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Wow what an amazing night!  My friends and I arrived at the Spearmint Rhino Club and were more than pleasantly surprised by our first impression.  As a female,I am completely comfortable with going to all different club types so I was ready for just about anything.  In all honesty my past experiences with “bikini bars” are not what I would call high class but after an evening at the Spearmint Rhino, I can say I was impressed.

Spearmint Rhino instantly makes you feel welcome, the décor is elegant, upscale and professional.  My friends and I were escorted in by a very handsome Gentleman in a suit to our VIP table.  This evening, we were celebrating a birthday and definitely got the royal treatment during our special night out.  We enjoyed our server who was sweet, fun and super sexy!  The drinks were stiff (we were loving that!) which was a bonus! As we all know, we need the best bang for our buck in this economy.  We sat back and took in the atmosphere. Several gorgeous and classy ladies danced on the colorfully lit stage area.  There were Men AND women gathered around the stage, this is a skill that these beautiful ladies have perfected. They don't just cater to the men in this club.  I sat down with one dancer who talked openly with me about her job and how much she enjoys it.  What an amazing story she had. 

The manager, Adam, is in my opinion, what makes the club so special. He came over to make sure we were being taken care of. We were all impressed with how committed he was to ensuring our experience was a good one. Thanks to Adam and the staff for such a fun night!  We will be back for sure. 

Boise, if you're looking for some great drinks, great atmosphere and great entertainment, I give the Spearmint Rhino five stars and guarantee that it's worth checking out.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Lynn, lap dance recipient!

Pair…Eat, Drink, Share!

It was a beautiful day in downtown Boise.  My friend, Abby and I decided to grab a quick bite to eat at Pair on the corner of 6^th and Main.  We sat out on the patio in front and basked in the sun and vibrant smells of this yummy restaurant.  This was a the perfect location to do some serious people watching at its finest.

We were seated quickly by the sweetest girl ever…our new found friend, Kari. She suggested some of the most succulent drinks we had ever heard.  It was such a tough decision but after much thought we made up our minds and we started with a mango drink.  It may have had a bit of alcohol in it but it was after noon so no party foul here.  Abby and I both were so impressed with Kari and all of her fantastic suggestions. She was kind, warm and such a fun girl to chat with.  It was obvious that the Pair staff really knows all about the wonderful menu they offer.  Many suggestions were made such as the lightly breaded calamari…that is delicious.  However, I had been blessed once to have already had the calamari so we decided to try a little bit of…well pretty much everything. 

We started with freshly made sushi and rolls served on a superb piece of marble that was literally delicious.  The sushi rolls were amazing and we devoured every last morsel (see photos).  Then we had the fresh artichoke dip with fresh sourdough baguettes. This was heaven on bread.  An absolute must eat at Pair.  Kari then insisted that we have some of the home cut yam fries with a sweet sauce.  We were stuffed after feasting on all of this fabulous food but how can you say no to yam fries?  We asked Kari to bless us with a small order of 12 fries and she graciously accommodated our request.  The yam fries melt in your mouth. YUMMY!  Kari then tried to temp us with homemade bread pudding.   Pair is known for their bread pudding.  However, our quick bite had turned into a feast and I realized I had a ticket on my car from my meter being expired.  Thank you, City of Boise.  That was great. 

Overall, I am so impressed with Pair, the food, the service, the price and the portions.  Pair also has a gorgeous atmosphere inside and is open late as well.  I just could not find anything that I did not like about Pair.  I love their motto, Eat, Drink, Share!  Abby and I really did eat like it was our last meal, we drank the good drinks, and we shared some giggles and laughs with Kari our new friend at Pair. 

My review of Pair is 5 out of 5 for sure.  So next time your looking for a fantastic place to eat, drink or just people watch you really should try Pair.  Here is their website with all of their information.  www.eatdrinkshare.com 

 Our very own Jennifer Lynn rocked the Rock the Mountain! Here is her account:

This was an amazing event held in the gorgeous Grimes Creek area.  What is Rock the mountain you ask?  Well it is not at all what I had invisioned.  It is a modern day festival of rockers and people who just leave each day as it were their last.  There is the widest array of people from young teenagers to the hippest seniors ever.  Mostly this is a group over 1200 people strong made up of music fans who love the outdoors and the idea of Rocking the mountain. 

Rock the mountain otherwise known as RTM was started by Jeremy, Chris, Mike and Jeff Trull of Boise, Brothers who play in a super hot band called Question Authority.  The brothers decided to take an extreme camping trip and to Rock the mountain by playing music all night long.  This small trip that started with just a few people has now blown up locally to over 1200 people annually meeting to hear over 35 bands.  This super cool event began 12 years ago.  2009 marked the 12^th annual ROCK THE MOUNTAIN event. This year all four brothers showed up and played together...Fans were in awe.  Question Authority now has two brothers Jeremy and Chris and my camping neighbor Justin.  All super cool guys.  Rock the mountain is a full on party that includes a beer and food vendor on site, merchandise sales and a lot of port a potties for these partying folks.   

I camped for three nights with some of the most amazing people ever.  The phrase "don't judge a book by its cover" has never been so in my face true.  People were kind and fun, rocking out and just enjoying the music and loving the scenery.  I was literally in awe of the talent that was in front of me.  Standing in the middle of the forest with a stage and a sound system that is sure to blow your eardrums was super awesome.   

Some of the biggest highlights of my weekend were sitting in the creek listening to the melodies of days gone by and cooking on my grill at camp for some friends while listening to one of the band members on stage propose to his girlfriend in front of God, 1200 partying people and nature.  This was super cool.  Congrats to the lucky couple and wow what a way to say I love you babe, I want the rest of the world to know and every wild animal from Grimes creek to Boise. 

Overall this was by far the best $20 I have ever spent.  What a way to camp.  So folks check it out www.Rockthemountain.com and make sure you put this on your priority list of things every person must do in their lifetime.  Way to go Idaho,  I am impressed and proud to say...WE ROCKED THE MOUNTAIN!   Special thanks goes out to all the RTM staff and volunteers who make this such a spectacular event.  Your efforts are not unnoticed and so many people appreciate you all.  Thank you for taking such great care of me and showing this girl how to Rock the mountain!

Say what?  Sa-wad-dee means “hello”.  This wonderful restaurant in Meridian right on Fairview Ave. really spoke to my palate.  My friends and I decided to try something new and fun, so off to a Thai restaurant we went.  We arrived on a busy Saturday night around 8pm.  We were quickly greeted by the adorable hostess and taken to a nice table.  The room is gorgeous.  I was literally in shock as we all discussed how amazing the décor was.  Golden hues of reds and fantastic twinkles of light surrounded my friends and I.  We were all very impressed  by the warm yet elegant atmosphere.  We felt like we were dining in a 5 star restaurant but not nearly as expensive.  The prices were a bit high but the quality justified them. 

We started off with some delicious, hot sake served in the cutest handmade pottery.  My friend and I were soon giggling about our memories of childhood tea parties.  Our appetizers of tempura vegetables and fresh, handmade spring rolls were simply yummy, to say the least.  Next came more hot sake followed by more laughs, smiles and fun with the wait staff.  The beautiful young ladies who work at Sawaddee are simply adorable and genuinely love the food, the restaurant and employers.  It was so nice to be in the company of other happy people who truly love their jobs.  Our main courses of the freshest sushi arrived. We all shared 3 types, a spicy tuna roll, a spider roll, and a California roll.  They were divine.  The rice was perfect, the texture was amazing and before you knew it, we all had the happiest tummies in town. 

I must admit that I am picky when criticizing Thai Food as I have had some of the best homemade Thai ever made in my past, but this restaurant surely was the best I have had locally. If you are looking for a family friendly place to eat, this is your place.  Or if you are looking to impress that first date, this is also a great option.  I give Sawaadee a solid 4 ½ stars out of 5. 

Stay yummy,

Jennifer Russell

Suggestions, ideas and comments regarding the above are always welcome as long as I agree. Seriously, feel free to share your experiences as well.  We love to hear about food!

Pre-funking in our McCall Condo, we suddenly realize we are starving and have narrowly missed the dreaded closing of The Pancake House. We start asking around desperately for a place Erica remembers as "Lobo's" and turns out to actually be called "Lardo's." We are en route within 5 minutes after locking down the correct name, still basking in our road-tripping musk.

Lardo's has delicious vodka tonics, heaps of excess mayonnaise and a stuffed Cougar on display. Really, no different than venturing up Vista Avenue. But nevertheless, we are feeling very McCall-ish and decide to fore-go the whole "get ready" stage of the evening and make straight way to the Yacht Club.

It's raining, by the way, contributing beautifully to our "Become One with the Locals" look we were going for.

The Yacht Club is hoppin! People are dancing! Lots of them! We make our way over to a table, mark our territory by dancing on it for a minute before decimating the dance floor for the remainder of the night. The ambiance is somewhat lacking, we'll admit, but we whole-heartedly endorse the DJ at the Yacht Club. We would have laid down our LIVES for him that night. One killer dance song after another, from 80's to current hip-hop and back again. We were literally unable to leave the dance floor. Two aggressive thumbs up Nascar DJ Dude, your music was almost as amazing as your stache.

After a solid 30 minutes at the Yacht Club, we unleashed Stina. She reported back within minutes with a plethora of options ranging from a trio of Bostonians in their 50's to a duo of 21 year old skater boys. We like choices. And we like it when those choices buy us drinks. Two thumbs up for Gents at the Yacht Club who bought us classy ladies drinks and didn't even try to get action as a result.

General consensus of the Yacht Club was positive, enriching and deemed worthy of a return. We had a dang good time.

Any questions on visiting McCall, shoot us an email. Consider us your regular Department of Tourism. We're here to help and hope you make the trip up North soon.

We drive past the welcome sign to McCall, extremely proud of ourselves for making good travel time and not plummeting to our death going around one of the hundred no-guard-rail (why?) corpse corners on the drive up. We continue forward on a mission to find our Condo, over-using the phrase "so cute" in drastic proportions. McCall is adorable. ADORABLE, we say.

Just as we come over the horizon looking out upon stunning Lake McCall, we slam on the brakes and violently careen ourselves into the turn lane, ashamed of our aggressive 1A driving. We found our Condo!

The Park Street Plaza Condos are brand new and located perfectly within walking distance to everything. The Owner of the building sold us with the phrase "so you can get drunk as a skunk and walk back home!" DONE! SOLD! But aside from the fantastic location, the building was really quite beautiful. Equipped with balconies, French doors, eye-catching distressed wood and complimentary brass/wrought iron fixtures, we pet the side of the building as we walked in, that's how pretty it was.

But really, exterior schmexterior, who cares about that once you step INSIDE the palace of a Condo we got to call home for a night. It was way too perfect for us. To prove this point, within 5 minutes of arriving, we broke the toilet, shattered a club soda bottle and left a bloody crime scene in the entryway. All this without even one drink on any of our parts. The toilet and club soda bottle are somewhat self-explanatory, the crime scene was in conjunction with Stina King's legendary talent of falling. She sacrificed her knee at the sake of our vodka. Real friendship, right there.

Considering the view, the top of the line EVERYTHING, the delicious materials throughout and the tremendous location, we rate the Park Street Plaza Condos a 10 out of 10. We want to buy one. Maybe we'll be neighbors....

**McCall on the Redux Part 3 of 3 will be published tomorrow. We review the Yacht Club and already have a smile on our faces just thinking about it. Stay tuned.

**Also, we fixed the toilet and cleaned up the club soda as well as Stina's Knee-blood. Unit 303 is in ship-shape.

We really are spoiled rotten, mostly by those non-existent sugar daddies of ours, but also in the way that we have this vast abundance of killer city life to love but can also drive, literally, one hour north to be surrounded by absurdly beautiful forest, mountains, rivers and wildlife. We think we have what they call "the best of both worlds" living here in Boise. We decided to retire the heels for a weekend, threw some vodka in the car and made the 2 hour Trek North for a night to say hello to the best of the other world: McCall.

Coming out from The Wardrobe (Smiths Ferry) and into Payette National Forrest, we were immediately blown away by the gorgeous green scenery that sat beautifully between the smooth blue river and clear blue sky. It was like a happy nature sandwich to which Erica replied "I effing love this shit."

First "Jamie and Erica in Nature" experience was at Gold Fork Hot Springs, about 30 minutes south of McCall. We took the deterring dirt road off the beaten path, practicing defensive driving the whole way and screaming loudly as our poor car got an aggressive cavity search.

Our first piece of invaluable and life-changing advice would be to not go to Gold Fork Hot Springs on Memorial Day Weekend. Yikes. Children everywhere, loud, splashing, laughing, happy children, it was disgusting. Stina was nearly decapitated by a beach ball.

Second piece of invaluable and life-changing advice would be to not go to Gold Fork Hot Springs if you're a female between the ages of 18 - 45 and happen to be wearing a swimsuit. Wives were sitting on their husbands, arms crossed and glaring. We were the League of Extraordinary Marriage Snatchers, devouring the sanctity of marriage faster than our Gay counterparts simply by setting foot in a hot springs. Who knew.

But other than the near shanking at the hand of Stay At Home Moms and the rapid reproduction of children (approx 3 new children were produced per minute), we rate Gold Fork Hot Springs at an 8. The cleanliness of the grounds/pools, the friendliness of the staff and the pure beauty of the surroundings made the stop worthwhile. We'll definitely go back, next time equipped with weapons and not on a National Holiday weekend.

Next in the three part series in our McCall Review is our experiences/calculated opinions of the Park Street Plaza Condos and the Yacht Club. Stay tuned.

**Also, we do like children (off and on, depending on the child) and were not harmed by any Housewives in the making of our Gold Fork Hot Springs Stop and Review.

Yesterday around 4:30 pm, Erica and I looked at each other and asked ourselves the question: Why have we not been to the Spearmint Rhino? We've heard great feedback, have friends who frequent there and have had a standing personal invite from the General Manager Adam to come in any time. It was high time we affixed ourselves with the Rhino Experience, by 5:15 we were high-five-ing each other in the parking lot as we pulled open the massive wooden doors. The high fives are mostly due to us being able to call this "work."

Pre-conceived ideas were present, we won't lie. We hear the term "Gentleman's Club" in Boise Idaho and think, uh-huh, just like "JBX Grill" is fine dining. We were definitely expecting animal heads on the walls, gun racks next to them and remnants of 70's porn scattered here and there. However, we were genuinely and pleasantly surprised to discover none of those things but instead a clean, well-decorated lounge with a serious Vegas feel to it. We already liked it, feeling very at home, since anyone who knows us knows that Vegas is our Holy Land.

Faux marble finishes, mansion-esque portraits adorning the walls, a real live working fireplace and a professional staff that wear fancy vests and ties, dare we say we have entered an alter-universe known as a true Gentleman's Club? In Boise Idaho? Add on the truly awesome music being played and delicious, strong drinks at great prices and you now have yourself some happy new regulars. Regulars that cheer and clap and rally group hugs, but it's endearing, at least maybe it is after a couple drinks.

All in all, we'd recommend our new hangout to friends. Especially friends that might enjoy watching the Evans vs Machida UFC Fight on Saturday the 23rd at 10pm, one of the only places in town showing the UFC fights.

Also, just to give you an idea of what a great guy Adam is at Spearmint Rhino, out of all the videos he could have sent to our inbox today, he sends us this one:

From “The Bold 5” to “A Rotterdam November” not much has changed other than a few new members and definitely a lot more fans – myself included. The name “A Rotterdam November” was chosen after Jared Nelson studied a writing about the city of Rotterdam during WWII where the bombing destroyed nearly the whole city. A Russian artist called it “the city without a heart.” However the people of Rotterdam rebuilt their city, and today it is known as “an old city with a new heart.” With old members out, and the fresh new face of David Niacaris the band has been recreated just as Rotterdam was.

      David McCormick (lead vocals) Alan Schwaderer (keys/guitar) Jared Nelson (guitar/backup vocals) Andy Baker (bass) Dyaln Anitok (guitar/backup vocals) and David Niacaris (drums) are the now six members who make up the Christian rock band.

      Their music and lyrics, written by Jared mostly and with help from David M, are meant to give inspiration to young people. Keying in on their passion for people to take every moment as it is and just be happy with their life. Through their own life battles and hardships, the band has created an album with the hopes that people will realize that things aren’t always easy in life, but to live it to the fullest, and make the best of everything. The guys wanted the meanings from their songs to transcribe from their own inspirations in life.

      Each member has their own style of music, and they are using that in their second album to build off one another and create a musical masterpiece that is different from any other. When I sat down with all of them in the interview and asked them which one of the songs on the new album was their favorite it seemed unanswerable. Every one of the guys had a different choice, but when they heard each other’s reasons for each song it came to a mutual consensus that this second album is going to be all together amazing. 

      They have just been on tour all over the country with a few other Christian rock bands promoting the start of their second album. To see them play live with Anberlin, Paramore, and Lifehouse might just make the perfect combination. Just a few of their inspirations in music throughout their life. These guys listen to practically everything (trust me I have seen their iPod) and don’t try to debate them on why one band is better than the other, because you will get beat.

      Just because this band has a ton of heart, and is very strong-minded about their beliefs and ideas behind their music, doesn’t mean they don’t know how to have fun as well. Go to one of their shows this year and you are sure to see Jared frolicking around on stage, or some more of the exciting stunts they pull while playing – let’s just say if you have seen MuteMath perform live then you will love these guys. “A Rotterdam November” is becoming a band unlike any other that you won’t want to miss. 

Clyde at Reef

A packed house, sweater vests and dress shirts, and half the crowd singing along to the remake of Haven Snow's songs is just the icing on the amazing performance put on by Clyde at The Reef Thursday night.

Even though Tom Fisher (drummer) has only been playing with this band for the last two months, and Ryan Emry (lead guitar/backup vocals) has only been playing with Haven Snow (lead vocals/guitar) and Dan Airsman (bass/backup vocals) since May, when these boys got together and started jamming they created a sound never before heard in this area. These guys are not your average "I wanna be a rockstar" copy-cat band.

Bands either fail or make a name for themselves during their first ever concert, but these guys did it - and they did it well. For the first three or four songs in their set it seemed the bass and guitars were too loud to hear Haven sing, but finally when someone alerted the sound guy, Clyde was putting on a spectacular performance. It seems that everyone at the show felt the same way I did about this band.

"This band is more experienced than Incubus on their second tour." - Matt Bull

"I've never seen better chemistry within a new band." - D.J.

A few of Haven Snow's groupies were a little skeptical wondering whether or not adding Ryan, Tom, and Dan into the mix was going to ruin the astounding solo work we all have loved for so long. It only took a few songs into the show to have those questions silenced, because those three added more uniqueness to his work. The new songs the band wrote together were just as good, if not better than the remakes of Haven's songs. However, the highlight of the night was when Ryan Emry broke a guitar string during his solo on "I'm With Your Girlfriend" and still continued to rock the venue. (I'd like to add a special thanks to Corey Bruce for making that song happen. Your Pringles man mustache definitely added the finishing touch.)

So what makes Clyde different from the other "garage bands" from Boise? Well for starters they are a band based from a basement studio in Nampa, Idaho. But most of all every song they played sounds completely opposite from the others on their upcoming six song album expecting to be released in February. Haven Snow has such a unique voice that each song takes on a whole other emotion and feel. "Our music is a roller coaster of emotions. We each are very diverse musically and that has given each song a different sound." No matter what music you are into you can't help but want to jam out when these boys are around. Don't believe me? Just ask the 70-some year old man I saw bobbing his head in the corner booth.

When I asked these guys when we could expect to see them play live next, Haven told me they don't have any shows booked as of yet. I think with the right venue that has enough room for some amazing acoustics, we could expect to be blown away once again by Clyde.