Tuesday, December 6, 2005

Backfilled last Saturday's entry—I forgot to put in Club Sexy. Breakfast: a banana, yogurt, english muffin. Holiday gift exchange (secret santa) party at the office. Cindy brought in bagels and cream cheese, holiday doughnuts, candy canes, festive holiday cocktail napkins, Odwalla tangerine-orange-somethingelse juice, and tea. James made chocolate chip cookies. ? brought a (raspberry?) danish. Cindy got a green, scalloped hurricane candle lamp; Ena got a bobblehead dog photo frame, 2 candy canes, and a box of Choxie peppermint bark chocolate; Stacey got a set of 2 white scoop bowls from Crate & Barrel; James got a vanilla candle from Illuminations; Lucia got lotions and soaps in a green metal pail; Polly got superstrong silver magnets "wrapped" in a glass jar. I drew the highest number, so I could either open the last gift or steal someone else's. I chose to steal the scoop bowls from Stacey. She stole the vanilla candle from James. James stole the lotions and soaps from Lucia. Lucia ended the game by opening the last gift, a red hurricane candle lamp. Joel didn't participate this year—something about him forgetting what time or day we were having it. Who brought what: Cindy brought the red hurricane lamp from Z Gallerie, James brought the scoop bowls, Stacey brought the scalloped hurricane candle lamp, Lucia brought the vanilla candle, Polly brought the bobblehead frame and candy, Ena brought the soap and lotions bucket, and I brought the magnets from Wishbone at 5th and Irving. Afterwards we all took Muni downtown to Kuleto's (415-397-7720, 221 Powell Street) for the customary office holiday lunch. Drinks: iced teas and waters. Appetizers: crispy buttermilk battered calamari with two dipping sauces, bruschetta with pancetta and figs, bread and butter, bread and oil and balsamic vinegar. Starters: hearts of romaine salad with crispy prosciutto (Stacey, Lucia, James, Frank, Cindy). Entrees: Lucia had angel hair with tomatoes, toasted garlic, basil and extra virgin olive oil 13.50; James, Stacey, and I had saffron risotto milanese with sea scallops, gulf shrimp and english peas 17.75; Cindy had dungeness crab cakes with spicy aïoli and arugula-fennel salad 11.95; Ena had Hobbs' smoked chicken cobb salad with pancetta, tomato and gorgonzola 12.95; Joel and Polly split the crab louis with butter lettuce, arugula, cucumber, celery, tomato and egg 15.95. Joel and Polly also split a butternut squash ravioli. Desserts: Joel had vanilla gelato, Polly had eggnog creme brulee, Lucia took bites of others' desserts, Stacey had chocolate gelato, Cindy took bites of others' desserts, James had the chocolate and vanilla gelato brownie sundae, I had tiramisu. All the food was delicious, but the service was well below our expectations. When we arrived, they had seated us at a very small table for 8 people. Later, when salads arrived, our server did not have tableware ready beforehand, and she did not return to offer us freshly ground pepper, but I saw other waiters doing so at other tables. Later, I was still eating my salad when James's entree and my entree magically appeared. Since the table was so small, I resigned to forego the remainder of my salad in order to enjoy my entree while it was still hot. Our server did not attempt to remove crumbs from our table. Although the service was flawed, none of us let it ruin our cheerful holiday mood. I believe these errors were solely due to our server. (I didn't get her name.) In the evening, Patrick and I had mashed potatoes, leftover chicken, and ? for dinner. Worked on Lodestar.