Travel Reports

Wendy & I just got home from a short trip to Chicago. We went so I could participate in the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) Annual Industry Conference. Wendy went along for the ride and to take in the sights of Chicago.

The conference was extremely informative as I come up to speed in my new position (Associate Director of Graduate Admission) in the College of Business at the University of Cincinnati. There were approximately 750 attendees from all over the world who went to lots of concurrent breakout sessions on varied topics – from Women’s MBA issues to pitching an idea in 30 seconds to evaluation of Customer Relationship Manager software and much, much more. One of the stated goals of the conference organizers was to make it difficult to decide between concurrent sessions, and they overshot in that attempt – it was nearly impossible to select between sessions! In fact, one suggestion that I will make to the conference organizers for future conferences is to offer some of the concurrent session offerings multiple times. During one of the breakout times, I wanted to attend 3 of the 4 offered sessions! The sessions I attended were excellent and really helped me in my ongoing learning process.

During the conference, Wendy enjoyed the Field Museum, some shopping, exploring Navy Pier, and other solo endeavors.

Around my sessions, we enjoyed exploring Chicago’s many fine eateries.

After a reasonable & uneventful 4-hour drive to Chicago, we had time for lunch before my conference began. We walked to Giordano’s Pizza, just a few blocks from our hotel near the south end of the “Magnificent Mile”, which is Chicago-style pizza at its finest. At the suggestion of our server, we split a small stuffed pizza filled with pepperoni and mushrooms. The menu (and server) will tell you that the pizzas take 35-40 minutes to bake and you may be tempted to order an appetizer to nosh while you wait (like we did). I suggest that you resist this temptation – not because their appetizers are not excellent (they are delicious) – but because the “small” pizza was too much for us to handle after the appetizers!

And you want to enjoy as much of this pizza as you can – the thick bottom crust is filled with an obscene amount of gooey, melty mozarella cheese and your selected ingredients, then topped with another crust which is itself topped with delicious marinara sauce. The server brings the pie to your table and offers to plate it for you. Say yes and you’re treated to her efficiently sliding the spatula under the thick slices and lifting it high into the air, delicious strands of cheese arching gracefully back to the pan. The pizza is delivered to the plate, the long cheese strands cut (and delivered onto your plate where they quickly cool and become a delicious chewy first bite before you dig into the pizza). Each bite is a mixture of pleasure and pain – pleasure because it is just. so. good, and pain because you know you’re filling up (especially after appetizers) and that you won’t be able to a> finish the pie or b> take the leftovers to the hotel (no fridge in the hotel room, you see). If you are hard-core, you might even find room for their exceptional desserts.

After conference events, Wendy & I were joined by my boss Jackie for dinner at Le Colonial, a short cab ride from the hotel. Le Colonial is a French-Vietnamese restaurant that captures the spirit of French colonial Southeast Asian from the 1920s. We started with drinks in the cozy upstairs bar (I had a lovely glass of Block 19 Cuvee from the Hess Collection (Napa)) then moved to our table in the front of the restaurant, overlooking Rush Street. We sampled a variety of dishes, and all were exceptional… Banh Cuon (steamed ravioli with chicken and crimini mushrooms with a lime garlic sauce) was tasty but lacked the promised “slight kick” of spiciness that led me to the dish. Ca Bam Xuc Bahn Trang was a real highlight of the evening. A dice of monkfish (poor man’s lobster!), chili, lemongrass, and peanuts served with toasted sesame crackers had us all craving more. I could have eaten a full order of that myself. Ca Song, tuna tartare with cilantro, tomato, and cucumber in a ginger soy dressing and served with wonton chips was another favorite on the table. The dressing added a subtly different flavor than what we’re used to on tartare, and it worked beautifully. Entrees were Ca Nuong (grilled salmon over vermacelli noodles with lime-garlic sauce), Vit Quay (roasted duck with a tamarind dipping sauce), and Wendy had a delicious shrimp dish (will check and get the correct dish on here ASAP!). Everything was very fresh and well-presented (though my hot duck dish was served on a cold plate – my Basic Cooking 1 students do not make this mistake!). I felt like the restaurant was a very good choice, though it wasn’t attempting to blaze new culinary frontiers (I cannot fault this – it has a laser-focused concept which does not permit much culinary invention). Still, a rock-solid meal and well-worth a visit.

After Friday’s full day of conference sessions, Wendy & I grabbed an enjoyable meal at Heaven on 7, directly across the street from our hotel, before heading to the Oriental Theater to see WICKED. The restaurant is on the second floor of the building and sports the largest collection of hot sauces I’ve ever seen (and I’ve see the collection at Jungle Jim’s in Cincinnati!). Apparently, if a chili-head can bring in a bottle of hot sauce unknown to the restaurant, they award a free meal. We very much enjoyed our dishes – I had BBQ Brisket served with etouffee of the day, tater tots, and cole slaw) which I liberally dosed with some of the (18 bottles – we counted!) of hot sauce on our table. Wendy had Orzolaya which was also delicious. We split a Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffin which was served warm from the oven and was delicious slathered with honey butter.

After dinner, it was a quick cab ride to the Oriental Theater to see their production of WICKED. The inside of the theater itself is so ornately designed that it’s almost in competition with the spectacular set for WICKED. Ornate designs and sculptures line the enormous domed ceiling and surrounding pillars, with some truly fascinating work visible just over the head of the set’s moving “Time Dragon” piece. The show was very good (as expected), though the performances were lowest of the 4 times we’ve seen the show. It was as if the three leads (Glinda, Elphaba, and Fiyero) eased into their performances – the first half of each of their songs was their vocal warmup. Overall, the performances lacked the power and vocal strength that we’ve come to expect from other productions. Still, an extremely enjoyable evening, even with these minor annoyances. We also discovered the trick to getting a cab outside a busy theater… Walk half a block away from the theater and you can get a cab without delay.

After the conference ended on Saturday afternoon, Wendy & I were joined by Eric, my colleague at University of Kentucky, to wander around Chicago a little bit. Eric & I went to the top of the Hancock Tower while Wendy shopped at Water Tower Place (Wendy is not interested in ANYTHING 94 floors off the ground!). Expect photos shortly. After returning to earth, the three of us explored all three floors of the American Girl store, because, well, you have to see it to believe it. And even then, it is truly unbelievable. Eric was a capable tour guide through the store – he, like me, had learned that American Girl existed only a short time ago. Before you freak out, consider this… Eric & I are the wrong gender, the wrong age, and entirely the wrong demographic for American Girl. Therefore, I hope it is understandable how we were ignorant of this phenomenon. Get your photo with your doll? Get your doll’s hair styled? Take your doll to the “hospital” for repairs? Buy matching outfits for you and your doll? Pay over $100 for a doll?! Whodathunkit!

Once we picked up our jaws, we walked down to Navy Pier to get cheeseburgers at Billy Goat Tavern, reportedly where John Belushi got his idea for the famous “Cheeseborger… Cheeseborger… Cheeseborger… No Pepsi! Coke! No fries! Chips!” routine for Saturday Night Live. While we didn’t hear any of that patter and the burgers led us to a discussion of our favorite burgers (note that Billy Goat Tavern appeared on no one’s list!), it was reasonably tasty food. We walked all the way around the pier and headed back to the hotel so Eric could (not) catch his plane back to Kentucky.

Wendy worked out and I napped in the room before heading off to an anticipated dinner at Blackbird, in the West Loop of the city. We entered the funky, bright space and were promptly seated at a small table along the wall. The space is very open, bright, and minimally decorated. It is also fairly loud, which makes intimate conversation difficult (though we did enjoy talking with the locals to my right (thanks for the brunch suggestion) and the recent college graduate and her family to my left) but evokes a community experience.

When Wendy made our reservation, we decided to do the 7-course tasting menu since that gave us an opportunity to see the scope of the restaurant. Our server was David (“Bear”), who took exceptional and extremely personable care of us through it all. We opted for paired wines with our tasting menu (a great value). The dishes and wines were as follows (thanks to David for keeping track of what we ate – and for doing so on one of the restaurant’s menus, so we not only have a list of our food, but of the restaurant’s offerings!):

• Amuse: Marinated Octopus Salad with Rapini Pesto, Strawberries, and Sea Beans
  Henriut Brut, N.V., “Souverein”
• Chilled Cuttlefish with Jicama, Snow Peas, Cardamom – the cuttlefish was cut into long, thin, spaghetti-like strips. The entire dish screamed freshness.
  2006 Dr. Von Brasserman, Jordan, Trocken Riesling
• Grilled Beet Marinated California Sturgeon with Boiled Beets, Stinging Nettles, Rhubarb, and Sunflower Seed Puree – a definite highlight of our evening, this dish with its mile-long list of ingredients actually worked extremely well without an ingredient out of place. A revelatory dish, instructing on balance and careful thought to ingredients.
  2006 Francois Pinon Vouvray, “Cuvee Tradicion”
• Seared Tasmanian Sea Trout with Cherry Molasses, Kohlrabi, Baby Turnips, Forbidden Black Rice, and Salad Burnet – such a lovely, unexpected dish. The sea trout has a salmon-like texture and color, perfectly complimented by the flavors of the cherry molasses. The black rice tuile was a nice textural counterpoint.
  2006 Gypsy Dancer Pinot Noir “Emily Ann Cuvee”
• Seared foie gras with pickled cherries, caraway ice cream – in honor of Chicago’s recently-lifted foie gras ban, we requested this special course. While not seared as “hard” as I’m used, it was delicious. The caraway ice cream was a funky counterpoint to the flavor, and it worked.
  2002 Chateau Sigalas, Rabaud, Sauternnes
• Braised Rack of Lamb with fresh soybeans, spring radishes, pickled feta, and lovage
  1999 Mazur & Fils Cotes Du Rhone “Cuve Mazurka” – we felt that this wine didn’t pair particularly well (with the radishes), so David brought a wonderful Zinfandel that was outstanding (though he didn’t write down what it was!).
• Cheese tasting, epoisses, germain affine au chablis. David offered an extra course, a cheese course that he feels “is missing” from the tasting menu. He asked Wendy (I was away from the table) if she “wanted Epoisses or…” and Wendy cut him off, saying, “Epoisses”. So David brought a lovely taste of epoisses.
  Unibroue “Ephemere” – a wheat/barley beer brewed with apple must, this was a shock (especially to Wendy who is a reluctant beer drinker (at best)) but it paired surprisingly well.
• Goat Cheese Tart with pumpkin seed granola, meyer lemon sorbet, and marmalade and Milk Chocolate Fritters with apricots, soy and rice milk sorbet – the tart was excellent, perfectly complimented by the sorbet (I could eat gallons of that stuff). The soy and rice milk sorbet was an interesting flavor profile with the chocolate fritters, but it satisfied on multiple levels – deep sweet notes from the chocolate, crunchy from the exterior of the fritter, bright sweet notes from the apricots, and a salty flavor from the sorbet.
  Elio Perrone Moscato d’Asti and
  2000 Bertrand Grand Cru Banyuls

We were both deeply impressed with the service, atmosphere, quality of food, and overall experience at Blackbird restaurant. It’s a fun, funky place with great, innovative food at reasonable prices considering the quality and variety of offerings. One of the owners (“Danny” or “Donnie” – as stated, it is a fairly loud place!) stopped by the table and we shared our enthusiasm with him before we headed back to the hotel.

Sunday morning, we had time only for brunch before hitting the road, so we walked down to Bistro 110, one of Wendy’s brother’s favorite places to eat in Chicago. And it’s easy to see why it’s a favorite. Everything – from the warm bread with roasted garlic, raspberry jam, and butter served when we sat down to Wendy’s Grand Mother’s Frittata with bacon, mushrooms, onions, parsley, and garlic to my Eggs Louisana (poached eggs atop crab cakes with creole and hollandaise sauce) to the pomme frites & angel hair onions we shared – was excellent. It’s a lovely place for brunch, too, offering jazz on Sunday (maybe other days as well). Simple food done exceptionally well.

After eating, we jumped in the car and headed home from a great trip to Chicago. We look forward to going back!

From Saturday, Februrary 16 through Saturday, February 23, 2008, Wendy & I were in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. We stayed once again with our friends Doug & Kelly in their lovely condo about 20 miles off the strip. Wendy was attending a veterinary conference, which left me free to explore the strip after dropping her off at Mandalay Bay each morning.

Since this was our second trip to Las Vegas, I approached things a bit differently this time. Last trip, my goal was to do a “survey” of all the hotels on the strip, spending just a few minutes in as many of them as possible. I largely met that goal last time, so I wanted to delve a bit deeper into Las Vegas this trip.

I explored several hotels more completely, including Mandalay Bay, the Excalibur, Imperial Palace, Rio, Stratosphere, Treasure Island, and Luxor. While in the Luxor, I visited the production offices of Criss Angel’s Mindfreak television show, which was very cool. I also drove into downtown Las Vegas (scary) and visited the Freemont Street Experience (also scary), plus a few downtown casinos (very scary).

We had several good meals while in Las Vegas… L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, La Provincal (with Doug & Kelly), Bouchon, Marrakech (with Scott, Emily, and Sarah), Andre’s (downtown), and a couple different buffets (hey, it IS Vegas!). The meal at L’Atelier, which was the most anticipated meal, was very good but not excellent (and certainly not worth the price). Expect a full report soon.

The conference opener for Wendy’s conference was Howie Mandel. I wasn’t a huge fan of him before, but his 75-minute set was very funny and very tailored to veterinarians (unlike Jay Leno’s set a couple years ago which was a standard monologue). Our friend Emily hooked us up with free tickets to see Billy Joel in concert. They were great seats and we all had a great time.

Doug & I went ”wheeling” in his Toyota FJ and all was swell — it was big fun climbing over non-navigable terrain — until Doug decided to take me “dune jumping” and wrecked his vehicle. :(  Still, we got great pictures!

A giant highlight of the trip was a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon. It was a 45-minute flight out, with 30 minutes IN the Canyon (amazing), and a 45-minute flight back to the strip. More info and pictures soon.

a very special report by Holly

We started our journey to Biltmore on Friday, August 17; we finally got the kids loaded and on the road by 9:30 a.m. (excellent by our standards). We wanted to take our time and give ourselves lots of breaks. We were ready for lunch at around 11:30 a.m., so we stopped at the Mt. Vernon Kentucky exit and ate at the Rockcastle Steakhouse. This place has been around since the 50s or 60s, probably, and the décor is the same as it was when I was a kid and we would stop there on our way to Lake Cumberland. The restaurant sits up on a hill that overlooks I-75 Southbound; we ate in the overlook room and enjoyed the view. It was particularly fun for me to be eating with my kids at a restaurant that I first went to as a kid myself. One of those circle of life things…

Once back on the road, Ed decided that we should check in with the rest of the crew and see where everyone was. At that point, Ted and Tracy and Chuck and Kristy were about an hour behind us, with Drew, Wendy and Ron not far behind. Dave and Robin, we knew, were coming later in the day, and we figured Rose and Keith were not far off from the rest. All agreed to get in touch upon their arrival in Asheville.

The trip through the mountains was beautiful, but seemed a little long to us, since the kids were getting a bit antsy. Finally, though, we arrived in Asheville and proceeded to the Biltmore Estate main gate. Ed, myself, and the kids were staying at the Inn on the Biltmore Estate, a gift to me for my 40th birthday. We stopped at the security checkpoint and got our parking pass for the weekend, then went on toward the inn.

The Biltmore Estate is 8, 000 acres, and it’s about 5-7 miles from the main gate to the Inn, so there is a definite separation from the rest of the world. We drove past fields and forest, over streams and pathways, until we reached the Inn. The Inn provides the only accommodations on the Estate, and the architecture echoes the house itself in a modern sense. We rarely stay in such fancy digs, so of course we were a little unprepared for the wonderful treatment we received, from valet to concierge. The service there is outstanding.

Ed and I had decided to book a junior suite to give us and the kids a little more room; at least, that’s what I thought. Unbeknownst to me, Ed had upgraded our room… to the best suite in the Inn, the William B. Cecil suite. It was in the turret of the Inn, on the sixth floor. Windows everywhere make sure that the room is full of light during all of the daytime hours. Upon crossing the threshold of the suite, one walks down a hallway into the living area, complete with couch and two easy chairs, plus TV and bookshelf; a slight turn brings one to a dining table that seats eight. There is a kitchenette as well. The master bedroom and bath were as spacious and well-appointed as the rest of the suite. Plus, a welcome basket containing two bottles of Biltmore Estate wine and various cocktail snacks awaited us on the desk. For my birthday, Ed had decided that I should live like a queen for a day or so, and that is certainly how I felt. It was amazing.

That evening, those of us already in town had decided to have dinner in the Dining Room at the Inn, so I met up with Wendy, Drew, Ron, Ted, Tracy, Rose, Keith, Kristy and Chuck downstairs at the restaurant. Actually, Ed had run into Wendy, Drew and Ron in the lobby, so they came up to the suite for awhile, then we went down to meet the others. (I’ll leave it to Drew to describe the dinner—he can surely do it more justice than I — but the food and service were both impeccable.) The Biltmore Estate is a working farm, and they try to raise a lot of the food on the estate that is ultimately used in the restaurants on the estate. Tomatoes were in season when we were there, so fresh tomatoes featured in several of the dishes on the menu. The one little blip to the dinner was that a fire alarm was triggered in the building and we did need to step out on the patio — just as our entrees arrived. But the staff covered the dishes for us, and mine was still warm when we returned after just a few minutes outdoors. At the end of the meal, I was surprised with a chocolate gateau with “Happy Birthday” written on the plate in chocolate. Chuck, who had celebrated his birthday on August 15th, received this dessert as well, and I sent the same dessert up to Ed, who had stayed back with the kids (they ordered room service and went to the pool). After dinner, our party moved to the suite; the kids were in bed, so everyone stayed and shared some further bottles of wine before adjourning for the evening.

The next morning we (the aforementioned, plus Dave and Robin) met at the Biltmore House itself for the tour. Yes, it was a very warm day and the house is not air-conditioned, but large fans were placed strategically throughout and the tour was by no means unbearable (particularly as we were touring early). The Biltmore House shows living on a grand scale; the house contains 250 rooms. About 40 or so are open for the tour. It took us about 2.5 hours to complete the tour; most of us opted for the audio tour, which gives far more information than just the brochure provided.

I can’t speak for the others, of course, but I adore the House. It is, of course, extravagant and opulent, but at the same time I get such a sense that this place was actually lived in. So many times, when I tour historic houses, I get the feeling that I’m in a museum, but with the Biltmore, I feel very much that the family is just away and I’m checking out their house while they’re gone. Maybe it’s because the house is still in the family; George Vanderbilt (the man for whom the house was built) only had one child, daughter Cornelia, and her son William Cecil is the CEO of the Biltmore Company today. Also, those who restored the house to ready it for touring were meticulous in using the original furnishings or creating as exact of duplicates as they could, so the house really looks like it did when George Vanderbilt lived there.

Some of my favorite rooms in the house include the library (think the Beast’s library from Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, only on a slightly smaller scale), the loggia where the mountain breezes are at their best, the South Tower bedroom (I like to think that that is where I would have stayed, had I been a guest there) and the third floor living area. Another nice thing about Biltmore is the look you get at the working areas of the house: the servant bedrooms, the kitchens, the laundry, the pantries, etc. I really got a sense of what it took to keep a place like that running.

After the tour, we went to the Bistro restaurant for lunch. The Bistro is part of the winery complex; the former dairy barns have been converted into a working winery. Again, the food was superb. Again, lots of tomatoes. After lunch, we took the self-guided winery tour; this was my one disappointment of the trip. The self-guided tour really doesn’t tell much about the workings of the winery. They do offer a guided tour, however, and I think that it would be much more informative. A free wine tasting is included in the estate admission; while some of our group opted to go for it, I decided to go back to the suite and rest a bit. Ed had again taken charge of the kids for the day; he took them for a bike ride on the estate and then to the estate petting farm, where the got to meet horses and goats and collect eggs. When they returned to the suite, Colin took a nap while Piper and I went to the pool.

That evening we met up with everyone in downtown Asheville at a funky BBQ joint called Ed Boudreaux’s Bayou BBQ. It was great fun. The place features 14 different BBQ sauces, and there are plenty of things on the menu for non-BBQ lovers as well. Our server was fun and laid back, and totally capable of dealing with our large group. Ron’s friend Dave, who lives elsewhere in North Carolina, met up with us there for dinner, and I must say that he fit in with us perfectly (he finally paid Drew back the $50 borrowed a year or more previously. Joker that he is, Dave paid Drew back in Schrute Bucks). It was a pleasure to meet him and feast with him. Once again, a birthday dessert came my way: homemade bread pudding. We also received brownies for the table. Another wonderful time was had by all (including, this time, Ed and the kids).

That dinner was the conclusion of the group festivities. I truly had an unforgettable 40th birthday experience, and I am beyond delight that so many of my dear friends went to all the trouble and expense of sharing it with me. I am so blessed to have all of them in my lives. And total props to my amazing husband, who got the ball rolling by sending out the invitations to this road trip in February, so that everyone had time to plan. Can’t wait to see what he comes up with in ten years for the fiftieth!

Hello to Edgar (an old friend), and new friends Steffi, Rosa, Mikey, Toro, Fernando, Tavo, Buddy, Jenny, Dawn, Jon, Tasha, Craig, Jochen, Daniel, Sandy, Jim, Marta, Flavia, Jimena, and the others!

It was our sincere pleasure to meet each of you during our trip to the Mayan Riveria, Mexico in September 2006. When you visit the site, please add a comment to let us know you were here! To add your comment, click the title of this article (or click here) then scroll down to the bottom of the page. You’ll see the comment form; fill it out and click “Add my comment”.

The pictures are up! We’re still arranging them, but you can see the pictures (more than 20 pages of them!) if you click here.

Be sure to read all the articles in this series as they’re published… Click the title of this article (or click here) and you’ll see the series selector below the article text. Select the article you’d like to read from there!

More to follow!

Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality was killed by a stingray while he was filming an underwater documentary.

But is that the whole truth? Consult the picture below, taken in Mexico’s Mayan Riviera on September 8, 2006, for some shocking evidence to the contrary. The top-right of the image is the guy we saw in Mexico, and Jon added several reference pictures of Steve Irwin so you can compare it for yourself.

 

 

Another beautiful day, two more awesome dives… We got to the dive shop early and received scowls from Steffi, one of the dive shop employees who we really connected with. We’d promised to bring her a cappucino and completely forgot.

Our dives took us to Tortugas, where the sea turtles are and later to Paamul.

Tortugas was the first time I’ve ever seen Wendy descend easily. Normally, she has significant trouble with her ears and equalization, but on this dive, she went down at a normal rate. We had a 49 minute dive with Mikey as our instructor and Dan & Scott from St. Louis on the dive with us. Dan was quite possibly the worst diver I’ve ever seen — he constantly swam with his arms forgetting that they’re all but useless under water and was so multi-level it was unreal — and we’ve seen some doozies. We saw tons of Hawksbill Turtles, Cowfish, and, after both Dan & Scott were cut, we saw a school of GIANT Tarpin during our safety stop.

After dives, we hung out at the dive shop and talked with the gang a bit, and then went to the pier to swim. Toro, one of the dive shop assistants, came to the pier with loads of fish food and threw it on the wading Wendy, attracting loads of fish to torment her. Being the gentleman, I tossed Toro into the water and threw food on him. After that, he and I got into a language-barrier splash contest. We had lunch and happy hour with Dawn & Jon, a super-cool couple we met down there. They live in Ohio, and pretty close to us, so we’re sure to see them again!

Wendy & I then went to the Mexican restaurant for dinner, which I wrote about here. After dinner, we went straight to bed because Thursday was going to be a big day. A really big day!