Trina's page of Blogginess

At least he does in my neighborhood....

This morning, I was treated once again to one of my favorite Easter in the Castro sights:

A big bear of a man, dressed in a full pink (and furry) Easter Bunny suit, (ears and all) wearing a big black leather jacket, drove up on his big, phat Harley bike. He hopped off his bike, and toted his easter basket up the stairs to the home of one of our neighbors.

One of these years, I'm going to have to snap a picture of him...

Labels: holidays, life in the castro, my life is a sitcom, san francisco

Happy Holidays from Dick, Trina, Marcel & Noe

Labels: holidays

Last night, we went to Dick's Company's Holiday party. It was a lot of fun. I saw some old friends, met some new friends, and even met people who I'd never met before who apparently read my blog! ("Shout-Out to Zeke!") I also was recognized as "The wife who plays X-Box!" and was invited to a future Gears of War game.


The Holiday Party

The party was at The San Francisco Design Center. It was a nice venue - big main floor, with 2 additional levels, all looking down to the main floor. There was lots of food, interesting booths (chocolate tasting, henna tattoos, tea-leaf reading, and bonsai trees) and a pretty good band. (Although the Solid Gold Dancers were questionable.)


The "red-shirt" guys

I met someone who asked about my blog, and said something along the lines of, "I'll check in tomorrow to see what you had for breakfast." I think he was kidding, and didn't realize that I sometimes really do take a photo and blog about our meals. ;)

So, without further adieu.....

Today's Breakfast

Dick wanted a "down-home country breakfast" complete with eggs, grits, bacon and biscuits. I have a biscuit recipe that I've only made once before, but I remembered that they were really yummy.

The recipe called for a 3" round cookie cutter. I didn't have anything that fit that description, so instead I opted for a 3" Star-Shaped cutter that I just received in the mail with a Christmas Order. I figured, "Why not? It's festive!"


Big Country Breakfast

Dick was very, very impressed that this Chinese Girl can make a good homemade biscuit. He even said they were as good as Bojangles back home in North Carolina. That's got to be the biggest compliment he could've given me! (but, can they make star-shaped biscuits?!)

Labels: cooking, holidays

This evening, as I was driving to the train station to pick Dick up, I was flipping around the radio stations in my car (the only time I ever listen to the radio). I was flipping around, and stopped when I heard John Denver & The Muppets singing "The 12 Days of Christmas".

First of all, I have to confess that I secretly love this version of this song. (It's SO Funny!) I also have to confess that "John Denver & The Muppets Christmas" was the first CD I ever bought. (how odd, I know, but it's so darn cute, and it was cheap.)

So, I'm listening to the song, and laughing along with it when I realize: This is a Christmas song. It's not even Thanksgiving yet!

When the song finishes, the radio station says something along the lines of, "Another 30 minutes Christmas Music Set..." Then they listed all of the songs they had just played in the last set. Yep, all Christmas tunes.

So, let me get this right: they're playing ALL Christmas music? NOW?

I guess it's kind of like having the stores start decorating for the holidays in September. No one really waits until after Thanksgiving anymore, do they?

Plus, who am I to talk? I just blogged last week about how much progress I've made with my Christmas shopping....

Hmmmm....

Labels: holidays

It's 9:20pm, and I'm finishing up some work in my office.

I can hear the helicopters circling above Castro Street.
I can also hear a few loud/drunken people making their way down the street, passing by our house. There are also a lot of loud cars driving up and down. This is usually the loudest night of the year in our neighborhood.

Halloween night in the Castro is SO different from the Saturday night before Halloween.

If you want to see the real Halloween in the Castro, come on the Saturday night before. That's when all of the locals come out. That's when you'll see all the cool costumes, and the real fun crowd. By the time we go around 11:15, the block of Castro Street between Market and 18th Street is still blocked off. There's still plenty of people and fun things to see, but you can actually walk around and See everything.

The last time I went to the Castro on an actual Halloween night was at least 4 years ago, and we went early - probably 7:00ish. It was already plenty packed with people, and honestly, there were more people who weren't wearing costumes, than there were people who dressed for Halloween. The people who come without costume tend to just want to come and gawk, or worse, cause problems. (I'm sounding like an old fogy now, huh?)

For the first time that I can remember, I actually had a few trick-or-treaters knock on the door tonight. Granted, they all came at once (about 5) and they were all older teenagers. I happily gave them candy, as they were all quite friendly, and in the spirit of Halloween! It reminded me that when I was a senior in High School, Kimi, David, Lucian and I went trick-or-treating together! I had almost forgotten! We knew we were "too old", but we also realized it would probably be the last time we'd ever do it! Coincidentally, all 3 of them came to our party this past weekend, all dressed up! I need to find that picture from Halloween, 1986. I'm sure I have it somewhere at my parent's house. (Kimi, do you have one?)

Labels: holidays, san francisco

This year was Kimi's first "Creep-o-Rama". I hadn't mentioned to her that we always hire a server for our Halloween parties. Dick and I have found that hiring a server to pour the drinks, replenish the food, and especially help clean up the trash and recyclables is well worth the expense, as it allows us extra time to enjoy the party with our friends.

The server always come wearing a basic "bistro" uniform: white shirt, black pants.

When Kimi saw the server (a very nice guy named Adam) at our party, she naturally assumed his was a party guest wearing a Halloween costume. He was wearing a white shirt, black tie, and black pants.

She said to him, "Hi, are you dressed as a Mormon?"

I love this story.

Happy Halloween!

Labels: holidays

Another Halloween, another Creep-o-Rama.

We had our annual Halloween Party last night. Great friends, good food, fun costumes and amazingly warm weather - a great time was had by all!

This year, Dick and I got extra-serious about decorating: we decorated the hallway, the kitchen, and dining rooms as a "dungeon/mid-evil castle". The effect was pretty good - we also dressed as a mid-evil King & Queen (or a knight and maiden).


Dick & Trina in the dungeon

There were some really great costumes this year. Lots of creativity.
Here are the photos from the evening

I think the most creative costume award has to go to Shan, who came as San Francisco's eccentric protester, Frank Chu. The great thing about this costume was that it was so obscure, that people either immediately "got it" or simply had no idea what it was. Shan was a real hit walking around the Castro.


Will the real Frank Chu please stand?

We missed some our regulars who couldn't make it this year because they've moved away, have had kids, or were sick. Although we missed them (too many to name!), we did enjoy introducing a whole new group of "newbies" to Creep-o-Rama!

We're contemplating how long we should keep our new "wallpaper" up.
Barry tried to convince us that we should host a mid-evil dinner for Thanksgiving this year :)

Happy (early) Halloween!

Labels: holidays