MONTAGE HOLIDAY
We choose Thanksgiving dinner at the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach. I called ahead to make sure they have prime rib at their buffet. David, his dad, and my boys are not big fans of turkey. “Yes, we have prime rib and turkey” the woman at the Montage says, as she proudly rattles off the rest of the menu. They have a photographer taking family portraits while we wait briefly for our table. Inside, everything is beautifully decorated, the band plays, we go up to get our food. David and the boys are NOT happy. They are serving turkey and pork roast. NO prime rib! The drink service is going on 20 minutes wait and David finally has to speak up to the Grand Ballroom Manager. He tells us there never was a prime rib, but tries to get us some from another kitchen. No luck. He does bring us back two beautiful plates of beef short ribs. Delicious, but it is still not prime rib. The next day, I call up to let the Hotel Manager know what happened. The manager on staff did try to make it right, but had we known there was no prime rib, we never would have gone in the first place. She asks me what she can do for us including having us back for Christmas buffet. We are promised prime rib. I accept. They keep true to their word.
TILE TORTURE
The marble tile has arrived at our doorstep from Ann Sacks. We eagerly bring it inside like children awaiting marble candy. Two days later, our tile installer opens the packages with bad news. “This is not the same color.” Big mistake. We wasted two days because we didn’t check the tile when we received it. Athens Grey arrived instead of Athens Silver. Hey, one more thing on our, what-else-can-go-wrong?, list! It takes four more days for the new tile to arrive. We have to wait on this Athens Silver before anything else gets done so nothing else gets damaged when the shower walls are completed.
BIRTHDAY BLUES
My birthday arrives. We are greeted by the Contractor Owner, Office manager and Project manager at our door for a meeting about our contract. I don’t even have time for breakfast. David and I are not happy that this project is taking six and a half months long from when we hired them – one and a half months past their proposed due date. The owner is not happy that we have decided to stop paying them until they finish their work. We would like to see them get their installers over here and finish up the job and we will gladly pay. We are tired of being at the back of the line. Why do they do good work on time for everyone else but us? I am exhausted after all this time and frustration, coupled with it being my birthday. I fight it, but my eyes start tearing up. The meeting ends in pretty good terms. They promise to get the cabinet installer and the finisher here on Monday. They arrive as promised. Now for the plumber…
NEXT POST
The story starts at the bottom. Check back next week for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
We Will Persevere
POPCORN PERSISTENCE
My sons decide to make popcorn in the microwave. They love popcorn. My youngest, age eleven, starts talking about re-popping the kernels to enjoy every last one. I get it; I love popcorn too, but REALLY? He starts insisting on it. We start to argue. As he is arguing, a tear falls from his eye, and I see his passion. I am reminded of someone. Myself. This is not about the popcorn. It’s about the fact that he knows he CAN do this. It’s about tenacity. I ask him to show me how. He puts the popcorn kernels into a bowl (no extra oil), covers them with a paper towel and secures it with a rubber band. We put the bowl into the microwave. After 2 ½ minutes, the popping finishes and the kernels look like they just came out of the bag. I look at his face. He is beaming. I think back to when David and I wanted to remove our retaining wall and add an island. The contractor brought over his expert engineer. “Can’t be done,” he said. “The plumbing is too complex and the beam length is too long for extra framing.” I was not going to let this “expert with a ‘no’ attitude” stop me. When you really want something, you find a way to get it done. I found another engineer with a creative attitude. An engineer like my son. One with tenacity. We now have an island AND extra popcorn!
BUSY BATHROOM
Six installers come to inspect the bathroom material. I tell them I didn’t get it yet because they were out of stock. They tell me since there’s no rush, would I like to have the chicken wire and float — “it’s better”. I say “of course”. I call my project manager and ask why they weren’t doing that in the first place. He says “they’re about the same, but if I want the chicken wire and float, he’ll do that.” I say “yes” The six men have to spend two whole days on the float. It’s not a big bathroom. I look for the magician’s chicken to come out of there next. No sense waiting long; I have to spend another day shopping and searching for material that all works together (shower walls and niches, shower floor, main floor, sink backsplash) that is in our price range AND in stock. I find some new material. We end up going back to some of the old material we fell in love with. By the time we are ready, (we were on hold for the counter material from the fabricator) they are in stock again. The installers slowly piece the shower walls together. When it comes time for the sides of the niches (where the shampoo bottles will go) we run out of marble! The project manager measured the bathroom. The tile installer says he should have ordered more. Another hold!
JINXED ELECTRICAL
Problem after problem. The electrician orders some of our parts from Pennsylvania, the Dutch country, he explains. “We live in an electrical hole as far as parts go. I have to go all the way up to Orange if I want some parts or just order it. Mostly I just end up going to Home Depot and pay more. “ We’re waiting and waiting. He finally calls to find out what’s taking so long. The order never went through! He orders it again. We wait for a really long time again. We joke that it’s coming from another country. No, just Pennsylvania. The parts finally come in and one piece is back-ordered! We ordered our pendant lights ourselves, online. They came in less than a week. They look pretty cool, frosted glass and a metal pendulum inside. The electrician puts one up carefully. The glass is so fragile and the metal pendulum so heavy, that it cracks the glass. He puts the next one up. He is much more careful on the second pendant. Same thing happens. Frustrated beyond belief, he leaves. He tells us he will pay for the pendants, but doesn’t want to put up the third. We try to get our money back from the company. They refuse. A couple days later, I am about 10 feet away from the pendant when the glass just falls down on our granite island and floor, shattering into a million pieces. Thankfully, my family and dog were not close! The next pendants we buy have this weird, uneven shadow on the glass. The electrician is desperately trying to rub it out so he doesn’t have to put new lights up a third time. I break out laughing. He’s smiling, but calls me a sadist. I’m not really laughing at him – it’s the situation. What more can go wrong? They finally rub out clean. Whew!
NEXT POST
The story starts at the bottom. Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
My sons decide to make popcorn in the microwave. They love popcorn. My youngest, age eleven, starts talking about re-popping the kernels to enjoy every last one. I get it; I love popcorn too, but REALLY? He starts insisting on it. We start to argue. As he is arguing, a tear falls from his eye, and I see his passion. I am reminded of someone. Myself. This is not about the popcorn. It’s about the fact that he knows he CAN do this. It’s about tenacity. I ask him to show me how. He puts the popcorn kernels into a bowl (no extra oil), covers them with a paper towel and secures it with a rubber band. We put the bowl into the microwave. After 2 ½ minutes, the popping finishes and the kernels look like they just came out of the bag. I look at his face. He is beaming. I think back to when David and I wanted to remove our retaining wall and add an island. The contractor brought over his expert engineer. “Can’t be done,” he said. “The plumbing is too complex and the beam length is too long for extra framing.” I was not going to let this “expert with a ‘no’ attitude” stop me. When you really want something, you find a way to get it done. I found another engineer with a creative attitude. An engineer like my son. One with tenacity. We now have an island AND extra popcorn!
BUSY BATHROOM
Six installers come to inspect the bathroom material. I tell them I didn’t get it yet because they were out of stock. They tell me since there’s no rush, would I like to have the chicken wire and float — “it’s better”. I say “of course”. I call my project manager and ask why they weren’t doing that in the first place. He says “they’re about the same, but if I want the chicken wire and float, he’ll do that.” I say “yes” The six men have to spend two whole days on the float. It’s not a big bathroom. I look for the magician’s chicken to come out of there next. No sense waiting long; I have to spend another day shopping and searching for material that all works together (shower walls and niches, shower floor, main floor, sink backsplash) that is in our price range AND in stock. I find some new material. We end up going back to some of the old material we fell in love with. By the time we are ready, (we were on hold for the counter material from the fabricator) they are in stock again. The installers slowly piece the shower walls together. When it comes time for the sides of the niches (where the shampoo bottles will go) we run out of marble! The project manager measured the bathroom. The tile installer says he should have ordered more. Another hold!
JINXED ELECTRICAL
Problem after problem. The electrician orders some of our parts from Pennsylvania, the Dutch country, he explains. “We live in an electrical hole as far as parts go. I have to go all the way up to Orange if I want some parts or just order it. Mostly I just end up going to Home Depot and pay more. “ We’re waiting and waiting. He finally calls to find out what’s taking so long. The order never went through! He orders it again. We wait for a really long time again. We joke that it’s coming from another country. No, just Pennsylvania. The parts finally come in and one piece is back-ordered! We ordered our pendant lights ourselves, online. They came in less than a week. They look pretty cool, frosted glass and a metal pendulum inside. The electrician puts one up carefully. The glass is so fragile and the metal pendulum so heavy, that it cracks the glass. He puts the next one up. He is much more careful on the second pendant. Same thing happens. Frustrated beyond belief, he leaves. He tells us he will pay for the pendants, but doesn’t want to put up the third. We try to get our money back from the company. They refuse. A couple days later, I am about 10 feet away from the pendant when the glass just falls down on our granite island and floor, shattering into a million pieces. Thankfully, my family and dog were not close! The next pendants we buy have this weird, uneven shadow on the glass. The electrician is desperately trying to rub it out so he doesn’t have to put new lights up a third time. I break out laughing. He’s smiling, but calls me a sadist. I’m not really laughing at him – it’s the situation. What more can go wrong? They finally rub out clean. Whew!
NEXT POST
The story starts at the bottom. Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Now We’re Talkin’
A LITTLE LETTER GOES A LONG WAY
The appliance installers come Friday morning. Our dishwasher and microwave go in. They carry our oven in from the garage, and as they are about to place it in the allotted hole in the cabinet, the installers notice the hole is way too short. They are surprised, since they have worked with our contractor a lot and have never come across a hole EIGHT inches too small before. Our project manager doesn’t get us a carpenter scheduled until the next Friday. So much for our kitchen being ready to cook in this week! I drive up to Anaheim to choose our counter material for our bathroom at the fabricator. I choose a white quartzite. They tell me it will be ready Monday or Tuesday. On Tuesday I find out it won’t be ready until Wednesday. This holds the tile installer up for two days. The painter is delayed because of the tile. He must think I’m a raving lunatic (okay, bioch) as I walk around the house mumble/cursing out everyone. David decides to write a letter to our project manager, his boss, and the owner of the company. The first two are at our house that evening. We go over the list of “to do's” David has prepared. They are ready to solve the oven hole problem immediately, even if it means remaking the entire cabinet. They cross out every item on the list to be tackled tomorrow. Cross your fingers, by George, I think we just might get through this.
NEW CONCEPTS
We’re still getting used to not looking for our refrigerator in the hallway. My youngest left his cereal bowl on the stairs before school so I can bring it upstairs for him. “Our ‘cereal station’ is in the kitchen now.” I say. “No more leaving the dishes downstairs because you ‘ran out of time’ to bring them up to the bathroom to wash them out”. Pretty soon we’ll actually get to use the guest bathroom sink instead of the laundry room sink. We now have a real sink in the kitchen. We also have a filtered water system and instant hot. Yep, living the high life.
FIRST DATE NO-NO
David is on a business trip until 6 pm, so I make reservations for Benihanas at 8 pm. My Godmother is visiting. We go to Borders to find a book for my youngest son. He is set on this scary book David and I told him he couldn’t get last time. He spends the entire time reading it to prove to me he isn’t scared. I refuse to let him buy it. Diverting him to another series is useless. We leave the store empty-handed. As we near the car, something begins to smell. To my horror I realize I’ve left the car running the entire time we were in the bookstore! I guess Mom’s been pretty scattered, heh, heh. We get seated next to a nice looking couple. The woman tells the server it’s the man’s birthday. He says he’s 21. David has told the server it is our eldest’s son’s birthday. Not really true. We are just after the free pineapple. The couple believes us and our son is officially embarrassed. The man asks our son if he is a Charger fan because he is wearing “the sweatshirt”, and tells us no one is a bigger fan than he is. He goes on and on about sports, ignoring his date. He then leaves the table a couple times during the meal to make a phone call. David overhears their conversation when he returns. It seems his roommate has gotten dumped for the first time and needs consoling. I ask the man if this is really his 21st birthday because he looks about 30. He tells me he is 39. At the end of our meal, he starts talking to David about business. I tell him he better take his date out for coffee (in a humorous way) because he ignored her so much. We all say we hope this isn’t their first date, but they say it is.
NEXT POST
The story starts at the bottom. Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
The appliance installers come Friday morning. Our dishwasher and microwave go in. They carry our oven in from the garage, and as they are about to place it in the allotted hole in the cabinet, the installers notice the hole is way too short. They are surprised, since they have worked with our contractor a lot and have never come across a hole EIGHT inches too small before. Our project manager doesn’t get us a carpenter scheduled until the next Friday. So much for our kitchen being ready to cook in this week! I drive up to Anaheim to choose our counter material for our bathroom at the fabricator. I choose a white quartzite. They tell me it will be ready Monday or Tuesday. On Tuesday I find out it won’t be ready until Wednesday. This holds the tile installer up for two days. The painter is delayed because of the tile. He must think I’m a raving lunatic (okay, bioch) as I walk around the house mumble/cursing out everyone. David decides to write a letter to our project manager, his boss, and the owner of the company. The first two are at our house that evening. We go over the list of “to do's” David has prepared. They are ready to solve the oven hole problem immediately, even if it means remaking the entire cabinet. They cross out every item on the list to be tackled tomorrow. Cross your fingers, by George, I think we just might get through this.
NEW CONCEPTS
We’re still getting used to not looking for our refrigerator in the hallway. My youngest left his cereal bowl on the stairs before school so I can bring it upstairs for him. “Our ‘cereal station’ is in the kitchen now.” I say. “No more leaving the dishes downstairs because you ‘ran out of time’ to bring them up to the bathroom to wash them out”. Pretty soon we’ll actually get to use the guest bathroom sink instead of the laundry room sink. We now have a real sink in the kitchen. We also have a filtered water system and instant hot. Yep, living the high life.
FIRST DATE NO-NO
David is on a business trip until 6 pm, so I make reservations for Benihanas at 8 pm. My Godmother is visiting. We go to Borders to find a book for my youngest son. He is set on this scary book David and I told him he couldn’t get last time. He spends the entire time reading it to prove to me he isn’t scared. I refuse to let him buy it. Diverting him to another series is useless. We leave the store empty-handed. As we near the car, something begins to smell. To my horror I realize I’ve left the car running the entire time we were in the bookstore! I guess Mom’s been pretty scattered, heh, heh. We get seated next to a nice looking couple. The woman tells the server it’s the man’s birthday. He says he’s 21. David has told the server it is our eldest’s son’s birthday. Not really true. We are just after the free pineapple. The couple believes us and our son is officially embarrassed. The man asks our son if he is a Charger fan because he is wearing “the sweatshirt”, and tells us no one is a bigger fan than he is. He goes on and on about sports, ignoring his date. He then leaves the table a couple times during the meal to make a phone call. David overhears their conversation when he returns. It seems his roommate has gotten dumped for the first time and needs consoling. I ask the man if this is really his 21st birthday because he looks about 30. He tells me he is 39. At the end of our meal, he starts talking to David about business. I tell him he better take his date out for coffee (in a humorous way) because he ignored her so much. We all say we hope this isn’t their first date, but they say it is.
NEXT POST
The story starts at the bottom. Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
Friday, December 3, 2010
You Are Cut Off
NOT AGAIN!
We’re coming down to the end. I can taste it. Not the food, because our insurance cut us off. We gave our agent a date that the contractor gave us. They underestimated the completion of the cabinets by TWO weeks. Everything else was delayed because of this, and now we must pay to eat out at restaurants because we still don’t have a working kitchen! So it’s Thursday night of our last week. Wood floors are done. We have final adjustments and drawers here and there to go for cabinets. We have final electric and plumbing wrapping up. The glass backsplash has just been completed. The appliance installers are coming Friday morning. The plumber decides to test the water line. All is going well until David spots a T shaped water line at the ceiling close to the cabinets. Unbelievably, the plumbers didn’t pressure check the lines before they closed the ceiling up! Our plumber starts cursing out his apprentice because he has a feeling of what happened. Luckily, (this is a good tip) we took photos of all the plumbing before they closed up the walls, and the plumber was able to see exactly where the problem was before he started cutting into the ceiling to find the leak. He was right; his apprentice didn’t snap the hoses into the connection deep enough, so it was leaking there. He was able to reach the hose by cutting out a piece of our perfectly dry walled ceiling and taking out the crown molding of the cabinet to reach the connection piece. Our plumber says we got lucky because the water didn’t do any damage. True enough; it could have happened overnight and ruined a lot more. I shudder to think!
WHY DID I SAY THAT?
It is still the same night. 1:30 am. David is up working late. I am writing this blog. David finishes work and checks under the sink. He notices water leaking around the Reverse Osmosis hose and wraps a small towel around it. A gush of water streams out of the hose. “Lisa! Help! Get the shop vac!” He sucks up the water with the shop vac, as I get as many towels as I can to clean up the remainder. David also discovers the dishwasher is connected with the cold water hose instead of the hot. Was our plumber sleepwalking when he was hooking up our plumbing? Clearly, they need to give him less hours!
IHOP HIPPI
With all the restaurants we’ve been driving to and all the parking lots we’ve parked at, it was bound to happen. David scrapes a car as he pulls into a spot at IHop for breakfast. The kids and I inspect it; David writes the note, a man appears from the restaurant. He is a throwback from the ‘70s. Long brown hair and a beard. He very calmly lets us know that his daughters noticed we are looking at his wife’s van and it looks like we hit it. We told him we were sorry and we were just writing the note and noticed he had some other scrapes there anyway. He agreed and said he would talk to his wife about it after he got our information. We all ate breakfast (not together) and they waved to us as they left the parking lot. We fully expected to hear from them about the cost, but they never called. Wow. That could have been ugly. I have to remember to pay that forward if someone accidentally does something to me they regret.
SONNY’S SALAD
Friends sing praises about Sonny’s in San Clemente. Lines are out the door. Looks like a fun little Italian place. We order salad, pizza, and a tri-Italian pasta dish. Pizza is good, but burnt on one side. Pasta dish okay. David tries the salad. He is not impressed with the Italian dressing. “Taste this,” he says. “It is so bland.” I agree – not much to it. When we get the check, David has an epiphany. “The salad dressing is really butter!” He tells the waitress hoping she made a mistake. “NO, that IS our dressing,” she says with a stern face. She storms off, we all look at each other, glad that David told her that at the end of the meal vs. the beginning. This little lady must have made the dressing herself!
NEXT POST
The story starts at the bottom. Even though our food has stopped from insurance, we have plenty of more stories! Check back next Monday. Scroll down for the photos.
We’re coming down to the end. I can taste it. Not the food, because our insurance cut us off. We gave our agent a date that the contractor gave us. They underestimated the completion of the cabinets by TWO weeks. Everything else was delayed because of this, and now we must pay to eat out at restaurants because we still don’t have a working kitchen! So it’s Thursday night of our last week. Wood floors are done. We have final adjustments and drawers here and there to go for cabinets. We have final electric and plumbing wrapping up. The glass backsplash has just been completed. The appliance installers are coming Friday morning. The plumber decides to test the water line. All is going well until David spots a T shaped water line at the ceiling close to the cabinets. Unbelievably, the plumbers didn’t pressure check the lines before they closed the ceiling up! Our plumber starts cursing out his apprentice because he has a feeling of what happened. Luckily, (this is a good tip) we took photos of all the plumbing before they closed up the walls, and the plumber was able to see exactly where the problem was before he started cutting into the ceiling to find the leak. He was right; his apprentice didn’t snap the hoses into the connection deep enough, so it was leaking there. He was able to reach the hose by cutting out a piece of our perfectly dry walled ceiling and taking out the crown molding of the cabinet to reach the connection piece. Our plumber says we got lucky because the water didn’t do any damage. True enough; it could have happened overnight and ruined a lot more. I shudder to think!
WHY DID I SAY THAT?
It is still the same night. 1:30 am. David is up working late. I am writing this blog. David finishes work and checks under the sink. He notices water leaking around the Reverse Osmosis hose and wraps a small towel around it. A gush of water streams out of the hose. “Lisa! Help! Get the shop vac!” He sucks up the water with the shop vac, as I get as many towels as I can to clean up the remainder. David also discovers the dishwasher is connected with the cold water hose instead of the hot. Was our plumber sleepwalking when he was hooking up our plumbing? Clearly, they need to give him less hours!
IHOP HIPPI
With all the restaurants we’ve been driving to and all the parking lots we’ve parked at, it was bound to happen. David scrapes a car as he pulls into a spot at IHop for breakfast. The kids and I inspect it; David writes the note, a man appears from the restaurant. He is a throwback from the ‘70s. Long brown hair and a beard. He very calmly lets us know that his daughters noticed we are looking at his wife’s van and it looks like we hit it. We told him we were sorry and we were just writing the note and noticed he had some other scrapes there anyway. He agreed and said he would talk to his wife about it after he got our information. We all ate breakfast (not together) and they waved to us as they left the parking lot. We fully expected to hear from them about the cost, but they never called. Wow. That could have been ugly. I have to remember to pay that forward if someone accidentally does something to me they regret.
SONNY’S SALAD
Friends sing praises about Sonny’s in San Clemente. Lines are out the door. Looks like a fun little Italian place. We order salad, pizza, and a tri-Italian pasta dish. Pizza is good, but burnt on one side. Pasta dish okay. David tries the salad. He is not impressed with the Italian dressing. “Taste this,” he says. “It is so bland.” I agree – not much to it. When we get the check, David has an epiphany. “The salad dressing is really butter!” He tells the waitress hoping she made a mistake. “NO, that IS our dressing,” she says with a stern face. She storms off, we all look at each other, glad that David told her that at the end of the meal vs. the beginning. This little lady must have made the dressing herself!
NEXT POST
The story starts at the bottom. Even though our food has stopped from insurance, we have plenty of more stories! Check back next Monday. Scroll down for the photos.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Starbucks, Here We Come
PAPARAZZI?
I don’t mean to brag, but we’ve become rather famous in certain circles. When we step into line at the Chipotle, the servers say “We know you!”. When we get ready to order at Starbucks, the cashier yells, “The soy family is here! Load up on soy!” When we go to P.F. Changs, the waiter says, “Don’t I know you? I used to work at Starbucks and see you there all the time.” We just say, "No photographs please." That's what happens when you eat at restaurants every single meal, day after day, week after week... well, you get the picture.
CLOSING EARLY
The boys want to eat dinner with their friends at a pizza place, so David and I go out to P.F. Changs for a date. David and the waiter remember one another from the last time we ate here. He’s the one who’s still trying to get his scuba diving certification and is into spear fishing. They exchange photos on their iPhones of the fish they’ve seen and the places they’ve been to. Okay now, let’s break this love-fest up and get me some dinner! After dinner, we go to Starbucks. As usual, they’re about to close. I miss Chicago at times like this when there is no nightlife. A police officer comes in for a coffee and jokes around with an employee and us. I ask him if I can ask him a question outside. He obliges; he just finished telling us it is unusually slow for this time of night. (This is around the time of the Arizona upheaval with the federal vs. state immigration law.) My question is about immigration – not about drivers, but if he is allowed to ask pedestrians suspicious of a crime if they are in the U.S. legally even if he suspects they aren’t. He replies, “No, even though the federal law says he is”. The only way he can take someone through the illegal immigration process, is if he arrests them for a criminal action, and suspects them of being an illegal alien because they had no U.S. address, for example, and turns them over to I.N.S.. The police officer goes on to talk about what officers have to deal with just to be in acceptance of the public’s image of them: 1) The police can only use single shot revolvers. This puts them in grave danger at times. 2) Their B & W cars make them sitting ducks. Their opposition knows when they’re coming. Word gets around the community like wildfire before they get anywhere close. 3) They even have to wear polyester uniforms. He says to me. “You as a woman can understand how I feel.” I laugh. “It’s hot!” he says. The officer was dismayed how the world has been heading in the past 20 years since he’s been an officer. He’s just doing his part to slow down the process. The officer had been listening to his earpiece while we were talking and needed to go. He ends by telling us not to be afraid to call 911 if we think we should. “If you’re on the highway, 911 will transfer you to the sheriff from the highway patrol.” I think that officer really needed to be heard, and I’m glad I am there to listen.
GRANITE CHASE
David picks out this gray, marble-looking granite at Bedrosians months ago. We weren’t necessarily looking for gray, but it was the only one we found in our price range that looked like marble and didn’t stain like marble. Bedrosians granite is too thick, so I take a long time finding the same granite by email at other granite yards. I find “Super White” at MSI. It’s not leather finished, but it’s 2cc. When it comes time to choose our slabs, our family goes to Anaheim and is amazed on how large MSI is. David is now open for different slabs. I have my heart set on Super White. Now we have 4 slabs to consider. We don’t know if they are in our price range because MSI won’t tell us the prices. We get a hold of our project manager’s manager. He tells MSI to give us the contractor prices so we can make our decision. I somehow convince David to be open to “Super White” and “Via Appia”. They may even look good together if we decide to use two granite slabs. That is what happens in the end. Hey now — David likes them more than I do!
NEXT POST
The story starts at the bottom. Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
I don’t mean to brag, but we’ve become rather famous in certain circles. When we step into line at the Chipotle, the servers say “We know you!”. When we get ready to order at Starbucks, the cashier yells, “The soy family is here! Load up on soy!” When we go to P.F. Changs, the waiter says, “Don’t I know you? I used to work at Starbucks and see you there all the time.” We just say, "No photographs please." That's what happens when you eat at restaurants every single meal, day after day, week after week... well, you get the picture.
CLOSING EARLY
The boys want to eat dinner with their friends at a pizza place, so David and I go out to P.F. Changs for a date. David and the waiter remember one another from the last time we ate here. He’s the one who’s still trying to get his scuba diving certification and is into spear fishing. They exchange photos on their iPhones of the fish they’ve seen and the places they’ve been to. Okay now, let’s break this love-fest up and get me some dinner! After dinner, we go to Starbucks. As usual, they’re about to close. I miss Chicago at times like this when there is no nightlife. A police officer comes in for a coffee and jokes around with an employee and us. I ask him if I can ask him a question outside. He obliges; he just finished telling us it is unusually slow for this time of night. (This is around the time of the Arizona upheaval with the federal vs. state immigration law.) My question is about immigration – not about drivers, but if he is allowed to ask pedestrians suspicious of a crime if they are in the U.S. legally even if he suspects they aren’t. He replies, “No, even though the federal law says he is”. The only way he can take someone through the illegal immigration process, is if he arrests them for a criminal action, and suspects them of being an illegal alien because they had no U.S. address, for example, and turns them over to I.N.S.. The police officer goes on to talk about what officers have to deal with just to be in acceptance of the public’s image of them: 1) The police can only use single shot revolvers. This puts them in grave danger at times. 2) Their B & W cars make them sitting ducks. Their opposition knows when they’re coming. Word gets around the community like wildfire before they get anywhere close. 3) They even have to wear polyester uniforms. He says to me. “You as a woman can understand how I feel.” I laugh. “It’s hot!” he says. The officer was dismayed how the world has been heading in the past 20 years since he’s been an officer. He’s just doing his part to slow down the process. The officer had been listening to his earpiece while we were talking and needed to go. He ends by telling us not to be afraid to call 911 if we think we should. “If you’re on the highway, 911 will transfer you to the sheriff from the highway patrol.” I think that officer really needed to be heard, and I’m glad I am there to listen.
GRANITE CHASE
David picks out this gray, marble-looking granite at Bedrosians months ago. We weren’t necessarily looking for gray, but it was the only one we found in our price range that looked like marble and didn’t stain like marble. Bedrosians granite is too thick, so I take a long time finding the same granite by email at other granite yards. I find “Super White” at MSI. It’s not leather finished, but it’s 2cc. When it comes time to choose our slabs, our family goes to Anaheim and is amazed on how large MSI is. David is now open for different slabs. I have my heart set on Super White. Now we have 4 slabs to consider. We don’t know if they are in our price range because MSI won’t tell us the prices. We get a hold of our project manager’s manager. He tells MSI to give us the contractor prices so we can make our decision. I somehow convince David to be open to “Super White” and “Via Appia”. They may even look good together if we decide to use two granite slabs. That is what happens in the end. Hey now — David likes them more than I do!
NEXT POST
The story starts at the bottom. Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Some Sauce!
OUTSIDE ROOM
On Friday we go to Sarducci’s in San Juan Capistrano. Beautiful setting…it’s outdoors, there’s a fountain, live music... David and I order rack of lamb and a grilled selection of seafood. The boys order pasta and salmon. Their meal is swimming in oil. Ours, sad to say, is covered with a heavy dose of balsamic “sweet gravy”. David is reminded of when his mom used to put ketchup on his lamb chops when he was a boy. No offense to his mom. She was a wonderful cook aside from the ketchup.
PRIVATE ROOM
On Saturday we drive to Laguna Beach. I don’t know which restaurant we’re going to. I just want to take our chances. We park around Glenneyre. David finds us a restaurant. It looks really nice. There’s a table right at the crowded door that’s open, or as luck will have it, they have a PRIVATE ROOM for us if we can be out by 8:00 pm. It’s 6:45 pm. We have never been in a private room at a restaurant, and we gladly accept. It’s a table for 6. There’s a wine cabinet on one wall, a mermaid statue in a niche... This looks good! We order a bottle of wine. The waitress and the bus service are perfect. We order squash soup and spicy meatball appetizers. We all decide on the same entree – a fillet with polenta. The “3” boys order their mushroom sauce on the side. They hate mushrooms. It is soooo good, they end up straining the mushrooms, pouring the sauce on their steaks and asking for more! My youngest sips the leftover wine in my glass and remarks “this tastes a lot more expensive than the wine we have at home.” David laughs and explains to him, this isn’t your mother’s Manischewitz! The dining experience in our private room was wonderful. As we leave, the people sitting at the table by the door tell me “Your sons are so polite — they thanked the hostesses when they left.” That’s my boys!
STAIN COLOR CHOSEN
The office manager at our contractor’s says if we choose the stain color by Oct. 7th, we will have our cabinets delivered by Oct. 15th. In order to choose our stain color, we must first see our wood floor sample so we can see everything together. This is a long process, going to different flooring stores ourselves, and having our project manager bring us a lot of walnut samples. We finally decide. We go to the contractor’s operations in Anaheim on Oct. 7th and watch them stain and varnish a sample door for us. It’s beautiful. The 15th comes and goes. We are told it’s slower because it rained. Well, it rained one day. In fact, we don’t get our cabinets until the 27th! Seems like someone’s calculations are way off! We are then told the installer is coming the day the cabinets arrive. The installation is supposed to take about 3 days. No installer shows that day. No installer until the 10:45 am. the next morning. He was coming from Riverside and stuck in traffic. He has now moved to OC, so we don’t have any more problems. Installation has taken over 6 days, but what we see so far are beautifully crafted cabinets. The stain color is spot on. The installer has assured us we will be completely satisfied when they are done.
NEXT POST
Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
On Friday we go to Sarducci’s in San Juan Capistrano. Beautiful setting…it’s outdoors, there’s a fountain, live music... David and I order rack of lamb and a grilled selection of seafood. The boys order pasta and salmon. Their meal is swimming in oil. Ours, sad to say, is covered with a heavy dose of balsamic “sweet gravy”. David is reminded of when his mom used to put ketchup on his lamb chops when he was a boy. No offense to his mom. She was a wonderful cook aside from the ketchup.
PRIVATE ROOM
On Saturday we drive to Laguna Beach. I don’t know which restaurant we’re going to. I just want to take our chances. We park around Glenneyre. David finds us a restaurant. It looks really nice. There’s a table right at the crowded door that’s open, or as luck will have it, they have a PRIVATE ROOM for us if we can be out by 8:00 pm. It’s 6:45 pm. We have never been in a private room at a restaurant, and we gladly accept. It’s a table for 6. There’s a wine cabinet on one wall, a mermaid statue in a niche... This looks good! We order a bottle of wine. The waitress and the bus service are perfect. We order squash soup and spicy meatball appetizers. We all decide on the same entree – a fillet with polenta. The “3” boys order their mushroom sauce on the side. They hate mushrooms. It is soooo good, they end up straining the mushrooms, pouring the sauce on their steaks and asking for more! My youngest sips the leftover wine in my glass and remarks “this tastes a lot more expensive than the wine we have at home.” David laughs and explains to him, this isn’t your mother’s Manischewitz! The dining experience in our private room was wonderful. As we leave, the people sitting at the table by the door tell me “Your sons are so polite — they thanked the hostesses when they left.” That’s my boys!
STAIN COLOR CHOSEN
The office manager at our contractor’s says if we choose the stain color by Oct. 7th, we will have our cabinets delivered by Oct. 15th. In order to choose our stain color, we must first see our wood floor sample so we can see everything together. This is a long process, going to different flooring stores ourselves, and having our project manager bring us a lot of walnut samples. We finally decide. We go to the contractor’s operations in Anaheim on Oct. 7th and watch them stain and varnish a sample door for us. It’s beautiful. The 15th comes and goes. We are told it’s slower because it rained. Well, it rained one day. In fact, we don’t get our cabinets until the 27th! Seems like someone’s calculations are way off! We are then told the installer is coming the day the cabinets arrive. The installation is supposed to take about 3 days. No installer shows that day. No installer until the 10:45 am. the next morning. He was coming from Riverside and stuck in traffic. He has now moved to OC, so we don’t have any more problems. Installation has taken over 6 days, but what we see so far are beautifully crafted cabinets. The stain color is spot on. The installer has assured us we will be completely satisfied when they are done.
NEXT POST
Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Fillet Fillet
B-DAY CHOICE
Our youngest chooses The Chart House for his birthday. David calls ahead so they have menus ready with our son’s name printed at the top. We have a beautiful view of the Dana Point harbor. The salad bar is great. Everyone is very happy with his meal, except me. My fillet mignon has this bad taste. I can see it is cooked perfectly, but I can’t eat it, so I send it back. The second piece comes back with the manager and the same bad taste. Even David agrees. It must be a bad piece of meat. It shouldn't be so difficult to cook this. When the check comes, they accidentally billed us twice for it! We rush out to our neighbor’s house to have cake with them since we don’t have a kitchen table. The cake is from a French bakery called Savoire Faire. Awesome – with a lot of fudge frosting! He picked it out himself. We give the leftovers to our plumber. The plumber gushes over the cake the next day understanding why we wanted it out of the house!
GOODBYE DITCH
We have problems with the ditch for the island from the beginning. The plumber says most homes have 4 to 6 inches of cement and ours has 12 inches. They try to get us to pay for a pneumatic drill after they already quote us a price for a regular jackhammer. We stick to our ground; they should have the correct equipment for a tract home. Electrical and plumbing is complete. Our electrician is, but our plumber is not, at our home during inspection (I find out you should have most service professionals present so they can change things and answer questions right away), the regular inspector is sick, and the replacement needs a specific water test. We pass everything except plumbing. Our plumbing company sends 3 plumbers for the next inspection to get it right. Men in stilts come in. Drywall is up in about 3 seconds and we have a white room. We pass! Plumbers fill in the ditch with sand and cement.
NEXT POST
Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
Our youngest chooses The Chart House for his birthday. David calls ahead so they have menus ready with our son’s name printed at the top. We have a beautiful view of the Dana Point harbor. The salad bar is great. Everyone is very happy with his meal, except me. My fillet mignon has this bad taste. I can see it is cooked perfectly, but I can’t eat it, so I send it back. The second piece comes back with the manager and the same bad taste. Even David agrees. It must be a bad piece of meat. It shouldn't be so difficult to cook this. When the check comes, they accidentally billed us twice for it! We rush out to our neighbor’s house to have cake with them since we don’t have a kitchen table. The cake is from a French bakery called Savoire Faire. Awesome – with a lot of fudge frosting! He picked it out himself. We give the leftovers to our plumber. The plumber gushes over the cake the next day understanding why we wanted it out of the house!
GOODBYE DITCH
We have problems with the ditch for the island from the beginning. The plumber says most homes have 4 to 6 inches of cement and ours has 12 inches. They try to get us to pay for a pneumatic drill after they already quote us a price for a regular jackhammer. We stick to our ground; they should have the correct equipment for a tract home. Electrical and plumbing is complete. Our electrician is, but our plumber is not, at our home during inspection (I find out you should have most service professionals present so they can change things and answer questions right away), the regular inspector is sick, and the replacement needs a specific water test. We pass everything except plumbing. Our plumbing company sends 3 plumbers for the next inspection to get it right. Men in stilts come in. Drywall is up in about 3 seconds and we have a white room. We pass! Plumbers fill in the ditch with sand and cement.
NEXT POST
Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Done Deal
MEL’S DINER
We go down to San Clemente for breakfast. We have a view of the ocean and pier. There is an elderly man sitting at one of the outside tables in front of us. David announces to our family that he will be that man one day. He will sit outside this restaurant and talk to every passerby. In fact, he will come here each day because he will own this place. “People will call me Mel and they will call you Flo...” He gets more excited by the forkful. By the end of our meal, and it’s a good one, David is set on moving our family to San Clemente. We take a walk over to the pier — breathe in the ocean smells, watch the surfers, and it’s a done deal for David. He’s looking for realtors. Our next anniversary will be spent in the cute little hotel around the corner. We can shop, and go to all the restaurants here. Our oldest son is afraid he’ll never see his friends again. We're not even half way done with our kitchen. What is he thinking? We see a condo with an open house sign. It’s a 3-bedroom, beautifully decorated condo with an amazing view of the pier and ocean — and a price tag to match. The high price helps the boys and me. “Okay, maybe not so close to the ocean”, says David.
Rats!
ALL IN THE FAMILY
We hired the plumber’s brother-in-law for electrical. He was the most detailed and helpful of the three electricians we talked to. He turned out to be the most reliable vendor we’ve ever used. He comes over at 8 am sharp or calls when he can’t (which is rare) and comes soon after. The plumber is more likely to promise 8 am and not show up for two days. True, there are a lot more plumbing emergencies than electrical, but we’ve been put off so many times, it’s not funny. One time the plumber’s office said they completely cleared out Keith’s schedule and told everyone not to divert him to any emergency. I know this is true because our electrician came in one morning and told me he saw the schedule board at the plumber’s. It said Keith is at our house all day Wed. We both laughed. The electrician told me about a new code that requires a certain amount of florescent or LED lighting in your kitchen. We got these requirements faxed to us from City Planning so we can request more money from our insurance. We did the same for smoke detectors. Those are now required in each bedroom.
NEXT POST
Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
We go down to San Clemente for breakfast. We have a view of the ocean and pier. There is an elderly man sitting at one of the outside tables in front of us. David announces to our family that he will be that man one day. He will sit outside this restaurant and talk to every passerby. In fact, he will come here each day because he will own this place. “People will call me Mel and they will call you Flo...” He gets more excited by the forkful. By the end of our meal, and it’s a good one, David is set on moving our family to San Clemente. We take a walk over to the pier — breathe in the ocean smells, watch the surfers, and it’s a done deal for David. He’s looking for realtors. Our next anniversary will be spent in the cute little hotel around the corner. We can shop, and go to all the restaurants here. Our oldest son is afraid he’ll never see his friends again. We're not even half way done with our kitchen. What is he thinking? We see a condo with an open house sign. It’s a 3-bedroom, beautifully decorated condo with an amazing view of the pier and ocean — and a price tag to match. The high price helps the boys and me. “Okay, maybe not so close to the ocean”, says David.
Rats!
ALL IN THE FAMILY
We hired the plumber’s brother-in-law for electrical. He was the most detailed and helpful of the three electricians we talked to. He turned out to be the most reliable vendor we’ve ever used. He comes over at 8 am sharp or calls when he can’t (which is rare) and comes soon after. The plumber is more likely to promise 8 am and not show up for two days. True, there are a lot more plumbing emergencies than electrical, but we’ve been put off so many times, it’s not funny. One time the plumber’s office said they completely cleared out Keith’s schedule and told everyone not to divert him to any emergency. I know this is true because our electrician came in one morning and told me he saw the schedule board at the plumber’s. It said Keith is at our house all day Wed. We both laughed. The electrician told me about a new code that requires a certain amount of florescent or LED lighting in your kitchen. We got these requirements faxed to us from City Planning so we can request more money from our insurance. We did the same for smoke detectors. Those are now required in each bedroom.
NEXT POST
Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
Monday, October 18, 2010
The Framework
ENGINEER WE GO
I have all intentions of going to the gym for a workout trying to lose this weight from eating out at restaurants for every meal. I am at the gym filling up my water bottle. I look down at my feet and notice my flip flops are where my gym shoes should be. I contemplate doing a little exercise with flip flops, but decide push ups won’t work and leave disgusted with myself. I decide to do something else productive. I drive the engineer’s plans to his office so he can give me the updated version. David and I had noticed the vent was in the way of one of the new joists, so the engineer had to recalculate. He explained to me it was like two hands holding up a table, but just moving your hands to a different position. I could tell he loved his job by the way he talked. I was still thinking about our choice of granite and asked about this piece of furniture in his office with marble. He started talking about the marble that he and his wife have in their kitchen. They chose white even though they knew it would stain or chip. She thought it was part of the character of a home. Then he went on to tell me about her delicious food she cooks him from their garden and her career as a florist and the flowers she grows from her own garden. It was almost like listening to a soap opera. I was waiting for the commercial… Anyway, this engineer did make another mistake we found out after City Planning approved the first plans! He thought a plumbing pipe was an old joist and put the new joist in the wrong place. Our project manager discovered this after the water was turned off in our Master bathroom and we were down to one bathroom with out-of-town guests for a week! To our engineer’s credit, if not for his optimism and creativity, we never would have gone ahead and took out the retaining wall in the first place; the first engineer we consulted with said “NO, it can’t be done”. Well, it’s done.
CHUG IT
We decide to go to our favorite sushi bar at the time, Riptides. The place is large and contemporary. They have a full bar, Tappan grill and dining tables. We always sit at the latter. David loves his “Sexy Mutha roll” and the boys get tuna rolls, shrimp tempura, miso soup and edamame. I’ve been trying to be experimental so I try the “Emperor Roll” It has Beluga caviar, tuna and crabmeat – the fanciest roll I’ve ever tried. When it comes to the table, it looks beautiful and comes with a shot glass. The server asks me if the waiter told me what the whiskey in the shot glass was mixed with. I didn’t even know it came with a shot. David and the boys get excited and cheer me on to drink the shot really fast. “Chug it! Chug it!” they chant as I drink. It tastes more like soy sauce, garlic and oil than alcohol, but it was a sushi place, so it makes sense. Yet doubts start creeping up when I explain the shot to my family. David asks the waiter about the shot as I hide the empty glass from his view. “Just drizzle the sauce on your roll a little at a time,” he warned. “The truffle oil is pretty strong.” After he leaves, we laugh so hard my stomach hurts. Or was that the sauce?
NEXT POST
Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
I have all intentions of going to the gym for a workout trying to lose this weight from eating out at restaurants for every meal. I am at the gym filling up my water bottle. I look down at my feet and notice my flip flops are where my gym shoes should be. I contemplate doing a little exercise with flip flops, but decide push ups won’t work and leave disgusted with myself. I decide to do something else productive. I drive the engineer’s plans to his office so he can give me the updated version. David and I had noticed the vent was in the way of one of the new joists, so the engineer had to recalculate. He explained to me it was like two hands holding up a table, but just moving your hands to a different position. I could tell he loved his job by the way he talked. I was still thinking about our choice of granite and asked about this piece of furniture in his office with marble. He started talking about the marble that he and his wife have in their kitchen. They chose white even though they knew it would stain or chip. She thought it was part of the character of a home. Then he went on to tell me about her delicious food she cooks him from their garden and her career as a florist and the flowers she grows from her own garden. It was almost like listening to a soap opera. I was waiting for the commercial… Anyway, this engineer did make another mistake we found out after City Planning approved the first plans! He thought a plumbing pipe was an old joist and put the new joist in the wrong place. Our project manager discovered this after the water was turned off in our Master bathroom and we were down to one bathroom with out-of-town guests for a week! To our engineer’s credit, if not for his optimism and creativity, we never would have gone ahead and took out the retaining wall in the first place; the first engineer we consulted with said “NO, it can’t be done”. Well, it’s done.
CHUG IT
We decide to go to our favorite sushi bar at the time, Riptides. The place is large and contemporary. They have a full bar, Tappan grill and dining tables. We always sit at the latter. David loves his “Sexy Mutha roll” and the boys get tuna rolls, shrimp tempura, miso soup and edamame. I’ve been trying to be experimental so I try the “Emperor Roll” It has Beluga caviar, tuna and crabmeat – the fanciest roll I’ve ever tried. When it comes to the table, it looks beautiful and comes with a shot glass. The server asks me if the waiter told me what the whiskey in the shot glass was mixed with. I didn’t even know it came with a shot. David and the boys get excited and cheer me on to drink the shot really fast. “Chug it! Chug it!” they chant as I drink. It tastes more like soy sauce, garlic and oil than alcohol, but it was a sushi place, so it makes sense. Yet doubts start creeping up when I explain the shot to my family. David asks the waiter about the shot as I hide the empty glass from his view. “Just drizzle the sauce on your roll a little at a time,” he warned. “The truffle oil is pretty strong.” After he leaves, we laugh so hard my stomach hurts. Or was that the sauce?
NEXT POST
Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Same 'ol Same 'ol
How many of you tend to eat dinner out at the same few places? Whether the reason is because they’re convenient, or you just like them… you just do. We did this basically twice a week. Fratello’s or Outback, Soup Plantation and I Hop. We’re a family with young kids. With the insurance, I was ready for a change. My husband, David is your “meat & potato / chicken parmesan and lasagna guy”. Since April, if we got in the car and I didn’t have another restaurant on my lips that he liked (not Mexican or Chinese), he would say “I’m pulling over, and if you can’t think of a restaurant in the next 2 minutes, better than Fratello’s, we’re going to Fratello’s. His favorite saying is “Stick with what you know.” I’m total opposite when it comes to food. Pretty soon I learned my lesson and started researching different places to go. We started venturing out and found some really great places. David had to eat “crow” a few times. Especially when I found Tabu Grill. His favorite “fancy place ever”. If you know of any great places, please add them to the comment box. We still have more to try out, but so far, here’s my Favorites List:
DINNER
Sorrento Grille — Laguna Beach
Tabu Grill – Laguna Beach
Bistro K – Laguna Niguel
Houston’s - Irvine
Jizaki sushi – Laguna Niguel
Nick’s – San Clemente
Five Crowns - Corona Del Mar
Bistango - Irvine
St. Regis Resort – Monarch Beach
Riptide – Mission Viejo
Benihana - Irvine
P.F. Chang’s – Mission Viejo
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. - Longbeach
Bronx Pizza – San Diego
Opah Restaurant & Bar – Laguna Hills
Avalon Grille – Avalon
Cedar Creek Inn – Laguna Hills
Thai Kitchen - Irvine
King’s Fish House– Laguna Hills
Sammy’s – San Diego
Mr. B’s Pizza Kitchen – San Juan
The Derby – Mission Viejo
Avila’s El Ranchito – Laguna Niguel & San Clemente
D.Z. Akins Restaurant – San Diego
The Lumberyard – Laguna Beach
The Vintage Steak House – San Juan
LUNCH & COFFEE
Fitt Meals To Go
Chipotle
Jersey Mike’s Subs
Surfin’ Souvlaki
Corner Bakery Café
The Neighborhood Cup
Sundried Tomato
Bruegger’s Bagels
Starbucks Coffee
ENGINEER PLANS
I’ll talk about the engineer revision next week since this restaurant review is kind of long.
NEXT POST
Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
DINNER
Sorrento Grille — Laguna Beach
Tabu Grill – Laguna Beach
Bistro K – Laguna Niguel
Houston’s - Irvine
Jizaki sushi – Laguna Niguel
Nick’s – San Clemente
Five Crowns - Corona Del Mar
Bistango - Irvine
St. Regis Resort – Monarch Beach
Riptide – Mission Viejo
Benihana - Irvine
P.F. Chang’s – Mission Viejo
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. - Longbeach
Bronx Pizza – San Diego
Opah Restaurant & Bar – Laguna Hills
Avalon Grille – Avalon
Cedar Creek Inn – Laguna Hills
Thai Kitchen - Irvine
King’s Fish House– Laguna Hills
Sammy’s – San Diego
Mr. B’s Pizza Kitchen – San Juan
The Derby – Mission Viejo
Avila’s El Ranchito – Laguna Niguel & San Clemente
D.Z. Akins Restaurant – San Diego
The Lumberyard – Laguna Beach
The Vintage Steak House – San Juan
LUNCH & COFFEE
Fitt Meals To Go
Chipotle
Jersey Mike’s Subs
Surfin’ Souvlaki
Corner Bakery Café
The Neighborhood Cup
Sundried Tomato
Bruegger’s Bagels
Starbucks Coffee
ENGINEER PLANS
I’ll talk about the engineer revision next week since this restaurant review is kind of long.
NEXT POST
Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
Monday, October 4, 2010
The Story Continues
You may be curious why our kitchen remodel is taking so long. We’ve asked ourselves that question. So has our insurance company by now. The answer is this:
Part 1: The first three months were spent waiting for our insurance co. to finalize the number they were going to pay for the damages. We went back and forth with Robert (all names are changed), the restoration guy, acting on our behalf, with the adjustor our insurance agent sent. Robert had plans to do the entire job, but we discovered he wasn’t a licensed contractor (he was just planning to hire one). We also found out from Robert’s bill to our insurance, that he not only acquired the profit he got from each of his vendors that he hired, he added 10% profit and 10% overhead on top of the bill. All this while complaining constantly he wasn’t making anything! I can see making profit on one end, but not on both ends. That just sounds wrong. Needless to say, that is the reason we found a contractor to do the entire job once we had the insurance settlement. My advice, restoration and contractor should be two separate companies.
Part 2: Okay, now we’re still 6 months in and cement kitchen. What’s up with that? I’m going to chalk it up to a bottleneck at the 1st stage of our design planning with our contractor. The Owner is the one to work on design until he gives the job to a Project Manager. He told us it takes 3 weeks for design. We thought that seemed long. Ha! 3 weeks dragged into over 2 months. Good for him that he’s too busy, but bad for us! He was difficult to make meetings with; each time we had a cabinet drawing done or any cabinet changes, it took days or a week in between. The project just dragged on from weeks to months.
Part 3: We also had a retaining beam and post to deal with. While the design was still going on, we had to get an engineer to design plans, get the owner permit, and hire the plumber and our contractor to frame our ceiling for strength. Now the cabinets are finally in the building stage with a project manager. Our electrician asked me the other day why I am still “happy” when he found out we’ve been without a kitchen since April. There have been problems along the way (see upcoming posts) but I have confidence that we will have a beautiful kitchen when the project is finished. That’s why I still have a good attitude.
BAGEL VS. BAGEL
Before home remodel we rarely went out for breakfast, and never for bagels. Now we’re searching for new breakfast places all the time. We discovered people love bagel places. Lines out the door! We went to the closest one – I Love Bagels. It was alright. Then they closed for about a month until they relocated. We were forced to find a new bagel place. We found Bruegger’s Bagels. It was much farther, but the bagels were soooo much better! Even when I Love Bagels opened again, we gave it another shot. That day was a disaster… I was waiting in line at I Love Bagels, and our dog, Powder, was in the car with my family. They had just gotten the Starbucks drinks. Powder got excited when our neighbor and his niece pulled up to say hi. Powder's nails went through our Starbucks coffees while they were in the cup holders. David saw in slow motion, the coffee squirt up like it was Mount St. Helena. The lids flew up and coffee squirted into every electronic crevice in our car. We rushed to get wet towels to clean it up, but I don’t think it will ever be the same! After all that, the bagels were just too hard on the outside. They tasted day-old in comparison. Bruegger’s, in Aliso Viejo is worth the drive! Plus, you can watch them make the bagels.
NEXT POST
Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
Part 1: The first three months were spent waiting for our insurance co. to finalize the number they were going to pay for the damages. We went back and forth with Robert (all names are changed), the restoration guy, acting on our behalf, with the adjustor our insurance agent sent. Robert had plans to do the entire job, but we discovered he wasn’t a licensed contractor (he was just planning to hire one). We also found out from Robert’s bill to our insurance, that he not only acquired the profit he got from each of his vendors that he hired, he added 10% profit and 10% overhead on top of the bill. All this while complaining constantly he wasn’t making anything! I can see making profit on one end, but not on both ends. That just sounds wrong. Needless to say, that is the reason we found a contractor to do the entire job once we had the insurance settlement. My advice, restoration and contractor should be two separate companies.
Part 2: Okay, now we’re still 6 months in and cement kitchen. What’s up with that? I’m going to chalk it up to a bottleneck at the 1st stage of our design planning with our contractor. The Owner is the one to work on design until he gives the job to a Project Manager. He told us it takes 3 weeks for design. We thought that seemed long. Ha! 3 weeks dragged into over 2 months. Good for him that he’s too busy, but bad for us! He was difficult to make meetings with; each time we had a cabinet drawing done or any cabinet changes, it took days or a week in between. The project just dragged on from weeks to months.
Part 3: We also had a retaining beam and post to deal with. While the design was still going on, we had to get an engineer to design plans, get the owner permit, and hire the plumber and our contractor to frame our ceiling for strength. Now the cabinets are finally in the building stage with a project manager. Our electrician asked me the other day why I am still “happy” when he found out we’ve been without a kitchen since April. There have been problems along the way (see upcoming posts) but I have confidence that we will have a beautiful kitchen when the project is finished. That’s why I still have a good attitude.
BAGEL VS. BAGEL
Before home remodel we rarely went out for breakfast, and never for bagels. Now we’re searching for new breakfast places all the time. We discovered people love bagel places. Lines out the door! We went to the closest one – I Love Bagels. It was alright. Then they closed for about a month until they relocated. We were forced to find a new bagel place. We found Bruegger’s Bagels. It was much farther, but the bagels were soooo much better! Even when I Love Bagels opened again, we gave it another shot. That day was a disaster… I was waiting in line at I Love Bagels, and our dog, Powder, was in the car with my family. They had just gotten the Starbucks drinks. Powder got excited when our neighbor and his niece pulled up to say hi. Powder's nails went through our Starbucks coffees while they were in the cup holders. David saw in slow motion, the coffee squirt up like it was Mount St. Helena. The lids flew up and coffee squirted into every electronic crevice in our car. We rushed to get wet towels to clean it up, but I don’t think it will ever be the same! After all that, the bagels were just too hard on the outside. They tasted day-old in comparison. Bruegger’s, in Aliso Viejo is worth the drive! Plus, you can watch them make the bagels.
NEXT POST
Check back next Monday for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Restaurants - Here We Come!
DRINK UP!
When it comes to restaurants, we are not normally big alcohol drinkers. Frankly, it’s expensive to get drinks. And we’d rather use the extra calories on dessert anyway. So, before insurance gave us the go-ahead, we were a: Share an ice tea between the adults, and the kids get water, family. My, how things have changed! Now, we’re a: Everybody gets your own non-alcoholic drink and why not some wine or a strawberry margarita here and there for the adults, family.
GETTING USED TO MAGIC!
For the first batch of receipts we sent to our insurance, we were a bit scared. They said eat whatever you normally eat. Okay, but did we really cook like this at home? Heck no! Our agent questioned a couple things in the beginning; I answered her honestly and she was fine. In May, it was my first Mother’s Day I couldn’t have in bed, but we made up for it at brunch at The Marriott in Dana Point. We were freaking out a little until we got the big insurance check back. We were freaking out until we got a couple more checks too. You should have seen the Father’s Day brunch receipt from the St. Regis! By the way, some of the best Eggs Benedict I’ve had, and some of the worst pancakes. The “pancake chef” could not make a decent pancake for the life of him! He had all these amazing fixins’ but kept burning the pancakes. We’ll just blame the portable grill. ☺ Everything else was excellent. Best part — We got to sit right next to Magic Johnson and his wife! He was cool to give our boys a high-five after the photo he posed with them. That was a memorable Father’s Day.
THIS CHEF HAS SOME NERVE
At The Peppercorn Grille in Big Bear, David just ordered a pizza, but since it looked like a very classy restaurant, the boys and I decided to get fillet mignons. We order them medium rare. When the steaks arrive and we cut into them, they are all medium well, so we sent them back. About 5 minutes later, the waiter brings all 3 plates back out to us with a message from the chef. “The chef wants to know if you’ve cut all the way to the center and to make sure you want to send them back.” We are astonished, and yes, we are sure! The waiter says he is only the middleman and he agrees with us, “These are not medium rare.” When he returns, the waiter says, "The chef said he will take these back for you.” Really? Like he was doing us a favor for cooking our food improperly! To top it off, the new fillets came back raw in the middle. I didn’t want to deal with the chef again so I just ate the outsides and will never return.
NEXT POST
More restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression to come. Stay tuned! Scroll down for the photos.
When it comes to restaurants, we are not normally big alcohol drinkers. Frankly, it’s expensive to get drinks. And we’d rather use the extra calories on dessert anyway. So, before insurance gave us the go-ahead, we were a: Share an ice tea between the adults, and the kids get water, family. My, how things have changed! Now, we’re a: Everybody gets your own non-alcoholic drink and why not some wine or a strawberry margarita here and there for the adults, family.
GETTING USED TO MAGIC!
For the first batch of receipts we sent to our insurance, we were a bit scared. They said eat whatever you normally eat. Okay, but did we really cook like this at home? Heck no! Our agent questioned a couple things in the beginning; I answered her honestly and she was fine. In May, it was my first Mother’s Day I couldn’t have in bed, but we made up for it at brunch at The Marriott in Dana Point. We were freaking out a little until we got the big insurance check back. We were freaking out until we got a couple more checks too. You should have seen the Father’s Day brunch receipt from the St. Regis! By the way, some of the best Eggs Benedict I’ve had, and some of the worst pancakes. The “pancake chef” could not make a decent pancake for the life of him! He had all these amazing fixins’ but kept burning the pancakes. We’ll just blame the portable grill. ☺ Everything else was excellent. Best part — We got to sit right next to Magic Johnson and his wife! He was cool to give our boys a high-five after the photo he posed with them. That was a memorable Father’s Day.
THIS CHEF HAS SOME NERVE
At The Peppercorn Grille in Big Bear, David just ordered a pizza, but since it looked like a very classy restaurant, the boys and I decided to get fillet mignons. We order them medium rare. When the steaks arrive and we cut into them, they are all medium well, so we sent them back. About 5 minutes later, the waiter brings all 3 plates back out to us with a message from the chef. “The chef wants to know if you’ve cut all the way to the center and to make sure you want to send them back.” We are astonished, and yes, we are sure! The waiter says he is only the middleman and he agrees with us, “These are not medium rare.” When he returns, the waiter says, "The chef said he will take these back for you.” Really? Like he was doing us a favor for cooking our food improperly! To top it off, the new fillets came back raw in the middle. I didn’t want to deal with the chef again so I just ate the outsides and will never return.
NEXT POST
More restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression to come. Stay tuned! Scroll down for the photos.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Over 300 Restaurants in 5 Months
LAST MEAL AT HOME
The story starts with our Holiday dinner. All the relatives... My husband, David, looked down and saw our darkened wood floor and called me. He knew the signs of water damage and it didn’t look pretty. Some quick detection work led us to the kitchen where water was actually dripping out of the ceiling soffet. The drywall squished in with my finger. All this, right in the middle of making Baked Alaska! We had just had a slab leak, so we called the same plumber. He came, happy to get a piece of cake, and cut a hole in our ceiling to fix the pinhole in the copper pipe that was spraying water out. I was still trying to get over the other 15 holes in our house from the slab leak, but deep down, I knew this was worse.
The story starts with our Holiday dinner. All the relatives... My husband, David, looked down and saw our darkened wood floor and called me. He knew the signs of water damage and it didn’t look pretty. Some quick detection work led us to the kitchen where water was actually dripping out of the ceiling soffet. The drywall squished in with my finger. All this, right in the middle of making Baked Alaska! We had just had a slab leak, so we called the same plumber. He came, happy to get a piece of cake, and cut a hole in our ceiling to fix the pinhole in the copper pipe that was spraying water out. I was still trying to get over the other 15 holes in our house from the slab leak, but deep down, I knew this was worse.
The plumber gave me the name of a restoration guy and said to call him before we called our insurance. We followed his advice and Robert was signed up the next day. He discovered all the places the water damage had actually traveled. It was like playing hide and seek. The water went down both directions of our soffet, down the walls, and back up again. It soaked under our travertine floor, the cabinets, the wall and the wood floors on the other side of the drywall encased post. Inside the soffet, mold had grown as fast as Robert and crew was able to knock down the walls. David and I were happy we had contacted Robert; he knew he had to “act” responsibly to avoid any more damage, take photos, and call the Hazmat people for mold testing. The kitchen had over 100,000 mold spores! Full containment was needed — the space suits, showers in and out of the house, scraping of wood, removal of all floors etc… Our young sons could not use the family room (i.e. T.V.) for about 3 days. This spelled disaster. The furniture got moved to a PODS on our driveway.
Robert told us we have “Loss of Use” through our insurance. This means we can eat out, through our insurance, for the time that we can’t use our kitchen. Our insurance agent, Allison, confirmed. April 2010; I don’t think I will ever forget her words. “You can get appetizers, desserts and even a glass of wine.” This was too good to be true! I adore going to restaurants. This meant no shopping, no cooking, or cleaning… Now, don’t get me wrong, I love to cook. Well, I did before my kids got so picky. My husband’s not too easy to cook for either. So lately, all the fun of cooking’s been slowly drained out of me. I was due for a break. Hey, this way I can order what my kids call ‘fancy stuff’. We set up a breakfast nook for when the boys’ were at school. For the rest of our meals, it was restaurants all the way!
5 MONTHS LATER
It is now September. This has taken far longer than we had ever thought it would. We are just getting started with the construction. We’ve gained weight, but have a lot of fun stories eating at so many restaurants. That’s over 300 restaurants! We also have good tips and stories for our construction. Please follow us on our journey...
It is now September. This has taken far longer than we had ever thought it would. We are just getting started with the construction. We’ve gained weight, but have a lot of fun stories eating at so many restaurants. That’s over 300 restaurants! We also have good tips and stories for our construction. Please follow us on our journey...
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