As mentioned in the Wine / Whisky Room transformation post, we'd been thinking about this room for several years. Back in Christmas 2018 we found a beautiful log from a downed tree at my parents in house in NY. It looked like it would make a great end table so we took it back to NC and kept it in the garage. We'd worked on occasionally, but with the wine room now ready for a table we were much more motivated to finish this project. stripping the bark in 2019 Early sanding - we switched ... continue reading...
Wine / Whisky Room transformation
This September we finally upgraded our unused dining room from dumping ground to an actually-functioning wine and whisky room. We'd been discussing this for several years, but now that we are home all the time we finally had the motivation to get things started. chairs purchased by Leandra three years ago for "motivation" ugh First up was getting everything out the room, then painting walls, as this room still had the original butter yellow wall color. Leandra accomplished this over ... continue reading...
NY Summer 2020: sunsets
One of our favorite activities on Long Island is going to the beach for sunset, especially since Pasha is allowed off-leash. in 2020 we were able to go quite a few times, and each time was a unique combination of color, wind, and tide levels. the car ride itself can be fun the cool water can be quite nice on a warm evening Pasha was feeling brave about the water on one of the visits. https://www.ericandleandra.com/video/pashabailiebeach.mp4 we're always on lookout ... continue reading...
NY Summer 2020: a day trip to Montauk
Leandra had never been out to Montauk, and I was a little kid the last time I had visited, so we decided it would be a good outdoor day trip for this summer. We managed to rope my parents into driving, which turned out great as they got free parking as senior residents of NY. It's a surprisingly long way, ~1.5 hours, given the slower roads and traffic, but it was nice to be out seeing something new. Just before we got to Montauk lighthouse we stopped at a small art installation that we ... continue reading...
NY Summer 2020: North Fork Food + Drink
With coronavirus restrictions we were very selective about where we went this year, but still got to try a few restaurants, breweries and wineries. Food A Lure Chowder House - This was the first restaurant we'd been to since March! Their outdoor seating was nicely spaced, and the view of the marina was great. As a bonus, they allow dogs on the patio too! I got the fish tacos; technically an appetizer, it was enough for dinner. Leandra got the mussels which were good but came with a soggy piece ... continue reading...
Dryer Repair 101
I threw the down comforter and duvet cover into the dryer, selected the cycle, hit "GO" and ... nothing happened. I switched outlets and scoured the manual, no luck. The power was on but the dryer wouldn't turn. It seemed the only option to figure out what was wrong was to call a serviceman ($$$) or take the dryer apart ourselves and troubleshoot. We found a how-to video on YouTube for a dryer that looked close enough to ours and after taking the top section off it became clear we were ... continue reading...
Coronavirus cooking adventures
Because of the pandemic currently affecting the world, we are grounded for the foreseeable future and my hobbies now include trying to get our money back from airlines and puzzles. In between Zoom trivia and virtual happy hours, however, I have also had a lot of time to work on my baking skills! Here are a few of my favorite recipes from the last several weeks: New York-Style Bagels King Arthur Flour Classic Baguette Alton Brown's Soft Pretzels Brazilian Cheese Bread, Pão de ... continue reading...
Grand Cayman: snorkeling
Grand Cayman is famous for Stingray City, but we were not interested in a (pricey) boat tour with a bunch of other tourists. Instead, we went snorkeling from the shore at two locations south of Seven Mile Beach. Our first stop was Eden Rock Dive Center, which has a parking lot plus lockers and picnic tables too. After checking-in with the staff and getting some tips on where to go, we took the center's ladder to get into the water and swam out to the well-marked buoys off the shore. On the ... continue reading...
Grand Cayman: food
Grand Cayman is known as a pricey destination, and we definitely found that to be true. However, we were pleasantly surprised at the general quality, so at least you are getting a commiserate value for the higher cost. To save a bit of money we stopped between the airport and the hotel at Kirk Market, a recommended grocery store. We were able to find a few reasonably priced snacks for our two days (passion fruit juice, chocolate covered craisins, and the rosemary crackers were great). On ... continue reading...
Grand Cayman: Kimpton Seafire Resort
The main reason to go to Grand Cayman was to use two free night certificates from IHG that were expiring. After investigating several California properties, we decided we'd rather go to the Caribbean, and the Kimpton Seafire Resort was highly recommended so we built a mini-trip around it. First impressions: wow! Check-in was very friendly, with complementary sparkling rose and cookies on arrival. Since it was our first time there we we were given a quick tour and escorted to the ... continue reading...
UK January 2020: Bracknell
Bracknell is a convenient town for accessing my UK office, but it generally lacked interesting restaurants. After a multi-year development the downtown is completely re-done, including new restaurants, so I thought I'd check it out on this trip. I choose the Grange Bracknell Hotel in large part due to its proximity to both the train station and the Lexicon (the name of the outdoor shopping center downtown). The style is rather dated, with boldly colored rooms, and most of the lights are ... continue reading...
UK January 2020: London
In mid-January I had a work trip to the UK which gave me some time to head into London. Leandra wasn't able to come on this trip, so I focused on theater shows and museums she was less likely to want to check out. It wasn't intentional, but I happened to be in the UK for the official Brexit on January 30, 2020. Luckily, I was in London that night, so I headed down to Parliament Square for the historical moment of separation. A large crowd stretched multiple blocks from the square and the mood ... continue reading...
Patagonia: Puerto Varas food + drink
We arrived into town on a sunny Sunday and after checking into our B&B we decided to walk into town and grab lunch. Puerto Varas has some lovely views of the lake and volcanoes, and as with other Chilean towns, signs of the October unrest were present during our visit, as higher end stores, hotels, and banks were boarded up to protect the windows. Cassis Cafe - We were seated on the rooftop terrace which had great views, plus we enjoyed watching firefighters train on tanker fillings. Eric ... continue reading...
Patagonia: Alerce Andino National Park
For our last full day in the Lake District we ventured south to Alerce Andino National Park to visit a couple of waterfalls and scenic lake overviews. Unfortunately, this was also our most frustrating day of the trip due to weirdly early park closures and volcanic washouts. See below for an interactive map of our hikes in Alerce Andino National Park. Our first stop of the day, Salto Rio Blanco, was inaccessible because of a volcanic eruption in 2015. This information wasn't easily ... continue reading...
Patagonia: Puyehue National Park + Las Cascadas
We awoke to a grey and drizzly morning, but with hope that the rain would be relatively minimal, headed north on the 2+ hour drive to Puyehue National Park. Our GPS was set to avoid toll roads as it wasn't obvious if there was an attendant at every exit. Consequently, we ended up on a gravel service road for 7 miles paralleling Hwy 5 to save $0.75. #thanksgoogle Sweeping panoramic views were nonexistent due to the weather but the route we took was still pleasant, through forests with ... continue reading...
Patagonia: Petrohué Waterfalls + Osorno Volcano
Our early morning flight out of Punta Arenas meant we had plenty of daylight to explore after checking into our B&B and grabbing some lunch in Puerto Varas. We decided to start with the Petrohué Waterfalls and then drive (and hike!) up the Osorno Volcano as the weather and light were still good at 6:30pm. See below for an interactive map of our day one travels in the Lake District. The Petrohué Waterfalls is a very popular place on a Sunday afternoon, despite the rather steep entry ... continue reading...
Patagonia: Punta Arenas
Punta Arenas is a popular transit point for getting in and out of Southern Patagonia. Our bus ride from Puerto Natales took us through hours of open fields, before suddenly hitting the edges of this small city, making it feel pretty close to the edge of the world. After a few stops we pulled up the bus depot, leaving us just half a mile walk to our hotel for the night. After checking in we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and walk around town - here we saw the most evidence of the ... continue reading...
Patagonia: Torres del Paine food + drink
Restaurante Pehoe - This restaurant had a great view and good Google reviews, but a recent menu change and incompetent staff resulted in the worst meal we had on the trip. On Thanksgiving no less. I stopped in earlier in the day to make a dinner reservation for 8pm (when they started dinner) and was assured a window table with lake and mountain views. When we arrived at 7:50p it was chaos. Some guests just started seating themselves wherever and instead of moving people, the staff was arguing ... continue reading...
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