“Mexico City to Dallas – No go!”
We had some very light snow flurries last Tuesday – certainly an omen of what was to come.
Both of us had dental experiences last Tuesday. I had a cleaning and Diana went to the orthodontist to see about Invisalign stuff. I tried to go to a new empanada place I had read about close to Dr. Toney’s office but they were closed – next time.
The Ogans were in town for Cooper Clinic appointments on Thursday. Anne particularly likes to have Tex-Mex food when in Dallas – the only cuisine that they can’t find a better version of in New Orleans. We met them at Mena’s in Carrolton and had a lovely late lunch. They had carried a king cake all the way for us – so thoughtful.
Last Saturday was pretty typical – workout and a visit to Duino for avocado toasts. In the afternoon, I enjoyed this New Yorker article on the fantastic pianist, Brad Mehldau:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/30/brad-mehldau-trades-bach-for-the-beatles
Diana dropped me off last Sunday for my flight to Mexico City for our quarterly Board of Directors meeting. We decided it was smart to move her Tuesday flight to San Francisco up to Monday, given the increasingly bleak weather forecast for the rest of the week. I was able to watch the first half of the NFC Championship game between the Eagles and the 49ers on the flight.
Immigration in Mexico City was remarkably smooth and quick compared to prior experiences. After a 20 minute limo ride, I was comfortably installed in the Intercontinental El Presidente hotel. This is the sister hotel to the one we were married at in Cozumel.
Here are views of the city from my room and the elevator lobby on the 40th floor:
The hotel is in the Polanco district – apparently the fancy part of Mexico City. There are several excellent restaurants in the hotel, and we enjoyed an outstanding Italian meal at Alfredo di Roma on Sunday evening. They even provided a private room with a TV so that we could enjoy the AFC Championship game. The baby octopus (pulpitos) were yummy and the tiramisu was the best I’ve ever tasted.
There is a lot of theater in these restaurants – here Blair’s seafood pasta is being prepared:
I got up at night to adjust the thermostat and was tackled by this sculpture – those black out shades are very effective.
Our rooms came with access to the Club lounge on the 39th floor for breakfast and happy hour. I really enjoyed their chilaquiles with verde sauce, spicy chicken and eggs in the morning, and the excellent views.
I met Jose, who runs Latin America for me, for lunch at another hotel restaurant, Au Pied de Cochon, for lunch. The French food was very good – foie gras mousse and scallops on a bed of risotto. We enjoyed catching up face to face over a delicious meal.
I did some work in the afternoon, and then ran into Phil, our majority shareholder, who insisted that I join him and the Board members for dinner. Guess where that was – yep, right back at Au Pied de Cochon. I was able to sample some other delights. The theater continued with dry ice smoking over the oysters and table side preparation of my steak tartare.
Here I am with Jorge, who runs Operations in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras at the dinner.
The Board meetings on Tuesday were very smooth and my presentation was well received, without any tough questions. Then it was time for my favourite meal of the trip. We went outside the hotel for dinner at La Buena Barra. Pablo, our local Mexico City Board member, arranged a wonderful table on the terrace. Then he proceeded to order up some amazing appetizers – soft shell crab tacos (best thing I ate), tuna tartare tostadas, and various other treats.
I had a massive octopus for my main course, and it was perfectly cooked on top of a hot stone.
The churro dessert presentation continued the creative trend.
If you’re ever in Mexico City – this is the place to eat. Here’s a picture of the full group enjoying the meal:
I had planned to fly back to Dallas on Wednesday afternoon, but the ice storm caused all flights to be cancelled.
There are worse places to have to spend an extra night than the Intercontinental. Nikki and Sunil were also stuck and we decided to revisit the amazing Italian restaurant. I tried the mushroom risotto with truffles – so good.
I headed to the airport on Thursday morning to attempt a flight to Dallas. The ice was forecast to melt during the day and then refreeze in the evening. I was hoping flights would get out. But no, my flight was pushed back six or seven times with arrival scheduled after the roads would have frozen again. Time for a plan B. There was a direct flight to San Francisco, and I decided to go and visit Diana and Clorinda for the weekend, letting things thaw out in Dallas.
I had forwarded Diana this boarding pass, but she didn’t initially notice that it was to San Francisco. She did ultimately notice and picked me up in the afternoon.
We invited Andy and Jude down for Happy Hour on Friday. They insisted on bringing a bunch of yummy Italian food from a new Pacifica restaurant. We’ve been enjoying left overs for a couple of days.
Saturday was a rainy and miserable day and the only time we ventured out was for a coffee and snack at Soul Grind. They have a new menu item – empanadas. I chose a mushroom one and it was delicious. We’d love to pick this place up and move it to McKinney.
Gianluca joined Alicia, Carolina, and Lucas for art and craft time on Saturday afternoon. They created some really pretty pieces.
In the evening, the girls (Diana, Alicia, Aimee, Caroline and Carolina) went to the Eric Lindell show at the Longboard Margarita Bar – the local dive bar where I went to watch the Cowboys at Christmas. They had a great time. Aimee stayed over for a slumber party and we enjoyed catching up with her.
I stayed home and hung out with Clorinda, who was very well behaved.
The Ogans made a last minute trip to Park City, Utah for some skiing. The conditions look excellent:
In other news, Alicia started a new job as a Project Coordinator at Communiversity – a community outreach program at San Jose State. She had an internship there, and they liked her so much that they found a funded position for her to continue. Way to go A!
My book this week was “Lucy, by the sea” by the wonderful Elizabeth Strout. I loved this quick read and the way it captured all the fear and uncertainty of the COVID onset. Here’s the online summary:
“With her trademark spare, crystalline prose—a voice infused with “intimate, fragile, desperate humanness” (The Washington Post)—Elizabeth Strout turns her exquisitely tuned eye to the inner workings of the human heart, following the indomitable heroine of My Name Is Lucy Barton through the early days of the pandemic.
As a panicked world goes into lockdown, Lucy Barton is uprooted from her life in Manhattan and bundled away to a small town in Maine by her ex-husband and on-again, off-again friend, William. For the next several months, it’s just Lucy, William, and their complex past together in a little house nestled against the moody, swirling sea.
Rich with empathy and emotion, Lucy by the Sea vividly captures the fear and struggles that come with isolation, as well as the hope, peace, and possibilities that those long, quiet days can inspire. At the heart of this story are the deep human connections that unite us even when we’re apart—the pain of a beloved daughter’s suffering, the emptiness that comes from the death of a loved one, the promise of a new friendship, and the comfort of an old, enduring love.”
There are several paragraphs that I had marked to include here, but I’m getting tired. Trust me – this is another excellent book from Strout.
I love the spare guitar sound on this one from the Teskey Bros – an excellent new band from Australia:
One of the Board Members, Matt, recommended this band after we had been discussing our musical preferences for a while:
I can’t remember how Andy and I got on the topic of Glaswegian singer, songwriter John Martyn. Oh now I do – I was telling him about Matt sending me every live Grateful Dead show on a drive, and he mentioned a bootleg recording he got in his record store from John Martyn.
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!
P.S. – the pilot on my United flight to San Francisco came out in the aisle and thanked everyone for flying with him. He went on to say he had flown for United for 23 years, and for the US Air Force for 10 before that, training up multiple teams. “You are all on my team today, and that means we treat everyone on board with kindness and respect.” What a great representative of the airline.