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28 June 2009
I wasn’t going to go to the Parade at all
today until I read Frank Rich’s column in the Times. Do you see now why "Pride" is such a bad idea? And it's the fortieth anniversary of Stonewall,
so I had to go. I met up with Green Eyes and a friend. We watched for a while from Fourth and Market, then met Greeneye'is
friends in full, marvelous, and scary drag, hung out in the Fairie Encampment, enjoyed the unexpected but welcome warmth,
had a beer, walked home. I made cumin-y meatballs, and some green chickpeas, and corn, drank some Vouvray,
and had some raspberries for dessert. Farmers’
market report: green chickpeas, sour cherries, yellow corn, blackberries, raspberries, ground pork, ground beef, parsley,
spring onions, green shallots, zinnias, and strawflowers. It was a quiet weekend for me. Friday night I hung out with Green Eyes at the wine bar (with takeout
food from the Chez Spencer taco truck (lobster salad, mushroom vol-au-vent, fig and tomato salad)). Saturday:
farmers’ market, working on my tan, started and finished Stephen McCauley’s True Enough (very good, and
recommended). Repotted the mint and the geranium, and made plans to see Grace Jones at the Hollywood Bowl next month.
25 June 2009 Since the Parade is this weekend here in San Francisco, I am re-posting something I wrote four years
ago about what should be called Gay Freedom Day, and not that other, trivializing name ("Pr-d-"). Why
I don’t celebrate “Pride”
San Francisco used to have the Gay Freedom Day parade,
not a “Pride” parade. “Pride” sufficed for other, less evolved, cities. The parade here wasn’t
a endless cortège of various corporate entities, it didn’t have an official lite beer, and most importantly,
the route wasn’t lined with barricades and overbearing monitors. You could easily step off the curb and become part
of the action. People do feel ashamed about being gay, and it’s
good that they can overcome it, but they should not then have pride in their homosexuality. There is nothing to be proud about
being gay (Exhibit 1: flagging) any more than there is to be proud about being straight (Exhibit 2: South Carolina Governor
Sanford's desire on Father's Day to do something "more exotic" in Argentina). Gay Freedom Day was about being free
to be gay and being free from oppression, which is what Polk Street and later the Castro represented: a place where you could
build your life; love freely; gather your chosen family; and pursue a career, if so inclined. In other words, make something
of yourself, and all the while being free to be as gay as you wanted. Where does pride enter into
all of this? It doesn’t and it can’t, except as one small part of living outside the closet. Choosing “pride”
as the organizing principle has stripped the parade of most of its political power; hence the recurrent debates about the
inanity of each parade’s stated theme. There should be no Pride Parade in San Francisco: it should be a proper march.
All those who wish to participate should gather, with their friends or with their contingent, at the foot of Market Street
at 9AM on the last Sunday in June and march up to the Civic Center. Unless they have mobility problems, no gay men or lesbians
should be standing on the sidewalk watching: they should be in the march. If heterosexual passers-by happen to watch, that’s
fine. If not, oh well. I’ve ridden my bicycle in the parade the last few years with Mikes on Bikes: no message but our
general faggotry: it’s the way the whole day should go. So, dear readers, don’t watch
the Parade, be the Parade.
24 June 2009
It has been a dramatic few days (in the thespian/cinematic
sense). I saw a semi-staged version of Iolanthe at the S.F. Symphony, which was wonderful, if somewhat inaudible.
Poor use of microphones, poor diction (mostly), a hall that was not really designed for human voice. And
then at the Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, I saw John Greyson’s Fig Trees on Monday and Curt McDowell’s Thundercrack! last night. Fig Trees was so brilliant I will not coarsen it with description,
other than to say that it was a split screen opera, documentary, and fantasy. Very marvelous, with lovely
music, as well. Fig Trees, fortunately, had subtitles, as everything that was not documentary
was sung. And Thundercrack!: a porno-art film-melodrama. The print was lovely,
but the sound quality was awful. First public screening since 2003. Two of the Kuchar
brothers were in the audience, as was Ms. McDowell. Green Eyes loved both Fig Trees and Thundercrack!
19 June 2009 Well, would someone please remind
me again why O. was ever considered the Gays’ Best Friend? Why did we donate so much money to his campaign? He hearts
DOMA. He hearts DADT.
And let’s see, in my own life:
a great visit to New Orleans. Lots of good food, of course. At Jacques-Imo’s, at Elizabeth’s, at the Ruby Slipper,
at Guy’s, at Angelo Brocato, and at the Marginy house of my friends. I found Constantinople Street
and drove down it looking for Ignatius. I never did find the Night of Joy (“Are you trying to ruin my investment?”).
I did see a drag version of Valley of the Dolls, but did not like it as much as I had hoped. Despite the recession
and the heat, the French Quarter was full of American tourists of size. At least they’re spending money. This weekend: another date with Green Eyes, a visit to the farmers’ market, a celebration of five June birthdays
(Geminis rule the world), a performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe, and several trips to the gym to lose the fried food and Sazeracs that somehow settled around my waist.
9 June
2009 It’s a palindromic date, Dear Reader. What’s new?
Very much enjoying getting to know Green Eyes. We have been hanging out effortlessly – it doesn’t feel
like “dating,” but rather just doing fun things with a cool person I do not yet know well. Farmers’
market report: rhubarb, a big bag of blueberries, bacon, and a few flowers. I am going to New Orleans (yes!) this weekend,
so I did not get too much food. I turned the blueberries into jam on Sunday. Perhaps a trifle too sweet,
but still quite lovely.
Birthday celebrations have been
fun. Lots of bubbles (sparking Vouvray on Sunday, and then a rustic Lambrusco to go with the anchovy pizza last night).
1
June 2009 Well, hello June! Another month, full of birthdays of friends and family. Farmers’ market report: wild arugula, yellow carrots, pickling cucumbers, red spring onions, rhubarb, strawberries,
Hass avocado, Queen Ann[e] Cherries, sausages, and a bunch of red godetia.
I made the cucumbers, carrots, and red
onion into a lightly pickled salad. I made a red sauce with the sausage for some pasta. I made a puree
of the rhubarb and a few strawberries, added softly whipped cream to make a fool. My sister and her family
came over for lunch (of the above). We then went to the Pirate store, a toy store, a
playground, a Vietnamese restaurant, and Pier 39 to see the sea lions and eat cotton candy. Lots of fun.
Yesterday, a date with Green Eyes. He’s very good company.
29 May 2009 Oooh-wheee. What a day yesterday. Very rocky in the morning. Then a lovely dinner with Green Eyes. And
he got a very short haircut, which made him even cuter.
I am looking forward to the weekend.
My nieces and nephews are coming over to see dinosaurs and pirates. And since it is now the Season
and casual Friday, I am going to wear my seersucker suit to work today. Perhaps with a pink shirt. We’ll see.
26 May 2009 And, of course, it's a beautiful sunny day now that the three-day weekend is over. I will take what I can get.
25
May 2009 Well, what a lovely weekend. Doing something
outside one’s usual Friday-night routine makes a weekend seem much longer To that end, after work
and the Gym on Friday, I had dinner at the Tadich Grill (very old school), sat at the counter, was waited on by an appropriately gruff waiter, had a martini (gin), grilled petrale
sole, and a plop of rice pudding. Then I continued my usual routine, took the BART down to the wine bar, had a glass or two,
and was home by 10. Saturday farmers’ market: snap peas,
asparagus, strawberries, lemons, bacon, and crimson ranunculus (which have a faint rosy smell). Saturday
afternoon, after a nap, I hulled the strawberries (six baskets), put them in sugar to macerate, and went back to the wine
bar to have a glass of Crémant de Jura and some salame with a friend whose boyfriend was out-of-town. Then I make a big (for me) batch of strawberry jam and went to bed. Sunday: another frigid day (49,
feels like 39, with cold, damp gusts and heavy fog). I decided that I would have full-blown SAD if I didn’t
get some sunshine. I found my tent and a sleeping bag, threw some shorts and t-shirts into a bag and headed up to Harbin Hot Springs, which I loved. Only two and a half hours northeast, but it was hot, dry, quiet. Quintessential
California summer weather. Hot, warm, and cold mineral water pools, a huge swimming pool, places to lay
out, campsites in a meadow and by a stream, nice people and lots of hippies, some gays, decent food, no TV, no blaring music.
Billions of stars last night. I am very rested even though I only had about 4 hours of sleep. And I met
a nice fellow, age- and achievement-appropriate. Raised Catholic. Green eyes. Parents still together. Gets along with his
siblings. Good sense of humor. We will have a date this week.
18 May 2009 (evening) And what did I cook? On Saturday I
had friends over for dinner, which meant I spent a good part of the day simply cleaning and tidying. I fried squash blossoms
to eat while we stood around the kitchen and I finished getting the dinner ready. Then we had a little
salad and Petrale sole in saor (fried then marinated in white wine and vinegar with lots of onions, a few raisins,
and a little candied citrus peel). Then a pork roast that I had seasoned with fennel, Maraş pepper, new garlic, coriander seed, and thyme, all ground to a paste and slathered everywhere (I took off the nasty
net in which the roast was wrapped, trimmed away the sinews, silverskin, and excess fat, and tied it up
again, but properly). I also made a little cassoulet of fava beans and violet artichokes. I used some of the back fat from
the pork roast in the cassoulet. And then a polenta-almond cake that did not quite work out.
And because I think plated food at home is vulgar, I served everything family style. Sunday:
we had spaghetti with my mother’s red sauce, and then spit-roasted chickens (stuffed with garlic and lots of rosemary,
sage, parsley, thyme), gravy with morel mushrooms, a cunning potato salad (Russian banana potatoes boiled whole, peeled while
hot, sprinkled with white wine and vinegar while still warm, sliced, and tossed with tiny cucumbers (sliced), sour cream,
chives, parsley, salt, Meyer lemon zest, olive oil, and a little Meyer lemon juice to balance things out), green beans with
fried almonds, snap peas cooked with a little lard (from yesterday’s pork roast) and spring onions, a carrot salad,
and then, after a rhetorical pause, chocolate cake and presents.
18
May 2009 (morning) Heatwave. Only two days this time. The
fog came back last night. 90 yesterday, 50 today. The Bay to Breakers piss-a-thon was
not as bad as usual. The neighbors were out in force with hoses and buckets of water from upper-story windows
to wash away the filth. That did not stop at least one guy from climbing up six porch steps and peeing
on the front door of a neighbor’s. Straight people. What is wrong with them? Farmers’ market report: pork, snap peas, asparagus, spring onions, marjoram, parsley, early peaches (surprisingly
tasty, so I bought them), Russian banana potatoes, violet artichokes, fava beans, petrale sole, salad greens, almonds, eggs,
and white godetia. Am late for work again. More later.
15 May 2009
Unexpectedly busy at work, with twists and turns
and convolutions. Resolution is coming, I think. Good vibes (~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~) to all those awaiting their results today
from the California Bar Exam of February. I may or may not be going to a small celebration this evening.
We won’t know until 6 p.m. Insomnia: why me, why me? I woke up unusually early this morning and am heading off to
the gym. The Bay-to-Breakers piss-a-thon is happening this weekend. I hope the urination on my block (and my porch and my
back steps) is at a lower level this year. Do young straight people even realize that no one truly cares
for them or their drunken-ass culture?
12 May 2009 I have been enjoying Aaron’s newest incarnation at Homologous: his travels, his musings, and beautifully photographed recipes. And I’m honored that he gave your Cunégonde
a nice shout-out last week. Pay him a visit.
9 May 2009 Another palindromic date, and the birthday of someone very dear to me.
Farmers’ market report: English
peas, violet artichokes with vicious spines, asparagus, beef, spring onions, prunes, rhubarb, yellow freesias, pink ranunculus. Still recuperating from NYC. Still feeling a little procrastinatory.
I wish I knew why. Spring fever?
7 May
2009 It’s Consecutive Odd Number Day. Enjoy. I
am back from a nice trip to NY. Ate well (Jean-Georges, Le Bernardin, the fabulous Almond on 22nd Street, and my favorite,
Prune.) The trip home took 12 hours. We got diverted from SFO to Oakland (!).
Didn’t have enough fuel to take off again and fly to SFO (5 miles?), so we had to wait to be refueled, and then
get in line to hop back over the Bay.
It’s now back to work. and the
gym.
1 May 2009 We'll, I'm back. A little mixup regarding renewing the domain. Let's all dance around the May Pole,
no? I am going to New York tomorrow for work and fun and to see old friends.
I am spending what seems like a FORTUNE on a glamorous new hotel -- very uncharacteristic if you know my miserly ways.
I am hoping to visit Thé Adoré and Prune and perhaps Unis and Seize sur Vingt, and maybe the Cloisters.
A little touching would be nice, too. And in other good news, Aaron is back.
23 April 2009 Well, Happy Sant Jordi Day, the same day Shakespeare and Cervantes died and Nabokov was born. And do I love San Francisco sometimes, yes. Tonight, after work I went to Terroir, to a lovely and invitation-only tasting of a wines from dozen or so winemakers whose wines are imported by Louis/Dressner.
It was a marvel. Pure and true wines, not f*cked up with dosages, or micro-oxygenation,
or tiny barriques where they don’t belong, or wood-chips, god help us. Here’s a hint: if you’re
in a wine shop and can’t decide, turn the bottles around and look for the Louis/Dressner label (or the Neal Rosenthal
label). You won’t go wrong. You may not love the wine, but you will have something real to drink.
Wine made the way people have been making wines for hundreds (or thousands) of years, not a concoction designed to
appeal to the many. And then on the way home I passed
by the Brazilian Jiujistu place (with Ji) and watched the young men grappling. And felt the brisk, damp ocean breezes in my
face as I walked. Could be worse, could be worse.
22 April 2009
Well, Dear Reader(s), this is the sixth anniversary of your Cunegonde's
blog. Thanks for following along. Many changes in my life since then, and some very cool new people. How
much longer can I keep this up? Good question. Part of the prob. is that I have to be discreet nowadays, not just
here, on the internets, but in real life as well. We'll see.
Other news: the fog is back, it seems. Woke up this morning to cool,
fresh breezes. The two big questions are thus: should I bring a jacket to work, in case it's freezing by the time I
leave, and should I shut up the apartment, in case it's freezing by the time I get home?
20 April 2009
Heat wave! I spent most of Sunday afternoon in Dolores Park, along with about 100,000 other San Franciscans, all pretending
that the weather is always warm and lovely here. I noted lots of wine drinking
up at our corner. I started out near a gaggle of the Gays, all listening to their
own Ip*d boomboxes. Fortunately, some friends rescued me.
Farmers’ market report:
rhubarb, asparagus, sprouting broccoli, chard, navel oranges, Tarocco blood oranges, sausages, calendula, and ranunculus. I made a sauce of the sausages in some of the frozen tomato purée I made last summer.
12 April 2009
Buona Pasqua. It has been a long few days. Spent much of it with my parents. Things seem to be better now. I ended up doing a lot of cooking. Thursday night: a puréed soup of leeks and asparagus, then a chicken
stuffed under the skin with chard and green garlic, and snap peas with ham and spring onions, and then a chocolate cake. Friday: red snapper baked with lemons, with a little beurre blanc lightened with fumet,
roasted fennel and potatoes, and some other vegetable I have forgotten. Tonight:
spaghetti with a tomato-ricotta sauce, then beef braised in red wine, chard, and borlotti beans with sage, and my mother’s
1960s-style cheesecake.
I did see my new boyfriend at
Rainbow grocery. Tall, fit, curly hair, big nose, shopping in many of the same aisles I was. (I swear I wasn’t stalking
him.)
This week: lots of work, the
gym, getting over this dreadful cold, staying quite sane.
2 April 2009
Are you pointing that finger
at me? It’s not Facebook that has derailed my blogging, it’s ennui. And having a job that requires a discretion.
I still don’t quite get the point of Facebook.
In other news, I think (or I
hope) I have Snapped Out of It, at least for now. Lots of social activities this
weekend, including a date with the handsome gay bachelor I won last weekend. Keep
fingers crossed.
30 March 2009
Well, let’s see. I’ve been re-gruntling. Sorry to have gone away for so long.
I think I’m back on track.
Spent last weekend in warm and
sunny L.A. We got off the plane on Friday morning and headed straight to the
Getty Malibu (or rather, the Getty Villa). Quite grand, and lots to see. I had forgotten that the collection includes some works of my ancestors, the Etruscans. And then to the hotel, where we sat by the rooftop pool for the rest of the afternoon. We had a nap, went to an AIDS-ride fundraiser – an auction for handsome gay
bachelors – I got me one. And then do a delicious Korean dinner in a strip
mall on Olympic.
Saturday – lounged by the
pool after breakfast. Had lunch with an old friend. Lounged by the pool in the afternoon.
Sushi for dinner. Early to bed.
Yesterday – brunch at Barney Greengrass to see feeding time in the zoo. Then window-shopping there and at Fred
Segal and along Third Street. The economy is already in the dumps in L.A. –
more so than here. And then home.
What else – I just read
Alternatives to Sex by Stephen McCauley, which I loved. It’s not often you can find a decent novel about a gay man in his forties
struggling to find a way to age with grace and dignity.
9 March 2009
Palindromic date. Eve of a full
moon. Also the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against the Chinese occupation and repression.
Keeping fingers
crossed.
3 March 2009
Happy Square Root Day!
2 March 2009
Well, another good day on Wall
Street. Musta bin the snow.
Farmers’ market report:
eggs, chicken, yams, celery root, green garlic, arugula, frisée lettuce, tangelos, and apricot-colored tulips.
You put the cut-up chicken in
a pot with the green garlic, big chunks of celery root, yams, carrots, and a little thyme, bay leaf, bacon, and mustard, seal
the pot to the lid with luting pastry, toss it in the oven, and forget about it for 90 minutes. Then you take it out, let it rest for about 10-15 minutes, and break the seal (oh, the drama), and have
a lovely, moist and fragrant meal. A salad after, and then a tangelo sorbet. And a nice Morgon to drink with the chicken.
(And yes, it's a variation of the chicken with forty cloves
of garlic in Richard Olney's Simple French Food (the best cookbook of the last 100 years), but with more vegetables
and less garlic.)
And then we slipped over to the
symphony and came home and laughed at Catherine Tate on youtube. Sunday was quiet.
I went to the gym, bought the Lovell biography of the Mitford sisters and a collection of Dorothy L. Sayers short mysteries
and stayed up too late reading.
Tomorrow: a physical, a visit
to the eye doc, and so forth.
22 February 2009
Well, where were we? A nice weekend.
I didn’t work. On Friday, a birthday party for a neighbor where we ate Spanish food and chatted with the Spaniards that
made it. Saturday: farmers’ market: pork, kumquats, tangelos, rapini, parsley,
eggs, and green garlic. I forgot to buy flowers. Doh.
Sunday: a birthday brunch at
Zuni (rabbit salad), a nap, and then puttering. I had been invited to dinner at friends, but they came down with a fever,
so that was off.
I did manage to put away the
laundry, iron my handkerchiefs and some napery, and read the entire Times and SF Chronicle.
I’m taking a break from looking for real estate until I can save a bit (a lot) more for a down payment. since
the banks are requiring a 20% down payment these days. I can’t blame them,
but it suxxx.
9 February 2009
The second palindromic date of
the year.
Restful weekend. Nice dinner at Eos on Friday night. Farmers’ market
and coffee in North Beach Saturday morning (Temple oranges, blood oranges, broccoli di cicco, Chantenay carrots, white Malaysian
guavas, and mauve tulips), and then a quick trip over the Bridge to Berkeley for Indian snacks at Vik’s Chaat House,
and then back for the symphony (Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2, Sibelius, and Scriabin).
And Sunday: quiet puttering, haircut, house hunting (finally saw something we liked, please keep your fingers crossed
for us), and then a bike ride to two bookstores (scored a copy of the Castafiore Emerald and a Henry Adams reader, all for
$9.50.) Unfortch, it began to pour while I was out on my bike, so I got rather
moist. It was a bit brisk.
This week: Robert Thurman tonight
at City Arts & Lectures, and then a kindofdate on Wednesday with perhaps my new muse, and other productiveness on the
work and home front.
1 February 2009
Well, happy Imbolc, St. Brigid’s
Day, or Purissima, however you celebrate the half-way mark between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. I spent the day in the sun – first in a post-breakfast nap on my back deck, and then later, with
thousands of right-thinking San Franciscans, in Dolores Park. It got more crowded
as the S. Bowl started, which is just another reason I love San Francisco.
Farmers’ market report:
blood oranges (Moros), nettles, a loaf of bread from della Fattoria, yams, and beef.
I rented Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona
last night and mostly hated it. It was one of those dumb, dumb stories about
the inherently unstable and unsatisfactory opposite-sex relationships that our heterosexual friends and neighbors like to
tell each others. And all that layered within a sub-Jamesian Americans-in-Europe
frame.
27 January 2009
Happy New Year, again. Year of
the Ox. Struggles ahead that will call for perseverance. It’s a good time to re-evaluate one’s new year’s resolutions. Number one for me, is how to become and stay a happy lawyer (and yes, this has many subparts, or elements,
as we say in the Law).
Farmers’ market report:
nettles, broccoli di Cicco, white Malaysian guavas, sausages, and Valencia oranges.
Tip for the day: take three deep
breaths.
22 January 2009
Phew! as to the demise of the
B*sh regime. I was never a big BHO fan, but I am very happy he’s there.
And I’m also glad that he re-took the oath of office with Roberts, C.J.
Going to see Amy Sedaris tonight.
18 January 2009
Well, let’s see. Quiet weekend. Went to the Symphony on Saturday night (Tilson Thomas, Prokofiev, and
Tchaikovsky). Friday night included a trip to the wine bar with a co-worker.
Farmers’ market report:
buttercup squash (looks like kabocha, but rounder), tat soi, clementines, prunes, white Malaysian guavas, and cream-colored
tulips.
It was warm enough today for
a littel sunbathing on the back deck.
Otherwise, very quiet.
10 January 2009
Farmers’ market report:
a big bag of Valencia oranges, a Marsh grapefruit (red), khadrawi dates, bok choy, tat soi, and no flowers (sold out).
And I did get my hair cut, nice
and refreshingly short. No more middle-aged Emo guy look for me, thanks.
9 January 2009
The first palindromicimordnilap
date of the year, and a full moon (more or less). It has been a very busy week
chez Cunégonde. Lots of work (motion practice, with all that that entails).
Plans for the weekend: I’ve
already been to the wine bar. I shall go to the Farmers’ Market tomorrow,
insha’allah, get one’s hair cut, and perhaps make a quick trip home, and some quality nap time. Yoga on Sunday, to keep my New Year’s Resolution #3 of yoga once a week?
6 January 2009
Well, let’s see. I was
going to write Lorem ipsum dolor
sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua, but I thought
better of it.
The holidays went well. I had
a very nice mini-retreat (yoga & meditation) at Esalen, and now I am back to work full time.
Goals for the new year: buy a
nice place to live with a friend, find some work-life balance, stay physically active, start a long-term relationship, and
keep on cookin’!
24 December 2008
Merry Xmas to those who celebrate
that one, and happy Solstice and Happy Elizabeth David’s Birthday (Dec. 26).
Let’s see. Busy. Family
stuff. Going to go to the fish market (Sun Fat on Mission & 23rd) to buy fish for tonight’s dinner (baked in a red
sauce with spinach, and polenta on the side), and then pork for tomorrow (braised in milk, alla Bolognese), with a chard gratin,
sautéed apples, and perhaps yams in bourbon (culture clash).
Work: both good and bad.
My foot is healing (minor surgery),
which means I haven’t been up to going to the gym until yesterday. Flab and sagging have sprung forth about my person,
alas.
Ok, tootles.
17 December 2008
I would just like to point out
that it is 35F/1.67C outside, which is rather low for San Francisco. It means
that it is now 50F/10C inside my apartment. I cooked and ate breakfast
while wearing a down jacket. Cozy.
14 December 2008
Farmers’ market report:
beef, Clementines (sweet, tart, and juicy), Splendour and White Winter Pearmain apples, almonds, nettles, prunes, lilies and
auburn chrysanthemums.
Still working like crazy. Trying not to be a grave disappointment. Writing
thousands of words every day. I got a foxy new haircut. Saw two episodes of the Golden Girls performed by drag queens. Verbatim. It revealed the subtext that had been there all along.
Going to make a cornmeal-white
wine-rosemary pound cake if I can remember what how I used to do it.
Other plans for this week: cleaning
my apartment from top to bottom in advance of my holiday guests.
7 December 2008
Let’s see. Pearl Harbor Day. Sunny von Bulow has died. (Dershowitz to Mr. v B.: “You are a very strange man.”
Mr. v B.: “You have no idea.”) It’s also the 40th anniversary
of the first demonstration of the personal computer (in San Francisco, natch).
Farmers’ market report:
pork, White Winter Pearmain apples (for a taste of the middle ages), oranges, yams, and ripe black olives. I have salted the
olives to start curing them. They should be ready in a month or so. I also crushed a bunch of them with my mortar and pestle: I thought it would be easy to separate the oil
from the amurca. But no. I need a way of pressing the pulp to extract the oil, which I don’t
have. A small quantity of oil has risen to the top of the pulp, but nothing I
can drain or even skim off. Oh well.
Trying to find a way to balance
work and life. That’s my next big goal around here.
1 December 2008
Farmers’ market report:
sausages, eggs, and chrysanthemums. Nothing else. I still have too many leftovers
from Thanksgiving.
We had: a clear chicken broth
with black chanterelle mushrooms (trompettes de la morte) to start, then the turkey with a traditional bread stuffing, green
beans cooked with the clandestine bacon, fresh shell beans with yellow chanterelles, an out-of-turkey stuffing with sausage
and black olives, my mother’s homemade cranberry jelly, and cabbage with prunes and sautéed apples. I think there was something else I don’t recall. The
wines were various and good (supplied by an oenophile cousin).
The rest of the weekend: work. Plus I may have bought some (cough Jil Sander) shoes at 70% off. So bad.
26 November 2008
So, Gael Greene has finally been fired. I would like to point out that I publicly identified her as a has-been TWENTY years ago in a national magazine. Your Cunégonde keeps her finger on the pulse.
23 November 2008
Farmers’ market report:
bacon, apples (Philo Gold and White Winter Pearmain), cabbage, dates, limes, eggs, and purplish chrysanthemums.
I spent most of the weekend recuperating
from my nasty cold. That meant lounging around from couch to easy chair and back again. I don’t have all my energy back
yet.
I stayed to myself this weekend
partly to work through some issues in my head. Mission accomplished? I don’t know yet, but changes must be made or they
will be made for me. I have too many of my eggs in one basket. Red Flag! Red Flag!
It’s feeling
autumnal around here. The earliest trees are turning color – so vibrant in the morning sunshine when I walk to the Municipal
Railway.
20 November 2008
Viral pharyngitis. I can’t
recommend it. Swallowing feels like swallowing crushed glass. Work has been keeping me busy. Other than that, not much news.
11 November 2008
Plugging away. Restful weekend: a few glasses of wine after work on Friday with a chum from law school; a long nap on
Saturday during the rain; a Day of the Dead party; and a lovely dinner party with dear friends who love to cook and entertain
on Sunday.
Farmers’ market report:
cabbage, prunes, Northern Spy apples, eggs, bacon, and what turned out to be ruddy lilies.
I am reading Antoine’s
Alphabet by Jed Perl (on Watteau) and am enjoying it.
And pause today to remember all
those who died in wars just and unjust.
6 November 2008
Grouchy, as you might imagine. All riled up. Defend “traditional”
marriage, my ass.
I have received a number of very
supportive messages from all over, including from my Future Canadian Boyfriend, whose arms are now bigger than ever. Golly.
And now we learn that Bible Spice
did not know that Africa was a continent.
4 November 2008
Californians: Vote NO on Proposition 8.
2 November 2008
Still here. Just not as into
it as I once was.
Farmers’ market report:
Tokio turnips with their greens, bacon, sausages, Black Twig apples, marrow shelling beans, prunes, and pale dahlias in the
colors of summer frocks.
What else: I had a good trip
to Esalen, despite the new age baby boomers, and I sat for long hours in the hot mineral baths that overhang the surf
crashing on the rocks below. I also saw a million stars one evening when the fog lifted.
I’ve been busy working.
Vote NO on the hateful Proposition 8.
19 October 2008
Well, it has been a while, hasn’t
it? Work has been keeping me busy, and I am trying to remember it cannot be the
sole, or even primary, focus of my energies.
Farmers’ market report:
shelling beans (cranberry), long red peppers, erbette chard, three kinds of apples (York, Seek-No-Further, and a russet),
Comice pears, and dusky scarlet dahlias.
Not much other news. Through
Facebook I found my best friend from childhood; we had a nice talk the other day. Still
trying to make it regularly to the gym. Went house-hunting today but did not
see anything we wanted to buy (except for a huge space of almost 10,000 square feet for only $3.4 million, which we stumbled
into by accident).
And, in a way, I have found a
muse, although he’s type of muse who’s younger. We’ll see where this leads. Did I mention that he’s
straight?
5 October 2006
Well, this is not over yet.
It
finally rained on Friday night. The air has been deliciously clear ever since.
Fall is here. I wish I had a boyfriend.
Farmers’ market report:
shelling beans, chard, apples (Cox’s Orange Pippin), various peppers, and small orange chrysanthemums, and that’s
it.
I shelled and cooked the beans
tonight. Very delicious.
30 September 2008
Well, this is proving to be an interesting week, isn't it?
21 September 2008
Last day of summer. We had our first rain Friday night. It was more like a furtive drizzle, but it was the first real rain since
April or maybe March.
Farmer’s market report:
beef and marrow bones, zucchini, eggplant, various long red peppers (some hot, some not), parsley, tomatoes, yellow wax beans,
Romano beans, French Butter pears, apples (Belle de Boskoop), a small green melon, buffalo mozzarella, and scarlet gladiolas.
We had a little family dinner
to celebrate the end of summer. Pasta with a simple red sauce with tomatoes from
the garden; and then a spit-roasted roast beef larded with garlic and rosemary, a baked eggplant-pepper-tomato-and zucchini
dish (thin yet intense), the beans blanched and then warmed in garlic and oil, and a potato-fennel gratin; and then a tomato
salad with the buffalo mozzarella; and then a delightful apple pie. A 2004 Chateau
Montelena cabernet with the roast was nice enough. I pried the raw marrow from
the bones, roasted the bones and put them in the sauce, and used the marrow to make a roux to thicken and enrich the sauce. Waste not, want not.
And, what he said. It may be time to wrap this up or go on a hiatus.
15 September 2008
Farmers' market report: fresh Barhi dates, cherry tomatoes, Romano beans,
two kinds of corn, green garlic, and Bronx grapes.
Financial meltdown with this morning's full moon. Lehman and Merrill --
who's next? I am so glad we have spent last week worrying about lipstick on a pig.
12 September 2008
Well, maybe not so much.
But then again, it might be fine.
10 September 2008
Well, I was pleased to ascertain,
upon awakening this morning, that the world had not ended with the start-up of the Large Hadron Collider in the Helvetic Confederation,
but then I learned that the big experiments won’t begin until October 21, 2008.
Am I the only one that thinks
that being swallowed up by a black hole would not be the worst way for the world to end? How long could it take? 10-15 minutes?
Could be worse.
Quoi d’autre? I am going
to try to sell a few stamps I inherited from Steve long ago – trying to raise money for a down-payment. He also left me a number of comic books – I have no idea how to get them evaluated.
7 September 2008
Well, I got the rest I needed,
but that meant that I did not get the work done I had hoped. Oh, well.
Farmers’ market report:
two melons (Ambrosia and ananas(?)), dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes, fresh Khadrawi dates, Muscat grapes, goat chops,
okra, and mauve dahlias.
Friday evening I spent at my
new favorite wine bar and met a nice microprocessor engineer (straight, of course). Saturday involved much puttering and a
nice little bike ride.
Sunday: a visit to the office,
a book-signing party across the Bay at the restaurant where I used to work. One of the chefs has a new cookbook
that has been getting great reviews. And then a visit to the wine bar (to introduce friends who would love it), and
then a graduation party (long story) at the home of a cousin. And then home for more
work.
5 September 2008
Still here. Frantically busy,
but in a good way. Moving ahead now on plans to move (into my own place).
That Sarah Palin: Bad feeling
about this election. Jeepers.
And is everyone else as sick of "Bansky" as I am?
1 September 2008
Moving right along. Only four full months to go of this year. Hard to believe.
Farmers’ market report:
prunes, peaches, beef, tomatoes, slim red peppers, strawberries, and gladiolas.
Friday evening I betook myself
to the wine bar (yet again!), where I made the acquaintance of a nice young woman from Chicago. We fell to talking and discovered
that we both were interested in food. Since she was planning to go to the farmers’
market in the morning, we decided to meet up there (at the Gandhi statue). Much
fun was had. We took her to all of our favorite vendors and then stopped at the
wine bar for a refreshing glass of sparkling red Lambrusco.
And then I came home and had
a nap.
El Rio was also quiet on Sunday,
but in a nice way. Lovely dinner with old friends. And today I puttered, watched anxiously for news about New Orleans, went to the gym for the first time
in ten days, and then worked until almost 10 p.m.
It’s going to be a good
month, no?
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