Adventures in Gastronomy

Sorry, sorry, sorry! Sheesh – I know I’ve not blogged much lately. Of course, none of my excuses are fully legitimate, but here goes anyway:

1 – There really hasn’t been that much going on. Since my last post, things went well with everybody staying at our place on Tuesday. I watched the season finale (and reunion show) of RuPaul’s Drag Race and am sad that I have to wait another year for the next season to air. Randy and I went to Costco and Home Depot. See? It really has been an uneventful week.

2 – I’ve been busy. Of course, thats’ all relative because my level of busy would be a slow day for Randy. Still, between having company and going to work and writing the paper for my class, I’ve been a bit more preoccupied.

3 – Speaking of the paper. I started writing the paper (up to page 7 out of 20 pages so far) when I got an email from the TA about his expectations for the final paper. And it seems I’ve gone about it all wrong and will need to make changes to what I’ve written. It’s an urban design class so my topic is the demolition of Boston’s West End and whether it was good or bad for the city. For the most part, I was writing about what led to it happening, explaining how it was implemented, and providing my opinions about the entire process. But it seems he wants less history and more “creativity and originality” that go above and beyond what I find in my sources.  This all confuses me because I’m used to writing about the facts, not feelings. Facts are easier.

4 – As always, Randy has a busy weekend planned for us. There’s some sort of reunion taking place for people who did their post-doc’s with a certain Harvard professor. Randy is one of them so tonight there will be drinks and possibly dinner somewhere, then tomorrow he’s in a seminar all day then at night we have to dress up (ugh) and go to a gala at the Museum of Science. In between events, I’ll continue incorporating emotions into my paper.

I don’t think I possess emotions.

April 30th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

This is a big transition week. Well, not for me, personally. But it seems like it is for many people around us.

Our friend, Chris, was planning to move in with us at the end of this week since he sold his condo and has’t’ found a replacement home yet. The plan was to move most of his belongings over the past weekend…but when Randy pointed out that all Chris had left in his condo to live with for a week were a mattress and a laptop, it made sense to just move in with us now.

So, as of last Saturday, Chris lives with us.

Then today, our old upstairs neighbors will move out of their condo in Somerville. They’re moving into their new place (in Arlington) tomorrow so we are letting them stay with us tonight. That means our place will have me, Randy, Chris, Clare, Jose, and their baby, Helena. I think for the first time since living in our new place we will actually utilize all of the rooms as intended by design. How exciting!

Oh, and Randy returns from a brief business trip early this evening.

Busy, busy, busy.

As for me, I’ve completed the introduction to my final paper. Now I just have two weeks to write 19 more pages. Woo hoo!

April 27th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

Last night we got to know some of our neighbors a little bit better. I guess we can thank Randy joining to condo association for it, since it was with one of the board members.

She and her husband came over for wine, cheese, snacks, and the requisite Wisteria Lane gossip (of course). There wasn’t too much scandal to speak of, unfortunately (I love a good scandal). It seems like a pretty straight-forward collection of couples and families complex. Hell, Randy and I very well could be the scandalous thing others are talking about, being gay and all.

But our neighbors (she came with her husbands) were quite nice and it was fun to show them our place. One of the advantages to befriending neighbors within the same townhouse complex is the voyeur in me is able to explore the slight differences within each unit. I’ve only been in one other unit so far and though nearly identical on the outside to the naked eye, there were still countless differences that I would have liked in our place (bigger breakfast nook, hardwood floors) and other things I am glad we DO have in our place (we have an extra nook in the guest room, we have a second spare room on the top floor, we get more sun, they’ve got a closet in the dining room that makes the room smaller).

At some point, I’ll get to see our new friends’s unit (which is an end unit and has more windows).

And starting this weekend our lives are going to get rather busy socially (or, since we had people over on Tuesday and Thursday, perhaps it already started). Tonight is poker night, then tomorrow night we’re going to a wine tasting party, Chris moves his belongings in this weekend, our former neighbors from Somerville are crashing at our place Tuesday night as they move to a new condo the next morning, then Chris officially moves in next week, we have a reunion thingie (for Randy) next Saturday, and two of his post-doc friends are coming in town for that weekend, then the next weekend I go to the Cape and pick up Dusty the Devil Dog (the Hound from Hell) for dogsitting for a week, then Randy leaves for Asia, then I have jury duty, then I go back to the Cape the following weekend to return the dog, then Randy and I reunite the following weekend, and by the next weekend we’re off to Montreal.

Yikes – I think our next “normal” weekend will not be until June 5th. But then we have company staying with us the next weekend, plus Randy’s mom plans on visiting one of the following two weeks of June, then the next weekend we’re off to Virginia for the 4th of July week.

Wow – already summer! WOO HOO!

April 23rd, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on Would You By Mine? Could You Be Mine? Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Our friend, Chris, is selling his condo and will be crashing at our place until he moves into a new place. We’ll also be storing his stuff in our garage.

When we moved in, the garage was the one area we didn’t really address. We just took the junk we weren’t going to use immediately and put it all along the back wall (and the side walls as our junk expanded over the past six months).  With Chris moving in next week, we designated last weekend as clean-up time.

Two days later, we had 2 full garbage cans, 1 full recycling garbage can, 1 full recycling bin, and put lots of junk up on Craiglist. Some things we just listed for free (assorted milk crates, pieces of wood, etc…). But most items we listed for money, and it’s amazing what random stuff people must be searching for on any given day.

• An outdoor turkey fryer? the first thing that went.
• An old electric drill and screwdriver? gone.
• An old blender? bye bye.
• One of those screen room dividers (like in a Japanese restaurant)? $30? Sure!
• How about a vase I got for free? Sure! (and the friendly buyer gave us a bar of chocolate to boot)!

We still have a few items to go, but the garage is definitely clearing out. Though, as anybody who has sold on Craigslist knows, there are lots of flakes out there. You’ll inevitably get spam emails. You’ll also get the occasional no-show. But one guy takes the cake for the most creative excuse(s) for not coming. I’m copy/pasting the email below because it’s just too perfect. I actually think he’s being honest because this is just way too complex to be a lie. What do you think?

I came by but stupidly forgot that I had called you from my work phone and didn’t have your phone number with me. I thought I knew where your place was but when I reached in my pocket, I realized that I didn’t have my ipod touch where I wrote down the info. I didn’t answer when you called because I neglected to turn the ringer back on after a meeting today. The moon is in the sign of clutz.

My daughter called while I was looking for what I remembered your address to be and needed help so I ran back home. Sorry I didn’t get back to you earlier.  We just had a death  in the family and things are a mess. But I was there.

I’m very sorry. I really want the print server but electronics conspired against me. Let’s try it again when you’re next home at night. Assuming it’s not sold!

Thanks.

By the way…this is all for an item that is only being sold for $10. The poor guy, I just want to give him a hug.

April 20th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 4 Comments

Randy returned from Minnesota last night (yay) so life is back to normal. But it sounds like he’s got quite a bit of travel coming up: possibly Portland next week, New York the week after, Asia in early May. I guess the economy is improving.

Speaking of improving economies, two units have sold in our townhouse complex over the past month. Since they haven’t closed yet I’m not sure what their final selling prices were, but the first one was listed at $4,000 more than we paid six months ago. However, the new owners are taking over payment of a $19,000 assessment so the more realistic price is $23,000 more than we paid. That unit sold at its first open house (within 4 days of being listed). In fact, I saw the buyers there this morning (possibly for the inspection or another walk-through).

The other unit, which is next door to ours, went on the market last Thursday. The open house was Sunday and those owners also received an offer within 4 days. This unit was listed for $25,000 more than we paid.

I’m sure the expirationof the home-buyer tax credit is a large factor in these units selling so quickly and that things will slow down a bit once it’s over. But I can keep hoping that prices will at least continue their upswing. At this rate, maybe Randy will get into that single family he wants (with the hot tub) sooner than he thought?

April 15th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on Being a Thousandaire

Randy and I had a great time in Minneapolis last weekend. Well, he very well may still be having a great time. You see, I flew home yesterday and he’s lingering a few extra days for business.

But it was a nice trip. We flew out very early Saturday morning (and I got stuck in right in front of a baby who found our particular flight to be the perfect time to test the maximum volume of its vocal chords. I’m just thankful it was a relatively short flight…and I had headphones.

We arrive in Minneapolis and the weather was as perfect as one could imagine for this time of the year. We met up with Randy’s friends, Sonja, Bart, and their daughter, Cate) then headed out to take in the sights. We started with lunch at a homey burger joint in St. Paul where I had my first slucy (I think that’s what it’s called). It’s essentially a hamburger with cheese (or something else) cooked in the middle. As sides, we got fried pickles, friend green beans, and tater tots.

Later on, they hired a baby sitter and we headed into Minneapolis for drinks at some trendy tiki bar called Psycho Suzie’s, I think. Then we went to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden (I wish Boston would have done something like on the useless Greenway).  Finally, we were off to dinner where I ordered a pretty darn good warm beet salad (I needed some veggies after the burgers and tater tots).

That night, we drank wine and talked.

On Sunday, we walked down the street to Como Park, in St. Paul. It’s a combination neighborhood park, conservatory, and zoo. The weather was even warmer than the day before (too warm for what we’d packed) but it was fun feeling like a kid again as you watched the gorillas sparring.

In the afternoon we split off from his friends, checked into a hotel, then went walked around downtown near the mill ruins. It was approaching sunset so Randy went crazy taking photos of the the bridges over the Mississippi River bridges, the old signs, and the mill ruins. And I finally got to see the Guthrie Center (which was under construction the last time I was there). It’s an enormous space for a theater, with 9 floors of, well, what appeared to be nothing but little refreshment stands. But the lighting was cool and there were some great river and city views throughout. And even though there wasn’t a show going on, the building was still open nearly 17 hours per day so you could walk through.

Finally, we had dinner at a nearby Thai restaurant before heading back to the hotel and capping the night off with some time in the hot tub. AHHHHHHH! (we also managed to book the hotel for our next trip to Montreal for Memorial Day weekend).

All in all, a great weekend. But all good things must come to an end and Randy drove me to the airport Monday morning and I flew back to Boston (fortunately, not a single baby on the plane).

April 13th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on Jetsetting

I had another one of my peculiar dreams last night. You know how you’ll dream about something and it will feel so real, but when you wake up and think about the dream, it really makes no sense at all? Well, that’s what happened to me last night.

In my dream, Randy and I were living in what appeared to be Paris (architecturally), but had the topography of San Francisco (mountains, ocean). People were speaking French, but despite living there I only spoke English (and I had my American iPhone service plan and was unable to make free calls).

Randy was still a workaholic in my dream (at least that part is based on reality), but his boss was Helen, the boss of my ex, Matt. Randy ended up being called away on business on the same day we were going to be selling home-baked goods from the first floor of our home, but ourfirst floor was actually retail space. My friend, Mark (who actually lives in Paris) was also there to help out.

Still, we ended up just giving the food away because there were simply too many people coming in and nobody to do the transactions. We did leave a bowl out and people were paying us in olives (WTF?).

Then my friend, Karyn (from high school) showed up with her two sons. They flew to Paris in a last-minute weekend getaway and surprised me. Since I wasn’t selling the food, I figured I’d just leave and let people rummage about and take what they want.

So Karyn, her 2 kids, Mark, and I started exploring Paris. Karyn had never been before so I was pointing things out. In my dream, Paris had a Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market type area that was popular with the tourists so I was pointing that out. However, despite being in Paris, the district looked a lot like Faneuil Hall, just with Parisian architecture, but the backdrop was a harborfront with mountains in the distance…like San Francisco.

Odd.

Anyway, Randy called me at some point while we were walking around the harbor and said that his business trip  had changed and that I could join him (I dont’ know where). Now, I was annoyed at first because my cell phone plan in Paris charged $3/minute, but I was happy to be able to get away. So I ditched my friends and met up with Randy at the airport. But despite being summery and gorgeous in downtown Paris, the airport 10-15  miles away was being socked with a blizzard.

And then I woke up. Now, despite the dream making no sense on the surface, I think I can understand why certain elements were there:

1 – my friend, Karyn, emailed me earlier this week to ask about hotels near Faneuil Hall since she was thinking of doing an overnight trip to Boston next week (she lives on Cape Cod).

2 – Randy works a lot.

3 – I saw Paris on the TV show, Chuck, the other night and it took place in the area along the Siene near my friend, Mark’s place. It brought back memories.

4 – I just received a new United Mileage Plus credit card  yesterday (with a bonus of 30,000 frequent flyer miles for signing up), making me think of travel.

This still doesn’t explain why my ex’s boss was Randy’s boss, or why Paris was geographically similar to San Francisco Though, my ex lives in San Francisco (even though wasn’t in the dream).

I think I need a vacation.

April 7th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 6 Comments

OK, so my walk back in time never really took place last weekend. The idiot real estate guy didn’t call me back until AFTER it was too late. Even more annoying, when we spoke on the phone on Thursday he said he’d take me to the house and we agreed some time between 2pm and 5pm would work. In his after-the-fact voicemail, he said that there was an open house from 2pm-4pm after all.

Not that I’d planned on buying a place, but with an open house I at least would have felt less guilty about wasting his time. Of course, now that I’ve decided he’s an idiot, I hope he couldn’t even sell a dog house all weekend…and that he found worms in his Easter ham.

Otherwise, Easter went well. As expected, it was filled with games (friends on Friday night up at home, then with family on the cape on Saturday and Easter. We ended up not getting back until nearly 10:30 last night. I went straight to bed, exhausted.

April 5th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

Randy and I will be heading to the Cape this weekend to celebrate Easter with my family. Well, I shouldn’t call it “celebrating.”  I never quite understood Easter, and neither my parents nor I have been to church in over two decades. So, I guess the holiday is more or less an excuse to visit my parents. And the weather is supposed to be superb (I’m sure we’ll use the tennis court on Sunday).

And as luck would have it, my best friend from childhood is going to try to get me into my childhood home while we’re there! My parents sold the place nearly a decade ago after realizing that it was becoming too difficult for two elderly people to maintain (my father fell off a later while cleaning the gutter…I think that was the last straw).

Anyway, the new owners did a lot of upgrades (granite counter tops, adding a second bathroom on the second floor) so I’m very curious to step back in time and see what’s become of the place. Plus, it’ll be kind of cool to show Randy where various events took place; where I fell down the stairs, where my father was born, where I sliced my hand open on the lid of a can, where I used to hide under the front porch). I’m not so sure Randy finds it all that cool, but I’m getting excited.

And speaking of going places, Randy has a business trip to Minnesota in a week so I’m tagging along for the weekend. And I’m finally goint to meet two of his friends in St. Paul that I’ve heard about for over three years. I’ve been to Minneapolis before and was surprisingly impressed with how pretty the city is. It’ll be fun to see what’s changed since 2005.

April 2nd, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

How did nearly a week go by without posting? Oy vey.

Randy returned from his trip on Thursday and we went out to dinner that night to celebrate. On Friday, we got together with some friends to drink wine, eat take-out, and play cards…I came in last.

On Saturday we caught up on grocery shopping – and we did a LOT of shopping (i’ve never seen the fridge and freezer so full). That night, we caught up with shows on the DVR.

After some minor leaking in our garage after the two prior rain storms, we bought some sealing paint and caulking and tried to imlement some home-made fixes. This was what we did all day on Sunday. Fortunately, it seemed to make quite an improvement, with a small amount of water seaping in from only one spot in a corner.

Plus, as a result of all of the shopping we did the day before, we had some friends over for some of Randy’s home-made pulled pork (since we needed the space in the fridge).

Phew – then last night a former colleauge of Randy’s from San Francisco was in Boston on business so we got together for dinner at Tryst, in Arlington (yummy).

But the best thing of all was that Randy got confirmation from his company that he’s going to Asia to work on a temporary assignment! It looks like we’ll move there in September for a full year (it was originally only going to be 4-6 months). WOO HOO – Tokyo, here I come! I think I’m going to go out and buy myself a kimono. Or maybe just some Pocky.

April 1st, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 3 Comments