For
Christmas 2004, we met Dave Seyller and his date, Judy, plus Natasha and
Ed Ashley at the Hyatt Hotel in Irvine where we enjoyed at wonderful 3
hour champaign buffet brunch that consisted of a wide variety of sea foods
(plus Alaskan king crab, prawns, and lox), meats (including quail. duck,
lamb, a buffalo roast!), salads and an excellent dessert spread.
While
we had gone to the La Costa Golf Resort for the three previous years,
in 2004 the La Costa had discontinued their buffet and offered only a
'sit down' standard 5 course meal. This was simply not an acceptable substitution
for a buffet in our opinion!
Since
we had attended this same Hyatt with Dave at Thanksgiving and throughly
enjoyed the meal, we decided to invite our friends, Ed and Natasha (from
the Redlands, CA area) to join us for the festivities. Judy is a retired
social worker who lives in Irvine.
Natasha
is a former Russian doctor who is now working on her Ph.D. in Physical
Therapy and Ed is an Assistant Dean at a physical therapy institution
in the Redlands area. Since Natasha's daughter is a breeder of German
Shepherds, they are also the people from who we had gotten Falco II, our
German Shepherd.
Part
of the buffet line at the Hyatt was actually served in the kitchen and
Steve just happened to snap this shot of Lena and Natasha going through
the serving line. We're not quite sure exactly WHAT Lena was doing
in this photo...<grin>
At
the entry to the Hyatt there was a very nice Christmas tree which made
a nice 'backdrop' for a group photo.
Natasha
also had to show us her surprise Christmas gift from her husband: A BRAND
NEW LEXUS!
And,
for Dave, Lena had given him a "Santa" to help put him in the
"Ho-Ho-Ho" mood for the Holidays!
When
asked where she'd like to celebrate her birthday in 2005, Lena chose the
"Fish Market" in downtown San Diego (next to the USS Midway
and near Seaport Village).
Steve
wore his new Australian leather hat and went for his favorite clam chowder
with fried squid as his entree.
Lena
wore her new diamond-inlaid gold cross and Steve took her photo with Lena's
new Nikon CoolPix 7900 digital camera that he had gotten her for her birthday!
In
April 2005, "Cobra," a Soviet-era Foxtrot diesel submarine was
towed into San Diego harbor where it will become a part of the Maritime
Museum. This type of sub carried nuclear-tipped torpedoes and had shadowed
US carriers (like the USS Midway in the background of this photo) during
the Cold War.
After
Cobra (built in 1971 and decommissioned in 1994) is restored and renovated,
it will be open to tourists. Since Lena has seen a WW II US submarine
(the USS PAMPANITO)
in San Francisco, we definitely plan to go aboard this boat after it is
opened to the public (Memorial Day 2005).
After
Memorial Day, we went down to see if the Cobra had opened to the public
as planned...
...and
saw that there was a line of people waiting to go aboard. As can be seen
in the next photo, Lena is really excited about seeing a Russian submarine
(joke!).
All kidding aside, however, we are saving the experience of going aboard
Cobra for later when we have friends...Rick & Paula Woolf...from Florida
visit us in a few months.
After
having enjoyed the Christmas (and Thanksgiving!) buffets at the Hyatt
in Irvine so much last year, we ask Dave if he would book us with his
party again this year. Fortunately, this year...
Gretchen
(and her husband, Joe) and Dave's niece, Katlina (and her boyfriend, Ian)
were able to join us.
Natasha
and Ed were also able to join us again this year.
This
is the first time we had met Katlina and Ian (who live in Culver City)
and we really enjoyed their company.
Dave
and Lena worked hard to ensure that they got their fair share of the UNLIMITED
CHAMPAIGN that was served along with the OUTSTANDING Christmas buffet!
And,
of course, Steve worked hard to ensure that he got his fair share of goodies
from the Hyatt's excellent DESSERT line.
New
Year's Eve we spent with our Ukrainian friend, Manya, and her family and
managed to eat our way into 2006 until after 3 AM!
We
were also glad to see Jon and Susan Dunn who were out here from MA for
several weeks over the holidays. We enjoyed an excellent meal with them
at the Fish Market in Del Mar...
...and
were treated to some great views of downtown San Diego, the Coronado Bridge,
the harbor, and the Del Coronado Hotel from the balcony of the condo they
had rented at the Coronado Shores.
And,
for a follow-up gourmet meal, they also introduced us to Buon Appetite,
a wonderful little Italian restaurant located in San Diego's Little Italy
area. The restaurant not only had excellent food, but it is located next
to a GREAT Italian BAKERY!
