20 Years

Today marks 20 years since I dropped my first post. I was going to title this one “Oh, Mexico” before I realized the momentous date.

We flew off Thursday, delayed several hours by the fog, on what some would say is an ill-advised trip to Mexico. With us are #1 and Barbie and TCG and Katie. The economy plus seats were roomy and once we got in the air, things went smoothly.

As I have probably mentioned several times, blogging is hard. It is made much easier when you can steal whole paragraphs from elsewhere, in this case #1’s good summary of our first day here, which you will find in quotes below. I hope he keeps it up so I can blog some more while here. His help will make this post more informative and less snarky.

This sextet has traveled together several times before, so I’d like to say I expect smooth sailing. However, I am a little concerned as #1 and TCG have been going at it regularly since we got here. #1 is a lanky dude with a long reach, so I pulled TCG aside to provide a little advice. I said “when things blow, you gotta go inside early and pummel him with body shots.”

Here is the start to day 1.

“Xochimilco Our first stop was the floating gardens of Xochimilco. We boarded a trajinera—a colorful, flat-bottomed boat—large enough to hold 20 people. There are no motors or oars here; our gondolier pushed us along the canals using a long pole that reached the bottom. The area retains a beautiful rural feel, with locals still growing crops on the chinampas (floating fields) behind the banks. We spotted several bird species, including a Great Blue Heron.”

“A Note on History: Cesar shared that in the late 1940s, Hollywood film companies flocked here. Their interest played a critical role in preserving the canals; without the international spotlight, the area likely would have been paved over during the city’s rapid expansion in the 1950s.”

Later on we went to Coyoacan to visit the Frida Kahlo Museum and to see where Hernan Cortez lived. This is his house.

This is the nearby chapel that he built

And this is Neil Young’s take on Cortez from his album Zuma.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX9k9aoX6gk&list=RDuX9k9aoX6gk&start_radio=1

#1 is thinking about a second career as a restaurant reviewer. His descriptions beat mine, which are usually along the lines of “it was good”.

“We had reservations at Rosetta, a Michelin-starred gem in the Roma district. The neighborhood was buzzing—partly because it was "Shakira Weekend." A massive free concert was scheduled for Sunday in the Centro District with 200,000 people expected. We’ve collectively decided we will not be in that crowd!

The Ambiance Rosetta is housed in a breathtaking historic building with soaring ceilings and vines cascading from the rafters. The walls are adorned with subtle murals of flora and birds. Despite the high ceilings, the room had a warm, manageable hum that made conversation easy.

The Meal Our waiter, Emilio, who grew up in North Hollywood, was exceptional. He guided us through the menu with expertise.

• Drinks: Most of us chose a Boulevardier, though Katie opted for a unique Mandarin orange gimlet.

• Appetizers: We shared corn tamales, a white peach salad, and rye sourdough served with ant butter. Yes—ground ants mixed into butter. It was earthy, rich, and absolutely delicious.

• Main Course: Most of the table chose the sea bass, baked in a delicate pastry dough and served on a bed of succulents. DJ opted for the red snapper, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

We shared a few desserts, caught an Uber back to the hotel, and ended a perfect first day in CDMX.”

We used the same tour company for our second full day in Mexico City. Our guide Stef was a very pleasant and knowledgeable young woman who first brought us to the Templo Mayor to see the Aztec ruins. We saw the altar where they had the sacrifices about every 20 days. The blood would need to run all the way down the steps for it to be considered successful. I suppose if it didn’t they’d just say “bring us another”. I bailed part way through this portion to take a seat in the museum.  I met these guys and asked if they wanted to join me for a beer, but they said they were busy.

 

Next was the Metropolitan Cathedral. TCG, with the bum knee he’ll have replaced later this month, and I took a seat at the repentance altar. I wanted to chat him up a little but he was too busy reviewing his many sins. After lunch I Uber back to the hotel and the rest of the crew went to see the Diego Rivera murals.

I’m going to wrap this up by providing the menu for Pujol, the two Michelin star place we ate at last night. It was expensive, but the same dinner in SF would have been a lot more. We were all duly impressed with the service and food.

This menu features a multi-course selection of Oaxacan-inspired dishes, priced at $3,750 with VAT included.

The corn botanas (Shuba’)

 * Baby corn with chapulin mayonnaise, pasilla mixe chile, maguey worm, and chicatana

 * Segueza of corn, and pitiona

 * Fish garnachita with runner beans and hoja santa

The fresh dishes (Guenda roo yaa)

 * Warm almond soup with Isthmus-style pineapple escabeche, poleo, seasonal vegetables, and fish minilla tostada

The warm dishes (Guenda’ro nda’)

 * Guetabidxi of blue shrimp, mole amarillito

 * OR

 * Guetaguu with Mixe-style entomatado and clotted cream

The celebration dishes (Guenda’ro sti sa’)

 * Chilatole of huiche squash, squash blossom, and epazote chochoyotas

 * OR

 * Garnachero-style chicken with Isthmus cake, cabbage, sweet potato, carrot, mustard, pickled chiles, and an apple-quince purée

 * OR

 * Catch of the day zarandeado, in jalapeño and cilantro mojo, with mayonnaise, beans, and tortillas with chepil

 * OR

 * Deche guiña: Wagyu mole with estofado and tender beans

Mole madre

 * Mole madre with a cumin and peanut mole

Something Sweet (Dxiñá)

 * Cheese flan with seasonal fruit and smoked quesillo

 * OR

 * Guava tamal

Wigs Out West

We were graciously invited down to Palm Springs again by The Wigs last week. They often rent a place for a month to escape the Eastern winter and invite a motley crew to join them. I feel OK using that term as the wife and I are the ones that make it motley. I was going to refer to the property as their winter palace, but that would not fit as they are decidedly Democratic.

We arrived to meet up again with the La Jolla couple that we had watched the Super Bowl with a few years ago. They are old friends of The Wigs from the Summit, NJ days. The next day the Wig’s brother and his wife flew in from JFK. He’s the Running Beast and his wife is Mrs. RB, which I’m sure surprises you.  I was speaking with Mrs. Wig about my odd and lazy naming convention.  She pointed out she is not really Mrs. Wig as she has retained her maiden name. Therefore, I need her and Mrs. RB to provide me a bar name like the FC women did.

Friday night the octet had a great dinner at Copley’s, one of Palm Springs’ high-end joints.  It is the former home of Cary Grant. We had a nice outside table that the Wig had picked out for us to see and be seen. Cocktails and dinner were fab.

What I like to do the morning after a night out is sip my coffee and catch up on the news.  If you are like RB, you head out before dawn, hit a local footrace and bring home second place in your age group. I was hoping to pull a Trump move and be awarded his medal, but that would be a tad tacky, wouldn’t it. The rest of us had a bit of a lazy Valentine’s Day, except for my wife who whipped up a scrumptious chicken dinner with an assist from Mrs. RB. That was our only home cooked dinner of the trip.

We spent a lot of time in the hot tub, which fits the entire crew comfortably. The pool was unheated so I took a couple cold plunges, knowing I could quickly hop to the hot tub. They later heated the pool for their granddaughter who arrived after we left.

We had an interesting dining adventure at the Rooster and the Pig on Sunday night. We had multiple dishes to share from the Vietnamese menu, and they all hit the spot. But that was all preceded by a little drama. The place does not take reservations, so we got there about 5:30 and put our name in. The parking lot was full of folks ahead of us, so we knew we were in for a wait. A few of us went to a nearby place for a drink then came back and waited some more.  We were delighted to hear “Michael, table for six” but there happened to be another party that fit that description.  The other Michael tried to slime his way into our table but was ultimately routed.  I was a straggler, so I heard some badmouthing from him before I walked in.  He was nowhere in sight when we had arrived, so I asked him when he got there.  He declined to answer.  So I said rather aggressively, “What time did you get here, pal” which elicited a defensive response from one of his cohorts. I then took my spot at the table and was sad to see them seated about ten minutes later. We apparently got some dirty looks.  And I need to keep in mind that I have not been able to back up a “pal” routine like that since the late 90s.

We got some rain on Monday, so we took further advantage of the hot tub as well as watched some of the Winter Olympics. We had a reservation for a fancy Mexican place that evening, but The Wig made an executive decision to cancel that. We instead went to a family Mexican place that serves the stuff I’m used to, and we all got our fill. We said our goodbyes the next day.

We are very grateful for our desert invitation and would like to be back there right now.  The wife and I have been huddled in our offices with the space heaters on since we woke up. We broke down and turned on the furnace so we could move around the house. The 57 degrees registering on the thermostat was not cutting it.

Is There A Game This Weekend?

I’m feeling a tad under the weather and my wife is not here to comfort me. She always pampers me when I have the sniffles. In an abundance of caution, I may go get a COVID test, but I think it is just a garden-variety mild cold, which I cannot recall having for many years, since I am a beast.

Trump sent an extremely racist video in one of his wee hours posting paroxysms. Tim Scott and other Republicans called him out, so it looks like there is some limit to the crap they will put up with, although Trump of course refuses to apologize. He’s incapable of human decency. Meanwhile, his #2, whom he won’t endorse for ’28, got booed at the Olympic opening ceremony. I am impatiently awaiting 2029, when the Dems need to bring the hammer down on the entire cabal. No more “look forward, not backward”. Look back in anger.

While we are on the first family, let’s talk about Melania.  Per my favorite magazine, People, her movie got a "staggering 8% approval rating among critics". Word is the military is being pressured to see it. That is cruel and unusual. I also saw recently that Melania said Barron still needs full-time supervision.  That is odd for a 19-year-old, but not unheard of.  I was the same way.  That’s why I didn’t go to Binghamton until I was 20. Also, Barron has expressed that he doesn’t want to be involved with the family real estate business. He is focusing on becoming a predatory lender. And I will close out any Trump related news to share that one of his top thugs, Greg Bovino, recently go kicked out of a Vegas bar. That makes two of us.

Sometimes celebs disappoint me. I saw this headline about the second split for this couple.  I say don’t be quitters. Go for the trifecta.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/country-music-star-actor-boyfriend-103043550.html

I was also saddened to see this news.  They may need to start couponing.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/tech-billionaires-watching-wealth-free-162338240.html

Many of you know that I’ve always been a fan of toast. As I mentioned in my 6/28/20 post, my standard demand as a toddler was “tea, toast, big table”. Nobody puts DJ in a highchair. So, to celebrate my predilection, I’m taking the wife to see these guys at the Fox.

OK folks, the COVID test came out negative, so you can all breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the Super Bowl. I asked the Hotelier what he was doing for the big day, since they’ve joined us for a few games. He said he got tix to Levi’s through work and was bringing his wife. Oh, how nice, you dirty dog. I’ll take consolation by winning some dough in my playoff pool.

Long Time No See

My apologies for the long gap between posts, which I’ve been reminded of by the usual suspects. Time gets away from me, especially when my wife plans three evenings out in a row, like she did last week.  I have also been quite busy lately trying to help the Beckhams defuse their family feud.

Regarding those social events last week, we had the Bankers and #1s over for the Banker's birthday, which is the same as my father’s. He would have been 105. My wife came up with a chicken parm recipe that used boneless chicken thighs.  I was skeptical but it turned out great. The next night we went to Dalida in the Presidio with Unc, Mashie, TCG and Katie. My wife had secured a 5pm reservation a few months back.  We had to get in early because of the Gary Gulman show at 7pm. The food was delicious and Gulman was hilarious.  I got his book Misfit from the library the next day. Saturday brought us to downtown San Carlos for a great dinner at Elia. Laurel St. gives you lots of options. If you don’t want the high-end Greek food at Elia, you can go across the street to Nick The Greek’s. I hear that’s pretty good too, but I’ll have to ask my Greek bud TCG. 

The news in my life is good but I get pretty down when I read the real news in the morning. How we ended up with an even worse version of Trump this time around still shocks me. How could so many people pull the lever for this guy? On the brighter side, there is a possibility that ICE Barbie is on her way out. I’m not holding my breath, but Il Duce Arancione is looking to dump the blame for the Minneapolis disaster on someone. He skipped over her in a recent Cabinet meeting so the writing may be on the wall. If she goes, I expect that troglodyte Corey Lewandowski will go with her.  The horror of this most recent episode may be breaking through, with some of the less craven Republicans voicing their concern. And we have America’s rocker laureate adding his thoughts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDaPdpwA4Iw&list=RDGDaPdpwA4Iw&start_radio=1

My wife left a hard-boiled egg in a baggie on the counter to take with her later. My urge to slam my hand down on it was strong, but I thought the better of it.  It reminded me of my wayward childhood. We used to go to the Woolworth’s counter in downtown Middletown to get French fries.  They’d give you a couple packs of ketchup to go with. Since I find the stuff execrable, I’d take the packs with me to stomp on out on North St., the main thoroughfare.  

There was a mountain lion roaming the streets of San Francisco recently.  It was captured and one headline said it was to be "released somewhere with fewer billionaires". I think Foster City fits the bill and the kitty could be well used in our geese management plan.

In my last post, I mentioned all the international hits I’ve been getting.  I now have proof that some chucklehead is messing with me, which is ill-advised.  As you can see below, two hits at the same time from disparate locations on the same 2013 post.  I think it would be best for the offender to come clean in the comments.

The wife and I plan to catch Melania in San Mateo tomorrow night.  Fortunately, there are still tickets left for the 9pm show. I also hear they are going to create a new award for the movie.

Killing Me Softly

I was in my car last week, tuned into my #9 pre-set, 107.7 The Bone.  They play a lot of noise so I don’t listen often, but it is there in the off chance they will be playing a Led Zep or Who tune. They were doing a parody of Roberta Flack’s big hit, originally recorded by Lori Lieberman. Their version was “Killing Me Softly With His Dong”. I was disgusted and immediately called the FCC. Unfortunately, Trump had appointed Wolfman Jack as its head, so my grievance fell on deaf ears. I shared this with Unc and Wolv, and they were as appalled as I.

It is mid-morning here in the beautiful FC and I am already two-thirds of my way through the trifecta. I came across this sign at Gull Park, along with a small flock about 20 yards away.  It is a work in progress.

I did not completely ignore the Golden Globes last night, but I tried. I mostly watched The Pats dispatch the Chargers. Sadly, I ended up in a tie for 15th place in my regular season pool, well out of the money. I am now hoping the playoff pool can redeem me. I am 4-1 so far, so things are looking up.

I did have to check out the GG looks this morning and I am sharing my favorite.  For those not in the know, this is Audrey Nuna and she is a K Pop Demon Hunter singer, which is my old gig.

I have been getting a ton of international hits lately.  I thought the UK might have been putting me on, but he claimed innocence. The most recent ones have been from Tunisia, Paraguay, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Either I’ve broken through to an international fan base shortly before my blog’s 20th anniversary, or some of my other alleged friends are messing with me.

Speaking of alleged friends, I went to a pizza party at #1’s house last week. He also served a King cake for dessert, and I got this adorable baby, which I will always cherish.

I saw this headline recently and decided I’m going to make a lot of noise when I go.

26 Skidoo

I just got off the horn with one of my best buds, The Wig, which was a good way to kick off the New Year.  I sent a NYE note to The Wolv as well.  Keep in touch with your friends, people!

Another good way to start the year is to check out my blog.  I know you are just getting over busting a gut from reading my Xmas letter, but I’m always here for you. 2025’s version may not have been the best. I could be losing my touch after 30 years as I slowly slide into my senescence.

We had a great trip to DC to see the beautiful bundles and the rest of the family. We rented a nice place about a 10-minute walk from SB1’s place. Lots of good food was consumed over the week, including some crab cakes from Potomac’s most chic grocery store. We also had some leftover paella from the catered affair we had at my brother-in-law’s abode. Even the weather cooperated for the most part, except when I froze up at our outing to see the zoo lights. If I ever needed convincing to stay toasty on the West Coast, that was it.  I’ll be on Gull until they send me to the nursing home.

The flights went smoothly both ways. We had a couple of interesting events on the flight home.  One flight attendant was a little agitated as she repeatedly told us the flight was full and to only put big bags in the luggage compartment.  I complied. She was also not too happy when a little terrier came up the aisle mid-flight. She told the entitled owner to keep him in his carrier, to which he replied “Obviously”.  If it was my dog, which it would never be, I’d be apoplectically apologetic instead of cracking wise. The same dude’s huge water bottle rolled up the aisle upon landing. DJ went into solid citizen mode and retrieved it for him.

#1 recently told me of a benefit I was unaware of with my supplemental Medicare coverage.  Both the wife and I can get up to $100 worth of items from CVS quarterly. I hopped to it as soon as I got back, getting our orders in under the wire.  Being one of the tightest of tightwads, I revel in free stuff. I got myself a heating pad and thermometer as well as a lifetime supply of Vaseline. Since today is a new quarter, I’m already working on my next list.

I cannot understand some people and their complete and utter pettiness and hypocrisy.  I saw this headline and said, “Leave Joe the hell alone”. He’s just an ailing, octogenarian ex-President at this point.

“Fox News host Tomi Lahren mocked former President Joe Biden for taking a vacation—while she was filling in for a vacationing Sean Hannity.”

The end of the NFL regular season is upon us.  I invited the Hoteliers over for the big game at 5pm Saturday, as they have not had the opportunity to spend time with us lately. I’m a fair weather Niners fan so, since it is raining, I’m going with Seattle. I just got my picks in.  I’m in a six-way tie for 8th place, and the first nine spots pay out.  I need a good week.

Car Sea NO Cin Hou Jax Min Dal Buf Chi Den LAR KC NE Phi Bal

I Lied

I said in my last post that I would be making daily notes for a year end post.  That did not happen. I imagine that will piss off my large base, but I gotta be up front.  On top of that, JB is upset with me because I ran out of baba ghanouj before I got to her Christmas letter.

Did you see Time Person (People) of the year? Here’s the pic. Stephen Colbert said: “That cover photo there is inspired by a famous photo of iron workers having lunch on the steel beam of a skyscraper. There’s one slight difference: This time, you’re rooting for the wind.”

I got a disheartening Atlantic article from Dr. Joe. The NIH is now nominally headed by Jay Bhattacharya, aka “Podcast Jay”, but it is his deputy that is doing the major damage. I also came across the news that the Trump admin is doing its best to trash NOAA. The pundits have already said it, but it will take decades to recover from the Orange Duce’s wake.

I haven’t got much else for you but the week 16 picks and a ho ho hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas.

Sea Phi Chi TB Buf LAC NO Min KC Cin Atl Den Det Hou NE SF