A digital travel diary. · WP v1.08 · Updated
For my 58th Birthday, Inna treated me to a delicious dinner at Dalida Mediterranean in San Francisco's Presidio. She made a reservation for 19:30 (the earliest available for Sunday, October 11). . We tried calling Dalida to see if we could dine earlier, but couldn't reach anyone. When we arrived about 40 minutes early, they told us we couldn't be seated earlier. . Since it…
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With Alex relocating to San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood, we decided to celebrate his birthday at Memento SF, a local, well-regarded restaurant. . After dropping off a few items at his new digs (and his birthday presents), we walked a few blocks to Memento SF (on Castro Street). . . Since one of Alex's roommates was running late, we ordered appetizers and drinks, and then…
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For Inna's Birthday dinner, I made reservations at Evvia - one of our favorite Palo Alto restaurants. Evvia serves authentic Greek entrees, and we really like the high-quality dishes. . I was really tired from work and came home around 18:30. We even contemplated cancelling going to Evvia, but I decided it was worth the effort to revisit this local gem. . . We arrived…
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Sunday, September 28, 2025. Inna had one more Birthday surprise for me - a visit to the Refuge Spa at the Carmel Valley Athletic Club. . After an early wake-up at 07:00, we showered and dressed. We walked downstairs to another delicious breakfast at the Stilwell Hotel. There was a wide variety of small prepared items, and I enjoyed some eggs, yogurt, and pastries. .…
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For my birthday, Inna made dinner reservations at Dio Deka, our favorite Greek restaurant in Los Gatos. Fortunately, Alex was in town for his job interview and could join us for dinner. . . After parking near Los Gatos High School, we walked over and were seated inside. We looked at the menu and ordered the following items: . Appetizer: Soutzoukakia (over-baked lamb and beef…
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For Alex's 22nd Birthday, we decided to treat him to dinner at nearby ASA Los Gatos. After arriving at 19:15, we sat down indoors and ordered the following items: . . Drinks: 2 Raspberry Cream Sodas, Lemonade. Appetizer: Burrata, Truffle Fries, Croquetas de Jamón. Alex: Carbonara Pasta. Boris: Paella Entree. Inna: Mushroom Pasta. Dessert: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Vu Ice Cream. Our dinner was excellent, and…
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I can't believe Alex is turning 21! . To celebrate the momentous occasion, Inna and I purchased a few presents, followed by a delicious dinner at the Michelin-rated Selby's Restaurant in Redwood City. . For presents, I purchased the following items. Initially, Alex wanted to build a Gaming PC, but after numerous discussions, it seemed that a PlayStation 5 would be more suitable for his…
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I can't believe that it's already Alex's 20th birthday!. Since he had a Northeastern University midterm in his Computer Algorithms class, we did not plan too many events on this day (as he would be busy finishing his exam). Instead, we planned a full day of activities for the following weekend (after Alex's midterms were finished). . . . For birthday presents, we purchased the…
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For my 53rd birthday, Inna made reservations at Dio Deka, a fine Greek Restaurant in the heart of Los Gatos. After arriving at 19:15, we were treated to a lovely outdoor table. . . . . . After carefully looking at the menu, we ordered the Japanese Fairy Tale cocktail along with Octopus and Pita. . . . . Later on, we ordered the main…
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I can't believe that it's Alex's 19th Birthday! . Inna and I made some preparations to celebrate this wonderful occasion. . . . . . . . Inna and I purchased fresh pastries at Le Marais Bakery for Alex's birthday breakfast. After waiting in a long line for 15 minutes, we selected the following pastries: . Chocolate Croissant. Peach Scone. Kouign-Amann. Pain Au Raisin. .…
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It was that time of the year - Alex's 18th Birthday! I can't believe he is already that old. With Covid-19 still raging, we could not invite any of Alex's friends to celebrate this significant milestone.. . . . For presents, we decided to surprise Alex with the following:. Apple Watch Series 3 (so he could monitor his heart rate during exercise) . Dyson Pure…
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For Inna's Birthday dinner, I made reservations at Evvia - one of our favorite Palo Alto restaurants.. . . . Our dinner started with two glasses of sparkling wine and "Tzatziki & Pita.". . . . We also ordered some freshly picked crimini mushrooms.. . . . The mushrooms were incredibly delicious and one of our all-time favorites. Being conservative, I ordered "Moussaka" as my…
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I couldn't believe Alex was turning 17! It seemed he was a tiny toddler, not so many years ago.. . Inna and I decided to surprise him with a few presents.. . Since Alex has developed a passion for surfing, I indulged him with a lightly used Firewire Tomo v4 LFS 6' surfboard. It's a small, 6-foot shortboard/fish with excellent speed for carving waves in…
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For Inna's Birthday, I took her to Bouchon, a Michelin 1-star restaurant in Yountville, CA. I made dinner reservations in advance for 15:15 using OpenTable.com.. . . . When we arrived on Saturday at 15:15, our table was ready, and we sat down quickly. We ordered the following items from the Bouchon menu:. . Appetizer. Liver Mousse (Patte). Salads & Soups. Salade Maraîchère au Chèvre…
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Since it was my son's 16th Birthday, we decided to treat him to lunch at the Michelin-rated Alexander's Steakhouse in Cupertino.. . . . I made reservations for Saturday, August 4, at 13:45. Before eating lunch, we decided to stop by for a couple of bowling games at Bowlero in San Jose.. . . . We played 3 games, and I scored 111 on the…
Read More: Alex’s Birthday Lunch at Alexander’s Steakhouse
For Alex's 15th birthday, we decided to surprise Alex with presents and activities. . . Since he has not been playing the PlayStation 4 recently, I decided to treat him to two PS4 games: Bioshock - The Collection (3 separate games) and Horizon Zero Dawn.. . Inna surprised Alex with a new family activity - an escape room. She reserved an exciting escape room in…
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For Grandma Bella's 85th birthday, Inna and I took Grandma to the Michelin 3-Star Manresa Restaurant in Los Gatos.. . . . We have been to Manresa a few times but have not returned since the fire (and its upgrade from Michelin 2 Star to 3 Star rating).. . . . While Bella enjoyed the spectacular desserts and Manresa, she was less impressed by the…
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For Inna's birthday with our family, we decided to try the well-rated Hult's restaurant in downtown Los Gatos. We have always wanted to try it since it's supposed to be run by a former Swedish Hockey player.. . . . . When we arrived at Hult's on Saturday evening, Valet parking was available for $6, but I decided to find free parking nearby. Although Hult's…
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For Inna's upcoming birthday, I made a reservation at the well-rated (but perpetually unavailable) Nick's Next Door restaurant in downtown Los Gatos.. . When we arrived at Nick's on Thursday evening, we found plenty of parking on East Main Street. We arrived at a fully packed restaurant but were quickly seated. Inna thought the restaurant would be very romantic, but it was extremely loud and…
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For my birthday, Inna surprised me by making reservations at the newly opened Bywater Restaurant in downtown Los Gatos. Since this restaurant was newly opened by David Kinch, the famous chef of the 3 Michelin-star rated Manresa (also in Los Gatos), we were eager to have a bite there.. . When I lived in Houston, CA (after graduating from Georgia Tech), I got used to…
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