Cheese Bomb At The Satellite

While I love fine dining, I also love more pedestrian fare. I grew up in Northern New Jersey for crying out loud and enjoyed such wonderful treats: Hostess cupcakes and Twinkies? Tastykakes? Ellio's Pizza? Steak-umm? Pork roll sandwich? Dunkin' Donuts? French Fries and gravy?

I could go on and on, and while my diet has improved over the years, I still enjoy comfort food and junk food. Just ask people at my office and they'll tell you I can pack away the glazed donuts with the best of 'em.

I was in Spokane last week for the World Science Fiction Convention and enjoyed many fine meals, but this one stood out. Good friends of mine (Mark Van Name and Jennie Faries) asked us out to lunch at a diner, specifically The Satellite Diner and Lounge. I highly recommend trying this diner out. Great food...and it's also a bar! The staff were pleasant and attentive.

The menu has plenty for all, but I went right for what the menu pointed out as "Extreme Eating Options (while it's still legal)". What intrigued me the most was this:

                                              It's cheese on cheese served with cheese!

What you're viewing is the Cheese Bomb! Just looking at it right now is making my mouth water. Here is the description off the menu: "Parmesan encrusted bread, melted provolone and cheddar cheese. Deep fried mozzarella cheese sticks nestled right there between more melted cheese. It's cheese on cheese served with cheese. It's da BOMB!"

Every single bite was delicious. I ended up taking it easy later on when I had dinner--I may have had a salad.

I only wish I'd had more meals at The Satellite.

Twin Peaks & Sasquan

My wife and I decided we'd use traveling to Spokane for Sasquan (World Science Fiction Convention) as an excuse for a mini-vacation at Snoqualmie Falls for a stay at the Great Northern--I mean the Salish Lodge & Spa.

The Salish Lodge and nearby towns were the inspiration for the town of Twin Peaks in the David Lynch mystery/drama of the same name. We booked the 'Twin Peaks' package at the Salish Lodge which included a map of locations used in the filming of the show, Dale Cooper cocktails (a wonderful mix of Gin, clove & cardamom infused Salish honey, Salish Lodge Dry Honey Cider, lemon twist and lychee), and cherry pie and damn fine cups of coffee. Our room overlooked the river close to the famous falls.

We explored many of the locations provided by the included map as well as some found on fan sites. Pretty neat to experience them up close. Our first stop was the Double R Diner, which is actually Twede's Cafe', and we enjoyed some cherry pie and coffee (damn fine cups of). The diner is a little rundown, but I believe David Lynch will be shooting there for the continuation of Twin Peaks on Showtime, and therefore they will likely refurbish the location. They were busy (but then, it was Sunday around noon). The Salish Lodge from the outside of course looks like it did in the show, the interior is nothing like what we see in the show, but that doesn't mean it's bad, I think the Salish Lodge is wonderful and full of atmosphere and the staff are kind and attentive. The rest of the locations throughout the area were interesting, but more along the lines of wow, seeing them in the context of real life is so different than how they're presented in the show.

I've been going for runs each day since being here and asked for easily accessible trails nearby, but I obviously didn't pay attention since I ended up on a road that was closed. I took along an old iPod Nano to simply use as a timer since I wanted to hear the sounds of the forest rather than music. As I jogged along the deserted road, the forest on each side of the road pressed in and I glanced left, noticing a trail beckoning me into the forest. I accepted the invitation. Towering ferns straight out of the Devonian period draped over the little-used trail. Towering trees poked the sky, obliterating direct light. The trail quickly became a path and closed in on me on both sides. Light poked through the canopy, with the sun on my left, but the path twisted and turned and forked--I kept the sun on my left. Eventually, I decided to turn around rather than get stuck in some endless Blair Witch loop.

I emerged from the forest and jogged back down the deserted road. I checked my iPod Nano for the time elapsed and found the device dead. The battery had been full when I left. I've taken great care of the Nano. I plugged it into power and then the computer. Nothing. Dead. Coincidence or some bizarre Twin Peaks-like occurrence? I eventually got the device to reboot--having to hold the center button and menu button at the same time for 6-10 seconds. But still, that was odd, it had never died on me before.

Today we leave for Spokane to attend Sasquan, the World Science Fiction Convention. There we will meet up with old friends and make new friends!

The Loss Of A Loved One

On July 29, 2015 we lost Pepper. The loss of Pepper devastated us since upon adopting him, he'd always been our most sturdy and healthy cat and we thought we'd have many more years with him. We'd only adopted him 3 years earlier after he'd spent 9 months in the Evergreen Animal Protective League's no-kill shelter. The shelter believed he was around 8 or 9 when we adopted him. Pepper's story touched us--his previous owner (I don't like that word, so perhaps his previous human or his previous mom works) passed away and her family, rather than take Pepper, simply tossed him outside. A neighbor found him and took him to the shelter.

The first photo is of Pepper at the shelter. The kind people there told us he was depressed for months after his owner passed. We visited the shelter and I found Pepper beneath a bench and all I could see were two yellow-green eyes peering back at me. Pepper came out of hiding and ended up following us around the shelter's cat room, apparently that was rare since the woman working there remarked on his emergence.

It took a while for Pepper to completely trust us, maybe an entire year, though he certainly let his guard down around us quite early on, but in the last year or so he was so happy. Take a look at this photo, he couldn't be more relaxed, right? He loved nothing more than taking a nap on his mom's legs while she read a book or took a nap herself (well, he loved food, too--all sorts of food).

Pepper was a huge presence in our home, a presence we miss (and our other two cats have not acted the same since Pepper passed). We still expect to see him lounging around, or following us, or running into the pantry when it's dinner time. Pepper contemplated every move he made--he never simply reacted, but pondered his next action. Pepper didn't leap without looking. He's probably the smartest cat I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Though Pepper was thoughtful and serious, he could also do goofy things, and not always on purpose, like the next two photos:

Below is a little more detail on Pepper's illness and his passing if you're interested:

Pepper was taken to the vet on Friday, July 24th due to his sides ballooning out. He was immediately referred to an animal hospital for ultrasounds. The ultrasound revealed what they believed to some sort of structure--they would not label it a cyst or tumor. The surgeon recommended exploratory abdominal surgery--the hope was they'd take out this "structure". The belief was that this structure could be pressing on an organ and causing fluid build-up, but also that this could be cancer. The surgery was scheduled for Tuesday, July 28th, so we were lucky to have Pepper back home with us over the weekend. For the most part he was his old self--eating, relaxing, and rolling around on the deck, but by Monday he had gone down hill quite a bit. He didn't want to eat and barely wanted to drink water. Tuesday morning I found him in the cat carrier (which was odd considering he used to fight us like crazy when we had to put him in there) ready to go to the vet. The carrier wasn't out in the open, it was in a closet downstairs that wasn't all that easy to access.

We took him to the hospital Tuesday morning and learned a lot about cat anatomy from the surgeon, who was really friendly (all the people at Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital were great). What they found when they opened Pepper up was not a "structure" at all, but all of his organs pressed together by the fluids that had built up. And it was cancer. No cure. Nothing they could do, but possibly shoot him full of drugs that may have killed the cancer cells, but not cure him. Pepper's blood pressure was low (70/40) throughout the entire night and into the next day.  We spent time with him that night and the next morning, Wednesday, July 29th. Our vet called and offered to come down from Evergreen to the hospital in the Denver area.

Once the vet arrived, she explained how dire the situation was for Pepper and we had no choice but to put him to sleep. She explained that his death would likely be ugly and painful--either his organs would shut down from low blood pressure, or the cancer would get him even if his blood pressure came back up. So we had to make one of the hardest decisions of our lives, even though we knew it was the best for Pepper.

Behind Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital is a courtyard with grass and some trees. Pepper was unhooked from all the various monitoring equipment and drugs keeping him alive and we took him out to the courtyard. My wife held Pepper in her arms and he lifted his head as the breeze touched his nose. He glanced up, and this is what he saw above:

We petted him, told him how much we loved him, and he drifted off and passed away in seconds once the vet administered the drugs. Reliving the moment just now transported me back to the 29th of July and that courtyard, and brought me to tears, making this difficult to finish.

Pepper deserved happiness and peace, and I hope we were able to provide that for him during the three years we were lucky enough to have with him. During those three years, Pepper taught us so much. He taught me patience. He taught me the value of quiet contemplation and deliberate action.

I came across this quote from A. A. Milne:  "Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That's the problem."  Pepper spoke to us quite often--he communicated with us and it took us so long to understand what he wanted or how he felt about something we were doing.

I miss Pepper. I miss all his little quirks. I miss his slow blinks and his tongue sticking out of his mouth. He used to sit on our luggage before we'd go on a trip--he hated when we were not around. Pepper woke us each morning, based on when the sun would rise--and if he heard us move a little, he'd go away and come back in 10 minutes, just like a little snooze button.  When I was out of town, Pepper would hop up on the bed and check on my wife as she went to sleep, just to be sure she was okay, then he would hop down and crawl into his own little bed.

I miss his presence. The house seems so empty without him.

Here is Pepper with his favorite person, his mom:

Turner Classic Movies

I recently dumped my satellite television service, and the channel I watched the most was TCM.  This isn't a post about satellite or cable or even TCM the cable channel (which is the only reason I was even holding on to my satellite for so long).

Have you ever wanted to see Jaws on the big screen? How about Gone With The Wind or Casablanca? How about Grease? Hitchcock films?

Guess what? You can.

Turner Classic Movies has been bringing classic films back to the big screen. These films usually only play for two days, but if you follow TCM's schedule you'll be in for a treat.  Last year, we enjoyed Casablanca, Gone With The Wind, and Rear Window. If you haven't seen those, go watch them immediately, you're missing out. All three of those are in the top 50 films of all time.

This year, TCM's schedule is full of great films:

Jaws 40th Anniversary – Sunday, June 21 and Wednesday, June 24
Double Indemnity – Sunday, July 19 and Monday, July 20
Grease Sing-A-Long – Sunday, August 16 and Wednesday, August 19 
Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho – Sunday, September 20 and Wednesday, September 23
Dracula (1931)/Drácula (1931) Double Feature – Sunday, October 25 and Wednesday, October 28
Roman Holiday – Sunday, November 29 and Tuesday, December 1
Miracle on 34th Street – Sunday, December 20 and Wednesday, December 23

We missed Jaws, which I would have loved to have seen in the theater (I was 5 when that came out, but I remember being terrified of the movie poster and ads). I didn't want anything to do with water at that point and I hadn't even seen the picture!

However, we did see Double Indemnity--not only one of the all-time great film noir films, but one of the all-time great films. Read the short novel by James M. Cain, then watch the film starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson. The movie was directed by Billy Wilder (now go and watch every single film this man directed--want a sample? Some Like It Hot, Hollywood Boulevard, Stalag 17, The Apartment).

You can sit home and watch these films, but there is something to be said for heading to the theater and experiencing them on a big screen, surrounded by others who also appreciate these movies. I'm looking forward to Psycho--not my favorite Hitchcock film, but it will be amazing on the big screen. During the original release, theater owners would not allow people in once the film began.

I almost forgot Ghostbusters. In 2014, TCM also re-released Ghostbusters for the film's 30th anniversary. What I loved about the release was that a bunch of high school kids showed up and had fun. I remember seeing the movie with a bunch of friends when it came out in 1984--I was 14. To see modern teenagers laughing and enjoying the movie made me smile and think that perhaps these final gasp Millennials/tip of the spear Generation Z kids aren't all that bad--boy do I sound like an old and curmudgeonly Gen-X'er right now.

Check out the website for TCM's film lineup and go see an old movie!

The Brown Palace Hotel

The Brown Palace in Denver, Colorado has been open since 1892 and every U.S. President since Theodore Roosevelt has visited (except Calvin Coolidge). The Brown is truly one of Denver's treasures, and there is much to experience within beside the wonderful accommodations.

My wife and I will be staying at the Brown this evening for Halloween (we don't get any trick-or-treaters up in the mountains, unfortunately).  We'll be taking part in a tour of the Brown featuring a medium, who will provide us all the spooky details of ghosts haunting the Brown and other odd occurrences.

The hotel is spacious, and within presents a huge atrium where they serve cocktails as well as host High Tea daily.

There is also Sunday Brunch--and while I don't normally enjoy buffet-style dining--the food served at this brunch is excellent and much of it is prepared to order.  It also doesn't hurt that it's a Champagne Brunch with the option of choosing Dom Perignon!

But there is more, they have a small coffee shop, Ship's Tavern (a down-to-earth pub), The Palace Arms (where we'll be eating dinner this evening before the ghost tour), Elyngton's for breakfast and lunch, and Churchill--a club where one can sip whisky and smoke a cigar.

Oh, and they have a spa, too!