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31 December 2004
Happy New Year's Eve! Stay out of trouble, or at least don't get indicted.
30 December 2004
The devil has found work for
idle hands: anomie and ennui. Plus viruses of various sorts. Visits to the doctor. Tidying. Throwing stuff out. Selling $70
worth of old books. Melancholy about the soon-to-be demise of my youth.
No touching to report: I'm back in my monkish mode.
Two nice meals, though. My old
boss took me to lunch at a nice place in Berkeley. We’ve been having an annual holiday lunch since I started working
for her 20 years ago. I had a chicory salad with anchovy and hard-boiled egg, then grilled steelhead trout with beurre rouge,
and then a cheese plate.
On Tuesday I went to
Bodega Bistro in the Tenderloin for a birthday banquet. Mostly Vietnamese, despite the name. Our hosts called ahead
and gave the chef carte blanche. We started with a perfect green papaya salad, then unsually tasty imperial rolls and spring
rolls, and then whole roasted crispy squab (I ate the head, someone else ate the feet), then a Vietnamese take on pot-au-feu
(beef belly with carrots and turnips) with a limpid broth, then spicy crab with garlic noodles (the best dish of all), and
then filet of beef with truffles on a bean ragoût. Since we hadn’t brought a cake, we had little bowls of fermented
brown rice, which was amazingly fruity, yeasty, alcoholic, and the perfect way to end the meal.
Tomorrow: a little bit of work,
and lots more cleaning. It’s a good time to throw shit out.
Remember, the past is behind
you.
28 December 2004
Just finished Line of Beauty.
It’s not long (8 hours or so), but incomparably fine. Rush out get yourself a copy. It doesn’t get better than
this.
27 December 2004
Well, I hope Santa was good to
you too.
I’ve been laying low here,
recuperating, listening to the rain drops. Despite all my intentions, xmas was like a two-day catering event: a half-day
of shopping and prep, and then most of two days of cooking. Xmas Eve went pretty well. The brandade toasts were a big
hit, as was the bagna cauda. I put a little too much liquid in the paella, so the rice was a little soft by the time the squid
cooked. Sand dabs: not a good idea. I forgot about the big ole bone structure in the middle. I filleted them for my parents.
The romesco (roasted peppers, pounded garlic, egg yolk, fried toast, toasted hazlenut, olive oil) was delicious. We used it
the next day on the leftover shrimp (or prawns, as they weirdly and non-autochthonously insist on calling them at all
the fishmongers).
On Christmas morning, we had
my mother’s spectacular coffee cake (which is really a braded Danish pastry filled with home-made almond paste). We
started cooking as soon as the breakfast dishes were cleared. My other sister and my parents’ best friends came for
dinner. The poule au pot was good. I’m not making shoestring fries at home ever again, even for my wonderful brother-in-law:
it takes too long on a home stove, and there is too much spattering oil.
My mother is slowing down. She
couldn’t help as much as she used to, but she was pushing herself too hard, so we made her sit down in a big comfy chair
where she could watch and answer questions.
Not too many squabbles with my
father. He’s tense and worried about my mother, but still: please stop asking me pointed questions with an implied criticism
buried in each one. That's not going to spill is it? Why isn't it done yet? Shouldn't you have started it earlier? Why did
you bring Spanish wines? Are California wines not good enough?
The reading list this week: Eudora
Welty short stories, Alan Hollinghurst’s Line of Beauty, and Polinsky’s Introduction to Law and Economics.
Next up, Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhood, by Julie Gregory: a memoir about her experiences as a victim
of Munchausen-by-proxy syndrome.
23 December 2004
I live in a fairly urban neighborhood.
We have 25-story skyscrapers three blocks away, graffiti, newspaper thieves, the occasional prostitute plying her trade, outdoor
urinators of both genders (equal-opportunity micturition), and delivery trucks rumbling up our narrow alley every morning.
Out of the 200-or-so people who live on my street, only one is a child. Half the buildings on my block house stores and offices.
You get the picture. You can imagine, then, how surprising it has been to hear the sound of wood being chopped every morning.
One of my neighbors, an elderly Queen of the Old School, has been neatly reducing stumps to firewood in front of his building.
He’s quite a woodsman; I think he told me once that he grew up in rural Upstate New York. It’s one of the things
I love about being gay: the never-ending surprises, the range talents in the most unlikely people (he wields a huge axe and
yet his house is full of tchotckes and candelabras and cut glass).
I ran into S. (an old trick)
today while shopping at the Ferry Building. He was buying caviar for his Christmas Eve dinner. He said his usual menu for
such things is caviar on blini, then lobster from the Swan Oyster Depot, and champagne. Must be nice to work in finance. Looking at him (aside from the black cashmere sweater), you’d think
he was a hunky former skateboarder: shaved head, scruffy beard, thick arms, low-rise jeans, but he knows his ossetra from
his beluga.
Christmas Eve menu (J. has already
seen a preview of this):
Bagna Cauda with lots
of vegetables (fennel, endive, cauliflower, carrots, green onions, cardoons, etc.) and a brandade toast.
Then paella. If it's warm
enough (Sorry: it has been 65 and sunny every day) I'll cook it outside over an open fire, in the traditional manner. I went
to three different fish markets today and got a Dungeness crab, scallops, shrimp, clams, sand dabs, squid, and some anonymous
fish. I just finished making a little broth with the crabs, clams, and fish. It's cooling on the back porch. I made extra
so that I can serve the paella like arroz caldoso, i.e., broth with a big scoop of paella in the same bowl. I also got diligent
and cleaned the squid, which will avoid grievances tomorrow from my father about squid ink on his new kitchen tiles. And thanks to the new kitchen door, only one room smells like fish.
And for dessert, Crema Catalana
(custard flavored with lemon and cinnamon).
Stay warm and
dry, have a great xmas (if you celebrate it), and Happy Elizabeth David's Birthday (Dec. 26).
21 December 2004
What to make, what to make. My
mother and I decided on Christmas dinner (pasta with her special sauce, poule au pot (poached chicken with a sausage stuffing),
a celery gratin (brothy, not creamy), spinach, and glazed carrots, and then pecan pie).
A slight cacophony, but in the interests of family harmony, I yielded on some points (as did my mother).
Christmas Eve I refused to yield
anything. Actually, I promised nothing, because I have no idea what I’m going to make. This one will be all mine. Too
many ideas; nothing settled. All seafood; no meat, in a nice Italian Catholic way.
-
Potted shrimp?
-
Cardoons (gratin or fried?)
-
Artichokes (ditto)
-
Ravioli stuffed with shrimp
and sole?
-
A soufflé (sweet or savory?)
-
A fish soup?
-
Fideus? (like a seafood risotto,
only made with pasta and no bits of merchandise)
-
Steamed fish on a little bed
of leek and spinach, with a Champagne beurre blanc?
-
A brandade tarte with a little
salad to start?
-
The Richard Olney/Escoffier
cream of artichoke soup with hazelnuts?
-
Floating island?
-
A chocolate, almond, and orange
tart?
20 December 2004
You know you go to a classy law
school when a fistfight erupts during the celebration after finals. I don’t yet know the details.
My sisters and I had our annual
holiday shopping day on Sunday. We started with lunch at my place (frittata with duck sausage and sweet potato). We were pretty
efficient (stopping only once for drinks). We had a nice dinner afterwards at Zuni (since we had to wait 90 minutes for a
table, we got to know the dashingly handsome bartender. He had us eating (drinking?) out of the palm of his hand). I had a chicken
liver and quail salad to start, and then squab with creamed mustard greens, and then a very rich hazelnut and almond frangipane
tart. We also had the famous roast chicken for two, and a very nice onglet.
I did nothing today except pay
the bills and spend the afternoon at Kabuki Hot Springs. It was good to just sit still and soak.
18 December 2004
No school for three weeks!
Farmers’ market report:
blood oranges, Satsuma mandarins, sorrel, duck sausage, eggs, another loaf of della Fattoria bread, apples, a kabocha squash,
sweet potatoes, and pears. After our usual cappuccino in North Beach, C. and I stopped at Molinari Deli to get salt cod for
Christmas Eve.
I don’t feel like working
on my résumé, selling old books, taking old clothes to Goodwill, moving the speakers on the hi-fi, renewing my passport, paying
the bills, painting the new door, shredding my old notes, making my Elizabeth David Birthday cards, or cleaning the bathroom.
I might go see “The Women” tonight at the Bridge, if I can stay up that late.
17 December 2004
Done!
Done!
Done!
Finished with school for the
year!
Sobering up after this afternoon’s
debauch.
16 December 2004
How could I forget?
Today is Jane Austen's birthday!
15 December 2004
Only two more days to go. I’m
a burnt out insomniac. Only one final stands between me and binge drinking. I keep thinking about all the things I missed
or dismissed too quickly on my earlier finals.
The intersection of renewed motions
for judgment as a matter of law (FRCP 50(b)) and motions for a new trial (FRCP 59) put me to sleep this afternoon. The jury
is given less deference in one than the other, but which one, and why?
Semester roundup: I never got
called on. Phew.
We read about several disputes
I worked on in my previous life: M. v. M. (a divorce with implied-in-law and implied-in-fact contract issues),
and several toxic waste sites, two of which are famous.
The handyman came back tonight
to hang the door between the kitchen and my bedroom. He did a great job. I fixed him dinner (spaghetti with a cunning little
Bolognese that I had simmering all afternoon). He said we seemed like a married couple: one party fixing things up around
the house with big power tools while the other made dinner. Not much touching ensued. Alas, I had to warn him that I was dating-phobic
and wasn’t looking for anything. He’s a great guy, but he’s not going to get me to let down my guard, at
least not during finals. I always have an excuse not to date, don’t I?
14 December 2004
Torts exam at 1:30-4:30 p.m.
PST. Please send your positive thought waves at that time. It’s the one I’m most worried about.
12 December 2004
I finally finished ashort version
of my Torts outline. Only 8,000 words this time. Could it be shorter? Yes, but
I wouldn’t remember all the black-letter law on which my grade will be based. With a little fiddling, I can get it to
fit recto-and-verso on one sheet of paper. Proximate cause. Joint & several liability where the harm to
multiple plaintiffs is indeterminate. I’ve been worrying a lot about this exam. Last night I dreamt that I was being
run over by a large semi-truck, but I had time to note that it didn't have its lights on: negligence per se! I also
had time to wonder if any contributory negligence on my part would be a complete defense to any suit my successors
might bring.
Only one minor episode of touching
to report. I don’t know how the straight boys get through finals without it. And the handyman is coming back on Tuesday
to hang the door...
Farmers’ market report:
bacon, ground pork (Niman Ranch), Sierra Beauty apples, quince, broccoli di Chicco, sweet potatoes, eggs, and half a della Fattoria bakery* Pullman loaf made from organic wheat and baked in a wood-fired oven. It's good to live here. I’ve already
eaten most of the loaf. This was the first time C. and I were able to buy one, as they usually sell out before 9 AM.
___________
* I apologize for gaucherie of
an English article before a foreign particle.
10 December 2004
Two down, two to go. But the
Rule Against Perpetuities in the last question: how could I have missed it? There goes any chance of an A.
Saw former minor porn star Dick
Wolf at the gym. He’s fat now. Not husky. Not chunky. Just plain fat. That was fast. Sad.
I’ve got some xmas carol
stuck in my head, but fortunately, I can’t remember the words.
I hope Santa brings me a new
sweater.
8 December 2004
So you're at the gym. You've
had a good workout. You've taken a shower. What do you do when you realize that (1) the cute naked guy who just sat next
to you in the sauna is an associate at a firm at which you’d like to land a job and (2) he’s a total hunk?
I’d met him before, but
I’ve never seen him unclothed. A stealth hunk. I thought it prudent to keep my hands to myself, but I may have had impure
thoughts.
7 December 2004
Wish me luck. My first exam (Contracts) is this afternoon. I've studied
all I can, so I'm heading to the gym.
6 December 2004
I ‘ve been studying for
finals and didn’t make it out of the house yesterday until 8:45 PM (laundry). However, that didn’t preclude a
little fun. The handyman (a friend of a friend) came over Sunday afternoon to see about installing a door between my kitchen
and bedroom. One thing led to another . . . .
Gotta burn off tension somehow.
2 December 2004
I love eating. Studying at home
means a snack every few pages. A slice of my mother’s panettone. A prune. A little chunk of that New York State cheddar.
Two forkfuls of last night’s pasta. A handful of Mission almonds. A kiwi. Sweet potato dressed with lime and soy. It's always healthy, but it must be adding up. I saw in the mirror at the gym tonight
that law school has not been kind to my figure. Crap. I’m not going to be 40 and well-marbled, as they say in the steak
trade.
The sensible eating régime can
begin tomorrow. After the gym, B and I went to Pizzetta 211, out in the Richmond. It was everything I had heard and hoped it would be: tiny, friendly, warm, welcoming. We of course
ran into mutual friends and old acquaintances. To start we had a little pile of broccoli di Chicco (a sweet thin-stemmed cousin
of regular broccoli) dressed with garlic and Meyer lemon, with a goat cheese toast on the side. I had a pizza with leek, pancetta,
egg, and arugula; B had spinach, pine nuts, and currants on his. Nice thin crust. No tomato on either. Short but interesting
wine list. We were the last table to be seated. I’d go back, even though it was a schlep to get out there. B and I both
had been thinking that when we’re traveling in a new city, we go long (absurd) distances to eat somewhere or see something
of interest; so why stick to the same old places here?
1 December 2004
I finally finished my Contracts
outline. Exceptions to the Statute of Frauds. The Deviant Acceptance Rule. Und so weiter.
Music recommendations to get
through this kind of thing:
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