Birthday on the Boardwak
I think the last time we were at the Jersey Shore was a couple of years before Hurricane Sandy. Our vacations have either been Europe or West Coast - either of which is generally less expensive than renting a house at the shore for a week. I like going down to the ocean, but my Irish complexion is just not conducive to sitting on the beach hours at a time. I've had some pretty horrendous sunburns in my 63 years - I don't plan on ever having another.
So... when Victor asked if I wanted to head to Atlantic City for a few days for my birthday, I jumped at it! Walking the boards, eating salt water taffy, and pulling a few slots sounded like a lot of fun - and there's plenty to do besides sitting in the sand. The second thing I said after saying a resounding YES was we needed to drive home on the Black Horse Pike and hit some Farm Stands.
New Jersey is called The Garden State for a reason. The produce coming out of South Jersey is pretty spectacular and the Black Horse Pike runs through what was once some pretty intensive farming. Much of it has been sold off for shopping malls and sub-divisions, but there's still farmers out there growing some awesome stuff.
The farm stands - numerous even in the '90s when we would come back to visit family - have dwindled to a small handful. But what they lack in number they more than make up for in price and quality. We stopped at one quiet roadside stand and spent 30 minutes talking with the woman who ran the place. She was apologizing for not having things but giving a rundown of when different things would be coming in and lamenting the finicky customers who want perfect-looking produce over stuff that actually tastes good. We had a great time sharing stories and cooking ideas and tips.
We bought raw, unheated, unfiltered local honey.
And tomatoes, corn, blueberries, blackberries, potatoes, lots of hot peppers, plums, blackberry jelly, fig preserves, melons... And spent less than $30 for everything.
We could have easily brought home more, but reality struck. We need to be able to eat this stuff up in just a couple of days. It's fresh!
Hammonton - where Victor's cousin lives and his mom used to live - is the Blueberry Capital of the east and the blueberries are outstanding.
We bought a couple of pints and the minute we got home Victor made a huge fruit salad and a tomato salad. I fried peppers and we had them on top of pork chops for dinner - along with tomato salad. Nonna absolutely loves tomato salad and Jersey tomatoes are her favorite - after the ones we get out of the yard.
Speaking of yard... they're not producing as we had hoped so we may be heading back down towards the end of the tomato season and pick up a bushel of tomatoes and make sauce for canning. It would be fun.
In the meantime... we're enjoying the few things we did get and contemplating another trek down September 26th for the Miss'd America Pageant. We saw the reigning Miss'd America - Honey Davenport and her first two runners-up, Holly Dae and Fifi DuBois on the boardwalk for a fun show and I'd love to see the whole pageant.
It was a great birthday, indeed...
Marriage Equality and French Champagne
At 10 o'clock this morning, I really really wanted to call my mother. She would have been so happy. Very honestly really happy.
I remember the day 40-whatever years ago when I told her I was gay. She cried. Not because I was gay, but because she knew what a rough life I was going to have - and she feared I would be alone. I lived all over the USofA chasing rainbows of one sort or another but true love always eluded me. I hid the rough spots over the years, but she always hoped I would settle down.
And then I - and she - met Victor. It was love at first sight.
She adored him and knew from Day One that I had finally met my life-mate. She was a proud mama and so happy that her little boy had finally found the happiness she had always hoped and prayed for.
She died way too soon, but she left us knowing we were happy.
And today, I just wanted to call her and say We Did It! Legal everywhere! She would have beamed with pride.
What a difference from that little boy 50 years ago - several lifetimes ago - who at 13 actually thought about killing himself. I knew I was different, I thought something was wrong with me. I kinda knew what it was, but it was something I had to keep secreted in the deepest depths of my being. The love that dare not speak its name...
It was a very frightening time. I think it's one of the reasons I'm very publicly out today. I want other 13 year old kids to see a [reasonably] well-adjusted adult gay male out there and just kinda pass on the "it's okay" message.
When I told my father I was gay, his reply was "I know. I was wondering how long it would be before you finally mentioned it."
And then I CAME OUT. In a blaze of Rainbow Glory. I was so out my brother finally told me he liked me better when I was in the closet. I got the message and toned things down a bit. It was such a relief, though, not to have to hide. Of course, it opened up a whole new can of worms... I got to experience fear - not of being found out - but of getting my ass kicked for being in the wrong place or coming out of the wrong bar. And then there was the hotel GM who told me I wasn't going any further up the Corporate Ladder because I didn't have - emphasis his - a wife.
So many years of open and blatant discrimination. So many years of being called a sodomite and a sinner, that I was going to hell. Laws enacted to deny me my basic human rights.
Hell - I couldn't even get out of the draft by saying I was gay. In those pre-Don't Ask Don't Tell days, I would have been inducted, and then dishonorably discharged. With a probably prison sentence. Really. I lied like hell and then hoped to hell no one found out.
When we moved back here from California in 2001, I - naturally - had to quit my job. California denied me unemployment because we weren't married. I filed an appeal and a judge wrote a scathing opinion denouncing California, stating that we had done everything we legally could to validate our relationship and they couldn't deny my unemployment based on a legality they refused to give me. It was great.
When California finally enacted Marriage Equality we finally decided to get married at home in San Francisco in 2008. The wedding was planned for November 23rd. Prop 8 passed on November 8th. So much for our non-wedding.
We were finally married in October 2010 by a dear friend in New Hampshire. And then parts of DoMA were repealed. In May 2014 - while we were in Sicily - Pennsylvania recognized our New Hampshire marriage.
And today, June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court announced we are married. Period.
What a long, strange trip it has been. I don't think that little boy 50 years ago ever dreamed this day would come.
Hell - in 1995, Victor and I marched as honor guards in the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade for Hawai'i defendants Ninia Baehr and Genora Dancel - two of the women who sued Hawai'i for the right to marry and really started the firestorm. I didn't think we had a snowballs chance in hell of ever seeing marriage equality in our lifetimes.
The champagne came back with us from Paris about 10 years ago. It's been sitting in the 'fridge waiting the right moment to come out, so to speak. Today seemed like the perfect day to drink champagne and spread some cheer.
So cent’ anni - a hundred years!
Oh... and that 10 year old champagne was outstanding! We need to go back and get another bottle!
Gnocchi and a New Grill
On Monday, I finally decided to get serious about fixing our gas grill. It was rusted through the bottom, burners were rusted, I needed to light it with matches... It was a mess. It had been a mess for a couple of years, but I just kept putting off fixing it. So... I went to the website and started pricing replacement parts.
As I was scanning through the list, I realized I needed way more parts than was practical. Time to get a new grill. I went on to Amazon Smile and yesterday our new grill was delivered. In a really big box. Assembly required.
Assembly doesn't bother me, but instructions without words - just pictures - are not my forte. They generally just don't make sense to me. Icons, in general, don't make sense to me. What can I say?!?
I had planned to put it together tomorrow, but I got to leave work early, today. I came home, baked a loaf of bread, and set out to conquer Mr Char-Broil.
Victor - very wisely - planned a dinner that did not require a grill. He knows me. Well.
I actually did pretty well. I only made one screw-up - misreading the two front panels for a brace I couldn't find necessitating some awkward screwing after the fact - but it was all done in 2 hours. No cursing, crying, temper-tantrums, or smashed fingers.
Meanwhile, Victor was in the kitchen making ricotta gnocchi.
OMG! Talk about light-as-a-feather gnocchi! These may be his best one's yet - and every time he makes them they're great!
Ricotta Gnocchi
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
- 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Combine the ricotta, Parmesan, olive oil, eggs and 1 teaspoon salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour in 3 parts, stirring with a rubber spatula. It will be a loose dough.
Bring the dough together in a ball and cut off one-quarter of it. Dust the work surface with all-purpose flour to prevent sticking, and roll the cut-off piece of dough into a long rope about 5/8 inch in diameter. Cut the rope into 5/8-inch pieces. Dust some parchment paper with flour and place the gnocchi on it to prevent sticking. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Cook the gnocchi in boiling water for 2 minutes.
Drain and serve with your favorite sauce.
Our favorite sauce is anything Victor makes. Fortunately, we have plenty in the house.
Fresh bread, homemade pasta, off work early on a beautiful Spring day, and a new grill.
Life definitely doesn't suck around here!
And tomorrow?!? Time to break that baby in!
Oh... and yes, that is a mosaic picture of San Francisco on our wall outside. It was made by my great Aunt Dolores in the early '60s. It's pretty cool.
San Francisco
How many times have I driven under that sign? Ya need to stay middle-left lanes because the road splits - three lanes right to 280 Downtown and three lanes straight onto any number of city streets or around Lake Merced to take me out to the ocean and the Ancestral Home. In the past 14 years I haven't driven it nearly enough - but I still know which lane to be in when I need to be in it...
San Francisco. Home. What a great place. And what a total and complete blast it is when all my siblings, spouses, nieces, nephews, in-laws, out-laws, and significant others get together.
Raucous doesn't begin to describe it.
We got out of Philadelphia between ice and snow storms and landed in 70°+ sunshine and blue skies. California is having one hellava drought. I didn't seem to mind all that much. What weather! And what fun. We headed over to my brother's house, unpacked, and started eating. Eating and San Francisco are pretty synonymous. We waited for my sister and her brood to arrive and headed around the corner to a great neighborhood restaurant - The Parkside Tavern. When I was a kid it was a bar called The Lost Weekend and the place had a pipe organ with the organist sitting up in a corner over the bar. Slightly-inebriated sing-alongs were quite common and my parents and my dad's cousin would stop in now and again and Cousin Don would almost always end up playing the organ at some point. It's changed, a bit. For the better, I might add! Great food and a lot of fun.
It was reasonably early to bed and then up for a free-for-all breakfast down at the Millbrae Pancake House. For six siblings with sundry offspring, it's the perfect place. Big tables and great food and service.
This is part of one table. And we tipped really - really - well.
This is Grandma Judy and Granddaughter Gloria.
And Mason. He's no longer the youngest great... Nya arrived January 30th. But more on her, later... This was Saturday morning-ish. We were laying the caloric groundwork for dinner later at The Old Clam House where Grandma Judy works.
The Old Clam House has been in the same location in the same building since 1861. Abe Lincoln was President. And the food is excellent. The drinks are pretty damned good, as well.
Of course we all had to congregate at the bar while waiting for everyone to arrive...
Cameras were everywhere, because... well... we like taking pictures.
Having fun talking with the nieces and nephews and finding out what's new. How the hell did little Michael become 31 years old? And baby Nicole is 29. As my father would often say, they were no bigger than a popcorn fart. Pop's off-color and irreverent sayings are legendary - and they really do explain a lot...
Here's little Katie with her intended, Ben, and Brandon is going to be the newest official member of the family when he and niece Megan marry in August. Great kids and great additions to the family.
And no party is complete without the twinnies... Arlene and Eileen are numbers 4 and 5.
46 of us had dinner and we took over our own room in the restaurant. Loud and Raucous. I did mention we are Loud and Raucous, didn't I?
And since this is supposed to be a food blog, here's my dinner... Dungeness Crab Enchiladas...
I can't even begin to tell you how awesome they were. We gorged for what seemed like hours and then started thinking about Super Bowl Food.
My brother bought three whole briskets at Guerra's on 15th & Taraval. Some of the best meat in the city... He slow-cooked them for about 12 hours. They made some awesome sandwiches... There were also...
Taco Dips and...
Jalapeño Poppers, and...
Olive and Cheese Toasts, and... Maggie's Dip that I didn't get a picture of but it was damned good!!
Mike getting the brisket together. Then, there was just general tomfoolery...
And lots of alcohol...
Not that anyone needs alcohol to be loud...
Just before kick-off, we stopped to celebrate Maddie's 7th Birthday. Seven... Where does the time go?!?
The babies are all having babies. And the babies are growing up, too! We had a great time watching the game. There were 2 Seattle fans in a roomful of New England fans... Did I mention loud and raucous?!?
And speaking of babies... I told you about our niece, Nya... Here she is... all 4 days old of herself! First with Great-Uncle Tim...
And then with Great-Uncle Victor...
She is totally adorable. Momma Julia is totally together, totally relaxed, and completely comfortable in her role as a new mommie. It really does help being a part of a large family. You learn early on that they don't break.
She is just too cute for words!
From visiting babies, we went off to visit the City...
First stop was the ocean. This is about three blocks from where I grew up. I spent a lot of time down here in my youth... a lot of it was doing juvenile delinquent-type stuff like smoking and drinking and other illicit stuff, but, somehow we all survived. And we sure as hell had fun!
Next up was Lands End and the old Sutros.
The weather could not have been more perfect. There's a new Information Center and Gift Shop up there that opened a couple of years ago. We bought lots of stuff. And then we headed up to the Place of the Legion of Honor. Once upon a time, Point Lobos ran from Lands End to the Palace of the Legion of Honor and then down into the Presidio and to the Golden Gate Bridge. An earthquake in 1957 closed the road. It's now called "The Earthquake Walk." Or the land of the whispering bushes... We took city streets up the hill to Lincoln Park. 
Great views of the Golden Gate and of the bridge. We followed the road down into the Presidio and over to the Palace of Fine Arts.
This is one of the coolest buildings in San Francisco. Most folks think it's left over from the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition. It's actually a replica. The original was built of lathe and stucco as a temporary building. For whatever reason, this one building stayed while everything else was torn down and housing built. By the 1950's it had fallen into complete disrepair, and was fenced off. Finally, in 1965 or so, molds were taken of the original buildings and it was recreated in concrete - built to last.
It's something totally unique in a totally unique city.
And then there was even more uniqueness... Keith Haring at the deYoung Museum.
I've always been a fan of Keith Haring and knew he was a prolific artist. I really had no idea just how prolific he was! The show was much of his political work.
Some of his paintings are just so bizarre, I have to wonder what in the hell was going through his mind when he was creating them. Others are just simple executions of very strong statements.
Definitely a genius.
From the deYoung, we headed across the grass to the new California Academy of Sciences. This is one cool place that really brings back the memories. It's been completely rebuilt and is now a serious state of the art exhibition. Many many moons ago, my ex-sister-in-law's father was the Chief Engineer at Steinhart Aquarium and I got to spend a lot of time behind the scenes where the tanks, offices, and plumbing were. It was held together with duct tape and baling wire. The voters finally passed a bond issue to rebuild. And the rebuilt it right. My nephew Michael was a plumber on the job.
There are still remnants of the original structure and they worked older elements into the new design - like the alligator fence around the alligator pit. Back in the day, people threw coins at them to see if they would get them to move. We're a bit more enlightened, today. No throwing of anything - and in many places, no photography. They've discovered issues with newer cameras, iPhones and the like and how they transmit signals to the animals. Fascinating stuff.
Of course, we needed to get out and eat more, so we stopped off at Ike's Place where my niece, Jennifer works.
Totally awesome sandwiches. As in - totally awesome. There was a line out the door when we got there and they moved them like you wouldn't believe. Great food.
Great food. We had lots and lots of great food. But what we really had, was a great time with great family. It's rather amazing that there are six of us and we actually like one another and have fun with one another. The kids all get along and have fun with one another. The babies have 30 parents. Most excellent.
So what else did we do in my City-By-The-Bay?!? We bought t-shirts. In fact, we bought 14 t-shirts. One-Four. We needed them. And lots of See's candy. We needed it, too. And when we got home we culled 22 from the collection. That means we need 8 more.
We'll see what we can do about that when we hit Portland in August for Megan and Brandon's wedding...
What fun.....
Mom's Cook Books
We're heading off to San Francisco on Friday. I had rather hoped to have my cook book project finished before we went, but it ain't gonna happen.
When my mom gave me her cook books 20-whatever years ago, I scanned them and made copies for the siblings. When I started the recipe website, it was one of the first things that went online. It's a great resource and I have a lot of fun going through the recipes and finding strange concoctions from years past. Only problem has been it's not searchable. The pages are all .jpg's with numerous recipes on them. The best I've been able to do is separate the recipes by category and then link the recipe title to the corresponding page. Not very user-friendly because you need to scroll through the complete recipe index to find something, click on it, and then find it on the page.
So... I've been busy cutting every recipe and making it its own .jpg and putting it on its own page, and tagging each page so - one day - they'll be better-organized and searchable.
There's only a bit over a thousand recipes...
While it is definitely taking a lot of time, I must admit it's been a blast rolling down Memory Lane! I've been getting great ideas for future meals, ideas for work, and even found the perfect recipe for sister-in-law Joanna's birthday last week!
But... a month after I started, I'm barely a third of the way through creating the pages... I'm making progress, but... not nearly fast enough to suit me. Patience is not one of my more readily-accessible virtues, so I'll dig deep and try to keep it all in perspective. Mom didn't collect them all overnight. I'm not going to get them all redone overnight.
The cover design was created by my father, the fireman. An artist, he was not, but he was a damned good cook in his own right. His veal cutlets with dirty potatoes were legendary, and his eggs fried in bacon grease until the edges were crispy... gastronomic heaven on earth.
Hopefully, the books will be completed by Easter... And y'all will be the first to know when it's done!
In the meantime, click on the link above and see what sort of things are in there... Dinner is only a click away!
Goodbye, Cybil Shepherd
We said goodbye to our little girl, this morning. A tearful, gut-wrenching goodbye.
We're not sure when Cybil Shepherd Dineen Martorano was born, but she adopted us on September 9, 2003. She was maybe a year old.
She had been picked up as a stray, was underweight, and we completely missed her the first time we walked through the Chester County SPCA. She was curled up in a ball in the back of her cage - shivering. The most pathetic thing you had ever seen in your life.
We brought her outside to a little meet-and-greet area they have. Victor had her on a leash and he sat on a bench. I sat on the curb directly across from them. She came over, laid her head in my lap, and that was that. We filled out the adoption papers and she came home.
The next 11 1/2 years were full of fun and adventure. She traveled all over with us and was even Best Dog at our wedding. For 11 1/2 years she was an integral part of our lives. Spoiled rotten on the one hand, but the most gentle, loving, and giving dog on the planet.
Somehow, that scrawny runt we brought home that day got old. Well... her body got old. Mentally, she was still a puppy - and that was the most difficult part for us to deal with. She wanted to run in the snow, chase rabbits, and jump into the car to go for a ride, but her body just said no. We didn't notice much of a change, at first - heck, we don't run in the snow as fast as we used to, either - but we started catching on when she wasn't all that excited about going for a ride in the car. It had been just about her favorite thing to do and would get all wound up when you just mentioned the word car. It was getting more difficult for her to jump into the back seat and she was a smart dog.
We called her Parnelli Puppy because she was f-a-s-t. The dog could run like a banshee. As the years went on, she'd still get up speed, but it wasn't as fast and it wasn't sustained. I can totally relate. She was happy to watch the rabbits - and bark like hell at them - and save the running for romps in the front yard - or over to our neighbor, Neil, who would get down on the grass and wrestle with her. As I said, she was a smart dog.
And then, this past summer, Victor noticed a huge increase in her water intake. We took her to the Vet and found out she had renal failure and was running on about 25% of her kidneys. They prescribed a renal diet that she refused to eat. Our dog - the dog who would eat anything and everything - stopped eating. She was listless and lethargic. We though the time had come. So... the Vet said go ahead and cook for her. I worked in Nutrition and Dietetics. I wrote renal diets. We moved her bowls from the kitchen into the living room so she would have better - and safer - access to her food and water. It had the double bonus of giving Nonna more room to get by in her walker. Piece of cake.
For a month or so, it was. She ate everything I made. And then she stopped eating it, as well. Lazarus had risen from the grave only to slide back down, again. And, she had a noticeable limp, favoring her right hindquarter. Back to the Vet and not an overly-optimistic prognosis. I brought home some canned dog food from work - and she scarfed it up. She started getting feisty, again, started getting active, again. Started scooching us like she used to do. Lazarus had risen, yet, again.
Her kidneys seemed to level out, but her legs got worse. She started avoiding anything but carpeted floors because she would lose her balance. I have to tell you that it's actually kinda funny to see a dog just kinda plop over the first time you see it. It gets painful to see on a regular basis.
And then the day came when she couldn't get back up, yet she dragged herself outside to pee, because she refused to pee in the house. But she couldn't get herself back in over the threshold without help.
The Vet had told us that Cybil would let us know when it was time to go. And she told us, this morning. We were with her and held her as she went to sleep - to dream of chasing rabbits and burrowing in the snow.
There is a hole in my heart that cannot be described, yet, my heart is so full of the love she gave us for so many years.
Dammit, I miss you, Cybil Shepherd.
It's Our 20th Anniversary!
Twenty Years. Pretty good for a couple of guys who have helped to destroy the Sanctity of Marriage. Twenty Years.
So much for getting tired of things, eh, Nate?!?
Twenty Years... A lot has happened in that 20 years. We lost three of our parents, we gained a whole hellava lotta new nieces and nephews - and a whole hellava lotta new great-nieces and nephews. We moved from San Francisco to Philadelphia, got different jobs, traveled all over the place...
And we got married. Legally.
Not a bad ride for a couple of guys who met in their 40s...
Spelunking into Moaning Cavern in the Sierras circa 1995... Moaning Cavern holds the largest vertical chamber in a public cavern in California. It's so big, it could hold the entire Statue of Liberty! And we spelunked all the way down to the bottom. It was when we were still young and foolish and trying to prove how butch we were to the other. We got over it...
Hawai'i was more our style... Our first trip over was in 1996... We flew over first class, had most of our hotel stay comped... I was still at UCSF and Victor had left United and Cheap Tickets, and had gone to work for Rosenbluth... It was the glory days of the Travel Industry.
We were renting a house in San Francisco on Kirkham Street. This is where I tried to do a sit-down dinner for my entire family, running a table from the dining room through the arch into the living room. Victor just watched as I got more and more neurotic and just smiled and helped me take it all down and set up a buffet when I finally conceded that it wasn't going to work. He was smart from Day One.
We finally bought a house of our own in San Leandro in 1998 or 9... We had NO money and lots of credit card debt. No money for a down payment. I couldn't use my GI Bill or my CalVet because we weren't married, so a mortgage broker got us a loan - actually 2 loans. An 80% loan at 8 1/2% interest and a 20% loan at 12 1/2% interest. We paid them religiously for a year and then rolled both loans into a 4% loan with the SF Fireman's Credit Union. Sometimes you just need to take a chance.
We headed off to Yosemite for our 5th Anniversary. We rented a house in a private area surrounded on 3 sides by the park. It was a lot of fun.
2001 saw us head east.
2002 arrived and we headed even farther east. To London. Victor had been there through work. It was my first trip across the pond. I had traveled so far west it became east, but that was in Uncle Sam's Yacht Club, so it doesn't really count.
We stayed fairly local in 2003 and 2004 but made it up to New York City a few times... We saw The Producer's on New Year's Eve - the night Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick returned to reprise their roles. What a blast. I can't even count the amount of shows and operas we've been able to see. Our proximity to The Big Apple is pretty good. Expensive, but good.
2003 also was the year Cybil Shepherd joined our family.
What a skinny little runt she was... And what a joy she still is...
2005 and we headed to Paris. We were in paris for the 60th Anniversary of D-Day. It was totally awesome. The Louvre, the Paris Opera House, the Eiffel Tower... And the foodthefoodthefood. While I have seriously fallen in love with southern Italy and Sicily, I do want to go back.
Victor won a trip to the Cayman Islands in 2006. It was an award from his company. A week-long almost-all-expense-paid trip. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman, ate lobster for breakfast, and, generally, had a really good time. They drive on the opposite side of the road in the Caymans, but the rental cars are all set up as US cars. It made for some fun excursions, as you can see by Victor's expression.
2007 was Las Vegas, baby!
We met a dozen friends for a Birthday Bash for Victor. A good time was had by all!
We headed back to San Francisco fairly regularly when Pop was still around, and headed back again, in November 0f 2008 for what was going to be our wedding. Alas, Prop 8 narrowly won, and our wedding was cancelled. We flew home, anyway, and took the train back from San Francisco to Philadelphia. We had a great sleeper car, good food, movies to watch, and a whole hellava lotta fun. We met some interesting folks and really did have a good time.
More New York trips, more west coast trips,
And then down to Washington, DC in 2009 for the March on Washington.
Yeah, we're still left-leaning Liberals and political as hell.
We made it to Omaha in 2010 for a Dineen Family Reunion. We missed the first night because whatever rotten puddle-jump airline we took screwed up and we missed our connection. I got to see a lousy airport hotel in Milwaukee - or wherever the hell we were. Be still my travel-heart...
Back up to New York City for the first Gay Pride Parade since New York legalized marriage.
And then we headed to New Hampshire where our dear friend Marl married us!
Who woulda thought we'd be nervous about getting married after being together for 16 years?!? Well... we were. We forgot our suits, forgot the camera another dear friend had sent us to video the ceremony, and both of us had some serious tears in our eyes. We were doing something we never in a million years thought would or could happen.
It was a great day!
And then we moved Nonna in with us!
She just wasn't doing well living on her own, anymore... She's now doing great! It's amazing how well a person can get when they're taking their medications correctly and eating right.
Moving Nonna in didn't stop the vacations...
Next stop, ITALY!
We headed over to Rome and Florence with my sister and her wife, and their three girls. What a blast! An apartment in Rome directly across the street from the Colosseum. An apartment in Florence right on the Arno at the Ponte Vecchio. Venice and Pisa, Lucca... It was an awesome 2 weeks - and it set the foundation for 15 days in a villa in Modica, Sicily in May of this year!
20 years...
20 years of fun, of stories, of good food and good friends. 20 years of family, new babies, and new experiences.
Here's to another 20, at least.
Oh... I almost forgot...
Dinner tonight was Chicken Marsala - made with Marsala we brought back from Sicily...
It was good.
Jakes Wayback Burgers
Ever have one of those kitchen-disaster days where it's better just to walk away than try and fix it? That was me, earlier this evening.
A few months back, our dog, Cybil, stopped eating. Since she was a total chow-hound prior to this, we took her to the vet, where we learned she had kidney failure... At 12 years of age, she's getting old. They put her on a special renal diet - that she promptly refused to eat. They changed the diet and she ate for a few days - and then quit, again. After another vet visit, they said it was okay for us to just cook for her. I've written enough renal diets in my life that cooking a renal diet for a dog really wasn't that difficult.
For quite a while, she was pigging down on the beef and chicken stews I was making - and then, a few days ago, she decided she was getting tired of them, as well. This, of course, was right after I had make a beef and pasta and rice dish with about 5 pounds of beef. Being that I can be the cheapest SOB on the planet, sometimes, I packaged it up and put it in the freezer - I sure as hell wasn't throwing it out. She's back to eating regular canned dog food and loving every bit of it. Go figure.
Last night, I pulled a container out to rework as a stew for us for tonight's dinner. Heck, I can rework just about anything. It was still pretty frozen when I went to start dinner, so into the microwave it went for a few minutes. It was still icy, but I put it in the pot on the stove.
Well... that was my intent, anyway... What I actually did was get part of it into the pot and the rest of it all over the stove - under the grates, all over the burners... A real mess. My first thought was no wonder the dog won't eat this crap and I threw it all away. All of it - including the two other containers in the freezer. What I didn't do, however, was curse, yell, or otherwise lose my temper. I mean, a couple of expletives did come out under my breath, but definitely not the string I'm capable of. I was actually quite proud of myself.
Victor came walking in after I had cleaned everything up and was getting ready to thaw some chip steaks for a quick Swiss steak dinner when I semi-laughingly relayed my story.
He said "I'll go get sandwiches."
As if I need another reason to love the guy... he just knows the perfect thing to say at just the perfect time.
And in moments he was off to Jake's Wayback Burgers. We're pretty equi-distant from both Jake's and Five Guys. We've become Jake's fans over Five Guys... Good burgers, good service, and less expensive, to boot. Victor came back with a chipotle burger and a bacon burger for us, and a plain cheeseburger for Nonna - and lots of fries.
We split the burgers so we could both have a half of each and enjoyed every not-overly-greasy bite.
And clean-up was a snap.
In the meantime, the puppy girl is eating and we don't have to cook for her. We'll see what next week brings, but I know what she won't be getting...
A New Look
The fun thing about dabbling in web design is coming up with new ideas. The bad thing about dabbling in web design is never quite being satisfied with your latest new idea.
Today, I'm satisfied.
I had reworked the site over the past couple of weeks, but I wasn't totally happy with it. I liked the layout and the general look, but it just wasn't quite right. And then, this afternoon, Victor came in and showed me a few pictures he had just taken.
One - of a single fork - blew me away. The look I wanted was sitting there in that singularly-stunning picture!
I just knew it.
I knew I needed to crop it to fit the screen and not be hidden behind the text and when I imported it into an image the size I needed, it fit like a glove.
Perfection!
So now the question is... how long will I be able to leave well enough alone?!?
We shall see...
It's quick and it's easy...
Lots of recipes for dinner in 30 minutes or less, along with quick hors d'oeuvres, salads, soups, and desserts.
Click the Recipe link for a complete list or use the search button to find a specific ingredient!
Herbs and Spices
Hello. My name is Tim. And I'm a spice-a-holic.
I don't really know when it started. I was young. You know how it is... a little cinnamon in the oatmeal. Spice cookies at Christmas. And before I knew it, I was buying pounds of bay leaves online. Do you have any idea how many bay leaves are in a pound? Let's just say a lot.
My dealer of choice has been Atlantic Spice Company since we moved east. Back in San Francisco, it was their sister company, San Francisco Herb Company. A fitting name. I'd walk into their warehouse of a store and just buy whatever looked good at the moment. It was an addicts dream. Bin after bin of the best herbs and spices around - at the best prices one could imagine. Moving east meant mail-order. In one pound lots for many years.
One pound lots. Okay... you've envisioned a pound of bay leaves. Now think of a pound of marjoram. Or basil.
I have airtight bins down in the basement where I keep the stuff that won't fit on the shelves and today, I decided it was time to bring them upstairs, refill the jars in the cabinets, and see what we needed. While we have most known herbs and spices, there are a few that I go through quicker than others - and there's always a new one out there that may need to find a home...
It's great to know that at any given moment, we could cook just about any cuisine in the world. We have berbere from Ethiopia, boonie pepper from Guam, Saigon cinnamon, Japanese sansho 7-spice blend... Greek oregano and Mexican oregano. Piri-piri from Mozambique. Whole nutmegs, ground nutmeg, whole allspice, ground allspice, whole cloves, ground cloves... Star anise, anise seed, French herbs, herbs d'Provence, Italian herbs, several Caribbean spice blends, Spanish paprika, Hungarian paprika, smoked paprika, and no less than 13 different salts. Really. Smoked salt, Himalayan pink, red salt, black salt, French sea salt, fleur de sel, sel gris, San Francisco Bay salt, Maldon salt, Sale al vino Roso, Sale d'erbe al limon, Kosher salt and canning salt. Oh. And a carton of regular ol' iodized table salt we use to fill up our salt shaker collection.
Yeah... salt and pepper shaker collection. We had to stop buying them.
But a dozen salts, or no, it's nice to know that we're not going to run out of anything any time soon. The jars are all filled, I still have a bit of back-up downstairs - cinnamon, chipotle powder - things I go through quickly - and I have a nice big box of portioned out herbs and spices that I'm bringing into work tomorrow to share with my coworkers.
And with all of this leaving, there's room for a few more!
One thing to note is I don't care what the 'experts' say, I do not throw out my spices after a year. They're all in airtight jars in a dark cabinet or in airtight bins in a cool basement. And they're also in a corner carousel cabinet so nothing ever languishes in a corner or hidden under something equally old. I suppose things could possibly lose a bit of potency over time, but if that happened, I'd just add an extra pinch. They don't go bad. The containers get dusty. Wipe them off once in a while.
They're fine.
Family, Friends, Food, and Fun
Back to reality after a most-fantastic 10 day trek out west.
The impetus for the trip was my nephew, Bill's, wedding. Christine, his new wife, is an absolutely fabulous young woman and a great addition to the family. She's the perfect yin to his yang - something almost a bit unusual, nowadays. I see a long and loving life with these two. Sometimes you can just tell. They just seem totally right for one another.
And I do have to admit I shed a few tears. Okay, I shed a lot of tears. I saw hin walking down the aisle with his mom and that was it - they just came a-wooshing down. Without saying a word or turning his head, Victor handed me a handkerchief. Hell, I was there when the little bugger was born - and shed more than my share of tears, that night. Glad I'm not the emotional type.
They were married in Arcata - in the redwoods. The weather could not have been more perfect. The most glorious blue skies, high 70s... Arcata is tricky. It could have been 58° and foggy. But the weather-gods got together and gave them a great day.
The minister was also the best man - a dear friend who got his mail-order license, the bridesmaids and groomsmen were all family and friends, the venue was set up and decorated by family and friends...
Victor, my sister Phoebe, and I cooked the rehearsal dinner - in a beautiful building overlooking the Pacific ocean. With no cooking equipment. Of course, we didn't know there was nothing to cook with until we got in and started to cook. We pulled it off using pots and pans from Bill and Christine's house. Dinner for 40 on a dinky 4-burner stove. I think I may have said a few bad words when we started off, but we were laughing and joking soon enough! All in a days work.
They did some fun things at the reception - like set up a kids table to keep them occupied.
Tons of activities to keep the little blighters happy. Big family. Lots of little ones. It was genius.
No cake-in-the-face or any of that stuff. Just fun and good times. The family rented several houses - much better than hotel rooms - and we congregated at one after the reception to continue the party. It was the wee hours before my head saw my pillow.
The following morning saw us at The Golden Harvest Cafe in Arcata for an intimate breakfast for 30. Our waitress, Jeanette, was perfect! She took control, had fun, and served up some fantastic food.
I had a buckwheat crepe with sausage and eggs that was eye-watering-spicy. I loved it! It was so good to be back where people know how to use and are not afraid to use spices! I really do miss west coast food. Everything on the menu was unique.
And speaking of unique... How about a Dungeness crab melt?!?
Folks east rave about soft shell crab, and others rave about king crab legs, but the true crab is Dungeness. There really is nothing finer. It's another thing I miss from home. And this was just so simple - Dungeness crab, swiss cheese, tomato, and avocado. The beauty of knowing how to use spices shares the plate with the beauty of knowing restraint - letting the food speak for itself. This rocked the Casbah!
We headed up to Seattle for a couple of days to see our friends Bonnie and Nancy. While Nancy worked, Bonnie took us on a locks cruise through Lake Union and Puget Sound. What a fun time! More glorious weather.
We started off down at the Seattle waterfront, eating hot dogs. Seafood, everywhere. We wanted hot dogs. And then we started the cruise.
It goes through Lake Union and all of the houseboat communities, maritime activity...
Somewhere in there may be the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat. I wouldn't mind living on a houseboat, but I'd rather it not be right up against another.
The weather was just great but I did have to wear a hat to keep my already-burnt-bald-head from getting any crisper.
The locks themselves are pretty cool. All done with gravity - they fill or drain to bring the boat to the proper height or depth.
It's just like the Panama canal - only smaller.
Puget Sound is simply gorgeous and the Seattle skyline is pretty spectacular. I'd like to see this view at night.
I've been to the top of the Space Needle a couple of times so we passed this trip. I remember when it was built.
Then there was more fabulous food and Bonnie and Nancy's!
Their next door neighbors came over for a BBQ and we started off with salads and then to grilled salmon.
It was spectacular. We also had a tri-tip...
And beans, potato salad, luscious libations, and lots of good ol' west coat liberal conversation. The finishing touch was grilled peaches with homemade vanilla bean ice cream!
Total decadence.
The food didn't stop in Seattle. We had several totally fabulous meals in Portland! Phoebe came up with Dungeness Crab Cakes on Carrot Puree that was stupendous.
Totally spectacular. Crazy good. We ate well.
And then we decided we needed to cook for Phoebe and Nancy since they were taking such good care of us.
We started off with a big salad - because folks out west always eat big salads.
And then we did a shrimp risotto.
Ahhh... To live where one can eat shrimp risotto outside in July. Have I mentioned just how perfect the weather was every waking - and sleeping - moment?!? Perfect.
Dessert was a simple grilled peach with homemade ricotta, maple syrup, and pistachios.
Victor has the ricotta-making down to a science. It really is delicious. It's not cheap to make and a container from the grocery store is pretty inexpensive by comparison, even for the good stuff, but what a difference it makes in something like this. Over-the-top good.
The flights, themselves, were pretty uneventful. We started off late from Philadelphia because of weather issues and didn't get into Portland until almost midnight. The car rental couldn't find our reservation and wanted to charge us almost double what the original cost was. I found the confirmation code, the woman made me an Executive Club member and we drove off in a 2013 Camry for the super-economy price. Comfy.
And now we're home wishing we were Jake and living a dogs life...
One more flight west in October for my niece Julia's wedding, and then we're looking at Sicily in May 2014.
Can't wait!