Adventures in Gastronomy

I’ve appeared in a book in the past. Granted, it was only in the acknowledgments, but the fact is that my name appears in a published book. Members of my family also appear in various books published about my childhood village on Cape Cod (we were one of the first families there so various great, great , great aunts, uncles, grandparents and such all appear).

Then just yesterday I found out that my former partner (of nearly 10 years) has written a semi-autobiographical book and self-published it on Amazon.com.

Oh dear.

He’s always kept journals since he was a child. He also suffered an inconceivably horrible childhood filled with physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. He continued to write in journals throughout our relationship and presumably to this day.

He recently decided to compile/edit his journals into book form. Now, I’m not sure how far into his life he goes in this book. Maybe he just chronicles his childhood and leaves it at that. But I must admit I have concerns that he may progress into his 20’s (when he met me) and into his 30’s (when he was with me). 

Truth be told, we never really did things during our relationship to hurt each other. And our break-up, though difficult, was somewhat amicable and we remained friends for a while afterwards (he subsequently moved to San Francisco and more or less disconnected himself from nearly all of his Boston contacts…including me). Obviously, things weren’t perfect (or else we’d have remained together), but I do fear time (and inevitable bias) could have clouded things and he might remember things differently now.

And that could be what was published in the book (if our time together was even mentioned at all). I suppose I’ll find out because I’m buying that damn book!

May 13th, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on A Literary Muse

Ever since the late 1980’s (yes, over two decades ago) my parents would buy a new car and say “This is the last car we’ll ever buy. We’re getting told and will be dead soon so this is it. No more cars.”

Then every 2 to 3 years later (never longer than that) they tell me they want to come up to visit, and with them they arrive in a brand new car. And it’s always a brand new car because my Dad refuses to buy used cars (“You’re just inheriting somebody else’s problems.”)

Basically, every two to three years I get the same speech about this being the last car. So this past weekend, for Mother’s Day, it should have come as no surprise that my parents arrived in yet another new car…but this time it’s only been 1.5 years!

This time around, they’ve gone the environmental route and got a 2009 Prius. It’s actually pretty cool (I’ve been in one once before). And it’s so damn quiet! But since the thing doesn’t require a key and it is so quiet, my parents can never tell if they shut the car off.  For example, they visited my uncle on Sunday and left the car running for the whole two hours they were there.

But the best part was when my parents got home. They drove for 3 hours round trip, over 160 miles, plus they left the car running for two hours while parked….and after they got home from the trip they still had a full tank of gas.

May 12th, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

Is it Monday already? This year has just been flying by. It’s strange, Randy mocks me for doing nothing and being lazy, yet I’m doing more now than I can recall since I was a full-time college student working two jobs. Between work during the day, then Scrabble night on Tuesday, and our normal game night on Friday, then various errands we run and other social activities we partake in during the weekend, plus the trips we seem to take every six weeks to a month, I really am quiet active.

Even more strange, when I was single and did nothing but lounge about the house, I was 25 pounds lighter. Go figure.

Anyway, I’m getting sidetracked. I meant to write that we had a busy weekend, as always. On Friday, we had some friends over for dinner, wine, and games (Settlers of Catan: Randy’s new addiction). On Saturday, my parents came up for Easter (and stayed through Sunday afternoon).

On Saturday night my cousin came over to join us in dinner, wine, and games. When she arrived, she told us that she used to live one block away when she was in high school. ONE BLOCK (this was before I was born, which is why I didn’t know).

Anyway, all in all it was a good weekend, but Randy and I are both really tired today. He thinks we’re going to the gym after work. But is he not aware of how comfy and welcoming that sofa is?

May 11th, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

I forgot to mention yesterday, but while we were in California visiting the Getty Villa on Sunday we bumped into an old friend of mine from Boston. He moved out there last year (and I’d not seen him in at least 3 years). I always find it amazing when something so random happens. I mean, the chances of me being in the same city at the same time is a rare thing, but to be in the same museum AND in the same outside location is pretty cool.

Then, last night I was chatting with another friend and he told me he was going to Barcelona in a few weeks (Randy and I had considered Barcelona but opted for Rome instead since we found cheaper flights). Anyway, he said he was flying through Amsterdam and was hoping to hop the train into the city during his layover.

Since our flight also connected in Amsterdam, I asked for his flight details. And lo and behold we are flying not only on the same day, not only on the same airline, but on the same flight!

I love coincidences like that.

May 7th, 2009
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And jetlagged. That’s the one aspect of travel that I hate. I could just go one time zone and I feel jetlagged. This trip brought me across three time zones, and to make matters worse it was all during a red-eye flight.

But we had a good time out in California. It’s always great to reconnect with my old friend/college room mate, Jeff. We arrived Thursday night and immediately had dinner and wine, and played games.

On Friday we went to the Laguna Beach area for dinner with friends…then came back for wine and games.

On Saturday, Randy and I drove down to San Diego and had a great time exploring Coronado, the Gaslamp District,  Balboa Park, and Hillcrest. We returned to Jeff and Paul’s place for…you guessed it, wine and games.

On Sunday we all drove into Los Angeles and explored the Getty Villa (where I bumped into an old friend from Boston) and the Santa Monica Pier and Promenade. Then we went back to their house for…wine and games.

On Monday Jeff, Randy, and I went out to the pool and hung out for a few hours, before returning back to the house for…wine and games. Then they drove us to the airport and we were on our way home.

All in all, a might fun weekend.

May 6th, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

I rarely remember my dreams but it seems that they’ve been so vivid lately. Last night was even stranger than last week’s Montreal art museum dream.

Randy and I were relocating to a new city. It had old housing stock like Provincetown (with water views and such) but it was a neighborhood in a larger city with skyscrapers. The immediate neighborhood was quite plush and green and reminded me of the neighorhood I stayed in while in Minneapolis a few years ago.

We found an apartment that was added onto the roof of a building. It was a tiny unit, but had a huge wrap-around roofdeck that was shaded by large trees. The roof deck alone sold me on the place.

The next thing you know Randy and I are starting our new jobs and, strangely, were working at the same place. We arrived on our first day to meet our new boss. She was an attractive woman who resembled Mercedes Ruehl. Except there was one big difference…

…she had a penis.

For some reason, our boss was naked and apparently a well-endowed hermaphrodite. She was also extremely well-endowed with ample breasts. Randy and I couldn’t stop looking. Anyway, we were walking through our new office building (getting the tour of the space) and our new boss stumbled upon a collection of (straight) porn magazines. She flipped through a few pages explaining why there were magazines in the office, but we were too confused to pay attention to what she was saying. She began getting aroused until Randy (always Mr. Subtlety) asked if he could touch her penis (it really was enormous).

He did, then I did, and that was that. The next scene was back at the roof top apartment. I was preparing to do a load of laundry but noticed that there were already clothes in the washer. I called the landlord (who lived downstairs, but who I’d not met yet since we leased the place through a rental agency) and she said she’d come up. When she arrived, we discovered that the landlord was also our boss.

She came into our apartment (still naked) and said that the laundry was hers. She said she always does one load of her laundry in the machine between new tenants to make sure the equipment works properly.

I suppose that may explain why she was always naked…maybe all of her clothes were in the wash?

Anyway, then I woke up. It wasn’t an erotic dream at all (despite all of the nudity). And I wouldn’t call is strange, either, because it all seemed so normal at the time.

But WTF?

April 28th, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 4 Comments

Chris and I stumbled upon what appeared to be the Greek Pride yesterday. He needed to go into the city to pick up his new glasses. I agreed to meet him in the city for lunch since the weather was so nice. So, I hopped on my scooter and rode into the city (I think it’s only the second time I’ve actually taken it into the heart of the city).

I found a perfect place to park it in the Back Bay then walked to the corner of Clarendon and Boylston where I was to meet Chris. But I turned right and saw that a parade was heading my way. (ARGH…the rest of this post disappeared and I’m having to start from scratch).

Where was I? Oh yeah, the parade. Contingent after contingent passed by, each announcing “Greek this” or “Greek that”…making it safe to assume this must have been some sort of Greek Pride parade.

Chris showed up and we walked up Boylston Street to eat at a Thai restaurant. We finagled an outside table overlooking Boylston Streeet…and the parade. It was a surprisingly long parade because we finished eating and it was still going on. I can understand a parade of this size in Toronto, which has an entire GreekTown. But Boston? Then again, the parade was pretty sparse, with large gaps between groups. And there were no spectators watching like you’ll find at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade or Gay Pride Parade. Maybe that’s because all of the Greeks were actually in the parade?

Anyway, Chris and I went our separate ways and I watched a bit more of the parade before heading into the residential areas of the Back Bay to take pictures.

All in all, it was a nice diversion since Randy was in Virginia this weekend visiting his family. And I bet the closest he got to any sort of Greek pride this weekend was some feta cheese in a salad.

April 27th, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on Showing My Greek Pride

Although I tend not to remember my dreams, I’ve had a few over the past couple of weeks that stand out. Last night’s dream had me and Randy traveling to Montreal for a long weekend. While there, we ran into my old boss (from over a decade ago) who was starting up a new match-making company.

He asked that I help him test out some sample matches to see if he really is capable of picking out the right guy. Before you yell at me for cheating, I want to stress that my old boss, Randy, and I all had a conversation about this prior to my agreeing to participate. I would just meet the guys on a first date to have dinner and conversation and find out whether we did, in fact, have similar interests.

Unfortunately, the first (and only) guy he matched me with was a complete lunatic. Think Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. Randy and I ended up having to hide out until we could escape Montreal in the dark of night. Meanwhile, I was rathe let down that I didn’t get to explore a museum that I’d visited in a previous trip.

Of course, I now realize that the museum in question doesn’t actually exist in Montreal…or anywhere in the world, for that matter. It was a museum that i’d visited in a previous dream…kinda of like deja vu in a dream instead of reality.

Trippy.

April 22nd, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 8 Comments

Last month Randy and I decided to take a long weekend and go visit my old college room mate, Jeff, in California. Prompting us to make this trip were two things. First, a promotion on American Airlines giving you TRIPLE the frequent flyer miles you’d normally get. So, essentially, one trip will earn me the same number of miles as a three trips (which is nearly a free domestic ticket). Randy, being a platinum status member earns four times the miles. The second factor was that we found really decent airfair for this trip; $259 round trip.

Then I looked online and found that the exact same flight is available for only $179…roundtrip!  That’s an amazing price for a trans-continental flight. Hell, the Acela train from here to New York city costs that much and that’s local. So, if any people out there have friends in California they can stay with (San Francisco is available for only $219 and San Diego for $259) now is the time to go. Yeah, the economy sucks, but if you have a free place to stay, you can’t beat this! And the prices seem to be in place through May.

Oh, and if you have connections at American Airlines who can credit us the difference in the price of our ticket, please refer them to us.

April 21st, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

Since Friday night is our regular game night, we had some friends over for wings, then played some games (Apples to Apples and Skip-Bo). Miraculously, and to the scorn of Randy, I managed to win both games (the first time I’d ever won either game).

The next day, Randy and I went to the gym (my first time in three or more weeks…and my arms and chest are killing). I guess it just goes to show that Wii Fit doesn’t cure everything. Though, truth be told, I’ve only been doing aerobic/cardio exercises on the Wii Fit and haven’t done a damn strength exercise in months).

Anyway, that night Pete came over and we all learned a new game that we’d all heard about through Wired magazine. It’s called The Settlers of Catan. It’s kinda’ like Monopoly (building settlements and cities), Risk (taking control of land), and Bohnanza (the ability to trade). And for some reason, there seemed to be a geeky addictive vibe I got from it, bringing to mind, gasp, Dungeons and Dragons.

We ended up playing two games (Randy and I lost both, Pete won twice), but we all did enjoy it. In fact, Randy was already online trying to find it at the best price.

On Sunday, we did a bit of shopping in the Back bay (oh, how I miss the city) and then went to a party in the South End.

All in all, a good weekend.

*I wanted to post a photo that was taken on this exact day (April 20) from my past. And I came across this photo from April 20, 2007 (two years ago). Conveniently enough, it was also from one of our game nights!

April 20th, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on Settling for Settlers