A Curated Experience

It was a typical coastal elite Friday night recently at Chez Hotelier in Burlingame.  We were invited over for a wine tasting and cheese pairing event, led by my pal Justin, pictured below, via video.  The wife and I will be heading to his winery with TCG and Katie next week.  We considered asking The Hoteliers to join us but we’re holding a bit of a grudge that we had to watch the show on their iPad instead of the big screen. Their favorite tenant Charlie also joined us.

https://www.justinwine.com/

The next evening was “driveway cocktails” in our back yard under the heaters.  The wife made tasty poke bowls for us.  I do not remember what the other folks ate, but I dug deep and gave them all a very small piece of TJ chocolate for dessert.  It was a typical evening, with me delighting the crowd with my bons mots.

This week was birthday week at House of DJ, with mine on Saturday and the wife’s on Sunday.  I made the decision not to channel Jessie J and do a nude selfie.  I think we’re all better off for it.  We celebrated Saturday night with Unc, Mashie, #1 and Barbie at Canela in SF.  They cranked up a couple heaters and we ate comfortably outside.  We had a large pan of seafood paella and everybody got two tapas and a dessert.  We’ve been to Canela several times and highly recommend it.  We were also treated to a couple surprise bottles of wine from the generous Wigs.  In addition, they bought us a couple pairs of socks, with mine captioned “get the hell out of my kitchen”. I believe this was an oblique reference to my cooking etiquette when the Wig and I lived with Dr. Joe at this garden spot in Binghamton.

https://tinyurl.com/tfncyvbv

I got some great presents from the family and got my wife a Nordstrom gift card, because I like the personal touch.  They have not been selling Hillsdale Mall gift cards during the pandemic, so I figured Nordstrom was a decent substitute.

I continued the Spanish cuisine theme later in the week by making a new version of Gambas al Ajillo.  This one calls for a clove of garlic per shrimp.  I’m sure we reeked for a day or so but it was worth it.

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/shrimp-with-garlic

I went to donate blood yesterday, but it was a no go.  I had a tooth extracted last month and they put some material in for bone growth, so that was considered a bone graft.  I called the periodontist while I was there to get the full scoop.  It turns out the material was desiccated cadaver bone.  That is more than I wanted to know.

From the personal to the political, things seem to be going to hell in a handbasket for the Republicans.  The execrable Rudy Giuliani got raided since my last post and Ted Cruz had dinner with the Orange Duce, who insulted both his wife and father.  And they are trying to kick Liz Cheney out of her leadership post for not peddling the Big Lie.  Trump tried to appropriate that term, but all he’s got now to communicate is a blog, although he probably gets a few more hits than mine. On the bright side, we have sane and compassionate Joe Biden running the show now.

To close, I’m providing you procrastinating Mother’s Day gift buyers an ideal solution.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-store-shotgun-necklace_n_60908381e4b0ccb91c35394a