What's up for the weekend?

[El Presidente]

Valentine's Day today. 

Between the long lunch Thursday, another today with good friends, and one tomorrow with Alex Groom...I was pretty sure I was sweet with Di. 

However, covering my bases, I bought her a $20 scratchie this morning and told her to "go and buy something purty" if she won. 

...She didn't win. I am pretty sure she is assessing how much pain to inflict. 

Birthday weekend in full swing. Gym sessions done for today...lunch, good wine and fine cigars are forecast to be in my immediate future. 

I have been roped into doing a 10 week school mentorship with my godson Dom. Dom didn't really explain it well over the phone so I asked for a project synopsis to be forwarded to me. Of course there is none so the Dean on the school called me and ran through the theory. 

Apparently...ideally...we are to take on a project together like restoring a bike or building a car or a plane or such shite. He asked if I had any skills in this area. Stop laughing Fuzz 

I advised that tools/handiwork was not my superpower, but that I had mastered the art of the perfect Espresso Martini. Could mastery of that and other cocktails be a project we could work on together?

Dean Downer said that wouldn't be appropriate for a 14 year old boy. 

Dom and I are conversing Sunday evening to redefine the project. 

 

What's up for the weekend? 

[loose_axle]

Work and still trying to shake this lurgy. It's clung to me for over a week, quite viciously too. Valentine's Day and only germs lust after me. What a catch. 

On a serious note, brunch tomorrow with friends and I'll try my hand at a coq au riesling in the evening. 

[Wookie]

Dinner with wife Valentine’s Day. Working on a winter oil pic.

 

[riderpride]

Tonight is a Friday the 13th movie marathon with my eldest - she doesn't fully understand how something so bad can be awesome, so I feel compelled to educate her.

Also on-tap is my mother's 76th birthday, so we're going out for dinner; we'll make it worth it for someone who survived T4 terminal cancer last year. It's also my wife's 15yr anniversary - I told her it was mine too, but apparently I don't count 🤷 🤣

Have a fantastic weekend all!

Cheers!

[westg]

Something we had not done for a while - Fishing for West Australian marron. These are actually very good size around 400 grams each . Lobster /marron bisque, grilled and raw. Most of the stuff we take from the water we will try it raw. Beautiful. I have to say it is a little painful when we take the girls.  

[Chibearsv]

Beautiful day in Florida. Walked a couple miles after breakfast. Now she’s headed for a massage and I’m headed for a cigar. 

[Hoosh]

I’m working in the restaurant tonight with my wife. There are 24 tables for 162 reservations.😑

[Chibearsv]

11 hours ago, Hoosh said:

I’m working in the restaurant tonight with my wife. There are 24 tables for 162 reservations.😑

Dang, that’s gonna take some hustle.  

We had our nice Valentine’s Day dinner yesterday. Tonight we’ll find a bar and grill for a burger or fish taco. I’ve generally been happier with low expectations for “holiday” dinners out. 

[riderpride]

11 hours ago, Chibearsv said:

Beautiful day in Florida. Walked a couple miles after breakfast. Now she’s headed for a massage and I’m headed for a cigar. 

Sounds like you're in for a rough one - how are you planning on managing your blood pressure? 🤣

Have a great time!

11 hours ago, Hoosh said:

I’m working in the restaurant tonight with my wife. There are 24 tables for 162 reservations.😑

Ouch - that's 7x a seat at 90-120 min a table. That's a long shift.

Good luck!

[Hoosh]

11 hours ago, Chibearsv said:

Dang, that’s gonna take some hustle.  

The GM tried to convince the owner to turn off the Open Table reservation system but he didn’t want folks to “think we weren’t serving.” Cool. He can deal with the coming wonky reviews. 😆

10 hours ago, riderpride said:

Ouch - that's 7x a seat at 90-120 min a table. That's a long shift.

Good luck!

Yep - and thanks! I’m already expecting the pre-shift meeting to include “turn and burn” while each two top that sits to say “We want to take our time this evening.” 😆

[LizardGizmo]

Valentine’s Day BYOB dinner last night with Mrs. Giz - phenomenal porterhouse for two, broccoli raab (tons of garlic), truffle fries (no cheese) and half a bottle of Oberon wine. Couldn’t have been better.

Tonight we’re seeing Nine Inch Nails for what she described as the “75th time”. I can’t wait

[Çnote]

18 hours ago, El Presidente said:

perfect Espresso Martini

Would 10 weeks be enough? Hahaha

[Hammer Smokin']

Training time. T minus 58 days until race day.  The temps are starting to become more bearable (approaching 0c). Go get it folks!

[BigGuns]

Late lunch/early dinner with the fam and now a Siglo III by the fire with some Blanc de Blancs. 

Gen today for Valentine’s:

That’s love…

[Hoosh]

13 hours ago, Hoosh said:

I’m working in the restaurant tonight with my wife. There are 24 tables for 162 reservations.😑

Whew…end up seating 187 plus whatever sat at the bar (not tracked). Busy, busy. Enjoying an Espinosa Knuckle Sandwich right now. I know Guy understands the busy restaurant scene. 😆

[TheCigarSoldier]

The in-laws were in town for my Father-in-law's birthday yesterday. Home depot, house projects, park with the kids, tennis (I got my a** kicked), pasta at home with some Brunello, then a fire out in the back yard.

When the kids went down after Smores I started with a BR 109. When I finished that, I convinced him to try his first cigar in probably a good 30 years. We both lit up Fab 5 Robusto Trinitys and I showed him the ropes of cutting, lighting, cadence, etc.

He enjoyed it as we killed a good bottle of Scotch together. It was a good day.

[BG318]

20 hours ago, Hoosh said:

The GM tried to convince the owner to turn off the Open Table reservation system but he didn’t want folks to “think we weren’t serving.” Cool. He can deal with the coming wonky reviews. 😆

Yep - and thanks! I’m already expecting the pre-shift meeting to include “turn and burn” while each two top that sits to say “We want to take our time this evening.” 😆

This is why I have not yet opted for Open Table at my place. It's great for regular service, not so much so for any time around holidays. 30 years ago we would take the reservations over the phone and enter them into the original Open Table. I think my place was Patient Zero for the software and we got a great deal. Hope you survived. Myself I'm pooped.

[Hoosh]

1 hour ago, BG318 said:

This is why I have not yet opted for Open Table at my place. It's great for regular service, not so much so for any time around holidays. 30 years ago we would take the reservations over the phone and enter them into the original Open Table. I think my place was Patient Zero for the software and we got a great deal. Hope you survived. Myself I'm pooped.

100% on the Open Table holiday fiasco; it’s as if the owner (who is not a hands on restaurant guy, but wants to come in every now and then to eat and to tell everyone how to do stuff 😑😆) never learns. The restaurant did just over $12,000 last night, which is the biggest amount of money since Covid. It’s a great group of people, from the BOH to the FOH. Except for a few tables, it pretty much was turn and burn all night. I’m just the busser there on Saturday nights (as a second job), but I swear I’ve never polished so many trays of silverware and emptied so many linen bags and reset as many tables! I, like you, am bushed. My wife made bank though. 🙂

[BG318]

4 hours ago, Hoosh said:

100% on the Open Table holiday fiasco; it’s as if the owner (who is not a hands on restaurant guy, but wants to come in every now and then to eat and to tell everyone how to do stuff 😑😆) never learns. The restaurant did just over $12,000 last night, which is the biggest amount of money since Covid. It’s a great group of people, from the BOH to the FOH. Except for a few tables, it pretty much was turn and burn all night. I’m just the busser there on Saturday nights (as a second job), but I swear I’ve never polished so many trays of silverware and emptied so many linen bags and reset as many tables! I, like you, am bushed. My wife made bank though. 🙂

Glad you got through it. It's a tough holiday. Good to hear that someone in your family made some loot!

[JohnS]

One of our Sydney FoH members, Luca organised a cigar event at the Royal Automotive Club here in Sydney and a few guys went along (Fuzz and Will). Costa, who works at the LCDH recently opened and run by PCC was there. It was a nice time. The weather was cool (for February) and it held out until 10.30 pm when the rain came down.

On Saturday, I had to scrub off some algae by hand from my parent's swimming pool with a wire brush. That wasn't fun. Trust me, I was sore after that! On Valentine's Day Evening my wife and I spent it by watching Star Trek Discovery on Paramount Plus. My son, George took out a subscription recently because he loves the UFC fighting and they had the rights to it this year. My wife loves all things Star Trek and years ago all these series were available on Netflix here in Australia until Paramount Plus debuted here a few years later.

On Sunday, I helped out with music at church. I am rostered on once a month to do that. There's not a large selection of musicians to play and the minister has been learning guitar for a few years as he is a drummer originally. Last year, I offered to help him get better as a guitarist by playing, with him on his acoustic guitar and his young adult son on drums and me on a third instrument of my choosing, depending on the song we play and seeing what it needs. So, sometimes I'm on piano, sometimes on bass, sometimes on acoustic guitar and sometimes on lead guitar. Being a multi-instrumentalist is unique I've come to understand over the years, as one thinks it's not to much of a 'stretch' as a musician, but to be competent on different instruments is a bit like speaking different languages well that are related (but different like French, Spanish and Italian, for example). That's the best analogy I can use.

Of late, I've become enamored with playing my son's Fender short-scale Mustang bass. He bought it second hand from a guy who upgraded the pickups to Seymour Duncan ones and you can manipulate the volume and tone knobs to get it to sound like a Fender Precision bass or a Fender Jazz bass quite effectively.

I finished off the weekend by watching more of Star Trek Discovery. It was a good weekend.

[BG318]

9 hours ago, JohnS said:

One of our Sydney FoH members, Luca organised a cigar event at the Royal Automotive Club here in Sydney and a few guys went along (Fuzz and Will). Costa, who works at the LCDH recently opened and run by PCC was there. It was a nice time. The weather was cool (for February) and it held out until 10.30 pm when the rain came down.

On Saturday, I had to scrub off some algae by hand from my parent's swimming pool with a wire brush. That wasn't fun. Trust me, I was sore after that! On Valentine's Day Evening my wife and I spent it by watching Star Trek Discovery on Paramount Plus. My son, George took out a subscription recently because he loves the UFC fighting and they had the rights to it this year. My wife loves all things Star Trek and years ago all these series were available on Netflix here in Australia until Paramount Plus debuted here a few years later.

On Sunday, I helped out with music at church. I am rostered on once a month to do that. There's not a large selection of musicians to play and the minister has been learning guitar for a few years as he is a drummer originally. Last year, I offered to help him get better as a guitarist by playing, with him on his acoustic guitar and his young adult son on drums and me on a third instrument of my choosing, depending on the song we play and seeing what it needs. So, sometimes I'm on piano, sometimes on bass, sometimes on acoustic guitar and sometimes on lead guitar. Being a multi-instrumentalist is unique I've come to understand over the years, as one thinks it's not to much of a 'stretch' as a musician, but to be competent on different instruments is a bit like speaking different languages well that are related (but different like French, Spanish and Italian, for example). That's the best analogy I can use.

Of late, I've become enamored with playing my son's Fender short-scale Mustang bass. He bought it second hand from a guy who upgraded the pickups to Seymour Duncan ones and you can manipulate the volume and tone knobs to get it to sound like a Fender Precision bass or a Fender Jazz bass quite effectively.

I finished off the weekend by watching more of Star Trek Discovery. It was a good weekend.

Viva Star Trek.

[loose_axle]

9 hours ago, JohnS said:

One of our Sydney FoH members, Luca organised a cigar event at the Royal Automotive Club here in Sydney and a few guys went along (Fuzz and Will). Costa, who works at the LCDH recently opened and run by PCC was there. It was a nice time. The weather was cool (for February) and it held out until 10.30 pm when the rain came down.

On Saturday, I had to scrub off some algae by hand from my parent's swimming pool with a wire brush. That wasn't fun. Trust me, I was sore after that! On Valentine's Day Evening my wife and I spent it by watching Star Trek Discovery on Paramount Plus. My son, George took out a subscription recently because he loves the UFC fighting and they had the rights to it this year. My wife loves all things Star Trek and years ago all these series were available on Netflix here in Australia until Paramount Plus debuted here a few years later.

On Sunday, I helped out with music at church. I am rostered on once a month to do that. There's not a large selection of musicians to play and the minister has been learning guitar for a few years as he is a drummer originally. Last year, I offered to help him get better as a guitarist by playing, with him on his acoustic guitar and his young adult son on drums and me on a third instrument of my choosing, depending on the song we play and seeing what it needs. So, sometimes I'm on piano, sometimes on bass, sometimes on acoustic guitar and sometimes on lead guitar. Being a multi-instrumentalist is unique I've come to understand over the years, as one thinks it's not to much of a 'stretch' as a musician, but to be competent on different instruments is a bit like speaking different languages well that are related (but different like French, Spanish and Italian, for example). That's the best analogy I can use.

Of late, I've become enamored with playing my son's Fender short-scale Mustang bass. He bought it second hand from a guy who upgraded the pickups to Seymour Duncan ones and you can manipulate the volume and tone knobs to get it to sound like a Fender Precision bass or a Fender Jazz bass quite effectively.

I finished off the weekend by watching more of Star Trek Discovery. It was a good weekend.

Sounds like a lot of fun and though I'm primarily a Star Wars guy I've been happily watching Star Trek: Picard over the last week whilst flat on my back. 

[JohnS]

1 hour ago, loose_axle said:

Sounds like a lot of fun and though I'm primarily a Star Wars guy I've been happily watching Star Trek: Picard over the last week whilst flat on my back. 

Yeah, it was all a lot of fun. Picard is a good series that is available on both Paramount Plus and Amazon Prime here in Australia, strangely enough.