Pacific Northwest Ballet, Sake and the Take Home Chef

Sitting here watching the Take Home Chef on TLC, which happens to be one of my wife’s favorite show. Is it me or does he only approach attractive women to make meals for? However, in this episode he happens to be with an average-looking couple, which I believe to be the exception not the rule.  He is cooking fois gras and duck, which happen to be available at the local supermarket wherever he is, ingredients not easily found around town here in Olympia, WA. However, we do have some great local grocery stores and I am sure they would order it for me. I would have to work up the courage to cook the former and given the price, not something you want to mess up.

So we visited PNB (Pacific Northwest Ballet) on Saturday night. Every performance shapes my view of what ballet can be, one of the reasons I go, of course, apart from the sheer beauty of watching them dance. We are in our 3rd year as season ticket holders and I no longer feel it necessary to ad the caveat of “my wife loves” it to justify my attendance.  Whilst I can’t say I have been thrilled by every performance, or more specifically every part of every performance, I have never regretted going, rather I have always been intrigued, moved or entertained in some way. I am particularly happy with the direction the company is going under Peter Boal, the current artistic director.  Surprisingly, I like the more modern works most it seems and there appears to be movement in that direction, at least more international variety is being demonstrated in the program selection.

Carmina Burana was the most striking portion PNB program this weekend.  Choreographed by Kent Stowell, the much revered former artistic director (whose work in my short exposure the art I have not always loved) it consisted of giant golden “wheel” suspended in the air which was turned on it’s axis throughout the performance, with a full choir behind and soloists walking and interacting with the dancers.  I won’t go to much in to background of the work (mostly because I am lazy and don’t want to have to look it up right now), but it had some overtones that made me a little uncomfortable. Most notably the section where a monk is enticed by a seductress and encouraged debauched lookers-on.  It not so much that the monk gave in, but the idea that it was presented, in my opinion, as an act of freedom or at least the giving in to natural and human impluses as inevitable.  Yes those impulses are natural and human but not beneficial in many circumstances.  Why our society is continually frowning on people who want to devote themselves to more than constant personal gratification, viewing them as archaic puritans, is irritating.

On to dinner! …or should I say back to dinner as we ate here before the ballet.  Umi Sake House in Seattle (recommended by the latest issue of Food and Wine) was cheap and delicious. We made it just in time for happy hour which was a pleasant financial surprise. We had some delicious sashimi, fried rolls, short ribs and garlic chicken. They have an extensive sake list, although I settled on a pear sake martini.  All of this for around $40!  If I lived in Seattle I would be there all the time.

take home chef, pacific northwest ballet, sashimi, seattle, olympia

Back in Olympia, Washington

So I have spent three of the last four weeks on the road and visiting such exotic places as Cheney (Spokane), Washington; Orlando, Florida; Chicago, Illinois. Here’s a couple of things I have learned, and I am probably going to sound rather negative, but…:

• United Airlines on the whole is a lousy airline, to be avoided whenever possible.  There boarding plan never seems to work, only making us late or irritated, or both. Their attendants remind me of jr. high school teachers who found out they don’t really like kids but aren’t motivated to change careers- condescending and tired and apparantly not authorized to give you more than one pack of pretzels until the whole class, I mean plane, has recieved one.  All eight of my flights would have been deemed unpleasant ones if not for one standout flight attendant who offered me a free drink for trading seats to allow a family to sit together.  It’s amazing how many one little thing can make a flight okay and how many little unpleasant ones can cause me to take my business elsewhere.
• Hotels, like wine get a whole lot better when moving from dirt cheap to decent but can be a gamble when spending a lot more and not doing your homework.  No one would be surprised to find out that an average business hotel (like the Hilton Garden Inn in Spokane, for instance) would be a better experience than a cheap road-side motel. But what is surprising to me is how when taking the next step up that you are not gauranteed or even likely to get something better. Staying at the Airport Marriott in Orlando and the Hyatt Regency in Chicago and paying considerably more than the aforementioned Hilton was actually a step down.  Both had an extra charge for wi-fi internet access that barely worked, slower than dial-up most of the time with continuous disconnects. The Marriott had a terrible concierge,  not even willing to look up a local restaurant. They said they wouldn’t know how to find that information. I suggested they try the local phone book. 
• Restaurant reviews are good things, especially from good publications.  Taking a chance on a restaurant you just  drove by doesn’t really work.  Food and Wine Magazine recommended Hot Chocolate and Avec in Chicago and they did not dissappoint.  The Orlando Sentinel recommended Le Coq Au Vin and it wasn’t bad.  A local dining site recommended Mizuna in Spokane and it was decent. My spontaneous adventure in an Orlando sushi bar resulted in less-than-fresh sashimi served by a sushi “chef” who stated he wished a porn convention would come in to town and in to his restaurant. This is not the dinner conversation you are looking for from the person preparing your food, much less when eating raw fish.  Do they not train their staff? At all!?
• When you are telling a cab driver in a city you have never been how to get somewhere, this is not a good sign.

To end on a happy note, it was wonderful to see three very different parts of the country. I was most excited to visit Chicago and it did not dissappoint, although the weather was difficult.  Orlando was sunny, wonderful and vegas-like, which is not necessarily a good thing depending on your views of that Nevada city.  I could have sat by the pools for months.  

Technorati: United Airlines, Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Spokane, Olympia, Chicago, Orlando, Avec, Hot Chocolate, Mizuna