The Hotel: The Surf and Sand Resort & Spa, Laguna Beach CA (photo courtesy Preferred Hotels)

 

The Skinny: Situated on 500 feet of oceanfront property, the 60-year old Surf & Sand has 164 rooms and suites, all with private balconies. The exterior is reminiscent of the old Howard Johnsons, with exterior doors to all rooms and very blocky architecture, Décor is sleek, contemporary and neutral in each of the guest rooms.

 

There’s a oceanfront pool with cabana-type lounging, a small clothing store / gift shop and a coffee shop on premises, with the terraced Splashes Restaurant offering indoor and al fresco dining with a spectacular view, the beachside Splashes Lounge offering libations and limited food service, and the Aquaterra Spa. Rates start at $459 and go up from there, but I found my rate of $259 on luxurylink.com, which often has special packages and pricing for the resort.

 

The Raves: The location is excellent, a bit out of the bustle along the main drag in Laguna, but still an easy walk to some excellent galleries, boutiques and restaurants. The atmosphere is very relaxed yet elegant; there are cozy seating areas around the open-air parts of the hotel for relaxing. The staff is super-friendly – our room was not quite ready so they sent us to the bar with some drink coupons; we had dinner and two breakfasts at the hotel and all the food was excellent, especially the breakfasts. I did not schedule a spa treatment.

 

The Rants: Can’t quite get over the whole ‘feels like a Howard Johnson’ thing; of course it makes sense for a beach hotel to have exterior (outdoor) entrances to the rooms, and despite all the fabulous furnishings, the lush linens, the stone in the bathroom and the incredible view, the room still reminded me of a HoJo, albeit a really dressed up one. Getting around is kind of a pain; a dark corridor brings you to the restaurant and lounge, navigating to the pool took quite a while. Couldn’t find a beach chair (on the beach) – not because they were full, but simply because there were none available. Could be that because it was March, it was too early for sunbathing – but this is California, right?

 

The Rating: It’s a 3 and a half; the service and location are wonderful, the furnishings are wonderful, but the user-friendliness of the hotel and the omnipresent feeling of being in a rehabbed discount hotel is hard to overcome, especially in this price range.

 

 Our rating system:1 Suitcase: Don't bother2 Suitcases: Paging the GM! You've got some serious work to do!

3 Suitcases: Some minor issues, but overall an acceptable experience

4 Suitacses: Worthy of your dollars

5 Suitcases: Book it at any price!

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Artist Suzy Hendrix opens an exhibit of kiln-fired enamel bugs on glass Friday at the Goner Records shop in Cooper-Young. The exhibit is called, naturally, "Buggery." A group called The Humper Show, featuring Hendrix on saxophone (she has played over the years with American Death Ray among other bands), provides the music. (6 to 9 p.m.; free admission.)

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As you all know, I’m currently reading the Chris Jericho book. I have discussed this in the past, and yes, I’m a slow reader and haven’t finished just yet. I’m getting there, though. But as I was going through the later chapters, I came across a very interesting story. So, I thought I would share it with the rest of you who may not have read the book… or maybe even those of you who were thinking about reading the book but haven’t made up your mind to spend the money to get it.

Well, I’ll tell you right here and now, it’s definitely worth buying.

On to the story.

Those of us who actually wrestle with the dreams of making it in the business one day… the wrestlers that actually want to make it to the WWE… you may find this story very odd. The rest of you who are just outsiders looking in - not only are you very lucky to not be in the wrestling business - but you will have a totally different appreciation to how stupid the WCW truly was. We’ve heard all the rumors and such about how the company wasn’t run the way that a multi-million dollar company is supposed to be run. Well, here’s the prime example.

Jericho was introduced to Eric Bischoff through Chris Benoit. Benoit introduced them at a party and Eric said that if Benoit put his stamp of approval on Jericho… then, he had a roster spot for him. They set the meeting up and Jericho agreed to a three year contract worth $165,000 per year. Is it that easy? Jericho gets invited by a buddy to a party… he introduces him to the boss… and then, he’s signed to the contract right afterwards.

Or not.

The part of the story that’s insane is - Jericho never signed the contract. Chris told the story that he actually turned the contract back in to Bischoff and WCW’s offices without actually putting pen to the paper. He stated that he was just curious as to what might happen and if they’d even notice. Somehow, the multi-million dollar company… the number one wrestling company in the entire world (at the time) didn’t even noticed that Chris Jericho didn’t sign the contract! Not only did they not notice that he didn’t sign it… but he actually wrestled for the company for over more than ONE YEAR before he ever went back to sign the deal.

First off, if WCW offered me a contract, I’d sign it right away. I’d sign it in blood, if I had to. That’s how bad, not only myself, but how bad other wrestlers want to make it in the World of Wrestling. So, Jericho not signing was totally stupid on his part. You have to take advantage when the opportunity is there. On the other hand, how stupid was it that WCW never even noticed it?

Bischoff showing up to work in sweat pants, leather jacket and backwards ball cap is crazy enough. Bischoff and crew not writing the shows in advance and writing the show thirty minutes before a live Nitro went on the air is insane. All the wrestlers doing whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted was another thing that was totally normal in the circus that was WCW, as Jericho tells it in his book. But to not notice that a legally binding contract wasn’t actually signed is a totally different problem. Wasn’t there office workers that were supposed to keep all that stuff on file and double check it?

Anyway, I just thought this was a great story to tell on this blog. Read the book. It’s very good. Jericho seems very truthful about the wrestling business, as I know it. He writes the book as if he’s talking to a friend (the reader). I totally dig the way it’s written and I dig the stories that he tells in it.

Tomorrow - I will review the Hitman Hart book that I finally finished a week or so ago.
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Here are recipes from Alyce Mantia, who will be our expert on Thursday night. Try either one, or just go with grilled, baked or poached fish. Squeeze a little lemon on it for a burst of citrus, which will complement the wine.

GAMBERONI SICILIANI

1/4 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 clove garlic, lightly crushed
4 celery stalks, cut into thin strips
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pound raw shrimp
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch hot red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons orange juice

    In a small bowl, combine the raisins and the wine and set aside.
    In a small skillet, heat two tablespoons of the olive oil and add the garlic clove.  Stir a few seconds,  then add the celery, water, salt and sugar.  Simmer until most of the water has evaporated and the celery is tender, about 10 minutes.  Remove and discard the garlic clove.
    Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the remaining olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the shrimp and cook, turning once, about one minute per side.  Sprinkle with the cinnamon and pepper flakes.  Add the orange juice and the wine and raisins and cook a couple of minutes more, until the shrimp is done to your taste.    Add the celery and toss to combine all ingredients.  Add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste and serve immediately.
    Serves 6 as an appetizer, or four with pasta as a main dish.

SICILIAN MARINATED TOMATO PASTA

For the sauce:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 piece fresh ginger, peeled, about 1″ square, minced
1 tbsp whole coriander seeds, lightly crusted
1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
1 whole clove, lightly crushed
1 orange
1 lemon
1 pint baby plum tomatoes or grape tomatoes, halved, or 1-1/4 lb good ripe summer tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks

To serve:
12 oz spaghetti, preferably imported
1/2 cup good extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 large clove garlic, very finely minced
12 large leaves basil
The juice of the lemon
The juice of 1/2 the orange

Early in the morning, or even the night before, make the sauce: Dissolve the sugar in the water.  Add the ginger, spices and the zest of the orange and lemon, taken off in strips with a vegetable peeler.  Add the juice of half the orange.  Bring to a boil, remove from the heat and reserve.   Put the tomatoes in a glass or ceramic bowl and pour the syrup over the top.  Let marinate, covered, up to 8 hours at room temperature, or chill up to overnight.  Remove from the fridge to come to room temperature before serving.
When ready to serve, cook the spaghetti in plenty of well-salted boiling water until just barely al dente.  Drain, mix with two tablespoons of the olive oil and reserve.  Meanwhile, heat half the olive oil in a skillet with the garlic.  Cook the shrimp until just barely pink, 2-3 minutes.  Lift the tomatoes from the syrup and place in a large warmed serving bowl.  Add the rest of the olive oil, a spoonful or two of the syrup (leaving the spices behind) and the lemon and orange juices.  Salt and pepper generously.  Add the spaghetti and shrimp and toss to combine.  Sprinkle with the basil leaves, torn into bits and serve at once, or let cool to room temperature.  Serves 4 as a main course.

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It’s difficult to make a serial killer boring, but Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi managed to do just that in their new book, “The Monster of Florence.”
The book purports to be a nonfiction narrative detailing at least a dozen unsolved killings in Italy over the past few decades.
Note my use of the word purported, because it’s difficult to tell just how truthful this book is, particularly in our “lie-as-memoir” times.
For example, Preston constantly uses dialogue, in quote marks, from more than two decades ago. He wasn’t there. Spezi, an Italian journalist, was sometimes there, but it’s unlikely he has exact recreations of dialogue from back then. And when you read the overly dramatic quotes, it makes them even more suspect.
Back to the serial killer. It seems that such a Monster would dominate the book, yet the authors dispense with his crimes before the book is even half-finished. At that point, they concentrate more on their roles in the search for the Monster.
Pardon me for saying so, but I’d much rather know more about the crimes — their retelling reads more like a novel instead of a factual account — than whatever trouble the authors encountered during their investigation.
The book originally started as a magazine article, but was then expanded. At times, this makes some of it seem like filler. Preston, for example, uses an entire paragraph to describe the menu at a dinner.
Oh, and one more quibble: there are more than two dozen references to smoking in the book, as if Preston thinks describing such a scene builds a noirish ambience that his prose simply can’t create. Once noticed, those moments become especially annoying.

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You’ve all read about CA photographer Dave Darnell and his all-day barbecue excursions to points hither and yon. I’m looking for places within a two or three hour drive of Memphis that are worth the trip. Here are a few places I’m planning to try: Uncle John’s in Crawfordsville, Ark.; Uncle Henry’s around Tunica; the steakhouse outside Oxford where locals go on Sunday nights (can’t think of the name right now). Where else? Someone said (on this blog, I believe) they serve crappie at the lodge at Reelfoot Lake. I got a bellyful of it on Father’s Day when we had a fish fry, but I’ll be craving it before long.

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