Happy New Year!

I hope all of my friends and family have a terrific New Year, that is safe, happy, and full of great times :)

Xmas Party

A few days ago, I was host to a big party in SF which began at a small, mellow bar (Blur), and finished with dancing at Element Lounge - really fun! I had actually done similar events with the same itinerary on at least two other occasions, so it was rather guaranteed that we would have a decent time. At Blur, we (my guests and I) relaxed with a few drinks, chatted, and was entertained by a large, overly-friendly dog who stuck his nose in all sorts of places (ahem) and barked his approval when a group laughed especially loud. 

After happy hour, 20+ of us went looking for food, settling on a Thai restaurant nearby. After an hour of eating and more laughing (all of us at the same table), we then went to Element and proceeded to dance our butts off almost right away. I really enjoyed watching some of my guests, many of whom did not exactly fit the "dance club" stereotype, really get into it and move! It makes one feel good to know that they are the catalyst for others to have a really great evening. It had been quite a while (too long!) since I had been to a dance club myself, but I became less rusty with a few drinks and seeing how uninhibited everyone else was. It was also amusing to see how people tried (and often failed) to hook up for the evening.

 I went home feeling tired but happy that the night had been a success... I am ready for New Year's Eve!

Ho Ho Ho!!

One may notice that there has been quite a gap between my last entry and now... I had previously set up a blog with Apple's iWeb/.Mac web space, which I found to be too labor-intensive, slow, and godawful frustrating to use on a daily basis. Thus, I have joined the legions of Blogger bloggers :) I am hoping to get back on track with my "pithy commentary" of life and so on. Please feel free to offer comments, suggestions, or just what's on your mind today... 

Since my vacation to Turkey in October, I have been keeping busy with social events (most recently a well-received happy hour and dinner at Shiva's Indian Restaurant in Mountain View - an event that I repeat every few months because of its popularity), working 12-hour night shifts at my tiny hospital in Los Gatos, and amusing my boyfriend with my klutziness. I am enjoying the holiday season, and look forward to bringing in the New Year in style :)

Turkey

For the first time in years, I am taking a vacation from work for nearly 3 weeks. The reason: to meet my boyfriend's family in Izmir, Turkey. We arrived three nights ago, after a 15 hour flight (and a stop in Munich, Germany). Thus far, the trip has been very exotic and unusual, especially since we arrived in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan (a time of prayer and reflection, when observant Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset). It has been a bit of an adjustment (being here), given that I do not speak Turkish, but E has been my translator and guide, so communication and navigating where to go, what to see, and what to avoid has been quite smooth.

 Yesterday, E, his brother, and myself took a ferry boat ride across the bay near the Aegean Sea (Izmir is a coastal city), and we did some shopping at a bazaar, where I bought some trinkets (including an "official" Izmir coffee cup... being the crass American that I am, I couldn't resist), and we ended the evening taking a long walk along the pier. It was nearly sunset, and the setting sun seemed to be the most unusual blazing blood red, unlike any I had seen before.

This morning, we went to the Turkish equivalent of the "farmer's market" with E, his mother, and his brother, and I purchased several inexpensive jeans, T-shirts, and a sweater. Basic stuff, but quite a bargain. At the farmer's market, there was every fruit and vegetable imaginable, and the quantity was amazing. E's mother is a wonderful cook, and stringent about quality, which I admire. Three meals a day of excellent Turkish cuisine! The weather is surprisingly warm (the last days of summer), and humid. 

All in all, the beginning of a fantastic trip - with the exception of women's public bathrooms, the "hole in the floor" variety (ewwwww!).

Diana

It's been 10 years since the death of the Princess of Wales. Wow. Having been an avid Diana-phile before she lost her life in a tunnel in Paris, I have since avoided morbid preoccupation with her sad end, and have tried to not buy in to the exploitation of her memory. That said, a ten-year anniversary of a major event is one where we can remember the exact moment when we heard the news, our shock at the time, and everything which has occurred in our own personal lives since that day. I remember that I and my daughter were staying at my sister's house in Fairfield, CA, the evening when every news station seemed to simultaneously make the stunning announcement. Like everyone at that moment, time seemed to stop for me, and we immediately became glued to the television, trying to find out what exactly happened.

To those who may be baffled at the world-wide obsession and grief at the passing of a woman who most did not really know at all, it may help to see that Diana, when she lived, was a true phenomenon... the ultimate pop icon. Here was a woman who was introduced to the world as a photogenic, glowing, blonde 19-year-old... someone who clearly had her own look and charisma, who was engaged to be married to, of all people, the prospective future King of England.

 She had a particular impression on me because, at the time of her engagement, I was 17 and full of optimism for the future myself. It was during the summertime, during a stint I had taken as a nanny in the countryside in Pennsylvania, that I fell under her spell, reading about her in magazines I had bought to keep myself occupied during my "internment". She had a dazzling smile, big blue eyes, and a unique persona... at the beginning, she was a bit chubby, she bit her nails until they were raw (visible in photographs), she tended to forget to wear slips under her dresses (allowing photographers to catch her nearly-naked silhouette showing through her thin dress - not to mention allowing them to catch a stray nipple peeking out from her black silk dress, worn on her first official function with Charles), and she seemed to be naively, genuinely in love with her Prince. She came across as sweet and abashed by the attention she got.

The months leading up to the royal wedding seemed a bit dreamlike, to those of us watching the spectacle. It was a time of excitement and glamour, and was a magical time for the Western world. Of course, that initial enchantment with Diana became eroded somewhat over time, with stories about the disintegration of her marriage, about her manipulations, about their mutual affairs while outwardly pretending to be a loving couple... and the story ended in the tunnel.

In my opinion, "remembering Diana", for those of us who never knew her and cannot seriously presume to have known what she was really like, is not about her at all. It is about remembering someone who represented a lot of things that perhaps only existed in our expectations, and what the media stoked in our hopes and dreams. When she died, the shock was because these dreams came to a crashing end. She is dead, and has been dead for many years now.

 We should remember her as someone who tried to represent something meaningful, to remember her wedding (and the time we became obsessed with her) as a time of innocence, but to continue that obsession now is silly and more than a little pathetic...

hookah party 2

Last night, I was guest/unofficial co-host for my boyfriend E's 2nd annual hookah party, which took place in his home in the San Carlos mountains. I attended his first party last year, and had a really great time - in fact, it was the impetus for us to begin dating :) This year, as girlfriend, I assisted E in cleaning the house and getting food ready, and we welcomed our guests at 7:30 pm. The first half of the evening focused on drinks, chatter, and eating hors d'oerves such as borek (a small pie made with feta, parsley, and flaky pastry) and E's hand-caught abalone. After the food and drinks, we all moved out to E's backyard deck, and began the ritual of smoking flavored tobacco with his elegant, authentic nargiles, or "hookahs". Hookahs are essentially large water pipes; smoking them is a pastime from his native Turkey, which allows friends to relax, chat, and share smoking flavored tobacco, which is filtered through the water in the pipes. The nine of us sat around a blazing fire pit and shared two pipes, using individual disposable mouthpieces; we alternated between mint and cappucino-flavored tobaccos, sipped red wine and Raki (a popular Turkish liqueur, similar to Ouzo, made from dried grapes), and conversed while E occasionally stoked the fire. At the end of the night, we were pretty tired (and smelled strongly of smoke!), but were pleased that the evening had turned out so well. Now we are looking forward to next year's party :)

foodie

Like many people, I consider myself a "foodie" - someone who loves food, is constantly on the lookout for new and exciting restaurants, who subscribes to magazines such as "Food & Wine", and who seeks to be as knowledgeable as possible about this subject. I have become an avid follower of the television show, "Top Chef", and enjoy watching the high drama of the show as well as discovering new ways to approach food, what makes a meal great vs mediocre, and potential disasters we almost certainly will encounter when we try to be "experimental". We all sympathize with the chefs who try to create something new, only to find themselves voted off the show, and can understand the pathos of those who work very hard to reach the top in the competition, in order to be in the coveted position of being recognized as the best in their profession.

It is also fun to watch a series where the subject is something that requires creativity, especially under pressure. What could be more riveting than the sight of experienced chefs racing up and down a supermarket aisle, frantically trying to think of a delicious, one-of-a-kind meal with only $15.00 and only ingredients to be found in one aisle?

Media-wise, food is "hot" (pardon the pun)! Thanks to my boyfriend, E (who found this), I have also subscribed to a video podcast, "Epicurious", which provideds short and very helpful video tutorials on such subjects as julienning, dicing, and making gourmet sauces such as beurre blanc. This recipe came in handy recently, as we were at a loss as to what would be special enough to accompany E's freshly-caught abalone... we tried it, and the result was YUMMY. An amazing meal!