Holiday

Gentle Readers

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas holiday. We spent a short time in Carlsbad at the in-laws, returning Saturday night, and are now in laid back mode for the week, as everyone is off from work and school.

We attended a party at TCG's house Sunday. As he's hitched to a poohbah in the liquor industry, these parties are always well stocked in addition to being cordial events. On the way in, my wife told college boy to be sure to give people hugs. She and I agree, for the most part, on parenting methods, but I'm dismayed she's trying to turn SB1 into a hugger.

The next happening is a Mexican themed soiree at #1's house for New Years. The TCGs will be missing that one as they have tickets to the Rose Bowl but we're looking forward to seeing the rest of the FC gang. Last week, along with The Execs, we played guinea pigs for #1's drink experiments in preparation for the party. We were rewarded with dinner for being his subjects.

So who else thinks Charlie Sheen needs to spend several years in the slam?

For the Rest of Us

Happy Festivus

And now, the airing of the grievances

#1
SLA has engendered lame posts

#2
didn't invite me on Hawaii trip

Wig
I got your lame post right here!

Dr. Joe
lets saving lives, prestigious medical career and family get in the way of reading the blog

TCG
pulled a Salahi and crashed my Thanksgiving dinner

Exec
I don't have all day

The Banker
Your kid beat my kid on the hoops court

The Belgian
needs to find a cure for lame posts

The Hotelier
The Bastille Day grub was fine but how about a comped room

Wifey
Not a thing, dear

Sonny Boy #1
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/news/0910/gallery.most_expensive_colleges/4.html

Sonny Boy # 2
You could sleep in once in a while on weekends

My favorite daughter
Ever heard about this thing called a triple double?

Bro
Dad liked you more

Sis
Mom liked you more

Unc
board games on a Saturday night?

Wolverine
smug blog comments do nothing to further open and honest communication

JB
I thought I was snarky

4M
after 40 years, why bother

TK
causing me to still harbor high school insecurities

UK
Photoshop abuse

The Senate
You call this health care reform?

Fine Dining

I had a recent phone chat with The Wig. He enjoyed his Vegas excursion and took my suggestion to dine at Bouchon. He also patronized Boulud and Mina hotspots this trip. My blog came up and he mentioned that my recent posts have been lame. I'll miss our friendship.

Staying on the food theme, this weekend was one fit for chow hounds. 4M and his wife came over for dinner Friday night. I cranked out a Pappardelle Bolognese that was well received by everyone but myself. I felt it was passable then realized that this was a tale of two Bologneses. The last time I made it I was disappointed as well and finally realized that I was working with the wrong recipe. I hit it out of the park the first time I made it but then got my signals crossed. I'm sure you've had Bolognese troubles as well. The first recipe is the one I just used but I plan to switch to the second, which I'm pretty sure was my original.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Bolognese-Sauce-107226

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/tagliatelle-bolognese-recipe2/index.html

Me, Unc and our posse (our wives and a friend) faced the Arctic chill of the Outer Sunset Saturday night to enjoy Vietnamese salad, salt and pepper calamari, roasted crab and garlic noodles at Thanh Long. The grub was fantastic. Two thumbs up.

http://www.anfamily.com/Restaurants/thanhlong_restaurant/displaypages/homepage.html

The next time we venture to the western nether regions of SF, maybe we'll hit the place kitty corner from Thanh Long for some Indian food and pizza. I'm sure it beats Chez Nicole.

http://goldengateindian.com/

We finished off the weekend at Unc's house, where he whipped up a kickass prawn risotto. We had a good time but Unc and I agreed that two dinners in a row was too much togetherness.

The Rime of the Ancient Blogger

The SLA is my albatross.

I think the media is letting Max Baucus off easy. Several years back, I recommended my girlfriend for a job at the fast food joint I was working in. When my high school newspaper got wind of it, they hounded me relentlessly for what seemed like weeks.

We had social media back in the 70's. It was called CB radio.

Plead the Fifth

It's relatively easy to screw up your life. But it takes a special breed to implode on the national stage. The lawyer for the Salahis - not sure how he's expecting to get paid - has asked the House Homeland Security Committee not to force his clients to take the Fifth Amendment publicly, as it would "result in an unnecessary media spectacle." What?? Wasn't that the goal?

What have the Heenes been up to lately?

You Had a Bad Career

http://www.freep.com/article/20091208/ENT07/912080355/1035/rss04

It was a little chilly this morning, with actual ice on the windshield. I said something like “Its like being back in NY” to the Peet's Coffee guy but he rightly corrected me, letting me know it might compare to a brisk fall day. I've become a weather wimp, even though I just got done busting the chops of one of my FB friends.

I gotta crank out the Xmas letter. It may be time to start a recycling campaign. I'm looking forward to what #1 comes up with. He's quite inventive with his holiday efforts. Its too bad we're not speaking.

I think my bud The Wig may be in the general vicinity, meaning Vegas. I hope he took my blog restaurant review to heart and visits Bouchon. You can't lose.

You know you're a geezer when one of your pals comes to you for CPAP advice.

Hey, there was big hoops extravaganza this weekend. As mentioned previously, The Banker coached my daughter and his to three straight middle school championships some years back. Now the girls are high school juniors and they faced off Saturday night. We got beat but my kid scored 18 and The Banker's daughter brought home tournament MVP. Western PA may be the cradle of quarterbacks, but Foster City is the fount of female cagers.

Cheap Shot

An apology is past due for my November 17th post , which was a crass attempt to evade my SLA.

See you next Sunday