So I've been thinking about this lately and figured it'd be some good blog content. (sorry for the slight detour from the hill country trip, it's been a busy week)
In any case, I have a few friends whom I am absolutely one of their biggest cheerleaders/supporters. I mean, if they've got an idea for something they want to do, or build, or pretty much any pie in the sky dream, I am 100% in support of it. I'm not being facetious or have some alterior motive at all either, I truly believe these people can do whatever it is that they put their hearts and minds to. Heck, if they wanted to rope the moon and bring it down to the ground, I'd believe they could do it and support them.
But it's not like that with me for everyone. I started thinking about that in these last couple of days. Why? Why am I not fully supportive of all my friends' wishes and dreams, small daily tasks and accomplishments, hell, just whatever they feel they want to tell me? If they feel like it's something worth mentioning, then why can't I just understand that they're trying to share something with me that's important to them?
I have no reason to rain on anyone's parade unless they're going to physically harm themselves or put themselves in a hole that they cannot come out of. But also, how am I all of a sudden so smart to know how deep a hole they CAN'T get out of? Or why even think they're gonna put themselves IN a hole? There's that negativity...
I am NOT that smart. I don't have that kind of insight. I can't read minds.
Why do I feel like I am so critical with some people? I don't need to be that way. I know, I KNOW, that I don't mean to be critical and I am DEFINITELY not trying to be condescending. I don't want to come off that way. What's that old golden rule? exactly.
So from now on I am going to try to think about my first gut reaction to anything someone's trying to share with me. I'm going to think about it before opening my mouth and try to figure out what the appropriate thing say should be; even if it's nothing at all.
Are they truly seeking advice or just a shoulder? Are they truly looking for a reaction or just want someone to listen and cheer them on?
I want to be supportive and do everything in my power to help my friends be what they want; more than they could ever think they could be. I want my friends to be happy, because what more can any of us strive for than to be happy and reach the goals that feel like they're out of our reach?
The moon can feel a little bit smaller, a little bit closer, maybe together, we can put a rope around it.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Ducati Hill Country ride weekend, day 2
So day two started a little late since we had a few the night before ;) But we had that same beautiful view of downtown Austin to wake up to!
We took care of cleaning the place up, buying some nice gifts for the owners, and then had breakfast at Whole Foods (since it was walking distance anyways and we needed to get some supplies). Picked up a bunch of stuff for my special hill country bbq sauce (which is my own special jalepeno cilantro chutney infused bbq sauce, good stuff!) and had some lobster bisque and ciabatta bread for breakfast =D
Once we got going, we headed down to a great little microbrewery in Boerne called the Dodging Duck. We even had a Ducati flag posted out to mark the place!
It was literally in the middle of a neighborhood, so we just parked in front of someone's house =X
I had some tasty spicy salmon dip on fresh pita chips and a couple of good brews, then we headed out!
Koyote Ranch, if you haven't been there before, is a great little place right off Medina, Tx. Grab a cabin for relatively cheap and call it a weekend, whether you're riding around (since they're motorcycle friendly), or just there to soak in the hill country views!
Us unloading:
That'salottabikes!
We were able to get a great little warming ride in before the sun went down and then proceeded to break out the goods!
One of our San Antonio crew happens to be a beer brewer (hardly amateur, but that's what he says!) He proceeded to supply our entire group of 17 (plus whoever we ran into on the camp grounds!) with 35 GALLONS of 7 different VARIETIES of home brew!!! I mean, this was absolutely stunning stuff! Some had been aged for months, some had just been made a week ago! He brought his own CO2 bottle AND provided custom beer glasses for everyone!
I of course had to throw my leg around bryant's brand spanking new 848! what a gorgeous bike!
(I would get a chance to take that baby out for a killer ride later in the trip =P)
Once the sun set, we got to drinking! (because we did NOT want to be on the roads when the deer come out!)
One of the other members of the DFW crew ends up working for a restaurant supplier and even though he didn't make it on the trip, he sent 40 POUNDS (that's 16 racks) of australian baby back ribs and 10 POUNDS of beer battered pollock! wow!
So I got the frying oil ready to go, started a batch of my bbq sauce, and dipped all 10 POUNDS of pollock in fresh lime juice before frying...
After the pollock got fried, i had an ingenious idea, what if you deep fried the ribs?... results my friends, speak for themselves!
believe it or not, the coolest thing THEN showed up! The Pugglepod 9000!! One of the DFW crew made the entire thing from scratch!
with working lights and everything!
And this little guy enjoyed the hell out of it!
end day 2
We took care of cleaning the place up, buying some nice gifts for the owners, and then had breakfast at Whole Foods (since it was walking distance anyways and we needed to get some supplies). Picked up a bunch of stuff for my special hill country bbq sauce (which is my own special jalepeno cilantro chutney infused bbq sauce, good stuff!) and had some lobster bisque and ciabatta bread for breakfast =D
Once we got going, we headed down to a great little microbrewery in Boerne called the Dodging Duck. We even had a Ducati flag posted out to mark the place!
It was literally in the middle of a neighborhood, so we just parked in front of someone's house =X
I had some tasty spicy salmon dip on fresh pita chips and a couple of good brews, then we headed out!
Koyote Ranch, if you haven't been there before, is a great little place right off Medina, Tx. Grab a cabin for relatively cheap and call it a weekend, whether you're riding around (since they're motorcycle friendly), or just there to soak in the hill country views!
Us unloading:
That'salottabikes!
We were able to get a great little warming ride in before the sun went down and then proceeded to break out the goods!
One of our San Antonio crew happens to be a beer brewer (hardly amateur, but that's what he says!) He proceeded to supply our entire group of 17 (plus whoever we ran into on the camp grounds!) with 35 GALLONS of 7 different VARIETIES of home brew!!! I mean, this was absolutely stunning stuff! Some had been aged for months, some had just been made a week ago! He brought his own CO2 bottle AND provided custom beer glasses for everyone!
I of course had to throw my leg around bryant's brand spanking new 848! what a gorgeous bike!
(I would get a chance to take that baby out for a killer ride later in the trip =P)
Once the sun set, we got to drinking! (because we did NOT want to be on the roads when the deer come out!)
One of the other members of the DFW crew ends up working for a restaurant supplier and even though he didn't make it on the trip, he sent 40 POUNDS (that's 16 racks) of australian baby back ribs and 10 POUNDS of beer battered pollock! wow!
So I got the frying oil ready to go, started a batch of my bbq sauce, and dipped all 10 POUNDS of pollock in fresh lime juice before frying...
After the pollock got fried, i had an ingenious idea, what if you deep fried the ribs?... results my friends, speak for themselves!
believe it or not, the coolest thing THEN showed up! The Pugglepod 9000!! One of the DFW crew made the entire thing from scratch!
with working lights and everything!
And this little guy enjoyed the hell out of it!
end day 2
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Ducati Hill Country 2008 ride weekend, Day 1
So this past weekend was the first 2008 official Texas Hill Country ride of the crew from www.ducatimonsterworldwide.org and boy was it a doozy!
Let me first say, the people I have met on ducatis and especially the ones from our forum have been the absolute best people in the world! I have been amazed by the support, sincerity, and just general acceptance from a community brought together by motorcycling.
One example of that support came on the first day of the hill country trip. I had planned on staying with some friends who have houses in Austin as everyone from Dallas, Austin, and Houston were meeting in Austin to hang out before the big move to the hill country. The problem came when all my friends with houses ended up being out of town that day!! So I posted up a feeler for anyone on the board in Austin who might be able to put us up for the night and I get the following place (from a guy who only knows me on the board and I haven't ever met IRL!)
We even happened to have a girl from DC from the forums in Austin at the same time who was able to come out and hang with the crew at Ming's Cafe in Austin (one of my personal favorite biker friendly places with great food) and then hang out with us at the gingerman, cuba libre, and 6th street follies...
Unfortunately, the Dallas crew all rode to the night stuff that night, and mounties ended up pulling them ALL over for 'failure to turn right in a right turn lane.' Total BS tickets because a LOT of people were giong straight on that particular road and these folks were from out of town and didn't know!
oh well, cory got pretty friendly with one of the horses at least =P
I even found out one of our Houston riders was UNDERAGE!!!! That pretty much killed our chances of going into a lot of places, but a couple of us still went in and drank before joining him outside again, hahaha
The view again from the loft at night... simply amazing.
end day 1
Let me first say, the people I have met on ducatis and especially the ones from our forum have been the absolute best people in the world! I have been amazed by the support, sincerity, and just general acceptance from a community brought together by motorcycling.
One example of that support came on the first day of the hill country trip. I had planned on staying with some friends who have houses in Austin as everyone from Dallas, Austin, and Houston were meeting in Austin to hang out before the big move to the hill country. The problem came when all my friends with houses ended up being out of town that day!! So I posted up a feeler for anyone on the board in Austin who might be able to put us up for the night and I get the following place (from a guy who only knows me on the board and I haven't ever met IRL!)
We even happened to have a girl from DC from the forums in Austin at the same time who was able to come out and hang with the crew at Ming's Cafe in Austin (one of my personal favorite biker friendly places with great food) and then hang out with us at the gingerman, cuba libre, and 6th street follies...
Unfortunately, the Dallas crew all rode to the night stuff that night, and mounties ended up pulling them ALL over for 'failure to turn right in a right turn lane.' Total BS tickets because a LOT of people were giong straight on that particular road and these folks were from out of town and didn't know!
oh well, cory got pretty friendly with one of the horses at least =P
I even found out one of our Houston riders was UNDERAGE!!!! That pretty much killed our chances of going into a lot of places, but a couple of us still went in and drank before joining him outside again, hahaha
The view again from the loft at night... simply amazing.
end day 1
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Nidda Thai Cuisine
ok, this is hands down my favorite thai restaurant in all of Houston!
It's a small unassuming little joint off westheimer a couple blocks down from montrose. It always seems to be SUPER quiet and not busy at all... maybe just the times I go or something, but man, I love the atmosphere, so cozy and quiet!
The food... oh the food!!! Absolutely amazing! You can completely tell that the cooks don't 'dumb down' this thai food for the american palate! It's how thai food should be - straight from the homeland! I took a friend there the other day and she said it was the BEST curry that she has ever had and I wholeheartedly agree!
Don't forget their special 'fish in a garden,' though! I actually got that twice in a row recently! It's a whole tilapia fillet, battered and fried with a super crispy and tasty shell, then covered with green onions, ginger, bamboo, and another green, forget what he called it, cashews, and as our first staff, Saxson, called it, the 'delicious magical sauce.' And how magical it is!!! soooo good!!!
I have NOT had a bad dish at Nidda! And I gotta say, the staff REALLY brings it all home for me, they are the nicest and cutest staff, and it matches the vibe of the place VERY well. They are a big FOBish, BUT they are clearly passionate about the food they serve and are VERYYYY obviously happy to serve such great food to you! It's a combination that really really works, trust me, just go and you'll understand what I'm talking about!
I still remember the first time Natalee told us about the sticky rice and mango dessert and the homemade coconut icecream with fried bananas. She went all the way back to her youth in her mind as she described how good these desserts were - how they reminded her of the super fantastic stuff she had back home. I was SOLD! and really, the mangos are perfectly in season now and the coconut icecream is right in the perfect middle of just sweet enough with plenty of real coconut!
highly recommend this place, in fact, I've been there three times this week!
It's a small unassuming little joint off westheimer a couple blocks down from montrose. It always seems to be SUPER quiet and not busy at all... maybe just the times I go or something, but man, I love the atmosphere, so cozy and quiet!
The food... oh the food!!! Absolutely amazing! You can completely tell that the cooks don't 'dumb down' this thai food for the american palate! It's how thai food should be - straight from the homeland! I took a friend there the other day and she said it was the BEST curry that she has ever had and I wholeheartedly agree!
Don't forget their special 'fish in a garden,' though! I actually got that twice in a row recently! It's a whole tilapia fillet, battered and fried with a super crispy and tasty shell, then covered with green onions, ginger, bamboo, and another green, forget what he called it, cashews, and as our first staff, Saxson, called it, the 'delicious magical sauce.' And how magical it is!!! soooo good!!!
I have NOT had a bad dish at Nidda! And I gotta say, the staff REALLY brings it all home for me, they are the nicest and cutest staff, and it matches the vibe of the place VERY well. They are a big FOBish, BUT they are clearly passionate about the food they serve and are VERYYYY obviously happy to serve such great food to you! It's a combination that really really works, trust me, just go and you'll understand what I'm talking about!
I still remember the first time Natalee told us about the sticky rice and mango dessert and the homemade coconut icecream with fried bananas. She went all the way back to her youth in her mind as she described how good these desserts were - how they reminded her of the super fantastic stuff she had back home. I was SOLD! and really, the mangos are perfectly in season now and the coconut icecream is right in the perfect middle of just sweet enough with plenty of real coconut!
highly recommend this place, in fact, I've been there three times this week!
James Sparks
Well, this past Monday, a good friend of mine and old coworker at Spacehab (my first job out of college) died from injuries sustained from a motorcycle accident.
He leaves behind an 11 yr old son and numerous loved ones who will continue to mourn his loss...
As long as I've known James, he's always been a good person. He looked like your typical pumped up (he liked to work out) jock/brash headed frat boy type, but he was never like that surprisingly. He always had his moral boundaries, was always always respectful to his elders no matter the situation, dropped whatever he was doing immediately if his mom or dad or friend needed anything, big or small.
He always understood what you were trying to say, never put you in a situation where you would be uncomfortable, was just a great guy. He will be missed and continue to be loved.
I will post up what pics I have of him later, but here's a vid his cousin made:
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=33692105
He leaves behind an 11 yr old son and numerous loved ones who will continue to mourn his loss...
As long as I've known James, he's always been a good person. He looked like your typical pumped up (he liked to work out) jock/brash headed frat boy type, but he was never like that surprisingly. He always had his moral boundaries, was always always respectful to his elders no matter the situation, dropped whatever he was doing immediately if his mom or dad or friend needed anything, big or small.
He always understood what you were trying to say, never put you in a situation where you would be uncomfortable, was just a great guy. He will be missed and continue to be loved.
I will post up what pics I have of him later, but here's a vid his cousin made:
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=33692105
Friday, May 2, 2008
Onion Creek Cafe
Ok, finally got a chance to head out to Onion Creek Cafe! Unfortunately, I didn't get to have the FULL experience because it was raining - I didn't get to go out to the deck/patio area.
In any case, it was completely packed! And what a great mix of crowd too! Plenty of eye candy out there and diversity was top notch! Definitely thumbs up for crowd.
The logistics of ordering was a little questionable though... I had to go up to the bar everytime I wanted another beer or food. For a place like that, not having servers was a little odd.
Thursday night was apparently $2 red stripes, so that was fine with me and I ordered the Country Ass Reuben. Not a bad sandwich at all! The dressing was very tangy and it came out between two big ol slices of rye bread, not bad at all. The potato salad had all kinds of BAACONNN in it too, which was a nice surprise!
Atmosphere seemed laid back, which is good, but I sat with my back to a high traffic area and kept getting my chair kicked... not good.
All in all, I've decided I need to go back and give the place another shot on a beautiful day where I can enjoy the patio area and get a little more involved with the crowd. Definitely worth a try if you're in the area though!
In any case, it was completely packed! And what a great mix of crowd too! Plenty of eye candy out there and diversity was top notch! Definitely thumbs up for crowd.
The logistics of ordering was a little questionable though... I had to go up to the bar everytime I wanted another beer or food. For a place like that, not having servers was a little odd.
Thursday night was apparently $2 red stripes, so that was fine with me and I ordered the Country Ass Reuben. Not a bad sandwich at all! The dressing was very tangy and it came out between two big ol slices of rye bread, not bad at all. The potato salad had all kinds of BAACONNN in it too, which was a nice surprise!
Atmosphere seemed laid back, which is good, but I sat with my back to a high traffic area and kept getting my chair kicked... not good.
All in all, I've decided I need to go back and give the place another shot on a beautiful day where I can enjoy the patio area and get a little more involved with the crowd. Definitely worth a try if you're in the area though!
Sunday, April 27, 2008
and we're back! Two reviews, food and drink!
Cafe Montrose
Finally got a chance to check out Cafe Montrose and I have to say, the overall feel was wonderful! Very cozy and intimate, yet very friendly and open. You could tell that the staff has been working together for a while and they either ARE family, or have definitely become family at this point and that kind of service trickles all the way down to the customers, both new AND old!
You could most definitely tell that there were many many regulars and locals that frequented the place and that's always a good sign! Gwen, our waitress for the night, was amazingly friendly and had the most endearing accent and way about her!
Between Gwen and Sonia, we had excellent service. Sonia was not as personable, but you knew that she cared about the food, it's ok, she had a very european feel to her in the kind of no nonsense way about her. Again, Gwen was so downright friendly and inviting, it was like walking into their home.
Besides the excellent belgian ales ON TAP there (boy that could be dangerous for me), the food was very french-heavy, but quite tasty.
We started with Croquettes de Fromage that had sooo much cheesy goodness it was great! The mouthfeel was much more like a creamcheese as you would expect, but so much more complex in flavor. Much more meaty, yet silky creamy...
I had the Lapin aux Pruneaux (rabbit), and although I'm not generally a fan of fruits and such in my sauces, you really have to classically pair rabbit with that and it goes so well. The rabbit was not gamey in the least and cooked very well with plenty of fat still on to provide just that bit of mouthfeel that makes you go mmmm...
My friend had the Large Moules curry (large because I knew I'd be eating some!). I'm not a fan of curry and although I didn't really think the curry was all that fantastic, my friend enjoyed every bite she could until she was just too full to take any more. For me, the curry was pretty typical, with a bit too much salt, but otherwise good. I would like to try the cream sauce next time I go for sure as the mussels were very good underneath the curry!
13 Celcius
13 Celcius is a very trendy kind of wine bar that you would typically expect in midtown. Although there were plenty of the 'be seen, get seen' crowd here, I was unexpectedly surprised to see that the crowd was very diverse with older and younger, soccer mom, 20 something hipster...
The staff was very attentive and very accomodating. Mike took care of our wine selections and since I was there with a regular, he knew what she liked and hit it on the spot. We had a nice australian grenache that, although was a little sweeter than I typically like, was matched very well to the dry and breezy air of the night (it really was a beautiful night to sit outside and chat while uncorking a bottle).
One of the other staff, Shannon, was sooo nice and down to earth and she really felt like a bit of an oddity in the mix of people there that night. Everyone else felt a little on the snooty but still will talk to you side.
It was a nice surprise to have the owner of the bar greet us outside (Ian, with his gf Jennifer I believe it was) coming from a gala of some sort. I would have never known he was the owner, he put off a business friendly attitude and was more than happy to stop and say hello, never once mentioning and or acting like the place was his. I thought he was just another regular who had stopped in for a drink!
I would say it's not quite the down to earth spot that I really enjoy sitting around and chatting at, but for a slightly upper end affair, it would definitely fit the bill. The grenache was 30 bucks, so not bad on prices either.
If all the staff were like Shannon, that would definitely make the difference!
Finally got a chance to check out Cafe Montrose and I have to say, the overall feel was wonderful! Very cozy and intimate, yet very friendly and open. You could tell that the staff has been working together for a while and they either ARE family, or have definitely become family at this point and that kind of service trickles all the way down to the customers, both new AND old!
You could most definitely tell that there were many many regulars and locals that frequented the place and that's always a good sign! Gwen, our waitress for the night, was amazingly friendly and had the most endearing accent and way about her!
Between Gwen and Sonia, we had excellent service. Sonia was not as personable, but you knew that she cared about the food, it's ok, she had a very european feel to her in the kind of no nonsense way about her. Again, Gwen was so downright friendly and inviting, it was like walking into their home.
Besides the excellent belgian ales ON TAP there (boy that could be dangerous for me), the food was very french-heavy, but quite tasty.
We started with Croquettes de Fromage that had sooo much cheesy goodness it was great! The mouthfeel was much more like a creamcheese as you would expect, but so much more complex in flavor. Much more meaty, yet silky creamy...
I had the Lapin aux Pruneaux (rabbit), and although I'm not generally a fan of fruits and such in my sauces, you really have to classically pair rabbit with that and it goes so well. The rabbit was not gamey in the least and cooked very well with plenty of fat still on to provide just that bit of mouthfeel that makes you go mmmm...
My friend had the Large Moules curry (large because I knew I'd be eating some!). I'm not a fan of curry and although I didn't really think the curry was all that fantastic, my friend enjoyed every bite she could until she was just too full to take any more. For me, the curry was pretty typical, with a bit too much salt, but otherwise good. I would like to try the cream sauce next time I go for sure as the mussels were very good underneath the curry!
13 Celcius
13 Celcius is a very trendy kind of wine bar that you would typically expect in midtown. Although there were plenty of the 'be seen, get seen' crowd here, I was unexpectedly surprised to see that the crowd was very diverse with older and younger, soccer mom, 20 something hipster...
The staff was very attentive and very accomodating. Mike took care of our wine selections and since I was there with a regular, he knew what she liked and hit it on the spot. We had a nice australian grenache that, although was a little sweeter than I typically like, was matched very well to the dry and breezy air of the night (it really was a beautiful night to sit outside and chat while uncorking a bottle).
One of the other staff, Shannon, was sooo nice and down to earth and she really felt like a bit of an oddity in the mix of people there that night. Everyone else felt a little on the snooty but still will talk to you side.
It was a nice surprise to have the owner of the bar greet us outside (Ian, with his gf Jennifer I believe it was) coming from a gala of some sort. I would have never known he was the owner, he put off a business friendly attitude and was more than happy to stop and say hello, never once mentioning and or acting like the place was his. I thought he was just another regular who had stopped in for a drink!
I would say it's not quite the down to earth spot that I really enjoy sitting around and chatting at, but for a slightly upper end affair, it would definitely fit the bill. The grenache was 30 bucks, so not bad on prices either.
If all the staff were like Shannon, that would definitely make the difference!
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