Yesterday started out well. We dropped Ty at the mountain around 7:45 to meet his buddies and spend the day boarding on the hill. Lori and I then sprinted down to Denver where she had her hair colored and is now ready for Hawaii. Around 12:15, with the car gassed up and lunch to go in the car, we headed home to get ready for the big dinner. All day long we had heard about the wind and it was quite windy driving back up to Vail. About half way up I said to Lori that I hope they don’t cancel the dinner due to the wind. Once we hit the tunnel, I noticed the ski lifts at Loveland Pass were running fine and they were going to the top of the Continental Divide so we then relaxed.

We were really looking forward to the dinner all day as dishes from Chef Bocuse were going to be amazing. About 15 minutes from home though, my phone buzzed and there it was, a text from our friend who runs the restaurant saying the dinner had been cancelled due to extreme weather! I knew this was going to happen! The winds were too strong for the gondola’s to run, so the ski patrol and operations people shut them down. What a bummer.

For the next few hours I texted with Brooks (who runs the restaurants) trying to find out what they were going to do. Finally around 6 we decided to drive over to Keystone to drop some wines we had as they decided to reschedule the dinner for tonight. I don’t know how they’re going to do this as they had been cooking all day and who knows if people can make it a day later. Some people flew in for this dinner. Anyhow Lorenzo, Jen, Lori and I drove over and met him and one of his workers, and I dropped some wine. Unfortunately we (Lorenzo or I) cannot make it tonight, so we educated Brooks on what to say. He was so apologetic as Lorenzo flew out here for this. We told him don’t worry about us, and that we were sorry for him. In the end, it’s all good but we didn’t get to eat the great meal!

We drove back to Vail and the town was packed. We snuck in the backdoor to La Bottega and managed to get four seats at the bar. My long time friend Steve who owns the place was telling us about when he ate at Bocuse’s restaurant in France about 5 years ago. Steve and Liz (his wife) own the place and Steve’s the chef. All places were jam packed due to the holiday weekend but we had a great meal including beef carpaccio, orange glazed duck, linguine with clams and more. We finally finished a little after 9 and took Lorenzo and Jen back to their hotel. This morning they’re on the shuttle to Denver at 10.

Jag right now is somewhere over the Pacific Ocean and will land in Los Angeles around noon. They then have a 6 hour layover (ugh) before catching their flight to Denver where they’ll arrive around 9 pm. We’ll drive down late this afternoon and check into the Marriott by the airport and then go pick him up when he lands. He’s had a remarkable trip but is excited to get home. Here’s the latest post from him. He’s so grown up and this trip seems to have been life changing. Check this out,

We started the day early as we rose at 5:30 am to find our Nai Nai (Grandmother) already making us breakfast. She was making us a delicious soup with egg and chopped up bits of sausage. After slamming down as much as humanly possible, we headed to the Retreat center to get a formal understanding of what we would be doing for the day. The plan was to walk to the Temple, and to have everyone walk two minutes apart, in order to have a walk in complete silence. One we arrived at the Temple, we started to do a reflection of our Spiritual and Religious Beliefs while we waited for the sun to rise and the Temple to open.

Once we passed through the Temple we had made the group decision to hike up to the Giant Alter surrounded by Prayer Flags. As we had begun to hike, I had decided to make myself the leader. We continued to walk with no issue until people had begun to get weary and uneasy of the path that I had led them on. Garrett had suggested that we should go straight down, and some people wanted something new, so they waited for him to try it. As he began to descend, he almost immediately slipped, and at that point, people were again following me. During our hike, I used the time to think about why exactly I was in China on this trip, including some of the bigger questions, such as what is ultimate purpose of me existing and living. I kept this in my mind as I hiked for the rest of the day. Once we finally arrived at the Alter, everyone was very relived and began to take in the scenery. After, we began to descend back down. We found a road that led to a path that we continued to take, and while on it we found flags with some characters that we recognized. After some guessing the LaoShi’s, (Teachers) told us that we had actually found apart of what used to be the Silk Road, yet another happy surprise of our trip.

After returning we began to talk about what exactly it was that Buddhist Monks believed in. We talked about the cycle of reincarnation and how to escape it, and what keeps you in it; which seemed very relevant to what I was thinking about earlier. They told us how it was Ignorance, Desire, and Hatred; all three linked; and that all three would prevent you from escaping. I applied this to my thoughts about my purpose as I thought about how I could avoid these things and find what I so desired. Ultimately I had reached my own conclusion and realized that listening to others, focusing on experiences, and letting things go would help me find what I want, happiness. To do this I would need to take an uncomfortable step forward in order to help expand my knowledge and understanding, and know that it is MY choice to be happy, and realize that I can and want to make this choice.

Pretty profound for a 16 year old kid. Lori and I wish we would have discovered some of the things Jagger has at such a young age. Jennifer said he’s like a Renaissance Man as he’s so wise for his years. Anyhow, we ‘re just thrilled he’s coming home today as Lori, Ty and I all miss him and he really misses us. It’ll be great to have us all together again.

By the way, have you noticed in all pictures, all the kids have their coats and hats on? There’s little to no heat anywhere in these towns and villages and hot water is also hard to come by unless you boil it! A different way of living for sure. Funny some of the things we take for granted like heat, grocery stores, hot water, electricity, and more. The majority of the World does not have the luxuries we do! Have a great day and God Bless.

5:15 am, coffee, check, blog, check, laundry, check. This morning we need to leave by 7:30 to drop Ty at the mountain and then head to Denver for Lori’s appointment to get her hair colored. Can’t have her going to the islands as a brunette!

We should be done sometime around noon and then will rush up the hill to get ready for our wine dinner at 7 pm. We need to leave around 4:15 to get Lorenzo and Jen and then drive to Keystone before taking not one, but two gondolas up to the restaurant which is perched at 11,000 feet. The dinner is a tribute to the famous French Chef Paul Bocuse. He died January 20th at the age of 91 and was the most important chef in the World in the post war era. Based in Lyon France, he had a 3 Michelin Star restaurant for decades and was awarded the top medal in France as a cultural ambassador to the Country. The chef tonight, from the famed French Laundry in California, is recreating his famous dishes which we are pairing the wines with. For example, the soup was one he made for the French President and is made up of truffles, mushrooms and foie gras and sold for 106 Euros a bowl. There’s more but it’s an extensive menu that I’m sure will be great. Lori and I will eat selectively and skip the wine but the dinner is all sold out at $200 a person. Should be fun.

If I have it figured right, Jag should be on a plane sometime this afternoon starting to make his way home. He has 3 planes to take before he’ll land in Denver tomorrow evening. We were driving down early tomorrow to take Lorenzo and Jen to the airport for their 4 pm flight but now they’ll take a shuttle so we don’t have to leave so early. This really helps as we haven’t even thought about packing!

Time to get moving. Have a great day and a month from today is St. Patrick’s Day! God Bless. Here’s some more on Chef.

Paul Bocuse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paul Bocuse
Bocuse in Stavanger 2008
Born	11 February 1926 Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, France
Died	20 January 2018 (aged 91) Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, France
Website	http://www.bocuse.fr/
Culinary career
Cooking style	Nouvelle cuisine
Rating(s)[show]
Current restaurant(s)[show]

Paul Bocuse (pronounced [pɔl bokyz]; 11 February 1926 – 20 January 2018)^[1] was a French chef based in Lyon who was known for the high quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine.

A student of Eugénie Brazier, he was one of the most prominent chefs associated with the nouvelle cuisine, which is less opulent and calorific than the traditional cuisine classique, and stresses the importance of fresh ingredients of the highest quality. Paul Bocuse claimed that Henri Gault first used the term, nouvelle cuisine, to describe food prepared by Bocuse and other top chefs for the maiden flight of the Concorde airliner in 1969.^[2]

Contributions to French gastronomy[edit]

Bocuse made many contributions to French gastronomy both directly and indirectly,^[3] because he had numerous students, many of whom have become notable chefs themselves. One of his students was Austrian Eckart Witzigmann, one of four Chefs of the Century and chef at the first German restaurant to receive three Michelin stars.^[4]Since 1987, the Bocuse d’Or has been regarded as the most prestigious award for chefs in the world (at least when French food is considered), and is sometimes seen as the unofficial world championship for chefs. Bocuse received numerous awards throughout his career, including the medal of Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur.^[3]

The Culinary Institute of America honoured Bocuse in their Leadership Awards Gala on 30 March 2011. He received the “Chef of the Century” award.^[5] In July 2012 the Culinary Institute of America announced in the New York Times that they would change the name of their Escoffier Restaurant to the Bocuse Restaurant, after a year-long renovation.^[6]

In 1975, he created soupe aux truffes (truffle soup) for a presidential dinner at the Élysée Palace. Since then, the soup has been served in Bocuse’s restaurant near Lyon as Soupe V.G.E., VGE being the initials of former president of France Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.^[7]

Restaurants[edit]

Le Nord, one of Bocuse’s chain of brasseries in central Lyon

L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges, Bocuse’s main restaurant in Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, the place of both his birth and death

Bocuse’s main restaurant, l’Auberge du Pont de Collonges, is a luxury establishment near Lyon, which has been serving a traditional menu for decades.^[3] It is one of only 27 restaurants in France to receive a three-star rating in 2017 by the Michelin Guide.^[8] He also operated a chain of brasseries in Lyon, named Le Nord, l’Est, Le Sud and l’Ouest, each of which specialize in a different aspect of French cuisine.^[9]

Paul Bocuse’s son, Jérôme, manages the “Les Chefs de France” restaurant which the elder Bocuse co-founded with Roger Verge and Gaston Lenôtre and is located inside the French pavilion at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT.^[10][11]

Bocuse was considered an ambassador of modern French cuisine.^[12] He was honoured in 1961 with the title Meilleur Ouvrier de France.^[13] He had been apprenticed to Fernand Point, a master of classic French cuisine. Bocuse dedicated his first book to him.^[9]

Institute Paul Bocuse Worldwide Alliance[edit]

In 2004 the Institut Paul Bocuse Worldwide Alliance was created.^[14] In 2014 the Alliance brought together students of 14 nationalities for a course in Lyon school and university.^[14]

Death[edit]

Bocuse died of Parkinson’s disease on 20 January 2018 in Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or; in the same room above his restaurant, L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges, in which he was born in 1926.^[15][16] He was 91.

Works[edit]

• Paul Bocuse’s French Cooking, translated by Colette Rossant (Pantheon Books 1977)^[17]
• Bocuse a la Carte, translated by Colette Rossant (Pantheon Books 1987)^[

Yesterday in the morning, it started to snow. At first we had only an inch or so, but then it kicked in. Once it started, (mid morning), it pretty much snowed all day and night. It’s a nice light powder perfect for skiing. While I’m in Denver today, Lorenzo will be skiing with my close friend Rik.

We all met up for lunch yesterday and Lorenzo was thinking about going so Rik said he’d pick him up this morning. We’re glad he gets to go. For dinner we went to La Tour and had a great meal. It’s one of our favorite French restaurants that has been around forever.

Jag is probably making his way back to Kunming as tomorrow (it’s 9:15 pm there now), he’ll be getting on a flight to make his way home. I think they’ll leave about noon on Saturday to get here by Sunday night.

I’m off to Denver this morning to get our defective windshield replaced. I then have a 10 am and a noon meeting. I hope to be back up by 3. That’s it, have a great day and GB.

Lorenzo and Jen landed on time and after stopping by Tom and Ali’s, we headed up the hill. I dropped them at their hotel and they rested for a few hours before we all headed out to sushi for dinner. We were done early, around 8, and dropped them back at their hotel as they needed a good nights sleep.

Jag is doing well, we miss him and he misses us! Here’s some more from his trip.

A few images of our group, riding the sleeper train overnight from Kunming to Lijiang. Exploring the Chinese New Year Markets in Lijiang. Taking time to reflect on the Yak board and sipping tea in Lijiang. Hiking out to Jixiang, and arriving at South Cloud retreat center.

Here are some more pictures of Jag, playing basketball with monks at the monastery, doing yoga and Olivia meditating, WOW! Have a great day and God Bless and prayers out to the family’s in the Florida school shooting.

This morning about 11:30 Lorenzo and Jen arrive in Denver from New York. They’ll be here until Sunday afternoon visiting. We have a big wine dinner Saturday night for Vail Resorts. I managed to clean up our kitchen/living room yesterday and really decluttered things. Jag is having a good time and Ty was up working until about midnight on his homework. It’ll be windy today with snow tomorrow which we need so we have enough moisture to get through the summer. Still though, it’s nothing like last year.

Tonight we’re going to sushi for Valentines Day. It’ll be Lori, Ty and I along with Lorenzo and Jen. We’re going to our favorite place, Joy Sushi. Soon we’ll be on the beach, whoo hoo, can’t wait. It’s almost 6 am and I’m about out of things to write. The Olympics last night were exciting with Shawn White winning the Gold Medal in snowboarding. But of course the news focuses on what they call his sexual harassment against a female drummer in his band. Man, what in the hell is the World coming to? I don’t know about you but when I was in my late teens and early twenties, I would have been a serial sexual harrasser. What I mean is we all flirted and said suggestive things to girls and believe it or not, it was normal and accepted. Once again, society has taken a problem (yes I know there are some serial abusers out there, Harvey Weinstein types) and taken it way past where it needs to be. Every man out there is not a sexual harrasser, although by today’s definition, maybe they are. I read yesterday that in France you can get a 350 Euro fine if you ask a woman for her phone number, what? Oh well, sorry for the rant, just came to me hearing the news taint this guy and his Gold Medal on tv, sad.

Have a great day, God Bless.

A day or so ago Jag and his group visited the largest Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital in Kunming. Then I think yesterday they were at at school. We get bits and pieces via their blog and texts but all are having an excellent time. Here’s more from Jag in his own words.

After already spending a day in China, we had the opportunity to visit the Champion Learning School. While we were there we were able to have conversations in both Mandarin and English with the kids. During our time there we did introductions in each-other’s languages, hoping to reach a more extensive cultural understanding. Yet, a reoccurring trend with all of the kids was asking us if we had a WeChat. For those of you that do not know, a WeChat is a type of Messaging Board System that most people in China use to communicate, when something such as iMessage does not exist. This enables them and us to continue to express one of V.M.S.’s own principals, community. This philosophy is very significant to V.M.S.’s Intraterm and Where There Be Dragons because it continues to illuminate our purpose by showing how it can be done through technology. As it has continued to become more apparent in our lives, it gives us the choice to work towards bettering relationships between people on the other-side of the planet. Even as our trip continues to progress, and we get closer to our departure we will still be able to talk to our new friends; as they have already started messaging us, we can only hope that this will continue in hopes of progressing our understanding of the Chinese people and their language.

So not only is this trip life changing but also educational. As far as I know, no one in our family except for Mom and Dad and Lori, have set foot in China, and none to the extent of immersion that Jag has. We’re proud of him and are sure he’ll come back years older. Luisa who works for me said yesterday that Jag has an old soul meaning he’s much wiser than his years. That pretty much sums it up.

Ty too is wired the same way yet different. He’s emerging as a leader among his classmates with a small crowd of kids all ages following him out of school each day and telling him goodbye. It’s sort of funny like a scene from a movie. We’re lucky we have good boys as there are a lot of questionable characters out there making questionable or down right bad decisions.

Lori and I worked and had uneventful days which I guess is good. Her head has been bothering her and we’re hoping a recipe of 80 degrees and a beach will cure her.

We have a busy day, again, so time to run. Hope all’s well, GB. Here’s more from China below,

Traditional Chinese Medicine is widely practiced throughout China. We had the chance to visit the largest TCM hospital in Kunming. At this hospital they utilize acupuncture, massage, herbs, and moxibustion. We were fortunate enough to see treatments first hand. After experiencing this form of traditional medicine, we saw how Western medicine is being coupled with TCM to strengthen the medical practices as a whole. X-ray may be paired with massage to further diagnose.

One of the patients we saw during our time at the hospital was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy. Acupuncture was used to stimulate the nerves in her face. Over ten needles were placed around her face, on her arms, and even on her ears. This shows how TCM can help to target a problem through a wholistic approach. They treat the whole body, not only the affected area. We were told that repeated treatment would continually improve the nerves and restore movement to her face.

This wholistic approach to treating any medical need is economically beneficial and has also been shown to provide better results in the long term. The World Health Organization has deemed TCM the medicine of the future.

This was a new experience for all of us and has helped us to better understand the Chinese culture. We are so glad this was part of our trip and hope to continue learning about Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Types of TCM:

Acupuncture – It wakes up and stimulates blood flow and helps to stimulate nerves.

Cupping – Helps to release toxins by reducing pressure and allowing inflammation to subside.

Massage – It combines a western chiropractic practice with physical therapy and massage therapy.

Herbs – Different combinations of herbs to naturally treat and relieve symptoms.

Yesterday after washing the car, our windshield cracked from top to bottom right in the middle on Lori’s Suburban. With the week ahead, I need to get this fixed right away. So this morning, in about an hour, I’m off to Alameda and Wadsworth in Denver for a 9 am appointment. Then I need to run to Cherry Creek and then Arvada before heading back up the hill. Wednesday I’m back down picking up Lorenzo and Jen who arrive from New York. Then we’ll have 4 busy days up here before going to get Jag and dropping them at the airport on Sunday for their flight home.

Tonight Lori has a board meeting for Canine Companions and tomorrow I have one for the school gala coming up this November. Jag’s doing well and is on an overnight train up country to a small village where they will all stay with a family. I think they’re close to Tibet. All’s good from his texts. Below are a couple pictures of breakfast. Not sure what all they’re eating but they seem to be enjoying it. Have a great day and week and God Bless.

It’s Sunday, which means tomorrow is Monday. The weekends go so fast. We did a few things around the house but it’s still so cluttered, you don’t really notice. Today I’ll try to get into Jag’s room and see if I can make a dent in the mess. Ty was at his friends most of the day in Glenwood. They went swimming at the hot springs pool earlier in the day before we met theme halfway and picked them up at Costco. We then dropped his friend and younger brother at their dads house in Edwards before heading home.

Ty’s lobbying hard to go to Battle Mountain High School instead of VMS. We’re open to listening to him but still think he’ll get a better education at VMS. It will cost us $5,552 a month though for both boys to go, ugh. That’s a big pill to swallow but we’ll see. I told him if he can show us he can get all A’s and a few B’s this year, we’d consider it. It is understandable though as all his friends from this year, which are more than he had at VMS, are going to BMHS.

Lori was hoping to get her hair colored today but hasn’t heard back from Jeannie. Jag is having fun as far as we know from group posts. They’re about 16 hours ahead of us so it’s almost bed time there right now. Still hard to believe he’s in China and has been there for 3 days. What an experience.

The snow has stopped but it was a good snow. It looks like the foothills in Denver had a good shot too. It’s supposed to warm up a bit this week. That’s it for today, hope everyone is well. GB

Jag and his classmates are on the way to China. Best guess is they’ll land in Beijing about 2 in the afternoon our time. They then have I think a 6 hour layover until they catch another flight to Kunming which is in the southern part of China. Kunming is in the Yunnan Province and has about 8 million people, a small city by China standards. Beijing on the other hand is about 22 million people, wow. So more to come. I figured it out last night that the next time Jag will wake up in his own bed, it’ll be March 1st! Also a week from Monday, or 10 days from today, we’ll all be on a plane for Maui. So you can see we’re busy busy.

Ty was home yesterday as when I was driving him to school he had a bad cough and we diverted to the doctor to make sure he didn’t have the flu. The doctor said keep him home yesterday but thankfully, no flu. The test involved a long Q-tip stuck all the way (about 2 or 3 inches) up his nose! We should keep him home again today but with his concussions, he’s missed too much school so he’ll have to suck it up.

Yesterday we left school around 2:15 for the airport yesterday and I dropped Jag and Matt about 4:15. With Denver traffic, I then made it home around 6:45. We talked to him when he was in Los Angeles around 10 pm. It’s now 7:19 am and time to get moving. Hope they’re asleep on the plane and having a good time. I think they land about 5 am. What an experience for him and his classmates. Have a great day, GB.