Dick wrote:
This morning, Tom and Nancy started the day learning how to download songs onto her laptop and thence into her new Ipod. Tom kicked me off his computer to finish the preparations for a “surprise” for us. A little after 10, when the Ipod lessons were complete, he ordered us to get our shoes on and report outside for our “surprise” In the street outside was his Porsche Boxster named “Raven”.
Although I haven’t driven a stick for 35 years or so, it came back pretty quick and soon we were rocketing down the road. I don’t remember ever driving a car in which you can actually feel the G forces all through the gears.
The route he sent us on was down winding twisting hairpin turns and the car clung to the road like it was on a track. On one hair pin, we met a semi hauling a bulldozer right in the middle of it. He was over the line but our car swung through the turn with no trouble. As we were flying through esses and over dips, Nancy was yelling “Yee Haa!”
We even took a brief side trip to find a geocache. Although it doesn’t have the best ground clearance for two tracks, a Porsche makes an acceptable fair weather cache mobile.
In the afternoon, after Conni arrived, we took the more conventional Subaru and found a half dozen more caches after a fun lunch at a Mexican restaurant. [Chevy's].
Dinner capped off a perfect day. We got dressed up and drove to downtown La Jolla where Tom slipped the valet a $20 to park the car. It is good that we had reservations because the place was packed. As with just about every other restaurant we have visited out here, there was a party in progress in which the guest of honor was a young guy in full dress Marine uniform.
For our dinner we all ordered three appetizers or tapas. Tom and I leaned toward the exotic and seafood, Nancy looked for more traditional fare and Conni was true to her vegetarian tastes. The wait staff was outstanding! They were attentive without being obsequious. The young woman who was our waitress was genuinely friendly but none of the “Hi, I’m Peggy and I’m going to be your waitress”. Glasses were filled and refilled and used plates and silver were replaced with clean in a completely unobtrusive and seamless manner.
Tom and I could not agree on our favorite dish but agreed that it was either the shrimp and crab pot stickers or the broiled sea scallops on potato pan cakes. We both placed the calamari steak with hazelnuts a very close third.
Nancy placed the egg rolls with sweet and sour sauce in her number 1 position closely followed by the duck quesadilla. She and Conni both liked the kefir cheese and flat bread combination and Conni maintained that the tofu was as good as any she’s ever had. I was glad to hear that because now I know that I’m not a fan of even great tofu.
Tom picked up the tab and was pleased that 12 tapas and wine came in under $200. It was certainly one of the most memorable dinners Nancy and I have ever enjoyed. It capped off a fantastic day.
[The restaurant in La Jolla was Roppongi's, a pan-Asian/Asian fusion restaurant. See the above link]
