Please note that all blog posts before 8 April 2007 were automatically imported from LiveJournal. To see the comments and any LiveJournal-specific extras such as polls and user icons, please find the source posting at http://brianenigma.livejournal.com/2004/12/So this is my Obligatory Christmas Post. Things have been busy, busy, busy. Here is a series of paragraphs, not in chronological order, of the holiday so far:
The Lemony Snicket movie was great! In this one case, I was rather glad that they changed it slightly from the books. Considering most of the audience (well… Kim and I and another couple when we saw it at 10:30 on a weeknight) have probably read the books and knows what “should” be happening and considering they got the author of the books to contribute to the film, it all worked out quite well. It was a consistent style and the changes sort of sneaked up on you. For instance, you know how the wedding scene is supposed to work out in the book and the film follows through, leading you to believe it is the same, then Olaf catches Violet's little last-minute trick and you are left mumbling to yourself “but, but, but… how are they going to get out of this now?” I also like how they worked in the big mystery of the VFD and questioning the circumstances of the fire. I believe that the former does not appear for a few more books (although is sort of covered in the Unauthorized Autobiography) and the latter had not come up much except for little bits here and there. The most surprising thing about the film was the opening. “Are we in the right theater? Are you sure this is theater 7?”
At some point there was a dinner at genies, which has no capital nor apostrophe. The kinds of food they offer there are all across the board. Kim had a burger and I had some kind of fancy gourmet chicken thing that tasted great, was a bit pricey, and left me hungry later in the evening.
We had Christmas dinner at Kim's extended family's house (second cousin, I believe?). While it was just over the hill in Beaverton, it could just as easily have been in the Woodbridge “community” in Irvine. Everyone had giant cookie-cutter suburban houses in sets of circular streets named after birds. The people were great and the food was good.
Breakfast at the Hawthorne Cafe was forgettable. I have walked by that place many times, not noticing its presence. Breakfast there was slow and not terribly tasty. It was nothing to write home about.
Christmas day was lazy. The best X-Mas present ev-ar: a gift certificate for an hour and a half of massage! In the evening, we met up with Brandon at The Basement, stayed there a few hours, then we all went back to my place. Kim made for us some awesome tapenade out of stuff lying around the house and the machine had finished making beer bread while we were out. The same people who make the Porter cheese (cheddar with Guinness sort of marbleized in it) make a similar cheese with whisky.
Last night, dinner consisted of butter. Some of that butter had chicken wrapped around it. Some of it had artichokes sitting on top. Overall, I was quite pleased with the chicken Kiev and roasted artichokes, considering it was our first time with either recipe. My arteries, on the other hand…. I am not sure how pleased they are with last night's dinner.
Tomorrow, we begin our stay at The Edgefield (originally, the Multnomah County Poor Farm.)
