Thursday Night In

After mucho planning Cesar and I eventually just decided to have dinner Thursday night. After work I took the train to Queens were I met up with him. He was already on his way to finishing dinner.

Cesar is a true entertainer, even when it's just a night in. We began the evening by having a delicious salad. It had figs, cucumbers, green peppers, strawberries, romaine lettuce, goat and blue cheese with a dressing of oil and balsamic vinagrette. He topped the salad with crumbled homemade rosemary bread.

We followed that with a main course that consisted of Fingerling potatoes smothered in extra virgin olive oil, garlic, onions, carrots and butter; fillet mignon, a veggie portion of chopped carrots, peas, corn and green beans, and some scallops.

I ate every bit of that, even the scallops which I did not really like, but I can now say that I've tried it. Everything was done to perfection, specially the fillet mignon and potatoes. I'm hungry again just by looking at that picture.

We finished the evening by watching "Win Win" on demand. A Paul Giamatti movie, the flick is about a lawyer in Jersey who does something unethical when his practice is running into trouble and his family is running out of money. But in the process he helps a young boy and eventually ends up helping his entire family and himself. It was a very subtle commentary on the times, showed a very level (under the circumstances) teenager, and a loving family that worked through their problems happily. The entire thing was well performed and you really fell in love with the teenage boy that throws Paul Giamatti's character and his family on its ear. I totally recommend. I also recommend driving down the highway with the radio on high, screaming a song (any song.) It's good for the soul.

A Sunday with Mi Cariño

Sunday was a blast: low key but fun. We began by lazying about in bed, reading and what not before heading for brunch to Cafe Triskell. I had scrambled eggs with bacon, sausages, salad and red onions.

I did not really like it. I put as much stuff as I could in them eggs to stem the yuck feeling I knew I was going to get from them, but c'est la vie. Brunch took some time so it was well in the afternoon by the time we set out to do some shopping. Or mi Cariño shopped while I tried to not be a pain in the bum. Eventually, however, we made it to the city, where we watched "Circumstances."

The filmmakers described the movie as taboo busting, and that it was. Two young girls in Iran, best friends, lovers. One comes from an affluent family, is used to the little freedoms money can buy. The other is used to pain and oppression - her parents were professors, killed by the regime. The story really begins when Brother (I can't remember his name) comes to town, ostensibly after spending time in rehab. In an attempt to get his life together he repudiates what was once important (music, friends, drugs) and tries to become a better Muslim. Unfortunately, for him this means getting in cahoots with the Morality Police. This doesn't help his sister and friends at all though - soon enough Brother reports them to the Morality Police, and has no qualms with the fact that they'll check to see if his sister is a virgin. Several new things are found about the Brother, and Friend and Sister go through the hardest part of the film. There is no real happy ending, as these kinds of movies rarely will, but it was tough for us to watch. I think you have to be in the right set of mind to watch this film. We were glad we supported it, although we left the movie theater already thinking about what happy lesbian movie we'd watch once arrived back at her place. 


Before that though, we stopped at Patsy's to have some pizza and salad. I'd never been. It's a chain, I believe, but it doesn't feel like one. 

Before heading back to Astoria we stopped by Dylan's Candy Shop to look at the candy, but didn't get any. We finished the day by (partly in my case) watching "Saving Face," which is a happy ending, actually fun and loving romantic lesbian story.