I seem to have a soft spot for anything tacky tiki. Before we went on our trip to Hawaii this year we saw the No Reservations episode on Oahu. The one where Tony Bourdain drops thousands on a vintage aloha shirt, but also manages to find a gem of a tiki bar by the Honolulu International Airport. Like all good dive bars, La Mariana Sailing Club is a little hard to find and in an unexpected location off Sand Island Access Road. Your main problems will be finding a parking space and getting home after drinking these potent cocktails. Below is the signature Mai Tai. 
We went at lunch time after flying in from the Big Island and it was very quiet. There were just a few locals having lunch and a few military guys off-base and engrossed quiet conversation. I can imagine this place gets rockin’ at happy hour.
La Mariana is the real deal. If you’re looking for a true tiki experience in Hawaii… this is it! 
Wow, your probable thinking these are some super grainy, blurry photos! They’re from the point and shoot G10, but somehow I still feel they capture the spirit of La Mariana.
I got excited earlier this year when I heard that Painkiller was opening in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I’m sure that the drinks are amazing, but on examination of photos, it looks a bit too NYC hip for me. While I sit on the the fence about visiting this tiki bar, Eater has helpfully compiled Tiki Bars of New York’s Past, Present & Future.
Posts Tagged ‘g10’
inside anthropologie – chelsea
August 12, 2010I’ve always loved shopping at Anthropologie, but my fascination shifted gears once I started watching Man Shops Globe on the Sundance Channel. Keith Johnson has my dream job, traveling the world and channeling inspiration as the buyer-at-large for Anthro.
On Saturday, Jo and I set our sights on walking the High Line. We met at 15th and 9th Ave where we were surprised to find Anthropologie. I knew this was a new development since my last trip to Chelsea Market in January! It’s hard to believe this Manhattan store is 9,000 square feet, the scale never feels overwhelming. I couldn’t resist taking a few photos in-between scouring the sale racks and wandering the top floor with complete envy.
I’m not sure why but, I am consistently drawn towards visual clutter. A photography professor pointed it out to me and it rings true in every aspect of my design sensibility. That’s probably why I find Anthro so appealing. The stores are always chock full of fascinating details. I love the music & the visual displays and hoard the catalogs at home. If they would just serve food, I could move right on in! I’m fortunate that the closest store is halfway between my home and office. It’s within reason, but not particularly close to any of my usual travels.
I adore these whimsical swags made out of old pages from National Geographic. I threw a shelves of them out after keeping them around for most of my entire childhood. I guess you could say my magazine hoarding started at a young age.
I almost bought this book, but I didn’t want to carry it around Manhattan all day long. It will have a home in my office shortly. Last week, I discovered The Selby and it just may be the most fascinating photographic blog I’ve seen this year. 
souterrain: underground food
August 3, 2010This year I just wasn’t excited about another Dinner at the Farm or feeling up for the fight to reserve a spot at Outstanding in the Field. With no outdoor fine dining on the horizon, our summer was rescued by Souterrain, Chef Bill Taibe’s latest dining series connecting good food and the people who love it. There didn’t seem to be much marketing around this first-time event, but you all know how much I love Le Farm. After reading a Facebook post, I gamely reserved 2 spots for dinner at a top secret location. Beside all the mysterious intrigue, what really sets Souterrain apart is the communal nature of the meal. Guests sat at small tables of 6 or 8 and the courses were served family-style. We didn’t know a soul, but there was no shortage of conversation at our table. Bruce, Carol, John and Judy all possess a knowledge of the local Connecticut food scene that blew me away. I have to reconsider calling myself a foodie in the midst of this crowd!
Sure, it’s really cool to tour an actual working farm at one of those other dinners, but I had no complaints with this beautiful backyard. 
A refreshing summer cocktail: I believe this raspberry lemonade is spiked with vodka and St. Germain.
I’m just going to digress for a second and completely swoon over the Rowayton home where this event was hosted. This house was made to entertain and the decor was so perfect, it was like being at a photo shoot for a food mag! I only got the teeniest taste through the many doors- flung wide open onto the back patio, but I could photograph these interior details all day long. 
That’s one lucky dog:
Love this photo of the bar, just as I love the servers from Le Farm.
D looks a bit pensive here. The bike makes the photograph, don’t you think?
Oh and the food? Well, of course it was fabulous. I’m no food critic and I’m sure Stephanie Webster of CT Bites (or some other blogger) will give you the low-down.
Below is the surprise course: oysters, topped with a corn fritter. 
Watermelon and chevre… I wish I had photographed it all, but it would have been so impolite to make the other dinner guests wait for the camera!
Shooting at a beautiful outdoor location is absolutely inspiring. Unfortunately for my readers, I was too busy enjoying myself to get really focused behind the lens. I copped out and mostly used the point & shoot. If I have another opportunity to dine at one of these events, I’d like to take more time with my dSLR! I can’t exactly make any promises, the food and location will probably be equally as tempting.
I LOVE: the place in guilford, connecticut
August 2, 2010This past weekend a few college friends came to town and I wanted to show them a unique summer dining experience, so we headed to The Place in Guilford, Connecticut. I’m not sure why it’s so much fun to sit on a tree stump and enjoy your food in the great outdoors, but everyone always loves it here.
I HATE eating corn on the cob in public, but I’ll make an exception for this roasted version. Our table always ends up littered with black bits of charred corn husks. My other favorite is the roasted clam special. The littlenecks are served up on a hot grill, already doused in cocktail sauce. By the time our 1 lb lobster arrived, it was too dark for photos. Plus conditions were *way* too messy to be touching my camera.
Everything (including your lobster) can be cooked on the outdoor grill and below is the one-and-only menu:
The Place is BYOB and you can fill-in the rest of your meal by bringing other sides from home. You may have read about my incomplete broccoli quinoa salad, but we still did manage to put out a nice cheese selection from Villa Gourmet, a tomato and mozzarella salad and a strawberry JELL-O pie.
If you go: A tablecloth isn’t a bad idea and forget the plastic, The Place is cash only.
texas two step
July 28, 2010On our second trip to Austin we saw many new things, but my hands-down favorite was the Broken Spoke. I read a guidebook that declared, you can always tell the newcomers because they stand around gawking with their jaw on the floor. Yes, that was me. This Yankee had never seen anything like it! The beat-up dance hall dates back to 1964 and has a ceiling that looks like it’s about to collapse! Think I’m exaggerating? Take a look at the photos below! Like all good dive bars, there was plenty to drink and lots to watch. I don’t even like country music, but somehow that night it didn’t bother me at all. That Saturday night, Dale Watson and his Lonestars had the stage: 
And there was a constant crowd dancing the two-step.
Nope, I didn’t hit the dance floor, but there is plenty of space to sit observe the swirl of cowboy hats go by.
My aunt and uncle are into ballroom dancing (left) so they were perfectly at home on the dance floor. Brand spankin’ newlyweds, Terry and Ryan even went out for a spin (right).
What is this animal? A giant armadillo? Who knows, but you can get a pineapple upside down cake shot for $6.50. We passed on that and later in the evening, I convinced Terry to let me try on her cowboy boots. It was a good thing we flew home the next day, or I might have come back with an impulse purchase. You know, something ridiculous like a pair of Lucchese’s from Allen’s Boots.
Finally, here’s a really low-quality video from my point and shoot G10 camera. I only share it because there truly are some things that a photograph will never capture.
weekend wrap-up
July 20, 2010I feel like I could win the deadbeat blogging award. I just haven’t had the energy to sit down and edit any of my major projects lately! Last week sure was a blur. Luckily I pulled out the camera or I wouldn’t have forgetten half of this already. First up, visiting my in-laws’ home right down the road:
Back at our place, the granite patio is really coming along:
This plane was doing shoreline runs over the weekend. Luckly, the engines are so loud, I had time to race outside with my camera:
I got my first taste of the food carts between Cedar and York at Yale New Haven Hospital. We arrived at 2 pm, too late to try Caseus grilled cheese truck, but I got this photo while we waited on the sidewalk for our pork tacos at another cart: 
My niece Kiera and her Uncle Blue, after three trips to St. Raphael’s… It was one of the longest days ever…
Amazingly ‘pop pop’ is already out of the hospital and continuing to mend at home.
fourth of july wrap-up
July 11, 2010Well it’s already the 10th, so I realized I better get going with these photos from the long fourth of July weekend! 
On the fourth, our first stop was Fort Trumbull beach. We looked for my cousin Kim and her family, but the beach was quiet. I think everyone was busy getting ready for the festivities later in the day.
Brent’s used the the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Here he gets his first taste of the Long Island Sound and the sandbars at low tide.
Then he’s off to try the paddleboard. He’s a natural, but being from Hawaii, he’s also been on a surfboard before… Maybe that helped him get adjusted so quickly.
Next stop, our neighborhood’s big 4th of July picnic. Brent declared it was like being in a movie. I guess it would be a movie about small town America. Milford can be pretty charming in the summer.
Later that afternoon we saw David and Danny & the boys having fun off near the raft in Morningside.
We spent a lot of time on the golf cart, because really who wants to walk? 
Now we’re speeding along Morningside Drive in the golf cart!
I actually spent some time in the kitchen, but didn’t manage to photograph anything but this trifle.
Day 2 at the beach and we headed for Bayview. It was very still the morning after the fireworks extravaganza! Brent wasn’t sure what was in the sand, but we assured him they were just snails.
Our new beachcomber Brent managed to pick out a dozen oysters as the tide went out. I’ve never seen oysters in Bayview before! We made sure to leave them so they could get bigger.
These photos have an odd tint since they were shot through the lens of D’s Persols.
On Monday afternoon we logged some quiet time in the hammock. Earlier in the day, I managed to slice my big toe on an oyster shell while we were at Bayview. This incident factored into my decision to buy the hands-down, ugliest footwear I have ever seen… a pair of Vibram FiveFingers KSOs. They arrive tomorrow and I hope they work well with the paddleboard!
I grabbed a quick video of Brent on the move in Fort Trumbull.
.
freestyle fireworks in bayview
July 7, 2010On the fourth we like to stick close to home. We were lucky enough to have the golf cart at our disposal, so we hopped in and drove to Point Beach to watch the Bayview fireworks. I have to say this vantage point is absolutely perfect in my book. It’s a great spot overlooking Bayview (and this year’s killer sunset) and you’re bit out of the fray. As Officer Smitty wisely noted, watching the Bayview fireworks can feel like you’re in a war zone. I cannot even begin to convey the amount of illegal fireworks that were launched here on Sunday night! Our former neighbors were still going strong an hour after it got dark. Aerials were shooting above our head and showering us with debris and ash. It was smoky and noisy and a bit even felt a bit dangerous… but I suppose that just added to the thrill of it all!
Point Beach gets in on the action and now the debris starts to rain down.
We started and ended the evening driving by the Morningside shoreline. It was a quiet oasis next to the activity in Point Beach and Bayview. 
perfect 10
July 5, 2010Three days, sun, surf, sandbars and fireworks. My cousin Brent came to town for the holiday weekend and we had three full days of exceptional summer beach weather. The paddle board came out and we also hit the streets in the golf cart to watch the festivities in Point Beach. I was glad we got there a little early before the skies darkened. What a view to over our old neighborhood of Bayview:
the vicky
June 30, 2010For our first trip to Austin, we couldn’t resist the lure of Hotel San Jose, but this vacation we went a different route and chose a b&b in a quiet neighborhood a few blocks off South Congress. I loved the peacefulness of the Park Lane Guest House, especially with the 40,000 motorcycles roaring into town for the ROT Rally. My parents settled into largest accommodations, The Garden Cottage. It is spacious with a kitchen, living room, separate bedroom, and lovely little patio.
We opted for more adventure with The Vicky. This tiny Texas house required negotiating a ladder to access the sleeping loft every night. For a handful of evenings up in the air, The Vicky has its charm… but it’s probably better suited for 2 kids than 2 adults! 
The Vicky is made of reclaimed building materials. Your host at Park Lane whips up a lovely breakfast AND is a master carpenter!
Here’s the exterior of our tiny Texas house!
If you decide to stay at Park Lane: breakfast is included, there’s a beautiful pool out back and trust me, snag the Garden Cottage and you’ll have plenty of room to spread out!