Author: Jeff Tabaco

I think I’ve been running low on blogging mojo lately. In any case, yes, I’m still here. Check out Thom’s blog to catch up on some of our recent exploits.

Last Thursday we had dinner at The Melting Pot, whose Larkspur location was celebrating its one year anniversary (with free champagne!). The evening was also a fundraiser for UCSF Children’s Hospital. So let’s see: eating… fondue… for a good cause. You don’t need to ask me twice. It was quite a meal: unique atmosphere (the labyrinthine restaurant is in a converted brick factory), great food (we had the “Big Night Out,” a prix-fixe multi-course extravaganza of fondue), and friendly service (thanks, Michelle!).

I work from home, and our cat Alex has been pretty good about not bothering me while I’m at the computer. In fact, his lying around all day is sometimes more distracting. It’s a challenge to keep motivated when I look over towards the sunny corner of the office and see this:

He could at least learn how to make coffee or sign for packages.

Happy autumn, by the way. As if on cue for the start of autumn, all this week we’ve had pleasant weather in Daly City. And a few weekends ago, we noticed that Starbucks had started serving its pumpkin lattes and Frappucinos, so that was our sign that the season was around the corner. From now through New Year’s might be my favorite time of the year, with all the holidays and so forth. Thom and I happened to be at Party City earlier this week, getting supplies for the tropical-themed student fair at his work, and they already have Halloween costumes and decorations on display. So many of them. It seems like the only other times I’ve been to Halloween stores have been just a few days before the holiday, when the stores are crowded and all the costumes have been picked over, so to see a fully stocked array of Halloweeniana was amazing.

This will be the first Halloween in a long time that we’re living in a house (as opposed to an apartment or condo), so I’m kind of excited about decorating the front door and steps, and greeting trick-or-treaters! Well, before autumn kills us all (audio).

Just to quickly recap a trio of recent outings:

Monday, Sept. 4 (Labor Day): We had lunch at Burger Joint (great burgers and fries!) on Valencia St. in San Francisco and then met up with Julie, one of Thom’s co-workers, at Dolores Park to watch the San Francisco Mime Troupe perform its current show, Godfellas, a really wonderful piece of political satire. It is now touring through California, and they hope to take it across the country next year. The photo here is of Thom waiting for the show to start; he has more about the day on his blog.

Saturday, Sept. 9: Thom, my mom, and I met up with my aunt in Concord, and the four of us went to the Pittsburg Seafood Festival. There were a lot of food booths; Thom and I had calamari, crab cakes, and garlic fries. Earlier that morning, Thom was looking at the festival’s website and said to me, “Oh, now I know why you want to go. Joey Altman will be there!” And indeed, KRON 4’s Bay Cafe host (and my mini-crush) was there, giving a cooking demonstration. He made salmon sandwiches, and shrimp and andouille corn cakes, which we sampled. Yum! And wouldn’t you know, Thom has got the scoop on his blog, too. (Ah, partner in life and in blog.)

Sunday, Sept. 10: Rajani and I went to Opera in the Park, presented annually by San Francisco Opera and held at Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park. They performed several arias mostly from their current season, and the concert ended as it always does with the drinking song “Libiamo” from La Traviata, in which everyone is invited to sing along. Afterwards Thom picked us up and we drove along the Great Highway; we stopped for a bit near the south end of Ocean Beach for a look out at the Pacific.

I was looking through the business section of last Sunday’s New York Times, and found these two things next to each other: an ad for all-business class Eos Airlines, featuring a photo of sleeper seats; and an article about the latest in final-resting-place design, featuring a photo of avant-garde coffins called the Cocoon.

Heh, that’s an unfortunate juxtaposition. (Or someone in layout has a sense of humor.)

The best line of the Emmy Awards last Sunday came from the wonderful Helen Mirren, as she accepted her award for Elizabeth I. The first thing she said when she reached the stage: “My great triumph is not falling arse over tit as I came up those stairs.” Love her.

Another fine Mirren moment: she and Hugh Laurie presenting an award together. “Poof! Cinq.”

The other day I was in the kitchen and decided to take some photos of our phone. Hear me out. If you’ve been following my blog, you know that we recently moved into the house that I had grown up in. So lately, every now and then I come to appreciate little things around this house that I took for granted as a kid, like, yes, the rotary phone on the kitchen wall.

After we moved in and finally got our phone line activated, I called our home number using my cell phone, and the kitchen phone just made a clicking noise. So I took off the cover, fiddled with its bells (ahem), and tried again. Brrring! The old-fashioned sound of a real telephone ring! I want to answer it and be all, “BUtterfield 8, how may I direct your call?”

(Speaking of our retro kitchen, Thom has been collecting items to match the yellow tile and chrome in there, and his latest find is a snazzy breadbox and canister set in exactly those colors. Yes, I said snazzy.)

There’s a niche in the hallway that used to house a rotary desk phone matching the one in the kitchen. What’s in the niche now? Our DSL modem/router and cordless phone, of course. Ah, the leaps and bounds of technology.