Beer Wine and Sports

Last week found me travelling to Seattle to do some work. I flew in on Wednesday to SEA/TAC to find a very pleasant day. Not a cloud in the sky, and just a nice, brisk temperature. It is refreshing to me to be in this type of weather, especially after nearly 10 years here in Southern California, where we really have just two seasons. These being Summer, and then the rest of the time.

I was there, from a IT perspective, to close three Cosi stores. None of the locations are really in Seattle. They are in the outlying cities of Mill Creek, Redmond, and Woodinville. While Cosi is really well known on the East Coast, everyone there loves it, but outside of that, it seems to be difficult to market, and the brand is infrequently recognized.
I was here a couple years ago, as a rookie in the POS league, installing the Woodinville location. You know, it makes me feel a little sad that now, I have to return, not to repair or to improve the system, but instead, to completely dismantle it. I never like to hear that a site of mine has to close. Each site I install, has a little bit of me in it, they are sort of like my "babies". I am the one who created it, and now I return again to destroy it. I was required to wipe all the hard drives and reload Windows, removing any sensitive data for good. All three locations are being sold as is with all POS hardware, tables, chairs, coffee makers etc., to a local pizza chain. Most everything included.

As I walked out to the car that morning, I was pleasantly surprised finding a nice layer of frost covering everything. I had to use my room key card to clear the frost. It's not every day I get to do that.
Day two required me to revisit all the sites to reimage these terminals, which required more time to wipe, on day one, than I was willing to sit in an empty restaurant and wait for it to finish. Once I arrived at the first site, it took me about 5 minutes to achieve this, having to replicate the procedure at each of the three stores, patching my laptop to the network, and ghosting the four terminals with a clean load of Windows, and all Cosi store specific settings removed. The drive between each was around 15 minutes. Not to bad, considering the traffic was manageable.

I then grabbed lunch at a local 50's style burger joint, Ruby's. I ordered a burger with pepper jack, and Ortega green chile. I have to say that it is just not the same green chile burger that Bourque can offer. Back to the hotel.

When I was out here in Seattle the first time, my work put me up at Willow's Lodge here in Woodinville. Oh my god, that was probably the nicest place I've ever stayed in while on work. Its an absolute four star hotel and spa. There are fireplaces, large tubs, the shower has no knobs, just buttons and a digital readout of the temperature, HD plasma tv. Pretty plush. The robes are very nice as well. There is a full on spa as well. Boughie maybe? Perhaps, but I was fortunate to be able to return on this trip.

Right across the way, within walking distance, is Red Hook brewery, Columbia Vineyards, and Chateau Ste Michelle Vineyards. After work on Thursday, I decided to stroll over to the RedHook Brewery for some grub and grog.

Here in So-Cal, we have a local brewery, Karl Strauss. Decent beer, not my favorite by any means. What he does have going for him, if you could even say that, as Karl recently died, is the fact he has a restaurant attached to the brewery, and a very nice one at that. Probably a three star joint, with some creative menu selections, often incorporating the very beer which is peddled on site. The atmosphere is modern, with a lot of glass and marble. Prices are very reasonable. So having said this, knowing that RedHook is a much more prominent brewery, I walked in expecting something great. Boy, was I in for a shock.


When I first arrived at the Forecasters restaurant, which is attached to the brewery, around 6:00 pm, I found it to be quite busy, and not a single seat at the bar.
My wife and I are the type of customers that always sit at a bar if presented the opportunity. We find that a lot of times, even if the restaurant is on a wait for a table, it is possible to meander up to the bar and be seated immediately, and usually service is better. While travelling, I never sit at a table when dining. I feel like such a loser.

With the restaurant full, I decided to take a walk to the Columbia winery to check out the merchandise. To my dismay, it was closed. "Oh, well, I will have to return tomorrow. No big deal.", I thought to myself. I returned to the hotel and unwound for a bit.

Returning to Forecasters around 8:30pm I found the place somewhat emptier, and some seats available at the bar. Immediately upon planting my booty in a barstool, my disappointment began to grow.

"This place was full of people earlier, what's the attraction?" I thought. The place was really rundown, dingy and well, just boring. From my perspective, I had a wonderful view of the dishwasher station, and the busboy station as well. There was not a television to be seen, no newspaper to steal the crossword from, and the bar staff was, well, less than attractive.

I always believed, that as a manager, you have to have pretty people working for you in the foodservice industry. While that may seem insensitive or non PC, it is true. If you put a ugly mug behind the bar or on the floor, chances are your sales are going to be less than if you had an attractive barkeep or server. Bottom line.

Needless to say my stay did not last long. I actually was so unimpressed with the establishment, that I asked for my meatball sandwich (which was pretty good) to be packed up to go, before it came out. I started with a hummus and pita appetizer, which was pretty decent. I have attempted to make hummus without success. I mean I "made" it, but flavorful it was not. Its tough to simulate tahini if you cannot procure that ingredient. You just really cannot do without . Unless any of you have a good recipe..........

The definite high point of the meal, was of course the beer. Ice cold, really fresh ESB. It was probably the best beer I have ever tasted. I drink ESB all the time. I am actually a pretty big fan of the RedHook line of beer. They produce quite a delicious product. I believe my favorite of theirs is the seasonal WinterHook, but it is only available for a few months out of the year. I enjoyed my beer, and left with a bad overall impression, but took consolation in the fact that I was able to enjoy such a tasty quaff, albeit just one. I then headed back to the Willows Lodge to eat my sandwich, and watch some TV.

Waking up the following morning, I awoke to drizzly weather, not to cold, but I would have to say, typical Seattle weather. I had my weekly meeting at 8:30, some small tasks to achieve, and was finished with work for the weekend. I turned off my phone, packed my bags, and proceeded to check out of the room.

"Goodbye Willows, you've been great. Maybe I'll be back sometime."
I grabbed an apple and the daily USA Today (for the crossword, of course) and headed toward the airport. One quick stop. The Columbia Winery.

As I entered the winery, I have to say I was a little overwhelmed. Wine is not my thing. I'm more geared for the dump across the street. This was pretentious, sterile, and well, stuffy. Not the typical bar that I am used to. People standing at the U-shaped bar, facing outward, swirling their goblets and sticking their noses in as if to say: "Hey look at me. I'm cool, I saw Sideways." Whatever. I guess I'm not sophisticated enough to appreciate the whole "wine" experience. Gimme a fat glass of barley and hops, and a bowl of pretzels, I'm good to go.
I perused the gift shop, admiring the overpriced cheese plates, vases, and other trinkets marked with the Columbia logo. Making my way to the bottled wine display, I had wanted to get the wifey a nice bottle. Most of the wines on display were reasonably priced, around 20-40. Nancy drinks chardonnay, and I found a nice one (I hoped) and pulled it down from the shelf.
Clunk, clunk, clunk. I found myself fumbling and trying to catch twelve bottles that were previously stacked in a pyramid, housed in a cubicle, now falling down around me.
Yeah that’s me making a ruckus; like a banshee in this otherwise tranquil shop. To my surprise, there were now bottles falling down all around me, I tried my best to “kick save” these bottles, sticking out my feet to try to prevent the $20 bottles from hitting the floor and possibly breaking. After what seemed like minutes, it was all over. No damage. A very nice older man came over and assisted me with recovering all the bottles, and replacing them in the display. He issued me a kind word, explaining that this happens a lot. I muttered something about suing for negligence, and was quickly offered a 10% discount. I accepted, taking the bottle of the 2004 Wykoff chardonnay to the gal at the counter to pay for the wine and get the heck out of there.
The cashier was very pleasant. She apologized for what happened. “She even saw it? OMG, who in this place didn’t?” She explained that if I was too embarrassed to never return, that they would gladly ship to California no problem. I chuckled, and thought to myself “I am never coming back. I’m so embarrassed.” She went on to tell me that the place is haunted, and that the ghost of someone or another was apparently responsible for disrupting the display of bottles. The fact that I selected a nice vintage caused the spirits to get excited and topple the tower of well, spirits. I took my discount, and my bottle of wine, looking at no one, and headed for the door. Time to head to the airport.
After having to spend the night in the Baltimore airport after missing the last flight to San Diego a few trips ago, I now know the value of leaving with PLENTY of time to spare.

Goodbye Seattle. It’s been great. While I always fall in love with the places to which I travel, (except Philly and Tulsa) this place really appeals to me. I desire to move away from California after Autumn graduates high school and moves out. I hope the northwest could be one of our destinations. Nancy hates the cold, so it will be a tough sell, but I’ll keep trying. Maybe we could have our summer home there. Buhbuh please?

EDITORS NOTE:

At the conclusion of this entry, and after five RedHook ESBs, I am delighted to announce:

The Phoenix Suns have beaten the hated San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio by 17 points. We now hold the tie-breaker against them. Suns have won 13 of ther last 17, and are looking at the possibility of winning out, and taking the division from my other hated team, the Los Angeles Lakers. The Western Conference is just brutal right now. The difference between first and sixth place is just two games. Its anyones to take. The Big Cactus (Shaq) has proven that he has come to play. He has been invaluable in providing the defense we have needed for so long, in addition to making Amare Stoudemire a much better power forward. Lets get Steve Nash to the Finals this year. He deserves it. They all deserve it.

You arent through with me yet.

The NHL season ended on Sunday. Playoffs start today. The Detroit Redwings have won the President's Trophy for the best record in the league this year. It is the fourth time in six years, and eighth in fourteen that they have done so. Twenty three years the NHL has awarded this trophy. But only once after winning the trophy have the Wings won the Stanley Cup. Only six times ever has the Presidents Cup recipient gone all the way to win Lord Stanley's as well. Our postseason starts tomorrow against the Nashville Predators.

Prediction: Wings in five.

Please watch. Please enjoy. Go Wings.