Sunday Musings

I reflect on a week that was full and present my newest weekly post – Sunday Musings.  It is truly amazing how much I pack into one week.  From medical needs, to blogging to business and business traveling; I have been to Chicago to California and back again.  Most importantly, though, is family.  The week began with celebrating my father’s 84^th birthday.  Truly a monumental feat.  I am very aware of his mortality.  He has struggled the last few years but he is a fighter.  The hard thing for me to watch is all the pain he is in.  He rarely, if ever complains.  A not so good trait that I have acquired.  I am, however,  keenly aware of the briefness of our existence and try to appreciate the time I have with him.

The celebration of the birthday was proceeded by sending my daughter back off to college for her final semester at the University of Michigan.  Amazing how fast the children grow up.  As a side note, and confirmed by my niece, my daughter gets plenty of mention and credit in this blog even if it is not to her satisfaction.  Before she left, we bought tickets to a U of M hockey game.  This is an experience I have not had in her 4 years and want to experience it with her while she is still in school.

On Friday, my youngest son came home from Birthright.  This is such an amazing opportunity for Jewish children aged 18 – 26 to experience.  A benefactor has set up a program where, as long as the young adult can get to NY, an all expense journey is provided to see the homeland.  All three of my children have had the experience and I know it has stuck with them.  A highlight for us was this picture.

 His cousin, our niece, was also in Israel on a different Birthright excursion and they crossed paths –  10,000 miles away from home.  It really is a small world.  Mom and I are so glad he is home and we have a little more than a week to enjoy him before he goes back to school.

I will spare you the details but the week began with a colonoscopy.  Welcome to being over 50 years old.  I will share in a food context, the preparation is something I mentally wanted because I have done cleanses before and I really feel cleanses are a necessary experience for your system and when completed, you always have a desire to eat healthier.  I did have a couple of polyps and am waiting for the results.

The procedure was on a Monday and took me out of work for a day.  Tuesday was spent putting on the finishing touches for a presentation I was making in Sacramento the next day.  The opportunity is to sell a fairly large tract of land in the emerging West Sacramento urban core.  It is a beautiful site that sits along the Sacramento river.  The parcel is an assemblage.  The parcles are owned by 5 different families the majority of Asian descent.  Fascinating to see the generations of family.  The patriarchs purchased this land more than 60 years ago.  It has passed down, in some cases, to three generations.  This really is the story of America.  Immigrants come to America seeking a better life for their children.  Save up enough money.  Make some investments and future generations reap the benefits of the patriarchs foresite.     The presentation was made late on Wednesday afternoon.  We will learn early next week if we were chosen to be the group to market the property on their behalf.

I have written all these words and not even mentioned food.  Well, my food experience for the week began with my good fortune that my niece is actually in law school just outside of Sacramento.  As luck would have it, she had just returned to school for the next semester.  Her only role was to come up with a few suggestions on where to eat dinner.  I asked for restaurant ideas and links so I could review the menus.  We settled on Mayahuel.  It referred to itself as a tequila museum. 

 

We never did ask why it had this reference in its promotional material.  We simply liked the combination of Mexican food and tequila cocktail concoctions.  We tried a couple different margaritas.  Abby’s was a little more traditional but it had extra lime and mint infused in it.  I went for the spicy one.  Mine had peppers and jalapenos infused in it – it had a real good kick. 

 

Our dinner starting with the sharing of an appetizer sampler.  We both liked the pulled chicken bites.  Abby had fish tacos for her main course and she really liked them.  I had a taste and they had real good flavor with nice acidity.  I ordered the chicken mole. 

 

The texture and depth of the sauce was good but it was a little lacking on flavor.  So my rating of the restaurant is a 3 out of 5 but my rating on the evening is priceless to have the experience to be with my niece.  In short, Sacramento was a real winner.

There are no direct flights between Chicago and Sacramento.  So on the way home, I connected through LAX.  My good fortune was to find they had a food truck in the airport as one of their food options.

 

I tried the Short Rib Burrito.  It was pretty good.  I am guessing the street version is even better.

 

The final gastronomic experience this week was special.  We went downtown to go to Bavette’s for a truly special meal Saturday night to celebrate the ladies recent birthdays.  Bavette’s is is a trendy, hip place highly regarded in Chicago food circles.  The steaks were great but I thought the show stealer was the smoked trout Caesar salad.  Great food, great friends, great night.