Quick visit, just for the day. Lunch at Cascal, dinner at Zibbibo, and a nap in between. I'm still sick, so I needed that nap.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Our first baby tool has arrived
Despite the fact that Michael was a bit under the weather, and Robin protested that I was sitting on the floor, we managed to assemble our first-to-arrive key baby tool -- the Stokke Xplory.
You see it here assembled with the "newborn" setup -- that's a pretty sizeable carry cot meant for babies 0-6months. Then we switch to Phase 2, which has a different seat and makes the Xplory look a lot more like a traditional stroller -- except that baby can be facing us OR facing away, AND be at waist height, rather than low like a traditional stroller. No bending awkwardly to lift is always a good thing, IMHO.
So far, the main drawback to the Xplory are mainly that the machinations of those Clever Norwegians will take awhile to understand. Perhaps because we've been sick... but we will have a learning curve here. Of course, I believe that this is true, to a certain extent, with most strollers.
In the plus department, once things ARE assembled and you've figured out how to attach, move, adjust, etc., it's ridiculously easy to do so. The stroller moves extremely smoothly. And the textiles are WONDERFUL against your skin -- incredibly soft. They also include the cute baby blanket, color-coordinated to your textiles....
We're looking forward to having a small person to put in the stroller.
Love,
Kristiana & Michael
Kristiana Kincaid
415.990.5123
Sent from my iPhone
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Destination coffee
And more significantly, destination espresso.
Intelligentsia Coffee has been on my radar for a long time, but I've never managed a visit until now. Several years ago Kristiana and I were in Napa overnight, and my morning wanderings took me to a bakery that also stocked a few gourmet items, among them bags of Intelligentsia Black Cat espresso blend. You didn't have to be a coffee expert - I certainly wasn't - to know that these beans were magic. One squeeze of the bag and one stiff told you. The bakery couldn't pull a decent shot, and I wasn't able to brew anything exceptional from them at home (I didn't have any espresso equipment then), but there was no question that Black Cat was the work of people who truly, truly loved espresso.
Unfortunately Intelligentsia is located in Chicago, a city with lots to offer but which I never seem to find occasion to visit. For a few weeks last year it looked as if 2008's headphone audiophilia conference would be in Chicago, and that would have made a good focal point for a visit, but ultimately it was moved to Florida - the right decision for the meet (the Florida gang have the bench strength to pull it off brilliantly while the Chicago cabal's leadership was, uh, less clearly demonstrated), but making it less interesting to me.
So I didn't know when I would make it to Intelligentsia. Then, Intelligentsia came to California. Just one, in LA.
The recently-opened shop is on Sunset, in the hipster-heavy stretch known as Silverlake. It's where to shop for 50's retropolitan furnishings and decor. And it's where my friend Maggie lives. In fact, Intelligentsia is right next door to the cheese shop we've walked to together on more than one previous visit.
Maggie is a best friend from business school, and I'm down here this weekend because a small dinner she was having with another b-school best friend grew by another b-school best friend, and then another, so that I could not stay away, not with Robin on the way and future opportunities for travel looking pretty distant. So I flew in on Saturday and will fly home tonight. In between, we're sandwiching some database design for Maggie's business, some IT support for Maggie's computers at home, cooking dinner, the party itself, some IT support for two of Jon's computers, meeting up with a friend from online over in Santa Monica, a visit to the new wing of LACMA, a couple of superb lunches, and of course visits to Intelligentsia. Good espresso is certainly a suitable power source for a weekend like this.
At my routine haunt Caffe del Doge in Palo Alto, each espresso comes with a brown sugar cube. At Barefoot, my weekend destination in Santa Clara, a tiny almond cookie. A favorite Italian deli off Piccadilly Circus serves espresso with a twist of lemon peel - this is a favorite for me - and Flying Goat in Healdsburg tucks a little cube of chocolate onto the saucer. Intelligentsia gives you a shotglass of sparkling water, pulled from a soda-fountain style tap on the counter. I wasn't expecting this, but it's a nice chaser after a shot.
As for the shot itself, Intelligentsia's is now my personal reference: the best I've ever had. It is small, thick, and heavily laden with true crema (not just foam) just like the ones from Barefoot - but I honestly like Intelligentsia's blend better than any of Barefoot's.
Sorry, I'm going on in too much detail. To sum up, wow. It was just fantastic stuff. I'd tried to limit my expectations on the way over, sure that a big mental buildup would lead to disappointment. There was no need.
Post-espresso we returned to the house and got started with party prep. Friends began arriving at five or six, and the socializing (http://www.flickr.com/photos/11709446@N00/sets/72157604212147028/) continued until just about midnight.
I'm a morning person and almost always wake up pretty early no matter what time I get to bed. So before Maggie was even up, I was on my way back to Intelligentsia for my morning shot. Two shots, actually, which will surely cost me some sleep tonight, but I don't know when I'll be in LA again.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Robin Waves Hello
Hello Friends and Family -
Mom-to-be is still sick with the flu, so today turned out to be Doctor Visits Day. I saw my GP to get antibiotics, then did my gestational diabetes/glucose test, then managed to get in a checkup and ultrasound of Robin. After this ultrasound, we're still thinking "she" -- so here "she" is looking out at you. She waved, too.
Besides the fact that I'm sick, Robin is doing fine - moving a lot (!!), with a strong heartbeat. She's apparently not large for her stage of development, 29 weeks (which is borne out by my lack of baby weight), so hurray. Mom, on the other hand, is really wishing for some antihistamines. Antibiotics will have to do.
Now that we're back in the US after a three-week trip to the UK and Ireland (Apple business trip, for the most part), Michael and I have (finally) started shopping for baby paraphernalia, which is overwhelming simply because there's so much of it to keep track of. We've lost our first couple of Craigslist postings and EBay auctions for some of the key items we want/need (we've decided on crib, stroller, and changing table by fabulous Norwegian company Stokke, www.stokkeusa.com), but we're keeping our eyes open for the next opportunity. Funny how two months (well, eleven weeks) really doesn't seem like much time to plan, but it's what we've got left, so we'll make the best of it. Recommendations for the things new parents simply can't live without will be much appreciated, so send those suggestions our way.
That's the news from Mountain View, where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children (born and unborn) are above average. Now I'm....we're going back to bed.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Saturday, March 08, 2008
The roaring fires
Scattered around Virgin's lounge at Heathrow are only video - but they go a surprising way towards making the modernist environment feel cozy and homey.
View from the Wicker Chair-thing
swing-chair thingy as Michael visits the deli counter for some Michael-
breakfast. Later, prior to boarding, we are due for massages in the
Cowshed, which is apparently a full-service spa attached to the Lounge.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Cafe Pasta
Phil had enouraged us to dine at Roku, a tremendously good robata restaurant a short taxi ride from here, but by the time we got to our hotel (and made our obligatory Forbidden Planet trip) we just weren't up to it. Instead we went to Cafe Pasta, the reliable little Italian place we always wind up at, a few doors down from the hotel.
Kristiana's grilled chicken salad went over well, and I had a salad with a grilled swordfish steak dabbed with a little pesto that was just wonderful. It's no Roku, I'm sure, but they always serve something that really hits the spot.
Forbidden Planet
This is just a small slice of the top floor of the best sci fi store we've ever seen, and a required stop any time we visit London.
At hotel
Hooray, finally checked in to our London hotel. We left our suitcases at the airport, so this will suffice for unpacking.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Madelyn made chocolate chip cookies
tummy instead of the oven, but that is certainly de riguere when it
comes to cookie dough.
Sorry about my spelling. It's hard to type with a mouthful of cookie.
Monday, March 03, 2008
We're in Dublin
Sorry for the late post. We arrived Saturday afternoon, and Phil, Kristi, and Madelyn have been taking excellent care of us ever since.
Saturday night we had an all-hands-on-the-cooktop dinner party for Phil's business associate Zizi from Morocco. Kristi had anned to make seafood, but upon arriving at the market she found a note that the fishmonger was out due to a death in the family. So we improvised. I oversaw some chicken (a variation on my usual chicken-under-a-brick recipe with some very nice fresh thyme), Zizi supervised broiled lamb chops, and we all whomped up some salad and wild rice and who knows what else. Dessert was fruit cooked in a scary amount of Irish butter, with Irish ice cream, and it was wonderful.
And the company was as well. It is always a pleasure to spend time with the Thompsons, and the erudite Zizi ("the smartest oil consultant in Morocco," whispered Phil) was cery interesting and charming as well.
On Sunday we and new next door neighbors Stefano and Paola from Milan piled into two cars and drove to the extraordinary Powerscourt Estate. It's enormous, beautiful, and as we discovered, tremendously crowded on Mum's Day, which falls in March here.
We explored until it got cold - well, colder and less sunny, then drove down the road to a ace less crowded for a snack. As this snack was all we'd had since breakfast and it was late afternoon, it wound up substituting for both lunch and dinner for us. Phil and I both had the Guinness stew, the perfect restorative at the end of a chilly and hungry day. Stefano and Paola treated us all, and we are going to have to work hard to think of some way to repay their kind generosity - as wrll as to spend more time with them, as they were a very enjoyable couple.
Overnight it grew shockingly cold, and more is threatened for today. But so far it's sunny and calm, a great day to go out for tea at the luxurious Dylan hotel from which Kristiana has just blogged a photo.
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