Back in California

Well, my plane didn't crash. But something else did. We all survived, except this guy.

The trip was good.

Friday/Saturday: We flew all night and landed in Kentucky at the Cincinnati airport for breakfast. Hopped another plane to North Carolina and then got our rental car. The Enterprise dude asked Pete what $elf-Help does, because, with a name like that, you just never know. Then we showed up on Zack's doorstep, talked shit and ate kids. We visited Emily at work and she walked right past us without noticing. We got some eats there, then headed home for some quality News-Radio episodes. That night people came over, we played Mad Libs, drank beers and ate some rainbow chip icing.

Sunday: We went to Zack's place of employment for breakfast, where debates on what constitutes good chilaquiles, and how to achieve that, ensued. Emily and I drove up to DC and stopped at a gas station with showers for truckers. We ate Vace's spinach lasagna with my family, watched some TV and hit the Raven with Amy.

Monday: The drive to Montreal begins. And ends, abruptly.

Tuesday: Back on track. Well, sort of. Rental car to Vermont, bus to Montreal. We got in around 10 and Chesley met us at the bus station. We went for some beers and Emily and I trolled around the village at 1am in search of another bar.

Wednesday: Back to McGill. Lunch with Nithya, visit to the "underground city" which is really just a mall. We went to Dollarama and discovered that it's now Dollarama+. No deal can last forever. We went to Nithya's that night, ate cheese and drank Unibroue beers.

Thursday: The trip to Value Village. It's our favorite store, and it actually turned out to be a little disappointing. We didn't have any major scores, perhaps because we knew it would all have to come back on the plane. I did get a nice scarf, an Expos hat, and a Petite Prince picture to make my apartment look even more like a child's playroom. We made mexican lasagna with butternut squash for Chesley and Nithya that night, then we got to see Chesley's band, Bent by Elephants. It was really great to hear Chesley play again. After we had some beers and got the band gossip.

Friday: We got St. Viateur bagels and trolled around St. Laurent. Carolyn came into town, and we all went out to a bar that had SNACKS that they actually refilled when the bowl finished. Talk about a deal I wish I knew about earlier!

Saturday: My last full day. It was raining. We tried to go to Backroom Records, but the dude running it wasn't there and we were turned away. We popped into Drawn and Quarterly and walked back to Nithya's apartment. We stopped at a bakery and I accidentally talked about being disappointed that you never see Ray's junk in Hung next to an old French couple, who looked disapprovingly at us for the remainder of their time. We ate some Caribbean roti rolls and drank hot toddies.

Sunday: Bus to Vermont, plane to New York, paid $7 for a kombucha in the airport. Got my plane to SFO, watched Away We Go on it, which wasn't as bad as I had heard. Then I watched an episode of SVU. My plane landed about 90 minutes early, which would have been rad, except Pete's didn't. So I talked to my mom in the airport til Pete got in. We went home, and it felt pretty great to be back in the golden state.

It was a good trip and I'm glad I went. But, it is tough to constantly be a visitor. Constantly need to answer the question of what you want to do, constantly being the cause of a mattress in the middle of the living room, constantly coordinating about keys, and so on. It was wonderful to see all my friends, but by the end, I was pretty happy to come back home to California.

Traveling

My first visit back to the east coast to commence in just about 11 hours. This is the longest I've ever gone without setting foot in DC.

I have been gone since February 21th. 260 days since being in DC. I won't even be there for 24 hours though.

First stop, Durham. Arriving at 10:21 tomorrow morning. Departing a little more than 24 hours after that for DC. Departing a little more than 16 hours after that for Montreal. Some buddies, booze, and biz.

Jeez my plane better not fucking crash.

I like to watch...

Europa, Dir. von Trier, 1991.
This is the third in von Trier's Europa trilogy. I have already seen one of the others, Element of Crime which I liked a lot. Europa is just as good, and perhaps more of a traditional narrative. It has a lot of surrealist elements and has the same hypnosis theme as Element of Crime but things are clearer this time. Unfortunately, the clarity is just as bleak. It follows an American who goes to Germany in 1945 to be a train conductor. By following the mundane, we get a real picture of the despair, guilt, anxiety and anger of post-war, demoralized Europe. It's very thematically and visually dark. The outside world looks much like Element of Crime; like a bombed out junk yard. Von Trier plays with black and white vs. color very effectively. The conductor eventually gets mixed up with the Wehrwolves. I really liked this movie because it focused on the every day, and the concept of the "day after," rather than attempting to be some sweeping grand war/holocaust narrative.

More great presents.

Really great poster: beautiful leaves of canada. from amy. i love it. and somehow she managed to send a handwritten card even though it came from BC. a present and a mystery, what more could an almost-23 year old want? i bet penny picked it out.

Best birthday!

My new favorite!

Fall (at least it is on the east coast)...

Meanwhile, it's 75 degrees here and I have my office windows wide open, shoes off. But, I'm sure tomorrow when I hit the farmer's market, it'll look a little more like fall. I've been really psyched about fall cooking, when recipes will finally shut up about grilling. Now, I love grilled food, but I don't have a grill, so I've grown tired of summer recipes. I suppose I could have subbed broiling for grilling, but I decided to hold off on using my broiler until after the season ended. Obviously.

I've let fall slowly start creepin' into the kitchen this week. I made apple pie, Pete made beet salad, and last night we had baked fries. The fries were totally amazing. I guess I should say eating ketchup was amazing. I just cut up potatoes into fry shapes, tossed them with evoo, salt, pepper and paprika. Baked for about 30 minutes at 450, while watching my new favorite network drama, Flash Forward, turned them over half-way. We devoured them with grilled cheese sandwiches.

At the produce store yesterday, I noticed all the pretty varieties of potatoes and squash that have come in. I can't wait. Hearty soups to come. I'm slowly starting to think about Thanksgiving. I'm going to do it-- turkey and pie and all. Well, on second though, perhaps Pete should handle the pie.

So, what are your favorite fall and thanksgiving foods???

RAIN RAIN

I felt rain today for the first time in....6 months? It looks kind of crazy outside. Keep in mind it is pouring in this picture.