the fourth (and fifth and sixth)
the grill
Originally uploaded by embem30. This year, same as last, we all spent the Fourth of July with Rob and Traci. However, we made our first trek to their new house in Palo Alto, bringing Enzo with us.
When we got there, Dan and Carmen took a couple steps inside with Enzo, and Rob and Traci's cat Cleo got fluffy-tailed and hissy. After that, Enzo got to stay in the backyard.
It was a fun evening. Rob made margaritas, which we all had, along with Dan and Carmen's crab and arugula salad, grilled corn, huge kabobs, and potatoes with pancetta. Despite Rob's worry that it would be too hot outside, it was really nice out while we were eating at the table in their backyard.
After dinner, Traci suggested we take a walk around their neighborhood. We had Enzo with us, so it was a good reason to go. During the walk, we "happened by" Steve Jobs' house. Apparently he lives in their neighborhood. His house is quite charming and looks a little like somewhere a Hobbit would live--minus the round door. There were also neat little rows of plants outside. Dan joked that that's where they grow the iPods. Since these were pretty small, they must be nanos.
We walked around the block and saw several more nice, big houses, and then we returned to Rob and Traci's more humble abode. I really liked Rob and Traci's house. It was obviously a little older, but it had a lot of really cool features. Their bathroom was really cool--dark wood paneling on the walls, a little exposed brick in one corner, old fixtures, a skylight, and a stained glass window on the back wall. There were also stained glass windows in the tops of the double doors between the kitchen and dining room. The kitchen itself was actually kind of funny. Most of the appliances were probably from the early 80s, if not 70s. When Rob was loading the dishwasher, it looked a lot like the one my family had when I was little. It had the same porta-potty green spokes inside, the same holder for the utensils, and similar buttons on the outside to start it. It wasn't the same model we had, but I think it was the same brand and era.
After our walk, we all sat in the living room, taking turns playing Rob and Traci's Wii. It was mostly Dan, Steve, and Carmen playing tennis, baseball or bowling. I eventually had my first Wii experience, when I proceeded to kick Steve's butt in bowling. Rob and Dan eventually tried boxing, but it was way more fun watching them flail their arms wildly than it was actually watching the fight on the TV.
For dessert, we had strawberry shortcake. Rob and Traci had strawberries and blueberries out, along with homemade whipped cream. Steve brought vanilla ice cream (churned that morning) and cocoa nib streusel (made that afternoon) to put on top. It was really good.
The rest of the evening was filled with more Wii playing. Dan, Carmen, Steve, and I all made our own Mii (Wii characters that look like us), even though we were pretty much done playing games for the night. At least Rob and Traci's characters have friends now.
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twilit alley
Originally uploaded by embem30. The next day was the first annual block party in the alley. We had seen a note about it months ago but forgotten when it was supposed to be.
They started getting the sound system ready probably around 3 or 4pm, and the party started soon after. I was trying to finish transpositions for the Footloose guitar part, so I continued working on that. I finished sometime after we ate dinner and went to hunt down Steve, who had gone outside to check it out. We hung out there for a little while, contributing to the sidewalk chalk art that was already filling the alley.
We also witnessed the kiddie pool being turned into a mud wrestling ring. Note to self: potting soil does not make good mud. Three people got in it, and they had bits of bark everywhere afterwords. It also didn't smell very good.
When it got started to get darker and colder, Steve and I went inside. I took a few more pictures from our windows when they started projecting things on the back wall of the alley. They played a couple Looney Tunes cartoons, followed by The Incredibles. I think Animal House and Back to the Future were on the list of possibilities, but they probably decided that The Incredibles was more kid-friendly. (It's shorter too, since they started it at about 9:30.)
Chrissy and her boyfriend Kevin were in town for the weekend, so they showed up at our house with some friends at around 10:30. We decided to head to the Dovre Club, a good low-key bar a block away. They have a jukebox, pinball machine, and pool table. It reminds me a little of Skiles. We had a couple of drinks and chatted for a couple hours before going home to bed.
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character
Originally uploaded by embem30. On Sunday night, Chrissy and Kevin came to our house for dinner after sightseeing all day. Steve made what I usually have him make for anyone who visits: roulade and risotto. It's Italian sausage with shallots and currants, wrapped with chicken, wrapped with prosciutto, and cooked. The risotto is, of course, filled with parmesan and pecorino cheeses. It's one of my favorite meals that he makes.
Kevin and Chrissy brought some red wine that we all drank, and we chatted for quite a while around the table. We moved to living room after dinner, where we also ate our dessert. Steve had thrown together some vanilla pot de creme (fancy pudding/custard) with some strawberries on top. When it started to get late, Steve and I drove them back to where they were staying that night in the Haight.
As always, it was great fun seeing Chrissy. She'll be coming back for the wedding in August, but it's always hard to tell how much time there will be to just hang out when there's a wedding. I also got to meet Kevin, finally. I know I have to say this as part of the supportive friend script, but I really liked him. He seems really nice, intelligent, and funny. And most importantly, he seems to really like Chrissy.