Category Archives: Photography

January 9, 2013 · 5:35 am

Winter is Here . . . Late, but Here Nevertheless

It’s hard to believe that on December 8 — less than one month ago — we were in this:

Z3 Roadster

Seeing sunsets such as this:

Indeed, we had beautiful sunsets on New Year’s Day:

Then just two days later it all turned to this:

Yesterday I couldn’t even get the car out of our neighborhood before getting stuck in the ice and snow at the bottom of the hill. I didn’t get it back up the hill until almost 11:00 that morning, when the street lost it’s sheen of ice and the snow turned to slush. Since I couldn’t get to work, I toiled the day away working in my home office.

As of Saturday we were still suffering the effects from the storm that two days previously had dropped three inches of snow at the airport, and considerably more up here on the mountain where our home is located. When I awoke Saturday morning the car was caked in a layer of ice and the driveway was a slick sheet of sheer slipperiness. Sunrise brought fog and a solid layer of low-lying clouds cast their death-like pall upon the landscape much like Dracula’s castle casts a long shadow at sunset upon the wary villagers far below. Meanwhile, the roadster cowered in the garage, shivering at the prospect that I might take her out before the sun shone once more upon the land.

And you don’t even want to know what this weather is doing to my solar power production. But I’m going to tell you anyway. The day before the storm we produced almost 30 kWh. On the very next day production dropped to 5.54 kWh. The next day saw 8.99 kWh, and Saturday we were back down to 8.01 kWh.

Sunday brought a respite from the clouds, not so much from the cold. But before the clouds completely disapated we were treated to one of the freakiest fogs I’ve witnessed since moving from England back in the mid ’70s. The fog crept up the slopes of the Franklin Mountains, filling the arroyo behind our house on its trek:

Freaky Fog

Meanwhile, facing away from the fog and toward the Franklins we were treated to a spectacular, snow dusted landscape:

Looking the other way toward the mountain

By mid morning all traces of fog were gone and most of the clouds had left us only to return at sunset to give us a spectacular burst of magenta beneath icy cold blue:

Sunday’s Magenta Sunset

All in all, it was a fairly photogenic four days.

Later this month we’ll once again be escaping the dread of winter for warmer climes and water sports. Upon our return I shall fill your heart with photographs of the warm Caribbean sun. But, until then, hang in there. Spring approacheth.

Meanwhile, if you have snow in your area and you want to see how to photograph it so that it doesn’t come out gray and washed out, revisit my article: Honey, Why is the Snow so Gray and Your Face so Dark?

Following those tips you’ll be able to take photographs of snow such as those above or these:

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Filed under Humor, Photography

Tagged as El Paso, photography, snow, sunsets, winter

January 4, 2013 · 5:35 am

Koze Teppan Grill

Wednesday was dedicated to a review of the local example of a regional Japanese steakhouse and sushi bar chain — Hayashi. Monday you read the disappointing impetus of that review, the rather unfortunate treatment of a once-in-a-lifetime retirement party for an air traffic controller who had dedicated twenty-two years of his professional life to the service of this nation’s National Airspace System. Today I’m going to present to fans of Japanese-style steakhouses the best example I’ve found here in El Paso.

It’s called the Koze Teppan Grill, and like Hayashi, it doesn’t just stop at the normal Japanese steakhouse fare of grilled beef, chicken, and seafood; it also excels in other things Japanese. Koze Teppan Grill is located at 6127 N. Mesa, Suite B, sharing a parking lot with a Pizza Hut, a Blockbuster Video, the Sin Tini bar, and Trevly Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt shop. That’s right — one stop shopping for dinner, dessert, and after-dinner drinks all in one parking lot.

While it’s billed as a teppan grill, Koze does in fact also makes an exceptional sushi, albeit not cheaply. One of my personal favorites, and oddly enough one of the most affordable examples (although technically not a true sushi), is Koze’s tempura roll. Unlike other tempura rolls, in which tempura-style shrimp is the basis of the roll, Koze instead rolls around vegetable tempura and places the roll beneath a bed of additional vegetable tempura. Unfortunately, they then try to ruin it by topping the roll with an unnecessarily heavy and distracting mayonnaise-based sauce. Do yourself a favor and tell the waiter to forgo the sauce when you order this for your appetizer in preparation for the teppan experience.

Tempura Roll

All teppan entrées include a soup and salad. The soup goes beyond the usual tasteless miso, giving the patron something much more substantial on the tongue. The salad may be pedestrian by Japanese steakhouse standards, but tell the truth — has that robust ginger-based dressing ever really disappointed? It won’t here, either.

Soup and Salad

The table chefs here are quite talented — much more so than our experience at Hayashi, in fact. Here you’re in for quite a show during the preparation of the meal. And let’s face it — the show is almost half the fun at going to these type restaurants. Otherwise, why go? This stuff is easily made at home at a fraction of the cost.

A Flaming Onion Volcano

The Japanese fried rice here is expertly prepared, excellently seasoned, and exceptionally presented . . . and Koze neither charges extra nor skimps on the serving.

Japanese Fried Rice

The Accompanying vegetables are perfectly grilled — exploding with garden-fresh taste and retaining a freshly picked crunchiness with just a hint of carmelization and without the taste or texture of being raw.

Fresh Vegetables . . .

. . . Prepared Perfectly

The meat cuts do not disappoint. Filet Mignon is as tender as one would expect of such a cut, and the steak is flavorful without a distracting chewiness sometimes associated with a lesser cut. I did not try the chicken, but our table mates expressed their approval. As for the seafood, both the shrimp and the scallops were of excellent quality and well-prepared without a hint of the tendency to overcook that seems common to such establishments.

From Top — Scallops, Shirmp, Filet Mignon, Steak, and Chicken

Put that all together in a nice, tableside presentation and this is what you can expect (minus some of the steak, which didn’t survive being photographed):

The Final Presentation

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Filed under Photography, Wine & Food

Tagged as El Paso, Japanese steakhouse, Koze, restaurant review, teppan grill

December 31, 2012 · 5:42 am

Reservations, Restaurants, and Retirement

A very good friend of mine who preceded me into the Air Traffic Control game once told me that he seldom got to attend a controller retirement because, before Congress changed the law, so few controllers made it to retirement. The stresses and shift work took their toll, often resulting in controllers losing their medical before reaching the minimum retirement age required of most federal jobs. Fortunately, that’s no longer the case. Retirement eligibility for a controller now comes after twenty-five years of pushing tin, or twenty years of total time after reaching age fifty. I made it just beyond thirty-four years, but nine of those years were as a staff specialist who didn’t pull shifts and who only worked live traffic for some sixteen hours a month for proficiency, but even so I was a rarity as far as longevity in that career went.

This past Saturday I was honored to attend the controller retirement party of a good friend and a great guy — El Paso controller Dana Reny formerly of Fort Lauderdale Executive Tower and Honolulu CERAP (Center Radar Approach Control — a combined facility performing both en route center and radar approach control functions). Dana managed to serve his country as a controller for twenty-two years before succumbing to the siren call of another far less stressful life.

Congratulations on a well-earned retirement, Dana.

Just how big was this retirement? So big that it took two restaurants to accommodate it. Just kidding . . . sort of. Our first choice was the top-ten nationally rated Cattleman’s Steakhouse at the Indian Cliffs Ranch near Fabens, Texas. We had no less than two people call ahead for reservations at this remote restaurant located some 35 miles from downtown El Paso, only to be told that reservations were not necessary as the restaurant would be able to accommodate our group no matter when we arrived. Well, needless to say, they lied. We showed up at the appointed time — 6:00 P.M. Saturday evening — only to be told that there would be up to a three-hour delay seating our group.

Before I go any further on this I would like to say for the record that Cattleman’s was already far from a favorite of ours, and not because of the long drive. We’ve been to this establishment perhaps three times in thirty years, and in all that time Ursula has yet to get a decent steak there despite the ridiculous prices. There are much better steakhouses in the El Paso area that serve tender, actually edible steaks at much more affordable prices. Nevertheless, we felt it important enough to attend Dana’s retirement that we were willing to give Cattleman’s one last shot.

They blew it. Big time.

So, our group turned around and headed back toward El Paso after receiving telephonic assurances that the Hayashi Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar (a regional chain) would be able to accommodate our now nomadic party. Those assurances were less than truthful, as we were advised that we had two party members too many to seat at one grill station. Two of our group (more good friends of mine) left, ostensibly because of child concerns back home, but I have my suspicions that had the promised seating been available, they would have stayed.

Strike One.

The assembled guests (now minus two) had their orders taken some half hour after our 6:40 P.M. arrival. It was good that we had such a fun group, because not one whiff of food arrived at our table for the better part of two hours after our arrival — around 8:30 P.M. — and then only after several complaints had been registered with the wait staff and management. Well, that’s not quite accurate. We did get a whiff of food — for orders arriving to the next table/grill station — despite the fact that table had a group when we arrived, went through a thorough cleaning when they left, and had another group seated and being served before even our salads were brought to our table.

Strike Two.

By now we were all pretty darned hungry. As a result nearly all of us had ordered appetizers, including sushi rolls. Yet, despite apparently all the time in the world to get the orders right, they were wrong. Ursula and I had ordered a shrimp and vegetable tempura appetizer and one sushi roll. What we got were two sushi rolls — the one we ordered and a shrimp tempura roll . . . and this was after the wait staff attempted to give us someone else’s order.

Strike Three. You’re out. We shall probably not be returning to Hayashi despite two previous experiences and food that, while on the expensive side, isn’t bad. But more on that on Wednesday’s restaurant review of Hayashi. Until then, if you’re in the mood for this type food I highly recommend that you spend your money (and especially your time) at the vastly superior Koze Teppan Grill on El Paso’s West Side.