Colonial Gardens

While surfing some sites, looking for historical landmarks in Louisville, Kentucky, my hometown, I came across a picture of the Colonial Gardens. The Colonial Gardens was one of my favorite night spots to visit back in the day. The Inn featured some great entertainment, both local and national as well. The building was large enough to accommodate a decent size crowd and the prices (cover charge, drinks and food if I recall correctly) were reasonable compared to some nightclubs in town. The article accompanying the picture mentioned the possibility of making the Colonial Gardens a historical landmark. The cost to restore the building would be considerable, but there seemed to be some interest from various groups to proceed with the project. People who opposed the project felt that the building needed to be torn down. They mentioned their concerns about the safety of the structure and the high cost to bring the Gardens up to current building codes. I don't know if anything has happened, one way or the other, but I plan to drive by the location the next time I visit Louisville, to see if the building is still standing. I hope so. The Colonial Gardens holds an abundance of fond memories for many folk who grew up in Louisville.

Ruth's Chris Meal

Dave gave us a great Christmas present this year - a gift card for Ruth's Chris. We have eaten at various Ruth's Chris over the years and we decided to make a return visit to the Pavilions restaurant a few days ago. Ruth's Chris is one of my favorite restaurants, particularly for a steak meal. The attention to detail is what differentiates Ruth's Chris from other restaurants. Every aspect of the meal is carefully attended to - from the preparation of your appetizer to the final sip of coffee after dessert. The service is very attentive, but not intrusive and you are never rushed at any time during your dining experience.

I decided to try the rib-eye steak on this occasion. It proved to be an outstanding choice. Nancy likes the stuffed chicken breast and as usual the meal met her expectations. All and all, just a great dining experience. Thanks for the much appreciated gift, Dave. We really enjoyed our outing to the Fair Oaks Pavilions Ruth's Chris restaurant!

Super Bowl Sunday

A terrific - nail biting, fourth quarter heroics, run Forrest run, etc. - Super Bowl was played this year. Just the way we like it! Seven of us guys got together and rooted for our favorite team, even if most of us hadn't watched a pro football game all year. After all... it is the Super Bowl!

This is the first year we watched the game in HD. I guess the 52 inch Regza provided satisfactory picture quality. At least I didn't hear any complaints. However, I did forget to DVR the game, so we missed some of Bruce Springsteen's halftime show. We shoot hoops during halftime. Our previous game of H-O-R-S-E has been reduced to P-I-G. We're now all of an age that we would be on the court to the middle of the fourth quarter if we played more than just three letters. Besides, we needed to leave enough time to have our dinner meal after working up an appetite from playing hoops!

Food-wise, we always start with a delicious bowl of my famous road kill chili (Beales description) - slowly cooked to perfection the previous night. The chili, along with various snacks, gets us through to halftime. After hoops, we have a dinner meal that usually consist of roast beef or steak. This year I decided to serve a Harris Ranch cross-rib roast, purchased at the Nugget Market. The Nugget has really good beef. Nancy whipped up some mashed potatoes and gravy, along with green beans, to accompany the roast. For dessert, Dave Whiteside brought a chocolate treat that his wife, Eilene, had made from scratch and we had a store bought strawberry cream cheese cake as our other choice. No one left hungry!

So, another great Super Bowl game, that was shared with great friends and good food. What more does a guy need? See you next year!

Weekend Visit

Paul and Karen, our friends from Salem, Oregon, are "RV ing" their way through northern and southern California over the next several weeks. That's the advantage of being retired, you don't have to stick to a strict timetable.

We met them at the Cal Expo RV park and drove to the Buggy Whip restaurant for dinner. The Buggy Whip has been a mainstay in Sacramento for over fifty years. I remember having a meal at the Buggy Whip from as far back as 1968. I must have been all of five or six years old at the time - yeah, right.

Afterwards, we went home and watched a movie on our eighty inch projection screen. We had stopped off at the Nugget Bakery prior to going home and purchased a tasty dessert. During our movie intermission, we ate the Nugget chocolate cake with some vanilla ice cream. Yummy!

We had a nice evening together and enjoyed catching up on things that had transpired over the last several months. We hadn't seen them since our visit to Portland during the summer. Hopefully, we can get together again, in the not too distant future.

2009 Detroit Auto Show

The yearly Northern International Auto Show in Detroit is a significant event for car enthusiast, as we get our first real look at all the cars we've only seen in those blurry spy photos that the auto magazines love to show as teasers for the coming year. There will be many interesting cars for 2010 and for some manufacturers the models may determine whether the company will still be around to debut their products at next year's show.

Ford, one of those companies with some financial challenges ahead, may be on to something with the redesign of their venerable Taurus models. As an owner of the original Taurus, I still have an interest in the brand and particularly in Ford's effort to stir up some curiosity about a car that has been poorly managed over the last decade or so. The 2010 Taurus has new exterior lines and a vastly improved interior. If you are interested in knowing more about the car, you will find the below You Tube link useful in forming your own opinion about Ford's attempt to make the 2010 Taurus a sedan worthy of the original. From what I've seen, so far, I like the styling and particularly the upgraded interior with all of it's high tech gadgets. What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fuZjPoAD0c

Red Hawk Casino

We have a new place to gamble in the Sacramento area. The Red Hawk Casino competes nicely with the offerings in Lake Tahoe and Reno; plus it has the advantage of being much closer to Sacramento. Nancy and I visited the Red Hawk Casino this week. The casino reminded me of an upscale casino in Reno. The parking garage is very convenient and the casino is located just a short distance from Highway 50. This makes for easy entry and exit, especially during the mid-week off peak hours (you know, when the retired folks like to visit).

We had a tasty and very reasonably priced meal at the Red Hawk's Waterfall Buffet. The prime rib was excellent and there are just too many entrees, side dishes and desserts to mention - all delicious! The casino has entertainment at the Stage Bar. We didn't stay to see the show during this visit, but we plan to return soon to check out the entertainment. The band, Steele Breeze, a favorite of ours and a mainstay at the Nugget Casino in Sparks, Nevada, will be there next week. We may have to check it out!

Gambling casinos in the Sacramento area keep moving up a notch as the region adds new and improved facilities. The offshoot is that Reno and Lake Tahoe are becoming less and less a premiere destination for gaming and name entertainment. Now, we have all of that right here in our local area. It's all good!

Happy New Year!

We welcomed in the New Year at our favorite Japanese restaurant (Osaka Sushi Bar). I've lost track as to the number of years that we have gathered at Osaka's for our New Year celebration, but I know that it is in the teens, at least. Nancy was still nursing a cold, so she was not at this year's gathering and a couple of others also had to miss the get-together.

I have a collection of pictures from previous New Year's celebrations and as you would expect, all of us look slightly older and the younger attendees are no longer "Kids". The "Kids" have either graduated from college, or they are attending college, and they now hold down full or part time jobs. There are several retirees in the group, with more to come - perhaps even this year.

As always, we had a great time visiting with one another and enjoying a delicious Japanese meal. Thanks Les, for making the annual arrangements. It was great fun!!

You can see the pictures of our New Year's celebration to the right and at the bottom of the blog page.