Yummy

I'm back!  Didja miss me?  Nothing had really happened the day before except that Walt went to see his doctor in the morning, and learned that everything seemed fine and his instructions were good.  Then in the afternoon, Ned took him to his surgeon appointment and he will have hernia surgery next month.  The doctor appointment was here in Davis, so he was able to drive himself, but I was glad Ned was available to drive him to the surgeon's office.  Also just kind of  ... I dunno ... heartwarming to see Ned taking care of his Dad.

Yesterday, continuing our tour of doctors' offices, it was my turn to go to the eye doctor in Sacramento (about the same distance from Davis in the opposite direction from the surgeon's office.  Walt drove, so I guess he really could have driven to the surgeon's office too, but it was nice to have Ned to ask questions Walt might forget to ask.

Anyway, this was my annual exam. I actually never got around to it last year.  With diabetes, I'm supposed to have an eye exam yearly and I figured I could use a stronger prescription by now.

I was first seen by the doctor's assistant, a recent graduate who seemed very efficient and very thorough, though she skipped the classes on patient interaction.  She always spoke to me with her back  turned and in a very low voice.  I had forgotten to wear my hearing aids.  You'd think that after 2 or 3...or 5 or 6....requests to repeat what she aid she would automatically speak louder, but she never did.

Equipment is different from 2 years ago.  Instead of going through endless "this or that" lenses, she picked out2, did a this or that and that was it.  She also spent a lot of time on the computer getting all of her observations recorded.  While she did that, I was looking at the eye chart, seeing how many words I could make out of the visible letters!

The doctor came in, checked his assistant's notes, did a cursory exam, happily said that my eyes show that my blood sugar is in good control and wrote me a "tweaked" prescription for glasses.

Next off to optometry to get glasses.  There will be no surprise when they come...I am getting exactly the same frames.  I had my choice of what I have now (blue) or in brown.  I am not a big fan of brown, so I went with what I have now.  There was a similar pair that had kind of a pattern on it, which I kind of liked, but not $70 more worth.  The woman helping me was sharply efficient and looked like she was suckng a lemon the whole time.  But the order got made and they will be delivered to the Davis office.

Then came the fun.

I have been watching Red Lobster commercials for their crab fest, which is going on now.  I know there is a Red Lobster near Kaiser ('cause I've eaten there several times when I was indulging myself!).  I convinced Walt we should go there for lunch.

In truth, the prices have increased significantly from last time I indulged myself, but oh so good!  I had the crabfest combo (the middle picture) and gave some of the legs to Walt, who ordered crab linguini.  We both ate more than our fill and were able to bring home enough leftovers for dinner tonight, so all things considered, the prices weren't all that bad.

I actually ate more than I thought I could. What I like about the combo is that is has lots of Dungeness crab, along with that delicious Alaskan King crab.

I left a very happy camper.

We both came home and took naps, getting up in time for the evening's show, The Twelve Huntsmen by Acme Theater Company, Davis' oldest theater company.  Jeri was one of the founders, around 35 years ago.  This show was written by an Acme alum who graduated in 2002 and directed by a woman who had been in Acme with Jeri and now works in theater in New York.  (When she came to meet me at intermission and I saw this middle aged woman with more grey hair than I have, I realized how old Jeri really is....she she has no visible grey hair and of course is still our "little girl.")

Anyway, it was a nice, full day.  Everybody is healthy, and we will have crab for dinner tonight!  Best of all, I had a good night's sleep.

The Sound of Silence

In the wake of the terrible attack at Charlottesville, politicians on both sides of the aisle have been falling all over themselves condemning the those who were responsible for the death of one woman and the wounding of some 30 or so more.

John McCain:  White supremacists aren't patriots, they're traitors- Americans must unite against hatred & bigotry

Bill Clinton:  Even as we protect free speech and assembly, we must condemn hatred, violence and white supremacy.

Paul Ryan:  The views fueling the spectacle in Charlottesville are repugnant. Let it only serve to unite Americans against this kind of vile bigotry.

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe:  "We need to call it out for what it is. For the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who came to our beautiful state yesterday, there is no place for you here."

Hillary Clinton:  "The incitement of hatred that got us here is as real and condemnable as the white supremacists in our streets.  Every minute we allow this to persist through tacit encouragement or inaction is a disgrace, & corrosive to our values."

President Obama quoted Nelson Mandela.  It seems the only person not offering a stern rebuke and a message for the nation is the president. who offered this weak comment:   “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides."

While his minions were all over the television today explaining that of COURSE he meant to include the KKK, the neo-Nazis and other white supremacists by name, there were a few who were happy with his comments.  This from the Daily Stormer, the neo-Nazi web site:

People all over the country are speaking out against hate groups.  But the man who was after Obama for literally YEARS for not using the term "radical Islamic terrorism" refuses to use the name of any of the hate groups who backed him during his campaign and when asked about them, turns his back and leaves the room.  The man who doesn't hesitate to call out publicly just about everybody in his cabinet, whether they deserve it or not, but who thanks Putin for expelling >700 US employees and who still thinks that despite confession by his own son, the whole "Russian thing" is simply made up by the Democrats remains essentially silent on the domestic terrorists in Charlottesville.

During the rally itself, David Duke, former head of the KKK said this, when interviewed: "the marchers were going to “fulfill the promises of Donald Trump” to “take our country back.”  I guess Trump is continuing to help.  I hope we are not seeing the new direction the country is headed in.

---

Other than THAT, Mrs. Lincoln...I've been drooling for weeks over Red Lobster's ads for its current Crab Fest.  I mentioned to Walt that I really wanted to go, and so we went there for dinner last night.  The menu alone was beautiful enough to eat.

I chose the "dueling crab legs," snow crab and Dungeness crab.  Big fat legs bursting with huge chunks of crab meat to dunk in melted butter.  It was great...and I didn't give Walt half of mine, as I usually do at dinner!

 
What a great way to end a day that started out pretty depressing.

Exhausting Day

Walt and i settled in to watch Jeopardy after the show I was reviewing at around 11 p.m.  I fell asleep before the show ended and really didn't wake up until 7.  A good night sleep, for sure.

The morning started with a trip to Kaiser.  My long-awaited appointment with the ophthalmologist was finally here.  I wanted two months for it.  No emergency, but I figured it was finally time to talk with her about removing  the cataract in my "bad" eye.  We have been discussing this for several years now.  My right eye is the eye I am conscious of never having used for vision.  When I was a kid I was diagnosed with lazy eye blindness but I was a little too old to do much about it.  I have mentioned here before that I never mentioned it to my parents because I just assumed that everybody had one good eye and one bad eye.

Several years ago I had the cataract in the other eye removed, a nearly effortless surgery which was actually kind of fun.  But the doctor then warned that removing the other cataract might be more problematic because there was a congenital defect in the eye that might make it a 2-3 surgery process.  Since I have never used the eye for vision, I decided to just let it go for awhile, which I have been doing for the past several years.  I have an annual eye exam and we discuss it every time, but the doctor hasn't pressured me to have it done.

However, in the past year the cataract has become much worse to the point where I am aware of this white cloud over the eye and it's been bothering me so I decided it was time to get it done.  The wait was forever.  I arrived early, so it was 15 minutes before I was seen by the nurse who did the initial exam and dilated my pupils.  

Then another 15-20 minutes in the exam room waiting for the doctor, whom I love.  She's obviously very popular, since I took her ONLY appointment slot when I called two months ago! We agreed that it's time to remove it and she again warned that it might take several surgeries to get it done, but, as I said, it's time.  I won't have it done until we return from Europe in November, since they don't want you to travel very far for a month after the surgery.  But I've made the first step and hopefully it will all get done, maybe by my next birthday!  It will be weird to have vision in that eye, perhaps for the first time ever.

Kaiser Sacramento is very close to the Red Lobster restaurant, which has been tantalizing me for weeks with ads for their "Crabfest."  Walt and I have talked about going, so I did feel a bit guilty about going without him, but we tend to do a lot of talking about this stuff and never actually doing it, so I decided to splurge.

I order the "crab lovers' dream" which was a plate of king crab legs, combined with some other crab I had not heard of before, but which is bigger and sweeter than snow crab and finally crab fetuccini.  I knew that was way more than I could eat, so I decided to get it and take the fetuccini home for Walt's dinner, thus easing my guilt.  (I almost regretted decision, since the fetuccini was so delicious!)

My plan was to stop by Atria and bring my mother her meds on the way home, but it was so late when I left the restaurant (3:30) and I was so sated with crab that all I wanted to do we sleep, so I did.  Shortly after I woke up, I turned on Rachel Maddow and, to my surprise, discovered that it was, instead, a one hour special called Jon Stewart has Left the Building, which was a great review of the phenomenon that was The Daily Show.  I wonder how many people did not see the show because it wasn't even listed by that name.

I skipped dinner because I was still full of crab and Walt loved the fetuccini, then we went off to Woodland to see an excellent production of Mary Poppins, which I will be reviewing for both The Davis Enterprise and Sacramento News and Review.  It was really a special way to end the day.

The Height of Rudeness

The older we get, the less patience we have with young people, the more appalled we are with their behavior.  You see a kid, as I did tonight, with an earring like a big button which fits IN the hole in his ear, much like a Ubangi warrior would stretch his lips out to unnatural size (I learned this from Bozo the Clown records when I was a kid!) and a bunch of piercings all over his face and you think "that kid will never be a bank president."

But I am here to tell ya that stereotypes are never a good thing and that bad behavior is not limited to those of the younger set.

This afternoon we went to San Francisco for a Lamplighters production of The Sorcerer.  It's not my favorite Gilbert & Sullivan by a long shot, but we always go to the Lamplighters anyway and this was a fun production.  It was held at the Herbst Theater, next door neighbor to San Francisco's opera house, and a lovely little city-owned ~1000 seat theater.

But I was shocked at the behavior of some of the white haired patrons in the theater.  First there was the woman who took her phone out right as the lights went down, in spite of all the cautions against photographing or recording the production and proceeded to take a number of photos.

Then there were the two very large white-haired gentlemen who entered the balcony on the far side after the lights went down and the show had started and stumbled their way across the whole balcony, talking in a normal tone of voice all the way, blocked everyone's view while they climbed over the row to get to their seats and then proceeded to get a very bright flashlight out so they could read their program.

But the topper was this guy who, at the intermission, pulled a big shiny apple out of a paper bag and sat there eating it, sharing it with his wife, despite all the signs saying no food allowed in the theater.  No wonder kids don't know how to behave in public any more!

When we left the theater we drove over to Fisherman's Wharf to redeem our long-awaited Groupon for Capurro's restaurant.  This was to the restaurant we were going to go to the last time we went to a Lamplighters show and got stuck in the parking garage for two hours.

It was worth the wait!

Yes, even more crab.   This was roasted in wine and delicious.  I may have reached my crab saturation for this season, though!

Now to try to figure out what to make for dinner for Cousins Day tomorrow.  Peach has decided she needs a day off from Bob-care, and her son will be taking her place with his father. We will spend 2 days with my mother and I am trying to figure out a dinner that (a) will leave no leftovers (she gets angry if a crumb of leftovers is left), and (b) will take a minimum of pots and pans to prepare so that she has little clean up afterwards, since she refuses to let anybody load so much as a plate into her dishwasher, but moans as she cleans up because her back hurts so much.

Cousins Day used to be easier...

Feelin' Crabby (again)

It was back to San Francisco again today for round 2 of Says You.   We heard yesterday that the Jewish Community Center was having a Gershwin exhibit on the upper floor and we decided to get there before the crowd and check it out.   The weather driving down was glorious, but when we got into the city, into the full sun downtown, we could see the thick fog on Twin Peaks.

The Jewish Community Center is about at the level of the middle of San Francisco, perhaps a bit closer to the ocean, so by the time we got that far out, we had completely lost the sun and were deep in fog and cold wind, which I figured was just great for my cold.  (If this is my last entry, know that I died in the night!)

We got to the JCC 2 hours before the show and had plenty of time to look at all the memorabilia, most of which were original covers of sheet music, but also delightful things like this list of things George liked and didn't like (perhaps his version of a meme!)

There were lots of awards -- Emmys, Congressional Medal, Grammys, etc.  But naturally the one that caught my eyes was this Academy Award nomination.

We left the exhibit and went to the cafeteria to get a gnosh before the show.  Tony Kahn saw us when he was walking in with the rest of the cast and stopped to talk.  Then we went into the show and during the mic check, Tony shared with the audience the e-mail I had sent to him last night (saying that when the 7 cast members walked through the lobby it was like the 7 dwarfs walking through Disneyland).

When the show was over, we chatted a bit more with Tony in the lobby and then came the highlight of the day.  We watch a TV show on the San Francisco public TV station.  It's called "Check Please, Bay Area."   I have heard there are similar "Check Please" shows in other parts of the country.  We occasionally think how nice it would be to try such and such a restaurant.  It's what led me to Betty's Oceanview Diner in Berkeley, in fact.   Generally if the "average price per person without drinks" is expensive, we dismiss it.

But my ears perked up the night they reviewed Thanh Long in San Francisco.  I think you can run the video off the web site.   This is a crab restaurant.  Crab is their specialty.  Crab.   Dungeness crab.  Big Dungeness crabs!  I immediately put it into my cell phone in case we ever had the occasion to need a restaurant in San Francisco.

The place is waaaaay out in "the avenues."   In fact, if you go another block, you'll be swimming in the ocean.  The look of it is certainly nothing that is going to make you stop, if you are driving by, and decide to check it out.  In fact, you might wonder what exactly the building is.

But inside, it was an absolutely charming setting.

What is even better, it seemed like almost every table had a huge whole crab sitting on it, or bibbed people up to their elbows in crab meat.   I had come home.

We were seated at a table for two very close to two women at a table for two.  I couldn't help looking at what they had and asked them.  They had the whole roast crab, an seafood eggplant dish and garlic rice.  They were sucking meat out of a huge claw and making orgasmic sounds.  I naturally turned to the waiter and said "We'll have what they're having."

They tied big plastic bibs around our necks and brought the food and soon we, too, were sucking sweet warm crab meat out of huge claws and making orgasmic sounds ourselves.

The women had been right--it was fabulous.  And considering that we split the 3 dishes, though it was more than we usually spend for dinner, it wasn't THAT expensive.  I will go back again in a heartbeat!

Our "Says You Weekend" has been delightful from start to finish.  Any weekend that ends with a huge crab on my plate can't possibly be bad!

BACON Taffy?

I did something unusual today.  I went out and just...wandered.   Well, I started out at a specific location.  I had an eye doctor appointment in Sacramento.  There is an eye clinic in Davis, but the doctor here was the ojne who threw me into panic telling me that my cataracts weren't the reason why my vision was so horrible and leaving me thinking I was losing my vision--only to go to the Sacramento office of Kaiser and learned that of course it was a cataract that was the problem.

So now I don't go to Davis, I go to Sacramento (though the doctor who used to be in Davis is now on the staff there...but I do have more options than just that doctor).

My appointment was at 11 a.m. and I left Davis at 9:30, getting there half an hour early, but I had my "gadgets" with me, so I was able to amuse myself until I was called.

My new doctor's name was Dr. Maebori and when this nice lady took me in the office, I asked how you pronounced the doctor's name.  (Apparently it's pronounced the same as Sherrif Andy Taylor's hometown).  But then she started doing an exam--having me look at the eye chart (which disappears when I try to look with my right eye), and checking my lenses, and showing me the "1 or 2?  3 or 4?" lens changes.  I began to realize that THIS was Dr. Maebori and felt kind of dumb for having assumed that she was the assistant of a different physician.  She put drops in my eyes and then finished the exam, checking for retinopathy (all clear, I was told) and then when she had finished doing just about everything that needed to be done, she announced that she would now go and get Dr. Maebori!

Dr. Maebori essentially said that yep, his assistant did it all right, he signed a prescription for new lenses (which I won't fill since there is such a slight change from the lenses I'm wearing now) and sent me on my way.  I wonder how big his salary is compared to hers!

I had decided to go out to lunch and was trying to decide where when I remembered that I was out of Sacramento postcards, which I use to send to folks through Postcrossing. I figured I would go to Old Sacramento, find some place to eat there, and pick up some post cards.

I was mentally going through restaurants I knew, or used to know, in Old Sac (since I haven't eaten there in many years).  I don't know how I forgot   the obvious choice, but there it was as I entered through the back entrance:

Of course! 

 

So I went to Joe's and had myself a fantastic crabcake caesar salad.

Afterwards I went to a candy store across the street because the sign said they sold souvenirs.  But they also had free candy tastings.  Dozens of boxes of taffy and an invitation to help yourself to samples.

If you could imagine a flavor, they had it.  Peanut butter, molasses, cranberry-raspberry, orange cream.  They even had, believe it or not, maple bacon taffy.  I had to try it.  It was weird, but oddly, not bad.  

The only reason I didn't taste more is that I had to get back to the car before the meter expired.

I might have to go back and actually buy some of that taffy.

Crab and Chocolate

I've been fetted in grand style. The plan was to go to San Rafael, pick up my mother and Peach, drive to Sausalito for a birthday lunch, and then come back to Davis again.

That was a nice plan, but by the time we got home to my mother's it was 4 p.m. and pouring rain. It didn't take much to convince me I should spend the night!

Our reservations at The Spinnaker were for 3 p.m. and it was a grey, drizzly day, but we could still see San Francisco and enjoyed the view by our window table. At one point there was a whole line of pelicans flying close the water for as far as the eye could see in any direction. The photo shows the middle section of it!

(Click on photo to see larger size.)

All three of us ordered the Dungeness Crab salad (of course).

We ordered one dessert to share, some decadent chocolate thing that the waiter served to me with a candle in it, since Peach had told him it was my birthday.

I really had planned on driving home, because I thought I had a show to review that night but when I found out that Bruce (the new editor) had assigned someone else to review the show, that's all the convincing I needed. It was dark and stormy and there was promise of birthday cake later, so why should I go home?

Peach gave me a card with 14 lotto scratchers in it. I warned her that I was not lucky and that I would probably lose, but I set to work scratching off the dots.

I did have one winning card, and I won a whole $4.

We played several games of 65, which my mother lost (not very happy about it), while we ate hors d'oeuvres they had picked up at Safeway--fruit and veggies in various dips, and something called a Champagne Cosmo, which Peach made.

By the time we were tired of cards, we introduced my mother to Harry's Law, which she seemed to like, and then they got out a chocolate cake they had bought for me. If I had gone home, as originally planned, I would have missed out on my own birthday party!

So I had a surprise birthday party after all. We just were sad that Kathy wasn't there, since this week was her birthday, too!

I'm Crabby

Nobody would ever say I didn't get enough crab today. The morning started off with another breakfast at the Madeleine, where we ate yesterday, and then a leisurely stroll up about 6-8 blocks to Steamers, where the party was to be held.

We weren't exactly sure where we were going and the one who knew (Walt) had gone off to find an ATM machine. After listening to grumbling and speculation about how much farther it was, I reminded Norm and Olivia that they had iPhones.

We found out we were only 3 blocks away, after we turned down a side street.

At first it was just us and the teams of Norm-Jeri and Walt-Phil had a good game of pool.

The first guests to arrive were actually my friends, Mary and her husband Joe.

As Mary explains our friendship, "I have followed Bev since I started journaling back in 2002; she had already been doing daily entries for several years. But we started conversing through guestbooks and comments and realized that we were kindred spirits. We finally met in person in 2005 and it was like we'd already known each other for years." It was so delightful to see them again. She's right...we are kindred spirits and Joe is a real sweetheart. I was thrilled they could come!

The two of them stayed for most of the afternoon, at least until the end of the winning Redskins game, not until the end of the winning Giants game and they certainly were not there when the 49er game started.

Eventually others arrived and soon the party was in full swing.

A great time was had by all and there was great food--an fabulous crab dip and crab quesadillas among them.

At one point, Mary ordered a huge soft pretzel with some amazing crab sauce on it and shared it with me.

In about Hour 6 or 7, when the Baur spouses (Melissa, Olivia and I) were sitting off marveling at the how much our spouses can find to talk about, we saw Vanessa, who is young Ernest's girlfriend.

We asked her if she was familiar with the Hour Baur phenomenon and she rolled her eyes. We introduced ourselves as the Hour Baur widows and told her she was welcome to sit with us whenever she felt the need!

After the Redskins won their game, Phil and Olivia sat down to watch Game 3 in the National League playoffs

And then there was the unfortunate "chair incident"

Eventually things began winding down and I looked around and realized that for the last half hour, the only people there was us!

I thought we were going to go home...but no. After much hemming and hawing (because this group never does "a bit" of hemming and hawing), it was decided that it was so late, we might as well have dinner in the place too. So we moved out of the TV/poker/pool and onto the outdoor porch.

(all the people in the white boundary are ours)

Walt and I each had a crab soup and then an appetizer portion size of Snow Crab legs. I think I finally got my fill of crab for the day! I am definitely "crabby."

Finally Hour Baur started in earnest

A couple of people actually DID leave.....and the rest of them sat down again!!!!!

By this time we had been at Steamers for TEN HOURS. Melissa had actually almost made her escape, deciding to go back to the hotel alone, but, like the Corlione family, just when you think you're out, they pull you back in again. I was ready to order breakfast, figuring we were going to be spending the night. (I do like crab eggs Benedict!) But no, it appeared that this time we might actually leave the restaurant.

So after all this good bye-ing at Steamers, we finally were on the street and what do we do? We walk together back to the hotel.

I went right upstairs. The others stayed in the lobby for awhile, and then moved to Norm & Olivia's room to watch the end of the 49er game. Tomorrow, because we haven't had enough of each other, we are moving to the home of the bride's parents, where we will have dinner, spend the night and start saying goodbye before the flight the next day. Walt and I have a 7 p.m. flight and we might possibly be finished saying goodbye by then.

Incidentally, I may not publish an entry tomorrow night, so be advised that if you don't see one, it means there will be two the next night.