I'm going back to Cali...Cali, Cali

After a 3rd trip to Uptown Golds Gym, my buddy Ron brought me to Flying Fish for some lunch yesterday. I had one of their Combo Baskets that included 4 Shrimp and 2 Catfish Fillets. The basket has a coupla hushpuppies and fries up-in-there too. But it didn't stop me from going after more of Ron's side of hushpuppies as well. Yum! I was also pleasantly surprised that they carried Harpoon IPA. Reminds me of the college days in the Pioneer Valley, listening to Harpua by PHISH and drinking Harpoons. I am silly that way. The big moment of my Dallas trip was last night at Arlington, aka, the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium, which is in Arlington, TX. U2 came into town with quite a bang. Not without controversy of course. Apparently, the gossip around town was that U2 threatened to cancel if Arlington owner, Jerry Jones, didn't agree to raise the monster-size stadium screen to accommodate the elaborate 60 million dollar plus structure that is the 360° Tour. The setlist was full of tributes to George Harrison solo, The Beatles, Motown, Bob Marley and "the church" in songs Mysterious Ways / My Sweet Lord (snippet), Beautiful Day / Blackbird (snippet), I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Stand By Me, Sunday Bloody Sunday / Get Up Stand Up (snippet), and encore One / Amazing Grace (snippet) . In terms of seats, or shall I say, ultimate spot, for viewing this extravaganza, took place in the RED ZONE. It made this giant 100,000 seat Coliseum into an intimate portrait of a band that has not only taken over the world but is working to change it as well. This message is ringleader, Bono's, forte. With snippets of Bishop Tutu talking about us being ONE and Amnesty International volunteers aligning the stage wearing masks of Aung San Suu Kyi during a performance of Walk On to a surprising shout out to the former President elect George W for his help against AIDS in Africa, this was more than a rock concert, this was historical. I am proud to have been there with my brothers, my good friends. And the stadium was just incredible to see in person. I was pooped when we got home and quickly crashed out. Woke up to the rain. 5 days in Dallas and not one ray of sunshine, well, except for my smiling face. And I was all smiles at breakfast. Ron took me to another Bread Winner's Cafe. This one was located on Lover's Lane and seemed like an updated version of the one I went to over the weekend in the Uptown section. Plus, the bread basket on Lover's Lane came with that Blackberry Cream Cheese Sticky Bun I had been drooling over. Oh yeah, it was scrumptious and robust. Since we were in the neighborhood, we went to DRIP and I actually got to request a Gibraltar from the owner Steve Thatcher. Thatcher told me he has been roasting and brewing coffee for more than 18 years. And that he roasts beans he gets from an SF distributor. He has had shops in Texas and Massachusetts. Back in Dallas since December of '05, he delivers a serious shot that really hit the spot. I am torn as a result, in naming my best coffeehouse experience. But as Thatcher asked in terms of my favorite spots in SF, I said I have many. Isn't that a good thing though, to have variety? Dallas had a lot of variety in a lot of ways. And that's the truth. See you on the West Coast. I'm out.