The Daily Sabs

this morning, while i was making my grocery shopping list, i thought it would be fun to invite some folks over for impromptu dinner party. chicken was on the menu, and i promised kate that the next time i made one, she and josh would be the first on the invite list. our table holds exactly four people, so it worked out perfectly.

because we can't have a large dinner party, i never invite folks over for eating. -- in fact, this was the first time i even used my tord boontje holiday plates that i bought oh, four years ago. -- however, i'm starting to feel comfortable with the casual party of four, and tonight was an excellent reason why. good eats, good company, good conversation. those kids are so cute and fun that i didn't even have to rely on backup plan. although if josh knew that my backup plan was video games, maybe he would've demanded it.

thanks to kate and josh for braving the weather, and paying the toll (literally, not figuratively) for hanging out with us tonight!

the only thing i regret about tonight is not taking a picture of the chicken before i hacked at it (seriously someone needs to teach me how to carve these things - i seriously suck at it). it was beautiful golden brown and the skin was perfectly crispy. you can't tell that from the hacked at picture here. who wants to teach me how to carve?

After last night (or was it this morning?)'s festivities, a nice coating of grease was a must. Arthur decided that the only suitable grease was Arinell's pizza, so he hopped in a cab and went down to the mission to pick up some pies. Then he set them up in one of the conference rooms. Best meeting ever.

Thanks Arthur!

I bailed on work today for no particular reason (these are the perks when you've been here four years and don't take a real vacation for two). My only goal was gym and soda machine. It's an exhilarating life, I know, and the best part is that I managed to get them both done. For the record sparkling water whenever I want it is an amazing, dare I say life-changing treat. I've already blown thru two bottles.

Another place that I went thru two bottles of water was grub. Anneh, Dylan, randall, and I met up there for a little pre-show meal. We all ended up ordering burgers, they were pretty good, but the service was way spotty. I think there was one guy taking all the orders. We didn't even get any dipping sauces with our supposedly truffled pomme frites, and we had two sets of menus. I say give them a few more weeks to figure it out, and then go give it a shot. I mean heck you waited over two years for it to open, what's a couple more weeks?

Afterwards we marched thru the mission holiday block party (seriously, why isn't this a monthly event?) and headed to cassanova to wish chuckles a happy birthday. He planned a last minute bday happy hour and although we did not have time to buy him a drink (see note about spotty grub service) we wished him well and made plans for dinner later.

Next up was a quick Bart ride to the mezzanine where Peter hook (and friends) was performing the entire joy division album unknown pleasures live. This my pals was way awesomer sounding than it really was. And yet it was exactly what I expected. Peter hook's vocals are far too rockingout to work (I'd say a joy division cover sounds better) and his polo shirt that was just a bit too snug cracked me up. The music stand with lyrics and/or chords also made me giggle. As did the 20'minute Peter hook and new order and joy division and Manchester be awesome video. Overall I'd say it was a ridiculous event, but hooky is one of randall's idols so I'll leave out the rest of my mockery.

Ps. This cat painting was found at the incline gallery (next door to grub) and it is spectacular.

Dk and I happened to be leaving the office at the same time, so we Aaron Sorkin'd it. Meaning we walked and talked and caught up on the latest news. You know, one side of the office to the other.

This morning I dropped Randall off at caltrain and decided to find an adventure. Sadly, I wasn't feeling that adventurous, and just ended up at the gym. After a 2 episode workout it was time to run some errands. I was still in my workout clothes (juju would've been appalled), but I had to pick up the bubbles for thanksgiving and some stuff for the house. Apparently I was really tired because I also felt the need to test out new pillows.

Once the errands were run, I headed home to start dinner. It was only 1pm, but I was doing a slow cooked citrus-spice beef stew. It's a recipe I made up (beef stock, oj, aniseed, cumin, white pepper, garlic and then some) and it turned out pretty nice. It stewed for 7 hours, but I wish it could've gone a bit longer. While I was dicing up vegetables for the stew, I remembered the roast chicken leftovers in the fridge and decided to cook up a batch of chicken stock too. I'll use it next week to make some risotto.

After the cooking I did a proper vacation thing and napped. I actually didn't mean to, but it was cold and there was a new pillow and the couch looked cozy (it was).

When I woke up I bumbled about a bit, then picked up Randall from the train station. We came home and uncivilly ate our dinner (meaning in front of the tv catching up on walking dead), but I was feeling festive so I decide to keep cooking and whipped up some pumpkin yogurt bread with chocolate chips. It was a hacked together recipe and came out decently. The loaf (and straggler muffins) rose really ridiculously, but the taste was there. I wasn't sure what to expect, for whatever reason, I hate on recipes these days. I think I'm turning into morm.

Overall it was an adventure-less day, but there was lots of festive aromatic tasty foods, and that has to count for something, no?