Runner-up goes to Sydney:
I'm expecting 2012 to be some kind of wild ride, politically, economically, and climatologically. Buckle up! We're in it now and there's no turning back!
Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Happy New Year!
As usual, Hong Kong gets my gold medal award for best fireworks display thanks to another appearance by the french tickler!
Runner-up goes to Sydney:
I'm expecting 2012 to be some kind of wild ride, politically, economically, and climatologically. Buckle up! We're in it now and there's no turning back!
Runner-up goes to Sydney:
I'm expecting 2012 to be some kind of wild ride, politically, economically, and climatologically. Buckle up! We're in it now and there's no turning back!
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
Looking Forward to an Odd Year
I get crazy every year between the Christmas holiday and the New Year. It always seems to pass in such a frenzied blur. Resolutions are always dancing in my head and I usually have the notion that I'm going to get a head start on one or two of them so that I'll already be in the habit by the time the new year has arrived.
On that note: fail.
Oh well, as I told a friend today, calendars are a figment of the human imagination, and tomorrow is another day. We can make resolutions in March, or September. Same difference.
As a means of measuring time though, I have noticed a trend over the past 20 years or so, and perhaps it's just a fluke, but I tend to have a happier life during odd-numbered years compared to even-numbered years. Again, may purely be a figment of my imagination.
In 1983 I went to live in London and it was one of the happiest years I've ever had. In 1984 I got booted out of England and landed back in the US where I promptly had my wallet stolen from a hotel room just as I was trying to make a fresh start.
In 1985 I went back to college to try and wrap up a real degree in something, and in 1987 I got my diploma.
In 1988 I had my heart broken and in 1989 I moved away to Denver for another fresh start. Great times that year.
1990 was the best and the worst of life. That is the year I met txrad but that event ushered in a tempestuous fury in my personal life. Not one of my better years.
1991 is when txrad and I moved in together in Los Angeles and I found work... real work, and that was the germination of a career that lives on 20 years later.
Major elections are always held in even-numbered years. And you know where that usually puts me. 2000 got us Bushwhacked.
This just keeps going.
Fast forward to 2006 when the year ended with my own advertising company in debt, no clients, and no source of income.
2007 was a fabulous year job-wise, but only for that year.
2008 began with unemployment for both of us and txrad being hospitalized with a severe concussion after a fall. I did find work again in 2008 so it wasn't totally bad.
2010 came in with me smashing my face to bits and having major surgery for the first time in my life. Then I turned 50 while I was recovering. And just recently, I filed for bankruptcy. 2010 will not be missed.
Sometimes I want to do something symbolic before the close of a year just to get a situation, a part of my life, behind me. I really wanted to dissolve the corporate entity I started in 2004 -- the entity which died in 2006 and was a major player in my need to file bankruptcy.
In Texas, this is a 2-step process. The Texas Two Step requires submitting a form to the state requesting proof that you have paid your fees to the state and have no outstanding liabilities to the state. Then when you receive the supporting document, that has to be mailed to the Secretary of State with another form to legally have a corporation declared deceased.
I am still waiting on step one to be completed, so apparently I will be dragging this nasty rotting carcass into 2011. So be it. One of the first of many great things to happen in 2011 will be killing off that thing.
Right off the bat though, my home office will be getting a paint job. Nothing says fresh new outlook like a coat of paint!
And I'm starting off this odd-numbered year with 9 days off from work. I know how to do this right!
What's on your agenda for 2011?
On that note: fail.
Oh well, as I told a friend today, calendars are a figment of the human imagination, and tomorrow is another day. We can make resolutions in March, or September. Same difference.
As a means of measuring time though, I have noticed a trend over the past 20 years or so, and perhaps it's just a fluke, but I tend to have a happier life during odd-numbered years compared to even-numbered years. Again, may purely be a figment of my imagination.
In 1983 I went to live in London and it was one of the happiest years I've ever had. In 1984 I got booted out of England and landed back in the US where I promptly had my wallet stolen from a hotel room just as I was trying to make a fresh start.
In 1985 I went back to college to try and wrap up a real degree in something, and in 1987 I got my diploma.
In 1988 I had my heart broken and in 1989 I moved away to Denver for another fresh start. Great times that year.
1990 was the best and the worst of life. That is the year I met txrad but that event ushered in a tempestuous fury in my personal life. Not one of my better years.
1991 is when txrad and I moved in together in Los Angeles and I found work... real work, and that was the germination of a career that lives on 20 years later.
Major elections are always held in even-numbered years. And you know where that usually puts me. 2000 got us Bushwhacked.
This just keeps going.
Fast forward to 2006 when the year ended with my own advertising company in debt, no clients, and no source of income.
2007 was a fabulous year job-wise, but only for that year.
2008 began with unemployment for both of us and txrad being hospitalized with a severe concussion after a fall. I did find work again in 2008 so it wasn't totally bad.
2010 came in with me smashing my face to bits and having major surgery for the first time in my life. Then I turned 50 while I was recovering. And just recently, I filed for bankruptcy. 2010 will not be missed.
Sometimes I want to do something symbolic before the close of a year just to get a situation, a part of my life, behind me. I really wanted to dissolve the corporate entity I started in 2004 -- the entity which died in 2006 and was a major player in my need to file bankruptcy.
In Texas, this is a 2-step process. The Texas Two Step requires submitting a form to the state requesting proof that you have paid your fees to the state and have no outstanding liabilities to the state. Then when you receive the supporting document, that has to be mailed to the Secretary of State with another form to legally have a corporation declared deceased.
I am still waiting on step one to be completed, so apparently I will be dragging this nasty rotting carcass into 2011. So be it. One of the first of many great things to happen in 2011 will be killing off that thing.
Right off the bat though, my home office will be getting a paint job. Nothing says fresh new outlook like a coat of paint!
And I'm starting off this odd-numbered year with 9 days off from work. I know how to do this right!
What's on your agenda for 2011?
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
It's hard for me to believe it's Thanksgiving again already! Seems like we were just driving up to north Austin a few months ago for the annual tradition of a thali at Swad. But off we trekked again today on the 23-mile trip to our little slice of India. No tofurkey for us!
I actually took this photo as we were leaving. There was no line when we got there, and the food was delivered fast today.
Ahh yes, dear friends. This is heaven. Those puffy breads are pooris. Underneath there was a crunchy papadam, and some other kind of moist bread adorned with fiery jalapeños.
I actually took this photo as we were leaving. There was no line when we got there, and the food was delivered fast today.
The dosas at Swad are great but for my appetite, a thali is required.
Ahh yes, dear friends. This is heaven. Those puffy breads are pooris. Underneath there was a crunchy papadam, and some other kind of moist bread adorned with fiery jalapeños.
The thali itself was, needless to say, rather filling. I am a satisfied man right now!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Just Let It Go
Stolen from Flickr without credits, so sue me.
Keep Austin Weird takes on a whole new meaning on Halloween. I swear I wish people would just spontaneously celebrate Halloween everyday of the year. The world would be a more enjoyable place.
I ran to the supermarket this afternoon and saw a square aluminum robot heading in to purchase something.
What was the best costume you saw this weekend?
Sunday, July 04, 2010
A Message for the 4th
Remembering Howard Zinn.
On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.
Right on, brother!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Monday Morning Musings
I'm not sure when I started obsessing about life and how quickly it seems to pass as I get older. It has definitely been a bigger blip on my radar since I turned 40.
When you are 20, you feel immortal and the world awaits you. Yet, if you can manage to make it through four consecutive average cat life cycles from that point, you are indeed lucky.
The unfortunate event on March 1st when I broke a number of bones in my face, the resulting surgery a bit more than 2 weeks later, and then my 50th birthday a month later, have all had an impact on how I view life. It seems so much more fragile now than it ever has before. The reality is that any of our seemingly stable lives can be turned upside down in the blink of an eye. Moreover, it is inevitable. The older we get, the greater the odds that we are on the cusp of a shattering event.
This understanding, which bears down upon me without my approval, is truly maddening sometimes. I see other people carrying on with their happy lives in what appears to be blissful ignorance of reality. I wish I could be like them. But are they all really unaware? Do they just have a more effective method of dealing with it and suppressing the associated emotions and anxiety?
We spend our lives gathering stuff: material possessions, friendships, and memories. We stuff our brains full of music, films, books, travels, sports scores, work experiences, Excel spreadsheet functions, HTML code, user IDs, passwords, credit card numbers, and expiration dates.
Our closets are packed with clothing and boxes in which stuff was delivered. Most people can't even use their garages because they are overflowing with possessions. And this is a relatively new phenomenon. My mother still remembers a time when she only had what was truly needed. She remembers her father telling the story of the first time he ever saw a motor car. He was so frightened he hid in a ditch. Running water and electricity inside the home were new luxuries, and still out of reach for many.
In that short span of time we have evolved into a people who have been born into such luxuries and take them for granted. We no longer need to hunt and gather for survival. Millions of us sit in a chair each day, tapping our fingers on plastic to manipulate data. And millions of us are paid well for it. But not in cash.
Someone else is tapping their fingers on plastic buttons to transfer "money" from one place to another place. When my place receives this transfer, I can then tap my fingers to move it from my place to the place which owns my house. Never having to lay eyes upon currency is a luxury.
I buy my food by swiping a piece of plastic through a chunk of plastic. That's how I get my groceries, my housewares, and fuel for my car so I can drive around and buy all this stuff. Quite amazing.
I don't even need to leave my house for a lot of the stuff I get. Tap tap tap on the plastic, select something you desire on a screen, type in a few numbers which gives instructions to computers to transfer a bunch of numbers from one place to another, and voila! A few days later, stuff comes to your door in a brown truck. And all of this is achieved by data passing through the air, or wires, at the speed of light.
Even in my lifetime, I remember how labor-intensive it was to gather information. I actually had to get up, get in the car, and drive to another building which housed thousands of books. I had to flip through drawers packed with thousands of little cards that contained directions to find the book which would contain the information I needed. And that was all well and good as long as someone else hadn't borrowed the book. There was even a human there to help you, if you needed it. Free of charge!
Now it is possible to gather data on a little chunk of plastic that you can carry with you, and tap on, or so I've read on this big piece of plastic I'm staring at as I tap these thoughts on my plastic buttons -- soon to be available for reading by anyone in the world fortunate enough to have a similar plastic device and viewing screen. You can even do this while you are driving around, buying shit you don't need, and swiping plastic to pay for it. Amazing!
What a world we live in, however briefly against the longer timeline of existence.
In this world of wonder and achievement, I am truly baffled that I can be so depressed. I don't just see the beauty and the wonder; I see everything. While this world in which we live would be unrecognizable to my grandparents in their youth, a few things haven't changed at all. Things like greed.
If we were truly immortal, or even if we could live 500 years, or 300 years, I could understand the concept of greed more easily than I can from my perspective of life at 50.
I am truly aghast that greed remains as pervasive and unevolved as it is. Greed is what compels us to do absurd things like drilling a mile deep -- underwater -- for fuel to power these moving boxes of steel we need in order to drive to a bigger, fixed-position box and punch plastic all day so that we can acquire a bunch of other (much smaller) numbers which get shifted around in the ether. After accruing enough of these numbers we call our own, we can drive around and buy stuff.
Greed is what allowed us to come here, take this land, and call it ours. Greed made us establish arbitrary and artificial boundaries, staking poles in the ground, adorned with absolutely meaningless pieces of patterned cloth in order to have what is essentially a meaningless and hollow identity.
Now that we have that, greed is driving us to destroy it. And we're no longer content to take advantage of people from outside our artificial boundaries with identifies different from our own; we seem eager to screw the life out of anything and everything we get our hands on in order to get more personal numbers stacked in our favor, whether it's our neighbors, the fields which grow the food to keep us alive, the water we need to quench our thirst, or the air we breathe.
We seem to have become completely uninterested in the numbers of our brothers and sisters who have had their equally short and fragile lives ended sooner than necessary by greed.
If nothing else, life is about adjusting and adapting to changes. Life is about caring and understanding. Life is about overcoming selfishness and greed. Life is about understanding that we are of the world and not vice-versa, and behaving accordingly. Failure to comprehend these simple facts is criminal. And we seem to be a nation and a world of criminals.
I have my own issues with comprehension. I cannot comprehend how, in this wondrous short time of bounty and achievement, so many of us cannot be content and enjoy our own personal experiences. Instead, we feel a necessity to exploit and control others, and often to focus on the most asinine of restrictions, while allowing all manner of other profligate atrocities to run rampant. I cannot comprehend how this path of greed we have chosen can be sustained much longer, nor can I comprehend how those of us who never ponder the ramifications of our enormous footprint will deal with the reality when it finally does deliver the ultimate smackdown.
On this day, arbitrarily set aside by some authority, in which we are asked to remember those who have fallen (some of whom still were not even allowed to be open and honest about who they were), and as I also include those who gave up a portion of their life, perhaps the best portion of it (and in many cases, a limb or two, if not their entire life), in their gift of service to this relatively recent nation of artificial boundaries conceived of, and awash in, greed, I have to ask myself if it was a truly necessary and noble cause, or simply a more short-sighted exploitation to fulfill a craven lust before casting them aside like spent fuel rods.
Sorry. I know I can come across as a major downer sometimes. But I think a lot. And I will honor our veterans today by saying we need to do everything in our power to stop creating so many of them for unjust causes. Those numbers (a trillion or two) piled up in someone's account which were used to fund the recent and ongoing wars could have been better transferred elsewhere in our relentless pursuit of stuff.
Live and let live, gently, and with responsible awareness and compassion.
When you are 20, you feel immortal and the world awaits you. Yet, if you can manage to make it through four consecutive average cat life cycles from that point, you are indeed lucky.
The unfortunate event on March 1st when I broke a number of bones in my face, the resulting surgery a bit more than 2 weeks later, and then my 50th birthday a month later, have all had an impact on how I view life. It seems so much more fragile now than it ever has before. The reality is that any of our seemingly stable lives can be turned upside down in the blink of an eye. Moreover, it is inevitable. The older we get, the greater the odds that we are on the cusp of a shattering event.
This understanding, which bears down upon me without my approval, is truly maddening sometimes. I see other people carrying on with their happy lives in what appears to be blissful ignorance of reality. I wish I could be like them. But are they all really unaware? Do they just have a more effective method of dealing with it and suppressing the associated emotions and anxiety?
We spend our lives gathering stuff: material possessions, friendships, and memories. We stuff our brains full of music, films, books, travels, sports scores, work experiences, Excel spreadsheet functions, HTML code, user IDs, passwords, credit card numbers, and expiration dates.
Our closets are packed with clothing and boxes in which stuff was delivered. Most people can't even use their garages because they are overflowing with possessions. And this is a relatively new phenomenon. My mother still remembers a time when she only had what was truly needed. She remembers her father telling the story of the first time he ever saw a motor car. He was so frightened he hid in a ditch. Running water and electricity inside the home were new luxuries, and still out of reach for many.
In that short span of time we have evolved into a people who have been born into such luxuries and take them for granted. We no longer need to hunt and gather for survival. Millions of us sit in a chair each day, tapping our fingers on plastic to manipulate data. And millions of us are paid well for it. But not in cash.
Someone else is tapping their fingers on plastic buttons to transfer "money" from one place to another place. When my place receives this transfer, I can then tap my fingers to move it from my place to the place which owns my house. Never having to lay eyes upon currency is a luxury.
I buy my food by swiping a piece of plastic through a chunk of plastic. That's how I get my groceries, my housewares, and fuel for my car so I can drive around and buy all this stuff. Quite amazing.
I don't even need to leave my house for a lot of the stuff I get. Tap tap tap on the plastic, select something you desire on a screen, type in a few numbers which gives instructions to computers to transfer a bunch of numbers from one place to another, and voila! A few days later, stuff comes to your door in a brown truck. And all of this is achieved by data passing through the air, or wires, at the speed of light.
Even in my lifetime, I remember how labor-intensive it was to gather information. I actually had to get up, get in the car, and drive to another building which housed thousands of books. I had to flip through drawers packed with thousands of little cards that contained directions to find the book which would contain the information I needed. And that was all well and good as long as someone else hadn't borrowed the book. There was even a human there to help you, if you needed it. Free of charge!
Now it is possible to gather data on a little chunk of plastic that you can carry with you, and tap on, or so I've read on this big piece of plastic I'm staring at as I tap these thoughts on my plastic buttons -- soon to be available for reading by anyone in the world fortunate enough to have a similar plastic device and viewing screen. You can even do this while you are driving around, buying shit you don't need, and swiping plastic to pay for it. Amazing!
What a world we live in, however briefly against the longer timeline of existence.
In this world of wonder and achievement, I am truly baffled that I can be so depressed. I don't just see the beauty and the wonder; I see everything. While this world in which we live would be unrecognizable to my grandparents in their youth, a few things haven't changed at all. Things like greed.
If we were truly immortal, or even if we could live 500 years, or 300 years, I could understand the concept of greed more easily than I can from my perspective of life at 50.
I am truly aghast that greed remains as pervasive and unevolved as it is. Greed is what compels us to do absurd things like drilling a mile deep -- underwater -- for fuel to power these moving boxes of steel we need in order to drive to a bigger, fixed-position box and punch plastic all day so that we can acquire a bunch of other (much smaller) numbers which get shifted around in the ether. After accruing enough of these numbers we call our own, we can drive around and buy stuff.
Greed is what allowed us to come here, take this land, and call it ours. Greed made us establish arbitrary and artificial boundaries, staking poles in the ground, adorned with absolutely meaningless pieces of patterned cloth in order to have what is essentially a meaningless and hollow identity.
Now that we have that, greed is driving us to destroy it. And we're no longer content to take advantage of people from outside our artificial boundaries with identifies different from our own; we seem eager to screw the life out of anything and everything we get our hands on in order to get more personal numbers stacked in our favor, whether it's our neighbors, the fields which grow the food to keep us alive, the water we need to quench our thirst, or the air we breathe.
We seem to have become completely uninterested in the numbers of our brothers and sisters who have had their equally short and fragile lives ended sooner than necessary by greed.
If nothing else, life is about adjusting and adapting to changes. Life is about caring and understanding. Life is about overcoming selfishness and greed. Life is about understanding that we are of the world and not vice-versa, and behaving accordingly. Failure to comprehend these simple facts is criminal. And we seem to be a nation and a world of criminals.
I have my own issues with comprehension. I cannot comprehend how, in this wondrous short time of bounty and achievement, so many of us cannot be content and enjoy our own personal experiences. Instead, we feel a necessity to exploit and control others, and often to focus on the most asinine of restrictions, while allowing all manner of other profligate atrocities to run rampant. I cannot comprehend how this path of greed we have chosen can be sustained much longer, nor can I comprehend how those of us who never ponder the ramifications of our enormous footprint will deal with the reality when it finally does deliver the ultimate smackdown.
On this day, arbitrarily set aside by some authority, in which we are asked to remember those who have fallen (some of whom still were not even allowed to be open and honest about who they were), and as I also include those who gave up a portion of their life, perhaps the best portion of it (and in many cases, a limb or two, if not their entire life), in their gift of service to this relatively recent nation of artificial boundaries conceived of, and awash in, greed, I have to ask myself if it was a truly necessary and noble cause, or simply a more short-sighted exploitation to fulfill a craven lust before casting them aside like spent fuel rods.
Sorry. I know I can come across as a major downer sometimes. But I think a lot. And I will honor our veterans today by saying we need to do everything in our power to stop creating so many of them for unjust causes. Those numbers (a trillion or two) piled up in someone's account which were used to fund the recent and ongoing wars could have been better transferred elsewhere in our relentless pursuit of stuff.
Live and let live, gently, and with responsible awareness and compassion.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Friday, January 01, 2010
I Can See Spring From Here
Happy New Year!
I love it when January rolls around each year. Late in December it's kind of hard to be thinking about spring. And then January 1st arrives and I realize spring will come this year. Not that I'm complaining about the 70 degrees we had yesterday afternoon.
With this morning's chill, that seems like... a year ago.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Resolute Shuns
Question of the Day
What are your resolutions for 2010?
I always make them and I always break them. For five years one of my resolutions has been to learn Spanish, and this year I am going to succeed.
As for the oral habits, flossing, tongue scraping, etc., I'm going to leave that off the table. I'll do it, as I did today, but feel I can only keep one promise at a time, and Spanish it is.
I will tell myself I can't study Spanish until I floss. That might help facilitate matters.
What about you?
Thursday, November 26, 2009
I'm Stuffed
Not from turkey though. We had our traditional Indian thali with an appetizer of Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant on the way to lunch.
I Am Thankful
Happy Thanksgiving!
At the moment, I am giving thanks that I don't live in Turkey, land of honor killings and homophobia.
...Mr. Yildiz, a straight-A physics student who had hoped to become a teacher, was tutoring fellow students so he could make extra money to live independently. But by coming out as gay in a patriarchal tribal family, he had become the ultimate affront to both religious and filial honor, even with parents who adored him.
“Ahmet’s father had warned him to return to their village and to see a doctor and imam in order to cure him of his homosexuality and get married, but Ahmet refused,” Mr. Kaya said. “Ahmet loved his family more than anything else and he was tortured about disappointing them. But in the end, he decided to be who he was.”
That clash of values permeates Turkish society. While Turkey’s aspiration to join the European Union is pushing the Muslim-inspired government to accept and even promote civil liberties for women and homosexuals, some traditionalists remain ill at ease with a permissive attitude toward sexuality and gender roles.
I can't imagine Turkey being ready at this point to being an equal member in the European Union. Sorry, not even close.
Gay rights groups argue that there is an increasingly open homophobia in Turkey. The military, which is the guardian of Turkey’s secular state, regards homosexuality as a disorder.
Turkey's aspirations to be a European player are grossly premature.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Friday Pussy Blog: Tot Lovin' Edition
Rachel Maddow, the Tot, and txrad.
Tot gets a back massage from txrad.
Happy Friday!
And a very HAPPY NEW YEAR -- 5770 -- to our Jewish friends!
Happy Friday!
And a very HAPPY NEW YEAR -- 5770 -- to our Jewish friends!
Monday, September 07, 2009
Hope You Enjoyed Your Labor Day
I had a rather uneventful weekend with roughly zero accomplishments. We went out for lunch at Veggie Heaven for some "veggie ham," tofu, and other veggies in a spicy red sauce over brown rice, and a steamed spring roll. Then I came home and took a long nap.
I'll be having the leftovers for lunch tomorrow served over pasta. And the dish will be even spicier the second time around.
How was your holiday weekend?
I'll be having the leftovers for lunch tomorrow served over pasta. And the dish will be even spicier the second time around.
How was your holiday weekend?
Sunday, July 05, 2009
The First Dinner Party Frenzy
Question of the Day:
How did you celebrate the 4th?
How did you celebrate the 4th?
txrad and I hosted a dinner party for four friends, Witchay Woman and her husband came down from Dallas, and our two neighbors from next door walked over in the brutal afternoon heat around 6:15.
I've been saying this is my first party since the mid-1980s which is kinda sorta true, but the one I threw back then was more of a drug and alcohol party with a few dips and chips as opposed to a real sit-down-at-a-table dinner party like my mama used to throw.
I had promised to do this back in early May but I didn't set a firm date until about 2 weeks ago when we all agreed on July 4th as the best date. And it's rather funny that most of my anxiety melted away as soon as I had a concrete date set for this party.
If I was going to host a dinner party, I knew this would not be a large affair with paper plates and paper napkins and just a lot of things to munch on. I immediately set about trying to get things coordinated for a nice presentation. I had selected six bright yellow place mats, some striped muted earth tone cloth napkins, black slate coasters for our drinks, and a simple floral display or two. I didn't want a formal foo-foo affair, just a warm and inviting French rustic country feeling.
All of this was procured at Crate & Barrel for a reasonable price at no cost to me on a gift card. I also was able to pick up a set of glassware, four tall glasses and four short glasses, plus two heavy short glasses intended for savoring my scotch whisky.
It occurred to me later that I was now faced with having to mix & match glasses as well as eating utensils since I only had those in sets of four, not six. But I found an easy work-around for that: serve the four guests with the matching glasses and forks, and txrad and I would take the mis-matched pieces. Voila, problem solved.
The most time-consuming aspect of this party was simply getting the house in order. Rooms needed to be vacuumed, bathrooms needed to be cleaned, everything needed dusting, and the kitchen counters needed to be thoroughly cleaned which necessitated moving everything off them, and then moving everything back.
Food preparation was never much of a concern of mine since we cook every night of the week. I just needed to triple the effort, or so I thought.
txrad started soaking pinto beans on Friday night. Saturday morning he made the lime bars with a pecan crust (pictured left) for the dessert, then in the early afternoon he made the pico the gallo and got the beans cooking. I was cleaning up after him each step of the way to avoid having the kitchen be a disaster by the end of the night which unfortunately proved to be inevitable! But I think my efforts prevented it from being much worse than it was (and still is at the time I'm writing this).Once his dishes were done, I needed to start prepping for the green corn tamale casserole and guacamole. This had to be carefully planned -- particularly with the guacamole.
At 4:00 I started shucking ten ears of corn. I was a bit surprised how time consuming that can be, even though I've made this dish before. It had been three years at least. Then the corn needed to be cut off the cob. I premixed the dry ingredients and set those aside, put aside the loose corn, and then proceeded to roast the four Anaheim chilies.It was almost 5:30 and I was feeling a little tinge of stress since the guests were invited to come around 6:00-ish. I had really wanted to have everything prepped by the time guests arrived so that I could I started chopping the cilantro for the guacamole. As soon as I was done I remembered that I needed to saute some garlic and onion. I got that going around 5:45 and the pressure was building. As far as the guacamole was concerned, I needed to get that ready... now. txrad suggested we do a tequila shot to calm our nerves, and we did.
It was 6:00 when I started slicing three large avocados which was, shall we say, a messy endeavor. I was praying that no one was going to show up on time! I managed to get the lemon juiced and added to the mixture along with the lightly sauteed onions and garlic, and was dicing the tomato when the neighbors walked up.
"The door is open," I yelled. My hands were covered in tomato juice. This is the point where the train began to derail.
We had barely had time to hug when Witchay Woman and her husband (Alton II, as in the "other" Alton Brown) walked in bearing hummus dip, and bags of additional prep materials complete with serving dishes. So while five minutes earlier I felt I had a grip -- if a bit rushed -- on my activities, suddenly I had a kitchen full of people, and Alton II preparing two separate hummus presentations.
My mind started going a bit haywire. I needed to offer them drinks, I needed to pay attention to the conversation which was already loud and spirited, I needed to keep my wits about me so I would not leave out a key ingredient in my own prep work.
Alton II was happy with a Shiner beer, so that was easy. Witchay Woman wanted a glass of white wine, and the neighbors were content with ice water while waiting on the margaritas. That was another project on my to-do list. I decided to open myself a beer.
When it's just txrad and me in the kitchen, I can be somewhat intoxicated and still have my wits about me to get my portion of the meal prep together. Something about a party environment throws everything askew and I was already feeling buzzed and disoriented! In terms of my progress in getting the meal together I was not in a bad place; the guacamole was done -- although it was not up to my usual standard -- and was completely upstaged by Alton II and his hummus dip art. But it was done.
I stood there munching on carrots dipped in hummus, pita bread, and chips with guacamole, in a slight daze for what might have been 20 minutes. Then I realized 7:00 was fast approaching. My goal had been to have the meal ready by 7:30 at the latest. Reality kicked in and I needed to slice the Anaheim chilies, and line the casserole dish with those and the cheese. I had to puree the corn in two separate batches, dump that in a bowl, and stir in the dry ingredients, plus add sour cream and 4 ounces of soft butter.
At this point I was feeling completely frazzled. I quickly "softened" the butter in the microwave (translation: I put it in there just long enough for it to soften on the outside, not so much on the inside of the stick) and dumped that into the corn mixture and began to stir vigorously until I thought everything was well-mixed.
As I poured the corn mixture on top the cheese and Anaheim chilies and began to spread it out, I saw a big glob of unmelted butter. Shit! I thought to myself, "man, you have got to get it together, you are out of control."
I spooned a lot of the corn mixture back out of the casserole dish and into the mixing bowl to get the butter mixed a bit more thoroughly. I was hoping when this was baked that somebody wasn't going to bite into a big spoon of butter.
Knowing that this would need to bake for probably 30-35 minutes, I was able to breathe a sigh of slight relief once I had that in the oven. I could move to to making the margaritas which were now overdue, and txrad could handle making the rice which would complete the meal.
I quickly emptied the frozen sweet Lime juice concentrate into the blender, added lots of ice, a very generous amount of tequila, and a shot or two of Bauchant orange liqueur. Within seconds I had a thick frozen blender of margaritas which I served up to the guests. After one sip I knew these were incredibly strong, and almost icky-sweet. I pondered that for a few minutes and realized I forgot to add fresh lime juice which cuts the sweetness and provides more balance to the drink.
I jumped up and sliced a couple of limes and explained my error. Some seemed to enjoy the margaritas as they were, and others were eager for the fresh lime juice. I promised to remember to add more fresh lime juice to the next batch.
Meanwhile, txrad was on his own in the kitchen and he motioned for me to come over. It seems he had accidentally turned off the rice prematurely at some point and he showed me the pan of rice sitting in tomato water as it was waiting to come to a simmer again. Ugh! More dinner party drama!
My plans for a 7:30 at the latest dinner serving was now on the verge of running an hour late. The casserole was out of the oven, the beans were ready, everything was ready except the rice. After 15 minutes or so, an inspection of the rice gave the appearance that it might have worked out after all.
I whipped up another batch of margaritas -- including fresh-squeezed lime juice -- and dinner was served.... probably around 8:30.
While this was not the best meal we've ever made, nor was it the best green corn tamale batch I've ever made, it was decent, and appeared to be well-received and enjoyed. Afterward, the lime bars with the pecan crust capped everything off nicely, even if there was a bit of lime overkill between those and the margaritas.
Mission accomplished. Dinner served to four guests without any major mishaps. But there were some lessons learned from this experience. Prepping as much as possible before the guests arrive is a key factor, especially if you are not accustomed to food preparation in the midst of distractions. I am definitely making a note to self on that point.
I walked away from this with an enhanced appreciation for people who are able to do this type of thing fairly often, as my mother used to do. She would have dinner parties for 8, 10, even 12 people sometimes, with down-home southern meals involving a meat dish, several different vegetables, salads, and dessert, and then coffee. I also am amazed that there are people who can simultaneously get a meal together while remaining involved in conversation with their guests.
Honestly, I am awe of that talent. I suppose it gets easier with practice, but still.
It was a long day and a lot of work. And there was nothing I wanted more than a good long night of sleep after the guests had departed around 11:00. Unfortunately, there was yet another unexpected party surprise awaiting me. txrad and I are not big consumers of sugar. We rarely have any kind of dessert in the evening, nor do we drink sweet cocktails at night.
Aside from a small sweet lime bar for dessert (not to mention the corn casserole which was sweet), there was the issue of the Lime-Ade concentrate which was packed with high-fructose corn syrup. Two batches of that and 2-3 margaritas later, I was both exhausted and wired. As I commented earlier this morning on my Facebook status, "high-fructose corn syrup in the margarita lime-aid is like LSD... like the "brown acid" at Woodstock."
I may have logged about 3 total hours of sleep last night, and even that wasn't quality. Another note to self: no sweet margaritas unless it's a lunch party! Or better yet, make my own margarita mix and control the sugar.
All in all, it was a fun gathering though. And I now know through experience what I can do to make the next one go just a little bit smoother. I'll plan that for sometime in 2012.
Time for me to get in the kitchen and finish cleaning up this carnage. I threw my first dinner party ever, and was so befuddled I didn't manage to get a single picture while the guests were here. Just a before shot, and an after shot. It didn't even cross my mind while they were here!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Have a Fat One
Happy Fat Tuesday! I have the appropriate beads which also serve a function. I got this at a friend's birthday party a few years ago. And I did use the shot glass and I did get shitfaced.
Back when we had the tiles installed in the kitchen we couldn't use the kitchen overnight while the glue was drying. I couldn't get in there to fetch my shot glass so we used this one which I keep hanging on a wall in the office.
Back when we had the tiles installed in the kitchen we couldn't use the kitchen overnight while the glue was drying. I couldn't get in there to fetch my shot glass so we used this one which I keep hanging on a wall in the office.
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Dream Is Almost Reality
I know this MLK Day holds special significance for all of us because we are truly on the precipice of hope, change, and progress. We have a long way to go but just since November 4, 2008 we have taken one incredible step which was hard to fathom for most of us throughout our entire lives.
Tomorrow, Barack Hussein Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. I am still in awe. But it's definitely a happy and joyous awe.
"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important."
Martin Luther King, Jr., Wall Street Journal, November 13, 1962.
Tomorrow, Barack Hussein Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. I am still in awe. But it's definitely a happy and joyous awe.
"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important."
Martin Luther King, Jr., Wall Street Journal, November 13, 1962.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Mixing Alcohol With Electronic Gadgets
New Year's Day was rather odd for me. I was not in a great mood and everything in the house was begging to either be cleaned or thrown out and I did quite a bit of both. But not enough of either. Then as the evening settled in I started the official konagod New Year Festivities with some tequila and music. That's guaranteed to be an uncertain road.
When I went to the kitchen this morning it was still dark but I could see a faint light. Then I remembered we had two candles burning last night and apparently I had found a use for my quartz and other stones.
What else did I do? I had to think for a few minutes and then remembered I called up Maurinsky on my cell phone while shitfaced. While that might not seem odd on the surface, it was the first live conversation we've ever had outside the realm of blogging. I'm sure that was a great first impression.
Thank God the holidays are over.
When I went to the kitchen this morning it was still dark but I could see a faint light. Then I remembered we had two candles burning last night and apparently I had found a use for my quartz and other stones.
Yes, those are Tater Tot feet at the top.
What else did I do? I had to think for a few minutes and then remembered I called up Maurinsky on my cell phone while shitfaced. While that might not seem odd on the surface, it was the first live conversation we've ever had outside the realm of blogging. I'm sure that was a great first impression.
Thank God the holidays are over.
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