Houston Astros

Been there done that unless we will have visitors that would like to og to a game. Yes I am talking about Baseball.

Along with friends from Statoil in Houston and their Calgary office we headed for the Houston Astros – Pittburg Pirats.

It was fun, but disappointing with the lack of people going to the game. I thought there was more supporters to these games, maybe in the weekends or it was due to the lack of performance from Houston Astros. With double of losses compared to wind they are on the bottom on the series.

But yesterday it was a need team on the field. They secured a great 8 – 2 win and we could go home pleased to see that they can perform as well, or was it due to us?

The great enjoyment of the evening was that we needed to show ID to get bear, ok I am 29 in my heart, but I have to admit that I and my wife have passed the half way to 100 years and the rest with us ok is a “bit” younger, but not in the range close to 21.

If it was a compliment or not, no I do not think so, talking about a different culture, rules and regulation and they follow it.

Houston Astros

It was a great to meet the guys and watch the game together, but sure we will do something different next time, football season starts soon and I look forward to that.

When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead

Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man by Jerry Weintraub, Rich Cohen

"I am not the person who focuses on directors of the movie, so I was more than surprised about the book I bought.

 A book store or 400 is going out of business and sales are up. My wife needed book to enjoy along the pool, so why shouldn’t I have one as well.

Our taste is different and for me ending up with the life of Jerry Weintraub.

A biography I enjoyed, or rather more than enjoyed. I had never heard about the guy, but this guy knows business, who to do business and his position with people make the business.

Not only that, but along with small stories of all the people who he got to know in a life time from Elvis, Frank Sinatra and John Denver to Arnold Hammer.

It is funny, easy to read and can be used or even more, it would be great to have him as a mentor in any business carried out. Buy it, read it and enjoy it."

RUSACK WINERY

Some have been reading my blog from the road trip in California and the visits to different wineries.

Now it is time to look back, and we during the weeks bring to the table some of the wine we brought back and taste again, drink and enjoy or find out that we preferred some other than the latest.

Yesterday was a day off from the gym, it is Wednesday and Sunday we are off, so I can prepare dinner on forehand and have ready either a white or rosé cooled down or a red from the shelf.

Laila wanted as many days before a Rosé, I guess we both got hooked on to it on our trip in July so the next from our collection from California was a bottle of RUSACK rosé. The grapes come from a number of different vineyards throughout Santa Barbara County. RUSACK Rosé is created from selected Syrah, Sangiovese and Grenache grapes, which are harvested at a peak maturity and earmarked for the Reserve program.

Prior to fermentation, a small percentage of “blush” colored juice is set aside, while the resulting concentrated juice continues on the path to a Reserve release. This unique process leaves them with a delightfully intense Rosé wine perfect for those lighter moments in life. Only 442 cases were produced of the 2010, and it has an aging potential, but we will enjoy its youth.

Driving to RUSACK (http://www.rusackvineyards.com/about.html) with Brigitte Guehr from Mirabelle Inn in Solvang where we stayed and she was arranging a wine visit to four wineries, this was maybe the one to remember. The view on the road to get there, the view as we had our lunch pack there, so enclosed some pictures to show what we enjoyed.

Bottle Shock

Another weekend is passed and even it was smaller changes to our day to day life we again could enjoy the sun at the pool, or was it the pool we enjoyed in the heat. Today I am still counting the days of 100F degree ++. We come to day 22 of august a record in day in a row and equal to amount of day in a year with that amount of day, 32 in total.

Two days with relax and no activity in the gym, hi need to get back today if I am going to keep up with my 5 days a week in the gym.

So when the time for sun and the pool was up on Saturday we could enjoy our lunch.

Yes it was the standard lunch as we have on Saturdays, Caesar Salad and the Prosciutto Pizza and a bottle of Prosecco.  Getting home we first went to Red Mango

for desert, ice-cream watching some young ladies at a birthday party

before we got home and could pick up the 3 movies I had ordered on Amazon.

One of them for a good reason, Bottle Shock, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYs0kblXToA) was shot at one of the wineries we visited on our Californian road trip. Chateau Montelena (http://www.montelena.com) was a fantastic place even we did not get to see it all in the movie.

However the story is about when Napa wine hit France and in a blind tasting got recognized by Europe. It was a sweet story and it was even more interesting now when we had been there and had learned so much about the hard work the guys at the wineries put into the process. It was not an Oscar, but it was fun to watch, and Saturday there was no movie at our regular movie theater so good timing.

When we visited TTR (http://www.tastingroomwines.com/our_locations/city_centre/index.php)    on Saturday we had a peak on the Brunch menu, and got so tempted we headed back on Sunday to try it out.

Sunday is Mimosa day and Bloody Mary, but this Sunday it was just Mimosa and they tasted great. Both the lunch time for us and the Brunch time is in the afternoon so it covers our dinner, and just some Wasa flat bread in the evening.

Laila picked the Fried Egg Sandwich with Bacon, tomato, garlic aioli, Swiss cheese, grille Tuscan bread and fries.

I picked The Ultimate Steak and Eggs with Poached Egg, grilled Flank steak & bread, truffle Hollandaise.  They had added a lot of salad, a bit too much. The poached egg was not floating when I cut into them, too much cooked and where was the Hollandaise, almost nothing that could ease the dry bread and medium cooked steak that was more than medium cooked.

As many, I do not complain, but this time I had to advise the waiter that it was not to the expected finish from the kitchen and as I have learned to know the manager it will be easier to go back and tell him as he was not there yesterday. We will be back for lunch on Saturday, and if it will be brunch I will go for the Fried Egg Sandwich, I had a taste and that was real good.

Football back

And I mean real football and not soccer. Yesterday was first pre-season game with Houston Texans’ and New York Jets playing at Reliant Stadium in Houston, also covered on TV. I lost 1’st quarter, Laila working late and when she was home dinner needed to be served, part of my duty. But then I could sit down and enjoy a well deserve d victory by the Texans’

Chris Ogbonnaya caught a touchdown pass from Matt Leinart and ran for the winning score in the fourth quarter of the Texans’ 20-16 win. The regular starters only played the first quarter, saving them for more important games when season starts, but many of the new comers did well like the seventh-round draft pick Greg McElroy, the former Alabama star.

It was a warm evening so they had to put the roof on at Reliant Stadium. It was day 15 with above 100F and another 8 to come according forecast. Houston has to go back to 1980 to have more so this time the record will be smashed. Another record up to be beaten is how many days during the year will be above 100F, it was 1980 that had 32 and we are at 26, someone who had a bad summer?

Now we have water restriction in Houston. Resident in Houston face fines after the city issued mandatory water conservation measures. City Council approved moving to stage 2 of the city’s conservation plan Monday because of the severe drought and continuously decreasing water levels in Lake Houston.

Under stage 2, residents are only allowed to water between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. However with even-numbered addresses are allowed to water on Sunday and Thursdays, while odd-numbered addresses are allowed to water on Saturdays and Wednesdays.

Watering during times other than those specified may result in fines of hundreds of dollars.

Last challenge for the day is when you are out driving, I am not sure if it is due to lack of water or other reasons, but be aware of crossing Alligators. A wayward alligator was struck and killed on SH 288 early Sunday morning. A family had their car disabled during the encounter with the 10-foot alligator. The alligator died and good to have animal control around who could remove the “sweet” animal.

Another special day

Special in many ways, first of all who calls me in the middle of the night and cannot understand when they call an American number 2am in the morning there will be no responds just a guy not please waking up.

And so Google to buy Motorola Mobility today,

so now I am in bed with Google then? Must be something good coming out of this when two UD giants put their clever brains together, I have avoided I-Phone and Apple. I may change, but this is the day I will see what will happen.
Money in the market so what will happen next, Microsoft to buy Nokia?

Saturday we was at the Movie again as most Saturdays. This Saturday it was “The Help” we wanted to watch. Laila had read the book, and looked forward to see the movie. I did not know too much about it, but a lot of advertising gave me an understanding what I could expect.
What I did not expect was my thoughts after the movie. The Help is about  African American Maids working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960’s.

The novel is told from the point of view of three narrators: Aibileen Clark, a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children, and who has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson, an African-American maid whose back-talk towards her employers results in her having to frequently change jobs, exacerbating her desperate need for work as well as her family's struggle with money; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a young white woman and recent college graduate who, after moving back home, discovers that a maid that helped raise her since childhood has abruptly disappeared and her attempts to find her have come to naught. The stories of the three women intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help", with complex relations of power, money, emotion, and intimacy tying together the white and black families of Jackson.

So what was my thoughts after the movie, sitting there as the movie was finished I was thinking about I was now in the near area (southern part of the US) where this happened. How the African American women were treated and it is just 50 years and less since it happened. Is it still happening? I don’t think so, but still this region is ultra conservative and it is shown with the local Texan Governor Rick Perry now going to be in the race to be the next Republicans Presidential candidate. I will stay away to comment more on the local politic as my cultural differences crash a bit with what I see and hear around here.

I better focus on Bloomberg news and listen to the comments on Google buying Motorola and looking for any company that will invest in Innowind so we can prove our innovation to the world.

Back in the HEAT, 20 days with 100F or above

After 3 weeks on a road trip with temperature in California max at 85F we are now back in Houston with 100F+ and the forecast looks like it will be like this the next 7 days or so.

The “normal” is 5 days a year with temperature above 100, and max amount of days was back in 1980 with 32 days, so I am sure we now looking to take that record, counting each day.

For those who still have vacation left, it is possible to get across to this area and a lot to see.

I had some plans to visit Stavanger soon, but must say other than the birthdays to my grandchildren, weather and temperature across there is not tempting at all. In addition I have my driving test for the local Texas driving license to come up at the 24^th. Must improve on my stop with stop signs and have a look at the parking spot where they do the parking “test”. But after 5000 miles road trip without ticket I should manage.

It is also time for football soon, American football. Training camps and training games are lined up. How the Texans will do this season remain to see, I am a bit confused looking at a picture from their training camp at KHOU.com.

End of the month I have been invited to a Baseball game. Not my game, but it would be fun to learn more about it. It is Houston Astros v.s. Pittburgh Pirats that is up. I have noticed that the results from the Astros games have not been the best, hope they do better on this game.

Inn’s visited in California this summer

Temecula

Good and bad with our stays at Inn’s in the 5 different wine areas should be an easy task, but before I start on this one I have to state that this is a personal evaluation and view to our experience and other could have a complete different view and other experiences.

An important start for our tour was the book California WINE Country by Peter Fish and Sara Schneider. It covers more areas than we visited and maybe at another time we will visit them as well, but based on the limited time we had we chose 5 areas and 3 days at each area.

We laid out our trip from south to north. I had noted before that there is an up and coming wine area south of LA and it would be a good first stop.

I will be back with what we remember of wine tasting and visit to the wineries, so for now it will be the Inn’s and only the Inn’s that will be commented.

Our first stop in Temecula was guided by our wish to stay at smaller cozy B&B’s that hopefully had a special atmosphere. Not always easy to say based recommendations in books or based on web sites, but the first choice was done on what we did find in the book.

Loma Vista a 10 room or less place run by a couple and to us war far more tempting than the 120 rooms + indicated on the South Coast Winery and all the pampering that place could give.

From we booked to we arrived the place had changed owners. I was a bit concerned when I noticed it, but at the arrival and after our stay the concern was all gone and just look forward to our next stay.

Looking back and compare what we was looking for to the places we wanted to stay on this tour, this was the place that gave us the home atmosphere. In addition the way that Nicole and Dean treated us was more than what you could expect.

The treat Chef Dean had in the morning either it was berries or fruit from their own garden or it was to 5 star hotel presentation of the breakfast, yes we felt these first day of our vacation that we was at a 5 star hotel.

After handing over a B&B to new owners there are always issues and rooms for improvement on the facility, but at this place it was more in the outdoor area that needed a touch up and had been left in limbo by the previous owners. Smaller issues that Nicole and Dean as well the owner Europe Village knew about and are in process of doing something with prior the autumn is over.

Location is great with walking distance to at least 4 wineries. I guess max what is recommended for one day tasting.

It is also a short drive from Old Temecula; worth visit as it have a great picturesque layout and houses with antique shops and other shops that gives you a great stay for the time being there.

Location between LA and San Diego is also to consider for those who would like to visit a larger area of southern California.

I think there were so many positive things with Loma Vista that it was difficult for us to see any negative once. Only can say we loved it there and again, I am sure we will be back for a longer stay.

Santa Barbara

We chose to stay in Solvang when we headed to Santa Barbara wine area. Most of all due to it have this Danish look and for us to feel home and in addition it was a great place to visit some of the local wineries in the area. Wine tasting was the reason for our trip so we needed to find good location.

I had first found Meadowlark Inn, but wanted to stay in the “city” of Solvang and as Meadowlark Inn also had a sister Inn in Solvang we booked there. Noted was also a recommended restaurant at this Inn so we were excited prior to visiting.

Personality is important to us at these Inn’s / B&B’s, and Mirabelle Inn did have the personality we was looking for. Mirabelle have few rooms to handle for the owners, a great breakfast and dining room that express the personality of the place in addition to close location to the central parts of Solvang.

Mirabelle had a typical American B&B breakfast, dinner we had was very tasty, and in addition the Inn gave us as we requested was a wine tour to four wineries so I could avoid the driving.

With Brigitte as guide and who had lived in the area for many years she gave us an excellent trip along for unexpected places to visits I am sure we would not have visited.

We had a great stay and must say based on that we had listen to the outdoor theater for two nights we got to see Hairspray so there are alternatives to do in the evening too in Solvang.

Visiting for the wine, we are finished with Santa Barbara, but if we need to stop in the area, we would choose Mirabelle Inn again.

San Luis Obispo/Pablo Robles

To stop at San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles was recommended to us and I must say we did no mistake on that.

San Luis Obispo was the best choice to stay and we were again lucky to find a cozy Inn with personality.

Not only the Garden Street Inn, but also the whole city had its personality with a lot of young people due to education possibilities. It is a place in between the wine areas with Edna Valley and the beach. Bikes are possible to be rented and you will reach both areas with a bike.

Again the breakfast was served as an all American breakfast. Nice easy served, nothing fancy, but what you expect. The room as they have been both at Loma Vista and Mirabelle had its personality; we had Edelweiss, and enjoyed it as we would have with any other of the rooms.

Reasonable prices with $159 USD in the week and $189 in the weekend and with is location very central it was a place to be back to. I feel we will be back as this area had the best wineries we had on this trip and would love to visit some of the wineries again and another bike ride hopefully with no flat tires.

Please note that parking is located at the closest parking house. We had no problems with it, but others may have.

Sonoma

Time was up for the great wine area of Sonoma and Napa. We regretted that we had not booked all nights at one place thinking about how close the two valleys are, in another way we was not, we managed to get the best and the worst of both.

Once again we had been lucky with our pick using Google Earth. Looking up on Google Earth you are heading, looking for the bed on the map and evaluate their web pages and locations it is up to you to pick and chose.

This was the way I did it with Cinnamon Bear Creakside Inn. I have seen on this trip that many of the Inn’s has personality, but I am sure it is depending on the Innkeeper. Cinnamon have two lovely ladies running the place and give so much of them self for this place. Only place we visited however that gave us a set time for breakfast. 9am not earlier, not later. This is understandable wanting to give the guests the best breakfast and waste no unnecessarily time in the kitchen, but spend time treat the gusts.

I am sure the girls have the challenge with the owner and the owner should have a look at the possibility to upgrade some of the area around the Inn. Room for improvement in the garden, not cozy at all, but have great potential.

Cinnamon is close to the road and it is Hwy 12 passing indicating a bit traffic, but other than that it is not a long walk into the nice city of Sonoma. We enjoyed the city and would love to be back to it with another surprise it have some good restaurants, something to look for when you stay at a local Inn.

The bathroom was just fantastic at Cinnamon, yes large and had a big (could cover 4 people I am sure) bath tub with Jacuzzi. Just a shame we did not have time to use that properly.

The layout for the breakfast room also was great, it gives you the possibility to join with other guests and get to meet new people. At this place we met Jean and Tom Kesey, living just a couple of hours away and had their own smaller wine yard. We were lucky, they had a bottle to spare in the car, and we look forward to a special event to enjoy that. If we are even luckier we can make them a visit and learn more about wine making by smaller co-operations.

So result is that if we are to stay in Sonoma on our next visit we hope that it is the same innkeeper and we would join them for breakfast at 9am.

Napa

Our big disappointment was Napa and Old World Inn. Most of it because of it lack of personality. The Inn lost the personality based on two major issues; it had a main house with breakfast in a dark cellar that was ok for wine tasting , but not for a cozy breakfast, and it had 2-4 smaller houses around with 2-4 rooms in each house. Covering a total of 21 rooms was too much for being the “small” cozy Inn we hoped it to be. Maybe I should have been reading better on the web page and looked more around and learned more about Napa and what it had to offer.

Napa Valley have so much more to offer so make sure to look around and look more into the other places in the Valley and not necessarily in Napa itself. The “town” did not have anything to offer as we could see at least compared to the smaller places along the Valley.

The room was ok or it was more than ok, it was good no complaint to them. We stayed in one of the additional houses and they have potential. No good outdoor area to sit down in the afternoon or evening, even they have sitting areas they should be better looked after so it would be possible to sit there.

What they had was good space for parking and with 21 rooms they need it. It was the most expensive stay on our trip; $229 USD during the week and $269 USD in the weekend. Napa or not value for money was not there and I am sure we was paying for future upgrades, at least I hope they do and will spend the money wise on the upgrades “if they comes”.

So no it will not be a choice for us next time we visit the area to learn more about the enormous amount of wine made in the valley.