more unrelated thoughts

[pantryslut]

My rule of thumb about not buying books where the authors appear on the cover can be bent a bit for cookbooks/books about food, but not much.

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My trip to Newman was fine. In fact, it had notable high points: the family-style Basque lunch at Woolgrowers in Los Banos is probably the highest. My baby sister tasted lamb (off my plate) for the first time.

My baby sister, btw, will be 15 in November.

I am a little creeped out by the coffee can in the bathroom, though. It has a note on it to kids, grandkids, and inlaw-kids. If we want any of the objects around the house (my grandmother's pottery; various religious tchotchkes; souveniers from Guatemala and Paraguay; etc.), we're supposed to put our name, the date, and a description of the object on a slip of paper and drop it into the coffee can. The note says this is not a guarantee that we will get what we ask for "later," but it will keep them from giving it away and out of the family, at least.

One of my aunts rescues snails and sets them free in non-populated areas. My family collected three buckets' worth of snails for her and were keeping them in the shade of the front lawn.

The parrot was charming. ("Dottie? Anyone? Hello!") Especially when it tried to untie my grandmother's shoelaces.

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A love for animals seems to be a bit gendered in my family. My sister watches Animal Planet continuously (although she was very gracious about letting us see the first half of a soccer game instead). My mother accumulates dogs and cats. My grandmother has her parrot. My grandfather and my uncle make disparaging remarks about too many pets.

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Julian Lee, the director of Night Corridor, which I saw at the Castro on Friday, is utterly adorable. I think it was the part where he said there was to be no Q&A after (because of the hour?), so correspondents were welcome to send him e-mail instead. "Attach a picture, please." Or maybe it was where he said his star actor had to make a great sacrifice for Art: "so you get to see him wanking."

Comments

[tgeller.livejournal.com]

Oh, THAT Newman! I had Basque dinner three times in the past week, at Benji's here in Bakersfield. One of my colleagues said that the lamb stew at Woolgrowers in Los Banos is exquisite. (I'm told that Woolgrowers in Bakersfield is a different family, with no relation. I can't believe they haven't sued each other out of existence.)

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

I am chagrined to admit I only had a bite of the lamb stew, because it arrived after the delicious soup and beans, and after the salad, and concurrent with the sweetmeats, and *just* before three huge lamb chops were put on my plate.

[tgeller.livejournal.com]

By the way, I ate at the Bakersfield "Woolgrower's" (no relation) a couple of nights ago. For the record, and should you ever be in the area, I prefer Benji's.