Umami, Hash, and more...

LONG BEACH, CA -- It has been an insanely busy and productive couple of weeks since I returned to California from the Wisconsin wedding. From a work standpoint, there hasn't been a single day since I got back that hasn't been 100% productive to the absolute limit, including weekends for that matter. That said, we have been getting a lot of important things done, and sometimes you get into a groove! For the most part I've been in the LA area, although last weekend I spent a night down in Laguna Beach cranking out a ridiculous quantity of production. It feels good to be productive!

March 11, 2012 - Gorgeous view makes working alright on a Sunday in Laguna Beach, CA.

In non-work related news, however, there have been a couple of other interesting developments in the past couple of weeks. First, UmamiCatessen opened up in downtown Los Angeles. UmamiCatessen is a spin off the traditional Umami Burger, featured to some extent in this blog and much more heavily on my facebook and foursquare profiles. UmamiCatessen is a huge (6,000+ sq. ft.) restaurant at 9th and Broadway in Los Angeles, nearly the size of three or four Umami Burger restaurants combined. The reason for this? Well, UmamiCatessen is five restaurants in one! In addition to the newest, eighth Umami Burger location, the Catessen is also home to The Cure (Kosher), Pigg (NOT Kosher), Spring for Coffee (coffee/drinks bar), and & a Donut (a dessert bar).

UmamiCatessen's soft opening was on March 3, the same day as the Wisconsin wedding. However, no doubt I made my visit the first day I was back, the night of the 5th. Needing another trip, I did round two on the 10th. Having now been twice, I have a few observations. 1) Having sampled at least one item from all five restaurants, I can confirm that the other four are very good restaurants, and it is worth trying them. 2) That said, they are simply not as mind-blowing and earth-shattering as a Hatch Burger from Umami. In other words, it is more or less what I expected, but in a good way. I will say that I really enjoyed the ambiance in a larger space and semi-industrial, semi-postmodern feel. There was a wait the entire time, but never for more than 30 mins given the large number of tables. Despite that, the restaurant was always full, even at non-peak hours and during the week. Overall, I'd give UmamiCatessen a solid 4/5, but that Hatch Burger alone is still the best burger on this planet.

March 10, 2012 - The Hatch Burger - it is simply the best. UmamiCatessen, Los Angeles, CA.

 The other news of the past few weeks comes with respect to the Long Beach H3. Hashing, if it has not been properly explained thus far, is running and drinking... yes, together. Collectively known as a drinking club with a running problem, hashers meet up once a week in a predetermined location, and for $5 you get a few hours of running and drinking to places and in quantities that are undetermined prior to the start. From the running standpoint, we really have no idea where we are going. The runs are generally between 3.0 and 7.0 miles in total distance, although there are "beer checks" every 1.0-1.5 miles, where you can find beer, water, and sometimes other beverages too. The checks help to slow down the pack, and it breaks up the distance nicely so that almost anybody can run. In fact, there are usually 10-15 walkers to complement the 60-70 runners as well. Eventually we make it to the "on in," or the end of the run, where there are snacks, more drinks, and a fun party atmosphere. After songs and "down down's," we head to the "on after," usually a restaurant or bar somewhere nearby. That, in a nutshell, is hashing.

As a training and distance runner for over a year and a half now, as has been documented well in this blog, I first heard about hashing in late summer and early fall of 2011. Finally on January 8th I actually woke up early enough on a Sunday to get myself down to Long Beach, where I experienced my first hash run. Ever since I have been hooked, and have made it a point to do whatever possible to make it to hash - so much so that I even flew back from my San Francisco trip a month ago in order to make it in time for hash in the morning.

What is recently new is that the past two weeks, hash runs have switched from Sunday mornings to Thursday nights. As such I have been heading down to Long Beach in the early afternoon to beat traffic, have been working from a boba tea spot near CSLB, and then making my way to the hash around the start time. So far it has worked out great! Yesterday was Chasen's (who introduced me to hash) birthday run, and his 25th hash overall. For me it was my eighth, and I am hoping for a name sometime soon!

March 15, 2012 - Hashing in Signal Hill, CA - about to start!

Well folks, that is about it as far as updates go on my end. The travel circuit is going to be picking up and in a hurry soon, and I am very much looking forward to that, but I will post updates when I actually have them set. Until then, GO BADGERS in this March Madness insanity, GO HAWKS in the push for the playoffs, and have a nice weekend everybody!

Wisconsin Wedding!

MILWAUKEE, WI -- Ahhh, how nice to be back in the good ole state of Wisconsin! For all the time I have spent there, it had been nearly a year and a half since I was last in Wisconsin, and even longer since I had spent any time in Milwaukee. My timing was perfect - I timed a pickup at MKE driving from Chicago to the minute, and made it to the hotel with no issues. Then, about three minutes later, it started snowing. Sure, it snowed in Antarctica, and we were surrounded by snow there, but this was the first real snow I've been in for more than a year.

March 2, 2012 - Got to the hotel and about an hour later everything was covered in snow!

It was gorgeous watching from the hotel. Later, at night, I drove over to the church to meet up with everyone en route to the Friday night dinner, and what is normally a four minute drive took about 20 in the snow. Luckily it stopped snowing shortly thereafter, and in total dropped about 6-7 inches, which is a solid snow but not a blizzard or anything that would have impacted the wedding logistics - lucky timing and just the right amount!

Interestingly, this was my first "real" wedding I have attended of my friends and peers. Turned out I was not alone - the same was true for many of us. As such it was an interesting first experience, given all the weddings you see in popular and religious culture. Mike, the groom, was my roommate in Madison for three years. He and his wife, Beth Ann, have been together for around eight years now, and as such she practically lived with us in Madison as well. In addition to the wedding itself, this was the first time that all of us former roommates at UW got together since graduating over three years ago now, so it was a great mini-reunion of sorts with everyone flying in from out of town too. 

Overall it was great to see everybody after so long, and as is often the case with close friends, we picked up right where we left off and had a blast. The dinner before the big day was nice - it was at an Italian restaurant that eight years prior served as the location for Mike and Beth Ann's first date. The wedding day was nice weather - the light reflected off the snow which made for some good outdoor photos. The church was completely full, the service was short and sweet, and everybody in the wedding party did a good job escorting, holding rings, and walking backwards in formation. 

March 3, 2012 - Just married! Walking down the aisle as husband and wife.

After the wedding service we made our way back to our hotel, which was the location of the reception. The party started around 5pm and went into the early morning hours. A few highlights...

Wedding party takes their seats.

Cutting the cake!

First dance.

Last but certainly not least, some six or more hours later, after a night of fun and endless dancing...

Congratulations Mike!!!

United Center

CHICAGO, IL -- The United Center. Home of the Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago Bulls, the United Center was built to replace the Chicago Stadium in 1994. With a sellout capacity of more than 22,000 for hockey, it is the largest hockey stadium in the world, and for the past five years the Blackhawks have led the NHL in attendance annually. For the past decade, it has been my home-away-from-home, as we have had season tickets for the Blackhawks. In High School and even UW days, it was not unusual to make it to 20-30 games per season (out of 41 regular season home games). In more recent years, however, my ability to get to home games has been much tougher, living in London and then for the past year, living out in California. This season specifically, my last trip home was for Thanksgiving in November, and during that time the Hawks were ironically playing in LA and Anaheim, among other western cities. Being particularly busy with work recently, this meant I would have the chance to make it to just one home game this year, and that took place on Wednesday night (2/29) at the UC.

February 29, 2012 - Opening faceoff at the United Center. See any empty seats? Didn't think so!

Last weekend, if you look at my previous blog post you notice the Hawks lost both of those games, in LA and Anaheim. They also lost a game before that, so they were on a three-game losing streak in the stretch run here before the playoffs start. In addition, after Wednesday night's game they embarked on a three-game road trip, essentially rending the game a must-win for the Hawks. Against an original six rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the game did not disappoint. Just 59 seconds into the game the Leafs skated out to a 1-0 lead. A few minutes later the Hawks tied it 1-1, but shortly after that the Leafs scored twice more to take the 3-1 lead, despite the Hawks having the better of the play. We stuck with it, and sure enough, with just 30 seconds remaining in the period we scored to make it a 3-2 one goal game at the end of the 1st period. In the second period, the Hawks scored twice to take their own 4-3 lead, and wound up winning the game 5-4 in an electric atmosphere. It was just what the doctor ordered, and the Hawks jumped from the 7th to the 6th seed in the Western Conference.

February 29, 2012 - Hawks win! After the victory, the players salute the UC fans by raising their sticks at Center Ice.

However, despite my excitement at attending a home game and one that the Hawks actually won, I promised a blog comparing the fan experience to that at the Staples Center and Honda Center. As such, I will say that relatively speaking the Staples Center is a better comparison. That said, the United Center is bigger and louder. The food selection is not that special, but it is not bad either. There is no marble in the concourse, but with Chicago winters, that wouldn't be the best idea anyway. The in-game entertainment is not as good as at the Staples Center, but better than Honda Center. Ticket prices are widely varied. They are as cheap as at Honda Center for the worst seats, but more expensive and comparable to the Staples Center for the top-end tickets. The scoreboard is new as of a few seasons ago, and is just slightly below the Staples Center standard. Parking here is expensive - $27 for the lots next to the stadium ($20 in LA and $15 in Anaheim to compare). Additionally, the location is terrible. There are no easily accessible interstates, and the neighborhood is one of the less desirable places in Chicago. That said, the best part of coming to a Hawks game is the fans - we are passionate beyond anything seen in LA, Anaheim, or almost any other city in the NHL really. I said above that it gets loud in the United Center, and it stays that way for hours on end because it is full - all of the games are sellouts. The stadium is rocking, something that the others cannot say. At the end of the day, I give the United Center a B+ grade. The only reason the stadium isn't higher is because the in-game entertainment could be better, and the location is a real sour point. There is, however, a reason why all hockey fans know they must make a trip to the United Center at some point in their lives, and the above is a sampling of the reasons why they do.