Adventures in Gastronomy

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: Comments Off on You Take the Good, You Take the Bad, You Take them All, and There You Have, The Facts of Life. The Facts of Life.

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

This past weekend Randy and I flew to the Windy City to visit friends. Considering all of the travel Randy has done in the past, it’s surprising to realize that he’s never actually visited the city of Chicago. He’s flown through O’Hare Aiport more times than he’d care to remember, but he’s never actually ventured into the city itself…

…until Friday. Our flight arrived around 9PM (20 minutes early…yay) and my friend, Dave, picked us up from the airport. He brought us to this tasty wood-fired pizza place where we got a late dinner, then headed back to his place – a rather cool loft in an old postcard manufacturing facility.

By that point it was rather late so we hung out and chatted for an hour or so before hitting the hay around after 1AM.

That was our first mistake of the trip because we never left the house on Saturday until close to noon, missing out on more than half of the day’s sunlight hours. Still, we went to a great little restaurant called Cafe 28 for breakfast/lunch (not really brunch, though) before hopping on the subway and exploring the Museum of Contemporary Art and Magnificent Mile.

At night, we met up with our friend, Kate, at a Turkish (owned, but not necessarily food) restaurant in the Roscoe Village area of the city. The service was slow (a full 45 minutes between taking our order and the food actually arriving), but it tasted great as everything was made from scratch/made to order. We finished eating around 10PM but lingered and laughed until close to midnight. Exhausted, we skipped going out and lounged lazily back at the loft.

By Sunday, the weather began to warm up (lower 60’s), yet we still managed not to leave the house until 11:30am. With daylight savings time coming to an end, this provided us with only 4 hours of sunlight by the time we finished our mid-day breakfast. But we crammed a lot into those few hours: Art Institute (saw the new wing plus standards like American Gothic), then Millennium Park and the famous Cloud Gate sculpture, then wound our way up to the 96th floor of the Hancock Tower to view the sunset and have over-priced drinks and appetizers. After being sufficiently mesmerized by the view, we walked the Magnificent Mile down to the Wrigley and Chicago Tribune buildings and walked along the river, viewing the new Trump Tower and old Marina City (the corncob buildings) among other things.

We met up with our friend, Kate, again for dinner, this time in the Southport area…ironically in the northern part of the city and many miles from the waters of Lake Michigan. The place was called Coobah, and served DELICIOUS Cuban inspired food. Damn, that was good.

We then headed back to Kate’s place, where we spent our last night chatting, listening to music, and eating chocolate chip cookies Kate baked. MMMMMMMMMMMM.

Finally, we managed to actually wake up reasonably early on Monday and headed into the Loop area for a self-guided architecture tour of Chicago (home of the skyscraper). Randy took some great pics (which I’ll get uploaded one of these days) and then we headed back to Kate’s place to prepare ourselves for our return flight home.

The trip just flew by…even with the extra hour that the end of daylight savings time provided. And the weather was spectacular…with 100% sunshine every day and temperatures in the mid and upper 60’s…amazing for Chicago in November. All in all, a great time.

Oh, and the photo I’m posted above was from my first trip to Chicago nearly two decades ago. Hopefully I’ll have some from this trip in the next few days.

November 9th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

I’m not sure if Linda Ronstadt would vote democrat or republican, but those lyrics do make me think of little ole’ Massachusetts when it comes to elections. While the rest of the country swerved abruptly toward the right (again), every single candidate went the other direction in the Commonwealth (10 representatives plus the governor). We seem to have a history of being contrary (we proudly were the only state to vote against Nixon in 1972).

True, we elected Scott Brown in January, but he’s still a Massachusetts republican which is still more liberal than many democrats in the rest of the country (West Virginia’s Joe Manchin anybody?). Plus, and perhaps I’m being naive here, but I think if his seat were being voted on yesterday, he would have lost. The timing of his special election – smack dab at the heart of the health care debates with the Tea Party more in its infancy and people not seeing their true colors yet – is what I think contributed to his win.

Anyway, I take pride in yesterday’s results, even though I’m nowhere near being a bleeding-heart liberal. I lean towards democrat on social issues (though not exclusively) and lean a bit more conservative wtih fiscal issues (more like old school republicans versus the current incarnation). Hell, until the Baker spying on Cahill brou-haha erupted, I wouldn’t have been upset if Baker had won the governorship.

But I just love being from a place that leans toward the progressive and treats the Tea Party cult (ironically named after an event that took place in our very own state) as the fringe group it should be.

November 3rd, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

OK, it wasn’t actually a farm, but we visited some friends  last Saturday and they live in rural New Hampshire. Their house is centuries old and comes with an attached barn. And it’s one of those huge, white clapboard, old New England style homes with an abundance of charm (old hardwood floors, fancy wallpaper, traditional lights).

I’m guessing the original owner possessed much more land then sold it off over the years, but our friends still own a few acres with a large garden in back, a separate garage building, plus the grand old house (which, the best I can tell has at least 12 very large rooms…and that’s just what I’ve seen).

Anyway, we arrived Saturday evening and chatted for an hour or so in the front parlor (with wine, cheese, crackers). For dinner they prepared us a delicious beef, with squash and other veggies. For dessert, a homemade apple crisp. Now, we arrived around 6pm and finished eating/drinking around 11pm. Over 5+ hours, 4 bottles of wine were consumed by 4 people. And during that time, we were stuffing our face with food nearly non-stop.

On top of that, Randy drank water and soda, too.

Long story short, he got a hangover. Nobody is quite sure how since he spread out the drinking over such a long period of time, he ate tons of food, and he diluted his alcohol intake with water and soda. We spent the night in one of their guest rooms (we’d planned on staying over) and on Sunday morning he was the only person feeling under-the-weather.

Hmmm – maybe he had more wine than everybody else? At least this time he admitted it was a hangover and not a “wine headache”…which sounds like the same thing when he describes it, but is apparently a completely different thing (but more socially acceptable in his mind).

But he was feeling good enough to go out for breakfast on Sunday morning, which we did with our friends before driving back home. It was a very pretty drive, even with the clouds. Despite foliage season having supposedly peaked up there already (in what was supposed to be a lackluster year because the summer was so hot and dry), some of the trees were pretty spectacular, particularly on the drive home through downtown Groton, Massachusetts.

Oh, on a separate note, the woman came by and reclaimed her lost purse the other night and not only did she bring me cupcakes, she gave me a bottle of red wine. I guess it does pay to do good deeds.

I wonder if Randy is ready for wine again, though?

October 28th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

Well, not exactly mine.

On my way to work this morning I discovered a woman’s purse in the middle of the street. Well, not the full purse, just the wallet part (but woman’s wallets are much larger than men’s…this one was the size of a clutch).

Anyway, I picked it up and brought it to work with me this morning. I looked through it for some identification, but all that was useful was a driver’s license (and an abundance of gift cards). I tried searching for her name on Facebook, but that failed me (surprisingly, there is actually a thirty-something person in this country who is not on Facebook).

So, I did a Google search and found her work address and phone number (she’s a doctor). I spoke with the receptionist, explained the situation, and she paged the doctor. Within minutes, I got a phone call from the most estatic sounding woman.

She thanked me profusely and after feeding her daughter said she’s coming to pick it up. Then she asked if liked cupcakes (hells yeah!). So, I’m thinking that she will be bringing cupcakes. WOO HOO!

So, I did my good deed for the day. Now it’s time to karma to pay me back with more than cupcakes. Perhaps I should play the lottery or something? Suggestions?

October 25th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments