Winterfest Gala was Great!

Four bands, two soloists, food specialties from the best Ocean City restaurants and an open bar. What a night!

Winterfest Gala

We just got our tickets to the winterfest gala which will be held Friday night. This the fourth year we've gone. This is a black tie optional event to benefit the winterfest light display in Northside park. Steph likes this opportunity to dress up. For the guys, there are some benefits too. Let's face it, you could put a homeless man in a tuxedo and he'd have women drooling over him.

Computing from the Beach

Last year, we decided to put a computer with internet access in the condo, hoping to get more rentals. Can't really tell if this increased rentals, but we were booked solid through the season when many other condos were having trouble getting bookings. A few months ago we got DSL in the condo, so now we're feeling pretty high-speed!

A few months ago I wanted to have some work done on the computer, so I took it to OC Mind Games and they fixed me up. I don't know if they'll crack open your laptop, but if you get a virus or something, they should be able to help you out. They also have high-speed connections you can plug into if your place doesn't have DSL.

Nebula Restaurant

BTW, this is a "regular guy" type review. Don't expect anything too artsy. :-)
Dinner Saturday night was outstanding! Nebula restaurant only seats about 25 people - very intimate. The decor is sort of "art deco meets spaceship" and there are TV screens located in various parts of the dining room. Saturday they were playing "Finding Nemo" sans sound. Later, vintage surfing footage was shown. Michelle has waited on us every time, also one fellow whose name I didn't get and their service is terrific. They start you out with something called the "gift from the kitchen", (It wasn't on the bill, so I guess it's aptly named), which is a lobster cuppuccino. I thought the name sounded gross the first time, but it's really great. It comes in a little cup and tastes like cream of lobster soup with cuppuccino-like froth on the top. I few of those and some French bread and I could have had a meal!

Everyone in our group had the three course meal and we shared all around, so I can say that everything was really good. I had the foie gras which was pretty rich, but somehow they kept it from going over the top. Then I had the Niman Ranch Filet. I tasted the venison, the scallops and two other entrees. I guess I should have posted immediately after dinner while everything was fresh in my mind. The menu has changed a little from what is on the website, so we had some things Saturday that aren't on the menu.

We finished up with the cheese course. Since three of us ordered it, we got eight or ten different types. I really liked the two types of blue cheese and the cheddars.

Two things the ladies thought were neat:

• Baby Bubbles - Small bottles of Moet & Chandon champagne. About 1.25 glasses to the bottle. They thought these were adorable.
• Glacier water - Comes in a cool decanter. Didn't taste like Ocean City water, but did it really come from a glacier? Thought I detected a slight hint of mastodon. :-)
  

Fun City Amusements

We went to the boardwalk this afternoon and stopped at Fun City. You remember Fun City? That's the arcade where a kid can blow through twenty bucks in no time, collect tickets and trade them in for 47 cents worth of junk made in China. One of the prizes my son Ian "won" was a fridge magnet that looked like either a girlie drink or a fruit salad, but the good thing was the warning label attached to it. In English (sort of), it read:

EATING PROHIBITER

ONLY FOR SEEING

Well, we all got a good laugh out of that.

Just Back from the Turtle

Went to the Greene Turtle for dinner. Food was really good as usual and the service was terrific, also as usual. Chrissy waited on us tonight. We had to sit in the smoking section since non-smoking was full, but it wasn't smoke-filled. There was a private party going on upstairs so they boys couldn't hit the video games... and had to sit downstairs and talk with us adults. Bummer! Seems like we wind up at the Turtle every Friday.

Sometimes if we get in late, I'll pick up a pizza at Three Brothers in the Gold Coast Mall. Their food is great, but they always sound very gruff on the phone when I call to place my order. "Yeah, Waddya want?!!" So I always call them "Three Bastards" :-) I still recommend them.

It's raining cats and dogs outside today and it's chilly too. Here's a summer picture of Ocean City to improve your mood! 

A Really Nice Restaurant

Saturday will be Stephanie's mom's birthday, so we plan to take her to the Nebula Restaurant on Coastal Hwy. Steph and I have been there twice before, but this time I'll visit with a blog restaurant review in mind. Based on our two previous visits, this place is probably our favorite restaurant now.

Latest on Bay Bridge Repairs

This work will be finished in the spring, but for the time being, getting home from Ocean City on a Sunday night can be a little ugly. Last weekend we breezed over the bridge westbound around 7PM. Two weeks ago we hit the bridge around 10PM and spent an hour in the backup.

Ocean City, MD - My Favorite Place on Earth

Greetings!
For the uninitiated, "downyoshun" translates to "down the ocean" in the Baltimore dialect of the English language. When a Baltimorean says he's going "downyoshun", he means he's going to Ocean City, Maryland, a wonderful, family-oriented seaside resort 3 and a half hours East of Baltimore.

I will use this blog to write about restaurants, activities and people in Ocean City and also to shamelessly hawk our condo which we rent during the summer. I invite readers to share their experiences which I'll pass along. My goal is to discover how to have the best time in O.C.