Tarcisio (Tarcisio's) Italian Place in Sequim Is Awful

By dayhawk on February 28, 2010 8:44 PM | 1 Comment
Tarcisio's Restaurant's Veal ParmesanTarcisio's restaurant in Sequim, Washington, has gone from horrible to gut-wrenching. Every once in a while, I get a wild hair up my ass and give Tarcisio's another shot.

My tongue was hurting from an unbelievably salty veal parmesan that was drowning in olive oil and barf-worthy white cheese. Not to be rude, I downed most of the veal that had one flavor. Salt! The side of spaghetti on the same plate was cut or broken short, cooked to the point of gross mush, and topped with a bizarre sauce.

Cold Prime Rib at Tarcisio's Restaurant in Sequim, Washington
Cooking spaghetti al dente should be a brainless process. The reason behind mushy spaghetti became clearer when two cooks came out of the kitchen for a smoke break. Their hats and coats had black smudges. One was wearing dirty shorts and shoes and showing hairy legs. Three smoke breaks during our one-hour visit to Tarcisio's.

The prime rib didn't fare any better. We ordered medium. What came out was closer to well-done and cold. Baked potato was undercooked. Carrots had dirt on them. Much like the veal parmesan, the prime rib was salty and drenched in what was a shot at au jus. There was so much au jus that it permeated every inch of the plate.

The only highlight at the restaurant was a polite bus boy, the first person to see us waiting for someone to make eye contact at the door. It's not like the restaurant was busy. Of the 25 plus tables, only four had guests.

We learned our lesson this time. Retirees of Sequim especially should avoid this cafeteria food. Even if you care little about having a coronary, avoid this joint and drink two vials of salt instead.

Google vs. Microsoft

By dayhawk on January 31, 2010 8:31 PM | 0 Comments
Microsoft creates a mannequin and forces me to learn how to dress it. Google generally allows its systems to adapt to how we work. And too many people and businesses fell under Microsoft's spell, being forced to make communication more complex and more expensive than it has to be.

In the end, we're all in the information business. Just because the bosses don't get the picture doesn't mean information has to be pretty. E-mail, for example, seldom requires pretty fonts and colors. I don't value the information in e-mail more because it has strange fonts and arrives in color and Microsoft RTF--which is not true RTF.

Google is universal. Gmail did relent and allowed some colors and fonts. It's a streamlined version of what Geocities used to be. Personalized expressions in information transmission. Add to that, voice, documents and project collaboration. But we were brainwashed on a platform whose future is clouded by complex licensing schemes and is inflexible.

While Microsoft is constantly band-aiding its creations, Boeing's defense systems are moving forward with a fine-tuned step-child of Linux. And I moved on from Windows Mobile Smartphones, which crashed and hung so often that it was worthless.

It is amazing that dozens of teams, many of them the brightest in their field, on Microsoft campus couldn't perfect an operating system. That speaks to the corporate culture, a top-down mindset that hampers development.

Can ornate Bing ever Google? All signs point to no. Not when you want businesses to fork up hundreds of thousands of dollars for incomplete products.

[Update: and someone's upset in general--about Google, Adobe and god knows what else. It's amazing that Jobs didn't take on Microsoft. He must be in the same business camp.]

Spring Rolls Hard to Roll

By dayhawk on January 17, 2010 1:25 PM | 0 Comments
Bahn Trang Spring Roll Wrapper
There is a skill to wrapping spring rolls with these wafer-thin rice-and-tapioca wrappers. And I don't have it. My crumbled spring rolls resembled regurgitated food, with undigested vegetables.

As instructed here, I soaked the brittle spring roll wrapper in water for a few seconds. It eventually soaked up enough water and became chewy and taut. The burrito method didn't work, and the rolls unwrapped themselves.

I'm sure there's a trick, a secret. What is it?

Sequim, Washington, vs. The Elderly

By dayhawk on January 13, 2010 2:07 PM | 0 Comments
The median age of Sequim is 59, says Wikipedia. For comparison, Seattle's median age is 35. And many retirees are jeopardizing their lives and those of the community. Here's how.

A woman walked into an office. She had suffered an acute cerebrovascular attack, or stroke, and speaks and walks with great difficulty. She had to be helped to her car and over the threshold of the office entrance. When everyone wondered how she got to the office, there was her husband.

Her husband was a tall man--a little hunched over but definitely commanding in his seat. He walks with a severe limp of unknown origin. He could not see much of anything in front of him even with glasses. And he could not remember a phone call from 15 minutes ago.

And he drove her to the office.

Her hematoma was a sure sign she had fallen recently. This time she took him down with her.

It is sad that couples like them don't receive much help. Scarier, they are out driving.
Welcome to Sequim.

Little Apartment Third Drawer Down

By dayhawk on December 25, 2009 10:22 PM | 0 Comments
INCIDENT: Yesterday morning I found her dead in the toilet in our guest bathroom. By the time I fished her out with chopsticks, rigor mortis had set in. The apparent cause of death was drowning. And I hoped  she didn't struggle too much. At least, she seemed to have enjoyed her stay with us.

In the third drawer down, there was a comfortable bed. Our handmade, clay gravy boat had tips of cotton swaps, countless pieces of my #10 envelopes and unidentifiable materials she gathered from around the house. I would rather have given her a couple of #10 envelopes. Dozens of my #10 envelopes are now missing corners.

She had ration, several pieces of dry dog food next to her bed. She had water.... I hope she slipped and fell. I'd hate to think that dire thirst made her take the plunge.

LESSON: To one living being, #10 envelopes are for mailing. To another, they make a very comfortable bed.

PanAm Bag: Throwback to a Simpler Time

By dayhawk on November 29, 2009 8:48 PM | 0 Comments
PanAm Orion Bag
There is no real Orient Express today. Perhaps air travel will go the way luxury trains did.

Flying was an art and privilege when PanAm was around. There still are some airlines that carry on that tradition.Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, British Airways Club World are among the few.

Most airlines today are little more than cattle cages and sardine cans that transport commodities.

In-seat entertainment displays do make some long-haul flights tolerable though.

Not So "Sunny Sequim"

By dayhawk on November 25, 2009 9:10 PM | 0 Comments
Recently several people have asked us if it was always like this in Sequim. By it, we took it to mean, driving rain, gale-force wind, fog, humidity, and bone-chilling temperatures in October and November. We answered, 'yes.' The last two and a half years we've been in Sequim, it even snowed on April Fool's Day.

Some even dared to ask about the famous claim to '300 days of sunshine' a year. Questioning Sequim's perennially "sunny" weather results in robotic 'boos' and scorn as if we broke a secret society's vow of silence. Half the people we ask claim the cloud, fog and rain are unusual. The other half say it's always been like this except for a few sunny weeks in summer.

So far this year, noticeable precipitation was recorded on 135 days. I used station KWASEQUI12, a non MADIS station, and eliminated precipitation less than 0.01 in. Precipitation includes snow, freezing rain, hail, rain, "rain shower," and other states and forms of water.

In November so far, it has rained every day except for five days. Today I could not see out my windshield unless I put the wiper at full speed. I was going 45 miles per hour. Today's driving rain in Sequim began late morning and lasted until shortly after dinner.

The "rain shadow" effect seemed plausible until I got soaked by walking outside for 10 minutes. Granted, it doesn't rain as much in Sequim. But it rains frequently here. 135 days and counting.

If you're used to frequent rain and mostly cloudy days, and desire less rainfall, Sequim is a great start. If you would like a desert-like feel and climate, Phoenix would be a better bet. Because in Sequim, on average, there is precipitation once every three days--or more often.

Some day soon, we will be invited to join the secret society and be sworn to perpetuate the fallacy.

Going Google...Completely

By dayhawk on October 13, 2009 9:38 PM | 0 Comments
Five different e-mail accounts that I know of. More than 450 RSS feeds. Over 2,000 calendar items and tasks. They now reside under a single Google account. I'm not brave enough just yet to consolidate all incoming calls to Google Voice.

Manually consolidating and uploading old e-mail to Gmail took about two days. Outlook 2007 was nice when it was a solid local-copy alternative to nebulous cloud computing. The days of a single UNIX e-mail account with several aliases are gone--especially when so much incoming data must be processed continuously and organized with a method that offers some continuity.

I am Dayhawk. And I'm free of Outlook.

But I cannot let go of FeedDemon, arguably the most versatile RSS aggregator out there. In its ad-supported version 3.0, NewsGator has switched the synchronization service to Google Reader. Another reason for this week-long consolidation process.

After about a week of relying solely on Google for data mining, aggregating and processing, I feel like a new person. No more bulky Outlook to enslave me. Just Google and me.

Self-Cleaning Toilet Off the Autobahn

By dayhawk on October 4, 2009 6:50 PM | 1 Comment

While rushing to Schleswig from Frankfurt, Shelly paid twice for the rest stop toilet. The first time to pee, the second time to videotape this cool technology. Why don't we have this cool technology at the local Texaco?

Nothing Personal in Seatback Pockets?

By dayhawk on August 31, 2009 6:24 PM | 0 Comments
Some airlines are enforcing an F.A.A. rule that prohibits personal items from being stowed in the seatback pockets, The New York Times reported earlier this week. But this rule has been on the books for more than 10 years.

F.A.A. bulletin 98-28, which took effect on August 13, 1998, states:

"In addition, nothing can be stowed in the seat pockets except magazines and passenger information cards. It is not a good safety practice to stow meals, either brought onto the airplane by passengers or served by the air carrier, in seat back pockets."

And there is anecdotal evidence of Amazon's Kindle being banned from the seat pocket.

What if I stow my G1 phone deep into the abyss of the seat pocket, and no one knows it's there? What if the passenger next to me slipped a fancy metal pen into the seat pocket in front of him, and it flew out and hit my right eye during a severe turbulence? Well, so can a lot of loose items around the cabin.

The F.A.A. hasn't explained its motive behind this strange and arcane rule. The Times shows that a spokesman for the agency didn't initially know much, if at all, about the rule. The paper also notes that airline executives are guessing that check-in luggage limit might be forcing passengers to stuff more baggage into the seat pockets.

There may be another reason. The F.A.A. is acting in concert with the airlines to make the seats appear roomier than they actually are. A combination of obese passengers and bulging seat pockets would make the seats look tiny.

Dutch Operative and Resistance Member, Remembered

By dayhawk on August 6, 2009 1:38 PM | 0 Comments
Tony van Renterghem was a mountain of a man.

He was a skilled operative who aided those fleeing Nazi persecution. He was among the last mounted cavalry officers known as the Huzaars. And he launched the "Underground Camera," a photo and film unit of the Dutch resistance.

After the war, H.R.H. Prince Bernhard enlisted him to represent the Dutch government. And his humorous encounter--in a bathroom--with Sukarno had me burst into laughter. He was a meticulous researcher--of a time and era when he himself was a historical figure.

Over our last couple of martinis, he gave me a glimpse into brief moments of his life. He shared his passion for facts and peace. Yet comedy of life was never lost on him. And for that, I thank you, Tony.


Here's a tribute by the Peninsula Daily News and an obituary in the Sequim Gazette.

[UPDATE: A Celebration of Life will be held at the Olympic Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Agnew (73 Howe Rd, Port Angeles, WA) on August 29, 2009, at 13:30.]

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

By dayhawk on August 3, 2009 1:28 PM | 0 Comments
Chicken Crosses Road in Sequim

This cocky rooster, oblivious to traffic and ignorant of the 'mother-daughter-crossing sign,' climbed a 40-degree hill to be on Medsker Road. I did not stay long enough to see if he made it home that evening.

This is Sequim, Washington, where chickens, deer, elk, coyotes, raccoons and baby quails all have to share the road.

Gabby's: Best 'Sandwich Shop' in Sequim

By dayhawk on July 4, 2009 1:14 PM | 0 Comments
Gabby's Java Dishes Up Gyros

Where in Sequim, Wash., can you get mouth-watering gyro stuffed with thinly sliced beef and lamb, diced tomatoes, purple onions, feta and juicy tsatziki sauce? At Gabby's Java & Gourmet Grub off Carlsborg Road.

Gabby's is an enduring gem in a world of fly-by-night sandwich shops and roadside coffee stands on the Olympic Peninsula. A columnist for the Sequim Gazette raved about the brand-new Fifth Avenue Deli a few months ago. If its bland sandwich was any indication, its sudden makeover as yet another real estate office should be no surprise.

Don't expect run-of-the-mill sandwiches here at Gabby's. When I pulled up Friday for lunch, I was told they had run out of Philly and lasagna. 'What else do they have?' Preconceived notions of Reuben, chicken and other sandwiches flew out the passenger-side window as fast as a menu was handed out the window of this drive-through joint.

Read more Gabby's: Best 'Sandwich Shop' in Sequim.

Finding Your IP Address

By dayhawk on August 4, 2008 7:14 AM | 0 Comments
Your IP Address is: 38.107.191.108

Being on the Internet sometimes requires knowing my IP address. There are many ways to track it down, but here is an easy way to pull just that information using PHP. This information and others are usually sent every time I visit a Web site. This is one way of retrieving a portion of that data.

The above script uses the following PHP code which works with version 4 and above.
<?php
print $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
?>

Victoria's Secret #1: Jägerschnitzel at Rathskeller

By dayhawk on March 22, 2008 6:09 PM | 0 Comments
Jägerschnityel at Rathskeller

Haven't been to Rathskeller in Victoria, B.C.? Then, you are missing out. For those of us with a weakness for an uncontrollable desire to eat good Schnitzel, The Rathskeller is nothing short of hog heaven.

A low-profile exterior and a low-income high rise across the street might encourage visitors to glance over this treasure. But the interior is decidedly Bavarian complete with aging Lederhosen,steins, and the blue-and-white checkered flag of this southern German state. Andrea, who inherited the Victorian institution from her parents, now runs the restaurant.

Since German restaurants may be becoming rarer in North America, I relish every chance I get to enjoy the food. At Rathskeller, my dinner included Jägerschnitzel with Spätzle (German noodles), a piece of homemade Bratwurst and German Senf (mustard), Rüdesheimer Kaffee (coffee with German brandy), a piece of cheesecake and a beer.

My Jägerschnitzel had two pieces. It's not the restaurant's fault that the photo above shows only one piece. Overcome with excitement, joy and other German emotions that are commonly associated with seeing Jägerschnitzel, I dug in before reaching for the camera.

I wish I had also tried grilled Camembert cheese, cabbage rolls, Frikadellen (yummy meat patties), and some more Bratwurst. Several beer boots ("Das Boot" thanks to Beerfest the movie), or Biefstiefeln, were also on hand, but I opted not to leave even less room for food.

If you are in or near Victoria, B.C., and feel like some gourmet German grub, The Rathskeller is the place for you.

1205 Quadra Street
Victoria, BC
Canada
Tel. 250.386.9348
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