I’m recovering from Thanksgiving, take one, with Mom’s side of the family today, and off for Thanksgiving, take two, with Dad’s side of the family tomorrow. Enjoy the weekend, everyone, and have a happy Thanksgiving!
Category: Travel
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Welcome to New York!
A special shout-out today to Euan, a longtime Sweet Blog o’ Mine reader, who came all the way to New York from Scotland just to see me. Well, not really. He’s here on vacation and we decided it would be a great opportunity to meet in person. Welcome to New York, Euan — enjoy the rest of your holiday!
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Visiting Another Blue State: the San Fran Report
Jenn and I had both stayed up late to watch election returns last Tuesday night, so when we met super-early on Wednesday morning, we were both incredibly cranky and depressed, hoping that the worst was not yet inevitable. During our flight over Jesusland (as the map that’s been going around now calls it), our pilot announced that Kerry was planning his concession later that afternoon. Fuck. At least we were on vacation.
Our goals for our trip were to see friends, catch up on sleep, and relax, and I had the additional goal, as I always do, to find fantastic, cheap, local fare. We succeeded on all fronts. Between my SF Mates dinner at Tao Cafe (thanks again to the Chowhounds), to dim sum at Ton Kiang, from hitting happy hour at Nectar, a sleek and comfortable wine bar, to happy hour at trendy-wendy Lime, from sushi on boats at Warakubune to small plates at Three Seasons to modern Chinese at Firecracker, and the grand finale at the Ferry Building Farmers’ Market (where else can you have sweet, fresh oysters at 10 AM?!), I was definitely grateful for the hills and a travel companion who liked to walk as much as I did.
Without going into too much detail (or I’ll never catch up), it was great to see Hinman, Leslie, Spike, Mindy, Joe, Jon, Eric, Bill, Adam, Arielle, David R., Stephen, Sid, and Seth — I was thrilled that I was able to spend at least a little bit of time with so many people and some quality time with a few folks I hadn’t seen in way too long. Thanks particularly to Eric and Bill for their incredible hospitality and to my cousin Matt for letting me crash at his home away from home.
(yes, it’s the Bay Bridge, not the Golden Gate, but this is the view I had while eating those oysters I mentioned. Nice, huh?)Can’t say I’m ready to move quite yet, but I had a great trip — and although I still have a great deal of recovery to do from the election, I’m glad I started down the road with friends and like-minded blue-staters. It certainly softened the blow. You can see the rest of the pictures here.
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Escapism
Okay — so I’m not 100% sober at the moment, and I’ll admit that, but I just wanted to check in before I ran off to San Francisco tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn. I’m hoping that I’ll wake up and that, after ALL the votes are counted, that the news is better than it is right now. Ugh. Either way, I’ll be on vacation, which should be good. Full report when I return.
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Ah . . . Fall
So last weekend was our 8th annual OJ, and like others before it, this one was filled with friends, food, wine, and junior high potty humor. Unlike past years, however, we were in a super-duper-kickass house in Vermont, thanks to the hard work of our man Sco. We all plan to chip in so that we can ultimately buy it.
Highlights included:
- Leg of lamb stuffed with wild mushrooms and greens and "OJ Potatoes" by John (and his assistants, for when he was, um, indisposed)
- Delicious desserts by Doug, including deep dish apple pie with a cheddar crumb crust, strawberry struessel cake, and pumpkin spice cake shaped like a pumpkin
- Squash risotto adapted from this dreamy fall recipe (in veggie and decidedly non-veggie, i.e., with bacon, versions) by yours truly (thanks to Katie from the beach house for this one)
- bacon with just about every meal
- wine, wine, and more wine
- soup, soup, and more soup
- beautiful foliage
- punkins!
- "look at the pretty!"
- "Lever 2000 Fuckface – ask for it by name"
and, of course,
"P.S. — doody." -
And We’re Off!
Off to the woods for our 8th (?) annual OJ — the October soJourn, this year to VT. I’m sure I’ll return with scads of pictures, several tasty recipes, and tons of nauseatingly-gushy-sweet things to say about how amazing my friends are. For a preview, read last year’s entry.
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Welcome to the Working Week*
Back from a completely relaxing weekend in Kismet. Not as many pictures, or as many people as last time, but once again, I am so happy that I got a chance to escape a bit this weekend. I even got in a beach day — yes, the weather cooperated enough for us to have a beach day in October. Fantastic. I met a new batch of people, who were all interesting, smart, fun, and had a shared passion for food. We had several amazing feasts, including a squash, chestnut, bacon and sage risotto that was perfect for fall, and a leg of lamb, infused with garlic, thyme, and rosemary, done on the rotisserie (damn, I need one of those), and talked everything from politics to our first music purchases (for the record, my first two 45’s were “I Will Survive” and “We Are Family“). Strangely enough, the five of us had a number of “NYC small world” coincidences, including sharing former employers, knowing various people in common, and being kick-ass Scrabble players. Oh wait, that wasn’t me. Argh. Note to self — must improve vocabulary before next Scrabble tournament.Thanks to John for being an extraordinarily welcoming host — for giving me a ride and letting me stray in, even as an “outsider,” and he gets extra bonus points for introducing me to my new favorite cocktail, the sidecar, which I believe is long overdue for a comeback. It was wonderful to meet you as well, Jenn, Jay & Katie — hope to meet up with you soon, perhaps at my neighborhood joint.
You can see the photos here. I particularly like the fact that I was able to capture one of the alien deer that lurk about the island (yes, I know it’s the flash, but humor me, dammit):
* A tribute, of course, to my boy Elvis. Costello, that is.
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Amalga-Love and Smooches
As usual, I’m a little too tired to do much else, but I wanted to post the pictures from the Mates’ 20th anniversary gala weekend. The Mates, or Amalgamates, is the Tufts coed a cappella singing group, in which I was not only a member, but president and business manager as well, not to mention president of the AAA — the Amalgamates Alumni Association. Or — as a friend of mine said earlier tonight — I was queen of the dorks. The Mates meant and continue to mean so much to me, as the speech I wrote for the occasion details in full. I can’t imagine you’d really want to read it if you’re not a Mate, but I just wanted to post it for posterity’s sake. -
The Great Labor Day Chill
It’s my last hour at my folks’ house in Portland and I wanted to check in before I headed off to our cabin on the lake. Although I have missed being part of the action back home, I think I’m glad that I’m here rather than in the midst of the fray, but I can thank the photobloggers for making me feel like I had a taste of the more positive things going on back home.
When I leave NYC, and particularly when I come up here, I slow down dramatically, to the point where words like “sloth” and “lethargy” come to mind. In fact, I was talking to a friend on the phone last night who commented that I even sounded more relaxed. Could be. But this afternoon the word “relax” becomes the focus of my weekend, as I head out to Casco, where my only concrete goals are: 1) to eat lobster at the Naples Lobster Pound; 2) to fall asleep in the hammock, while reading Appetite for Life, Julia Childs’ biography, and listening to the sounds of the lake; 3) to finish the baby hat I’m knitting for a friend before I return home; and 4) to have a chocolate ice cream soda at Pears, the ice cream joint in “town,” which is little more than a gas station, a library, and a church.
A handful of friends were supposed to come up from NY, Boston, and elsewhere, but couldn’t quite pull together the travel arrangements. I’ll have some local visitors, and a friend of mine from DC is at his family’s house nearby, so I’ll get to see him too. Enjoy your long weekend, folks, and don’t forget to slow down and chill, wherever you may be.
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A Bicycle Built for Two
I just returned from a weekend in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, at the wedding of my dear friends Doug and Leora. Doug I have known for about a decade at this point, and it was several years ago while training for our second AIDS Ride that we both had the pleasure of meeting Leora. It has always been clear that they were a good fit for each other, particularly when he brought her to OJ for the first time to meet our group of college friends. We’re a little hard to bust into from the outside, and I’ve always known that the right guy for me will be one who would fit in at OJ, our annual fall getaway weekend — if he didn’t like the weekend, or my friends, or if my friends didn’t like him, he would be out. I know Doug felt the same way, so when Leora blended in seamlessly, it was like a seal of approval. Training for another ride the following year, I got to know Leora even better as we chatted away the miles (she and I ride about the same pace; Doug’s somewhat faster), and to develop a friendship with her beyond just as “Doug’s girlfriend.”
Joining them to celebrate their wedding was a reaffirmation of my initial impressions of their relationship — they fit perfectly together, and it was such a treat to take part in a wedding that truly celebrated this fit, filled with love, laughter, joy, friends, family and tears. Congratulations to both of you — enjoy the next leg of the ride.
You can see the rest of the pictures here, and read PlanetGordon for the backstory on the wedding.
