On the move: Boston and New York
Oct. 21st, 2000 03:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lillibetI drove back to Boston on Saturday, October 7th and spent the afternoon with
Beckie & Neil, showing them the pictures from the wedding. I went back to
10K and took a nap and saw Mags & Dan (who are also staying there at the
moment). In the evening I went over to LSE, the home of JB, Kim & Ted, for
their annual October Party. Platypus Rex (Adam, Glen, Corwin and Jeff)
played and I was glad to have a chance to finally hear them. They did some
very fun pieces ("Half a Mind" comes to mind) and a new piece about the
death of Adam's grandfather that was very moving.
I hadn't eaten all day, so I went with Adam, Tracy, Glen, Trina and Gilly to
get sushi at The Borgo Cafe in Teele Square. It was very good and great to
hang out with those folks.
On Sunday I went out to Waltham and had brunch with Dave & Paulo and saw
their home (dry at last from the flooding ten days earlier). We drove by
Drea & Brendan's new house, about a mile from Dave & Paulo's apartment.
Looks like a nifty place.
I took a nap at 10K and did phone battle with the Hertz folks, finally
talking someone into refunding some of the voucher credit we weren't using.
I then went over to steve & Tom's (2 Fern) and we walked into Allston
Village for dinner at their new discovery: Carlo's Italian Restaurant. From
the olive oil served with bread to the stracciatella (egg drop & noodle soup
in chicken broth) to the gnocchi spezzatino (with chicken medallions,
artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms in a plum tomato sauce) to the
ice cream truffle dessert we shared, everything was simple and delicious.
This is possibly the best traditional Italian restaurant I have ever found.
I met Paulo at 10K and he followed me down to the Providence Airport where
we dropped off my rental car and picked up Jason and then Paulo gave us a
ride back...what a sweetie! It was fun to spend some time alone with him,
since usually I just get him in tandem with Dave and they are both really
interesting people.
On Monday we had dinner with Larry, Richard (Larry's ex) and Dan (Larry's
current, a UCC minister in Queens) at Dali. It was fun to meet Dan and
catch up with Richard and Larry and the food was awesome, as always. We
hung out at the house afterwards, showing them wedding pictures.
On Tuesday we drove out to the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln. It was a lovely
day, if a bit chilly, so it was great to get out of the city and see the
foliage, especially since we were driving the Mercedes convertible to which
John & Mike had left us the keys. We met Janet & Walter for his birthday
dinner at the Chili's across from the Burlington Mall and had buffalo wings
and Southwestern springrolls and nachos. I had a steak and Jason had a
burger. We showed them our wedding pictures and heard about their wedding
plans for New Year's Eve, which sound wonderful, and I got to see a picture
of the dress, which Janet had bought that day.
On Wednesday our stuff was arriving from California, so I went over to 2
Fern and hung around with steve and Rachel (there working on a mural in the
third floor den) until the movers arrived. They off-loaded the few things
that were going there and then I picked up Jason and the two of us met the
movers over at the Storage Depot across from Beckie's place. Once they were
done getting our stuff into our storage unit, we went into Star Market,
bought the makings for dinner, and headed out to Waltham. Dave and I cooked
onion soup, a leg of lamb with sour cream sauce, scallopped potatoes and
sauteed spinach, followed by pound cake with whipped cream and berries. It
all turned out pretty well.
On Thursday it was another beautiful day and we wanted to take advantage of
the weather and the car, so we drove out to Wellesley and I showed Jason
around the campus. We came back in Route 9 and I dropped Jason at 10K,
picked up Anne at work and brought her back to the house, where George met
us and the four of us went to Chez Henri. I had their prix fixe dinner of
hazelnut crisped frogs legs, salmon and a peach charlotte. We showed them
wedding pictures and had a lovely time.
On Friday I picked up sandwiches and went out to Roslindale to have lunch
with Kelly and see the new house and meet their adorable new baby, Susan.
We looked at wedding pictures and played with the baby and talked about
labor and motherhood and that kind of thing. Their place is amazing--it's
going to be years of work to make it the home they envision, but the
infrastructure is incredible. In the evening we met Beckie, Neil and Beezy
at Sakura Bana, down near Beckie's office, for a wonderful sushi dinner
including hamachi kama (broiled yellowtail jaw) that was moist and
delicious. After dinner we went to steve & Tom's for the first Friday the
13th party at 2 Fern. Lots of folk were there (including Tamara Shulman)
and it was a very fun time.
On Saturday we did very little, but did manage to walk over to Tom & steve's
and join them and Tamara for dinner at Carlo's. This time I had the chicken
a la Valdostano (with mushrooms in a sherry sauce) and it was delicious,
too. Afterwards we stopped at Herrel's for ice cream and I had malted
vanilla and pumpkin with raisins smooshed in, which was lovely.
On Sunday I dragged Jason out of bed and we went up to Cape Ann. We had
lunch at the Greenery at the base of Bearskin Neck; I got my annual
lobster. After lunch we wandered the length of the Neck. There was a guy
up by the breakwater playing violin karaoke (he had a recording of some
symphony and was playing the violin solos). We drove down to Good Harbor
Beach and walked along there for a little while, then tried to go to Hammond
Castle, but it was closed for a private event. So we made our way over to
the Irish pub in Ayer where Jason's brother, Eric, has a weekly gig with two
other guys. We stayed for their first set and I had a burger and Jason had
fish & chips. We drove home and I went over to Tom & steve's to give steve
_The Blind Assassin_, which I had finished that morning.
On Monday we hauled ourselves out of bed at six and got to South Station in
plenty of time to grab croissants at Au Bon Pain before our 8:10am departure
to New York. I slept most of the way. We arrived at Penn Station at 1:15pm
and took the subway down to 14th St. to drop off our luggage at Susan &
Daniel's place. We got sandwiches at a nearby Cosi and then headed uptown,
planning to visit the Guggenheim. It's usually open on Monday's, but this
week they were closed as they changed exhibits. We looked through the gift
shop and then went up to the Jewish Museum at 92nd Street, the other thing
on Museum Mile that's open on Mondays. It was a very nifty place, focusing
on how the Israelites became the Jews and how the experiences and
assimilations of the Diaspora have shaped and changed the culture and
religion through the ages. We both found it intriguing and were glad we did
that.
We met Susan and Daniel back at the apartment, showed them wedding pictures
and then had dinner at La Luncheonette, a tiny place serving what I think of
as "heavy French." I had the lobster bisque and a very nice cassoulet,
followed by a blood orange sorbet. Jason had the goat cheese puff served
over greens, the rack of lamb and a creme caramel. Back at the apartment,
we stayed up way too late trying to figure out what we wanted to try to get
tickets to see during the rest of our stay.
On Tuesday we went down to the World Trade Center TKTS booth and got tickets
to see Fosse that night and Proof the next afternoon. We had sandwiches on
the plaza and then walked down to Battery Park and looked out at the Statue
of Liberty and Ellis Island. We took the subway back up to Museum Mile and
went through the Frick Collection. I hadn't been familiar with Corot
previously and had never seen much of Whistler's work before, so those were
the real stand-outs of that visit. After we'd gone through their galleries,
we ducked into Central Park and walked up the paths to the Met. We spent 45
minutes checking out their European paintings and the American Wing,
including the new Henry Luce center. That's wacky...they've stuffed a bunch
of their reserve collection into glass cases that are like library stacks.
No curatorial commentary, just chair chair chair chair chair, lamp lamp lamp
lamp lamp, painting painting painting painting painting, statue statue
statue statue statue in rows. It really feels like being back in the
warehouse.
We had an hour to kill before dinner, so we walked from the Met (84th @ 5th)
to the restaurant we had chosen from our guidebook, Thalia (50th & 9th). It
was a very good, but kind of generic fusion restaurant. I had the seared
ahi, followed by a lovely seabass on lobster mashed potatoes, in a lobster
cream sauce. Jason went with their very reasonably priced prix fixe dinner,
choosing the mixed greens followed by the salmon and we split his creme
brulee for dessert before heading down to the theater.
Fosse is a revue of Bob Fosse's career as a choreographer. It focuses very
closely on the dance, with no narration and only a little singing. We would
have liked more information about the progression of his career and the
significance of the various pieces, either within the context of the show,
or as extensive program notes. But it was still neat to see such wonderful
and innovative dance.
On Wednesday we grabbed a couple of slices of pizza (ah! New York pizza!)
and wandered through some of the Chelsea galleries between 10th & 11th.
Unfortunately, just as we were setting out for our matinee, it started to
pour. We bought an extra umbrella, which got us as far as the subway before
I lost it, and made it to the theater in plenty of time.
The show was Proof, starring Mary-Louise Parker as the daughter of a
brilliant mathematician who has just died after suffering from schizophrenia
for years. It focuses on her relationships (with her father, her sister,
and a possible romantic partner) and on the question of what she has
inherited of her father's genius and instability. Parker's performance and
that of the actor playing her father were both very strong and we enjoyed
the show a great deal. I felt that the playwright had backed away from some
areas I would have liked him to punch up, but those were structural and
thematic issues; the dialog was extremely tight.
We went back to the apartment and then met Susan over in the Meatpacking
District for dinner at another guidebook-find, Pastis. We shared six
Malpeque oysters from P.E.I. and then I had onion soup and the "butcher's
tender" hanger steak. My dessert was a "gratin aux fruits," basically
berries and peaches in a sweet cheese sauce, broiled to give it a top
crust. That was incredible.
Generally, we were extremely impressed with the guidebook I'd picked up,
Fodor's 2001 Guide to New York. We found the restaurant reviews extremely
accurate and helpful and the set-up of the book well-suited to our
travelling tastes.
After dinner, the three of us walked to a nearby theater to see LifeGame.
It was developed by the Improbable Theater Company, who also did the
production of Shockheaded Peter that Jason & I saw in SF earlier this year.
In LifeGame, one woman interviews a person onstage while the rest of the
troupe improvisationally portrays scenes from the interviewee's life. The
guy they were interviewing that night turned out to be one of the producers
of the original Woodstock Festival. It was a very interesting premise and
had some great moments. I think it would make a good TV show.
On Thursday we had breakfast with Daniel at Shopsin's General Store, down in
the Village. Fodor's says that it's hard to recommend Shopsin's, but even
harder to leave it out. It's a tiny hole-in-the-wall, but the food is good
and reminds me somewhat of Bartley's Burger Cottage in Harvard Square. I
had scrambled eggs with ham & cheese and cinnamon toast, Jason had a ham &
cheese crepe and Daniel had the bread pudding french toast.
We picked up our bags at the apartment and headed back to Penn Station. I'd
overestimated our transit time, so we waited almost an hour before boarding.
The trip back was smooth and we got in slightly early, having managed to
finally hammer out which of our proofs we're going to order for our wedding album.
Back at 10K we changed into the lovely kimonos provided by John & Mike, just
back from Japan having learned to appreciate the ryokan custom of a hot bath
and fresh kimono after a long day of travelling. They served us hot tea and
coffee cake (from Tea Tray) in the tatami tearoom and looked at wedding
pictures. We hung out and I went for a walk to work out the travel kinks
and then the four of us went to Mistral for dinner. They had lost Mike's
reservation, but managed to seat us within about twenty minutes. We shared
a four-cheese pizzetta with bacon, tomatoes and watercress to start. Then
Mike and I had their lobster bisque en croute and the beef tenderloin served
with horseradish mashed potatoes and asparagus. Jason had their reasonably
good Caesar salad, followed by sea bass over a lobster & beet risotto that
was very tasty. John had the mixed greens and a luscious veal chop over a
sweet gorgonzola polenta, with chocolate gateau for dessert, while Jason and
I shared their warm apple tart.
The food was reasonably good, if overpriced, but the atmosphere left
something to be desired. It was quite loud, with the bar crowd spilling
through the line of potted palms into the dining area, specificially, into
John's back and smoking all around us. I might try it again on, say, a
Tuesday night, or much earlier in the evening.
On Friday I rented a car again from the Hertz place in Harvard Square. It's
Head of the Charles this weekend, so traffic was crazy and I ended up
hanging out in Wordsworth for twenty minutes while they got a car ready for
me. I picked up Jason and we met my family out at The Greek Corner in North
Cambridge for tasty Greek appetizer plates, avgolemono soup and gyros. We
all went over to the Harvard arena and met Tom & steve for the Evening with
Champions benefit skating show.
I felt like it wasn't as good as it has been in the past. Part of that may
be that the arena was only about half full and the crowd felt kind of low
energy. The local kids were cute as usual and a couple of them were very
good. The new Harvard Skating Club did a number which was fairly
disorganized, but a neat idea. The "name" skaters (with apologies for
spelling) included Berezhnaya & Sikuralidze, Viacheslav Zagorudnyuk, the
Protopopovs (not doing Swan Lake! this year it was Carmen), the Hartsells,
Laurent Tobel, Deanna Stellato, Scott Davis, Dan Hollander, Lang &
Tchernychev, and others. The highlight of the evening, for me, was seeing
Lucinda Ruh, the famous Swiss spinner. I'd never seen her in person and she
was really stunning.
After the show, Anne & G. took Beckie & Neil home, while Jason and I got my
parents over to steve & Tom's to see their house and have some of steve's
fabulous pecan pie. I'd suggested they stop by for a few minutes, but they
ended up staying and chatting for over an hour. They were staying out in
Wellesley and heading straight home this morning, so Dad could be back to
preach in Taborton tomorrow. They gave Jason a ride back to 10K and I took
steve over to Star Market to shop for tonight.
We got up this morning to enjoy the frittatas, hash browns, bacon,
vegetarian sausage and fruit salad that John had made for the crew heading
out to this huge cornfield maze. We decided to spend a quiet day getting
stuff done. I did the cleanup from breakfast and a couple of loads of
laundry and caught up on these journal entries and worked on reading the new
John Crowley book _Daemonomania_ that John has lent me. Jason's been
working. The plan is to have dinner at Tom & steve's with the Fabijanics
and then head up to Francie Selkirk's birthday party.
Beckie & Neil, showing them the pictures from the wedding. I went back to
10K and took a nap and saw Mags & Dan (who are also staying there at the
moment). In the evening I went over to LSE, the home of JB, Kim & Ted, for
their annual October Party. Platypus Rex (Adam, Glen, Corwin and Jeff)
played and I was glad to have a chance to finally hear them. They did some
very fun pieces ("Half a Mind" comes to mind) and a new piece about the
death of Adam's grandfather that was very moving.
I hadn't eaten all day, so I went with Adam, Tracy, Glen, Trina and Gilly to
get sushi at The Borgo Cafe in Teele Square. It was very good and great to
hang out with those folks.
On Sunday I went out to Waltham and had brunch with Dave & Paulo and saw
their home (dry at last from the flooding ten days earlier). We drove by
Drea & Brendan's new house, about a mile from Dave & Paulo's apartment.
Looks like a nifty place.
I took a nap at 10K and did phone battle with the Hertz folks, finally
talking someone into refunding some of the voucher credit we weren't using.
I then went over to steve & Tom's (2 Fern) and we walked into Allston
Village for dinner at their new discovery: Carlo's Italian Restaurant. From
the olive oil served with bread to the stracciatella (egg drop & noodle soup
in chicken broth) to the gnocchi spezzatino (with chicken medallions,
artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms in a plum tomato sauce) to the
ice cream truffle dessert we shared, everything was simple and delicious.
This is possibly the best traditional Italian restaurant I have ever found.
I met Paulo at 10K and he followed me down to the Providence Airport where
we dropped off my rental car and picked up Jason and then Paulo gave us a
ride back...what a sweetie! It was fun to spend some time alone with him,
since usually I just get him in tandem with Dave and they are both really
interesting people.
On Monday we had dinner with Larry, Richard (Larry's ex) and Dan (Larry's
current, a UCC minister in Queens) at Dali. It was fun to meet Dan and
catch up with Richard and Larry and the food was awesome, as always. We
hung out at the house afterwards, showing them wedding pictures.
On Tuesday we drove out to the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln. It was a lovely
day, if a bit chilly, so it was great to get out of the city and see the
foliage, especially since we were driving the Mercedes convertible to which
John & Mike had left us the keys. We met Janet & Walter for his birthday
dinner at the Chili's across from the Burlington Mall and had buffalo wings
and Southwestern springrolls and nachos. I had a steak and Jason had a
burger. We showed them our wedding pictures and heard about their wedding
plans for New Year's Eve, which sound wonderful, and I got to see a picture
of the dress, which Janet had bought that day.
On Wednesday our stuff was arriving from California, so I went over to 2
Fern and hung around with steve and Rachel (there working on a mural in the
third floor den) until the movers arrived. They off-loaded the few things
that were going there and then I picked up Jason and the two of us met the
movers over at the Storage Depot across from Beckie's place. Once they were
done getting our stuff into our storage unit, we went into Star Market,
bought the makings for dinner, and headed out to Waltham. Dave and I cooked
onion soup, a leg of lamb with sour cream sauce, scallopped potatoes and
sauteed spinach, followed by pound cake with whipped cream and berries. It
all turned out pretty well.
On Thursday it was another beautiful day and we wanted to take advantage of
the weather and the car, so we drove out to Wellesley and I showed Jason
around the campus. We came back in Route 9 and I dropped Jason at 10K,
picked up Anne at work and brought her back to the house, where George met
us and the four of us went to Chez Henri. I had their prix fixe dinner of
hazelnut crisped frogs legs, salmon and a peach charlotte. We showed them
wedding pictures and had a lovely time.
On Friday I picked up sandwiches and went out to Roslindale to have lunch
with Kelly and see the new house and meet their adorable new baby, Susan.
We looked at wedding pictures and played with the baby and talked about
labor and motherhood and that kind of thing. Their place is amazing--it's
going to be years of work to make it the home they envision, but the
infrastructure is incredible. In the evening we met Beckie, Neil and Beezy
at Sakura Bana, down near Beckie's office, for a wonderful sushi dinner
including hamachi kama (broiled yellowtail jaw) that was moist and
delicious. After dinner we went to steve & Tom's for the first Friday the
13th party at 2 Fern. Lots of folk were there (including Tamara Shulman)
and it was a very fun time.
On Saturday we did very little, but did manage to walk over to Tom & steve's
and join them and Tamara for dinner at Carlo's. This time I had the chicken
a la Valdostano (with mushrooms in a sherry sauce) and it was delicious,
too. Afterwards we stopped at Herrel's for ice cream and I had malted
vanilla and pumpkin with raisins smooshed in, which was lovely.
On Sunday I dragged Jason out of bed and we went up to Cape Ann. We had
lunch at the Greenery at the base of Bearskin Neck; I got my annual
lobster. After lunch we wandered the length of the Neck. There was a guy
up by the breakwater playing violin karaoke (he had a recording of some
symphony and was playing the violin solos). We drove down to Good Harbor
Beach and walked along there for a little while, then tried to go to Hammond
Castle, but it was closed for a private event. So we made our way over to
the Irish pub in Ayer where Jason's brother, Eric, has a weekly gig with two
other guys. We stayed for their first set and I had a burger and Jason had
fish & chips. We drove home and I went over to Tom & steve's to give steve
_The Blind Assassin_, which I had finished that morning.
On Monday we hauled ourselves out of bed at six and got to South Station in
plenty of time to grab croissants at Au Bon Pain before our 8:10am departure
to New York. I slept most of the way. We arrived at Penn Station at 1:15pm
and took the subway down to 14th St. to drop off our luggage at Susan &
Daniel's place. We got sandwiches at a nearby Cosi and then headed uptown,
planning to visit the Guggenheim. It's usually open on Monday's, but this
week they were closed as they changed exhibits. We looked through the gift
shop and then went up to the Jewish Museum at 92nd Street, the other thing
on Museum Mile that's open on Mondays. It was a very nifty place, focusing
on how the Israelites became the Jews and how the experiences and
assimilations of the Diaspora have shaped and changed the culture and
religion through the ages. We both found it intriguing and were glad we did
that.
We met Susan and Daniel back at the apartment, showed them wedding pictures
and then had dinner at La Luncheonette, a tiny place serving what I think of
as "heavy French." I had the lobster bisque and a very nice cassoulet,
followed by a blood orange sorbet. Jason had the goat cheese puff served
over greens, the rack of lamb and a creme caramel. Back at the apartment,
we stayed up way too late trying to figure out what we wanted to try to get
tickets to see during the rest of our stay.
On Tuesday we went down to the World Trade Center TKTS booth and got tickets
to see Fosse that night and Proof the next afternoon. We had sandwiches on
the plaza and then walked down to Battery Park and looked out at the Statue
of Liberty and Ellis Island. We took the subway back up to Museum Mile and
went through the Frick Collection. I hadn't been familiar with Corot
previously and had never seen much of Whistler's work before, so those were
the real stand-outs of that visit. After we'd gone through their galleries,
we ducked into Central Park and walked up the paths to the Met. We spent 45
minutes checking out their European paintings and the American Wing,
including the new Henry Luce center. That's wacky...they've stuffed a bunch
of their reserve collection into glass cases that are like library stacks.
No curatorial commentary, just chair chair chair chair chair, lamp lamp lamp
lamp lamp, painting painting painting painting painting, statue statue
statue statue statue in rows. It really feels like being back in the
warehouse.
We had an hour to kill before dinner, so we walked from the Met (84th @ 5th)
to the restaurant we had chosen from our guidebook, Thalia (50th & 9th). It
was a very good, but kind of generic fusion restaurant. I had the seared
ahi, followed by a lovely seabass on lobster mashed potatoes, in a lobster
cream sauce. Jason went with their very reasonably priced prix fixe dinner,
choosing the mixed greens followed by the salmon and we split his creme
brulee for dessert before heading down to the theater.
Fosse is a revue of Bob Fosse's career as a choreographer. It focuses very
closely on the dance, with no narration and only a little singing. We would
have liked more information about the progression of his career and the
significance of the various pieces, either within the context of the show,
or as extensive program notes. But it was still neat to see such wonderful
and innovative dance.
On Wednesday we grabbed a couple of slices of pizza (ah! New York pizza!)
and wandered through some of the Chelsea galleries between 10th & 11th.
Unfortunately, just as we were setting out for our matinee, it started to
pour. We bought an extra umbrella, which got us as far as the subway before
I lost it, and made it to the theater in plenty of time.
The show was Proof, starring Mary-Louise Parker as the daughter of a
brilliant mathematician who has just died after suffering from schizophrenia
for years. It focuses on her relationships (with her father, her sister,
and a possible romantic partner) and on the question of what she has
inherited of her father's genius and instability. Parker's performance and
that of the actor playing her father were both very strong and we enjoyed
the show a great deal. I felt that the playwright had backed away from some
areas I would have liked him to punch up, but those were structural and
thematic issues; the dialog was extremely tight.
We went back to the apartment and then met Susan over in the Meatpacking
District for dinner at another guidebook-find, Pastis. We shared six
Malpeque oysters from P.E.I. and then I had onion soup and the "butcher's
tender" hanger steak. My dessert was a "gratin aux fruits," basically
berries and peaches in a sweet cheese sauce, broiled to give it a top
crust. That was incredible.
Generally, we were extremely impressed with the guidebook I'd picked up,
Fodor's 2001 Guide to New York. We found the restaurant reviews extremely
accurate and helpful and the set-up of the book well-suited to our
travelling tastes.
After dinner, the three of us walked to a nearby theater to see LifeGame.
It was developed by the Improbable Theater Company, who also did the
production of Shockheaded Peter that Jason & I saw in SF earlier this year.
In LifeGame, one woman interviews a person onstage while the rest of the
troupe improvisationally portrays scenes from the interviewee's life. The
guy they were interviewing that night turned out to be one of the producers
of the original Woodstock Festival. It was a very interesting premise and
had some great moments. I think it would make a good TV show.
On Thursday we had breakfast with Daniel at Shopsin's General Store, down in
the Village. Fodor's says that it's hard to recommend Shopsin's, but even
harder to leave it out. It's a tiny hole-in-the-wall, but the food is good
and reminds me somewhat of Bartley's Burger Cottage in Harvard Square. I
had scrambled eggs with ham & cheese and cinnamon toast, Jason had a ham &
cheese crepe and Daniel had the bread pudding french toast.
We picked up our bags at the apartment and headed back to Penn Station. I'd
overestimated our transit time, so we waited almost an hour before boarding.
The trip back was smooth and we got in slightly early, having managed to
finally hammer out which of our proofs we're going to order for our wedding album.
Back at 10K we changed into the lovely kimonos provided by John & Mike, just
back from Japan having learned to appreciate the ryokan custom of a hot bath
and fresh kimono after a long day of travelling. They served us hot tea and
coffee cake (from Tea Tray) in the tatami tearoom and looked at wedding
pictures. We hung out and I went for a walk to work out the travel kinks
and then the four of us went to Mistral for dinner. They had lost Mike's
reservation, but managed to seat us within about twenty minutes. We shared
a four-cheese pizzetta with bacon, tomatoes and watercress to start. Then
Mike and I had their lobster bisque en croute and the beef tenderloin served
with horseradish mashed potatoes and asparagus. Jason had their reasonably
good Caesar salad, followed by sea bass over a lobster & beet risotto that
was very tasty. John had the mixed greens and a luscious veal chop over a
sweet gorgonzola polenta, with chocolate gateau for dessert, while Jason and
I shared their warm apple tart.
The food was reasonably good, if overpriced, but the atmosphere left
something to be desired. It was quite loud, with the bar crowd spilling
through the line of potted palms into the dining area, specificially, into
John's back and smoking all around us. I might try it again on, say, a
Tuesday night, or much earlier in the evening.
On Friday I rented a car again from the Hertz place in Harvard Square. It's
Head of the Charles this weekend, so traffic was crazy and I ended up
hanging out in Wordsworth for twenty minutes while they got a car ready for
me. I picked up Jason and we met my family out at The Greek Corner in North
Cambridge for tasty Greek appetizer plates, avgolemono soup and gyros. We
all went over to the Harvard arena and met Tom & steve for the Evening with
Champions benefit skating show.
I felt like it wasn't as good as it has been in the past. Part of that may
be that the arena was only about half full and the crowd felt kind of low
energy. The local kids were cute as usual and a couple of them were very
good. The new Harvard Skating Club did a number which was fairly
disorganized, but a neat idea. The "name" skaters (with apologies for
spelling) included Berezhnaya & Sikuralidze, Viacheslav Zagorudnyuk, the
Protopopovs (not doing Swan Lake! this year it was Carmen), the Hartsells,
Laurent Tobel, Deanna Stellato, Scott Davis, Dan Hollander, Lang &
Tchernychev, and others. The highlight of the evening, for me, was seeing
Lucinda Ruh, the famous Swiss spinner. I'd never seen her in person and she
was really stunning.
After the show, Anne & G. took Beckie & Neil home, while Jason and I got my
parents over to steve & Tom's to see their house and have some of steve's
fabulous pecan pie. I'd suggested they stop by for a few minutes, but they
ended up staying and chatting for over an hour. They were staying out in
Wellesley and heading straight home this morning, so Dad could be back to
preach in Taborton tomorrow. They gave Jason a ride back to 10K and I took
steve over to Star Market to shop for tonight.
We got up this morning to enjoy the frittatas, hash browns, bacon,
vegetarian sausage and fruit salad that John had made for the crew heading
out to this huge cornfield maze. We decided to spend a quiet day getting
stuff done. I did the cleanup from breakfast and a couple of loads of
laundry and caught up on these journal entries and worked on reading the new
John Crowley book _Daemonomania_ that John has lent me. Jason's been
working. The plan is to have dinner at Tom & steve's with the Fabijanics
and then head up to Francie Selkirk's birthday party.
