Adventures in Gastronomy

Ok, Joan Rivers inspired me. I’m in a ranting sort of mood today so I’m going to get all non-PC on your ass. You’ve been warned.

1 – WTF were they thinking with the extension of the tax cuts? That’s not a compromise, that’s stupidity. Yeah, yeah, yeah – times are tough and people are losing jobs. But if you aren’t working, then you’re not even paying income taxes to begin with. Yes, for 99 months you could be on unemployment (I approve of the extension, by the way)…but couldn’t we make people earning “normal” income pay taxes and maybe reduce/eliminate the taxes on unemployment income? That way, those people collecting reduced income via unemployment can keep most/all of it, but people gainfully employed can pay their fair share to pull us out of this absurd national debt we’re in? The part that pissed me off the most was that they’re reducing the amount employees contribute to social security from 6.2% to 4.2%. Seriously? Social Security is expected to be bankrupt before I even reach retirement age unless the system is changed. Reducing the amount of money people contribute isn’t going to help that. And why do people stop contributing after they earn about$98,000 in a year (or somewhere around that figure)? Why isn’t all income taxed for social security?

2 – The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston is going to show a video piece by David Wojnarowicz that was banned from the National Gallery in Washington, DC, because that idiot John Boehner (and other Republicans) deemed it offense. Why do politicians (usually Republicans…remember Jesse Helms and the Robert Mapplethorpe issues two decades ago) get to play art critic and censor stuff? In question this time around is this video called “Fire in My Belly” that shows footage of life in Mexico. The scene that is so extremely offensive is that of a cross/crucifix laying on the ground with ants crawling on it. I watched this video….the scene took place for about 30-45 seconds after more than 13 minutes of other scenes of various things. Was Boehner offended at the bullfighting? No. How about the poor chickens cockfighting (with one apparently being killed)? No. What about the man masturbating toward the end? No. But a piece of wood or plastic (which is symbolic…not the real thing, people) with one of god’s own creatures, no less, walking on it is worthy of banning the entire video? I give up.

3 – Why is the state of Kentucky providing tax breaks to a Noah’s Ark replica? It’s bad enough that the state houses the Creation Museum, but at least that was 100% privately funded. But now the governor has approved tax credits to build this boondoggle of an amusement park just 40 miles away. Is that state trying to prove something? Seriously? Do we really need a full-scale replica of the ark and more brainwashing? Have you seen that video on YouTube of this group of religious freaks who take private school children to science museums then walk around and contradict all of the science so that it fits into the Bible’s “teachings.” It’s infuriating and offensive.

4 – There are over 5,000 empty seats in Boston Public Schools. The city spends $300,000 per day (PER DAY!) bussing kids all over the city to different schools with classrooms that are either being used for storage or just sit empty. These are major issues that need to be addressed. Fortunately, the City Council approved changes (closing some schools, merging some schools). Yet there were still enormous crowds of people protesting. Boston schools have some of the highest drop out rates, some of the lowest MCAS scores, and some of the highest per student costs of any community in the state. Shouldn’t we be doing whatever we can to improve this?

5 – Why do people with colds complain that they have the flu? A cold is something you’re likely to catch at least once a year (or more). Symptoms may include sore throat, coughing, sneezing, sinus congestion, some achiness, a fever and general malaise. It can last a week or longer. A flu is a serious bug that wipes you out completely: it hurts to even move, you’re vomiting, you’re dehydrated, your head is throbbing, you’re body is burning up beyond belief, you then get the chills, you’re weak, you have no desire (or even the physical ability) to do anything. I catch colds every year, but I think I’ve had the flu only twice in my entire life. You KNOW when you have the flu. A cold is NOT the flu.

Ahhh – I feel better.

December 17th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 3 Comments

Continuing what has become a pattern, I had another busy weekend. On Friday night a bunch of us got together and saw Joan Rivers at the Wilbur Theatre. I hadn’t been there in years (7?) when I saw Dame Edna perform there. At the time, the theatre was a standard live theatre with audience seating. Since then, they’ve removed the seating on the lower level (orchestra, I suppose) and installed tables with chairs and now provide wine service. I must say, it’s a nice touch.

Our table was in the back, but was elevated so I had an unobstructed view of the stage. And Joan was pretty damn hilarious. Obviously her plastic surgeries have made her face very (artificially) youthful, but I have to admit I was incredibly impressed to see how mobile she was. I mean, she’s 77 years old, just two years younger than my mother, but she was so animated and active. She walked all over the stage, she moved her body wildly (even simulated sex at some points). Hell, at one point she dropped to the floor and laid on her back (I think and simulated sex again).

But she was so full of what my elderly aunt used to call “piss and vinegar.” I was impressed. And she was quite funny…and offensive. I am always enamoured with performers who say “screw the PC police” and just go off on everybody and anybody.

So, Friday night was great. On Saturday, we met up with some friends in Boston and watched the Santa Speedo Run: 500 drunk people take off their clothes and run around the Back Bay of Boston in speedos all in the name of charity. The event now takes place in cities across the world, but it started here in Boston. (side note: I find it silly that these runs now take places in tropical climates…the whole point is how shocking it is to see folks running around in speedos while spectators are in winter coats and gloves. Where is the irony when it’s 75 degrees outside?)

That afternoon we headed to a Yankee Gift Swap before returning home and joining my parents at our house (who came up to visit my uncle) and played some cards.

On Sunday my parents and I visited my uncle at the nursing home (this is the 3rd facility he’s been to in the past month). He was doing well, but it seems he’s now at the stage where he won’t be returning home again. I suspect he will spend the rest of his life in a nursing facility. But you never know.

And that was my weekend. I was going to post a picture of this year’s speedo run, but we’ve not taken them off the camera yet. So, I’ll use a picture from a previous year. Enjoy.

December 14th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

What an exciting week! I got hit by a bus on my way to work yesterday. Well, I was inside the bus at the time. You see, I’d boarded the bus and was walking toward the back. As I was about to sit down the driver gunned the accelerator. I suppose I lurched further toward the back of the bus…but I like to think the sudden acceleration thrusted the bus forward toward me so the edge of a seat struck my thigh. It’s a bit sore, but no pronounces bruise has appeared yet.

My parents are coming up this weekend to visit my uncle again. He had another heart attack and has been moved from the rehab center to the hospital, and now to a nursing care facility. They won’t be seeing much of us, though, since we’re practically gone all weekend.

Tonight we’re seeing Joan Rivers at the Wilbur Theatre. Tomorrow morning Randy has an eye exam and we’ll then head into Boston to meet up with friends for lunch and such. In the afternoon we’re attending a Yankee-Swap out  in the burbs (technically, we live in the burbs…but this will be in the ‘real’ burbs). We’ll finally hang out with my parents tomorrow night for what I’m pretty sure will be card games and wine.

At this point, Sunday isn’t looking all that chaotic. WOO HOO! Tis the season.

December 10th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

Wow – it’s almost a full week since I’ve blogged. 2010 sure hasn’t been a banner year for my blogging consistency, has it? Perhaps I need some internet Metamucil to get me more regular.

I had a great night reuniting with Randy after his Virginia trip last Monday. We met up in Davis Square and spontaneously had pizza and bowled.  But by Wednesday my sore throat had morphed into a small bit of laryngitis (draq queen voice alert). I ended up taking Thursday and Friday off hoping to recuperate faster. My voice did return, and today I do feel better. This has been a strange cold, though. I’ve not had any sinus congestion, I’ve not really been coughing too much, I’ve not even been feverish. It was just a sore throat, some laryngitis, and a general feeling of achiness and being tired.

Despite this, we did have friends over this weekend to help decorate the Christmas tree. It’s looking pretty good.

Oh, then stupid me thought it would be smart to remove the lounge chairs from the roof deck since it’s highly unlikely that we’ll be up there sunning ourselves anytime in the next 5 months or so (sigh). As I carried one chair down three flights of stairs to the garage I discovered (much too late) that the hollow pipes of the furniture was filled with rusty sludge/water that formed a fairly consistent brown path of pours/drips throughout the loft and down all of the stairs.

Now, this shouldn’t be that big of a deal because we’re planning to replace the carpets with hardwood floors on the staircases and bedroom level. Unfortunately, we had decided to keep the carpet in the loft since that carpet looked fine and we rarely use that floor.  But the worst staining happened up there (joy). Randy immediately started having me spray the carpet with Windex which, as you may recall from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, solves every household problem. As I did this, Randy rushed to the market for some Resolve Carpet Cleaner.

Fingers crossed, we can salvage the top floor and save ourselves a few thousand dollars.

I gues that’s my punishment for trying to be productive and responsible.

December 6th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

The holiday weekend sure went by fast. Randy flew to Virginia on bright and early on Wednesday morning. Actually, it was dark and early as he woke me at 4:20 to take him to the airport. A few hours later my parents arrived at my house (while I was at work). We played cards that night, then drove out to central/western Massachusetts on Thanksgiving to visit my brother and his family.

I think this might be the first time we have all been together (minus Randy…sigh) since, well, I can’t even recall. It must be at least 2 years. My brother, Paul, made a reservation at a place called the Log Cabin, located atop a small mountain (big hill?) near their house. It was actually pretty good. Everybody ate much more than they should, and we returned to Pauls’ house to talk a bit before my parents and I drove back to Arlington.

On Friday my parents and I did a bit of shopping, then visiting my uncle at the hospital (still recovering from his stroke, but doint amazingly better). Then plan was for them to leave on Friday (so I thought) but by the time we were through with everything it was dark so we played cards games.

They left on Saturday, about the same time my throat started feeling a bit raspy (Randy was sick before he left) I still was productive and cleaned up the house a bit, began wrapping Christmas gifts, brought the tree and ornament from the garage and went to the market.

I continued the holiday stuff on Sunday, putting up and lighting the tree and filling out Christmas cards.

I woke up Monday with an even sorer (more sore?) throat, but was happy knowing that Randy was returning. I left Randy’s car in Davis Square so that he could take the subway there to pick up the car and go home. I ended up staying at work a bit late, then meeting him in Davis Square.

We decided to eat while we were there and ended up at Flatread Pizza and Bowling Alley. One string of candlepin bowling and two pizzas later, we’ just had our first date in who knows how long. He beat me by about 6 point. But I’m ready for a re-match.

Most importantly, it was nice to have him back again.

Damn, this was a sentimental/mushy post: holidays, family, reunions with loved ones. The next time I post I promise I’ll be back to my pessimistic, complaining self. I’m sure by then my sore throat will morph into some sort of highly contagious strain of ebola or something.

But in the mean time, life is good.

November 30th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

Typically, Thanksgiving for me meant Randy going to Virginia and me going to the Cape to visit my parents. Although Randy is still ditching the land of the “real” Thanksgiving for Virginia, my plans have changed.

My mom suggested we drive out towards my brothers place (Easthampton, MA) and eat out this year. She didn’t feel like cooking (not that our Thanksgivings were huge to begin with : boxed potatoes, boxed stuffing, canned cranberry sauce, frozen vegetables…at least the turkey was fresh).

They are coming up tomorrow night (Randy leaves in the morning) and will stay with me through Friday. On Thanksgiving, my brother has made us a reservation at a “mountain-top” restaurant out near him (being just east of the Berkshires, I’d suspect it’s more of a big hill) so we will drive out that way for the afternoon.

It will actually be nice to spend Thanksgiving with my brother and his family because he’s traditionally spent that holiday with his wife’s side of the family.

So, in case I don’t update my blog before the big day, have a great Thanksgiving everybody. And don’t forget that the day after Thanksgiving officially means you can start playing Christmas music. WOO HOO (although, I’ve already started myself)!

November 23rd, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 4 Comments

Good times, that is.

So my best friend from college flew out from southern California to visit for the first time since 2001. Randy and I have been out there 4 or 5 times since then, but this is the first time he’s come this way. It really was great seeing him and catching up with him and his partner, Paul.

They arrived at the most ungodly hour of 5:55AM on Wednesday. I went to work and they went to sleep. A few hours later they met up with me for lunch. Another old friend of ours (another former room mate of mine) joined us at Cambridge Common for a great hour.

I returned to work and Jeff and Paul explored Harvard. After work, we drank wine and Randy cooked some burgers and sausages on the grill before a night of cards (I won…yippee).

Yesterday, I went to work again and they headed into Boston for the day. After leaving work, I headed into the city to join them, playing tourist and having fun catching up. We tried going for drinks at the Top of the Hub but despite numerous empty tables with 4 chairs they kept saying they needed get a table ready and it would be 15 minutes. We gave up and headed to Club Cafe for a drink before hopping on the subway to visit the ICA.

Which was a bust since a new exhibit was opening up tomorrow and only half of one floor (which is small to begin wtih) was available for viewing art. It took about 10 minutes to see everything, then we headed out to dinner at Scutra, in Arlington. The food was quite good, but I still think Tryst is the finer Arlington restaurant.

More games were played last night (I lost), and this morning they left.

I love reuniting with Jeff, but our visits are never long enough.

November 19th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 4 Comments

As just about anybody who knows me could tell you, I live in that past. I often reminisce about my high school years or my early 20′s (in college/post college). It’s very strange because I wasn’t necessarily the most popular kid in school. In fact, I was far from it.  And all of my friends from that time tell me now (21 years later) that they were miserable in high school and have horrible memories of that time. I know our home lives were different, and in some cases their home lives were definitely worse (alcoholic parents, divorce, etc…), but I look back upon the friendships from that time, the excitement each summer brought when the Irish and Scottish college students arrived with their visas to work with us at the Cape Cod Mall, the rare day off from work going to the beach, and my fulltime babysitter starting in1983…MTV, all with great fondness.

Music was a hugely important thing for me throughout my life and truly does act as a soundtrack to my life.

I can hear a song and it will immediately transport me back to a memory I associate with it. Not surprisingly, a large chunk of my music is 80′s and early 90′s rock, new wave,  and college radio (now known as alternative). It annoys Randy to no end that I have a “happy” mix of songs on my iPhone that includes artists like the Cure and the Smiths. But the songs don’t necessarily have to be happy songs to make it onto that playlist…they just have happy associations. It makes perfect sense to me, but when Randy hears Morrissey singing about a girlfriend in a coma, he finds it depressing.

Anyway, this post isn’t about music, it’s about another blast from the past. My college room mate is coming to stay with us for a few days. His flight arrives at the ghastly hour of 6:24am tomorrow and he and his partner will be staying with us until Friday. It sucks that things get dark so early this time of year, but considering Jeff is interested in seeing the city (and new buildings that have gone up over the past 14 years since he moved to California) things will at least look pretty cool all lit up.

Most importantly, I’m looking forward to catching up: chatting, drinking wine, playing card games…

…and listening to music.

November 16th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

So, after a great weekend in Chicago, I came back to find out that my uncle (my mother’s 87 year old brother) suffered a heart attack and possibly stroke while I was away. My parents, reluctant to drive at night, in rush hour, in traffic, off-Cape, over 55 mph, in the left lane of a highway, to unfamiliar places, in the rain, or in the snow, came up yesterday (a holiday) mid-day and lounged about the house until I got home.

After I got home from work, I drove my mother to the hospital while my father helped Dusty acclimate to the new surroundings.

We arrived at the hospital to find him in the intensive care unit, looking week. His left side didn’t move and although he could speak, it was slurred (left side of his face wouldn’t move).

He went from strange moments of intense clarity to moments of confusion. For example, he told us to visit his wife (who was staying with her sister). When he gave us the street address I said that my childhood best friend’s winter home was on that street (they summered across the street from us on the Cape). I told my uncle my friend’s last name and he knew the family…even told us the correct first name of his father and knew about their kids.

But a minute or two later he’d tell my mom not to forget to call their other sister to let her know that he’s in the hospital. Sadly, that sister has been dead for 15 or so years.

Anyway, he said he wasn’t in any pain…he was just grumpy and frustrated at being there. He also still possesed his sense of humor. My mom asked if he could lift his left arm (the side that appeared paralized). He said “of course”, then took his right arm and lifted his left arm with it.

As we were leaving, my mom grabbed his left foot while saying good bye. He couldn’t even tell that she was touching (then tickling) it. She did the same to his right foot and he immediately lifted his leg to recoil.

Sigh.

We’re heading back today (rumor has it they’re transfering him to rehab at some point).

November 12th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: No Comments

OK – let’s see if this works.

First, a photo of college classmates during my first visit to Chicago 18 years ago.

Second, a photo from essentially the same location last weekend.

I kept looking at the skyline and thinking that there were so many new buildings in this spot, but it seems the only difference is the Trump Tower on the right. Otherwise, there isn’t a single new building across the river.

November 9th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 4 Comments