Still Kickin it

Hola, amigos. Not to sound like Jim Anchower, but I know it's been awhile since I rapped at ya. And I can't even blame this silence on my piece-of-shit Gremlin falling apart or my slacker friends always hanging out in my crib and smoking all my pot.

I don't have a Gremlin, I don't smoke pot and, having learned from past mistakes, I don't let my friends in my home.

After a promotion at work, I've been a little too busy to blog. I don't have time to even read all the old blogs I used to. I'd like to report, for the sake of blogger egos, that this has been a detriment to my life, but the truth is, it hasn't. Hang around too many blogs, you'll start developing relationships with other bloggers and commenters. And we all know what relationships lead to: bickering, infighting, glad-handing, annoyance, etc.

As I told Susan (formerly known as GF) last night when she brought up the subject of volunteering or working for a charity, "That's the last thing I fucking need in my life."

"But it'll add to your life," she countered.

"I don't need anything added to my life. I need stuff subtracted. Lots of stuff."

Luckily, Susan isn't the crazy insecure sort who would take that as a statement on the relationship. She didn't start crying and say, "Oh my god, you want to subtract me from you life!!!"

Hell, in a year of dating, the only time she got mildly annoyed/jealous was when I had to have business drinks with a Conde Nast publicist and I stayed out a bit late. And considering the types of things said about Conde Nast staffers, I can't say that I blame her.

And yes, close readers will have noticed that I wrote "in a year of dating." We have crossed the 1-year-mark. We have celebrated the anniversary, or as we call it in our home, "Battlestar Galactica Day." (Sadly, she's not into the show. It just happened that last year, when the first month marker approached, she said, "Hey, do you know what Friday is," and I, knowing well what that Friday was, because I'm the sort of tool, having been trained well, to keep track of such things, but wanting to keep some street cred, said, "Yeah, it's payday," and she said, "Nooo" and I said, "Oh, yeah, I know. It's the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica. Guess what we're doing Friday night!")

Anyhoo, I'm sure this has all brought many of you to the point of puking, all this cutesy talk about a seemingly successful relationship. Well, too bad. You can suck it.

By the way, one of the many ways we celebrated the old 1-year-mark was with a trip to WD-50, chef Wylie Dufresne's joint. Don't know Wylie? Neither do I. It's one of those places with whacked out foams and weird combinations that are supposed to blow your mind. Normally, I'm opposed to this sort of joint on principle. I'm spending money, I want food I can enjoy and I want plenty of it. But I also thought to myself, "Myself," I thought, "How often do you push the envelope. Get out there and do something other than shovel pork into your piehole."

So, to WD-50 we went. Here's the summer menu
Looking back on it, we should have done the tasting menu. But I sort of balked at the price. I'm not a cheapskate, but I'd already shelled out money for the anniversary and even a la carte, this bill was going to come in between two and three bills. Why bump it up to four. After all, if the girl ever expects a ring... Heh. Anyway, I say I should have done the tasting menu because a la carte just didn't provide the freakout factor I'd expected.

At any rate, for the apps, she had Octopus, orange soil asparagus and chamomile yogurt. I had the Foie gras, watermelon, pistachio, sea bean, lovage. Which wasn't half as weird as it sounds. Watermelon actually goes pretty good with foie gras--and this coming from a guy who goes into apoplectic rage when people put salt on their watermelon and say "It brings out the sweetness." The only problem I had with my starter was that it didn't come with bread or crackers. You were meant to eat the foie gras as is. And it was a pretty big hunk. Ever tried to eat a big old chunk of foie gras, just piling it into your face, with all that richness uncut by starch? It ain't that easy. But I finished it, damnit. And while the orange soil was tasty, the octopus was rubbery--in the range of crappy sports-bar in Nebraska faux calimari rubbery.

For the mains, Susan had the Mediterranean bass, charred lily bulb, rhubarb and parmesan sauce, all of which were good. I had the Beef sirloin, red pepper tart, water spinach and whipped horseradish. Mine was good, too. Hell, they even gave me two pieces of meat. (I was expecting a cube plopped on the middle of the plate). Surprisingly, for someone who's not too keen on his vegetables, I enjoyed the red pepper tart, and the water spinach had the salt content of soul food greens so I liked that as well. The horseradish foam? That was the one thing to freak my mouth out. It's light, it's foamy, it tastes like horseradish! What the hell? Neat experience, but my brain, I think, was convinced I was eating shaving cream.

For dessert, I had Soft chocolate, sesame ice cream, ancho caramel and peanut powder. Damn fine stuff, that. I paired it, at the suggestion of the waitress, with this aged sake that tasted somewhat like port. Excellent combination. Susan had the Tonka bean brulee with sour cherry and marjoram. It was okay, but not my thing.

Overall, a pleasant experience. With wine and tip, came to $280 or so. The wine list is excellent, by the way and the waitstaff is friendly, and, as they'd have to be in a place with such weird combos, is very very helpful. I will grouse, however, about this New York Restaurant tactic of corking fees and slice fees. For those not in the know, corking fees are charged when you bring your own bottle of wine. WD-50 charges you $40 bucks for the privilege. Slicing fees are charged when you bring your own cake--for someone's birthday, perhaps. Schiller's, down the road a bit, had the gall to charge us $4 a person for a slicing fee a while back. And we'd brought CUPCAKES!!!

Jackasses.

Okay. That's enough for now. I know some folk who are back on the dating scene after long relationships and no doubt that will provide me with tons of laughs material.


Oh, and JD's still doing whatever it is he's trying to do.
And Susan is still stuffing her piehole.