Big Weekend Ahead!

The Captain

Pop and Kitty-Mom

Sissy and Beth

Sparky and the Dean

Steve O has 2 gigs - Sissy and Beth are coming to visit - Pop and Kitty are coming to visit- Sparky and the Dean are coming to visit. I will definitely have some interesting new material to share come next week!!! I can't wait to see you all as well as my other friends who are seeing the show this weekend! Thanks for all your support. Woo-Hoo!!

A missed trip to Cross Junction and Happy Birthday Sandy!

A cool pic of Steve O. playing his keyboard. (Courtesy of Sioux)

Deanna (Scott's wife) and Henry(their child)

The Birthday girl!

Henry and the Birthday girl

Scott, Henry and a reclining Craig

Henry walking in the woods.

It was in 2000 that I met Steve O. He came up to me at a gig he was playing and just started talking to me. If you knew him you would know that is quite a feat for him. Anyway - he found out that I sang some and wanted me to learn this song he wrote for a woman to sing. We exchanged numbers and had a nice talk. The next day he called me and asked me to dinner. I said no. I saw him again at the same venue and we hung out and talked some more. He was funny and confident and very kind. A couple days later he asked me out again and I said yes. I never did learn that song he was talking about. I have teased him about it since but he swears there really is a song. He was my boyfriend for a couple years. We sang together, went on fun trips together and laughed a lot - but we were young (him more than me) and we parted ways after about 2 years. I knew I would miss him but I also thought "hell, I am young and I will meet other people just as cool." But I never did.

So some mutual friends of ours invited us to a party they were having right before New Years. It was the first time I had seen him in 6 years - but after about 10 minutes it seemed like no time at all had passed.

So that is the story of Steve O (my BF) , not to be confused with Steve P. (My BFF) - got it?

I used to love going to his parents house in Cross Junction. It is right outside of Winchester VA and about 10 minutes from the West Va boarder. The mountains and the land there are breathtaking. His parents built a log cabin style house located on the side of a mountain. Down the road from the house is a cabin his great grandfather built - it is right in front of a little lake. Once we went to stay there only to meet up with HUGE black snake that was hanging out in the bathroom. Guess who didn't stay in the cabin that night?

One of my favorite parts about visiting that beautiful area was how sweet his family was to me. I got along great with all of them. I loved helping his mother in the kitchen and learning great cooking tips and recipes from her and our late night gin rummy games and our interesting talks about this and that.

A few years later I had the misfortune of briefly dating a guy, lets call him Michael because that was his name, who's parents were a living nightmare and treated me worse than crap. These people were laughably rude and totally unaware of their narcissism. It was then that I came to fully appreciate The Organ's kindness. My mother and I often talked about how much we missed them and how nice it would be to see them again.

Steve went to his parents this weekend for his Mother's birthday. I was sad not to get to go with him and see everyone again. I have the show thru Aug 24th so I had to miss this trip. My Mom even made it over there for a couple hours on Sunday - I was so excited she got to see everyone again. I know they all had fun together and there is even a guest blog post in the making from my BF covering a fancy restaurant they went to Saturday for Sandy's Birthday. Stay tuned for that! - And hopefully next time I talk about Cross Junction it will mean I got to go back their myself.

shamless self promotion

Well - it is my blog after all.........

http://www.richmond.com/performing-arts/25058

PS - Anonymous can suck on this!!! - (don't worry if you don't know what that means.)

Crab Louie's

Bean and onion salad

sauerkraut mix

she-crab soup

Martha's salad

zucchini bread and apple-cheddar bread

Firecracker shrimp

crab cake and seafood Latkie

Fried Seafood

I had been wanting to try this restaurant for ever and a day. Last week was Greig Leach's birthday and on baseball night he told me that his family went out to Crab Louie's. It reminded me to go while I still lived on the South Side. I drilled him about what he ate - I love food details. I went with an open mind and empty stomach and my cell phone for easy pictures. (that is why they all look a little fuzzy.)
Crab Louie's is located in a small shopping area in the village of Midlothian - just a stones throw from the house. It is comfortable with the tables spaced very far from each other and very rustic and tavern looking without seeming old and dingy. We only waited about 10 minutes at the bar for a table. At the bar I had one of the best dirty vodka martini's I have ever had. I took that as a good sign.
Eventually we sat at a romantic corner table. On the table were the bean salad and the sauerkraut mix. I was hesitant, especially of the sauerkraut and wasn't quite sure why it was there. The waitress explained it was there for us to put on out bread plates and nibble on. (I guess I could have figured that out eventually) The beans were really good. The sauerkraut (which I had sworn off years ago after I sm'd a production of The Foreigner where I had to go under the stage and hand up sauerkraut through a small hole in the floor- there is more to this story but that is not for now) It actually tasted good but after a couple bites we moved it out of our way because the smell was so strong. We were so hungry we were bound to over order. And we did. But no matter - left overs are great, right?

I ordered the she-crab soup and Steve O. had clam chowder. He liked his but since I am not a fan of Clams I did not taste it myself. The she-crab soup was excellent with big chunks of crab meat though out.
I upgraded my salad to a Martha's Vineyard style salad which consisted of blue cheese crumbles and a maple vinaigrette dressing. It was excellent.

We ordered an appetizer of Firecracker shrimp. These were big shrimp, lightly fried (but still really crispy) covered in a sauce that burns the hell out of your mouth. It was tasty though and I am not one to complain about spicy. (unless curry is involved - yuck)

When the main course arrived I was not at all hungry anymore, as is often the case with me. I ordered what Greig told me he had. It was a broiled crab cake and one of their famous seafood Latkies. The name alone cracked me up. Are they trying to be Ironic? (or is that irony - I have issues with what irony is exactly) Anyway - The "latkie" was made up of crab, shrimp and lobster. It must be a reform latkie. Tee-Hee. It was excellent as was the crab cake - full of great crab and little else - maybe nothing else. OK - a few shells but I can handle that.
Steve O. got a big plate of fried seafood. It looked good to me but I couldn't taste anything else after sampling my dinner. I was full. I was glad we finally tried Crab Louie's and I would definitely go back but I will make myself order much less food.

The Braves Lose on Restaurant Night

My row of friends who came to cheer for The White Dog!!

Not sure what was happening - just figured I should take a pic of the field.

Lee, newly back from his trip to Philly came to cause some havoc - at least he was dressed better than the rest of us!

More White Dog folks.

I never heard anyone scream as loud or as often as Lee!

you can barely read the sign but it says White Dog at the bottom.

The Diamond Duck gets a squeeze from a waitress.

Bruno and Sioux

Well, I was expecting it to be 100 degrees so I was surprised to discover it was a near perfect night. Not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was probably in the low 80's with no humidity. I am not a huge baseball fan - maybe in the major leagues or watching some real important game but when I go to the diamond (which is about once every 5-10 years) I go for the hot dogs, beer and company. Last night was no exception. The game was boring - the hot dogs were good and the company was great. I also wanted to get a game in before the Braves leave us for good.

And it was restaurant night - Barry and Roslyn invited about 40 people and we all tried to out yell Cary St Cafe when they splashed the name of the White Dog across the scoreboard (or whatever that thing is called)

I am curious about what will happen to the very large American Indian sculpture that graces the stadium. My friend, Paul made it years ago and it is a very interesting story how it ended up being at the stadium. He will have to write that story for you someday because it is long and involved and I don't want to get it wrong!

Anyway...they lost the game. I was so tired I went home afterwards while everyone else went out. I got situated on the sofa and I turned on the TV and Meet me in St. Louis was just starting! Oh Joy! I was so happy. I think I smiled for the entire 2 hours it was on. - Except for the parts I cried through!

Thanks Guest Blogger Lee!

As you know I am busy with a little one person show so I have been neglecting my blog - I asked my friend Lee to write something for us about his last business trip. I still am not sure what it is he actually does - but I am sparing you a couple of the pics he sent that might have been offensive and just weren't very pretty. Above are the pics he sent that didn't turn my stomach. I think they even might make my Sissy a bit homesick. (Not the first pic but the ones of Philly!)

Tales from the Road 7/26/08

Philadelphia Freedom

Shalom, Y'all! (And Good Reasoning to you, Ken!)

After multiple trips to & from New York, I finally got to come back to the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia! Unlike most of my trips out of town, I was traveling as a passenger in the truck for the AAFP Maternity meeting at The Loews Philadelphia Hotel. The last time I was here, the sole detached from my right steel-toed shoe. This time, it was my LEFT sole that detached. Even though I looked like a schmuck as the sole slapped against my foot, it had the rather unintended benefit of keeping the homeless guys from hitting me up for spare change! As I was walking down to South Street from the hotel, the question was posed to me as to why someone would be homeless in a city with such brutal winters as Philadelphia. I'll let others answer the questions about the underlying causes of homelessness...because quite frankly it's not all that funny! I just don't think it's fair for the home-grown homeless in places like Orlando (ha!), Tampa, or Miami to compete with ringers from places like New York, Detroit, or Philly! Let's face it: the folks in Fla. wouldn't stand a chance against the stronger aggressive species! It'd be like introducing a predatory species in a pond that would overwhelm the native species! One thing I would have liked to capture on video (or audio) were some of the loud rants that the homeless were having with themselves. WAY more entertaining than the Bumfight videos that were being sold a few years ago! Just the audio alone would be worth it to sell as ringtones! (Not that I would EVER exploit the homeless...)

The drive up here was...interesting. I had the "blessing" to ride up here with a new driver. An individual who apparently is utterly clueless in reading body language! Now if someone put their earbuds for their iPod in their ears, crossed their arms, and bowed their head...would you try to engage that person in idle mindless chit chat? I know I wouldn't! I'm not going to give his name to protect his identity, but a couple of you know who he is! He will not stop talking! If he had something to say that was interesting, or even used different inflections to his voice! SOMETHING! Dear God, the drive up here was painful! In addition to the drone-like quality of his voice, he also drove like an old woman...and I don't mean like The Little Old Lady from Pasadena, either! Cars & trucks were passing us from the left & right. I told him to get in the right lane, but he wouldn't, for whatever reason. It was just a matter of time before he was in the left-hand lane with the turn signal on, and he didn't fail to disappoint! Just the Philly skyline came into view, there he was in the left lane! We actually drove into downtown so that he would know how to get there, as well as how to get to the truck parking lot, which was quite a few blocks away from the hotel. As we were driving to the loading dock, he commented that he thought that Philadelphia was one of the cleanest cities he'd ever seen! When he made the long walk from the truck parking lot and got back from the hotel, I asked him if he still felt the same way! Naturally, he did not. Not that there's anything wrong with Philly, but anytime you get a bunch of human beings all together in one spot, things tend to get a bit messy!

One of the places I've always wanted to visit every time I've come to Philly was the Italian Market. This time, I was able to achieve that goal! I even made it to Ralph's Restaurant (http://www.ralphsrestaurant.com/), the oldest Italian Restaurant in the country owned by the same family. The ravioli & meat sauce was quite tasty, & my Project Manager enjoyed the Lasagna as well! We also made it back to South Street, where I was able to purchase my "I Love Being Black" t-shirt! Most of you all know that shirts like that are cat nip for clones to me! I just can't resist! After getting back from South Street, I turned on the Boob Tube (in honor of the breast-feeding session I sat in on) & saw that CBS was doing the MMA (mixed martial arts...like UFC) show again. The large amounts of dried blood on the mat was a nice touch after eating Italian for dinner! Almost as nice as seeing a C-section on video immediately after scarfing my lunch down earlier in the week! (Thank goodness for the Catholic training, or I'd never be able to block that image out of my head!) ABC's idea of counter-programing? The animated classic "Peter Pan"! Ah...the wisdom of network programming!

I can't get back to Richmond soon enough! As long as I don't kill the kid on the way back...Lord give me strength...enjoy the images!--

www.myspace.com/the_rev_dr

For your daily dose of Sarcastic Sanctification...or whenever I feel like it! No, I'm NOT looking for Underage dates, nor do I want to be featured on Dateline's "To Catch a Predator"!

Wow - I am honored again.....

I parked behind this car last night on Stafford. When did these come out? I am so touched. I would love to find one but I bet they sold out fast!