Adventures in Gastronomy

The countdown is on. I really do need to learn how to be more patient. Poor, Randy (I say that a lot, don’t I?). As vacations approach, I tend to get carried away with planning. I’m not so anal that every minute of every day is planned out. I just plan the big stuff (tickets, hotels). The rest I leave open so we can go as we please.

My problem is that in addition to singing songs about my destination (as mentioned previously, I’m singing “Pop Muzik’”, by M non-stop), I constantly remind Randy that the trip is coming.

“One month from today I’ll be in Paris.”
“Three weeks from today I’ll be in Paris.”

Now I can officially say I’ll be in Paris two weeks from this very minute. My flight leaves 13 days from now, but my arrival is 14 days from now…bright and early in the morning (ugh). Randy doesn’t arrive until the following morning.

In the meantime, I have to focus on other things. Like the fact that we’re heading to the Cape tomorrow to spend Mother’s Day with my mom. And we have two parties to attend next Saturday night. And I need to start thinking of how to pack as lightly as possible for a 12 day trip. And I need to get some currency converted. And my iPod and camera battery charged. And finalize a hotel for Munich.

Oh dear - I’m thinking about the trip again.

May 9th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

Randy wanted me to go to the gym yesterday. I even packed my gym bag and brought it to work with me. However, at the gym I soon realized that the helmet for my scooter does not fit in the locker. Without a way to secure it, I went home.

I told Randy about this and he said he was disappointed in me. I’d let him down. True, I hate going to the gym. True, I’m not the most motivated person. And, true, my expanding belly isn’t the sexiest thing.

His response (I must admit, he is a logical fellow) was that I should have either a) asked the people at the front desk to hold it for me, or b) locked it to the scooter (by slipping the cable through the helmet and then through the bike rack).

Well, I tried the first option a month or so ago and the staff didn’t seem to keen on my request (though, they did it). And to be honest I never even thought of doing the latter. Never crossed my mind.

But now I know. And now I’ll have no excuse next time.

…of course, I didn’t bring my gym gear with me today.

May 8th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 3 Comments

I had a doctor’s appointment in the city yesterday afternoon and Randy has been attending a seminar in the financial district the past few nights so we decided to meet up after work to roam around the city, take photographs, and have dinner.

Since I finished my appointment before his seminar got out, I sat along the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Specifically, in the North End parks. They sure look nice enough, but the benches area long Cross Street (though, facing the fountains/grass) so it’s like you’re in the middle of a highway median strip. The trucks and traffic going by directly behind you make this less than a pleasant place to rest. At least it looks pretty.

I then walked to the Hilton Hotel on Batterymarch Street and met up with Randy. We strolled throughout the financial district taking photographs of the great old buildings mixed in with the modern hi-rises. Our route was quite circuitous but we ended up in Downtown Crossing, then walked through the Boston Common and Public Garden before strolling down Newbury Street and ultimately to our final destination: Morton’s Steakhouse (which is actually one block over on Boylston).

Friends of ours had given us a gift certificate for Christmas so this was the perfect time to use it. Randy had found a coupon on-line that provided us with a huge bounty of food a total of $99: We shared the bread, then I had a Morton’s salad, scallops wrapped in bacon, filet mignon and a molten lava chocolate cake (using Godiva chocolate). Randy had a Caesar salad, jumbo shrimp, filet mignon, and opted for the same dessert as me.

We both left the restaurant bloated, yet content, and hopped on the subway back home.

It was quite a lovely evening, actually. And it was nice to be back in the city. We need to do this more often. And it’s tragic that we don’t considering how close Somerville is to Boston (they’re neighbors, for crissakes).

May 7th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

It seems that whenever I’m in the process of planning a trip, a song will pop into my head associated with that trip. Before going to San Francisco, I had that hippie-era Scott McKenzie song stuck in my head, “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)”. Prior to going to Buenos Aires, I had the Andrew Lloyd Webber song from Evita stuck in my head “What’s New, Buenos Aires?”. We went to Las Vegas this past February….and Elvis Presley’s “Viva! Las Vegas” was running through my head.

Now we’re about 99% confirmed for our trip to Europe in, gasp, two weeks and I’ve got “Pop Muzik” by M stuck in my head. Mostly, because it’s the only song I know of that has “Munich” in the lyrics (hence the title of today’s blog post). I also realized this weekend that if this trip gets completely successfully, I’ll have visited all four cities included in the lyric.

I’m such a geek.

May 5th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

Randy had some co-workers in town from his company’s Tokyo and Singapore offices yesterday and they invited me to join them for dinner. I’d apparently met the female co-worker while I was in Japan two years ago (I didn’t remember her…then again, I’d met a lot of people during that trip).

Anyway, Randy picked me up just before 7PM and we headed into Boston. I was left with the responsibility of choosing a place and I narrowed it down to either one of the restaurants at the Liberty Hotel (a hotel that took-over a nearly 200 year old Charles Bulfinch designed prison) or the Beehive.

The Beehive is supposed to be this funky space located in the South End under the Boston Center for the Arts. What I read was that this place was funky, fun, loungy, eclectic and geared towards the 30 and over crowd versus the majority of Boston nightspots that focus on college kids and 20’s-somethings (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

I must admit the space was kind of cool. It was subterranean and had exposed ceilings and brick walls, some plush draperies in an area where performers from local music colleges perform (Berklee, Conservatory, etc…). The art was fun, too…with some puge pieces adorning various walls.

And the food was quite good. At least, the food I had was good. Everybody seemed to like the tuna tartare and flatbread pizza appetizers. The polenta dish seemed to be a hit and I really loved my scallops and parmesan risotto. Our only issue with the place was that it was much louder than I’d expected. Being geared toward 30, 40, & 50 year olds, I would have expected more of a loungey feel with soothing background music playing.

I guess I’m WAY older than my years.

May 2nd, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 3 Comments

Since my scooter was in the shop yesterday, I rode the bus home from work. As we chugged down Mass Ave in Cambridge, near Porter Square, I noticed some bouncing flesh off in the distance. They were heading my way and I soon noticed it was a gaggle of men (probably college kids) jogging down the street in their underwear.

Unfortunately, the wimpier of the lot were wearing boxer shorts 2 times their size (likely in an effort to conceal as much skin as possible). A few wore boxer briefs and one or two wore standard briefs.

Come on guys…if you’re going to do something silly for fun or a dare (or end-of-semester prank?) go all out and have fun. Don’t be a loser and say you’ll participate and then wear the underwear that covers you more than running shorts would have covered. Doesn’t that the defeat the whole purpose? Hell, I’ve read of a similar prank being done elsewhere (Canada, I think) where the students run naked through the streets of town one day each year. Grow some balls, people.

Yeah, you’re still going to have a story to tell the grandkids about how you ran the streets of Cambridge in your underwear when you were in college. But wouldn’t it be more fun if the story was actually scandalous…instead of having to embelish or imply it was scandalous?

May 1st, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 3 Comments

I woke up feeling rather chipper this morning. But between locking the door of the house behind me and getting to the garage to start the scooter, everything went to crap.

I’m going to be using a word repeatedly in this post that should make Randy very happy. In an effort not to offend, I will use a term from Battlestar Gallactica: frack.

…a lot.

OK, so I go to the garage to start the fracking scooter. I unlock the bike lock that I use to secure it and put the key in. But it doesn’t start. It simply makes that wee-wee-wee sound but no vroom-vroom sounds. Now, I had other issues with this before. When I first bought the fracking thing back in March it would always start, but then I’d have issues with it stalling once I was on the street and in traffic.

I had that fracking issue fixed: they adjusted the carburator or some such fracking nonsense. When I picked the scooter up from the dealer, I rode it home with out issue. However, the next day I was running errands after work and the fracking thing wouldn’t start. I tried everything I could think of, including the kick start, but it wouldn’t work. I even called Randy to help and he did manage to get it started. Apparently, now I needed to rev the engine while starting it to get the thing to work.

Fine, I can start doing that.

But this morning…NOTHING would fracking work. I checked the fracking on/off switch, I tried the fracking auto-start, I tried the fracking auto-start with revving, I tried the fracking kick-start, I tried the fracking kick-start with revving. Nothing would fracking work. I gave it a break and tried the kick-start again (while revving) and it finally started reluctantly.

YAY - I was on my way. I rode to work with no issue. Once at the office, I rode to my usual bike rack and parked it. I placed the bike lock through the wheel and into the bike rack, insterted the key…and the fracking thing won’t lock. I sat there for fracking 20 minutes trying to get the fracking lock to lock and it wouldn’t. I have no fracking clue why it won’t; the lock was only purchased last summer when I got my bicycle. When the key is in the lock when the lock bar is not attached the metal u-shaped base, it works like a dream. But the second I put the bar on the metal u-shaped base, the fracking key won’t turn.

It’s official. I hate this fracking scooter. I hate everything it fracking represents. I want my fracking life back.

April 30th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 12 Comments

I’m responsibility-phobic. I really think I am.

I’ve always has suspicions. And my ex, Matt, used to tell me all the time that I could be making so much more money if I’d just assert myself and take on jobs with responsibilities. He thought I had it in me to take charge and manage something. Randy has said similar things (that I could make more outside of Harvard or in a different, more senior, job at Harvard).

That’s all probably true. But I like Harvard. I like what I do at Harvard. I like my boss. And, to be quite honest, in my old age I don’t think I’m as capable as I once was as a young whipper-snapper to expense all of the energy to work my way up the corporate (or academic) ladder. I don’t want to work 60+ hours per week like Randy. I don’t want to be responsible for 7AM conference calls or 9PM conference calls…multiple times per week.

And I think that’s also why I’m not falling in love with my scooter. Riding the subway (and/or bus) means no responsibility except showing up and paying the fare. I can do that! But riding the scooter requires ownership. It requires paying attention to what I’m doing and where I’m going (avoiding pot holes, pedestrians, car doors opening). I have to worry about finding an accessible spot in the bike rack for such a large beast. I have to worry about theft.

To be honest, it consumes me. Yeah, my commute gets cut by more than half as a result of the scooter. And it gives me control of my schedule (I can leave when I want and not rely on a bus schedule). But I’m not sure I want that control!

…or if I’m capable of such a responsibility!

April 29th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 3 Comments

For the most part I took it easy this weekend. During that day on both Saturday and Sunday I just rested, took antibiotics, and watched TV. However, Saturday night I did get together with some friends to see the most recent play by Ryan Landry and the Gold Dust Orphans at the Ramrod Centre for the Performing Arts.

The place was packed and the play (actually, a musical) was quite fun. It was a remake of the Wizard of Oz (or the Wiz) called ‘Whizzin’. But this wasn’t your childhood 1939 version of the story. Oh no. Without giving too much away, let’s just say the (white) Dorothy has a black mother. Instead of Kansas they live in Hyannis. Instead of farming, her family grows and sells pot. Instead of that sideshow magician Dorothy runs into, it’s Miss Cleo (the “psychic”…remember her?).

And that’s the part of the story before things get surreal. Like the munchkins who all have floor length penises. Or the scarecrow, tin man, and lion (the latter who wants go from King of the Jungle to Queen of the Jungle, if you catch my drift). Oh, and there are no ruby slippers…just ruby panties.

Oh, and instead of a yellow brick road they all climb into a giant vagina to get to the wizard. And that scene in the movie where the flowers (poppies?) make them fall asleep? Well, here they fall under the influence of poppers (and disco balls).

Did I mention that Dorothy has a bladder problem? Yes, when she’s nervous, she can’t control her bladder. That’s a key plot point since, well, that’s how she kills the Wicked Witch of the South End - by accidentally whizzin’ on her (hence the title).

Gee, it all seemed less far fetched when seeing it live on stage. I can’t recommend it enough!

**The photo above is from my own 6th grade play in 1983, Alice in Oz (a mix of Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Ox). I’m the geek in red on the left.

April 28th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

That was such a great album. Bob’s Yer Uncle is one of the most sexy songs. Unfortunately, sex is the last thing on my mind at the moment. That little cold that kicked in two weeks agos today has morphed into a sinus infection. It’s bad enought that I couldnt’ sleep Wednesday night. Randy took my temperature in the middle of the night (he’s so good to me) and it was 101 degrees. Another clue that I had a fever was the actual pool of water (sweat) that had formed in the center of my pillow.

This morning the doctor prescribed antibiotics. Randy’s been on antibiotics for the last week as a result of the dental work he had done so this may explain how he’s avoided this whole mess. Anyway, the doctor also prescribed lots of medications (Sudafed, Mucinex, ibuprofin, Claritin) along with the old stand-by’s of water and plenty of rest.

Sounds like a good combination to me.

April 25th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment