Literary Downturn

A chat with The Deb this evening led me to discover that it's been nearly a year since my last book review on here. This floored me. I knew it had been some time, but...this is simply disgraceful. My book reviews were probably my favorite blog posts, and I received some nice feedback on a few of them.

And there was plenty of good material over the past year, my last couple illiterate months notwithstanding.

Ah, well. There are other things afoot!

Like helping engaged couples find the perfect wedding photographer, for example.

Playa del Carmen Photos

Tulum bluff,
originally uploaded by mrhe25.

Here are some photos I took during my week-long trip to Playa del Carmen, Mexico in October 2009. I traveled down there for a friend's wedding. These photos are from a day trip to the Mayan ruins of Tulum, which are situated atop a cliff right along the coastline. We had lunch and lounged at a nearby beach and then went swimming in a cenote. Playa del Carmen is in the state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatan peninsula, about 45 minutes away from Cancun. It is paradise.

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Pros:

• Perfect weather
  
• Visiting the Mayan ruins of Tulum, perched atop a coastline bluff
• Swimming in the ocean at the bottom of said bluff
  
• Gorgeous, warm, azure water
• Clean, carpet-like beaches
• Cheap, delicious, authentic local food featuring about 60 fish tacos
• Burning the hell out of my mouth with tasty but caliente sauce on several occasions
  
• Cheap beers and fruity drinks featuring a lifetime's worth of tequila
  
• Staying in the well-appointed penthouse of a hotel in the center of the action for 6 nights for the same price as a couple nights in a US hotel
• Evening reading in a hammock on the balcony
• Chilling at the pool and enjoying La Tortuga's Hora Feliz
  
• Lunch on the beach
• Swimming and cliff jumping in a cenote (freshwater sinkhole pool)
• Witnessing a great friend and his beautiful bride get married
• Rehearsal dinner in a dried-out cenote
• Incredible wedding reception at the Kool Beach Club
• Receiving a rousing ovation complete with maracas from all the guests at my late reception entrance
• Defeating Montezuma's best efforts at sabotage with an overwhelming counter-offensive (see above)
  
• Friendly, helpful locals
• Communicating in Spanglish
  
• Learning colorful anti-MFNYY phrases in Spanish
  
• Attending a reggaeton concert on the beach at night
• Kicking it with amazing people in paraiso
  

Cons:

• Leaving
  

Playa del A-side

Oh hell yes:



Off to sunny Mexico to witness El Lopez tie the knot. I'll be back in a week: tanned, relaxed, and brimming with swine flu and explosive diarrhea!

US Weekly

Check out the latest celeb sighting, courtesy of the Orange County Register paparazzi.

Verklempt

Over the last couple weeks or so I've had the inestimable pleasure, due to a confluence of fortunate events, to enjoy the company of a wide variety of friends - from high school, college, friends-of-friends, and more - that rarely happens in such a short timeframe and in such disparate circumstances. At the risk of being one of those melodramatic, egocentric bloggers, I just want to say how awesome it is that you all keep Ol' Big Bear laughing.

Getting a bit dusty in here...

Treasure

Poking around in the downstairs used book section of the Harvard Book Store on Friday afternoon along with Amrys and Paul, ever-hopefully scanning the W section, I came across a fat yellowed paperback of Herman Wouk's War and Remembrance.

$2.00

I cannot wait to read this sequel to the wonderful The Winds of War. And I won't have to, as I plan on starting it as soon as I hit "Publish Post."

Brand New Day

(Just got that song from the new Target ads - "Brand New Day" by Tim Myers ft. Lindsey Ray. Upbeat and infectious - much like yours truly.)

I don't have to tell you that watching the Sox sweep a two-game series in the Bronx on a drizzly evening in early May is not a bad way to spectate. Big props to 45 for organizing yet another great event in which things were to be had. 30 pts. Guess it's always gonna rain when I watch the kids play Satan's team. The new stadium is nice, certainly, but I have to say it scores a goose egg in the character department. Of course it's hardly fair to compare anywhere to Fenway in this regard. No beer lines, if you're eager to spend nine bones on one.

The "Yankee Clipper" - definitely the way to travel from Hoboken to the Bronx.

Megabus - definitely the way to travel from the Hub to Gotham. Functionally it's very similar to the Fung Whoa but get your tix in advance and you can pay almost nothing. The poor man's Limoliner.

MFNYY fans - abhorrent in general, but exceptions do exist.

---

On a more serious note, let's hope Remy has a complete recovery soon. Just found out about this a couple days ago.

A-Side @ MFNYY

Taking Megabus - $15.50 round-trip* - down to NYC this AM in order to watch the Sox play the Yankees in the new stadium this evening. Dunndee's in line for a big dime's worth of points for setting this up.

Here's hoping the rain cooperates. The last time I saw the Sox play the Bombers at their old house there was a 2-hour rain delay in the middle of the game. Of course this was in 2004 during the ALCS and featured the Sox winning it off Rivera's blown save in the 9th.

So that was fine. But let's kill the rain by gametime, shall we?

*Prices vary depending on when you book.

I Was a Poet Once

Because I mentioned it.

"Ode to Hash"

Ere the break of dawn we came
Upon a place so warm and cheery.
Fort Lou's was this restaurant's name
A beacon in a night so dreary.

Embattled and inebriated
Grouped together with ravenous lust
The waitress was not castigated
In her greasy fare we placed our trust.

To each of us was given one
Of the menus; quite comprehensive.
They foretold gustatory fun
So many foods; we were right pensive.

For her, some eggs; for him, some bacon.
I sat and pondered my digestive fate.
Thank goodness we did not bring Sakin,
His company is not that great.

At last, my eyes did set upon
A glorious dish which I could eat.
Hold on a minute; I must visit the John
And sit upon that porcelain seat.

Back to the table I came with speed,
Still fumbling with my beltlike sash.
No longer could I postpone my need;
I ordered up Poached Eggs and Hash!

Awaiting the arrival of said vittles,
Fraught with anguish I became.
Where is my food? I can't dine on Skittles-
Oh wait...Praise God! It finally came!

Before me the waitress set a mountain
Of provender of regal state.
From my eyes there gushed a fountain;
Tears of joy for such a plate!

Imagine, resting on a platter,
An enormous mound of gourmet hash.
Although such grub doth make me fatter,
Remove it and I'll give you the lash!

Upon the meat (onions mixed in)
Were set two orbs of perfect form.
Twin eggs poached - what esculent sin!
Such late-night victuals are hardly the norm.

Poached eggs are the best compliment
To a hash: hearty, beefy and bold.
A gourmand's favorite aliment,
Its gastric appeal never grows old.

One taste of this edible bliss
Surpasses even a petit mort
I would forego a maiden's kiss
As long as I get more, more, more!

I sincerely hope I have related
My yearning for this fabled fodder.
And for the record it should be stated,
"Man X" soiled a hot Cape Codder.

Now off to Lou's ere break of dawn
After we get our boozing on!

Belated Food Items

A) Very belated props to Dunndee for cooking up some tremazing omelettes the morning after the 4th Annual St. Patty's Day Meat 'n' Meet. There's nothing better than waking up on your couch after having ingested unconscionable amounts of boiled beef, cabbage, and Guinness and having a cheese omelette and a steaming mug of coffee appear in your lap. Who would've thought the kid who singlehandedly brought in record profits for the Peggy Lawton cookie company back in '95-'98 would turn into a single-star chef? (That's an MRhé star, not Michelin.) 10 points.

B) Props to Foonyor "Dr. Poached" Barzane for giving me tips on how to poach eggs. 10 points. Poached eggs are my favorite way to have eggs - I always order them if possible. Poached eggs on hash are a religious experience. In fact I wrote an ode about this very dish a while back. I've never tried making them because I always thought it involved arcane culinary secrets and alchemical equipment; much like my fear of cooking shellfish had been. But I discovered that upon trying it, it is actually quite easy to make perfect, delicious poached eggs.

My method, with a nod to Porkins:

1. Boil water in a small pot
2. Once water is boiling, turn off heat. Keep an eye on the water - once the bubbles become minimal then you can move on to the next step. You want to have the water very hot but not bubbling because you don't want the movement to break up the eggs when you add them.
3. Carefully add the eggs one at a time. I think the key here is to have a good "egg cup." I have these little glass dishes that I use to hold ingredients (like the TV chefs use) that are the perfect size for one egg. I actually put the dish in the water and just tilt it so that the egg slides right in. You can do as many as will fit on the bottom of the pot without dropping them into one another.
4. Let the eggs hang out for a few minutes. You'll find out how long works best depending on how runny you like the yolk.
5. I've been using a strainer to remove the eggs. Carefully pour the water and eggs into a strainer and then transfer to plate, toast, bagel, etc. This allows me to get all the egg. I've tried using a slotted spoon but found that I lost bits of egg and the eggs kept more moisture. I've also tried blotting off some of the excess water with a towel but found that egg stuck that way.
   
6. I've heard about adding vinegar but I haven't used it.
   

C) The first time I made poached eggs it was over red flannel hash - made from the leftovers from the boiled corned beef & cabbage dinner. This hash is reason enough to make the dinner - truly unbelievable. Aside from the actual fresh boiled corned beef (unlike that canned Hormel crap they often serve at low-rent greasy spoons) the mixture of veggies gives it an amazing taste. A couple of perfect poached on top and you're in heaven. Heaven.

---

Now 45's cooking up fish in his dishwasher; JCB's making Hollandaise sauce - I'm going to have to step up my game if I'm going to retain my self-appointed title of Resident Chef of the Triumvirate...might have to do up a tête de veau or a soufflé or something soon.

To Be Filed Under "Bad Ideas"

Today, in Amanda's words

Jeremy & LB's meticulously planned birthday bar crawl, which stretches a staggering 3.2 miles, covers 2 cities and 15 bars, starts at noon and supposedly ends at 2am.

Here we go.

Points Update

Date: 3/13
Locations: Billy Tse's & Club 259

The Gipper: 40
Jenny: 20
FMBs: 10
Ridiculous Used Car Salesman/Waiter from Billy's: 5
Freddie: 2
Three-piece suit: 2
MRhé: 2
JCB: 2
DD45: 1
TP: 1
Scooter: -4,998

Day 12: Ex-pats & Fried Bread

This is one of a series of entries from my travel journal chronicling my recent trip to Europe. You can click here for the archived entries.

Day 11 | Day 12

England photo gallery here.

14 Alma Place, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK 17/06/08

Jeff and I arrived at the place he splits with Josh in Oxford (although he now spends most of his time in Cambridge) around midnight last night. It took us about an hour and a half to drive our rented Ford Fiesta out here from Luton Airport. We were bushed last night and crashed immediately.

This morning we went to the Tick Tock Café down the street a ways. It was fairly standard greasy spoon fare. I had a typical heart attack breakfast with the curious English addition of fried bread. If deep-fried white bread sounds like an oil-drenched, bland, unpleasant, and entirely unnecessary experience to you, then you're right on the money. On the walk back from breakfast we heard a bell ringing and lo and behold, there was our friend Jules on his bike (yet another American ex-pat in Oxford. It's all the rage these days. Jules knew Jeff from Cambridge, MA). I guess Oxford's a small place, being that I ran into the only other person I knew here from the States within an hour of waking up this morning. Unfortunately Josh is in the States now, ironically enough, so I won't get to see him here. But it does mean I have his bed to sleep in rather than this grim couch I'm currently sitting on, so that's nice.

Trivial Success

Although Amanda surprisingly hasn't written about it yet, I checked out the trivia scene down in Tha Quinz last Thursday evening. Our team "Vandelay Industries" came in 2nd (by 2 points!), but that isn't the important part.

The important part is that I nailed this question from the Seinfeld category:

"What is the name of Jerry's dad's neighbor who gives Jerry the astronaut pen?"

If anyone besides my bro knows this, I will be impressed.

I Can't Believe We Made It!

A somewhat belated post-New Year's "Happy New Year!" post to my fellow blogospherians. Some highlights from spending the final night of '08 and early days of '09 in the Empire and Garden states:

• Driving down during the Great Blizzard of '08 in Dunndee's Trans Am, AKA the Car with No Traction, Wiper Fluid, Functioning Wiper Blades, Rear Windshield Heating Element, or Headlights. At one point I thought we were going to be stuck in a rest area parking lot on 84 until 2009.
  
• Great New Year's Eve party "in the village," as they say, replete with bottomless Strong Islands, lots of A-side peeps, and vaulting bartenders
• 24 hours on Dunndee's couch on Jan 1st. Quite literally.
• Seeing the outside of an old law school building at Rutgers Law, Newark, AKA "City Law University," the law school Mike McD attends in Rounders, a film I watched approximately 146 times in college. Damon, Norton, Malkovich, and Turturro at their absolute peaks.
  
• Getting serenaded a cappella by five cheerful gentlemen in the wee hours of 2009 on the PATH train from World Trade Center back to Penn Station, Newark, NJ. A brief but comical Hall & Oates stint - "Hey, what you wanna listen to? White people music? What do white people listen to? Hall and Oates!" - was followed up by a little Sam Cooke at my request. A few bars of "A Change Is Gonna Come" were all too appropriate at that point.
• Calamari pizza. Don't knock it 'til you try it.
• Sauerbraten, AKA the "best thing on the menu" over at Cafe Steinhof in Crooklyn, NY. Nothing but steins, schnitzels, and spaetzle over there.
  

Five In Five

All five seasons of The Wire rapped up in five minutes, courtesy of Mad Skillz. Who else?



Thanks to the recently-affianced 0.5 2GD - Can't believe we made it!

P.S. We need two more for tree.

In a New York State of Mind

About to brave this blizzard in Dunndee's dirty Jerz sled to kick it in NYC tonight and the rest of the weekend.

Happy New Year!

Leftovers

A few weeks ago we had quite the feast here Chez MRhé. It was the weekend after Thanksgiving. The 1L was in town and the Pats were playing on Sunday (although let us not speak any more of that tragi-comedy against the 'Burgh) - reason enough for a big jam. 45 contributed his specialty - bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers. Utterly delicious. I did up some littlenecks in white wine, butter, and garlic sauce and then did an impromptu version of clams casino stuffed with diced bacon, shredded italian cheese blend, and panko bread crumbs. I also happened to have a giant turkey carcass lying around - Thanksgiving leftovers - so I made turkey soup from scratch. Worked out well and it was a great, fun meal, football ineptitude notwithstanding.

Covers Night

Last night I went to see Covers Night at Club Passim along with Rhode and Pickin' Baines Johnston. The act was packed with the star power of Jake Armerding, Zachariah Hickman, Mark Erelli, and Lori McKenna. For the last several years this group of artists has delighted the patrons of Passim with an annual show of covers of music from a myriad of genres and time periods. The musicians themselves come out of the bluegrass/folk/country tradition, and incorporate these flavors in their own renditions. Armerding, Erelli, and McKenna took turns singing lead vocals on their choice songs while Hickman provided upright bass, pump organ, backup vocals, witty one liners and inspired yelps throughout.



The show was fantastic. Not only was the music excellent, but it was an entertaining couple hours with the performers cracking jokes, playing off each other, and demonstrating a comfort with each other that made for a fun show.



Regular readers know that I've been a fan of Armerding and Hickman for the last couple years. I think I saw Erelli play at one of many shows at the Cantab - probably with those two. Very talented, great voice.



McKenna was a complete unknown to me, but she's a Commonwealth native with several folk albums who's toured with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, among others. Erelli toured with her as well. She was incredible - a tiny woman who has some shockingly serious pipes. Beautiful, powerful voice that worked wonderfully on her selections. She has a wistful sound. One of the best female voices I've heard, up there with the likes of Krauss.



The set list, from what I remember:

• "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago (Armerding)
  
• "Black Market Baby" by Tom Waits (awesome version sung by Erelli)
• "Deep Red Bells" by Neko Case (cool tune; haunting - Erelli)
• "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot* (Armerding did the late Canuck proud. This one was probably the highlight of the evening. For my table, anyway.)
• "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper (Cheesy pop sung elegantly by McKenna with humorous backup vocals from the gents)
• "Take a Bow" by Rihanna (McKenna)
  
• "White Horse" by Taylor Swift (McKenna - brought a maturity and respectability to youthful pop)
  
• "Purple Rain" by Prince (Incredible performance from Erelli on this. Got the whole crowd singing along.)
  
• "Orange Juice Blues" by Bob Dylan & Richard Manuel (Erelli)
  
• "Greenbacks" by Ray Charles (awesome uptempo number by Erelli)
• "He's a Tramp" by Peggy Lee (eclectic, smoky number from Armerding)
• "More Than Words" by Extreme (the duo of Armerding and Erelli performed this in amusing, uncomfortable homoerotic fashion while Hickman and McKenna mock danced in the arm-length, no-hip contact middle school style offstage)
• "Carol of the Bells" by Leontovych (Armerding, Erelli, Hickman)
• "Ode to Billie Joe" by Bobbie Gentry (amazing rendition by McKenna)
  
• "All Apologies" by Nirvana (perhaps the oddest selection from McKenna but it worked as a closing piece)
  

Erelli probably had the best selections of the night for quality, variety, and performance.

What am I forgetting here? Erin? Scojo?

---

*

JERRY: Hey. How's the new place?!

GEORGE: Gone. (Moves over to a chair in the living room. Kramer takes the carton of food to the table, and begins eating) The tenant association made me give it

to this guy because he was an Andrea Doria survivor..

ELAINE: Andrea Doria? Isn't that the one they did the song about?

JERRY: (Correcting her) Edmund Fitzgerald.

ELIANE: I love Edmund Fitzgerald's voice.

JERRY: (Gives Elaine a look) No, Gordon Lightfoot was the singer. Edmund Fitzgerald was the ship.

GEORGE: (Talking about his would-be apartment) You could fit 15 people in that bathroom..

ELAINE: I think Gordon Lightfoot was the boat.

JERRY: (Sarcastic) Yeah, and it was rammed by the Cat Stevens.

KRAMER: (Like a teacher) The Andrea Doria collided with the Stockholm in dense fog 21 miles off the coast of Nantucket. (Makes a clicking sound with his tongue)