Summer Vacations and Graduations

I just got back from my summer vacation. Yes, I know, summer doesn't officially start until later in June. But it was warm, even bordering on hot, in Florida and California, and definitely warmer then Seoul, so summer vacation it is. It was also the season of graduations. Congratulations to the Cal Arts Class of 2009. I have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed, I thought that there might be more radical exhibitionism than was on display at the graduation ceremony. But I look forward to seeing the work of my brother and his friends in the future.

Summer, ah, how I love thee... warm enough to sit outside in the evening and enjoy a lovely, chilled glass of sauvignon blanc and watch the moon rise. And then the mosquitoes arrived.


I do have to admit that when I first arrived back in Jacksonville, that I wasn't up for much. After the long flight and the long work hours prior to my departure, pretty much all I could manage was to just sit and stare at the waves for a while. It was very refreshing.

The Atlantic Ocean:


I also headed up to Santa Barbara for a few days, to take care of business and see friends. And to be reminded of how cold it could be there. Although apparently it was scorching hot the previous week during the Jesusita Fire. We could see ash on the ground along the beach, and up in the hills we could see where it had burned and where they had created the fire breaks. It was a sober reminder of how tentative our lives can be when confronted by the forces of nature.

The Pacific Ocean:

Things I miss about Jacksonville...

I'm in Florida right now, Jacksonville actually, on vacation. Someone asked me yesterday what I noticed about the US when I came back, what struck me the most. And I have to say that it was the awful smell of the fast food court at the Atlanta airport. Ugh. And people eat that stuff. Another thing I've noticed is the huge portions at restaurants. I used to think that Sliders' servings were a touch on the small side. Now, I think they're huge! I ordered crab cakes for dinner, and couldn't finished my plate.

I've been working on relaxing, trying to remember how to do that, how not to work, how not to check email all the time. So I've been hanging out at Jacksonville Beach, enjoying a walk down to the pier and back each morning. Enjoying the sunshine (with lots of sunscreen!) and the warm weather. I've noticed a few differences since I was last here -- there are fewer for sale signs, less traffic on A1A/3rd St., parking still available on a Friday evening in Atlantic Beach.

But I also realized that there are things I miss about Jacksonville...
1) Sliders restaurant in Atlantic Beach
2) Walks on the beach
3) My friends and family
4) The weather!!!
5) 5 Guys burgers
6) The greenery and trees
7) Watching the clouds gather every afternoon
8) The humidity (yes, the humidity)

Photos will be posted in a couple of weeks when I return.

Jacksonville Beach

View of Jacksonville Beach from Ocean Club. The margaritas leave a whole lot to be desired these days, but the view is amazing.

Beachside Restaurant

I found another Beachside Restaurant. It's definitely not the same as the one in Goleta, but the food was excellent. We took the trolley again this weekend down to Jacksonville Beach, and decided to check out this place which is just south of Beach on 3rd St. We ate upstairs and had a basket of scallops and the fish and chips. The scallops were excellent. I had them grilled. The fish was fresh. The fries were home made and very fresh. The cole slaw was cold, but I didn't particularly care for it. It had a distinct mayonnaise taste, and while I know mayo is often used to make cole slaw, I really prefer not to know that there's any mayonnaise in there. I'm still on a hunt for good cole slaw. The only disappointment was the fact that the draft beer came in little, itty, bitty, tiny cups.


Baby Beer


View from our table, looking northeast.

A Day at the Beach

There's a new free shuttle on weekends called the Beaches Trolley that goes from Atlantic Blvd to JTB, with a stop near our place. So we've been taking advantage of it. Last weekend we went down to Jacksonville Beach and walked around like tourists checking stuff out. There's a park on the beach that has a variety of statues.

After we went to the park, we walked up towards the "downtown" area -- the area near the pier with restaurants, bars, and clubs. We had lunch at Bukkets, which was not very good. But since there aren't any other places to eat at in the area with a view of the beach, it's pretty packed whenever we've been in the area.

Billy's Boathouse Grill

We ate at Billy's Boathouse Grill tonight. It was a bit on the disappointing side.

I had the shrimp and scallop alfredo (the fried shrimp looked good, but I just had fried shrimp last weekend). The shrimp and scallops were good, and there was a pretty even amount of both shrimp and scallops. But the sauce was heavy and cloying (yes, I know it's alfredo, but even this was a bit too much). I ended up picking out the shrimp and scallops, and just having a few bites of the side vegetables. I had the vegetables on the side, instead of potatoes or rice, and they were overcooked and bland. The broccoli was so cooked it was pretty much not green anymore.

Carlon had the steak sandwich. The steak was good quality meat, but it wasn't seasoned before it was cooked, which would have imparted a nice flavor. There was also a side of cole slaw, but it looked like KFC cole slaw, and tasted watery.

While we were there, there was a group of women in the next room over. They started screaming at one point in time, and the men from the bar started going to this room. Instead of baboon mating calls, I guess these were human mating calls. I never realized that if I screamed along with a bunch of other women at the same time that men would appear. And I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to try it at any time in the future, either.

Great Pyrs at Jax Beach

On one of our Friday happy hours, we saw a woman walking, really more attempting to walk, a couple of Great Pyrenees. If you don't already know, Pyrs are these giant white dogs that are gentle guardians. They're bred to protect herds of sheep and work on farms in the Pyrenees Mountains. They are absolutely beautiful dogs, with the softest fur. My mom has one, and when she's had a bath (the dog, that is), she's just incredibly soft. Of course, she does roll in the dirt at the first opportunity, resulting in leaves hanging from her tail.

The one on the right in this photo is just a young pup. I believe their names were Glacier and Ice, but it's been a few weeks since I saw them and I can't remember for sure.

Ocean Club Happy Hour

Why we moved to the beach!!

We've been going to the Ocean Club for happy hour on Fridays now for a few weeks. The bartender now recognizes us and has our drinks ready for us as we get to the bar. It's right on the beach in Jacksonville Beach, just immediately south of the pier (which costs a $1 to enter, by the way). They have two for one specials and it's just so nice to be able to be in a casual place and enjoy the weather. We enjoy the people watching -- some folks walks dogs, some folks walk dogs much bigger than they are, some swagger, some skateboard, and some ride some amazingly interesting bikes.

When gazing to the east (towards the ocean) -- yes, I know, for a West Coaster, it's hard to "re-orient" myself and accept that the sun rises in the ocean and sets over land, everything inside the covered area is just a silhouette. The bartender said he recognized us by the way we walk because everything he sees is a silhouette/outline.

Windy Beach Walk

Left work on time today! An unusual event, to say the least, but things are rather calm at the moment so I took advantage of the opportunity to come home in time to go to the beach with Carlon. He runs, I walk. We went out there today at 5, and it was WINDY!!!! And it was low tide. Very low tide. I usually walk into the wind on the first leg, so I have the wind at my back on my way home. Since it was low tide, there were large amounts of foam sitting at the water's edge. As a particularly large gust of wind came along, chunks of foam would break free and skate across the sand. It looked like something out of a weird sci-fi movie -- attack of the killer sea foam (which reminds me, my brother still has my Grave Robbers from Outer Space card game)

Old Apartment View

This is the view of the Cedar River that we had in our old apartment. View from the new apartment coming soon, but it isn't anywhere near as spectacular as this one.

Highlights

The other day I was driving home, and the light and timing was just perfect -- all the reflectors on the barriers were lit by the sun and it looked like someone had taken an orange highlighter and run it down the middle of the road.

Unfortunately, the look wasn't quite the same the next day when I took this photo -- I think my timing was off, plus the light turned green. Anyway, this is the new bridge along Beach Blvd heading east towards Neptune/Jacksonville Beach. This bridge replaces the old drawbridge over the intracoastal waterway.

Finally...

It's taken almost a year, but I've found a Mexican restaurant that can assuage those Mexican food cravings. Granted, we don't eat out very often, which might explain why it's taken so long. But I haven't been too interested in trying Mexican restaurants since the first one was not so great. I had heard that La Nopalera was good, and as we passed it while we were trying to decide where to eat, we decided to try it. We ate at the one on Philips Hwy.

Anyway, I had the taco plate, which came with 3 tacos with choice of meat, onions, cilantro and salsa on the side. Most places, instead of steak or shredded beef, serve ground beef, which just isn't right to me. So before ordering, I confirmed that these were steak and not ground beef. I was pleasantly surprised to see tacos looking very similar to those I can get in California. They didn't quite taste as good, but they will certainly suffice when I have a craving for Mexican food.

The Jacksonville version of In-n-Out

I had lunch at Five Guys yesterday. This is the Jacksonville answer to In-n-Out, and is as close to In-n-Out that I think I'm going to be able to get. Even the decor is similar, with white tile and red accents. The menu at Five Guys is pretty basic, but not as basic as In-n-Out's. Five Guys has hot dogs and a few other things as well, plus they also have peanuts in the shell that you can grab a handful of while you're waiting for your food. They cook the burgers when you order, and you can get a large or small version, and they have cheeseburgers, bacon burgers, and bacon cheeseburgers. And if you order fries, you get so many you have to share. One thing they don't have though is the lemonade. Other than that, I recommend Five Guys for lunch, just try and get there early so you beat the mad 12 o'clock rush.

The Grotto

Last Friday, we went after work to a place called the Grotto over in San Marco. This happens to be one of my favorite places so far because it reminds me of the wineries in Santa Barbara. And they have a very nice selection of wines by the glass.

This time, I tried the Penfolds "Bin 389" Cabernet/Shiraz, 04, South Australia and the Valdivieso "Reserve" Cabernet Franc, 04, Central Valley, Chile.

The cab/shiraz blend was quite delicious. Ever since I went to Canberra about a decade or so ago and met a wine connoisseur who highly recommended a Penfolds cab/shiraz blend, I try and taste them when I can. Of course, by now I can't remember which bin # he recommended, but I haven't been disappointed yet, as long as it wasn't one of the cheapest bottles on the shelf.

I decided to try the cabernet franc because first, it was from Chile, and I've really enjoyed Chilean wines lately, particularly the carmenere. And second, I'd tried some cabernet francs at several wineries in central California and I was interested in how the Chilean compared with the Californian. I enjoyed this wine also, but it had a bit more of a tannic taste to it than the cab/shiraz blend from Australia.

To go with the wines, I also had the mushroom, prosciutto and manchego cheese empanadas. The crust was nice and flaky. But the mushroom to prosciutto to cheese ratio was a bit off, with the mushrooms overpowering the flavor of the prosciutto and cheese. In fact, I could barely tell there was any cheese in there at all, let alone any prosciutto. The last time we went, I had the bruschetta, which was quite delicious with lots of nice tomato, garlic and basil.

Jags season over

It was a valiant effort, but the Jags lost to the Patriots on Saturday night. We didn't go anywhere to watch the game as we figured just about everyone else would be out and about watching the game and we didn't feel like fighting the crowds. Which was just as well. By the middle of the third quarter, I couldn't watch anymore and went to bed (those 8 p.m. kickoffs on the east coast make for late nights).

While we were watching, we had the doors open because it was a very nice evening. And when the Jags scored, someone somewhere was setting off fireworks (and yes, for those of you in California, fireworks are legal here, and there's a stand somewhere off I-95 which is close by. And I'm sure there are other places even closer where you can get them). And any time someone for Jacksonville did something good, someone else in a nearby apartment would cheer and yell. I think pretty much the entire town was watching the game. In fact, at the grocery store the next day, everyone asked, "Hey, did you see the game last night?"

Anyway, Go Jags!

Jaguar Mania

It's Jaguar mania around here -- Last Saturday the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs. So tonight the Jags are in Massachusetts to take on the New England Patriots in their home stadium in the second round.

And the news has been nothing but Jags, Jags, Jags all week long. Jags flags are flying in place of Gator flags. Casual Friday meant teal and black Jaguars clothing.

It's actually really neat to be in a place where everyone's interested in how the team is doing. And it's fun to be in a small enough place where the chances of seeing members of the team out and about are actually pretty high. In fact, the other night we went to the Mandarin Ale House for a co-worker's going away happy hour, and a member of the Jaguars was there. He was even autographing stuff for some of the kids there.

While a win tonight won't solve the lackluster tickets sales leading to local TV black-outs for next season, in my opinion. The inability to sell out the entire stadium isn't because of a winning or losing season, I think there are other issues, such as the economy, difficulty of getting to the stadium, prices of the tickets and the food and drink that have more of an impact on whether or not tickets are sold. But it will be very exciting indeed if the Jaguars do beat the Patriots.

Lunch at Lemon Grass

I had lunch at a restaurant today. I suppose for most people, that wouldn't be too big of a deal, but I think I can count the number of times I've eaten lunch out since I arrived in Jacksonville on one hand. Unless I count the sandwich shop on the first floor of my building; but then it's still probably under 10 times.

So, a friend and I went to Lemon Grass on Old Baymeadows Road for lunch today. And it was good. Apparently, lots of people like the Amazing, which is a peanut/coconut curry dish. For me, I had the sweet and sour with chicken. What I liked about this lunch menu was that you could choose which type of meat with which type of sauce/noodle. So if I wasn't feeling like chicken, I could have beef or shrimp. Or I could have chicken with either amazing or sweet and sour or any other number of curries and sauces available.

The sweet and sour chicken was very tasty -- not too sweet, and not too sour. It had some hidden bits of ginger, and also included baby corn, onion, pineapple, zucchini, snow peas, matchstick carrots, and bell pepper. Most of the time when I get this dish, it comes with just chicken, onion, bell pepper, and pineapple. So the addition of the other vegetables was a delight.

Also, we ended up sitting in the bar area -- this place gets crowded at lunch time. It was a tad bit cold when the front door opened, but otherwise service was good and timely. I noticed a decent number of Napa and Sonoma wineries represented in the bar -- many are ones that I particularly enjoy. So I may have to revisit for dinner one night.

Wintering Geese

There's a flock of geese wintering in Jacksonville. They come flying in in a v-formation and sploosh down in the Cedar River just in front of the apartment. This picture was taken a couple of days ago from the balcony.

Sticky Fingers

We went to Sticky Fingers in Atlantic Beach last night for dinner. Every now and again, there's nothing I like better than some messy ribs. I always go for the rib sampler so I can taste the several varieties of bbq styles.

Memphis Style Dry -- this is a dry rub, and while I'm not used to the dry rub since most ribs come with gooey sauce, I love the taste

Habanero Hot -- these are too hot for me; next time I'll have to ask them to replace it with the Tennessee Whiskey

Carolina Sweet -- these are good; a bit too sweet at first bite, but then the sweetness mellows

Memphis Style Wet -- similar taste as the Dry, but with the gooey sauce instead of the dry rub, good flavor

Sunrise, Jacksonville

This is sunrise over the Cedar River from the balcony of our apartment, taken at some time during the summer.