Thanksgiving Weekend Re-Cap

it's been a few days, kids and here's what you missed (in no particular order)...

1. Thanksgiving: it's just as i said it would be, only without the appetizers. thankfully mom changed her mind at the last minute about them. the food was wonderful and plentiful; i'm still a little bit full. halfway during the meal Squirt announced that she would like everyone to give her an idea what we all wanted for Christmas, because she was going shopping with her mother on Sunday. i found out later, from her father, that she's been squirrelling away all the giftcards and money that she's gotten as gifts over the last few months to use to buy her Christmas gifts for other people. i was so moved i almost started to cry. it's very Gift of the Magi...



2. the pumpkin cheesecake: this is the 2nd year i've made it and the 2nd time i've had to scrap it and begin another, halfway through. last year i'd mistakenly doubled the amount of butter when making the graham cracker crust (and had it ooze out of the bottom of the spring-form pan). not really a big deal. this year, however, after the cake was in the oven i sat in front of it, licking the spoon (yeah? what of it?) and i found a piece of glass the size of a baby tooth. apparently, we'd broken a glass somewhere in the kitchen and there were still shards of glass lurking, unseen, around. So, rather than risk it, i threw out cheesecake number 1 and started from scratch. it was 11pm, the night before Thanksgiving...i'd just worked the whole day and was in absolutely no mood. i cursed, i growled, i slammed things like a toddler. it was worth the do-over, because the 2nd one was absolutely marvelous and devoid of any and all lethal debris.



3. Black Friday: i thought i'd get to sleep a little, sadly i was mistaken. stephen left for work at 6:40 and called ten minutes later to tell me the bus didn't come. so i rolled out of bed and drove him to the bus stop to meet the chick he's carpooling with. then i went back home and cleaned the house for the next 12 hours, in preparation for our quasi-engagement party on Saturday. i dusted, i vacuumed, and i polished wood. by the time i was done, the house was immaculate. i was only a little bit content, since it came at the expense of attending Nil's birthday get-together at Mario Battali's restaruant, Otto. i sacrificed Nil, MS and olive oil gelato, for sparkling mirrors and dust free doorjambs. quite honestly, i don't think it was worth it.



4. Saturday: the party went well. our parents came, as did my brother and his family and his sister and her family. we ordered a tray of chicken rollatini and spaghetti with garlic and oil from the pizzeria we frequent. the food was good and everyone seemed to have a good time. we also served these wonderful appetizers: homemade mini-quiches (bacon, cheddar, mushroom and zucchini) and an artichoke-sundried tomato tapanade, for which stephen made the most amazing flatbreads. it was nice, because it was the 1st time my brother, his wife and Squirt, got to meet Stephen's family.



5. the After-Party: we joined John at Staten Island's newest "gay night". it was cute and the space has alot of potential, but personally i think it would make a much better lounge than club. the music was a little much considering how small the room is, and the strobe lights tended to blind you if you were facing the bar, so it was terribly difficult to see the muscle-bound, half naked italian bartenders. it was a little bit pointless, truth-to-tell. there was the usual mix of the new generation of kids with fake ID's and SI's has-beens rubbing elbows and pelvises. it was nice to see that the lesbian contingent was also represented, though i think it's because SI's lesbian DJ extrordinaire (who shall remain nameless) was there spinning. i saw a few too many familiar faces in the crowd, still looking for love in all the wrong places. naturally/thankfully, after we left, the usual drama ensued.



6. Sunday: lazy day which included Buffy and Angel, munching on leftovers, food shopping and dropping off the car at the mechanics' so he could take a look at her speed tremor. stephen actually called me as i was writing this to tell me that the mechanic feels that the tremor is nothing to worry about. it'll either get worse or it won't. if it gets worse, we should worry about it then. i think i'll take MS's advice and get AAA.




7. Stephen decided not to surprise me, and told me that he's been planning our honeymoon: we're going to San Francisco! i'm really quite excited, as i've never been out to the left coast before and i've been dreaming of going to SF, ever since i read Tales of the City, a decade ago! i'm also really glad that he told me, so we can plan the trip together. i ran right out and bought Time Out's Guide to San Francisco to give me a heads up on what there is to see and do; Stephen's been there before, so he looked up a couple of places and added them to our tentative itinerary. naturally, i welcome any and all suggestions.