January 3, 2012

  • Monday, January 2, 2012

    Christmas was lots and lots of fun.  Chrismas Eve we went to see the Gay Men’s Chorus at the Castro Theater.  I made a poor decision to bring Ashley Junior who was very, very squirmy.  When I heard the people sitting next to us start to mutter about moving at about ten minutes in, I took him and held him off on the side by one of the exits for the rest of the concert.  I couldn’t understand it– he’s fine when you’re holding him but awful when he’s in your lap.  I apologized profusely to the people I’d been sitting next to at the end of the concert–  my mamma wouldn’t have ever forgiven me if I hadn’t.  Maybe it’s OK when the terrible concert attendee is your infant child, not so much when it’s your poodle.  Live and learn.  Even though I didn’t see very much, the concert sounded better than it had in years.  Probably the best it’s ever been and I’ve been every year since 2000.  No dogs next year.  Well, maybe Rufus disguised as a ‘distinguished gentleman’. 

    After the concert we had some friends over for dinner.  I made a fancy fancy meal of crab bisque, grilled salmon with hollandaise, saffron rice and asparagus.  Everything turned out very well.  The bisque was a whole lot of work, but it wasn’t difficult and the result was spectacular.   I ended up going to bed before the guests left–  they were here til 1AM!  I did my best.

    Christmas Day we got up a little late and started cooking all over again.  We had a bunch of people over for Christmas day but it was very casual and lots of fun.  Mr. Poe made ham and fried chicken and I made macaroni and cheese with the hello kitty pasta I’d gotten at the grocery store in Japantown and vegan paella which is a saffron spiced rice casserole with mushrooms, artichocke hearts and zucchini (it was very, very good).  Dessert was a very southern chocolate bourbon cake sprinkled with bourbon served with whipped cream.  It’ll make you marry a first cousin.  Honest.

    New Years eve was fun.  We went to dinner in the Castro at Barracuda and then went to 440 also in the Castro with Mr. Chris, David and Alex.  After several bottles of the sparkling sake I like so well I have to admit I might have groped poor Alex in an unappreciated way and maybe I should feel guilty about that but thankfully I had my guilt gland removed in a groundbreaking eight hour surgery back in 1982.  Reagen had the same surgery a few weeks later.  I’m sure Alex will forgive me and if he doesn’t maybe it’ll be his wake-up call to not be 45 minutes late for dinner again.  We got home at 10:30 and I was in bed at midnight to hear the hootin’ and hollerin’ as 2012 began. 

    New Years day we had the fancy, fancy brunch at the Top of the Mark at the Mark Hopkins which is probably the most adult place I enjoy going.  So nice.  The guy that waited on us had been working at the Mark Hopkins for 35 years I think (!).   We went with Nathan and Daniel.  I was hoping that Daniel was gonna rally and give Mr. Poe a run for his money in terms of buffet gluttony,  but he really dropped the ball.  Mr. Poe ate 23 shrimp and in addition many other things.  He’s like a bulimic without a gag reflex, no offense intended to either bulimics or people without gag reflexes.  We headed down to Nathan’s after to rest for a few minutes and then Nathan, Mr. Poe and I headed to our house.  Nathan and I took Rufus (who loves to go!) on a long walk.  We headed over to Pierce and Golden Gate to go view the damage of the terrible house fire there right before Christmas.  It’s worse than I thought– the two buildings involved were being demolished.  I know people who live in one of the buildings that burned.  They’re the nicest guys and they’ve lost everything they had.  It’s heartbreaking.  I’m prayin’ for them.  Here’s hopin’ Glen and Ben have an awesome 2012.  They have it coming.

    The best part of the walk happened when I put Nathan on the N train to go home at Noe and Duboce.  Rufus watched him get on the train, walk in the train, sit in a seat on the train and then look at him from his seat on the train and then he watched as the train left.  After all that, Rufus still couldn’t believe that Nathan wasn’t still at Noe and Duboce and was looking for him and didn’t want to leave.  I think a similar process happens when people vote for Ron Paul.

    Monday I slept in til 11!  Mr. Poe thought I was home for the day but I shocked him by getting my ass moving and we got on BART and headed over to Berkely to walk around the campus and go to the botanical gardens.  It never ceases to amaze me how much money California has.  The Berkeley campus is unbelievably spectacular and costly and hard to believe.  Our first stop was the Campanile which is a 300+ foot tower that was built for them in 1914 as a gift from Jane Sather.  Seriously.  Let’s compare.  At Tulane, all we had to do was build a display case for Paul Tulane’s racing yacht– which wasn’t large– and we named the whole university after him.   Every building at Berkeley is incredibly spectacular.  I’d even use the work ostentatious if it wasn’t so well done.  This is the view from the Campanile.  Perfect:

    Mr. Poe making his characteristic ‘bitch face’:

    Now a glamour shot:

    The gorgeous bells of the Campanile:

    Me:

    We saw this gorgeous little structure on the way up the hill:

    We headed over to the botanical gardens which was kind of a mistake.  It was mostly dormant at this time of year but the garden itself is gorgeous and I’m not sorry I went.  I want to go back in May and then I’ll let you know whether it’s worth a visit.  Here are some pics:

    I was kind of surprised to see this jaw dropping view of the bay:

    Hello gorgeous:

    Inside the Arid House:

    Then we headed up to the Lawrence Hall of Science:

    Look at these views!:

    Then things turned a bit ugly.  I was using my phone to plot the route and the road I wanted to take turned out to be access/gate controlled so we went on a much longer route through Berkeley city streets that Mr. Poe will be complaining about for generations.  It was several miles longer than we’d hoped and involved neighborhoods that he found less than ideal.  He was soooo pissed.   Hopefully I’ll be dead soon.  Let’s all hope for that.  I got a couple of pics of the campus at sunset:

    We headed home and I made Korean for dinner.  Mr. Poe wasn’t feelin’ too well and picked.  Which means my punishment will last for generations.  I poured myself a glass or two of wine and tried to reflect.  Where did my life go so terribly, terribly wrong???