Category: uncategorized

I’m watching one of my favorite episodes of That 70s Show, where Joseph Gordon-Levitt guest stars as Buddy, Eric (Topher Grace)’s new (gay!) friend. He kisses Eric, thinking he’s gay too. It’s all very cute and comical. Thanks to my TiVo–to which I have yet to give a pet name–for catching this.

Eric: Look, I’m not gay.
Buddy: Yeah. Are you sure?
Eric: Yes!
Buddy: ‘Cause I just thought that…
Eric: Well, why would you think that?
Buddy: ‘Cause we’ve been spending so much time together…
Eric: Because we’re friends. I’ve been friends with Hyde for years, and I never put the moves on him.
Buddy: Yeah, I don’t blame you. That guy’s a jerk.
Eric: Yeah. [pauses] Well… that’s not the reason!

Heh.

Tomorrow I’m off to New York to meet up with Stephen. Yay!

By the way, if you’re in the market for New York theater tickets, a place to look for discounts is Playbill‘s website (free registration required). Due to various restrictions on the individual offers, I’ve never been able to use any of the discounts in the past, but for this trip, it worked out. I got an orchestra ticket to A Day in the Death of Joe Egg for $40 (regular price is $75). Not quite half off, like at the TKTS booth, but then again I don’t have to spend hours in line in Times Square… though that is an experience in and of itself.

Have a fun weekend, kids.

This week’s kitchen experiment is “Poulet à la crème” (Chicken with cream sauce, see recipe and production notes below). It’s the next dish in M. Pépin’s The Apprentice. As I’m finding out, since this book is a memoir, and not a cookbook per se, the individual recipes serve the narrative, and are not classified by food category. So, making this dish was quite a gear change from last week’s soufflé. That said, it was fantastic.

The chicken is slowly cooked with herbs in stock and white wine, and the cream sauce is really simple and so rich and buttery. Very decadent. After I was done cooking the whole thing, and had a taste, I let out a loud “Oh, my god.” It was so good, I had to have it right there and then on the kitchen counter. Mmm.

Now I’m ready for a nap. By the way, I’m grouping all my cooking entries into one category, which you’ll also find in the sidebar.

This week’s Friday Five:

1. What brand of toothpaste do you use?
Currently, Colgate (Total Plus Whitening).

2. What brand of toilet paper do you prefer?
Safeway brand, baby. Two-ply, quilted, and inexpensive.

3. What brand(s) of shoes do you wear?
This is all over the place, since I’m not loyal to one or even a few particular brands: American Eagle Outfitters, Doc Martens, J. Crew, Reebok, Sperry Top-Sider, et al.

4. What brand of soda do you drink?
I used to be big on Barq’s root beer, but these days, when I do drink soda, which is usually only in the context of fast food, I go for Diet Coke.

5. What brand of gum do you chew?
The idea of putting something in my mouth, only to spit it out later, has never caught on with me.

I changed the main font to Lucida, mostly because the upper-case Js descend below the baseline. (Much like certain numerals for Georgia, which I use for the date headers.) I like that. The Qs are pretty, too. I’ll give it a few days, and see if the font grows on me.

Other administrivia: does anyone use the XML feed for this site? Is it working? I suppose I get the concept, but I admit to some ignorance of how it all functions technically. The syndication link is in the sidebar only because it came with the template and I figured I’d keep it, just in case it was doing some good, unbeknownst to me; otherwise, I’ll take it off and do my homework.

While we’re at it, any other suggestions are welcome. Like, does the format of the archive page work for you? Do you ever use the monthly archives (in addition to the daily ones)? Is everything displaying reasonably well in your browser?

Seriously, bring it on.

Who needs the Myers-Briggs types when you have the Real World personality generator? My results:

Your Real World Type: The All-American Guy

Your Official Real World Bio:
Handsome and charming, Jeff is the perfect picture of an all-American guy… who just happens to be gay. Hailing from Washington, D.C., Jeff seems to attract the attention of everyone when he walks in to a room. Aside from his great body, his natural charisma seems to have girls and guys flocking to him no matter where he goes. Jeff makes friends easily and usually acts as the peacemaker in his circle of friends and family. He’s far from just another handsome face–Jeff is a man of integrity, intelligence, and complexity.

This is doing wonders for my ego.

Paris Cast Member Most Likely to Identify With: Ace

Ace? The “genuine, charismatic Southern frat boy”? Oh, wait: “As co-owner of three college bars, Ace loves… drinking and partying…” Okay, that sounds about right.

Paris Cast Member Most Likely to Hook Up With: Simon

No surprise there. Not that I’m complaining.

Paris Cast Member Most Likely to Fight With: CT

More like, “most likely to fight with, be totally annoyed by, and then secretly lust after.”

Sonal, one of my good college friends, will be in D.C. for the month of June, and is subletting an apartment that happens to be near my office. After work yesterday I went over there to check it out, and the place is unbelievably swank. I think my desire to find a nicer, larger apartment has been rekindled. I just have to work out a timeframe, and meanwhile save some money. It will be quite a feat, a veritable coup de lifestyle, if I manage to pull all this off.

And speaking of changes, I’m now resigned to the fact that I don’t (or won’t ever) go to the gym enough to make it worth the exorbitant cost. Washington Sports Club is fabulous, but expensive. I need to quit. Hopefully this will go better than that one Friends episode.

From last Sunday’s The Simpsons, continuing to be one of the most intelligent (and nerdy) shows on television:

Bart: Boys will be boys.
Marge: I am so tired of that tautology!

I laughed knowingly. Speaking of television, I’m rather on the verge of getting cable. Honestly, the only thing stopping me: my apartment is crazy messy. I’m not having anyone over right now (except maybe FEMA to declare it a disaster area), let alone a cable guy. We’ll see. Maybe I can clean up my act in time for, say, The Real World: Paris.