need to feed oneself to a minimum.

If we had wanted to ride the Amtrak like our trip to Old Town Sacramento the station is a block away.We drove and took advantage of the free parking. Saturday morning farmers' market was busy and we purchased a Muscat De Provence squash for future soup making. At lunch time we were drawn to a mural advertising Uncle Vito's slice N.Y. pizza. They sell slices that are meal sized and are thin crust New York foldable. It was one of the best pizzas we've had in a long time. I did have a little entree envy when I eyed the garlic fries and hot wings at the table next to us.We can try those on another weekend


pepperoni and go Aggie's combo

There are plenty of things to do in town and we found Davis Wiki to be a great resource. After a long walk and nap we enjoyed the free cocktails and bar mix. The hotel was seemingly empty and we received lots of personal attention from the staff, a nice amenity. We hoofed it across the street and enjoyed dinner at Pluto's. Lots of good food cheap. Can we do this every weekend?