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Friday, Apr. 30, 2004

So. This gorgeous temperateness is making me very sleepy. That, and the several many beers plus barely serviceable Ohio Chardonnay I drank last night while whooping it up with my pal Herbie. We had an actual PURELY SOCIAL evening last night, just like we used to do before we were restauranteurs. I left work and went to the strip and spent my last $30 on the makings of a delicious cajun-inspired feast, consisting of salmon, sausage/ham/pepper/olive pasta, artichokes with garlic butter, and a super freaky fruit salad I made up in honor of the giant papayas that have appeared at Wholey's. The asian produce guys at Wholey's were doing everything short of running up on you with a papaya to get people to buy them. They had them displayed in a giant pile, and they had some pre-chunked in plastic containers(my option), and they had some out on a tray for sampling. They did not, however, even once IDENTIFY the fruit. I knew it was papaya because I'm all savvy like that, but several ladies came up to ME and asked me what it was. "Delicious" I replied. (I also told them it was papaya, not mango like they all seemed to think) I mixed up the chunked papaya with avocado and banana and bathed it in a seriously stoned dressing with pomegranate molasses, a splash of "blush table wine"(more on the wines of Ohio in a moment), some walnut oil, lime juice, cardamom, coriander, and pink peppercorns and salt. It was delicious, in a really weird way. I'm pleased that I am brave enough to combine a lot of things that really shouldn't go together and serve it to a fellow chef. We both get off on weird stuff, luckily. But I think even someone a little more food-phobic would like it, if they didn't ask what was in it.

So, a little note about the wines of Ohio---after my stint in the Ohio bookstore, the employees gifted me with a very sweet going away thank you basket containing Jacob's Field mustard, some Ohio grown popcorn confections, some Candy Kisses from Warrensville Heights, and two bottles of Ohio wine. I was kind of scared, but I braved them. The first one, Jester's Blush, was just waaaay too sweet for me. All Ohio wines, I feel justified in saying, taste like the Pink Catawba grape that was "the first and most popular Ohio wine grape" and I just really DON'T like that grape. It reminds me of high school, in a bad way. So I splashed some in the dressing for the fruit salad and stuck it back in the fridge for the coming hard times. The Chardonnay was much better, but as I am a lover of the "buttery" chardonnays I can't say I dug it that much. But I drank several glasses, cuz the pasta was spicy. Herbie liked it better than I did.

So, while we were enjoying our dinner on the porch, up comes some detectives from the Pittsburgh Police. You think I am making this up, but I am not. Apparently there have been a rash of burglaries in the area, and apparently my neighbors are under suspicion. Lovely. I was co-operative with the officers, but--DAMN. Time to step up the relocation program.

After our run in with the fuzz, we beat it out of here and went down to the Engine House for the story reading. The building was gorgeous, the readings were great, the film was unsettling, and our reconnaisance mission was successful(I can say no more) I hopefully sowed some seeds for a "Food and Cooking" themed reading one of these days. I also got to talk to a young asian poet that just happened to be passing by while I was out smoking, and tell him to get to the Quizzle for the Spoken Mic. It felt good to do my part to encourage the youth. Then it was off to the Quizzle for another beer, and a safety meeting, and some drama. Whoo-boy. Came home and fell into bed, and fell asleep waiting for Janet Jackson on the Tonight Show. Sweet Dreams.

This morning, I was waiting for the bus in front of the barber shop where there is a brotha selling homemade Cds and DVDs. His sign disturbed me: "2 for $5. 3 for $20" I stared at it a long time, trying to make some sense of it. It wasn't till I got on the bus that I realized it probably should have said 2 for $15. But by then I was too far away to say anyting. I'm sure he'll fix it after the first person gives him grief.

And in other news....J* will be MARRIED in 7 days. I'm so happy for them I could burst. It's a lovely love story, and it's always nice when two lovely people find each other. I'll be raising many toasts to the happy couple...just as soon as I get my paycheck. I refuse to toast them with sub-standard chardonnay.

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