Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. I'm still recovering!

We started off the holiday weekend with a performance of August: Osage County, a three-hour long play, at the Kennedy Center. I'll write a review of the production later.

Thursday, we'd planned on going to a big group pot-luck thing over on Capitol Hill, but there was some kind of drama amongst prospective guests and we had to regroup. I don't know the parties involved, so I don't know who got whom pregnant. Or whatever. We ended up with a bunch of guys from Laurent's rowing team coming over to his place for an impromptu dinner. Good thing there are still some grocery stores that were open on Thanksgiving Day! Our ultimate menu ended up being much more down home and much less Martha Stewart, although Laurent and I carried on with our original plans of him fixing deviled eggs garnished with red caviar and me fixing wasabi mashed potatoes with green peas (with Yukon Gold potatoes, white pepper, a couple of sticks of butter, and a couple of cups of heavy cream, naturally). Then I got to advise some of the other guys on what to buy at the store that was quick to prepare, and how to doctor up exciting things like Stove Top Stuffing and canned sweet potatoes. The whole thing turned out very well nonetheless, we were (overly-)sated, and there were plenty of leftovers to share. The highlight of the evening, though, had to be when we accidentally came across the Ms. Senior D.C. beauty pageant on television. Watching all those dignified elderly ladies pageant-walking and trying to sing and dance during their talent and evening gown competitions had us all in stitches!

Black Friday got off to a bit of a slow start, since Laurent had already spent all of his drinking and shopping money on a 52" Sony Bravia 1080p flat-panel LCD television when he talked a store into giving him the Black Friday doorbuster price on Tuesday night (it is so big we didn't think we were going to get it home, and we had to take the TV out of the box to get it to just-barely-fit in the backseat). He tried to weasel out of his previous promise to me to spend the whole day shopping in all the madness, and went to some rowing practice in the morning. I was undeterred, however, and once he got back before lunch, I insisted he clean up and dress properly, and then we all made our way to Tyson's Corner for some serious shopping.

Now, for those of you not from the Washington metropolitan area, Tyson's Corner is an almost unique shopping mecca. There's nothing in Oklahoma to which one can compare, even combining Woodland Hills in Tulsa with Penn Square in Oklahoma City. Located in the northern Virginia suburbs west of the District between Vienna and McLean, it is the home of not one "destination" upscale shopping mall, but two: Tyson's Corner Center (with Nordstrom's, Bloomingdale's, Macy's, and Lord & Taylor) and just across the street is Tyson's Galleria (with Neiman-Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Macy's). Between the two large malls, virtually every luxury international retailer is represented, and what few are not in one of the malls are generally represented by small, free-standing boutiques in the neighborhood. These malls generate so much business that each is encircled by enormous, multi-story parking garages to handle the shoppers. This year, things are doubly challenged because of major highway construction in the area, so many people viewed a trip to the Tyson's area on Black Friday to be solid evidence of insanity. It didn't scare us away.

After complaining about having to go shopping all the way there (and it's not a short drive, especially with holiday traffic), Laurent promptly bought two cashmere sweaters at fabulous discounts at the very first store we entered (I think he was Filled with the Spirit by the two commission salesmen who attacked and quite amusingly doted on him). And so it went, with Laurent buying clothes at practically every store we entered, and we all ended up carrying his sacks around for him. Meanwhile, I didn't finally buy something until nearly 10 p.m., and even then, all I got was a single shirt and a package of boxer shorts—so exciting! I came prepared with coupons, though, so it was a great purchase.

We'd had lunch in the mall food court at Five Guys, so we all wanted something a bit more substantial for dinner. We'd pressed on, hungry, at Tyson's Corner Center until they closed at 11 p.m., only to determine, alas, that we'd not time to go to the Galleria. So, we just wandered over to the Silver Diner for a late dinner—where everyone ordered some kind of turkey! LOL

Saturday was a day of rest, and I stayed in bed until one o'clock! That evening, Robert and I went to Dupont Circle for a cocktail to celebrate the stunning football victory of the University of Oklahoma Sooners over Silo Tech Oklahoma State University, 27 to 0. I've always said my two favorite collegiate football teams are Oklahoma and whoever is playing Oklahoma State.

Sunday started Advent, and, as I previously posted, I went to St. Paul's K Street for Lessons and Carols and their usual post-ceremony reception in the parish hall. On the way back to the car, I noticed that Trader Joe's was still open (holiday hours: open til 10 p.m.!), so I went in and picked up a couple of bottles of the new beaujolais nouveau, which we've yet to drink.

And that brings us to today, the last day of November. We've had rain all day today, but this morning early, it was still sunny and clear out, so I used that opportunity to install my new car tag. I don't know why the State of Oklahoma, in its infinite wisdom, decreed that we had to have new car tags, but it did, so now I have to remember a new number after all these years. They changed the format from three letters and three numbers to three numbers and three letters, and supposedly the new tags are counterfeit-proof. I wasn't aware that car tag counterfeiting was a big issue. After all, if one wants a new tag for illegal purposes, doesn't one just steal a tag from another car? Or, short of actual physical theft, don't Oklahomans just fake Indian tribal membership and make up an address "on the Rez" and buy a tribal tag instead of a state tag? I think it's all just a big state scam to try to raise additional revenues by charging for a new metal plate instead of those little tiny year stickers.

Anyway, that's Thanksgiving. Hope everyone had a great holiday and enjoyed themselves with family and friends.

Matin Responsory: "I look from afar," music by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
Choir Hymn: "Come, thou Redeemer of the earth," Puer nobis nascitur (adapt. Michael Praetorius).

Invitatory: "Come, thou long-expected Jesus," music by Robert McCormick (b. 1978).
First Lesson: Zechariah 2:10–13

Motet: "Vigilate, nescitis enim quando dominus domus veniat," music by William Byrd.
Responsorial Hymn: "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," Veni Emmanuel.
Second Lesson: Isaiah 11:1–10

Anthem: "Never weather-beaten sail," music by C. Hubert H. Parry (from Songs of Farewell).
Third Lesson: Isaiah 40:1–8

Congregational Hymn: "On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry," Winchester New.
Anthem: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me," music by Edward Elgar (prologue to The Apostles, Op. 49).
Fourth Lesson: Baruch 4:36–5:9

Congregational Hymn: "Hark! A thrilling voice is sounding," Merton.
Anthem: "Creator of the stars of night," music by Malcolm Archer (b. 1952).
Fifth Lesson: Luke 1:26–38

Choir Carol: "Angelus ad Virginem subintrans in conclave," 13th century melody, arr. Andrew Carter (b. 1939).
Sixth Lesson: Jeremiah 31:31–34

Congregational Hymn: "Rejoice! Rejoice, believers," Llangloffan.
Anthem: "O sing unto the Lord a new song" (Psalm 96), music by James MacMillan (b. 1959).
Seventh Lesson: Revelation 21:5–7; 22:12–13, 20

Congregational Hymn: "Wake, awake, for night is flying," Wachet auf.

Vesper Responsory: "Judah and Jerusalem, fear not, not be dismayed," Tone III; falsobordone attr. to Palestrina.
Congregational Hymn: "Lo! he comes, with clouds descending," Helmsley.

Organ Voluntary: Toccata on Veni Emmanuel by Andrew Carter (b. 1939).


Happy new year! It's the first Sunday of Advent, and the first day of the Church's liturgical year. We observed the day by going to the always-wonderful lessons and carols service at St. Paul's K Street. As usual, the church was packed half an hour before the service started.

The two highlights for me in the service were two anthems with which I was not familiar. First was a newish anthem by the contemporary Scot composer James MacMillan called "O sing unto the Lord a new song." It was very modern in its tonality, yet quite pleasant. I detected bits and pieces of the influence of fellow British composer John Taverner in some of the harmonies. The second anthem was Edward Elgar's Prologue to The Apostles, Op. 49, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." As is typical of Elgar, it had that touch of melancholy about it whilst still maintaining his British sense of pageantry.

The choir made an interesting journey during the service. They began the Matin Responsory out in the atrium, where they had a "distant" sound to those of us in the nave. Then, they moved to the narthex for a while. Eventually they processed up and stood on the chancel steps. Later, they moved into the choir stalls. Towards the end of the service, they moved into the sanctuary and stood on the altar steps. And, finally, they processed out down the center aisle during the recessional hymn. I suppose there was some sort of allegorical significance to their relocations, but it evaded my simple little mind.

Oh, did I mention the wonderfully obnoxious antiphonal 8' tuba mirabilis on the final hymn? LOL

My only less-than-positive observation about the service is that the parish is mixing their girls and boys in a treble choir, and the presence of the girls totally changes the timbre and purity of the traditional boys' voices. I know it's politically correct these days to let the girls sing, too, but the musical sound just isn't the same.

After the service, we went upstairs to the parish hall for wine and snacks. Twas a lovely evening and a nice start to our season of Advent, preparing us for Christmas later next month.

Well, they finally made up their minds and set the service on Saturday the 20th. They've opted for cremation and a memorial service at the big Episcopal church downtown in Tulsa, which is good, since I dislike going to funeral home services. While I hate dragging these things out, the good thing is that with over a week to plan, I was able to get a plane ticket for half the cost I was expecting. Now I just have to re-rearrange my plans for this weekend and move things around for the following weekend. And, I have more time to shop for new clothes!

My cousin died tonight about 8 p.m. Tulsa time. I'm still waiting for her partner and my aunt to make the service arrangements so I can book a plane ticket to go back to Oklahoma. I guess tomorrow I'll go shopping for some new funeral clothes.

Flew back home from Oklahoma last night. John McCain was sitting up in first class on my flight from Dallas to D.C. There was also an incredibly cute college boy sitting next to me in the middle seat who said his name was Hoof.

I expect I'll be flying back to Tulsa in a week or two. My cousin's situation is grim. They brought her home under hospice care on Tuesday, and I noticed that they've removed the feeding tubes they were using. Because of all the IV pain meds, she's in essentially a drug-induced coma, and not able to communicate. So, it's just a matter of time. I need a new dark suit and some black dress shoes that don't have a hole in the sole.

Had a long layover in Dallas, so my friend David and his son Aaron met me at the airport and we drove to a nearby Denny's for dinner. How wonderful: I fly all the way to Dallas, only to go to a Denny's. We ate typical Denny's food, with the exception of one interesting new dish, a half dozen pancake poppers, which looked like little deep fried fritters dusted with confectioner's sugar and served with a bowl of syrup. Here are pictures of the food and of Aaron. Don't know why I didn't get any pictures of David.....Aaron took several of us, but that was with his own camera.

Wednesday my friend Bill took me to lunch at one of his favorite places in Tulsa, The Brothers Houligan. I'd been to the midtown location before, but this was my first time at their newish east Tulsa location.

The daily lunch special Wednesday was fried shrimp, so that's what Bill got. They brought him half a dozen large, butterflied, battered shrimp, and he thought they were very tasty. I got a luncheon-sized chicken fried steak. It tasted good. It was a long piece of round steak with a light breading on it, then the steak was covered in white cream gravy. Bowls of green beans, mashed potatoes, and cream gravy were presented family style for us to share.

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That evening, I went to The Farm shopping center with my friend Tony, where we ate at Villa Ravenna, a northern Italian-style restaurant.

We started off with glasses of chianti while we tried to read the menus in the very dark restaurant; our table was illuminated with but one lighted taper in the center. Tony ordered the avocado salad and I ordered the cream of mushroom soup. My soup arrived so hot I couldn't eat it at first. The bowl was filled with a nice, thick, flavorful soup.



For his main course, Tony got the veal parmegiana. I found their presentation and recipe interesting; there was a layer of ham between the veal and the melted mozzarella cheese. It came with a side of spaghetti. Speaking of which, I had the spaghetti carbonara. The carbonara was good, but once again, the recipe was interesting and non-traditional. Instead of just using egg and parmesan cheese, they put a little bit of alfredo sauce on the pasta.



In lieu of dessert, we each had a little glass of limoncello.

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Tonight Tony and I had an early dinner at Wilson's BBQ up in north Tulsa. Wilson's is an authentic old time Tulsa barbecue joint in an iffy part of town. I did notice that they had spruced up the exterior of the building and the parking lot since the last time I was there probably five years ago.

Tony got the short ribs and I had the full beef ribs. Both platters came with bread, cole slaw, and baked beans. The ribs were, as always, delicious and messy. Good thing each table is stocked with a big roll of paper towels.



For dessert, I had a sweet potato pie and Tony got the buttermilk pie. I like their sweet potato pie because it's distinctly spiced and it doesn't taste of pumpkin pie spice as so many sweet potato pies I've had have done.

Friday we drove up to the Joplin and Miami areas to do the annual family cemetery decorating. After we got done with that, we stopped by the Wyandotte and Peoria tribal casinos. Lots of little wins, but no bigger wins, so I spent all my meagre gambling capital in quest of the big money.

While we'd brought sandwiches from home for lunch, for dinner, we went to the Coleman Room at Buffalo Run (the Peoria casino), since my mother had never eaten there. Some of you may remember my previous review of the place from November 2004, shortly after the casino opened.

They had a special limited menu put together for Memorial Day weekend. My mother had the horseradish-crusted halibut. I had the prime rib. Both entrees came with a salad, baked potato, and a melange of steamed vegetables. Portions continue to be large. Both plates were garnished with an orchid flower and a sprig of rosemary.

For dessert, we shared a carrot bundt cake with cream cheese frosting I thought was surprisingly good, especially considering it only cost $4.

Not much has changed since the first review, other than they have their liquor license now. It continues to be a nice place for the area, but they still are small town and haven't fully trained their wait staff. A typical example of their training shortfalls is the waitress having to come back and ask my mother what kind of potato she wanted with her fish, after the waitress had initially said the fish came with rice, contrary to what the menu said. Apparently the staff hadn't been briefed on the menus.

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Saturday afternoon and evening, we went up to the Delaware pow-wow. They had a good dance with a lot of dancers and a lot of drums. I counted five drums in the center, and another three Northern drums were on the side of the arena in front of our chairs, and two more drums were on the side on the other side of the speaker's stand. We stayed til midnight.

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Sunday I drove to Tulsa to spend some time at the hospital with the family, then I met my friend Tony for dinner. We went to a Mexican place downtown called El Guapo's Cantina and sat upstairs on their rooftop patio. El Guapo's specializes in Oaxacan style cuisine.

I ordered one of their house specialties, the enchiladas de molé poblano. They wrapped smoked chicken in corn tortillas, then covered them with molé sauce (chocolate and roasted pepper sauce), crema (Mexican-style sour cream), and crumbles of Cotija cheese. The enchiladas came with rice and beans.

Tony ordered the smoked steak and cheese flautas. After a momentary problem when the kitchen sent him fish tacos instead and we had to wait for the flautas to come up (an attentive manager came over to apologize and comped the flautas for us), his food arrived and looked very artistic. They'd made long flautas, cut them on the diagonal, then arranged them on the plate on a pool of cheese sauce with spots of chile verde and tomatillo sauce. His rice and beans were on the side.



For dessert, Tony got the fried ice cream, which was presented on a large white plate with a lot of decorative strawberry sauce and chocolate sauce around the ice cream. I got the peaches and cream sopapilla relleno. Sopapillas are deep-fried pockets of pastry, and I'd expected to get one stuffed with peaches and cream. Their version, though, had peaches between two flattened sopapillas, with ice cream on the plate and garnishes of whipped cream and strawberry sauce.



Here's a view of sunset over the river from the balcony of Tony's twenty-fifth floor apartment.

Our new housemate Sean arrived today from Phoenix. He starts his new job at the Senate tomorrow. This afternoon, I Metroed down to the Capitol with him so he'd know how to get to his office building in the morning, and we ended up walking from the Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House playing tourist. Once we were done, it was dinnertime and he was a bit hungry, so, as Washington is a Southern town, I thought we should have Southern food and we were off to Georgia Brown's Restaurant on McPherson Square for his first Southern repast.

He ordered the Carolina gumbo, a thick stew of shrimp, andoille sausage, crab, chicken, and duck with Carolina red rice. He seemed to like it, as he cleaned his plate. I had (for the second day in a row) the Alaskan halibut, pan-bronzed and topped with a cranberry maple sage pesto and presented on a bed of grilled asparagus and hominy. I'm glad halibut is in season.



For dessert, he got the peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream, and I had the bourbon pecan pie with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

Laurent and I went to go see Angels and Demons after brunch Sunday afternoon. The local Scottish Rite Valley bought a huge block of tickets and gave them to members and guests, taking up much of the theater auditorium. Since I'd already read the Dan Brown novel, I was aware of the storyline in the companion book to his popular The DaVinci Code novel, so I won't belabor the plot (or its weaknesses) here. I thought the movie was a credible rendition of the novel, and if you liked The DaVinci Code, you'll like Angels and Demons.

Speaking of brunch, before the show, we went to Clyde's of Gallery Place, where we started off with morning bloody Marys. Laurent had sirloin steak and scrambled eggs, which also came with deep-fried potato cakes and caramelized onion. Since halibut is in season right now, I got the pan-seared Alaskan halibut with green bean potato salad and spring vegetable slaw. They do a good job with fish at Clyde's, and my halibut was thick, meaty, and juicy. I thought the potato salad was unusual and good, too; made from slices of fingerling potatoes and julienned green beans, it was dressed with a spring onion vinaigrette.

After the movie, we walked over to the Ace Hardware store in Penn Quarter by the new Safeway, since Laurent had to have a key made and pick up a couple of other little hardwarey things. Once we were done, we popped in to the new Busboys and Poets location in the same complex for desserts. After we looked at the menus, though, Laurent decided he was hungry again, so he ate an order of hummus and pita bread and a bowl of chili instead of having dessert. I stuck with the original plan and got the white chocolate banana bread pudding served warm with a scoop of coconut ice cream.

Saturday a bunch of us got together to help Laurent move to a new apartment. It was a little rainy Saturday, but we managed to move the stuff in between the moments of rain and nothing got wet. Laurent had a full slate of volunteers working different times throughout the day. After everything got to the new place, some of us stayed to help unpack boxes and put things on the walls and in the drawers. At last, we got done and some of us decided to go to Shirlington (a neighborhood of Arlington, Va.) for dinner. The day's cloudburst finally happened as we walked from the parking garage to the restaurant.

On the strong recommendation of Todd (who was driving), we went to T.H.A.I in Shirlington, a (believe it or not) Thai restaurant that turned out to be very nice with a luxurious contemporary Thai ambiance to the dining room and some exciting food presentations. Too bad I didn't have my camera along.

We started off sharing some appetizers. A supplemented order of spring rolls (the usual order was for three) came and they were unlike anything I'd had before. Each vegetable-stuffed, lightly deep-fried rolls was about one foot long and the four rolls were stacked in an interwoven architectural structure. A bowl of carrot dipping sauce came with the rolls. We also got an order of crab shu mai, which were open faced steamed dumpling stuffed with crab, pork, shrimp, and water chestnut accompanied by a ginger-soy dipping sauce, and presented on a long, narrow, rectangular platter.

Meanwhile, Laurent and Mary were drinking golden frozen margaritas.

For her main course, Mary got the king pad ped, a large oval platter of stir-fried chicken and both shiitake and wood ear mushrooms enrobed in soybean sauce and sprinkled with fried ginger root. Todd ordered a dish called "Penang Perfect," essentially a chicken curry with peanut sauce and coconut milk presented in a contemporary rounded boat-shaped bowl (he says it's what he always gets). Laurent selected the "Kapow Delight," a stir-fry of beef, broccoli, and basil leaves in chili-garlic sauce. All of these entrees came with steamed white rice. I picked the chicken pad thai, the traditional rice noodle dish with chicken, bean sprouts, egg, scallion, and peanuts, artfully arranged on a large square plate.

Desserts were spectacular. Laurent got the banana split bruleé, with caramelized banana halves topped with a row of coconut ice cream, Thai coffee ice cream, and strawberry sorbet, clouds of whipped creams, drizzles of chocolate and caramel sauces. Todd picked the flambé Thai banana, a showy dish of banana halves and segments with coconut ice cream sprinkled with diced orange peel, minced ginger, toasted coconut, and sesame seeds, then flambéed tableside with Grand Marnier.

T.H.A.I definitely goes on my recommended Thai restaurant list.

After dinner, we went to a nice little wine shop in Shirlington Village called the Curious Grape, where they vended not only wines, but cheeses, gourmet chocolates, and an assortment of stemware and accoutrements for wines. Todd got a couple of bottles of Locadi Moscato d'Asti, which turned out to be quite delicious once we got back to Laurent's new place. We chilled and then drank them down while watching the movie Taken, starring Liam Neeson.

After all this, I still made it home in time to watch the season finale of Saturday Night Live.

Well, I saw Star Trek today. It was a late afternoon matinee and I think there were only about half a dozen people in the theater. Good movie. Lots of action, and lots of camera shaking to make it seem like there was even more action going on. I particularly liked the performances of the new Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban). And, what's the deal with Mr. Chekov being seventeen-years-old? I won't talk about the rest of the movie cause I don't want to spoil things for those of you who've not yet seen it.