Ok, so those of you who know me well, know that I am a reality TV junkie. Recently my good friend Emily got me hooked on Project Runway. Now this is not the kind of show I would have been drawn to on my own as it is about a fashion design competition, but with Emily’s recommendation I gave it a try and now I am hooked. This in turn led me to my new love – the Podcast. Admittedly Aaron has been listening to various podcasts for sometime and recommended that I check them out, but I have never been a fan of talk radio…so I basically disregarded them. BUT, Project Runway has a weekly podcast and it provides all these details about an episode that you don’t get just watching the show. So now I’m wondering, why doesn’t every television show have a podcast?

Back in December, Sah and I went to Clio to celebrate my promotion. Clio is one of the finest restaurants in Boston. It’s hard to characterize the cuisine… partly French with a heavy Japanese influence… and it’s ridiculously expensive. We had been there once before, a year or two earlier, and had phenomenal meals. Having been so impressed, I vowed the next time I went there to try the chef’s tasting menu. So when we went last month, I ordered exactly that. The waitress then politely informed us that it’s forbidden for only one person in a party to order a tasting menu. This was very disappointing to hear because, while I love to try new foods, Sarah… um… not so much. A chef’s tasting menu is Sarah’s kryptonite. You often don’t know what you’re getting before it arrives in front of you, and in a place like Clio, there’s a good probability of urchin, fois gras, etc.. So I said, OK give me a menu and I’ll order off of that. But Sarah, very selflessly, insisted that we both get tasting menus knowing full well that she wasn’t going to like much of what was being served.

I was not happy about that situation, so I had the maitre d’ over for a chat. Politely and profesionally, he said that the reason for this policy is that the chef’s tasting menu is a 3 hour, 12 course meal. If I were to order that and Sah did not, she would spend 30 minutes eating with me, and the remaining two and a half hours she would be watching me eat. In retrospect, I can understand the policy, but at the time, I wasn’t having it. I explained to him that it was problematic because my wife has, let’s say, a limited palette, we’re here to celebrate a special occasion, we’re about to spend a bajillion dollars (paraphrasing), and we’d appreciate anything that could be done to acommodate our circumstance.

So the maitre d’ tried to get a handle on Sarah’s likes and, far more numerous, dislikes. I won’t go into the details of all the food preference questions he asked of Sah, but her answer to 90% of his questions was, “No, sorry, I don’t like that either.” At several points, Sah said, “Really, don’t worry about it. We’ll both just order the tasting menu.” But this guy was undaunted. At no point did he show even the slightest trace of frustration. He kept asking until he had enough to work with, at which point he politely withdrew to the kitchen.

Some minutes later he exited the kitchen and turned to Sah. “We have a solution. I explained everything to the chef, and he has agreed to make you a personalized tasting menu of 12 courses.” He mentioned what a handful of the courses would consist of and the rest would be surprises. Sarah, in a philanthropic effort to ensure that I could have the tasting menu that I had been looking forward to, agreed to this special arrangement. If you’re at all familiar with Sarah’s narrow food preferences and general dread of things unknown, you’ll understand the depth of her sacrifice.

As it turned out, it was all fantastic. Sarah liked or loved pretty much everything she had. I’m sure she’ll have some specific comments below. The food was sublime and the service was stellar. We couldn’t thank the maitre d’ and chef enough. Easily one of the best meals I’ve ever had.

Thank you, Sarah!

I wrote down everything we had that night and it’s been pinned to our bulletin board since. Now I’ve listed it all on the next page if you want to see the insane number and complexity of dishes we enjoyed.

__(‘Read the rest of this entry »’)

Well, after weeks of oddly warm temperatures and lots of rain, we finally got a couple of inches of snow today. For those of us who like snow (i.e. ME) it has been a strange winter so far. I went outside on my lunch break today to take a few photos because the weather forecasters say the snow should be gone by tomorrow, as it is currently raining and approaching 40 degrees. I’m hoping February brings us at least one real storm…it seems I’m in the minority on that one though. :)

In another unfortunate twist of fate, our landlord recently informed us that he will not be renewing our lease, as he wants to re-do the plumbing, electrical, etc in the building and needs to tear up our unit. So, as of the end of March, Aaron and I are out on the street. Neither of us feel like there’s enough time to find and buy a house, so now we have to search for an interim apartment (that will let us go month to month mind you) and pack up and move. Ugh! Needless to say this is particularly bad timing for us. I’m dealing a bit better now and am trying to channel my frustration into packing energy, but I am ready for something housing-wise to go our way. It seems we’re overdue.

Congratulations to my brother Peter and his girlfriend Maria who just got engaged! After months of planning and strategizing I am happy to report that Peter’s taking Maria on vacation to Disney World, and his subsequent proposal, post fireworks, in front of the Magic Kingdom, went off without a hitch. Peter managed to get the ring through airport security (in his carry on luggage) and into the park (in its box, in the socks he was wearing!) without Maria catching on…although we suspect the clever girl might have seen the whole proposal coming. They are planning a summer 2007 wedding. We’re very excited and happy for them both.

It’s almost not worth reviewing…Dodgeball is like a long Saturday Night Live skit, or the type of movie you put on while you are doing something else. There are a few very funny, physical-comedy scenes, but other than those bits, there’s not much to it. Rip Torn’s wrench chucking scene was the best part of the movie.

It’s official, we have started looking for a house. After another frustrating occurence at our current apartment, we have finally gotten serious about buying a house of our own. We are in the VERY early stages and are really just trying to educate ourselves on what we like and don’t and more significantly what we can afford…but it’s all very exciting. We went to our first open house this past weekend. Unfortunately this particular house needed quite a bit of work and as you can see from the photo above, the ceilings were a little low for our taste, but it was a good learning experience.

Does anyone else remember the Play-Doh Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop? My sister and I had it as kids and we loved it. It had little people you could slide into the barber’s chair and then you could push the Play-Doh up through them and out the holes in the tops of their heads – making hair. There also were these cool molds you could put on their heads to give them a more coifed hairstyle. Anyway, this past Christmas while looking for stocking gifts I came across this abbreviated version of the toy I had once loved. It’s just a tub of Play Doh and a single guy you can fill…but I got one for Aaron and one for Amy. Pretty sweet.

I like Anita Shreve. I just finished a book of hers called Strange Fits of Passion. I’ve found her books are pretty consistently well written, and although not especially cerebral, the stories are completely engrossing. This one is about a victim of domestic violence and is set in the early 1970s.

While on vacation this week, we went to see Brokeback Mountain. The movie tells the story of two young men – a ranch-hand (Heath Ledger) and a rodeo cowboy (Jake Gyllenhaal), who meet over the summer of 1963 while caring for a herd of sheep on Brokeback Mountain and their enduring relationship. In some ways it’s a modern “Romeo and Juliet” type tale of forbidden love, but of all the films I have seen that would fit into that category, this one seemed especially real. It was powerful, heartbreaking, raw and poignant. I have enjoyed Gyllenhaal in other films and anticipated being impressed with his work in this movie, but I was pleasantly surprised at strength of Ledger’s performance as well. Both men gave devastatingly moving performances. Additionally, the film is set against beautiful vistas of Wyoming and Texas. Overall, it’s a haunting and unforgettable film, worthy of the hype.