Locals? Almost…
Saturday, October 7, 2006
Home…a concept that is not simply a structure, a collection of walls and a roof or a number on a street. People can make a place a home, just as the most aesthetically pleasing design doesn’t bring comfort when love is absent.
Why do I wax poetic? Well, after a visit to Florida we got back to our real life. A hungry cat (her fault, since she had been provided with two extra days worth of food…but what can you do), a stack of mail, work, cleaning – the standard stuff we all deal with. With Zy’s impending arrival and the work load of the holiday season upon us, the weekend came with promise of stuff to do.
Mabel, however, in her loving and considerate way decided to propose an alternative. Instead of house stuff, she suggested we head into San Francisco. The annual Fleet Week was in town and with it the Blue Angels aerobatic performance. She knows how much I love planes and watching them over the Bay is simply jaw-dropping. Seeing a F/A-18 coming over Alcatraz is just cool. We got there and somehow managed to park in the Presidio with little more than half an hour to spare. Despite that, we found space on the sand near Crissy Field and took in the spectacle. Wow.
Afterwards, we decided on a drive down the coast, in lieu of a highway trek back home. The weather was great and after a while enjoying the ocean air we decided to stop at a local place to eat.
Local – in San Francisco and the Bay Area in general there are broad swaths of cuisine that pass for local. Sure, you have the sourdough and the dungeness crabs, but you also have the entire Pacific Rim, with all the variety of Asian food. So, after looking around and passing up the usual stuff (fast food, Subway) we came upon a predominantly Chinese shopping center. Cool – the real stuff. Mabel wanted Chinese, but the first place didn’t strike our fancy. She’s not a sushi fan, so the Japanese place next door was also not quite right. The third was a large and modern dim sum place – perfect! We were seated and since Mabel stepped away (a fun side effect of being pregnant – the two-teaspoonful sized bladder) I went ahead and ordered what I thought was a good variety of tasty stuff.
Mind you, real Chinese food is quite different than the delivery stuff like Kung Pao Chicken and Special Fried Rice. You read the first few words and all is well, but more often than not with a twist – “BBQ Beef…Tripe” for example. It’s delicious, I’m sure, but I’ve not yet achieved that gourmand perspective the separates my cultural familiarity from my perception of culinary appeal. Suffice it to say that I don’t much want to eat lips and ass, ok? Sorry if that makes me an ignorant buffoon – it’s the truth.
Mabel comes back and I play the Modern Man™ and assure her that the food is taken care of. In a few moments, here it comes. Savory pork dumplings, subtle rice-noodles with cilantro and green onion, light fried rice (much less greasy than the usual) and what seemed like a safe bet – “salt and pepper shrimp”. Those smelled fantastic – bits of minced garlic in a light coating on jumbo prawns, a can’t miss. So we jump in…and both Mabel and I silently (as we quickly discovered) realize that the shrimp were shell-on, and (in fact) head-on. How? Well – by biting them. To our mutual credit, we both assumed that was how it was and honestly it was not inedible – just…took more effort than usual. Crunch, crunch, crunch was heard across the table (and probably dining room…possibly the ZIP code too). We grimaced at the texture, but the flavor was wonderful. Different strokes, we figured and after a valiant effort we finished one each.
So…that is that, right? Not quite. It occurred to me to ask some co-workers if they had ever tried the dish. That’s when, days later, I was told that the proper technique is to (a) pop the head off and (b) peel the shrimp and eat them as we’re accustomed to.
We’re pretty sure the kitchen and staff had quite a chuckle when they saw the almost untouched remains that lacked evidence of shells and…more. *shudder* Well, at least they tasted great.
So…movie update:
• Why We Fight:
A study on militarism and the amazingly astute perception of Dwight D. Eisenhower that first coined the term “military-industrial complex”. A military man that had the foresight to see how the business of war would ultimately make war appear not only a viable option, but potentially necessary one not for security or ideology, but for economic and political gain for businesses. A must-see.
• Syriana:
Frustrating. A solid cast, a solid concept and a solid context – hell, it was even a solid execution but it was not quite on the mark. Somewhere between spreading the character development too thin and trying to be a bit more clever than it was it lost something…the audience’s interest essentially. You can tell how good it could have been. A shame.
• Man on the Moon:
Jim Carrey does a spot-on impersonation of Andy Kaufman. It’s really great…or you can turn on reruns of Taxi or remember the Letterman appearances. I wanted to like it, I really did…but when you know the gag it loses punch. Paul Giamatti, as always, was fantastic.
• Easy Rider:
I got this movie for my Dad as a Christmas gift last year. I figured he’d love a motorcycle classic and I had always heard great things about the movie. I had not, however, watched it. Ok…I know the editing and camera angles were clever for their era. Jack Nicholson owns every scene he’s in (and you can forgive him for coasting for the past decade – when he’s on he just dominates the screen) – but like Taxi Driver you end up rationalizing the shortcoming as “it was cutting edge for the time”. A good movie, but third act just struck me as a director simply finding himself at an impasse and taking the lazy route. Sorry Hopper.
• Airplane:
Stupid. Infantile. Silly. Great, as always. “We need to get to a hospital!” “What is it?” “A building with sick people, but that’s not important right now!” Classic.
• Godfather, Part II:
Come on – “I can do stuff, I’m smart!”…one of the best movies of all time. It stands up. De Niro outshines freaking Brando he’s so good. A sequel better than the original. If you haven’t seen it, go get it. Now.
• Clerks:
Sure it was made on a shoestring, shot in a convenience store and plagued by some horrible acting (thankfully not in key roles) and cluttered with some scenes that would have benefitted from one more take. So what. It’s funny as hell, still fresh and has some of the best lines in movies. “In a row?” Still kills me. Plus it has hockey in it. Bonus.