Monday, May 12, 2008

One Mutha of A Weekend

Let’s do some ol’ fashioned blogstering here and catch y’all up on a few Mother’s Day Weekend delights that might have skipped yer focus, seeing as how you were not hanging out with me the whole time to keep your knowlege-levels all bulging and fierce like mine am.  SO:

Friday night was distinguished by Zach greeting me at the door with delerious cries of “1-2-3!  1-2-3!” And in fact that’s just what he meant, because NetFlix had just delivered TMBG’s latest compilation of juvenile smartiness-enhancing music videos.  It is fair to say that, since about 45 minutes since I walked in the door on Friday night, I’ve had songs about zeros, fours, and especially sevens and particularly especially 11s-and-12s stuck firmly in the tarry matrix of my worn-out haid. 

Saturday morning Z and I took a stroll on Clement, where we encountered wonders and miracles!  Anyway, we encountered weird groceries and action figures, which is almost as good… We made our first stop at Heroes Club, where Z took care to inform me which guys were good and which were, um, not good.  (Mostly they were not good, except for spiderman and one smiling astroboy; even Batman was Not Good because he was all frowny).  After a few surreal minutes amidst the mannikins, we wandered further on down the street and then crossed over to take a gander at New May Wah, wandering a few aisles to see if anything caught our eye (mental note: what will I make with a can of sweetened mangosteens in syrup?).  Among things I did notice were the following:
* The slogan of Orion Choco-Pies is “It’s NOW!”.  I like that.  Very anxiety-producing.
* One particular corn puff snack comes in flavors that include “Karl Cheese Flavor.” Karl is actually shown in cartoon form on the front of the bag and you can totally imagine how cheesy he is.
* “It’s So Wonderful" Candy comes in three flavors: Orange, Lemon and Ube! 

We also made a side-trip to a fishmonger to mong at some fish.  Z was intrigued but a bit put-off by it too.  I can’t say as I blame him, but they did have some really nice looking ahi for $15/lb so I might go back on my own at some point. 

Saturday afternoon had been originally built around our going to a nice pikanik with some nice friends of Kel’s who have a big crazy pickanik in the park every blame year since, um, for, okay, well this was gonna be the 11th one anyway, you do the math.  We packed up sausages fer grillin’ and fruit salad for coolwhippin’ and the adorable childboy for running around with dogs, and we drove out to the meadow where the festivities were to be held.  We did see the signal red-n-yellow balloons and a lot of folk with kids and dogs and grills and such, but not anybody Kel knew.  We took a little walk and came back, and Kel’s friends were still MIA.  Dang!  So we wandered over to the powerboat lake for to watch the RC powerboats wipe out in spectactular roostertails (turns out they get’em back by casting a line out past them with a tennis ball on the end, and just reel it back in - clever, those geeks can be).  We also visited a little concrete island in the lake where lots of little turtles haul out to get some sun, and happened to see one of these too which totally freaked us out.  It’s massive.  It’s reptilian.  AND IT’Z IN YER BOATLAKE! 

The big reptile made us hungry so we got some hot dogs at a stand, and then goddamn it we went back home via some noodling around maneuvers so Z would fall asleep, and then everybody got a nice comfy nap - and if that’s not a decent stand-in for a pikanik with strangers, well, you are probably doing one of them wrong. 

Saturday night was an actual date night (DATE NIGHT, cue theme song) - the first we’ve had in over a year.  Z got left at cousin Bex’ place, and we hit the road to go 3 blocks away for supper at B Star Cafe which was really very nice, except for Kel’s meatball jook, which was SPECTACULAR and I will order it forever until it or I cease to exist.  Afterwards we wandered a little, checked out Park Life (great art, fun books, scary music) and Green Apple and then got a beer or two at the Plough and Stars before grabbing a very rich slice of cake at a Martha & Bros and finally wandering aimlessly back to pick up Zach, a mere 2.5 hours later .... but man it felt like a solid 3 hours and fifteen minutes of child-free relaxation.  Par-tay.  Zach and Bex had a great time together and I think it’ll be a regular thing, eventually… I hope so, anyway.  One date with the wife every 13 months is a bit rough on Daddy. 

Okay, then, Sunday: We were planning on doing a hike out at Pt Reyes but we reevaluated at the last minute and did some of the 49 mile drive instead.  Oh, first we started off with blueberry pancakes, but of course you expected that of me, right?  THEN the drive - out to the beach to start (first exciting attraction: accident with car upside-down!  whoo-hoo!) and then to Ft Funston (scroll down to that log-ladder and realize as I did that I’d have to carry Z all the way back up it) for some fresh air and hang-glider-watching action.  Then down around Lake Merced, up to Noriega Street, and out to Polly-Ann for some frozen dairy luncheon (I had a cup of turkish coffee and lychee, and then a swirled soft-serve cone for dessert), which Z seemed (...seemed... ) to enjoy very much. 

We let Zach fall asleep on the drive home (added bonus sight: 9-11 Truth March!) and I tried to put him down for a nap but as soon as he hit the horizontal he started pitching a fit about watching more of his new favorite DVD.  I was reasoning with him very effectively and I think he’d have calmed down if he hadn’t suddenly horked up his whole ice cream lunch on the couch, his clothes, some blankets and towels we had lain down to protect everything, and a fair amount of floor space besides.  HAPPY MOTHERS DAY because kel was asleep and I dealt with it on my own as best I could. 

Once I’d ignited the couch and steam-cleaned the child, it was time to go shopping for supper (with a stop first at the Arboretum , because it’s just such a nice day outside that we might as well see what’s growing).  We wound up getting some trout that I grilled in the new electric grillpan, which I LOVE, and it came out great - a little crispy-brown on top and nice and juicy and soft throughout, with grilled onions and a little lemon-wine reduction… With that I served some asparagus with shaved fennel, and rounds of well-fried mushroom polenta.  It was deeee-licious.  Dessert was a handful of baked goods, including a huge brownie and a hand-dipped moon pie, and then we put the boy to bed and I read my novel instead of catching up on Survivor.  I didn’t feel like turning on the television.  Sometimes a weekend is full enough without it, you know? 

Pictures, maybe, later.  For now, enough.  Later, maters.