TRADING MANNY, A RED SOX MOVE FROM THE PAST

OK, so Manny’s a little goofy.  Maybe it allows him to be a clutch hitter in a tough market such as Boston, without worrying too much.  Will Jason Bay have a lot of pressure on him to fill Manny’s shoes?  You had better believe it!  Remember how long it took to get a decent replacement for Nomar?  Oh yeah, that’s right, the Red Sox STILL haven’t found a decent replacement at shortstop! 

The other thing is why didn’t they get someone to shore up the bullpen???  Maybe that is in the works, but it is an area the Sox need help in Big-time!  Please, get a good 7th inning guy!

I think the start of Manny’s demise was the dust-up with Youkilis in the dugout a couple months ago.  Manny’s “want to win, but who cares” attitude and Youk’s “God damn, m***** f*****, why the **** did I just strikeout” attitude were bound to clash.  Then when Manny pushed down the “older” Travelling Secretary, he was wearing thin his welcome.  I just wish they could have made it work a little longer.

SAUSALITO IN THE NEW TOY

The "new" Z

Took a drive up to Sausalito in the new toy today.  I guess the name of my blog might finally make sense now!  We drove up 101 through the city and across the Golden Gate.  The plan was to take some pictures from the Marin side with the bridge in the background, but it was pretty socked in with fog.  Also, I missed the exit so we just continued on to Sausalito in search of some fresh, salty air and a good lunch.  We found both at Horizon’s, right on the water at the south end of town.

View from Horizon deck

Beth ordered the lunch special; soup, salad and half a sandwich which amounted to a cup of delicious, creamy clam chowder (which really could have been called Bacon chowder!) some Caesar salad, and a yummy bay shrimp sandwich.  I ordered the Dungeness Crab sandwich and substituted fries for the greens.  The fries were great, narrow shoe-strings perfectly crisp on the outside, but still tender and moist on the inside and coated with a coarse sea-salt possibly?  The crab sandwich was awesome!  The crab itself wasn’t anything special, but it was placed on a piece of brioche, then topped with slices of avocado and then a layer of melted Swiss cheese.

Yummy!

After stolling through a couple art galleries, we made our way back to the car and finished up our outing by driving around the bay, over the Richmond bridge and back down the East bay.  The car performed as advertised and hopefully will provided miles of smiles!!!

Ed & Laurie C’s Backyard

I thought I should mention Ed & Laurie’s beautiful backyard, which made perfect bookends to our evening at Cin-cin.  Beth and I arrived at Laurie’s about an hour before our reservations so as to carpool to the restaurant.  Ed opened a bottle of Champagne and we sat in the early evening sun in their beautiful backyard.  The waterfall flowing into the Koi pond highlights this wonderful space, surrounded with all kinds of flowers and plants and eclectic decorations.  It is really the perfect place to relax.

After returning from dinner, Beth and I were treated to one of Ed and Laurie’s recent finds; a bottle of Basil Hayden bourbon.  This is a Kentucky Bourbon and very mellow.  Ed and I enjoyed a cigar as we sat back and soaked in the very warm evening and very smooth bourbon.  Before we knew it, it was one in the morning and the Basil Hayden was dead.

Thank you Laurie and Ed for a great evening!!!

CIN-CIN WINE BAR

Laurie and Ed invited us to this relatively new wine bar/restaurant in Los Gatos over the weekend.  After viewing the menu online, I was excited to go!  The dishes sounded very tasty while the wine seemed a little pricey.  The meal turned out pretty much as expected.  Ed was nice enough to bring a very nice Pinot to start with (‘05 Windy Oaks) and it went well with the small plates and sampler platters we ordered.  We did order another bottle of Pinot, a “06 Elk Cove from the Willamette Valley, but it wasn’t nearly as good as the first.  (Too earthy for me!)  As for the entrees, they were merely good.  Laurie and Beth both got the Steak Frites and while being a good plate of food, it really wasn’t something to rave about.  Ed and I both ordered the Griddled “Diver” Sea Scallops.  The scallops were good, not as big as I would have liked, and although the dish was certainly unique considering the addition of crumbled Italian sausage to the scallops, squid ink pasta, manila clams, broccoli rabe and saffron butter, the sausage did sort of overpower the dish.  Maybe a good, spicy zin would have helped.

Overall, I was a little disappointed with the entrees, but pleasantly surprised by the appetizers and small plates.  The Wild Mushroom Empanadas were very good and the sampler plate and Charcuterie Plate were delicious and lots of fun to share and taste!  There were some creative dishes and fun presentations too.  With one $50 bottle of wine and one corkage, out tab came to about $150 per couple including the tip.  A fun, lively (if slightly noisy) place to share a bite with friends.