Adventures in Gastronomy

I do love this time of year. Between Labor day (September) and President’s Day (February) it’s like a non-stop parade of holidays and shortened work weeks (Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, Day after Thanskgiving Day, Christmas, New Years, MLK Jr. Day, President’s Day). Plus, with the office shutting down the week between Christmas and New Years, there’s even more time off.

But today officially starts the major holidays: visiting family, holiday music, holiday shopping, lights and decorations. YAY! I’ll actually be heading down to the Cape after work this evening to spend the holiday with my parents. And I’ll be returning here by Friday so that I can get together with some cousins I’ve not seen in ages (a reunion of sorts…I’ve not seen one of them in at least 15 years).

Enjoy the holiday, everybody!

*Technically, this song commonly associated with Christmas was originally titled “A Boy’s Thanksgiving Day”, written by Lydia Maria Child in 1844. I guess it’s only appropriate that it be my blog heading today since it incorporates both Thanksgiving AND Christmas.

November 26th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on Over the River and Through the Woods*

What do you write when you have nothing to say? UGH – I need a life.

*Yep, that’s an actual Christmas song, performed by Louis Prima.

November 25th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on What Will Santa Claus Say?*

OH OH – some major drama is ensuing. As I’ve mentioned before, a very dear friend of mine died of breast cancer nearly 4 years ago. Just before her death, she married a prisoner and left all of her money in a trust so that he could use the money to pay attorney fees to get out of jail (and to set up house once he gets out). I’m the trustee.

Overall, things have gone well over the duration of the trust. Unfortunately, the beneficiary of the trust passed away on Thursday. The way the trust was written, upon his death the remaining available money is to be distributed between my friend’s surviving niece and nephew. And that’s where the complications come in.

The beneficiary’s family and friends have called me countless times since Thursday because they are under the impression that the trust money is still his and that it will cover all of his funeral arrangements. Unfortunately, that’s not the case and I’m the one to have to explain it to them. So far I’ve spoken with cousins, uncles, and friends. Even worse, I’m hearing stories from one person saying that the other people can’t be trusted. It’s very confusing.

The good thing is that the trust is very clear that upon his death, my involvement no longer exists. I’m not the executor of his estate, the money isn’t his, and I have no responsibility. The difficult thing is going to be explaining that to everybody.

*As I proposed last week, I’m going to try to make every title between now and Christmas an actual holiday song. Believe it or not, “Christmas in Jail” is actually a song by Leroy Carr.

November 24th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

HMM – maybe I should title each blog posting between now and the holidays with a Christmas song title (or lycric)? Let’s see how creative I can be…especially since I prefer my title having some sort of relationship with what I’m writing about.

This January weather in mid-November is not making me happy. I’m not getting a monthly T-pass until January so unless I commute by scooter on these cold days, I have to pay full price to ride the bus/subway. To be honest, I actually don’t mind the temperatures while I scoot. I have some long-johns that work incredibly well under my jeans. And a winter jacket I bought last year (with Randy’s brilliant guidance) blocks all wind. And with Randy’s old motorcycle helmet with full face guard, my head even gets warm

The problem with scooting this time of year is the damn scooter! Once the temperature drops to 40 degrees, the damn thing just doesn’t want to start. It’s a fight…filled with wurrrrrrrrrring and vroooming as I force the thing not to stall. It reminds me of cars from the 1970’s or early 1980’s (like the used first cars I had). In the winter, you couldn’t just get in, ignite the car, and drive. You had to warm it up. I recall my parents going into the driveway to warm up the car, then going back in the house to finish preparing. They weren’t just warming the interior…they were warming up the engine. If they didn’t, the car would be sluggish and potentially stall. This doesn’t seem to be the case today (at least, I’ve not seen that in a car in over a decade).

Just 4.5 weeks of long-johns and revved engines until I can put the scooter away for winter.

November 21st, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

I’m not a gloater*, so I’ll just provide two sentences describing Scrabble night yesterday. Here goes: We played two games and I won both. I also managed to get the highest score for a single word that I’ve ever gotten; using 4 letters I spelled “quiz”, with the “q” on a double-letter, the “z” on a triple-word, and the ‘I’ forming a second word (“irate”), resulting in 101 points.

Now, Randy sent me an email chain-letter about the holidays and since I’m such a holiday freak, I decided to just post my results on my blog instead of an email. Enjoy! (and if you’re so inclined, copy/paste the text below and email your responses to me).

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I prefer wrapping paper.
2. Real tree or artificial? Fake – less clean up, less fire hazard, less money.
3. When do you put up the tree? As soon after Thanksgiving as possible (it used to be Thanksgiving night, but Randy is away so I now impatiently wait).
4. When do you take the tree down? Depends. If I’m traveling, it might be Christmas night. But usually no later than New Years.
5. Do you like egg nog? Love it (but without alcohol).
6. Favorite gift received as a child? The one I remember most is the Weebles Haunted Mansion.
7. Hardest person to buy for? Everybody! I love the idea of gift giving but suck at coming up with gift ideas. I’d probably say my mother is the most difficult. Like me, she has no hobbies and doesn’t “need” anything.
8. Easiest person to buy for? Me! I’m never shy about saying that I want something.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Hell no!
10. Have you ever recycled a Christmas gift? Of course!
11. Lights on a Christmas Tree? Of course, but they must be white…and NOT blinking or musical.
12. When do you start shopping? Usually November.
13. Favorite Christmas song? It’s not necessarily a Christmas song, but “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.” I’m also rather fond of “White Christmas”.
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? As a child, raviolis. I also love those white/pink cookies shaped like candy canes.
15. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail! I’d be so offended if I got an email Christmas card…how lazy.
16. Worst Christmas gift you received? My two front teeth. They were defective and came with a huge gap in the middle.
17. Favorite Christmas movie? Tough one…I love so many. For a laugh, I love Christmas Vacation. If I’m feeling sentimental/traditional, White Christmas.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? Well, does going to the Cape count as travel? If so, then I do travel. I also tend to head out on an actual vacation the day(s) after Christmas (this year, it will be Key West).
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph.
20. Angel on top of tree, or star? I have neither…I have a Santa Claus (you stick the tree up his butt).
21. Open gifts Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? I’ve almost always opened them Christmas Eve (or earlier)…even as a kid. Now I open the bulk before Christmas, then a handful while at my parent’s place on Christmas morning or Christmas Eve.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Lines.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I don’t get the question, but for Christmas lights, I prefer all white. For ornaments, I prefer fun/tacky/nostalgic (like my pornament). For general holiday colors you can’t go wrong with red and green.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? I liked my childhood ones. Everybody on my Mom’s side of the family married Italians so we always had turkey and/or ham, but we always had ravioli, too.
25. What do I want for Christmas this year? I have no freaking clue, which essentially makes question #8 a lie.

*Yes, that was a lie.

November 19th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

I received an email this morning from Banana Republic advertising various clothing and accessory products for sale (though, surprisingly none of the items were on sale). The focus of the add was on “love” and the holidays” so they showed various photos with a love theme (love to get cozy, love a sweater with style, etc…).

But there was one section called “love some rugged essentials”…and it showed scarves.

Since when were scarves rugged? To be honest, I always found scarves to be a bit, well, effeminite in appearance. Don’t get me wrong, I use them. But it’s not an accessory I would consider rugged – even if it was plaid and had food stains on it. There’s just nothing masculine about wrapping a soft, woven garment around your neck for warmth.

In unrelated news, when Randy got back from Asia last week our DVR was at 77%. A week later we’re finally down to 9%…which is a good thing considering he heads out again tomorrow, comes back Friday, then heads out again (for a week) on Monday.

November 18th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

The Gap brands (the Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy) had a promotion this weekend which didn’t make much sense to me. Back in the 90’s, my room mate worked at the gap and they offered friends and family weekends periodically. It was very strict: only a certain number of family members and/or friends were allowed to attend and it took place on Sunday’s before the store opened. I felt so special since I got to partake in the bargains.

But now their “family and friends” discount is a 4 day event…and it appears that everybody can get the 30% discount. Randy and I got emails (presumably because we have store charge cards) but we just printed off multiple copies and gave them to friends. So, on Saturday afternoon the 6 of us ventured over to great-outer suburbia to a mall (the first mall I’ve visited since before summer, fortunately) and did some shopping.

Randy and I returned to a more local Old Navy yesterday and purchased a few more things. In between shopping, we played games on Friday night and Saturday night. And I’ve been calling my parents MUCH more regularly to check in on them now that they’ve both been hospitalized with pneumonia over the past two months. Fortunately, my father is gradually getting better.

November 17th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

My family is pretty open. As a teen, I would try and spark debates around the kitchen table by asking their opinions on homosexuality, interracial marriage, abortion, capial punishment, politics, etc…

Even today, I’ve always believed that my parents have been pretty open with me about their medical issues now that they’re both approaching 80. But now I’m beginning to wonder.

For example, my Dad is in the hospital with pneumonia…he’s been there since Wednesday. When did my Mom call to tell me? Thursday night. And two months ago my Mom was in the hospital (also for pneumonia). When did they tell me?  Two days later.

Three years ago my Mom took a nasty spill on the sidewalk while walking the dog, landing face first on the asphault. When did they tell me? Not the day of the accident. Not three days after the accident after they had to take her by ambulance to the hospital with a subdural hematoma. No, they notified me after her second day in the hospital (5 days after she was injured).

So now I’m wondering how honest they’ve been with their other medical issues (diabetes, high blood pressure, early emphsyema). Are they downplaying the severity? I mean, they’ve at least told me about the medical issues so they can’t really be trying to hide too much. Regarding hospitalizations, they’re excuse is always “well, we didn’t want to worry you. We didn’t think it was serious.”

Anyway, unless she’s lying to me, my Mom says my father is feeling better and thinks he’ll be released today. I plan on calling my dad later in the morning (I would have called last night but my Mom said that he wanted to watch the football game).

Ugh, when did I become the worrying parent?

November 14th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

One of the many perks of working in academia is that you get loads of holidays.  Yesterday, Veteran’s Day, was one of them. While everybody else I knew was working, I got to get up late and enjoy the day.

Of course, I didn’t do much during ‘working’ hours to enjoy it. My plan was to go to the gym then head into Boston to walk around and scope out all of the buildings under construction (yeah, I’m a geek…I know).

What ended up happening was that I didn’t head off to the gym until close to noon so by the time I got back from the gym, it was nearly 2PM. And the sun had gone behind the clouds. And it was getting windy. And Randy needed me to start dinner (crock pot) by 4PM.

With only two hours until 4PM, I just caught up on shows on the DVR.

But things did get a bit more exciting when our friends, Jason and Bryan, came over for dinner and games. They taught us a German game called Bohnanaza (yes, there’s an H). It’s too complicated to explain, but it’s about trading beans and growing crops. I managed to win the first game…and would have won the second game had I understood the rules better and realized that trading beans in the last round wouldn’t be beneficial unless you  traded with the last person to play his turn. Consequently, I came in a VERY close second.

But it was fun and I look forward to playing again.

Oh, and the photo above was NOT tonight’s dinner. It was just the only photo I had that had a bean in it.

November 12th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

Randy’s home! After 12 days in Asia, he’s finally back. There were delays with his return flight so instead of a 25 hour flight back from Singapore it was closer to 26 (ugh). But I picked him up from the airport around 10PM on Saturday night and all is good again.

Yay.

Of course, now he’s off to Boise for two nights next week and then two days later goes to Virginia for 7 days. But for now, we’ll just enjoy the week and a half he’ll have at home.

Oh, and I had the most peculiar dream last night. I was in a theater and somehow found myself employed by Mitt Romney. I was apparently some sort of spy monitoring some Russians who were also there. In this dream, Mitt Romney was actually a surprisingly charming and friendly man (I still didn’t believe in his politics, but he was just so endearing). Anyway, he was also quite generous, as I was getting paid $2,000/week (after taxes!) for my work.

Now, I’m not sure why I remember this specific amount, but because he was so happy with my work, he gave me a bonus check for $8,125. I was thrilled.

Then I woke up.

…and didn’t have the money. It just goes to show you that you can’t trust those Republicans.

November 10th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on Welcome to My Nightmare