Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Oatmeal with cinnamon, brown sugar, and banana slices. Student computing committee meeting: Linda Jacobsen was invited to give us ideas on how our committee could get funding. I like her almost instantly because she speaks as resolutely and knowledgeably as an oracle. I felt as though I was in the presence of a divine being who could see fiscal futures as clearly as we saw our own obstacles. Office holiday lunch at Scala's Bistro. This fine restaurant is in the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, and I had never been here before. Joel remembered having eaten at Scala's once long ago, perhaps accompanying a friend to the friend's birthday party. Cindy had been here at least several times before, and I think she was the one who had suggested it. Our waiter was Dalton, and he was excellent. The large and detailed menu can appear daunting to those new to it, and he eased that by making light humor of its complexity in the manner of a close confidante. From my days at Adobe, I remembered a snippet of the training I received: create rapport. All the food was excellent. As appetizers, we had deep-fried calamari aka grilled octopus (Yukon Gold potatoes, haricot verts, salsa verde: $9.50) and a plate of bruschetta (roasted wild mushrooms, caramelized garlic, arugula, San Andreas: $9.00). Debrah also chose a Manila clam chowder to start. Entrees: Melissa and I both had halibut atop a dungeness crab salad. James had gnocchi ($14.25); Cindy had tremezzo—a crab cake sandwich; Kristina had pesto and ricotta ravioli ($13.50); Debrah had orecchietti with house-made sausage, broccoli rabe, pecorino cheese ($14.25); Joel had steak frites with Café De Paris Butter (well done, $20.50); Ena had grilled chicken boob salad with spinach, mushrooms, bacon, and vinaigrette ($12.95). A side of mashed potatoes with baby chives was shared around the table. Desserts: I chose the Sierra Beauty apple-cherry crisp with honey gelato. Melissa chose the warm ginger sticky toffee pudding with Guiness stout gelato, James chose the chocolate I.V., Cindy chose the holiday sampler plate of cookies and other sweets, Joel chose hazelnut bambolini (doughnut holes) with housemade Nutella, Ena had a mocha. Joel took the day's photos. Mimi Young was the pastry chef. Staffan Terje was the exec chef. Dalton reminded us frequently that "you can't go wrong with any of the choices" and he was indeed correct. Every dish looked wholly satisfying, and everything I tasted seemed perfect. Every bite of the halibut I had was moist and tender, and I could not help myself from thinking of Nico Santos imitating the woman judge on Iron Chef—the flavors did indeed dance in my mouth. After lunch, Joel and I met Patrick at Cafe de la Press (really, Starbucks—he complained of CDLP's prices) and then we went shopping, as per office custom following the office holiday lunch. We went to Macy's because I found a wool jacket on sale I might like on macys.com, but when I got there I tried it on and of course even the small was too big (sorry, no extra small!). We walked to a different section and I found a blazer labelled "34" that fit me, but it was Dolce and Gabbana and it was about $700 (not on sale). I imagined it would be cheaper to fly to Asia and buy a jacket there. We split up from Joel, went to French Connection (again, nothing I liked or which fit), then saw him again just outside of Urban Outfitters. I'll never understand why people pay new clothes prices for clothes made to appear second-hand. I understand the concept of, say, making jeans more pliable (worn) and then selling them new, but it seems to me UO takes things to the previous level—I saw things that would easily look at home in the Salvation Army store or an old military supply store. And when will people finally tire of t-shirts that are mildly ("Rick's Rod Shop") or overly ("i'm trying to pick you up") suggestive? Designers and store owners: please stop selling this fecal cloth matter! At home tonight while shutting down Windows XP it's the first time I see exit messages from the operating system: "Installing update 1 of 4... etc."