Pride and Weddings

It's Pride weekend in Minneapolis (and a bunch of other places, like San Francisco and New York City) this weekend. And everywhere I turn, people are asking me if I'm going to be at the festival or the parade.

I'm not.

I think we've discussed, in the past, that I went to Pride numerous times when I lived out in Baltimore and was in my 20s or early 30s. In other words, back when hot weather, big crowds, and port-a-potties actually sounded like a fun way to spend a day.

I know that this is a fairly monumental year for gay rights and gay marriage. The Supreme Court rulings on DOMA and California's Prop 8 in the past week, coupled with the passage of gay marriage in Minnesota has been huge. But I still find those things to be kind of private.

A friend of mine is in San Francisco this weekend and has been posting on social media pictures and video of people getting married. And a friend of mine actually posted that he and his partner of 14 years were married today, as well. (Congrat's, guys!)

And that's really cool. I mean... really cool.

Even so, instead of going to the festival and celebrating in the massive crowds of people, Christopher and I will be in a smaller crowd, tomorrow, celebrating a wedding. A straight wedding.

While that's probably not earth-shattering news for many people, it is certainly going to be life-changing for the two of them. And, considering that it's an inter-denominational wedding, it's also something that would have been unheard of a couple of generations ago.

So I guess that, tomorrow, we'll kind of be thanking the past for creating the present. While we all look forward to the future.

What's That On Your Chin?

In the list of "questions you probably don't ever want to be asked," the question "What's that on your chin?" certainly seems like it should be up there.

It's not as bad as being asked "When are you due?" when you're not pregnant, or "What's up with your hair?" when it looked fine before you left home, but it's still not good.

First, there's the whole "I have no way of looking at my chin to check on it" thing.

Then, there's the frantic "What have I eaten, recently?" thought process, which is frequently followed by "Did the pen I was holding leak?"

As someone with a beard, the self-doubt can be even worse. For instance, the chin area of my beard has already gone grey, while the rest is dark, so did the question mean that the person was wondering what had happened to my beard? Or did it mean that something which I had eaten not so recently had stuck around?

I should probably explain why this came up. You see, I was at the doctor's office, yesterday, for a physical. It was a new doctor (I've been having a hard time finding a doctor I like, so I keep going to the same clinic and trying out new ones each year), and we were about half way through the exam.

We'd already dealt with the "inhale... exhale..." part of the exam. I'd already found out my blood pressure was good, but my pulse was a little high. And he looked at me and said "What's that on your chin?"

First thought: Is this a problem with the fact that my chin has gone white-grey, but the rest has not? (I guessed no.)

Second thought: I've been fasting for 12 hours, so it's not food. Did I get toothpaste in my beard and not notice? (No way to check.)

Third thought: I'll raise an eyebrow, questioningly, and hope for an explanation. (Which is what I did.)

"That bump thing, there. Have you had that for a while?"

Yes. Yes, I have had that bump for a while. When I was a little kid, I had three moles on my chin in a triangle. Sometime in my 20s, one of them got a little bigger, and turned into a bump. It hasn't grown. It hasn't discolored. It hasn't gone away. And, since I seldom actually go at my face with a razor, it hasn't gotten shaved off.

Long story still sorta long: I now have an appointment for a dermatology consult in about 6 weeks. So the next time someone says "What's that on your chin?" the answer might possibly be "a Band-aid."

Random Tuesday Things

This is my third attempted blog post for the evening. Hopefully I'll make it far enough in this one to decide to actually upload it.

Since I don't seem to be able to create a coherent "long form" post, I'm going for some seriously random stuff. It's been that kind of week. Not a good thing, since it's only Tuesday.

 - Christopher is down with a summer cold, which - according to the friends who have had it - could stick around for a while. They're suggesting that I should move out until it's gone. (I won't be doing that. Although I have started taking a lot of "Airborne.")

 - I had some of the leftover Confetti Salad for dinner last night, and I have to admit that it was still pretty darned good - although it's getting a little watery, which I assume is due to the tomatoes, although I'm not sure. I figure it's only got another day or so of life in it, so we'll try it again tomorrow night (maybe). I didn't have any tonight because I opted to make a modified spaghetti carbonara for Christopher, and they just didn't seem to pair well together.

 - Someone at work brought in the new "Watermelon" Oreos, yesterday. They're horrible. Possibly the most disgusting mass-market pastry I have ever had. I thought that, maybe, the vanilla cookie with the kind of "Jolly Rancher" watermelon filling was the problem. So I tried some of the filling by itself. If I had been at home, I totally would have spit it out. I think the fine folks at Oreo really need to stay away from the fruit flavors.

 - I really need to stop talking about food. I've got a physical tomorrow for which I'm "fasting" for 12 hours. Nothing but water until after they draw my blood to tell me that I have high cholesterol. (Yes, I assume that's a given.) And right now I am totally craving regular Oreos and a large glass of milk.

 - After my physical tomorrow I plan to stop at the McDonald's next door to the clinic and either get an Egg McMuffin or an Apple Pie (depending on whether I'm done while they're still serving breakfast). Yes, I realize this could be part of the cholesterol situation.

Dang. I'm talking about food again. Perhaps I should just post this and be done with it before I mention the new "Peanut Butter" PopTarts I bought today, which I'm excited to try sometime when I'm not fasting... Oh. Too late.

8/28 Cooking Challenge - What's Cooking In Scotland

For my birthday last month, a friend of mine - we'll call her "La Bicycliste" - gave me one of those gifts which result in "Where did you... How did you... Wha...?" questions when you unwrap it on the sidewalk outside your work. She had, apparently, been at an antique show/sale in Iowa, and had come across the following from 1987:

I think I've mentioned, in the past, that I am originally from a small town in South Dakota named Scotland, right? And, yes, the school colors are orange and black, with a Scottie dog as one of our mascots. But - even better - I know both of the women who put this cookbook together. (In a town of 1,100 people, it shouldn't surprise anyone that I also went to school with their kids - and still hear about them on a fairly regular basis - either through my parents or through social networking.)

So... I flipped through the cookbook and got a little excited. There are recipes for baked goods and desserts that I grew up with - but that we never had at home. You see, my mom is not from South Dakota, so while we had amazing food when I was growing up, we didn't often have kolaches (p17) and kuchen (which we only had when we were with my dad's side of the family) (p18) or Malted Milk Bars (p31) or Salted Nut Roll Bars (with mini-marshmallows and Rice Krispies) (p34).

On the other hand, we also didn't have a lot of "salads" that had no vegetables. And black pepper was just something on the table with the salt, it wasn't considered "too hot to put into food." (Mom made salsa from scratch, since when I was a kid you really couldn't get it in a small town grocery store. You never knew how hot it was going to be, so eating it was kind of a culinary Hispano-Russian roulette.)

Although I was originally worried about it, earlier this week I got kind of excited about the prospect of taking a stab with my 8/28 rule. With only 10 columns of Index, I thought my odds were pretty good at getting one of those cool desserts from the back half of the alphabet. And then I realized the Index is broken out by course. The eighth column fell squarely into "Salads" and although I could have landed on Butter Mint Jello Salad (p93) or Cream Cheese Dressing for Fresh Fruit (p106). I landed on Confetti Salad.

I debated the "one up or one down" option, but those would have given me Calypso Coleslaw or Mexicorn Salad, so I just stayed with what I got. And I immediately warned Christopher that he wouldn't want to eat what I was making.

From page 101

Unlike last time, when the ingredients were all easy to find - we just didn't have any of them in the house, this time we didn't have any of the ingredients in the house AND I had a little trouble finding one of them. (Have I mentioned that we don't eat a lot of fresh vegetables?)

I was ready for the fact that this cookbook wouldn't really have amounts in it (what size is "1 bottle" of dressing? how much onion is a small onion?) but I totally hadn't thought about the fact that some ingredients might not exist any more. I completely couldn't find any "creamy cucumber" dressing. So - consulting my mom via phonecall while standing in Cub - I opted for the Kraft Cucumber Ranch. It was only available in a huge bottle, though, so I simply measured out 10 ounces, hoping for the best. 

Also, I don't like green pepper, so I went with yellow.

Next came the assembly. Lots of chopping and slicing and guessing what to do with things. You know, like deciding that I probably shouldn't put the pepper and tomatoes in without chopping them, first, even though the recipe ignored that step. 

This is what happens when the radishes get irradiated.
(Or when they reflect the flash... one of the two.)

Usually I'm a "break it into florets for dipping" guy with cauliflower.
But I have to admit that it looks kind of cool when you chop it. 

As I might have mentioned, I couldn't find a "normal-sized" bottle of the Cucumber Ranch dressing, so I measured it out and mixed it all in a measuring cup.  

Honestly, I thought I'd have trouble finding the "Italian Dressing Mix" -
but it was right on the shelf next to the dressings. 

After it looking so pretty and colorful with the first set of things in the bowl, the cauliflower and mushrooms - and dressing - started to make it look like a bowl of off-white ick.

Gotta admit that, at this point, I was really pretty worried. 

I admit that I only put in one large tomato, instead of the "three ripe tomatoes" requested. Why? Because... well... I was looking at the second tomato I had bought (the first one was definitely big enough to have counted for two) and thought "Hmm... Tomato and Egg on Toast would be lovely for dinner tomorrow night..." and put it back off to the side. 

Okay, so it doesn't look too bad once it's all stirred up. 

If you notice any small, pimiento-looking flecks in there, it's because the olives I used were, technically, "salad olives" instead of just regular jarred pimiento-stuffed green olives. What's the difference? The salad olives are kind of the "seconds" - they ain't as purty. And, well, they don't all have their own pimientos in them. Luckily for us, I had those leftover ones from last week... (By the way - who knew there were so many pimiento fans? I think those got more comments than anything else I've ever posted about!)

It chilled in the fridge while the chicken with Greek Seasoning was baking (in a foil pouch) in the toaster oven. I plated it up and realized that the salad kind of looks like brains when you photograph it. I tried multiple shots - with and without flash - but this was as good as it got. 

Healthy Chicken Breast with Semi-Healthy Confetti Salad

Here's the strange thing: It was actually pretty good. Yes, more tomato probably would have helped. Yes, the celery which I left out (not buying a whole thing of celery for just two ribs of it, sorry) might have added some nice crunch. Yes, it would have killed Christopher if he'd tried it (not just because of his disdain for cauliflower, but also because he's allergic to mushrooms). But I actually kind of liked it.

Or, maybe I just liked it because it's doused in a kind of Ranch dressing, which I never let myself eat. I suspect I'll find out whether or not I actually like it over the course of the next few days while I try to eat through the 3 quarts of leftovers...

(Thanks, again, to La Bicycliste for making this possible. I haven't dug around to see what the next cookbook is going to be. Fingers crossed that I get to bake something, soon, or at least work with some ingredients I actually have in the house...)

Seeing Red, Happily

I would have loved to have taken a picture of our new peonies all out along the house blooming in red, pink, and white. But with massive storms overnight last night, all of the established peonies that were already blooming have collapsed from waterlogging. (The ones at the front of our walk kind of look like the greenery is dragging a bunch of white dish mops on the ground.)

The new ones are smaller, so their blooms aren't as heavy, which means that they didn't get totally pummelled last night. In fact, the red one that was budding and had just started to open, actually did open today.

And, happily, it truly is red. Most of the time, "red" peonies are actually a dark pink, verging on kind of a purple. But we found these this year, and - I'm happy to say - this one is not at all pink.

We debated leaving it outside, since it's the only bloom of that color that we're going to have this year. But, as we got home from dinner and realized that the next storm was rolling in, we opted to cut it so that we could enjoy it a bit longer.

It looks like this (unfortunately, that one petal is down, but check out the cool color):

Hopefully next year we'll have more of them - and fewer storms destroying them just as they bloom.

Doing Good when Doing Good is Possible

Have you ever offered to do some good, and been turned away? 

Well, as someone who is (to quote the Red Cross blood donor restrictions) "a male who has had sexual contact with another male, even once, since 1977", I'm not allowed to give blood. Because, apparently, even though I've been tested at various times in my life, and have been in a committed relationship for almost 8 years, that puts me (in their eyes) into a high-risk category for HIV infection. 

This is especially frustrating since, the one or two times I was able to give blood, I was told I was "a really good pumper." I don't pass out at the sight of blood. I have good veins. I like orange juice and cookies. 

But, even though the Red Cross tests every drop of blood that they collect, and even though there are people with much riskier lifestyles who can give blood whenever they want, I would have to lie about who I am to donate blood. [For the record, I'm also not welcome on the national bone marrow registry for the same reason (because a primary component of that is run under the same regulations as those which the Red Cross uses).] 

(Yeah... For as far as we've come, there's still a distance to go in the whole Equal Rights arena...) 

This might not be a big deal to a lot of people, but if you've known someone who needed blood - or a bone marrow transplant - and you were told that you could not donate because even though you're perfectly healthy - and can take the tests to prove it - you are supposedly in a risky group, would that make sense to you? 

Say your best friend was in the hospital, and you were a perfect match for a kidney transplant. You went in to offer to donate your kidney, and were asked if you had ever eaten raw spinach between 1980 and now. When you say you have, you're turned away because there was a big e coli outbreak caused by tainted spinach in 1992. You weren't personally impacted by the outbreak, but you have eaten spinach. The doctors can tell that you're not sick, and they know that your kidney could save your best friend. But they send you away, anyway. 

That's what it's like to be told that, because I am a "practicing gay male" (I've always been amused by that phrase, I must admit), I can't give blood. I can't even be part of the bone marrow registry. I can't offer to do my part to save people's lives. 

Well, I finally found something I could do. I heard, on the radio a week or so ago, about a Cancer Prevention Study being conducted by the American Cancer Society. They were looking for volunteers to be part of a "20- to 30-year" study. Basically, they're just going to track the participants. Every 2 or 3 years, I'll get a letter asking me to tell them things like my weight, my exercise and eating habits, and whether or not I'm smoking or drinking. And whether or not I have cancer. 

So I went online and filled out the forms. Then I went in and finished signing up, today. Filled out a survey. Answered a few questions. Had my waist measured. Gave them 4 vials of blood. Promised to update my address with them whenever I move over the next couple of decades or so. 

It's not much. It's not giving blood on a monthly basis or donating bone marrow. But it's something. Do what you can with what you've got, right? 

If you'd like to learn more about the study or see if you can sign up in your area, the link to the Cancer Prevention Study-3 is here.

Movie Monday - The Words

I promise not to give any spoilers. But I will say that I liked this movie up until about the final 15 minutes of it.

The Words bases itself on an interesting premise. It's a story within a story within a story.

Dennis Quaid is an author who has written a story about Bradley Cooper, a writer who has found and published a story by Ben Barnes without giving Ben Barnes any credit. But then Jeremy Irons shows up to say "Wait. I'm Ben Barnes." and things get all wonky. But, of course, this is all happening in the story which Dennis Quaid had written. So there's actually no Bradley, Ben/Jeremy in the "real" world.

And, you know, I was perfectly okay with that for most of the movie. I thought it was all handled really well. I liked the characters (for the most part), and I thought the movie was styled really believably (we watch Bradley's character go from unemployed to best-selling author - and his hair styles changed with him, which is something that usually only happens to women in movies).

There's a very cool kind of morality play happening throughout the movie, too. Not only are we watching Bradley deal with the fact that he's taking credit for someone else's work, but we're watching the characters around him react and deal with it all.

And then there's the whole writerly aspect of it, too. That was cool. Watching the different writers and their processes.

But then there was the end. Which just left me wanting... something different.

Still, I'd recommend the movie - and I'd recommend it for watching at a time when you can truly focus because the first 3/4 of it are quite beautiful at times.

Overall rating: B-

Bonus review: Oblivion. As with The Words, I recommend this movie, but I'd also recommend leaving this one about 15 minutes before the end. Unless, of course, you have any fantasies of... well... boinking with Tom Cruise and, let's say, a stunt double Tom Cruise. In which case, watch the whole movie. (And, no, there is no Cruise on Cruise boinking - that's just... well... you'll understand what I mean if you watch the full movie.) Overall rating: C, because it wanted to be more than it was and simply didn't live up to its potential.