A Match Made in Heaven

Diane Roberts & Paul Birkeland

Earlier this week, Ken and I ventured into the big world for one of his first dinners "out" since his knee replacement surgery.  We went to one of our favorite Eastside restaurants, Cantinetta, on Main Street in Bellevue.

We were so pleased to be able to spend time with Paul Birkeland and his fiancee, Diane Roberts.  Paul lost his wife, Joyce, to cancer last year and Diane lost her husband to cancer five years ago.  The two families have been friends for over 30 years and raised their children together.  I think that Paul and Diane found kindred spirits in each other, both having shared so many experiences together over the years. They are planning to get married in December in a small family wedding.  Ken and I certainly offer our best wishes to them for long life and happiness together.

Paul and I are working on a ZINO Society Walla Walla Wine Adventure for the end of April, 2011 and look forward to visiting some of the top wineries in Walla Walla with a group of around 16 couples.  We already have a great itinerary planned with access to wineries that don't normally take time to entertain guests and others that we both just love.  Definitely, I will share more details on this later.

We ended the evening once again with Cantinetta's fantastic dessert, Zeppole.  By then, Ken's pain medication and strength reserves had faltered, so I quickly gulped down one bite of dessert and then literally ran to get the car which was around the corner.  Paul helped Ken walk to the car when I pulled up out front, and we barely made it home before Ken turned into a pumpkin!

A Screamingly Frightastic Costume Party!



Judith mimicking one of her art pieces

 Last night, Ken wasn't quite up to attending a party yet, but I stopped by friend and frightfully fantastic artist, Judith Kindler's Atelier 31 Studio where she and her husband, Kyle Johnson, hosted a Halloween costume party.  Her studio was decorated with jack o'lanterns and headstones and lots of "spooktacular" decorations.  One of the highlights was her "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful" exhibition hung in her studio, having just returned from being on tour in five cities with part of the exhibition also currently featured in SAM's gallery this month.




Kyle




Judith and Kyle looked amazing as "I am not a rabbit!" which they both insisted.  One of their friends, Rebecca Teagarden, came in a great costume as a spoof of an earlier work of Judith's entitled  Mona and Me, complete with a baby doll which she carried in one hand with a glass of wine in the other.  I never did figure out how she actually was able to drink the wine however.



Some of the other frolicking friends were Esther & Walter Schoenfeld, Anne-Marie & Tom Hedges, Rochelle & Harry Alhadeff, Chloe & Lance Mueller, and Steve Walker & Debra Weasea.

As Judith promised in her fun and creatively worded invitation (no wonder she is so good at Scrabble!) . . .  "a totally boooooootiful" time was had by all!





Esther, Judith, Walter



Rebecca Teagarden


 















Ken, (aka "The Impatient") on his way to Health



Sylvia with Ken (aka "The Impatient")



As Ken (aka "The Impatient") has been recovering from his recent knee replacement surgery, it has taken a village to take care of him.  Between friends cooking dinner, emails and phone calls cheering him up, visiting nurses, physical therapists, lots of ice and copious amounts of pain meds, he really does seem to be getting better!  Though he wasn't the most docile or reasonable patient on her first visit, one of his favorite new friends is Sylvia Neicutescu, a registered nurse who is part of the Swedish Visiting Nurse Service. 

 Sylvia has been coming to our home twice a week to do blood tests, help him change his bandages, etc.  She has been most patient in dealing with the "Impatient" and has totally won him over.  Though I know I would never look forward to having my blood drawn, Ken actually looks forward to her visits.  And ZiZi, our little Yorkshire terrier puppy greets Sylvia as a long-lost friend at each visit.

Thank you to Sylvia and everyone else who has participated in Ken's return to health!

15 New ZINO Society Members Announced



Jeff Marcell


Arriving home from Portland on Tuesday afternoon, I drove directly downtown to the offices of Davis Wright Tremaine for the ZINO Society Roundtable Investment Meeting.  Around 60 people were on hand to connect with one another, hear our keynote speaker, Jeff Marcell, CEO & President of enterpriseSeattle and see the dealflow presentations by our featured ZINOpreneur Members of the month.

Featured ZINOpreneur members included:

• Anthony Grove of World Media, Inc. - The future of digital advertising




John Rubino with bottle of Woodward Canyon


• Dwight Miles of Whirly Golf whose mission is to expand the game of golf to kids and promore family connection while encouraging life-long values.

• Torrey Russell of Offers Network, Inc. - Smartphone app for real estate shopping using location based software.

And a traction update by ZINOpreneur Member:

• Max Lyons of FiatLux Imaging, Inc. - a secure online service for the transport, viewing, sharing, and storage of medical images by medical professionals and patients.

The featured wines were courtesy of ZINO Society Wine Pro Member, Jim Soleau of Cellar Stocker and beers courtesy of (Beer) Wine Pro Member, Charles Finkel of Pike Brewing.

Sue & Jackson Weaver with newest RT Member, Jeff Miller

Jackson Weaver, Roundtable Member and Coach Extraordinaire received his Coaches award for all of his efforts on behalf of ZINO Society ZINOpreneur Members and new Roundtable Member, John Rubino, attending his first Roundtable Investment Meeting won the wine drawing for completing his green input and evaluation sheet.  We also welcomed 15 new ZINO Society members, with Jeff Miller being our newest member.

A Culinary Feast Courtesy of Dr. Death and Fairy Godmother Princess

Bob Cremin aka "Dr. Death"

Things have been hectic since my recent blog posting about Ken's knee replacement surgery in Napa Valley a week and a half ago.  Since then I have travelled to Portland for a two day meeting and Board Retreat for Pacific Continental Bank and attended two ZINO Society Roundtable Investment Meetings earlier this week in Seattle and Bellevue.  You can see my blog postings about both of those by clicking on the links above.

 Last night was a culinary treat because friends Bob Cremin aka "Dr. Death" and Patti Payne, who Ken calls his "Fairy Godmother Princess" since she was the one that finally convinced him to have the knee surgery, came to cook dinner and spend the evening with Ken and me.  Ken is still recuperating from his surgery so we decided it would be most fun to stay home for dinner versus the challenge and hassle of going out.



Patti & Bob




Bob showed up  in his chef's jacket appropriately labeled "Dr. Death" with two grocery bags of ingredients and Patti showed up bearing her homemade, freshly baked bread along with sweet Pepper Payne, her friendly and fluffy, Papipoo. 

Both (Bob & Patti, not Pepper!) proceeded to chop and slice and saute.  The outcome was divine!  We feasted on Bob's Yukon Gold potatos au gratin with freshly grated Emmenthaler and a wonderful prawn and scallop saute with sweet onions, tomatoes, peppers, and garlic in a buttery sauce.  And we mopped up every bite of the delicious seafood saute sauce with Patti's absolutely incredible bread.

For dessert, Bob prepared Bananas Foster flambeed with brandy served over ice cream.  Yum!  Since we hadn't consumed nearly enough calories yet, I also served Brandy Ice, an adult milkshake blended with brandy, Kahlua and Creme de Cacao to accompany the Bananas Foster.

After dessert and more laughter and stimulating conversation, Ken was ready for bed, so Patti, Bob and I played a hotly contested game of Scrabble until almost midnight.  I think "smore" is a word meaning those graham crackers with melted marshmallows and chocolate bars.  Don't you agree?

Bank Board Retreat Dinner



Mike Holcomb, Bob Harding, Shannon Coffin



Early in the week, I flew to Portland in order to attend the Pacific Continental Bank Board Retreat.  I have been on this board for several years and  in the fall each year, we take time to "retreat" and discuss the direction and priorities of the business for the upcoming year.  As always, it was a well-organized and thought-provoking meeting orchestrated ably by CEO Hal Brown, President Roger Busse and Executive Administrative Assistant, Shannon Coffin.  In addition to the Board members attending, the senior management team also attends  and participates in the reporting and discussions. 



Mick Reynolds, Pat Haxby, Mitch Hagstrom, Rachel Ulrich

On the evening between the two days, we adjourned to a delightful restaurant in Portland,  Meriwether’s Restaurant. It is in the genre of a classic country inn and features a farm to table approach with a Pacific Northwest menu.  Following delicious hors d'oeuvres served on their intimate outdoor patio featuring a fireplace in the round, we were seated and began the dinner with incredible foccaccia bread served with olive oil.  A side order we shared that everyone raved about was their creamy, al dente risotto with spinach.  Between the great bread, the risotto and delicious potatoes au gratin served with the entree, I was very pleased when new Seattle Market President, Bob Harding, agreed to take the rest of my steak.    



Don Montgomery, Dan Hempy, John Rickman



Portland Market President, Dan Hempy,  made arrangements for some great wine to accompany the dinner including Willamette Valley Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir and Napa Valley Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon.  Though I am more of a Cabernet fan than a Pinot Noir fan, I loved the Domaine Drouhin and it brought back memories of sitting in the kitchen of Domaine Drouhin Winemaker, Veronique Drouhin's parents when I visited Maison Joseph Drouhin in Cote de Beaune around 25 years ago.  This was in my previous life when I was in the restaurant business and we were able to have lunch with her father, Robert Drouhin, after he had shared barrel tasting wines with us in his barrel room.  Yet another example of the small world we live in and that everything seems to connect! 



The Bionic Man

I am in Napa Valley looking out onto an incredible view of vineyards, trees and a mountain against a very blue sky.  It is the view from Ken's hospital room.  He just had knee replacement surgery yesterday and is waiting to be discharged today.  He is currently hooked up to a passive exercise machine that is moving his leg back and forth and an ice water pump wrap which is keeping the swelling down on his knee.

Ken has followed several friends and acquaintances who have had this less invasive version of knee replacement surgery with Dr. Thomas Coon at the Coon Joint Replacement Institute in the St. Helena Orthopedic Center.  Friend, Patti Payne encouraged Ken to talk with our other friend, Janet True, who recently has had both knees replaced here.  Ken now has a beautiful, shiny titanium Stryker knee joint inside his leg, though he has been asking to have his "old" knee joint as a souvenir.  I think he wants to keep it in a bottle to show it off (Yuk!), but I'm pretty sure it is long gone at this point.

Ken and Jimmy on board

When we arrived, we were surprised to find Yoko and Mino Arakawa also here for knee surgery for Yoko.  Yoko is directly across the hall from Ken.  We are very lucky that our dear friend, Jimmy Barrier, is making a special stop in Napa Valley to pick us up this afternoon and he has offered to bring the Arakawas also.  It will be the mercy flight with the two wounded ones on board.

It is a few hours later and we have now made it safely home.  The flight home took only an hour and a half and could not have been better.  Jimmy's pilots, Dave and Jim, are such pros and such nice people too. They, along with Kim, who provided drinks and snacks could not have done anything to make our trip home better

Mino and I commiserated that neither Ken or Yoko are making very much sense right now.  The anesthesia which is still in their systems  has both of them confused.  Jimmy bets they won't even remember their trip home.  Ken keeps saying that he and Yoko are now related since they both have the same titanium "gene" and he wondered what time the party starts that he thinks I am taking him to this evening.

Thankfully, I just got him tucked into bed with two pain pills and he seems to have forgotten all about the party!  However, when he recovers he will be the bionic man, so I think I will have to take him to play golf and dancing!

I was meant to be a Princess, not a Luggage Handler!

Our journey home included the hardest travel days I have ever encountered! Because of Ken’s pending knee replacement surgery, we needed to leave our cruise one day early in Ravenna. First of all, it was hard to say goodbye to all of our fellow travelers with whom we really had a great time as we cruised the Dalmatian Coast. More on that in this and this separate blog posts.

In order to leave the ship early and arrive in Venice in time for our flight home, Ken had arranged for us to take a train from Ravenna to Venice. What neither one of us knew is that there is absolutely no help and mass confusion (especially for a foreigner) in Italian train stations and as it later turned out at the airport in Venice too. We have never learned to travel light and as usual, we were laden with four giant size suitcases and one small but incredibly heavy carryon. It is currently very painful for Ken to walk even a few steps and his balance is not good (hence the upcoming surgery!).

Luckily the train station in Ravenna was small, so after several mistakes and confusion all around, we were finally able to determine where we should wait for our particular train outside on the platform. However, once the train arrived, there was a rush for the train and we had to schlep the 5 bags onto the train. By the time we had done that, there wasn’t a place to actually put the bags since I assume this must primarily be a commuter train, so by the time I had manhandled each bag into a place, we were lucky to find two seats in that rail car, not together.

When we arrived in Bologna, we were required to switch trains and had only 16 minutes to make the switch. Now that was a real nightmare since our Ravenna train arrived on one track and again after trying to figure out where we were supposed to go, I finally found an “official” who was able to speak a small amount of English and headed us in the right direction. We had to carry all the suitcases down a steep, long flight of stairs to walk under the tracks and then carry them back upstairs on the other side in order to access the correct platform. Since I have never really travelled in trains, everything was a challenge and the fact that I didn’t understand the signs and couldn’t speak the language made it doubly so.

When it was finally time for us to get off the train, again it was a matter of schlepping the suitcases down the steps off the train.  However, everyone lines up well in advance of the train stopping, so we were the last ones out of our train car and jockeying the enormous suitcases also slowed us down.  Just as I was trying to take the last suitcase off the train which Ken was pushing towards me, the doors began to close.  I somehow found superhuman strength to force the door open so Ken could stumble down the staris and off the train.  Whew!

I was totally exhausted at the end of that day and it will be a very long time before I will EVER take a train with any luggage again!

All Aboard for The Plaka!

Ken negotiates for transportation.

On the evening before we boarded our Seabourn cruise ship, Ken and I arranged for a special Greek dinner in Athens in the Plaka with transportation included.  Instead of stretch limos or even taxi cabs, Ken struck a deal with the owner of the Sunshine Express people-mover train to pick us up at the elegant Hotel Grand Bretagne.

Reb rescues Ken

Not all of our cruise friends had yet arrived in Athens, but we did set out for dinner with 16 of the group in tow.  All were surprised to see the impressive transportation!  Somehow Ken got left behind and Rebecka Milne helped rescue him across several lanes of traffic.



We took the train to the Plaka and enjoyed multiple courses of delicious traditional Greek food.  Again my favorite was the Greek Salad though the Moussaka was the best I have tasted.  We toasted our upcoming cruise with many bottles of Greek wine and ended the evening with a small glass of retsina.  Yiamas!!



Bruce Milne, Bonny Midby & John Midby with cruise friends







Fantastic Dalmatian Coast Cruise with Friends

Ken, Cathi, John & Bonny Midby in Dubrovnik

Ken and I just returned from a fantastic cruise from Athens to Venice aboard the Seabourn Odyssey with 20 friends.  The ship was beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed the people, the food and the service.  Included in the ports of call was Dubrovnik that we had previously visited on a cruise, but there were also several ports that neither Ken or I had visited before including Corfu and Pylos, Greece;  Kotor, Montenegro; Zadar, Croatia and Revanna, Italy.

Bruce Milne & Walter Schoenfeld



On our first full cruise day, our group participated in the ZINO Society "First Annual Invitational Golf Putting Competition" on the nine-hole putting course aboard ship.  In the men's division, the three who tied for first place were Bruce Milne, Walter Schoenfeld and Mark Pellegrino with a score of 17 and after a sudden death competition, Mark Pellegrino was declared the winner.  I was the women's division winner with a score of 20.



MoneyMan & BagMan, Kyle Johnson

My favorite stop was Zadar, an amazingly clean, charming small city where Judith Kindler, Kyle Johnson, Bruce Milne and I went shopping for prizes for our Dalmation Cruise Awards Reception.  Kyle served as the "money man" exchanging our Euros for Kunas and the "bagman" carrying our purchases, while Bruce, Judith and I poured through the potential awards.  You really had to be there for any of the prizes to make sense but our purchases included a sheep puzzle for Ken, a Croatia spoon appropriate for caviar for Esther Schoenfeld, a wine opener for Lenny Giannola, bubbles for Debi Giannola, a captain's hat for Charlie Hogan, a Native American(??) dreamcatcher for Nancy & Mark Pellegrino, a tattoo collection for Bonny Midby, a race car for Denny Dochnahl and assorted balls for Joe Sasenick.

Cathi, Judith Kindler, Denny Dochnald, Scrabble Addicts

Another highlight of the trip was our afternoon Scrabble games and the one day that it rained, we played in the morning as well.  Rebecka & Bruce Milne and Judith Kindler were already Scrabble aficionados and they converted Denny Dochnahl and me as well.  On one of my first games with Rebecka's help, I got 239 points for the word "ACQUIRED" which I was able to play off an "r" that was already on the board.  It used all my letters and it included two triple word point tiles.  Now I will always be looking to duplicate that score.  Scrabble anyone?