Another entry I started months ago but never completed.  The following is a bit of decor whoreyness that I executed a few months ago.  On a whim, I purchased some whimsical glass bulbs from CB2 (Crate&Barrel's little sister store). 

Not that my living room needed anymore accoutrements, but I just couldn't resist.  My fetish for glass, candles, and hanging things all converged for a perfect decor storm.

Throw in a bag of IKEA 100 tea lights for $4.99....priceless.  (well, $4.99, but still...5 cents a piece!)

The glass things are really light, so simple string holds it fine.  The way I mounted it to the ceiling is easy.  I tied a loop in the string at the top, and used double-stick mounting foam.  I slipped the foam tape thru the tied loop and pressed it to the ceiling.  That's it.  No drilling, no mess, no hassle.

I installed these thingys in 2 locations.  One gaggle over by the window, another closer to the entry foyer.

by the window

by the foyer, against a backdrop of the canvas I created back when I painted my kitchen.  I used the extra paint from the living room (powder blue), dining room (tan), and kitchen (avocado), and created a Piet Mondrian-esque squares masterpiece.  Decor whore much?

(Sigh...when will this xanga existence of photo-and-food-blogging ever end for me.  Believe it or not, folks, I get tired of doing this.  Sitting at meals, sometimes I just wanna grab my knife & fork without first grabbing my camera.  But friends always pause when the food arrives and say: "well, aren't you gonna take pics for xanga??"  After muttering "fucking UGH" to myself, I do the obligatory deed and then eat.  Oh well...it's the xanga grave I dug for myself.  Eating on...)

Last weekend our dear friends from Seattle came to town and spent a day with us.  We took them to fabulous Chelsea/MeatpackingDistrict hotspot, THE PARK, for brunch.

 

Banana Walnut bread, CrabCakes Benedict.  Brunchalicious!

 

bubby's Cheddar Burger with rosemary fries.  Our friend's prosciutto-arugula thin crust pizza.

 

Min & Darin from Seattle.  A really cute fun couple.  Min is one of my hottest gaysians, and Darin could pass for Kevin Spacey (playing Dr. Evil).  We love these guys!  We strolled the Meatpacking District to survey all the new and exciting buildings popping up, the High Line park under construction, and Chelsea Market.

Then we fled the city and took them to Bayonne.  But first, a stop at Bayonne's spectacular 9-11 Teardrop Memorial at the tip of the Military Ocean Terminal.

The base of the memorial, inscribed with the names of all the victims.

This is my second viewing of the Teardrop, and it's absolutely mesmerizing each time. 

 

Self-portraiting at a memorial....sacriligious or fagalicious? 

We came back to the house and took a stroll along the water.  View of Newark Bay from Boatworks is quite magnificient, esp the stark industriality of the container ports & cranes across the bay in the distance. 

For the waterway stroll, I made my signature Mojitos.  We have 2 kinds going on here -- my purplish one is blueberry, theirs is regular.  I can officially make mojitos blindfolded now.  And I've perfected my recipe.  Instead of club soda, I use tonic.  And don't ask me for my recipe....I don't follow one.  It's all by drunken feel.

 

Dinnertime, we took them to Fort Lee, NJ.  We tried to do the Soft Tofu place, but there was a power-outage in the place when we arrived.  People were eating in the dark!  We rounded the corner and tried a different place.  The usual fare:  panchan (little cold dishes), and seafood pancake. 

 

My hot stone bibimbap with bulgogi.  A communal spicy soup -- Min tells us this is called Military Soup, bc back in the days of war, soldiers or locals would throw everything they add into the soup like spam and ramen noodles.  This soup had it all, along with sausages and tofu.  It's not as spicy as it looks, but still, most of you would die. 

NEW MARIAH VIDEO!  The video is ultra hot tamale.  I can't get over how much weight she lost and how fantastic she looks.  Better than ever!  If I went from 2005's Moo-riah to 2008's Mariahot, I'd be skanking up my video in 2-piece bikinis too (...while eating cake).  The video was shot in Oahu, the song is remixed with T.I., and is summer-radio-ready.  This song better hit #1!!  "Bye Bye" underperformed -- a song about the dearly departed, even a really nice sounding one...not really something you blast at the beach.  But "I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time" is definitely (sun-tan) lotion.

Coming back to work on Monday, I got in the elevator with the secretary from the building mgmt's office and the building's super.  They were all a-chatter en espanol.  I nodded hello and stood quietly in the corner listening to my ipod on and staring up at the ceiling.  The secretary and the super were talking a mile a minute, quite seriously it seemed.  Then the secretary gasped loudly and covered her mouth.  I thought:  oh those dramatic puertomexicuadorians....probably discussing the latest telenovela on Telemundo.  Then the super gets off on the 9th floor, and it's just me and the secretary for the next 3 floors.  She goes:  "Yason, did you hear what happened???"  I shake my head.  She goes:  "the tenant in 11E shot himself in the head over the weekend.  Ay dios miiii-o...."  I gasped and covered my mouth.  Our office building is mixed residential and some commercial.  I had a vague idea who the 11E tenant was....big fat man with long scraggly white hair, dressed like a hobo and always looking miserable.  I bet he was rent-stabilized though.  The secretary said:  "I guess he was depressed.  I just collected rent from him before the weekend.  ay-yi-yi..."  Guess he didn't have a very good July 4th weekend.

Well I did.  I ate cake.  Lots of it!

Eating tiramisu from Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken.  Carlo's tiramisu is, without contest, the BEST I've ever had.

Eating Coldstone strawberry shortcake ice cream cake.

Eating Coldstone cookie dough ice cream cake.

Eating apple pie.

Eating coconut custard pie.  After this I had another slice of strawberry ice cream cake.

And then I finished off the rest of the cookie dough ice cream cake.  Someone had to.  It was melting.

 

July 4th day, we went over to Steven & Phyllis' house for a mega-BBQ.  They grilled filet mignon and lobster tails!  One of the guests was a great cook, so she wrapped the lobster tails with corn husks to grill.  The corn husks kept the lobster moist and juicy, not dry and chewy.  It was phenomenal!  Afterwards we indulged in a yummazing Cannoli-creme cake.  I took the rest of the cake home.

The next day our neighbors hosted a big catered affair.  They had about 25 people and had Italian catering from Buon Appetito restaurant in Bayonne.  The eggplant rollatini was divine as was the chicken marsala.  I was tasked with making pitcher after pitcher of mojitos.  And in return, I ate slice after slice after slice after slice after slice after slice of cake.  I'm happiest when I'm eating cake.

 

Last weekend a group of gays (different from my usual NJ crew) invited us to hang out at their Long Island weekend home.  I know....weekend home....what the frakk?  The friend, gaysian Darwin, who invited us went from lowly weekend ho to uppity weekend home, and was kind enough to have us enjoy their awesome pool and bbq. 

The pool is massive in an even more massive private backyard. 

 

The shallow end -- the end that shallow gays stay on.  Beyond the pool, beyond the fence....it's all part of their property.  Sick! 

The pool was HEATED to a heavenly 84 degrees!  The air temp was about the same.  I was in the water for like 3 hours, only coming up to fetch my watermelon rum slushy.

The house is amazing too.  We BBQ'd and ate outside on the steps.  They don't have outdoor furniture yet.

 

Grilled chicken in a sweet mildly spicy marinade.  Grilled salmon skewers.

  

Veg skewers.  The onions were ridiculously sweet and scrumptious.  I smeared the onions in the kalbi-beef marinade.

 

Darwin & Bruce, our gracious hosts.  They barely hung out at the pool with us....so busy preparing the meal and scuttling around.

The girls.  Me, Darwin, Jhonson,  Jonathan.  Just focus on my beauty folks.  Breathe.  FO-CUS.

I had a lot of fun with this crew...a nice blend of bitchy and laid back.  Our conversation flowed from Madonna to Mariah to roller coasters, and our rapport was great.  It was a nice change of pace from our usual weekends. 

 

bubby halts the papparazzo.  I wanted to document his swanky new lumberjack beard.  It's orange & white, like an orange tabby cat!  

Trying once again to get the hubbs in the water.  My attempt was pitifully futile.  I used every bit of strength to pull while he yawned and sipped his Corona.

Last weekend I also threw another Block Party with our Boatworks neighbors.  And in keeping with my tradition of serving a different delightful cocktail with each Boatworks Party (I've done Cosmopolitans, Lychee Martinis, Mojitos, Pomegranate Martinis), this time I did....BLUEBERRY MOJITOS!

My blueberry cocktail obsession began last summer with Blueberry Lemonade at Tennessee's Bubba Gump.  Then actual Blueberry Mojitos at Buddakan Atlantic City.  Finally, I found blueberry vodka -- Smirnoff Blueberry!

My balcony flower boxes, of gerber daisies and zinnias, help set the summery mood for a driveway party.  It was a scorching hot day, upper 80's and humid.  But the clouds were rolling in and the skies getting ominous. We had to party fast! 

We started at 4pm, occupied 5 driveways and invited mostly Boatworks Drive folk.  We considered opening the party up to the entire community of 160 houses, but then we'd get strangers and unsavories dropping by.  So we kept it exclusive and uppity, and effectively alienated those walking or driving by.  The best was when people who walk by and we'd see them try SO HARD not to look at us.  We know you see us!  We know you're curious and jealous! 

These are our 'regulars'...the familiar faces that we can always have a good time drinking with.  And if war ever broke out between Boatworks Drive and Marina Drive, these core folks would be our strong and united army.

 

Our best neighbor friends, Annery & Jim and Rob & Diana. 

 

View from atop.  The only newcomer to the party was Gary, a nice guy who just moved to our block, here chatting with our unofficial mayor John. 

 

The pot luck food table was jampacked with yummies.  The contributions included sausage & peppers, awesome roasted potatoes, baked ham, shrimp scampi.  And I made my bulk-feeding mainstay, Baked Chicken coated in French-Fried Onions.  I know...how many fucking times am I gonna xanga about this dish.  But this crew never had it, and I got huge raves on it!  Madeline goes:  "Jason, this chicken is outrageous!"

 

The desserts table had more contributions than the actual foods.  Fruit salad x 2 -- hmmm, doesn't appeal to me at all in a party atmosphere.  I only eat fruit in the privacy of my home.  In public, people expect me to eat cake.  They all LOVE to see a skinny fella eat the fatty stuff.  They point and stare and 'ugh' and shake their heads and chuckle and utter in disbelief and grab their jelly rolls and look ashamed.

 

I made a few rounds of my mojitos, serving them in little plastic shot-size cups.  I put some chopped mint, blueberries and sugar into eat cup, and poured.  My bartending background + gay presentation skills  = PANACHE! 

Stacey here is preg with her second child and due to give birth the following day, yet she came out to party!  She makes pregnancy look easy.  Annery and neighborhood sweetiepie, little Thomas.  Thomas helped me light all the candles that lined the driveways. 

The neighborhood gays.  What can I tsay...Bayonne/Boatworks loves us gays.  Every neighborhood needs some. After all, we throw great parties, are tech savvy, up with all the trends, make a great cocktail, and are generally clean and fun.     

 

The dessert table doubled in size with a ColdStone oreo cake and a platter medley of Italian ice cream treats.  We all thought the round cup things were tiramisu, but I took one bite and yelled:  "OMG....what is this???  It's like amaretto ice cream! WTF is this?!  It's heavenly!"  I had 3 of them. 

 

Me and Rob's mom, Mary.  Rob's mom is so sweet...she had us over for dinner a while ago and cooked us the best shrimp scampi with lemon butter rice I ever had.  An Italian mom that feeds you...love that!

Let him eat cake!  As I'm eating this chocolate cake, someone nudged someone else and I heard them say, "look, he's eating again...how does he stay so thin??"

We dodged a few drizzles, but at 9pm it turned into a full-on downpour. 

We expected this, and we quickly ducked into garages and the party dwindled.  But by then, we had already partied for 5 hours and everyone was well-fed and well-drunk, and my Blueberry Block Party came to a successful close.  

 

My best friend is pregnant!  Has been for the past 8 months.  Finally, at 8 months, she's huge and ready to pop.  But unlike other pregnant ladies, all her weight gain is in the tummy (and breasts).  Her face, arms, legs are all still toned and fierce.  She's JessicAngelinaAlbaJolie all the way!

THE SHOWER.  This past Sunday, Linda's sisters and mom threw her a posh shower, truly befitting the posh mom-to-be.  Held at LADY MENDL'S Tea Salon on Irving Place, it was a fabulous 5-course high tea for 35 of Linda's closest gals.

 

Inside the Irving Place townhouse, we were treated to an impossibly ornate and decorated tea salon.  The living room and dining rooms were just gorgeous and full of estrogenous goodness -- fireplaces, candelabras, candles, flowers, doilies, tiffany lamps, a champagne & bellini bar.  Straight mens' balls are mandatorily cut off at the door.

The venue was more impressive than people's weddings.

The place settings, impeccable. 

The girls started arriving in droves.  The place quickly turned from quiet and pleasant to packed and rowdy.  The champagne was poured.  The bellinis guzzled.  The cameras flashed.  The girls gabbed.  The jealous stares abounded.  Hugs and kisses all around.

 

Linda with her closest gals, Eunhee and Liz.

 

Linda with Michelle.

  

me with Eunhee and Cindy, and Dawn.

Designer heaven.  Can you spot the Chinatown knockoff?  I hid my $10 sidewalk-vendor man-bag under a tableclothed table. 

 

5-COURSES OF HEAVEN.  The standout course for me was the mouthwatering assortment of finger sandwiches that I sadly didn't get to have seconds or thirds of.  I was too busy being a busybody and talking to everyone.  A mille-fieulle (thousand layer) cake that was divine.

When the fifth and final course came out, all the girls ugh'd, and looked ashamed, and started lamenting about carbs and sugar and diets.  I tuned that negative self-loathing chatter out and attacked the treats.

 

We played 2 fun games: the ultimate Celebrity Baby Quiz and a Purse Scavenger Hunt.  Both games went over really well, and didn't fall into the corny-ass-shower-games trap.

 

In a crowd-pleasing activity, sister Lenore created this cleverly Photoshopped depiction of what Linda and Bao's little boy will look like.  Yes, he will be born wearing Bao's signature glasses and bushy eyebrows, and Linda's perfect teeth and pinchable cheeks.  And according to Linda: "will look like Rerun from 'What's Happening'"

The tea was an intimate affair, with 3 long tables set up like a U. 

 

We set up a quilting station -- guests create their own quilt square with fabric markers.  After the event, I'm sending the completed squares back to the quilt company and they'll stitch all the pieces together for a finished quilt! 

 

The gaggle of gifts, and the party favors.

 

And finally, what girly event is complete without ravaging the gifts?  Linda tore thru her gazillion gifts and poor Liz had to keep up writing everything down. 

After all the requisite shower activites were completed, we threw in one final fabulous photo shoot.  Linda and her fierce sistas.

Linda's other 3 sisters.  The 3 of us busted our asses for the event, before and during this shower.  Every couple of years, Linda gives us a momentous occasion to gather and conspire on her behalf, and it's definitely a "labor" of love.  Anything for our Lindear.

Gorge x 5.  Eunhee, Linda, Liz, me, Cindy.  Linda keeps only the prettiest friends.  And she'll have the prettiest baby.  Birthing on!

Another past due/delinquent entry from Memorial weekend.  My NJ gays had us all over for a Secaucus backyard BBQueer.  The weather was sublimely pre-summer and the bbq was sublimely pre-ttydamngood.

Herb Ritts himself couldn't have taken a better picture.  The lighting, the composition, my glowing skin....nice job, bubbyMichael!

Bennifer (wo)man'ed the grill and did a fine job of feeding and over-feeding, like a good chinese mom.  Racks of ribs, chicken breast, wings, sausages, hot dogs, burgers, all getting his special Benny Crocker (spice)rub down.

 

Gary & Michael.  me & hubbles.  I love that Nestle's Quick T-shirt.  I drank 8 Nestle's Quiks for the proofs of purchase and $1.99 S/H for that shirt.  I have one too.  So I drank 16.

 

BBQ and beer?  as if.  We're gay.  BBQ and Riesling, bitches! 

 

The whiteys to the left, to the left.  The yellowys to the right, or in fobspeak, to the light.  Aaron was so startled by Bennifer's ginormous floating head, he almost punched it.  Me posing with a glass of wine...i know...SO 5 years ago!   Later on, the BBQ actually did turn violent when Keith threw a wiffle ball at Bennifer, shattering the wine glass Bennifer was holding.  When Naomi Keithcampbell attacks, watch out. 

 

So after monstrous eating, we fats tried to get Wii FIT!  It was my first time playing and I scored a Fit age of 49.  In my defense, I was quite drunk and bloated, and forced to balance, jog, hula-hoop, and yoga.  I was a downward-dog pose away from vomiting and then passing out on the living room floor.

 

My tree pose was overall, not bad.  While doing this, someone said "where's the camera??", and in this position, I reached into my left pocket and pulled out the cam and handed it to P.diddy to capture these humiliating shots (protruding tummy, flat ass, shiny face, pale underarms).  But not humiliating enough to throw a Biitchy Fit.

I finally watched "Ratatouille" last week and loved it!  Inspired and tantalized and just plain piggy, I decided to make it.  And I needed test rats.  Good thing my family was coming over! 

I've been told before that I have a serial killer vibe about me.  haha.  Well, that's what they said (...before I hacked them to pieces!!).  Anyway, that's just nonsense.  I'm more cereal eater than serial killer.  I'm scared to death of knives.  After this pic was taken, I put the knife away and proceeded to chop the squash with a steak knife.  I wish I was kidding.

 

The top chefs.  Cousin furfur and I slaved in the kitchen for hours preparing 3 dishes:  Ratatouille, Sausage & Peppers, French-Fried-Onions-encrusted Chicken breast.  Furfur was an onion-chopping, red-pepper-slicing dynamo.  It was great having a sous-chef and not having to worry about immunity or eliminations or Padma's passive-aggressive judgmentality.

 

The eaters.  Yud & Rosa and her mom, bubbyMike and brother Phil.  They obediently stayed out of kitchen stadium during 'Battle Red Pepper', the common ingredient in 2 of the 3 dishes.

The ratatouille starts with eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, red peppers, onions, garlic. 

Everything is chopped and cubed and thrown in a pan for 30 mins with olive oil and a light flour dusting.

After 30 mins, a can of chopped/stewed tomatoes is added to liquefy.  Another 10 minutes and Ratatouille happens.  It was tres Delicieux!

Snausages & Peppers, another easy dish in my repertoire.

 

Sadly, the bakeries in our town truly suck.  So we made a special trip to Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken for their unbeatable treats.  We didn't go there for their Italian cheesecake slices...but I couldn't leave without adopting a coupla them puppies.

Strawberry Shortcake seduction.  This cake is SO light and airy, it vanished into thin air in mere minutes.  And magically appeared on our thighs and chins. 

 

Yud + Buddie = Yuddie.  Bubby + Buddie = Budbie.

 

little J riding hood.

 

Cousins that just aren't meant to be.  Wuzzy is too scared of strange creatures and Buddie is too playful and eager.  Budds sat at the foot of the stairs crying for his cuz to come down and play.  Wuzzy huddled under the bed.  When we brought Buddie upstairs, he sniffed around and saw the cat, and Wuzzy's tail puffed up like a squirrel and he ran for dear life.  He was such a frightened disoriented mess, he ran around the bed, doubled back, and they COLLIDED.  Then Wuzz flew down the stairs to hide and die a little.  He has 8 lives left.

Buddielicious.

 

My latest song & video addiction is....shockingly not Mariah. It's adorable hipster JASON MRAZ.  Mr.AZ is back with a swanky new single, "I'm Yours".  It's very rare for me to love a song before hearing it a dozen times, and this song was definitely love at first listen.  Its unmistakable island sound made me miss the Hawaiian tropics so dearly, and I was positively afloat with glee when I realized the video was shot in Kauai where we last vacationed.  I recognized Wailua Falls, Hanalei Bay and the pier, the lush mountains, the unmistakable Na Pali coastline.  My heart melted and my schoolgirl hippie crush on Jason Mraz has started all over again. This song feels familiar yet fresh, and it's the kind of music that another Jason(Castro) should make, should he be offered a career.  But at this point, I know....WHO?! 

Mraz'ing on...