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Exciting New Hotel Openings
Columnist Stuart J. Faber takes a look at some exceptional hotel openings to take a look at as soon as travel opens up again.
Flying With Faber: Healthy, Delicious Cuisine Prepared with Waterfall, Alaska Fish
By Stuart J. Faber
Now that the holidays have passed, it’s time to activate those New Year’s resolutions. It’s safe to say that most of us have resolved to shed the extra pounds we put on over the holidays. Not only are weight losses generally considered a contribution to better health and a longer life, the less you weigh, the more stuff you can pack into your airplane without being over-grossed.
Most physicians and dietitians agree that eating fish can extend your life. I make frequent trips to the supermarket in search of fresh fish. I’m often disappointed. Much of the product carries a label, “previously frozen.” Fresh or frozen, the prices are usually high. I prefer to catch my own. That way, I’m sure of what I’m getting. Plus, I can think of fewer pastimes more fun than fishing.
Flying with Faber
Cooking with Faber – Don’t Be Afraid of Lamb
By Stuart J. Faber
Pilots hear it all the time – folks who tell them that they are afraid of little airplanes – “I won’t go up in one of those Piper Cubs.”
Isn’t it strange that many folks unfamiliar with general aviation seem to stereotype and group together all small aircraft from J-3 Cubs to TBMs as Piper Cubs? I don’t take it as an insult. I performed a substantial amount of my primary flight training in a Piper Cub. Six decades later, I still have a love affair with that airplane.
In most areas of life, I have an aversion to stereotyping. Not only does the practice affect the stereotyped entity, it often prevents the “stereotyper” from broadening his or her horizons. Imagine how much fun, excitement, and exhilaration a person could have as a first-time passenger in a Piper Cub-with the window open, flying at a speed of 50 mph over peaceful farmland, hedgehopping over stands of trees or circling over a clear blue lake.
Another group of stereotypers are folks who hate lamb. “It’s too gamey,” they moan. I’ve lost count of the number of people who have expressed their disdain for lamb. However, I can assert without exception, that the folks I’ve invited over and implored to give the lamb a try have been turned into ardent converts by the time dessert is served.
Much of the lamb we consume comes from Australia or New Zealand. American lamb is primarily raised in Colorado. Domestic lamb is more expensive and admittedly tastier. Costco sells Australian racks of lamb, which are half the price of American racks. They are chock full of tender meat. I use them all of the time.
Here are a few examples of lamb dishes from my upcoming cookbook, which are not only easy to make, they will wow your family and friends.
Flying With Faber: Willow Run Airport -A Journey Through History
By Stuart J. Faber
A portion of Willow Run plant today. (Stuart J. Faber)Our minds often work in mysterious ways. It’s hard to explain. I often can’t recall the name of a person I met yesterday, yet frequently the visions and memories of certain folks I met during my childhood tiptoe into my thoughts with uncanny clarity.
It’s been over 75 years since Jack Jerstad drove up to our Racine, Wisconsin house. Donning a bright Hawaiian shirt, he emerged from his 1930s Ford Woody Station Wagon, greeted us gleeful, screaming kids and whisked us off to day camp where he taught us about nature’s magic-water creatures, weather, identification of species of trees and birds. He honed our swimming, boating and hiking skills. I only knew Jack for a few weeks during that summer of 1940, yet, he has had a profound impact on my life. It was Jack’s enthusiasm and dedication to the kids which sparked my passion for nature’s earth and its innumerable gifts.
Flying With Faber: Walking Through American History in Nebraska
By Stuart J. Faber
I wish I had met William Campbell and Charlie Miller. Not exactly household names, but if I tell you that they were pals of Buffalo Bill, hopefully, that might perk your interest.
William Campbell, born in 1841, was among the first riders when the Pony Express, a predecessor of FedEx started up in 1860. At age 16, he was slightly older than some of his colleagues. Later, Campbell became a Nebraska state senator. Later, he moved to Stockton, Calif. where he died in 1934, a year after I was born. Although he is often reputed to have been the last surviving rider, I’ve read about others, including Charlie Miller, born Julius Mortimer in 1850. Charlie was a mere 11 years old when he first mounted a Pony Express horse. He made an unsuccessful attempt to join the army at age 92 and died at the age of 105 in 1955. Buffalo Bill, by the way, the most famous (and older) Pony Express rider, (he joined at age 15), died in 1917.
Pony Express Station at Gothenburg, NE. (Stuart J. Faber)The Pony Express route extended from St. Joseph, Mo. to Sacramento, Calif., a distance of approximately 1,900 miles. Were I to fly that route, and all of my electronic equipment went on strike (my GPS, VORs, even my ADF, which for years, has been on life support), what would I do? It’s been more than 65 years since I flew my first cross-country. I cruised at low altitudes from one city to another with the assistance of Wisconsin roads, towns, lakes, and rivers. I was never very good at it. Today, should I be called upon to fly the Pony Express route by the seat-of-the-pants, I would follow I-70 and I-80 across the Great Plains, then over the Rockies, the Great Basin, and finally over the Sierra Nevada Range. If these Interstates were obliterated, I’d be in huge trouble.
Flying With Faber: Irving and Las Colinas, Texas – The Other Dallas
By Stuart J. Faber
Mustangs (Courtesy Irving Convention & Visitor’s Bureau)I travel to Dallas about once a year. I look forward to meandering around Turtle Creek, downtown Dallas, and Ft. Worth. I visit with some of my favorite chefs, hunker down with a Texas-size Porterhouse steak, work it off at the hotel fitness center, and then take in some shopping.
On some trips, I might settle in downtown Dallas. On other trips, I’ll stay in Ft. Worth. However, Las Colinas-Irving is the region that seems to offer the best of all Dallas-Metropolis worlds.
Several factors attract me to Las Colinas-Irving. To begin with, virtually everything is new and manicured – but not to the level of austerity. I generally prefer traditional and rustic. But I also love the openness and vitality of this exciting new neighborhood. Second, Las Colinas-Irving is centrally located and virtually equidistant from Ft. Worth and Central Dallas. Third, this neck of the woods has some of the best hotels and restaurants in this part of Texas. And for those with an urge to shop, every appetite from haute couture to Bass Pro Shops can be satiated within 20 minutes of your hotel.
Flying With Faber: Our Annual Trip to San Francisco
By Stuart J. Faber
The Dining Room at Farallon, San Francisco. (Courtesy Farallon)In the course of each year, my job takes me to the four corners of the planet. One week, I may be in Shanghai. A week later, I am on the other end of the globe – perhaps London. In between, I might visit places that some folks might regard is less glamorous.
That’s okay with me – I’m not always looking for glamour. You know, at times you might love to dine on gourmet cuisine (I’ve never quite understood what the term means), on a table adorned with white linen and bone China plates. Other times, it’s just as exciting, or even more so, to saunter into a dive in a small, obscure town and have a down-home sizzling steak or burger dinner. (For the latter, I’ve often written about, and rhapsodized over, one of my favorite joints in America – Jocko’s steak house in Nipomo, Calif. I can’t count the times we’ve flown or driven from Los Angeles just to devour one of their steaks).
The point is that I often can derive just as much pleasure and exhilaration, or more, from a trip to some off-the-beaten-path village as I can from strolling down the Champs Elysees. But when asked about my favorite places in the world, San Francisco is always near the top of the list.
One reason is that the environs of this city are so magnificent and unique that, as is true with all genuine beauty, the pulchritude increases with each observation. Another is that San Francisco was my boyhood home for two years during WWII. Some force draws me back each year.
The Airport
Flying With Faber: New (and Some Old) Discoveries
By Stuart J. Faber
The more I travel, the more travel I crave. The more I fly, the more flying I crave. If this is an addiction, I plead guilty. Rehab is not an option. I recall a trip from the East Coast back to my home base in Burbank, California. I flew my Centurion from Greensboro, North Carolina against some persistent headwinds and touched down at home about a half day after I started. In retrospect, I could have exercised better judgment. Exhausted, I stepped out of my airplane and headed for the couch in the FBOs office. I thought I’d take a nap before driving home. I should have tied down way back at Tucumcari, New Mexico. As I headed toward the office, a friend approached me with his recently acquired Stearman.
“Want to go for a ride,” he asked? A few feet from the FBO, I executed a 180 and climbed into his plane. Only another pilot would understand my decision.
Today, many years later, still an inveterate traveler, I exercise better judgment and hopefully, possess greater wisdom. I won’t get into my airplane unless I’m fully rested and free of recent consumption of geezer-like aches and pains. I avoid countries and neighborhoods where I might end up as a hostage or a crime victim. I’m careful that the food I consume does not contain organisms not listed on the menu.
Flying With Faber: Georgetown, Texas
A City with a Beautiful Past and a Simple Vibrant Present
By Stuart J. Faber
Lake Georgetown (Courtesy Georgetown CVB)Up until a month ago, I had never heard of Georgetown, Texas. I’ve been to Texas a few times. I’ve explored Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Galveston, San Antonio, and Austin. Recently, a business obligation brought me to Georgetown. The business trip evolved into a love affair with a city.
Georgetown, a city with a population of approximately 50,000, lies just about due north of Austin. On the northeastern edge of Texas Hill Country, portions of the city are located on a fault line of the Balcones Escarpment, which is characterized by black fertile soils and glistening rivers.
Flying With Faber: My Annual Visit to San Francisco
By Stuart J. Faber
Each annual trip to San Francisco reveals new, dramatic changes – some are impressive, others give me concern. Of course, I endorse city growth. I want every citizen to flourish. But why not develop growth within the bounds of the historical and architectural integrity that originally made San Francisco one of the world’s greatest cities? Why install modern arms on the Venus de Milo?
Some developers, those with conscience, passion and integrity, are erecting structures that enhance the fabric of the city. Others are building people warehouses – just four dreary cement walls to house the droves of pilgrims who want to live in town.
As we do every year, we roamed around the town – paid visits to where I lived as a kid during WWII and visited several restaurants, some old and some new. Here is a list of what I consider some of the city’s hotel and restaurant treasures.
Flying With Faber: French Cuisine – It’s Simple Yet Elegant
By Stuart J. Faber
In the mid-60s, I embarked on my first trip to Europe. Things were cheap then. I purchased a round-trip ticket from Los Angeles to London for $250–a First Class Eurail Pass for $90,
Flying With Faber: November 2014
Thanksgiving With Faber
By Stuart J. Faber
I’m a nomad. I make no apologies for my affliction to roam. Just about any time of the year, I will drop whatever I am doing, hop in my airplane (or one operated by an airline), and travel to some distant, or even nearby place. As much as I love my home and my hanger, at least once a week, my airplane and I become overwhelmed with a severe case of cabin fever–or hangar fever. There is no cure for this disease. The only way to palliate the symptoms is to go somewhere.
That being said, rarely, if ever, do I stray beyond my kitchen on Thanksgiving. I won’t even go to a restaurant for Thanksgiving. After all, the Pilgrims cooked Thanksgiving dinner at home.
I love to prepare for and cook a Thanksgiving dinner. Not only is it festive, fun and colorful, guests scream with delight as they circle our huge dining room table, which we convert into a buffet.
As guests pull up to our home, I might peek out the window and observe the smiles on their faces. The kitchen fragrances migrate to the outside like advection fog and fill the noses of the arriving crowd. Generally, we invite a busload of friends. Some folks who have little, if anything to do with me for most of the years begin calling around mid-October. They’ve heard about my Thanksgiving culinary festivals. Occasionally, we invite a few folks whom we don’t even like that much. I refer to them as Thanksgiving orphans–you know–those obnoxious or grumpy types whom everyone avoids. But at Thanksgiving, they are welcome at our table, well, some of them. Of course most of the guests are dear old friends.
Flying with Faber: Queenstown, New Zealand
One of the Most Beautiful Places in the World
By Stuart J. Faber
Part One
Downtown Queenstown. (Stuart J. Faber)For the past 40-plus years, my life as a travel and culinary journalist has taken me to more than 100 countries and every state in the Union. One might assume that I have grown weary and jaded with travel – quite the contrary. Each time I board a plane, be it my own or one operated by a commercial carrier, a wave of excitement overcomes me. As I step off the plane for the first touch of the foreign soil, the excitement intensifies – just as if it were my first time away from home.
It has been more than 30 years since my last visit to New Zealand. Although I have a love affair with many foreign and domestic destinations, I have always cradled a special yearning to return to these South Pacific islands. As soon as I stepped on the tarmac of Queenstown (the airport has no jet ways), I knew why. It seemed as if nothing had changed.
Flying With Faber - March 2014
Easy Cooking at Home with Faber
By Stuart J. Faber
I have grown weary of restaurant sticker shock and paying for food that is mediocre at best. I have written previous columns, which have featured a number of my culinary creations. Most of these recipes are excerpts from a cookbook, which I am in the process of writing.
For the past few years, I have been sending these recipes to friends of mine. I often receive an email or phone call a few days later. “I tried your recipe – it was so quick and easy to make. The best I’ve ever had.”
Of course, those responses make me feel great. Plus, they strengthen my belief that cooking at home can be fun, rewarding, healthy and less expensive. Another name for these recipes could be: Things you thought you couldn’t make, but can!
Flying With Faber - February 2014
A Visit to LEGOLAND California
By Stuart J. Faber
With Brad Faber & Janet Faber
The entrance to Legoland Hotel. (Legoland California Resort)I’ve always been a fan of McClellan-Palomar Airport (KCRQ). What was once a sleepy coastal landing strip has grown to one of Southern California’s premier airports. The solitary runway (6-24), lends a beautiful approach and magnificent ocean views on take-off. I am especially attached to the field because it was here where I acquired my type rating in a Cessna Citation 500. The field has ILS, RNAV and VOR approaches – great for practice. Two of my favorite FBOs are Magellan, 888/949-0888, and JetSource, 888/438-0877.
What’s even better is that just about three miles down the road from KCRQ is LEGOLAND and the LEGOLAND Hotel. Recently, the Faber family explored the region. The explorers, consisting of Brad and Janet Faber (my son and daughter-in-law), and their two children (my grandchildren), Faith Anne, almost 4 years old, and Parker James, almost 1 year old. As an inveterate pilot, I have saddled the grand kids with aviation nicknames: Faith Anne Faber is FAF (final approach fix), and Parker James is P-51 (no explanation required). They absolutely loved the hotel and the park.
Flying With Faber - November 2013
A Visit to Macau
By Stuart J. Faber
Cotai Hotel and Shopping District (Stuart J. FabeDuring a trip to Hong Kong about 15 years ago, I decided to take a ferry ride over to Macau. As I stepped off the ferry, I noticed a vacant field in the middle of which was a rickety looking ultra-light aircraft. The “for rent” sign caught my attention. I trampled across the tall grass and mushy sand and approached the aircraft and its owner. After sizing me up, he handing the keys over to me, delivered a modicum of ground instruction and I foolishly climbed aboard solo. I ascended to about 200 feet above the ground and circled the field, which was the approximate size of ten city blocks. After 30 minutes, I commenced my descent, closed my eyes and managed to land the ship right side up. Today, that area is covered with hotels, casinos, office buildings and shopping centers – and the ultra-light is extinct.
Flying With Faber - September 2013
Cooking Chinese Cuisine at Home
By Stuart J. Faber
Chinese restaurants and Chinese fast food joints seem to be popping up in every city. As an admitted food snob, I have been disappointed in most of the places I’ve sampled. Of course, there are some outstanding Chinese restaurants in some of America’s China Towns, or venerable places like Tommy Toy’s in San Francisco – but a number of Chinese restaurants overcook the food and litter the ingredients with MSG.
I love Chinese and other Asian cuisine. It would be impractical to satisfy each urge by running off to China to get take-out, so I often prepare my favorite dishes at home. Besides, my airplane on a good day has a range of 900 NM, and I doubt that the DOD would respond favorably to my request to provide a KC-10 to refuel me in midair.
Before I ventured upon the task of making my own Chinese cuisine at home, I was under the impression that the preparation would be an esoteric and daunting task. As a food and travel writer, part of my duties consists of working in restaurant kitchens with chefs. Over the past five years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with chefs in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok. I discovered that there is no mystery to Asian cooking – the freshest ingredients are mandatory.
Flying With Faber - August 2013
I’m a Nerdy Pilot and Proud of It!
By Stuart J. Faber
We’ve all heard about the tragic accident involving Asiana Flight 214. Many of my non-pilot friends and acquaintances have asked my opinion on the cause of the crash. In response, I have gathered my thoughts about the crash into this article. Here are a few caveats. First, I am neither a flight instructor nor an accident reconstruction expert. Second, I don’t know the definitive cause of the Asiana accident – that’s up to NTSB to determine. No inference should be made that my remarks constitute an opinion as to the cause of the crash. My comments herein are designed to promote safe piloting and hopefully to enlighten the public. Third, portions of the article may seem quite elementary and pedantic to the experienced pilot. The reason is that I wrote this article as a “public relations” piece for the general public. As a fierce supporter of general aviation, I feel that all pilots have an obligation to educate the public about the worthiness and importance of general aviation and to dispel many of the misconceptions held by the non-pilot public. For that reason, I have digressed from submitting a destination article for this month with the hope that this article contributes to those objectives.
Flying With Faber - July 2013
A Visit to Puerto Rico
By Stuart J. Faber
San Juan Ocean View. (Cheryl Wilson)What I love about Puerto Rico is that it offers the best of many worlds. The island is historically rich and has its own definitive culture, yet there is just the right amount of American influence to make the new traveler feel very comfortable and secure. The destination even has American zip codes and telephone area codes. Activities can range from visits to old fortresses, a rainforest, an historic colonial town, to hanging out at some of the best beaches in the world – and enjoying extensive nightlife activities.
Quick Geography
Puerto Rico, southeast of Florida and just east of the Dominican Republic in the Greater Antilles region of the North Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea, is an archipelago of about six islands. Although we think of Puerto Rico as a Caribbean destination, technically it rests in the Atlantic Ocean. The Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest trench in the Atlantic, is about 71 miles north of Puerto Rico at the boundary between the Caribbean and the North American plates.
Flying With Faber - May 2012
Return to New York
By Stuart Faber
I never pass up an opportunity to visit New York City. After countless excursions throughout my life, each new visit is like a new romance. Recently, I was flying around the east coast, so I decided to drop into Teterboro Airport and spend a few days in the city.
Teterboro Airport (KTEB) has always been one of my favorites. It’s incessantly busy, crowded and populated with just about any civil airplane one can imagine – and from just about any corner of the world. Runway 1/19 is 7,000 feet long and Runway 6/24 is 6,013 feet long. ILS approaches are available for Runway 19 and Runway 6, plus you have choices of GPS, RNAV or VOR. I just love it when an approach is required in actual conditions. There are about five major FBOs on the field. My choice for service and the best fuel prices is Meridian, 201/288-5040. On a good day, KTEB is about a 45-minute drive from midtown Manhattan.
Hotels
This trip would be devoted to visiting an old favorite hotel, a new hotel and a few notable restaurants.
The Pierre Hotel, 2 E. 61st St., New York, NY 10065, 212/838-8000, www.tajhotels.com/pierre
The Taj Pierre (Courtesy Taj Hotels)I have been a lifetime fan of The Pierre, the iconic U.S. flagship of India’s Taj Hotels on New York’s Fifth Avenue just across from Central Park. The hotel has re-opened following an impressive $100 million renovation debuting new guestroom and bath interiors – I wanted to have a look. My first visit took place when it was just The Pierre. Later, Four Seasons took over. Today, Taj Hotels has scrupulously preserved its great tradition.
The latest in modern conveniences include interactive flat-panel televisions in bedrooms, living rooms and bathrooms, the Bose Home Theatre system with iPod docking stations, high speed wired and wireless Internet access, executive desks with built-in data and power outlets, and electronic safes with power outlets that accommodate laptops – but it’s still The Pierre.