my lovely holiday week
The best thing about the holiday season is that it provides structured outings for me, with my friends. We infrequently do anything that isn't weekend kid-sport-watching or movies-with-the-kid (not that there's
anything at all wrong with that, and in fact I love it, I'm just saying that's what we usually do when we hang out). I told them that for a holiday gift I'd be perfectly happy with a set of "redeemable for one adult outing" coupons. Ha. Ok, it's not like we don't talk to each other/see each other every damn day—we do. We all work together, and it's just us in the company. ANYWAY...holiday weeks are fun.
On the 22nd, it was outing-with-a-client. As in "the client was paying for everything," which is always good. First we went to
Campo di Bocce and drank beer and played bocce. Despite being Italian, I'd never played before. I liked it a lot and didn't entirely suck. Afterwards, we walked to a fancy little restaurant (Cafe Marcella) and ate good food and drank champagne. As if that wasn't enough, we then walked to Dolce Spazio for gelato. I'm a gelato snob, because in a former life I worked in a gelato place that kicked serious butt. Dolce Spazio doesn't suck, though. I had Amaretto gelato, if anyone cares.
Yesterday, the 23rd, was the annual company lunch outing (the four of us plus another friend who sometimes does work with us), at Kamakura Sushi and Sake House. It's a tiny little place and always good. At lunch, I was given a box to open with the order "open it NOW, it's time sensitive," which of course freaked me out. Was it edible and melting, I asked? They looked at me like I was a nutjob and said, "just open it." So I did, and it was a
shiny new Motorola V551 phone! With a camera, of course, and all sorts of fancy Bluetoothy things to play with. I am very stoked, and will moblog accordingly! I believe they got it for me because I pouted a lot everytime I saw their phones (same kind) and they wanted me to shut up about it. :) [it was time-sensitive because they turned my other phone off without telling me]
Today, the 24th, is the annual dinner-at-the-British-pub, the Brittania Arms. My buddy's family is Scottish, which explains why we go to a pub and not, say, some Italian place. So, it's all of us in the company, plus my buddy's brother, parents and grandma. It's a fun time. There is beer. What more do you need?
Tomorrow is dinner at the buddies' house, and I am in charge of pie! I'm so happy to be in charge of something that isn't rolls or napkins. My one buddy said, "if you bring a pumpkin pie, it will make [kid's name] very happy," so I was like "that's all I have to do? heck yeah." So, I am making a pumpkin pie and an apple pie. Before you get all impressed, bear in mind that I don't make pie crust from scratch. Pie crust is a very particular thing, and until I make a really good crust, consistently, freezer shells it is. I'm not going to experiment the day before the dinner. But I have a good pumpkin filling recipe, and a really good recipe for apple pie that involves baking it in a paper bag. It gets all steamy and lovely.
Then it's back to work the next day. But we'll all be well-fed!
