Author: Jeff Tabaco

DALY CITY, CALIF.–Dial-up internet access here at my parents’ house has been erratic, but at the moment the internet gods seem to be smiling down at me and presenting me with a steady connection, so I’ll seize this opportunity to offer an update.

I arrived late Wednesday night safe and sound, despite a couple of flight delays. The next day, my parents, my aunt, and I went to San Jose to have Thanksgiving dinner with relatives (my dad’s cousins). I hadn’t seen them in a while; their kids, one of whom is my goddaughter, are such cute little tykes and growing up so fast.

Yesterday my parents decided to go shopping for a new (fake) Christmas tree, so we went to Lowe’s, and got one of those kinds with the lights already on. We came back to the house and set it up, and it looks so nice with just the lights that for a second we thought about leaving it unornamented. Side note: before going into Lowe’s we stopped briefly at 3-Day Blinds, since my parents are thinking about replacing the blinds in my old room. My mom seemed interested in the ones with designs on them, and so she was drawn to the Disney display, where they have all sorts of Disney characters available. I was flipping through the catalog, and I gasped, “Ooh, look! The Incredibles!” She replied, “Do you want that?” She was serious. I was sort of giddy for a second. The Incredibles on my windows! Neat-o!

But then reality sneaked in, and we decided on a plain, wood blind. Still, it is nice to dream up the room I never had as a kid: colorful, whimsical, and so forth.

Yesterday evening we drove to Concord and had dinner with my aunt (my mom’s sister) and her family. Again I have to say how quickly the kids are growing up. I know, it’s like I’m all ready to sing “Sunrise, Sunset.” So yeah, more good food and good times.

Okay. I’ve been up since 4:30 a.m. local (Pacific) time. I guess I’m more jetlagged than I thought. Today we’re probably just going to stay home and relax: decorate the tree, watch a DVD or two (I brought Down with Love to watch for the umpteenth time), feast on leftovers, etc. Have a good weekend, folks.

Last night Thom and I had a hearty dinner at Siné, an Irish pub at Pentagon Row, and afterwards went shopping at DSW. Thom is the shoe addict of our household; I love shoes too, but my collection is rather small and basic by comparison. He wandered over to the clearance section, and true to form, spotted a nice pair of Steve Madden sneakers. They were closer to my size, though, so I tried them on, and at the clearance price of around $24, I knew I had to get them. My first pair of Steve Maddens! Take a look.

Later today I’m flying out to California to visit my family for Thanksgiving. I took today off from work, and it’s nice to have all this time to leisurely pack my bags. Wish me luck tonight, though. After my holiday debacle of 2002 (in which an airport delay made me miss my connecting flight and left me stranded in Newark, N.J., the night before Thanksgiving), I should know better than to try and connect to the last flight of the day on one of the busiest travel days of the year, which is what I’m doing tonight, through Cleveland… whose forecast calls for a chance of thunderstorms. Great. Oh, well. It’ll all work out.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving, everyone, and here’s a little something I’m dusting off from last year’s New Yorker: “Thanksgiving Rules Revised.” Quite handy.

On Saturday evening, my TiVo–yes, my TiVo: I hooked it up to Thom’s TV a couple of weeks ago, and configured the remote control to handle either his or my TiVo at the flip of a switch; it was pretty easy, but I feel like a technical genius–caught Jacques Pépin’s newest series, Fast Food My Way (produced by good old KQED). He made some chicken dish, and suddenly inspired I went to the kitchen to try and recreate it. It’s chicken breasts with garlic and parsley; he also called it poulet à la grenouille, since it’s prepared somewhat like frog’s legs.

The recipe isn’t available online, nor do I have an exact recollection of it from the TV, but it’s something like this: chop skinless chicken breasts into cubes. Coat them with flour and pepper, and sauté in oil. After they’ve lightly browned, add butter and chopped parsley. (I forget where the garlic comes in.) I used dried parsley, instead of fresh, but it all turned out rather well and was relatively quick and easy to prepare. (My previous attempt at cooking chicken according to M. Pépin was a much more laborious endeavor.)

To top it all off, I served it with greens and potatoes harvested at the peak of freshness and rushed overnight from our vegetable garden in the country. Heh, kidding. I just used a couple of packaged side dishes: Dole baby spinach and radicchio salad, and Green Giant roasted potatoes with garlic and herbs (comes frozen, and takes a few minutes to heat in the microwave). Seriously, where are my apron and pearls?

It’s not all of a sudden Martha Stewart over here, though. Tonight’s dinner: Lean Pockets.

Some Salon articles to which I’ve been meaning to link:

• “Short and sweet: You can look him straight in the eye and even borrow his clothes: Some reasons why smaller men rock.” That’s right. We rock. (Link via Tin Man. See also Thom’s entry.)
• “Welcome to the new cold war: It’s Chirac vs. Cheney, SUVs vs. minicars, and pommes frites vs. freedom fries in the new transatlantic culture war. But here’s what you don’t know: In the global conflict for moral and economic supremacy, Europe is winning.” (Link via serendipity, one of Thom’s “Dude, Check This Out” blogs.)
• “Car ports: How those eerily beautiful bubble cars in The Incredibles may well appear in our not-too-distant future.” (Link via ChastMastr.)

My company’s Thanksgiving luncheon is tomorrow. Turkey and all the fixings will be provided; we just have to bring a side dish or dessert (or chip in a few bucks). I decided to revisit an Epicurious.com recipe I’ve used before, for pumpkin-apple muffins. It’s a little labor-intensive–remember, as much as I love food, it’s only once in a while that I cook anything that involves more than a few steps– but it’s worth it. These muffins turned out a little denser than I expected (perhaps I overmixed the batter); still they’re very good, and perfect for this time of year. My co-workers are going to love ’em.

I think these photos say it all. Flickr has gotten us obsessed with our digital cameras. First, a photo of a half-eaten muffin (with Thom in the background, fiddling with his camera), and then, courtesy of Thom, the “making of”: a photo of me taking a photo.

Bon appétit!

When Thom and I visited my parents last month, my mom, always worrying that I don’t get enough sleep, asked him, “Does Jeff stay up too late on the computer?” Thom and I looked at each other. We had to laugh. He replied, “I’m the wrong person to ask.” True. For instance, earlier tonight we finished watching The Amazing Race on TiVo at about 12:30 a.m., which we both acknowledged was rather late. It’s a school night, after all. Bedtime, right? Well, we kind of shrugged and just went back to our computers (or rather, Thom had been sitting at his computer desk the whole time we were watching TV; I got up from the futon and went to the dining room table where my iBook is). I’ve been trying (not very hard, apparently) to reform my sleeping habits, but at heart we’re both such night owls.

No, I am not checking my e-mail again. Okay, maybe just one last time.

The sixth season of The Amazing Race is upon us! You will watch. The two-hour premiere airs tonight at 9 p.m. on CBS. (It will re-run this Saturday night at 8 p.m., at least in the D.C. area; check your local listings.) There was an article in today’s Times about the show’s growing audience (“An Audience Finally Catches Up to The Amazing Race“). Thanks to Thom for pointing it out.

Aside: as you may know, I can’t stand the term “reality TV.” Most of the shows lumped into this category are actually game shows that have no basis in “reality.” Come on. (Sometimes when I ask people if they watch The Amazing Race, they say, “Oh, I don’t watch reality TV.” Agh!) On the flip side, if creating a new category, as the Emmy Awards did a few years ago, is what gets industry recognition for a show like this, then so be it.

Further aside: host Phil Keoghan has a series on the Discovery Channel called No Opportunity Wasted, where 26 people, chosen from thousands of applicants, each get $3,000 and 72 hours to fulfill their dream and check an item off their life to-do list.

Today’s Post has a follow-up on Michael Shackelford (“Coming Out for One of Their Own“), one of the two teenagers profiled in its recent series on growing up gay, by Anne Hull (link via Gene).

» Previously: parts I, II (Shackelford); III, and IV (Felicia Holt).