Adventures in Gastronomy

In the early afternoon yesterday, I got an email from a friend that Lance Bass, of N’Sync, came out as gay. I’ve figured as much since the late 1990’s so, for once, it appears that my gaydar was actually working (I was hoping the gay one would have been his bandmate, Joey Fatone…but that’s a whole other blog post). Anyway, shortly thereafter I saw photos and the Associated Press article in Yahoo! News, Boston Globe Online, CNN.com, and even FoxNews websites.

I got home from work and it was announced on the 4-6:30PM news (Site note: do we need so many hours of news per day – even on the networks?).

Then on the 10:00PM news there was a tiny blurb on an Avian Flu vaccine that seems to be effective in 80% of participants. It could be available by 2007 and eliminate the feared pandemic that would be comparable to the last catastrophic one in 1916 (or some such year).

Yet, once again, the priority news item of the day appeared to be the same-sex dating habits of a singer (who hasn’t even really produced anything in the past 3 years).

Don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against Mr. Bass. And I find it absurd that his little trip to Provincetown with his boyfriend resulted in such blog/media scandal (he was seen at the A-house – oh my!)

HMM – maybe this heat/humidity has made me cranky.

July 27th, 2006
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 5 Comments

…or not.

Always one to make new friends, last night I met somebody I’d been chatting with for quite a while. He and I had a lot in common regarding (dysfunctional) previous relationships (his 15 years, mine 10 years), both being homebodies, both enjoying travel, etc…so It seemed a good time to finally put a face to the text (since we’d been chatting on-line). We decided to get together for gelato after I found out that my sister-in-law was finally assigned a hospital room and my brother would be staying with her for the night.

We ended up chatting for nearly two hours…and what an interesting conversation it turned out to be! Apparently, he’s been a Catholic priest for the past 20+ years. He still is, actually. As you can expect, he’s incredibly frustrated with recent events within the church (and not too fond of the new pope nor Cardinal O’Malley, either).

He’s openly gay…and went against the church when they were coordinating their signature drive to ban gay marriage by refusing to allow the petition in his church. In fact, in his own way, he’s doing exactly what he set out to do after graduating divinity school: make a difference in the world. And he’s creatively doing it from within the exact church that is trying to deprive him of the equality he seeks and deserves.

Fascinating.

And it seems to be working. His own congregation was set to be closed by O’Malley (understandably, since this priest is gay) – but he managed to fight the system and keep it open. And when he vocally refused to allow the anti-gay marrieage petition in his church, only one of the parishoners complained (he told her to seriously consider what that petition means and, if she still felt like signing it, she should go to another church to sign it).

Of course, most of you know that I’m not exactly the most religious person on earth (okay – I’m not religious at all), so I was asking him loads of questions about Catholicism and homosexuality. The most interesting answer I got was when I asked how many of his fellow priests were gay. Instead of giving me a percentage or a number, he answered (and I’m paraphrasing):

“Actually, let me put it this way. In all of my years in the priesthood, there has only been one priest I’ve known who has said he is straight. All of my friends who are priests are gay….and le tme just say I have lots of friends.”

He then went on to say how conflicted all of these guys are and said that if the Vatican aggressively managed to remove all gay priests, there would only be a handful of priests left.

HMMM – that seems like a good solution to me!

JUST KIDDING. But seriously – he was such an interesting guy I think we’re going to try and meet up for lunch someday this week or next. I’ve got so many questions!

July 26th, 2006
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 13 Comments

My sister-in-law had her surgery yesterday. The whole point was to have her gall bladder removed because she’s been suffering extreme pain in that area. Well, she went under the knife and the surgeon discovered that her gall bladder was 100% healthy. They removed it anyway and she is now recuperating. Unfortunately, there were no rooms available so she’s still in the post-surgical unit (a day later) waiting for space. Even more distressing is that this doesn’t look like it will resolve her pain issues since the gall bladder wasn’t the source.

Ugh – nothing comes easy for her.

Because she didn’t have a private room, my brother was unable to spend the night with her so he crashed at my place. I ended up cooking us dinner (ME! COOKING!) and then we went to Bova’s Bakery for dessert around 9PM. As always, my country-bumpkin brother was very nervous walking the few blocks to get there – despite the dozens of elderly Italians sitting on lawn chairs on the sidewalk staying cool and chatting. You know how dangerous THEY can be!

Despite my constantly reminding him that the North End is probably the safest neighborhood in the city, he wanted to rush back to my place (in his defense, he was also dying to dig into his chocolate mouse and whoopie pie).

OH! While waiting for him to arrive in the early evening, I went on-line to do some real estate searches (as I always do – hoping to find that affordable condo). I stumbled upon a posting for my old condo in Boston! The owner is selling it on www.isoldmyhouse.com and is asking $589,000.00! Did I mention this was just a one bedroom condo? Granted, it was quite nice (1,195 square feet, central air, two full baths, granite counters, floor-to-ceiling windows, partial view of Boston Harbor)…but that price? Especially while the market is stablizing!

Even scarier – she’s selling without a broker. If you add the 5% commission if she used a broker, that means the property would be selling for $618,450!

Damn.

July 25th, 2006
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

It seems like all plans I make lately never come to fruition. First the trip to Europe changed drastically the day before we went (ultimately costing me over $750 more than I intended to spend). Then the inn I was supposed to stay in during my visit to Provincetown last week screwed up my reservation at the last minute and I had to find another place to stay.

Then this past weekend I was supposed to go to the cape to visit family – returning on Sunday afternoon.

What actually happened was that I hung out with Mike on Friday night and had a lovely time watching DVD’s/TV while the thunder and lightning put on an impressive display outside the window. My friend Peter then picked me up at 7:30AM on Saturday(a change from the 9:00AM I had originally thought). We got to the Cape in good time and saw my mother outside walking the dog.

The minute Peter and I got out of the car, my mother said that I’d have to leave the same day (instead of sleeping over until Sunday, as planned.) Apparently, my brother emailed my parents the night befoer and my sister-in-law, Heidi, was going into the hospital for surgery and he wanted to know if my parents could babysit for him. This meant they had to drive out to my brother’s place in western Massachusetts, pick up his two kids, drive them back to the Cape, and then babysit them for a few days.

If she read the email the day before, why she didn’t then call me Saturday night and tell me not to come is beyond me. Fortunately, my friend, Peter, was only planning to be on the Cape visiting his family for the day so he offered to drive me home that afternoon.

On the plus side, my parents did take me to the flooring store to see the sample of the hardwood floors they’re planning on getting (it’s my 40th wedding anniversary gift to them). I was going to put down the deposit, but since the installation isn’t going to take place until August or September, I was told to just wait.

Later in the day, Peter returned to pick me up…but first we played poker for a few hours.

I lost $8.

So now that I had my Saturday evening back, I ended up getting together with Mike.

Sunday was a lazy, hazy day for me consisting of grocery shopping and napping. Now I’m back to work and there’s a good chance that my brother will be staying over at my place tonight since Heidi will be in intensive care and he doesn’t think he’ll be allowed to spend the night at ths hospital.

Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day.

July 24th, 2006
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

I was on the Cape last weekend living a life of debauchery in Provincetown. Now I’m heading back to the Cape again this weekend for a more wholesome time – visiting the parents. My friend, Peter, has offered to drive me down. The plan was originally to head down Saturday morning at 9AM.

He contacted me last night to confirm and stated that he was going to be picking me up at 7:30AM….so we can ARRIVE on the Cape at 9:00AM.

I repeat…7:30…on a Saturday morning. ugh.

Making matters worse, I’m supposed to get together with Mike tonight. I guess this is going to prevent us from staying up too late (I need my beauty sleep).

Last night was Big Brother 7: All Stars night. Of the two people nominated for eviction, I would have prefered that Diane get booted…but she survived. This will make for some less interesting TV since, well, she simply has no personality. She’s just a body on the show…nothing to contribute intellectually, nothing to contribute strategically. The closest she’s come to being interesting was when she bitched about having to win this competition because she considers herself a failure in the outside world. Honey? Instead of a game show, perhaps you should try college. Perhaps a job, even?

Just don’t chooose to be a Texas police officer.

Did you see that footage of that officer getting shot at point-blank near the Texas border? He pulled over a pick-up truck with two guys in it. After the guys exited the car, the officer found an open bottle of alcohol. Then the officer asked if the guy was armed and he said yes and dropped a knife onto the street. Then he asked for ID and the guy was an illegal alien from Mexico. Then the officer found drugs in his pocket. Finally, the driver pulled out a gun, pressed the barrel against the officer’s chest and shot him. The cop fell back on the ground and then the driver and his passenger repeatedly shot the officer over and over and over.

Miraculously the officer survived (and was interviewed on the CBS morning news). So let’s recap here: illegal drugs, drinking and driving, entering the country illegally, concealing a knife, attempting murder. That guy sounds like a catch.

July 21st, 2006
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

What’s up with our homeboy G.W. giving an impropmtu back massage to the German Chancellor Merkel at the G-8 Summit? Those photos* are the creepiest things I’ve seen in quite a long time.

It’s bad enough that she (the German Chancellor) shares a striking resemblence to Dick Cheney’s lesbian daughter (at least, it’s how I excpect she’ll appear in a few years), but it was obvious that she was horribly uncomfortable at this suprise sign of affection. I mean, who does something like this…at a venue like that? I’ve never seen him do this to any male world leaders…what makes him think it’s okay to do it to her?

All of of a sudden this so-called christian man is groping women and swearing to Tony Blair. What’s next? invading other countries and causing the loss of thousands of lives? Lying to the American public?
 

*Photos obtained from www.taylormarsh.com

July 20th, 2006
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 7 Comments

OK – I’ve been reading articles lately about the 4 doctors and nurses in New Orleans being charged with murder for euthenizing 3 patients after Hurriance Katrina struck. I’m alway reluctant to get to political because I don’t trust the media to be 100% accurate and there’s always a chance information is missing. But based on what I’ve read so far, I’m getting annoyed and need to throw in my two cents worth.

Let’s look at the conditions: A catastrophic hurricane hits and floods the area surrounding the hospital. For four days, there is no electricity, no clean running water, no air-conditioning, temperatures inside consistently hovering over 100 degrees, extreme humidity, looters and crime outside the front doors, no signs of help/rescue, and three critical older people ranging in age from lower 60’s to 90’s.

The doctor/nurses injected three of those older patients in horrible medical condition with a mix of morphine and some other drug that put them out of their misery. Now they’re being charged with murder.

MURDER!

In fact, Louisiana’s Attorney General, Charles C. Foti, is quoted as saying “We’re talking about people that pretended that maybe they were God.”

I have to be honest, if I was there, even as the 100% healthy 35 year-old that I am, I’d have been begging for that drug cocktail. These folks were terminally ill and surrounded by deplorable conditions with no signs of imminent rescue. I think what the doctors and nurses did for those three suffering people should be considered compassion – not murder. If my 90 year old parents (or grandparents) were one of the patients, I’d be thanking the doctors/nurses for not making them suffer any more than they had to. 

Think about it. Yesterday we were all miserable because it was humid and in the 90’s in Boston. Imagine it hotter, more humid, and without any circulating air, electricity or running water. That would be what it was like at the hospital….for four straight days. Now imagine having a terminal illness while you’re at it.

I just can’t imagine.

July 19th, 2006
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 9 Comments

That song was on a CD I was playing as Fernando and I drove home from Provincetown on Monday so now it’s stuck in my head. But it also feels appropriate to this blog posting.

I love Provincetown. There, I said it. I really do. Of all “places” I’ve blogged about, that one has been the most frequent (probably because I’ve gone there the most over past 2-3 years.

But whether in-season or not, it just is such a magical place. This time, it was obviously peak-season so the crowds were there and the festival atmosphere was great.

There were come complications getting there, though. We arrived at the car rental place at 9AM but two of their three computers were down and we ended up waiting outside in a long line for an hour before finally getting in to finally receive a car.

Consequently, we arrived in Provincetown an hour later than we had hoped. After the fiasco from last week (with our reservation at the Commons Guesthouse getting botched and having to start from scratch at the last minute) we were lucky to find a place.

Still, for $159/night, I did expect something a wee bit nicer. The room was on the 3rd floor of a typical weathered-shingle house. From what I could gather, it was originally the attic. The room was…at the most….10 feet by 10 feet. The full-size bed took up most of the room. The bathroom had a shower stall so small that when I dropped the soap, I couldn’t even bend over to pick it up (I had to squat and reach).

The ceiling also sloped along one wall – starting at about 2 feet above the floor! And the “waterview” was legitimate in that it directly faced the harbor (see photo above). However, the window was small (a former attic, after all) and it was off to the side so you could only really take advantage of it when entering or exiting the door.

Still, because the room was so small and because we had a kick-ass air-conditioner, the room was FREEZING (and I was in heaven).

OK – back to the fun stuff. We immediately dropped off our bags, gathered our swim gear and headed to Herring Cove Beach. Since it was so late in the day (2PM), we had no trouble finding parking. We walked the normal path along the beach – past the families, then the lesbians with kids, then the topless lesbians, then to the gay men, then to the clothing optional men.

I had been chatting for the past 6-10 months with some guy from Jamaica Plain (Frankie) and we agreed to call each other’s cellphones while down there to finally say hi in person since we were both there at the same time. After a few hours at the beach I looked to my right and noticed a gaggle of gays enjoying the beach. One of them looked like he could possibly be this guy – but I couldn’t tell since we were still probably 100 feet away.

His friends would periodically walk by Fernando and me to stroll around the shore. Finally, at around 5PM one of them walked over to me and said: “I’m Taffy. Is your name Karl?”. Just as I figured –  after 3 hours on the beach, the person to my right was, in fact, the person I was supposed to call later in the day. Small world. I wish I wasn’t so shy because we could have talked a lot longer otherwise.

Anyway, we lasted at the beach until nearly 7PM. The weather was comfortably cool and cloudy which prevented the humidity from being an issue.

We returned to the room, showered, then headed out to dinner at Bubala’s with Fred. Then we all just walked up and down Commercial Street taking in the sights (Lea Delaria was strolling the streets to drum up business for her show…as was Miss Richfield, Randy Roberts and Varla Jean Merman). As the evening went on, Fred returned to his condo rental and Fernando and I sat and people watched (and ran into Frankie and Taffy again) before also calling it a night.

On Sunday morning we headed out to grab breakfast at Bubula’s but they don’t serve breakfast anymore! Nor does Bayside Betsy’s. What’s up with that? There are almost no places for breakfast anymore. We settled on Enzo (which is also owned by Bubula’s) and got belgian waffles (same description as on the Bubula’s menu in previous summers). Unfortunately, the “fruit” on top consisted of 4 little blueberries, a strawberry cut in half and an orange sliver (Bubula’s used to actually come with a side bowl of fruit). Oh well.

After breakfast, we headed to the beach around 11AM and hung out with Fred all day. Around 4PM we noticed a man and two kids walking along the beach. Now, the part of the beach we were enjoying is what is known as the gay and clothing-optional section. It’s also about a mile’s walk from the nearest parking lot so kids in these parts are extremely rare.

This got the three of us talking (and griping) about how there are thousands of beaches along the east coast and why does this guy have to bring his kids to this particular one – making all of the nudists uncomfortable and cover up (I was not nude, I must add).

Well, the guy and his kids walked past us…but then turned around and plopped themselves down right next to us (I’m talking 10 feet away). To their credit, the father did ask if we’d mind (we said we wouldn’t).

As time went on, the father (Joey) ended up being rather funny and sweet (and crazy). He apparently broke up with his wife just a month ago after she dumped him for another man. Since he always knew he was gay, he took this as the opportunity to start over.

He moved to Statin Island and then decided to take his kids to Cape Cod for vacation. A childhood friend (gay) told him that while in Provincetown, he should get to the beach then walk to the left to find the family section. And that’s how this man ended up here with two kids. Apparently, his friend said “family” as in gay…not “family” as in, children.

Still, the kids weren’t bothered in the least. Surrounded by nude (or semi-nude) men, these kids played and frolicked and had a great time. Meanwhile, the father chatted up me and Fernando and tried to get us to go out with him that night (Fernando thinks he took a particular liking to me, but I’m not 100% sure).

As teh afternoon went on, the man kept telling his kids to grab me and drag me into the tidal basin so that he could cover me in mud. HMMM – maybe he did fancy me?.

Anyway, as they were preparing to leave around 6:30PM, Joey had his kids pose with us for pictures. Strange. Then he gave us big kisses and hugs (we knew him a total of 2 hours). They finally left and Fernando and I stuck around a short while longer before returning to town ourselves.

After the obligatory showers, we headed to at the Thai restaurant in town. Then we saw the Miss Richfield 1981 show at the Crown and Anchor (a blast, as always). Instead of going to Purgatory (as Fred did and as we instructed Joey to do), we sat on a rock on the side of the road and watched the crowds go by until almost 1AM.

Then we drove back on Monday afternoon, I went to work for 1/2 a day, and this trip is now a distant memory. However, so I don’t forget it, here are some photos (I never used my camera so these are from Fernando’s camera):

Me

Joey and his kids

July 18th, 2006
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 6 Comments

I took my first Meditation class last night. I know, I know…meditate and mediate are completely different words. But it still got me humming the old INXS song..hence today’s title.

Anyway, I really needed the meditation after the hellish afternoon I had. As I blogged about earlier, I’m heading to Provincetown this weekend. I made reservations at the Commons Guesthouse for Saturday and Sunday nights. I got an email confirmation and they charged me for the room.

Then a little after 3PM yesterday (less than 48 hours before check-in) the manager called me to say that he accidentally double-booked the room and that I couldn’t stay there on Saturday night!!!!

Now those of you familiar with Provincetown in the summer can understand my predicament: Ptown is full of tiny guesthouses and inn’s and very few actual hotels. Most require 3, 5 or even 7 day minimum stays in the summer. And this is supposed to be the perefect beach weekend. Frustrated, I immediately began searching the Ptown “Last Minute Availability” website and there were a whopping 3 places available. One room was more than double what the Commons room would have cost and the other two were $20 more and didn’t even have a private bathroom. UGH.

Desparate, I called the shared-bath places and one said the available room had just been taken minutes before I called. The other said they wouldn’t give it to me unless I stayed for 4 nights. ugh.

Then I went to the Provincetown Business Guild website and Chamber of Commerce website and just started calling every guesthouse listed. Nothing was available.

Finally, I called the Chamber of Commerce and explained my situation. She gave me a slew of numbers to call. She didn’t give me any business names – she just gave me 4 numbers and said to ask if they knew of any rooms available.

The first two numbers resulted in nothing. With the third number, I struck gold. Well, I hope I did (I’ll find out tomorrow). It put me in contact with the Gallery Inn which just had a last minute cancelation. I was able to get a room for two nights with air-conditioning, a private bathroom, and a water view for only $6 more than the Commons. PHEW!

My two-hour room hunt ended just in time for me to go to my first meditation class. It took place in a “resource room” on campus. There were probably 15-20 students waiting (only one guy besides me) when the instructor walked in. She’s a Harvard grad (class of 1973) who has been doing meditation since she was a junior in college.

I must admit – going into the class I had no idea what to expect. Based on the instructor’s first name, Begabati (as listed in the course catalog), I was expecting a man or woman from India. What appeared was an earthy-crunchy white lady in flowing green clothes. She was carrying a bouquet of flowers and a bag. Before saying a word, she opened the bag, took out a fancy scarf and laid it on a table. Then she pulled out a vase and put the flowers in it, then (and this is my favorite) she pulled out a fake plastic candle. She explained that fire codes prohibit real flames so she found this fake candle that actually turns off if you blow against the light bulb (excuse me, the flame).

Apparently, Begabati is her adopted meditation name. She was very passionate about meditation and gave us a brief history of her use of it and brief descriptions of the various meditative techniques we’d be learning. Yesterday’s class was about concentration (hence the candle and flowers) and next week’s is on breathing techniques.

The whole reason I signed up for this class is because my mind is always racing, I can’t concentrate, and I’m always feeling tense and edgy. Well, we did our first two meditations and, as expected, my mind raced throughout them and I was unable to focus on the candle, the flowers, or the other stuff she was guiding us to focus on (placid water, lights in our heart, etc…)

At the end of the class, and before I could say anything, she said that it is VERY common for people to have trouble with focusing because our minds are used to being in control. In fact, she said our brain will try to fight it by saying “it’ll never work, you can’t do it, you might as well stop trying.”…and those are exactly the things I was thinking the entire time!

She suspected that if we try if for 5-15 minutes every day, it’ll find break through. I hope so. I really want the benefits of this. Plus, since my lack of an ability to concentrate is what brought me to class in the first place, I think that the breathing techniques will work much better for me than the concentration techniques. Wish me luck.

OOOOOHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

OOOOOHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

OOOOOHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

July 14th, 2006
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 8 Comments

…if you compare it to any other state in the union.

Despite being legal in Massachusetts for the past 2+ years, gay marriage is up for debate yet again. Today’s constitutional convention will determine whether this amendment moves forward to next year’s convention and then ultimately, in 2008, to the ballot.

Because this amendment proposal is a petition driven initiative, only 50 “yay’s” are needed  (as opposed to 50%…which it would likely not get). Anyway, Metro newspaper interviewed all of the gubernatorial candidates (3 democrat, 1 independent, 1 republican) to get their opinions on gay marriage.

All democrats plus the independent believe same-sex marriage should remain legal. The republican thinks the people should be able to vote on the issue, but is also for civil unions and said that even if the amendment banning gay marriage passes, she’d immediately do everything she could to make civil unions legal.

Considering other states are passing anti-gay marriage amendments left and right, it’s pretty impressive that, in a worst case scenario, even our most conservative candidate would still push for civil unions. Plus, our state’s Supreme Judicial Court said that if the amendment passes, it screams civil riots violation and would likely go back to the courts (and lose).

All things considered, it could be worse. Or perhaps I’m just trying to remain positive in anticipation of today’s convention?

July 12th, 2006
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 3 Comments