Archive for 'tahoe' Category

2007.03.02

I’m Loving Tahoe!

Tres AmigosI’m up in Tahoe again. I drove up this morning with Jerome and Redge and we hit Sierra at Tahoe for half a day. We had an awesome time!

We bothered to get helmets. After something like seven years I’ve never worn one going down the slopes. I come from that school of thought that says, I didn’t need a helmet when I was a kid, I don’t need one now. But we all picked up this helmet which, for you discerning SciFi fans, will recognize as the helmet the Colonial Marines wear in Battlestar Galactica. Yep, we’re all geeks. :)

Sierra at Tahoe… Meh. Not my favorite place in the world and I would pick other resorts first. But the fun wasn’t in the place so much as watching Redge swim down the hill face first, or Jerome tumbling down the hill. No idea where we’re going tomorrow but it’s gonna be good.

2007.03.01

The Tahoe Ski Bus

I’m heading up to Tahoe again tomorrow. I’ll be driving but I know not all of you reading this have cars. Get on the bus! The Tahoe Ski Bus!

For about $100 you get a ride up, hot chocolate, a full day pass to whatever resort they’re visiting that day, and a ride home. Not a bad deal at all. The only bad thing that could be said is that it leave early, like 4AM. Still, you’re not driving; take a nap! Thanks to Mits for the link!

See you when I get back!

2007.02.21

Tahoe Pictures

I’ve finally posted pictures from the recent trip to Tahoe. You can see them here.

2007.02.19

Tired, Sore and Happy

I’m back from the long weekend with friends in Tahoe. Snowboarding for two days. Three nights of food and drink. Loads of photos (I’ll get those up this week). No internet access. Just the kind of break I needed.

I’ll write more tomorrow. Right now I’m just too beat. I’m going to go crash out now if my muscles will let me leave the couch…

2006.02.25

Snowboard Pictures

At long last I got pictures posted to galleries of the recent snowboarding trip to Tahoe.

My pictures.
Hiromi Kadowaki’s pictures.
Jerome Abellar’s pictures.
Julie Behn’s pictures.
Reginald Rhoade’s pictures.
Ryoji Abe’s pictures.
Shizuka Miyazaki’s pictures.

Obviously the pictures are owned by the respective photographer and published here with permission.

Now that I’ve got myGallery working hopefully I’ll get more sets up!

2006.02.21

Meat Purse

Meat PurseI have a tradition that whenever I go on a weekend trip to Tahoe with friends I always make what I call Meat Purse. This year I also made a variation that Redge dubbed Meat Wallet. Here is the basic recipe and variation will follow.

Meat Purse
Serves about 4-5 people.

Ingredients:
Flank Steak (one good size)
Spinach (one bunch)
Basil (one bunch)
Gorgonzola (one tub (cup?))
Garlic (one clove)
Large Sewing Needle or Suture with Cotton Thread (you can sometimes get this from the butcher)

Cut off stems from spinach and basil. Mince and put in a bowl along with chopped and crushed garlic. Pour gorgonzola in bowl. Mix and mush everything together. Set aside bowl; this is your stuffing.

Stitched Meat PurseLay out flank steak. Cut off excess fat. Fold in half and start sewing the steak until there is only a two inch (4-5cm) hole. Take stuffing and shove everything into the pocket of the flank steak. Finish stitching the steak closed. For the “purse” effect tie two corners with the remaining string forming a handle.

Set the oven for apprx. 350 degrees. Put Meat Purse on tray that will drain and put in the oven for apprx. half an hour. I’ve never perfected this part, so your temperature and time may vary.

Variations
1: Instead of gorgonzola you can use feta or blue cheese. If you use feta I recommend adding a bit of salt to the stuffing. By the way, you can never have too much cheese…
2: Add other items to the stuffing. I sauted some mushrooms once, and I would imagine a bit of bread might work nicely, too.
3: Marinate the meat. I take a bunch of garlic cloves and put them in a bottle with soy sauce and let it sit for months in the refridgerator. I’ve used this mixture once marinating the meat in the soy sauce and using one or two of the cloves in the stuffing.
4: You could brown the meat a bit ahead of time if you’re so inclined. You could also parch the spinach ahead of time; I’ve encountered some cases where the spinach was too wet even after cooking.
5: I doubled the recipe and stitched two flank steaks together face to face.

Meat Wallet
One original variation on the Meat Purse that was original to this trip was Meat Wallet. It’s basically exactly the same as Meat Purse except you take two pork tenderloins, stitch them, stuff them and don’t stitch them closed. They take a little less time to cook but otherwise the recipe is the same.

I’ll post pictures of both when I get some from the others who were on the trip!

2006.02.18

First Day: Heavenly

Today was my first time up this season in Tahoe. I’m up here with 15 co-workers from VIZ Media and today we went to the California side of Heavenly. It was really nice conditions and we only had one accident (someone went off one of the jumps, I think accidently).

My friend Ryoji and I did the last run of the day from the top to the bottom. Our legs are desparately sore. Now I’m off for a shower and some relaxation before dinner and the the pre-bedtime hot tub.

There’s a rumor that we’re supposed to get 18 inches of snow tonight. Wow. Tomorrow will be great!

2006.02.17

In Tahoe for the Weekend

I’m in Tahoe right now. While I do have internet access (thanks to however the owner of the MSHOME wifi network is) I’m not sure I’ll be posting much. There will be something like 15 of us here in the “cabin” and I’m sure we’re going to be busy.

Snowboarding!

2004.12.20

Tahoe 2004

Amy and I gambling at the local grocery store.I took my first trip of the year to Tahoe this weekend. The occassion: Bill’s birthday. He’s officially three decades old. We -Bill, Amy, and Sam- met at Ann’s and ate at the Gilman Grill on Saturday, then departed. Amy rode with me and we had great conversations about politics. In fact we were so distracted most of the landmarks we expected to see along the way were missed. Places like, say, Sacramento and Auburn.

We stayed at Amy’s Mom’s place, just south of Reno, NV. It was a known quantity that I would be making Meat Purse on this trip. With Amy’s Mom driving, Amy and I shopped for the dinner and got in some gambling. For Amy’s Mom, here is the recipe for the fancy version of Meat Purse.

Meat Purse!Meat Purse

Flank Steak
Spinach
Basil
Mushrooms (optional)
Feta or Gorgonzola Cheese
Garlic
Salt
Sewing Needle or Suture with String
Soy Sauce (special; see below)

Marinate Flank Steak in SoyGarlic Sauce (if you have time and inclination). Chop Spinach and Basil and simmer off some liquid. Let cool. Brown Flank Steak. Mix in chopped Garlic, Gorgonzola, and Salt to the Spinach/Basil. Stitch Flank Steak and stuff with mixture. Place on a rack in a pan and cook at 350 to your selection; medium takes about 30 minutes.

Incidently, the “Soy Sauce (special)” is about 30 cloves of garlic that had been soaking in soy sauce for about a month (when I first had an inclination that I would be making dinner for this trip). It is something my Dad would like very much…

Meat Purse, salad, mashed potatoes, and ample beer accompanied the watching of Elf, which was hi-larious. That was last night. Today we boarded at Mount Rose, and I left early to try and get home early. Yeah, right. Five hours later I’m finally home. Why is it drivers out here think they are entitled to drive in the fast lane when they are clearly going SLOW? Anyways, it was a good time. I only wish I were independently wealthy so I wouldn’t have to go to bloody work tomorrow.

Meanwhile, time for bed.