VinDivine - Living it Up John & Janine Style

STRIPSTEAK - Vegas

 OK for starters I’m on a flight outta Vegas to JFK tonight. Nobody in the middle seat, woo hoo! BUT, the woman next to me…well first, I am flying Virgin America, which rocks. Kinda like JetBlue was 10 years ago. Planes so new and clean you could eat off the seats. And you can order food whenever you want - yay! And they have Red, the cool touch screen interactive media system on the back of every seat. And therein lies the rub.

The woman in the aisle seat is wide awake. Not reading. Not working on her computer. Not clipping her nails (as some gross d-bag was doing during the last flight I took. Yuck. Wouldn’t eat off that seat). So anyhoo, this woman has, for the past 3 hours, stared intently, wait maybe not intently…hmmm what is that word anyway. She is staring at the start screen. The "Red an interactive the touchscreen is fire and she’s the first caveman. Or cavewoman. How is that possible? A total lack of curiousity. Wait! She did just pull out a zip lock baggie full of loose life savers? I think she may be a terrorist.

Anyhoo, I took a couple of my sales guys to dinner last night after they worked their butts off at the Word of Mouth Marketing show. Asked Pete to pick the place, and like an old pro the bastard picked the most expensive spot! Pick it he did. We headed down to Mandalay, watched the Jets whup some Mass-holes and then headed on over to STRIPSTEAK, Michael Mina’s Vegas meat house.

First, Mr. Mina you have been officially pardoned. This place is So Much Cooler than your signature restaurant in SF. Michael Mina SF: My grandmas living room. Michael Mina Vegas: Giselle's boudoir. Get the picture? Modern décor, great vibe, lots of glass and great lighting. Our waiter was cool, the hostess was hot. Perfect-o.

The menu has a killer selection of meat of course, from the $175 6-oz (is there cocaine in this steak?) A5 Kobe Ribeye to the 14-ounce bone-in Filet. Ya don’t see many bone-in Filets, lemme tell ya. And I can’t help giggling every time I type ‘bone-in’.

So let’s break it down. To start, I has the Chopped Salad, great traditional iceberg wedge with blue cheese, beefsteak tomatoes and baco-bits (OK, real bacon, I don’t want Mina suing me).  For appys, TJ & Pete ordered the Truffled Mac & Cheese, Bacon Creamed Spinach, and Jalapeno Creamed Corn (Glad we all had our own hotel rooms. Hope everything that happens in Vegas really does stay in Vegas!).Three of the best appys I have had for a looong time, my apostles. The spicy corn took the award though.

For entrees, Pete and TJ had the 14-oz Bone-in (lol, can't help myself) Filet (thank you Pete for not ordering the 6-oz Koge Ribeye @ $175;). That bone adds some flavor, my kittens. I had  a bite, great taste, tender, just a little more done than my carnivore taste buds prefer though. Not Mina's bad, it's the way it was ordered. They loved it. I ordered up the 10-oz Angus Filet. RARE dammit! Bam! They killed it, awesome flavor and everything and more a kick-ass Filet should be.

Swilled it down with a solid Zin I can't remember the name of. Except for dollar-cost averaging I ordered it and it was the cheapest Zin on the list.

Although they rocked the show, I still don’t want to have to do a ‘dinner cost/# biz card leads’ math exercise on this one!

STRIPSTEAK

Mandalay Bay

702-632-7414

Aspen, suckas!

Well hellooo there, sexy. So we were in Aspen recently, just b4 the Democratic National Convention. Where, BTW, 'ol J&J were on LIVE TV, bitches!! Woo Hoo, Prime Time. That's right. During Hillary's speech. Damn, we shoulda been wearing our VdV t-shirts (you'll be able to order them soon, relax) it coulda been our ticket to fame!

Anyhoo, let's take a breath, calm the hell down and roll it back to the weekend prior to our entree to the world of live politics.

First impressions of Aspen: 1) Well, Cosmic, our taxi driver, was a cool dude, ex-pro skier and all that but could've been from Eugene OR. (clue: that means, laid-back stoned granola-eater) 2) F'ing gorgeous (Aspen, not Cosmic) 3) WTF are the celebs?! Holy crap ya think we came here to mingle with the riff raff?  R U kidding me?! The closest we got was a 'maybe' on Fred Thompson that blowhard repub lying a-hole d-bag. But when I shouted that at him, like "are you Fred Thompson the lying sleazeball republican d-bag?" he didn't respond. And I don't have pictures, so cannot either confirm nor deny that. I guess if I was a Republican the truth wouldn't matter and I'd just say whatever the f I want and make it true! Maybe I should switch parties, sounds like a much easier life.  4) Where's the f'ing APSENS?! What kind of fraud is this?! My world has been turned upside down! Just throw in the towel and call it Prada, there more of these here than the trees this place was named after!

Disclaimer: OK, we did find some Aspens, lotsa them actually and we dig this little mountain oasis. Especially 'cuz I think we hit it on a dead weekend, just before Labor Day and the Jazz fest. So we basically had the run of the place.

Let's get to the facts, hep cats:

Sky Hotel: The hands-down sexy spot to stay. There's lotsa old-school places like Jerome, Little Nell, etc. but Sky is Kimpton and, although the staff is a little 'ASSpen' we do reco it. Great pool scene with the requisite local dickheads, pretty people, killer bar, and a decor that mixes Rockies with Ralph Lauren . Make sure to get a room on the 2-4th floors. And watch out for the freaky security punk that just struts around not talking to anyone and completely useless like a Nazi guard. Weird-o.

Social: Small plates. Big drinks. Retro-Modern-Loungy is my sum up here. Cool lighting, blah. It was beautiful outside with seating but we decided to sit inside 'cuz of the killer vibe. Wok-charred Edamame, Stuffed piquillo peppers with artichoke mousse, Lobster bisque with Gruyere cheese toasties, Wagyu beef sashimi, Kobe meatball. Scallops with Brie and honey on a cracker. Next round? A Roman Vomitorium. Caligula style.

D19: Great lunch here, outside seating as well, rustic Italian feel and we dug our salads. Heirloom Tomato Carpaccio and Mascarpone Burrata, 'The Popular' Smoked Chicken Salad, and several glasses of vino.

Rolling Forks River: Ya gotta work all that food and drink off to keep those washboard abs, am I not correct? So make like the locals and take a trail run, you fat slob! The trails around here rock the house, it's really the reason to be here, at least in the Summer. Giggidy! We ran 'em, 9 and 7 miles respectively but you also need to run the river, which we didn't get a chance to do this time around.

So, bottom line? DO ASPEN. A little 'tude, but just strap on your own and you'll have a blast!

Nick's Cove - Tomales Bay

So we were in the mood for a little road trip the other day and pondered our choices. Wine country? Nice, but D-o-n-e T-h-a-t. Down the coast? I can almost still smell the smoke (bummer). Hmmm. Hmmm. Not Tahoe. We go there all the time. Damn we're slow. Then it hit us! That whole 'north coast' area of Cali. Our bud Spencer (exec chef @ Paragon Restaurant) recently told us he'd had a killer time with his chick Sarah (Sous Chef @ Perbacco) up in Tomales Bay. I mean, up to now our entire experience of Marin county has been Sam's Dock & Guaymas Restaurant in Tiburon. I dunno why we've shied away from the coast, so we said 'WTF, let's give it a go!'

So we loaded up the Mini Cooper last Friday and set sail for this mysterious spot. Up 101, into Petaluma and stopped for lunch at  Risibisi Restaurant & Wine Bar. I don't know what they were smokin' when they named the place, but with 'wine bar' on the end how could we say no? Anyhoo, it's Rustic Italian and super cool. Nice folks, buono lista  di vino ed alimento, as they say in the old country (no, I didn't cheat and use babel fish for that!)

We chowed down on nice chunky Heirloom Tomato Bruschetta, perfectly soaked, thick bread with fresh heirlooms, basil and garlic. Then we split the Insalata Con Bistecca (cooked to order flank steak RARE, over fresh organic greens, more heirlooms and Pt. Reyes blue cheese. Yummy!) and Insalata Con Pollo (roast chicken breast over organic greens and fresh veggies with a red wine vinaigrette. Also Yummy for the tummy).  We chased it down with a decent Rosé. Just one, we're driving!

OK, back to the headline story at hand. This isn't a Petaluma blog for chrissakes. Where were we? Oh yeah, through Petaluma basically to Highway 1. Then hang a left and you're within 20 minutes of Tomales. But alas, not so fast! 'Ol wrong-way Johnny zigs when he shoulda zagged and took a right instead, I see the signs for Bodega Bay and figure, "Hey aren't all these bays next door to each other, must be going the right direction". Well, 45 minutes later Janine, her iPhone Google maps app and road signs finally convinced me of my error. We whipped the Mini around in a tight U-turn and set sail south on 1.

So a short while and many curves later, we arrive at our destination - Nick's Cove Inn. This place rocks! As the story goes I guess Nick's Cove has been around forever, got dilapidated and then Pat Kuleto bought it for a song, fixed it up and re-opened it in 2007. There are 5 cabins on the bay side of Hwy 1, each different in style, cute/boatish motif and set over the water so the waves waft up under your deck. They aren't fancy-shmancy which is cool - they are dressed up, have radiant heat bathroom floors, flat screen TVs and are comfy. And the decks over the bay are sweeet.

The other side of the hwy has 8-10 more units, they looked OK but if you really cherish your rare get-away time, put the hurt on that MasterCard of yours and go for one of the 5 cabins! And book early, these puppies fill up fast even though they are pretty outrageously expensive.

There's also Nick's Cove Restaurant, a rugged/rustic American place with moose and deer heads all over, a long bar and some really good grub. And it better be, 'cuz there ain't nowhere else close to eat! At least not if you enjoy the occasional adult bevvie with your meals - the windy (not as in breeze) trip back wouldn't be much fun. And the prospect of being locked up in the Pt. Reyes drunk tank for a night, although novel I am sure, is a definite buzz kill. We basically did breakfast lunch and dinner at this spot.

The food: let's break it down. Breakfast in the room bien sur. They have a complimentary (what, Kuleto is giving away something free?!) continental b'fast with awesome, and I mean AWESOME pastries and great Illy coffee & juice. But it being the most important meal of the day, we added on a couple Bloody Marys. Oh yeah, and a killer Fritatta. Fritatta. Fritata. Damn, what a great word.

I don't know if we even had lunch, so let's just skip ahead to din din: Awesome Clam Chowda, small mild clams and great applewood bacon. Mmmm. Fennel Cured Salume, Heirloom Tomato Salad, Pan Roasted Halibut, BBQ Oysters (oh yeah baby. Gotta have oysters if you're up here. And these being the first I've had of the BBQ variety, I'm in!). And excellent Pork Ragu Pasta. All good. All eaten at the bar. Oh yeah the bar - they have one of our fave tequilas, Siete Legaus reposado. Impressive.

So, all good here at Nick's Cove. Good pads, great chow, super nice people. We dig it and will definitely come back for some more chillaxing. A couple humble suggestions though, Pat Kuleto - it's kinda tight of you to charge the prices you do and have an 11AM check out. And, again for those prices you charge offering a free full breakfast might help take the sting out. But that said, we'd go back anyway!

Flying tips from J&J

So we just got in from a marathon flight from JFK to SFO on Virgin America. JHC the jet stream musta been in overdrive it seemed like 6 1/2 hours. Plus it took off about an hour late to boot. Anyhoo, I'm not gonna  whine about all the cheap overpriced wine we drank. Not even gonna whine about the one-armed old man sitting next to me that asked me to 'buckle him in' every time he returned to his seat. Hell I'm not even gonna whine about the TVs being on the fritz during the Italy-Spain match on the way out. Nope. No sirree. That's not what you're here for.

We love Virgin America. Not as kick-ass as Virgin Atlantic, but then again they don't require that you fly into Heathrow either. Virgin America is the new 'Blue', and it's the first time we cheated on Blue to get from Sf to NY. Cool mood lighting, awesome entertainment mod called Red, and dirt cheap to boot! Groovy experience all-in-all. So we have not one, but TWO tips for you today!

1. Seating: Yeah you can score pretty cheap 1st class sometimes, but whatever. It's easy to see those when you book online. We're gonna tell you where NEVER to sit. Ready for it?? Row 8. Holy crap what a agonizing experience. I mean, I'm only 5' 8" and a buck-fifty and I felt like human origami trying to fit. My tall drink o' water babe Janine was folded up like a yoga instructor. It's just before the first exit row, so the seats don't recline, you get zero legroom in that part of the plane anyway, PLUS row 7 basically reclines onto your lap. And not in a sexy way.
2. Food: I dig you can order whenever you want. Cool beans. Get the Turkey-Bacon wrap (mmmm) and the Antipasti plate. Both killer for plane food.
3. There is no three! If you were reading before, I said two!

Well that's it for now, sorry for the random post but I had to get that off my chest!

The Alcoholics Guide To Austin

I mean, why else would anyone visit this barren, Bush-infested hellhole of a state if not for Austin?! Wird. One of the J's actually did some time here (no, not in a prison lock down or in Waco, it was semi-voluntary) a few years back so We Speak From Experience. As y'all know, bitches!

Anyhoo, so we had a decision to make last weekend - I was in L.A. and the the other J was in Austin, we're both yip-yappin' in front of people about our respective bidnesses. People actually pay us for that stuff (as opposed to our VdV gig...look for a Tip Jar soon). So, do we stretch the  weekend in smelL-A or George Bush's backyard? I can almost smell your anticipation...and your disgust as I say...and my disgust as I smell your anticipation (eww)...yippee kiy yay Mo-Fo we mosied on in to Austin! Yee Haw! Texas that is, big hair, fake boobs, flop sweat and fortunately home to an oasis called Austin.

But I'm tellin ya here and now, as gospel..AUSTIN ROCKS. This town is the f'ing bomb! Holy crap. We LOVE IT HERE. And it wasn't even SXSW or Austin City Limits. This was just a typical kiln-hot weekend. That's all. I mean, some of the most friendly and cool peeps, sun, tons o' (air conditioned) bars and...oh yeah that live music scene. Jesus H Christ.

So let's break it down. We want to make sure you don't make a wrong turn and waste any timing lookin' when ya could be drinkin'! This is a loooong post but like they say, everything's bigger in Texas! So here's the 411 on the 512:

• Stay: The Driskill (until the W opens in a couple years in the warehouse district). 2 words - Old School Texas. For lack of a better word, 'Grand' comes to mind. Not really J&J's style but it's nice, located right off 6th (read: New Orleans-ish party street) and supposedly occupied by ghosts! Hard as I tried though I couldn't scare one up.
• Breakfast: B'fast?! Like we get up in time! Room service, sucka!
• Lunch: Now we're talkin'! Hit Cantina Laredo for some scrump-dili-ishous tex mex. Try the Botanas Platter (we're usually not platter people but this is all killer no filler) loaded with yummy stuff including Pork tacos, chicken quesadilla, chili con queso (mmmm...cheese) stuffed jalepeños and beef, shrimp and veggie skewers. Christ that's a mouthful even to say! And it's only $14 to boot. Also good, the Soft Tacos and...you guessed it that's why we ate lunch here both days, the Chips & Salsa! Oh yeah, and they mix a kick-ass 'rita (even 5 or 6!)
  
• Drinks: (Most of these are located off 4th in the cool, hip little-more-upscale area than 6th street)
  
  • For solid live blues, hit the classic in Austin, the Continental Club baby! Small, dark (and I don't think ya want to be there when the lights come on if you get my drift) bar with a little bit of dancing room. Awesome. We saw the Blues Specialists, they kicked ass. This place isn't in the WHD, it's just across the river.
  • Screw Texas, wanna taste of Havana? Check out Cuba Libre for a cool vibe, pretty people and a killer Mojito!
  • Molotov. Well, how can you not go to a place with a cool name like that?!  Funny thing is, a friend of a friend of mine called me and gave me a couple insider places to go - he mentioned this place, but I thought he said Mullet Top. What a retard. I wondered why the taxi driver gave me such a weird look when I told her to take me there. Fun night spot, groovy and modern. Ask for Brian he's the owner and super-cool dude, we had a couple shots with him. And I like the little molotov cocktail that follows your mouse pointer around on the website - I just couldn't figure out how to throw it! And when you go, get a Molotov t-shirt. And get one for me too, size M, I spaced out and forget to buy one.
  • For a rat-pack classic vibe you have to hit Belmont. We love love loved this place. It's only a couple years old but you would swear that Sinatra prolly hung there. Dark, retro-clubby, and A/C that'll freeze your nipples off. I can't even count how many Vodkas we downed at this place - go! Ask for Dave he was awesome.
  • Ya gotta give props to Lance A., so hit Six Lounge. This is a cool warehous-ey spot in the...you guessed it...in the warehouse district!
  • Hey let's make our way around the world, eh? Cuba, Mexico, Vegas retro, Russia, and now...Ireland! Hit Fado one of the most authentic Irish pubs I've caught a buzz in for a long time. This place is insane, I think they actually brought pieces of 3-4 different Irish pubs over on a barge and re-assembled them here. Get a Guinness of course!
• Supper (that's what they call it down here). We scored both nights.
  
  • Some of the best sushi ever at Uchi. "WTF, you proclaim? Are you on crack? Austin is landlocked!" Noper, and we were kinda skeptical as well. But we rolled them dice and god damn if we didn't come up boxcars. It's a Japanese Fusion style place, very hip, full 'o pretty people. Sleek, dark design and the chef is an Iron Chef winner I think. Awesome, creative rolls, excellent sashimi, and what rocked Janine's world? Wagyu Beef 'Sushi'! Woo Hoo!
  • Visiting Texas without eating BBQ is like...well...nothing comes to mind right now but you get it. And Lambert's Downtown BBQ serves up some killer BBQ! What'd we pig out on? Spicy Deviled Eggs, Green Chile Cheese Grits (mmmm, grits!), then we moved on to Oak-smoked Maple Crusted Pork Ribs and Oak-smoked Achiote & Lime Rubbed Chicken. Dessert? No f'ing way!

• Sideshow: It gets a tad hot down in these parts, and the cool thing is there's rivers and lakes everywhere. The place we like? Barton Springs. It is literally a mile or so from downtown Austin, and is an awesome place to hang out and dip into some ice-cold H2O.
• Shopping: Hells yeah, this is a complete blog post!
• Hip duds for guys and chicks at Estilo, in the warehouse district. I scored HUGE with some Modern Amusement stuff all 40% off! Yeowsa. Janine didn't make out quite as well, but it's about time more places carry cool guy's stuff!
• Mellow Jonnhy's! Even if you're not in the market for a bike, stop by Lance's other spot and pick up an uber-cool Mellow Johnny's T!

OK, if that doesn't keep y'all busy and buzzed for a couple days, we're scared! Oh yeah, a big +: JetBlue flies direct from SFO!

Orbit In - Palm Springs

Aloha! Mahalo! Or as Janine would prefer to say, Manolo (as in Blahnik for all you Birkenstock-wearing shoe haters). Nope we're not in Hawaii, kittens. We are in Palm Springs, but it kinda has that feel. 'Cept for that whole 'being surrounded by water' part that is. Anyhoo, it is hot here, and it is hot in Hawaii. So shut your pie hole and just read.

So, we snuck down here to Palm Springs for a couple days of heat and R&R, as we've both been hittin' it hard lately (and I'm not talking the bottle). If you haven't been here, the rumors are true. No not that one about the heat. That's not a rumor. It gets kiln hot here. Think Old and think Gay. Yes there are plenty of old people, plenty of gay people, and plenty of old + gay people:

Bottom line, if ya can't deal, make your getaway plans for somewhere else, East Bay. Ha. Just joshin' with ya, all ya lovers from Concord, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hell, I mean Hill, Oakland (oh yeah, don't wanna piss off any of my homies from o-town), and Stockton...wait a minute let's skip Stockton. Skip Fresno too.

This place is f'ing Fantabulous. J&J will put down roots in this barren, hell-hot oasis, mark my words. Now go make some money Janine! I mean P.S. is all about '50s rat-pack, mid-century modernism, hedonism and all those other good isms. It's an hour or so cheap flight from SFO, and...wait for it...your fave hotel snobs J&J stayed in a...oh god I can barely say or type it. Nope, contrary to our Modus Operandi, we didn't do a Viceroy or Palmer resie...we went Old School and WENT chillin' at the uber-retro-cool Orbit In, bitches! Think Roadside Motel, people. Think Sinatra and the Rat Pack. Think Twister! Think martinis and any beverage that needs to be poured out of a shaker.

That's right. What took us so f'ing long to grace this place with our presence?! Right off that bat, you fly into an outdoor airport. Then a $10 - 10 minute ride to downtown. Then check into a rockin' cool motel, which there are oodles of, but Orbit In takes it IMO. 8-9 rooms, we got a miniscule room but still doable. Everything centers around the cool pool and outdoor bar anyway. And they pump Sinatra bascially 24x7 by the pool.

So beside laying around the pool and getting hammered at the outdoor bar? Cruise the downtown strip, sucka! By day: old, tame and laid-back. By night: gay as a purseful of rainbows. Woo Hoo! We went to a tapas bar and the second the sun went down, we were smack-dab in the middle of an awesome drag show.

So people there is something here for anyone, except for rednecks. Is that not nirvana? 

Orbit In
562 West Arenas
Palm Springs, CA 92262
760-323-3585

Asian - Paris

This is classic. Not so long ago we visited our wonderful city of Paris (we lived here for a short period) and were asking our concierge at the Artus Hotel about this place cuz we couldn't remember the name of it!! No lie, "We're looking for the name of that cool Asian restaurant across from the George V Hotel". Uhhhh, maybe Asian?! Damn, fools we are.  We used to go here all the time when we lived here. It's got to be at least a decade old which says a bunch for a restaurant's life in Paris.

In the 'first impressions count' category, super hotties (both women and men, ladies and gents...or gents and ladies...whatever) greet you at the front door and escort you downstairs to the spacious, dark, attractive restaurant area. Odd, they have a "smoking" area and "non smoking" area with no partition. Hmmm. How does that work, again? BTW, we hear the Frenchies are picketing in the streets as we speak against a No-smoking ban that's supposed to take affect Jan 1. Hey, if it can happen in London it can happen anywhere!

This place has a super great layout. You walk through this uber cool bar area with an Asian jungle-like feel with palm trees and cool hidden nooks to hang. You need to walk through the bar to get downstairs to the restaurant, brilliant design. A bit cheesola? You can buy t-shirts at the bar...oh well. No, we didn't buy any. And I take offense to the question!

Everytime we've been there, the food comes out in record time...this time before the drinks which was weird...did they use some bizarre ESP to know what we wanted? Almost too fast, but we're not gonna whine. Very good spring rolls and some really amazing miso black cod. So tender you could eat it with a spoon. Seriously can't remember what else we had, but we licked the plate clean. Side note: They also serve up some great looking sushi, but it wasn't a sushi nite for 'ol J&J.

After din din go upstairs and people watch at the bar, and sip a $20 drink (I mean, SIP). One thing, it won't get going until at least midnight. Oh and if it's the one man show, he does some great Neil Diamond covers, yikes. That guy is definitely getting some cougar action!

Bottom line, the food has always been a solid 7 1/2, and along with the atmosphere, great service and hot employees, pushes it to an 8 1/2!

Asian
30 Avenue George V
75008 Paris
01 56 89 11 00

A Perfect Day in Paris

OK, next. Désolé pour le retarder. What was I writing about, anyway? Oh yes, The perfect day, Sunday, our second day, in Paris. Sweet Jesus. Let’s break it down, and preface it with pas de Musée de Louvré. Light on culture, let’s say. Heavy on tourisme français.

Let's break it down:

1) Early AM run on the Seine. Had the city to ourselves. Gorgeous. Ran past the Place de la Concorde and noticed they were settin' up for the finish of the Tour de France.

2) Nice breakfast in the Artus Hotel, where we mapped out our tourist strategy over eggs & patisserie, and...mimosas, of course.

3) OK, here’s where it starts. Wandered around Place Vendome and the fancy-shmancy jewelry shops... then off to the Opera House. Actually did a self-guided tour (very un-J&J-like). Gorgeous architecture. Chagall on the ceiling. Very nice.

4) Next stop - Montmare & Sacré Cour. Been here a hundred times when we lived here. Beautiful early 20th century church, looks very mosque-like actually. And Montmare has a great little square jammed with artists and...you guessed it...cafés to enjoy glass after glass of Bandol Rosé. It actually started absolutely pouring rain, like raining harder than you can imagine while we were there. So we took refuge under the awning of a cool café, ordered up some Poulet Roti and Bandol, and watched the action. Those artist-stall people Do Not Leave under any weather conditions!

5) Then, off to the 5th. The Latin Quarter, San Michel and home of the Sorbonne. Cool, bohemian spot, the 5th. Plus home to more Greek restaurants per square block this side of Athens.  And of course a couple glasses of rosé to quench our thirsts while we people watched outside of San Michel.

6) Next stop, the Tour Eiffel, of course. Never changes, but always cool. Damn. No places to grab a quick glass of vin! So we ran across the Seine by Diana’s bridge and found a cool outdoor spot, where everyone ogled our iPhones (they are not released in Europe yet).

7) Then we hit the Champs Elysees & caught the end of the Tour de Farce. Then a (long, 'cuz I took a wrong turn) walk home and a nappy.

8) Back up at 10PM. Drinks and then din din @ midnight at the Alcazar in the 6th, also the home of the A-Z bar, where we spent NYE 2001! More drinks and then home at 2. Ahh...I love Europe.

Next, hear about our crazy dinner with a famous actor!

An Awesome Paris Hotel Reco

Bon Jour mon ami! Wassup? So, we had a little biz to do in Paris (is that not cool?), and what’d ‘ol J&J do? Turn it into a long weekend, bien sur! Who mixes pleasure with business?! Bingo! Vindivine, suckas, and all for you.

Yes, kittens, we did of course start out the early early AM prior to our flight out to Paris, via the ATL of all places, by poppin’ a bottle of Dom. Doi. How fitting! (hint for the slowski's: french wine/french trip). And we especially needed the lubrication since we flew Smelta Airlines ‘cuz we cashed in our hard-earned AMEX points for some free biz-class tickets. Woo Hoo! But Delta BLOWS. Just take my word. Y’all want a crassant?’ Yuck. Tres miserablé. I mean, Atlanta-based business all suck in my opinion (including the Braves and the Falcons. Especially MICHAEL VICK, what an a-hole). ‘

Anyhoo, at risk of dragging this into the most agonizing  long (yet charmingly poetic) post ever, I’ll cut to the chase. Not one, but two juicy bits of yummy recommendations, served up fresh:

1) The VdV Insider’s tip on Where to Stay in Paris, and
2) A perfect day in Paris. HOLD THE HELL ON - This is gonna be way too long as it is, check for this in the next post!

Okey dokey. First, this ain’t no Las Ventanas crap we’re smackin’ your ass with. Not today. Not with the dollar at such measley, Canadian loonie-like rates as it is. This is a more practical VdV post. And the place to stay is…drumroll, please...the Artus Hotel! And it rocks. Hey, we know all the shwank, shnobby places in Paris that’ll gobble up your dough – Bristol, George V, Hotel de Crillon, yada yada. Pass! Go boutique, people. But that's tough too - lotsa 'boutique' joints are the size of a sardine can with the sounds of hookers fighting out in the alley all night long. And even in French, it starts losing its romantic luster after 3AM. So we were happy happy with Artus. 

The Artus is located right off the Saint Germain and Rue di Buce. In the 6th arroindissment, which is the best area - tons of outside cafés, cool narrow little side streets with shops, Saint Germain, loaded with restaurants and great shopping, Luxembourg Gardens, you name it.

Anyway, we arrived early, right around 10 AM, feeling appropriately greasy and grimy after 14 hours in the air. Desperately wanting a shower, shall we say. Pepe LePeu. But check in isn't until 3PM. We were a little freaked on the taxi ride in.  But our man, Sanjay, already had a room ready for us! Woo Hoo! He actually looked at the little form where I said 'early arrival'. 

And a great room at that -  good sized room by French standards, prolly almost 300ft or so, nice large marble bathroom & shower (yea!), flat screen TV, large armoire, super cool. Great, friendly service, even when we blew out the power in 1/2 the city with our American hair dryer! And shockingly quiet, esp on the back side of the hotel. Only 220 Euros per night, fully loaded (taxes incl.) + a scrumptious breakfast to boot. The only knock – 10 Euros PER HOUR for WiFi! I mean, per day maybe, but per hour?! So we ended up surfing from our snazzy new iPhones which ended up costing us over $2000 (more about that later - watch out when surfing and emailing internationally on your iPhone!)

Anyhoo, let's end on a high note - check out the Artus, you'll love it.

Hotel Artus
34 rue di Buci
Paris 75006
Tel: +33 1 43 29 07 20

Book online through Tablet Hotels - great international hotel selection and awesome service

Call the SPCA!

No, my little disciples, we didn't discover Fido parts in our chicken caccitore (thank god). And no, this is not the name of a hot new bistro on Jessie & Mint. It's short for the  Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, I believe.

And no, this post is not about food, wine, restaurants or kick-ass travel destination,  That is, unless your version of  'hot dog' actually includes canine. But hey, don't sweat it...this isn't some heavy-handed weird shit we're tryin' to pull, either. This is VinDivine! Always wanting to put a smile on your pretty little faces. No guilt!

"Then just what is this about, for the love of Christ?!" you ask. Fair enough.  This is a little ditty about a great, kinda wacky, friend of ours who we wine & dine with, and a crackhead crazy Pug. Or is it a kinda wacky pug and our crackhead crazy friend? Who names a dog, Kat, in the first place? Hmmm.  I think we have our verdict.

Anyhoo, that friend of ours - who shall DEFINITELY remain nameless -  got a 10-week old puppy pug the other week (note - the photo above is just a likeness of the pug, in order to protect its true identity.). The verbatim excerpt below is a diary of sorts of a mad woman after 3 days of robo-pug motherhood. It is f'ing hilarious! Read on VdV'ers!

Wanna hear it? Here it goes:

***************Hysterical!   It’s been quite a week with Kat!  She broke out of her crate last nite (I got an new all wire smaller one for her)….I have no idea how she did it.  She can now also climb up the gate in front of the stairs since I rigged up the back entrance – she found another way up….and there she was to my amazement at my bedside upstairs in a matter of minutes.  Earlier in the eve I left her in the car for all of 10 minutes and she managed to shit, step in it and drag it around the entire backseat.  As soon as I opened the door she bolted out into the busy Safeway parking lot like a lunatic.   She’s really outrageous.  But the best was how she jumped out of the car window on Tuesday – I left her in there with the window obviously way too open and she managed to climb out…. the fall didn’t deter her from running into the street where luckily someone stopped her…..all this in a matter of minutes.  I think the Animal Control team is searching for me already.  Needless to say I am exhausted not much sleep happening.

Lessons learned:
- She really hates the car riding in it and staying in it with or without me
- She is definitely NOT potty trained yet regardless of what the breeder thinks
- She has supernatural powers
- She needs a padlock on her crate
- Hopefully she has 9 lives b/c 2 are already used up
- Give gate back to JP and replace with a 5 ft wall********

Never fear, we have checked in on the twosome several times and they do seem to be on the road to happiness. And we are confident...well, hopeful, that Kat will survive puppy-dom and live to a ripe old age.

Promise: Our next post will discuss some combination of food and or wine:)