Teej's Secret Box

Tucked alongside the street passing the bus station (a historical building in its own rights), and opposite the currency museum full of a dizzy array of international coins.  There, you would find a true Aruba gem.  I had to grill my hotel concierge before she was willing to mention that place, having wrongly pegged me as the typical American who eats fast food (despite my pretty good physical shape, grr.)

This gem is known as The Old Fisherman.  Unlike the other places with seafaring names, this place knows their stuff.  In between the tourist fare of steak, chicken, and other stuff for the silly Americans, their seafood selections are fabulous.

From the outside, it is not much to note, but inside, it is a warm and cozy place, where you are greeted and offered tables.  A variety of waitresses would come by to take your order, bring your food, and banter with you.

I sat down and told the waitress to give me an authentic Aruba meal, and she pointed to the catch of the day along with Creole sauce.  The first time I went, it was mahi-mahi.  Unfortunately, I don’t remember the second fish I had — yet it was good.  However, the mahi-mahi was by far the most delicious one I have ever had.  The problems with restaurants are their cooking style — they would overcook the fish, drying it out far too much.  It doe snot matter whether the fish is fresh or frozen (you do realize most of your sushi have been previously frozen?), the cooking effort make or break the meal.  They nailed it both time, to my utter delight.

For appetizer, I was given a sliced and cooked corn bread (”Pan Bati” - a local Aruba delicacy) littered with shredded gouda cheese.  Add gravy to it, and I would have not been able to identify it any differently than poutine.  However, the taste is far better, and I would find the bowl empty far too soon for my liking.

The main course compromise of the fish, rice, a few sides tastefully placed, and quite delicious.  Both times I went; the sides were as different as the catch of the day, lending itself to a good variety that would encourage multiple visits to this restaurant by tourists.  The Creole sauce is pretty good, but as I got the plate the first time, I was offered to kick it up a notch with “Pipi di Papaya” aka Papaya Hot Sauce.  Apparently, the Papaya fruit is mixed with a hot pepper plant, “Madam Jeanette,” to produce a fabulous yet highly spicy mix.  If you would mix it with the Creole sauce to taste, you would have a delicious and spicy dip for your fish.  Now rest assured, I could eat the fish straight, it was that good.  The sauce just adds to the perfection.

The beverage of choice is Balashi, a pilsner beer that is very smooth, light, and perfect with the fish.

I am already missing the restaurant; sadden by the lack of good seafood restaurants here in St Louis.  If Aruba wasn’t so expensive, I would have gone back next weekend, but until I do, it is a fond memory that I strongly suggest anyone going to create.

I spent my time at the Renaissance Resort and Casino.  It is probably the only resort within the actual capital of Aruba (Oranjestad), and located right next door to the Parliament building.  There are three components, the Marina tower for adults only, another hotel for the family, and the Renaissance Island.

Both hotels have shopping districts pretty much geared toward the tourists, including stuff that are clearly imported, and pretty much the same stuff you can find at a nice luxury mall in a major city or a Las Vegas casino.  There is a buffet restaurant serving decent food, a crepes spot serving Dutch-style crepes, and other places (including the mainstays of American chain restaurants such as Pizza Hut, Sbarro, and so on forth.)  Rarely would a picky American eater go hungry in Aruba.

The casino, however, is a massive disappointment.  There is a casino near my home in Laveen that I have always considered to be a pretty crappy spot.  It is better than any of the casinos I have been to on the islands.  I have indeed been spoiled by Las Vegas, but when you have to hail a cab to get to a poker room, something’s wrong here.

Speaking of cabs, you need to hail a cab to get anywhere outside walking distance, even to the airport.  It is probably a policy Aruba has, but there is no Renaissance bus picking you up and dropping you off at the airport.

Aruba is very unique among foreign countries I have been to in where they are actively pushing you to use dollars instead of Florins.  It even got to the point where if you would use the ATMs owned by the Caribbean Mercantile Bank to withdraw dollars, it’ll be free.  If you would try to withdraw Florins, you will be nailed with the international fees in many forms depending on your bank.  Considering that over 60% of the tourists to Aruba is from America, it is not surprising, but it is indeed odd, when a good number of folks from Holland do visit.

Renaissance Island is just southwest of the airport, yielding a fantastic vantage point of the runway and planes landing/taking off.  At one certain spot, there is a hooked up radio allowing one to hear the pilots and the tower communicate with each other as they use the runways.

On the island, widely considered as the best spot for tourists and reserved for hotel guests (and others for a big fee), there are two separate beaches, one designated for family use, and one for adult use.  On the adult side, you would see topless sunners on occasion, a clear sign of visitors from Europe.  The island is pretty much overrun with Iguanas of many sizes.  There is even a designated feeding spot where several heads of lettuce is provided for the larger ones.  Pelicans and smaller birds do visit the islands frequently, but the popular ones are the Flamingos taking up root on the adult side of the beach (I suppose they don’t appreciate kids approaching and hassling them.)

It was a good stay at the Renaissance, with one caveat — do not expect miracles to happen.  It is what you make of it.

Well, I had an interesting day. It started out badly enough with my horrible allergy this morning, and a general grumpy mood when I discovered that my car may need a $900 repair soon (basically, a hard-to-reach seal is starting to leak, and the vast majority of the repair is the labor cost, having to remove the transmission in order to reach that seal.) There’s a chance it won’t get worse for years, but then it could burst tomorrow.

I also spent the most of my afternoon cleaning the house, rearranging the kitchen, and feeling generally grumpy. Finally, it was time for the mail, so I grabbed a nice pile of bills, $59-a-year credit card offers, and a magazine or two. On the way back, I was intercepted by a neighbor. She explained to me that the neighbor who usually take care of my packages and my trash had to go out of town for a funeral, so she took the responsibility, and handed me the three packages that was delivered to my home.

One was from Costco, full of file folders for my new file cabinet that apparently have not arrived yet (but should by next Friday).

The second package was from my sister, and is a gift for my cats. It is a “Cat Pueblo Play Tower”, a four-level cloth-and-plastic-sticks playground for the cats. While I was putting it together, Cash and Mitten was already playing with one part of the tower. Once it was up, and I put Mitten on the top, she settled in, and started enjoying the world from the top, while swatting away Cash who wanted to reign supreme.

Meowr

The third package is from my Sekret Santa in Duluth, Minnesota. ArsTechnica have an annual tradition where two very generous souls organized and send out details on Sekret Santa gifting. My Sekret Santa put together a very nice package!

As you can see, there are five gifts! FIVE! Not one, but two postcards of Duluth, Minnesota (maybe he wants me to move there… nahhhh, too cold!) The other three gifts are:

A Coca-Cola 3-D jigsaw puzzle. My father would absolutely love this, but then he’s not partial to 3-D puzzles yet. It’s pretty damn cool, thou.

“Infinity In Your Pocket” by Mike Flynn — A pretty damn cool looking book that I will definitely enjoy.

The Original CatDancer - Oh. My. God.

When I pulled it out, Mitten was quick to pay it close attention, and started attacking it! When I put it down, she actually would try to climb on the countertop, which is a no-no for her. She is so hooked to that toy.

When I showed it to Cash, and tried to take pictures, it was a blur of fast-motion action that is difficult to follow for my poor camera.

Below is the link to the entire album of the tree, the gifts, and the chasing of the CatDancer. (Click on the picture.)

Thank you, Sekret Santa. Thank you, sister. Thank you all.

And have a wonderful holidays.

5470 E. Second St., G-J
Long Beach, CA  90803

Sushi of Naples have succeeded in supplanting a very long list of sushi places to become my second most favorite location, right behind Yoshi of Sydney, NSW, Australia.  I do assume that once I get to Japan, there will be a multitude of places solidly placing themselves on the top dozen list, but until then, and even then, I strongly recommends anyone in the Los Angeles region to go here.

There are a number of sushi places I have been to in the valley, from the garnish Japanese hibachi places, to the “elite” locations in the middle of downtown Los Angeles.  None have really given an impression on me, hence the absence of such a review here.  This one place, with Sushi Chef of twelve years, Junji, have only been outrightly defeated by a chef of 26 years.  Pure skills is only the difference, as this gentleman brought out a wide variety of food that successfully pushed the boundary of my taste.

The single moment of brilliance that solidly placed this location at second place is the Albacore Toro sushi.  Toro = Belly location, which can be remarkably tasty, especially for Sake (Salmon).  Look at your stomach, and what do you find?  A nice layer of fat, unless you’re a skinny bastard (I hate you, hate).  With fishes, the fat content is much lower, yet it add a subtle yet brilliant taste to the sushi.  The Tuna Blue Fin (Totobi) is also something I strongly recommends, along with Aji, Suzuki, and Sake.  The sake was the only down point, being too favorable, and not as subtly dry as I prefers.  It is a decent sake, nonetheless.

The second shocker is that the entire meal came to about half price of what I expected.  The brilliant Albacore Toro that would normally go for $12.50 elsewhere is sold for $4.75.  The prices of the other options are just as low, lending to a much more moderate price tag, something I can heartily agree with.

This place is large, well crowded during meal hours, yet not too crowded to demand reservations.  It is my hearty recommendation that everyone who loves sushi go there with a loose budget for a tasty surprise.

Held on November 17, 2007 - this annual event was a great disappointment.  It is an annual gathering of deaf people of all stripes, hoisted with a cowboy theme.  Over the past few years, 300 to 400 strong found their way to this event.  Tonight, there was at least 126 people who bought the tickets.

At least, that was my conclusion as I received said ticket stamped with the number 126.  In the past, hundreds showed up, giving the feeling of thousands in tight quarters.  Deaf folks of all ages and backgrounds from across the valley of Phoenix, along with visitors from elsewhere mill together in a fascinating social event.

There were a few things that played against the turnout for this event.  The recent Deaf Cruise that experienced a turnout into the thousands, including several from the Valley.  Despite diverting the ship due to a hurricane, all told, it was a rousing success for most people.  It is an exhausting effort, burning the attendants’ funds and vacation time.  Although this event is held on Saturday night, it is indeed the night before Thanksgiving — a busy weekend for many.

There has been a decline of promotional efforts made by the organizers - Phoenix Association for the Deaf (PAD).  I attempted to contact the organizers through the e-mail address provided by the flyer, yet nobody took the effort to respond to my questions, much less sell me a ticket.  The deaf folks I have talked with in recent weeks have either not heard of this event, or not felt an urgency to attend this celebration.  There have been a major turmoil at PAD over the past year, leading to a steady decline with memberships, participation, and marketing efforts for the most simple of events.  When the treasurer of your organization have difficulty determining the amount to return on a $50 bill for a $30 admission fee — you have a problem with contributions from your community.

The sense of urgency is something that is disappointing about this event.  Within the deaf community, peer pressure reign supreme, with friends encouraging each other to check out any events.  This have gotten to the point where you would see young professionals mingle among the elders, trading names and stories.  It is a beautiful thing, and commonly seen in larger deaf communities in Rochester, NY and Washington, DC on a very regular basis.

To have a large turnout allows for us to all get in touch with our peers, both friends and enemies alike, in a wonderful neutral zone area, trading drinks and boasting of conquests, and reforming connections that rarely occurs during the lonely year out in the wilderness of the hearing world.

Yes, I am extremely upset by this.  Not because I spent $30 for a hour worth of disappointment.  There are many people I rarely get the chance to meet, but I usually can count on this event over the past few years to catch up with their lives.  That they apparently did not find the need, urgency, or even desire to show up leaves me with no opportunity to say, “hello” to dear friends and acquaintances for yet another year.

I wonders if PAD is a lost cause, and whether our community is in a need of something new to unify everyone.  Shall we make this happen?