Sunday, April 07, 2002

Its the Mad, Mad Green -- You Fools

I am back at the SA Express site. I usually don't check it very often, but it has been a slow news weekend and the constant rain has kept me inside and at the computer.

One of the columnists has the best piece I have seen so far on the Catholic Church, Celibacy, and its role in the current sex abuse scandal.

Her conclusion is the best part.

I have always thought following the money trail leads to the truth of most situations.

posted by Bohica at 11:16 PM

Food, Glorious Food

Let me first say this -- I am not trendy.

If anything, I am the anti-trend.

Example: I have yet to see Titanic and I never will. Reading about silly people obsessively watching it twenty or thirty times in the theatre baffled me. It was common knowledge that while the computer imaging was stunning, it had an exceptionally weak story line and starred an idiot like Leo Di Caprio. Its popularity just turned me off completely. Big Yuck.

I prefer to swim against the stream -- its a better work out and the lanes are not as crowded.

So -- it was with great trepidation that I approached last night's birthday gathering. All due to the location -- the very trendy and new Cheese Cake Factory.

Located in North Star Mall -- the one with those oversize boots -- the CCF routinely has three hour waits. Ack. And they are too barbaric to implement a reservation system.

No restaurant is worth a three hour wait.

The appointed time was 9:30 PM and you would think the dinner crush would be over.... but no.

My poor cousin got there at 8 PM to get on the wait list. I think it was 10 PM before my butt felt wood and I saw a menu.

Only two hours from the time we got on "the list," and only twenty minutes from when I got there -- so I guess I should be grateful. *Not*

But on to happier things....

The food was good and the service was solid. I shared a melted brie and avocado appetizer -- really tasty -- lots of sun dried tomatoes and crunchy french bread.

All their wines are available by the glass -- important for me since it seems few people my age like red wine. So it is hard to find volunteers for splitting a bottle.

My dinner was the roasted Japanese eggplant sandwich -- great flavor from the eggplant and grilled onions, but if there is a next time -- I'll have them hold the cheese...

Don't get me wrong -- I love cheese -- think brie and avocados. Its just that on this particular sandwich the cheese was a distraction -- doing its best to mask the smoky goodness of the excellent veggies.

The big disappointment of the evening was no thawed Tiramisu. There is nothing quite like real Tiramisu.

To be "real" requires mascarpone -- hard to describe -- but essentially a delicately sweet and creamy Italian cheese -- hah, more cheese -- flavored with honey and herbs. Another requirement is liquor -- usually Sambuca or Kahlua -- and espresso to soak into the lady fingers that comprise the body of this delectable creation.

Seeing Tiramisu with the magical mascarpone in the description on the menu perked me up for dessert -- something I only indulge in every once in a while. To be teased and then denied was hard to take. I made do with a cappuccino. (sniff) No cheese cake could possibly have consoled me.

Overall the CCF was a good feed and I loved the red glass lighting scheme. A foray to lamp and fixture specialty stores is in the offing as a consequence. I want....

However -- the restaurant is too trendy for me. I will probably not darken its door again until it becomes less fashionable to be there. Then it will be a great place.

posted by Bohica at 12:54 PM

Pimping on Prime Time

I just got in from a family gathering of sorts -- celebrating the birthday of my cousin's husband. Since I no longer live two thousand or more miles away, I lack excuses for nonattendance. Such a sad state of affairs.

I enjoyed myself and was thrilled to return to a dog incredibly happy to see me.

There is nothing quite like unconditional love. My walking in the door made his night.

Out of perverse masochism, I check the AP/Reuters feed at the ABC News site.

Nothing earth shattering there -- I keep hoping for a friendly fire death to take out Arafat or wonder of wonders, miracles of miracles to read he charged out of his "besieged" HQ brandishing a gun and had to be put down like the rabid dog he is.

All -- of course -- while the Western media tapes the incident and a camera person is wounded by Arafat's wild shooting -- proving the reality of the threat and that it was a mercy kill.

No such luck this evening (morning?).

What I did see was an ad for this bizarro bachelor show ABC is pimping. Some Stanford/Harvard loser is going to put his mack on 25 women and maybe marry one of the poor ladies -- all on network TV.

You would think the producers and other cabbage heads who "create" this drivel would have learned from Darva's experience. But no such luck.

Always conscious of societal gender roles, I was struck by how this show was being sold. Guy has 25 dates with women and gets to make choice. "What a stud," thinks the audience.

But would a female Stanford/Harvard grad fair so well? Probably not. Any woman who would go out with twenty-five men must (*gasp*) be a trampy whore. A geeky, trampy whore -- at that -- the absolute worst kind. mutter...mutter. Give a woman an education and look at how uppity she becomes.

I mean, go ahead and imagine this show with the genders flipped. Not in this century is all that comes to mind. The sexual double standard is still very much with us. No earth shattering surprise there.

posted by Bohica at 4:14 AM