POST-TARA

Friday
I got a chance to catch up with David, Anna, Jack, and Mom. Awesome day for conversation. I grabbed a falafel and moussaka sandwich and then went to the bar for my friend/bartender Mateo’s birthday party. When I got back home, it was the Aussie farewell party. As a thank you, they generously got us a big bag full of alcohol. Bottles of Jaeger, Absolut, spumante, wine, etc. After a few decidedly difficult drunk games of gin rummy, we all settled into the couches and watched American Psycho.

Saturday
I woke up to Sal making vanilla tea and Jesse saying “If I give you cous cous and vegetables, could you make them for me?” Sure. From her pantry I took some cous cous, zucchini, onions, potatoes, carrots, curries, cumin, and cinnamon. From my own, I added some extra virgin olive oil, celery, tomatoes, butter, red and white peppers, parsley, and sultantina raisins. It came out pretty well. The aromas during the cooking gave Jesse a foodgasm and literally brought tears to her eyes. In a good way. That night, since she and Gerard cleaned the kitchen and a lot of people were out of town, they Tom, and I made family dinner with the special theme ingredient of PANCETTA, the Italian version of bacon. It was incorporated into every dish. Jesse made cheeseburgers, Gerard a spicy ginger chicken stirfry with Asian-seasoned rice, Tom a diced vegetable pasta, and I some Parmesan and garlic smashed potatoes. A few bottles of wine and a nice long leisurely meal by shot-glass-candlelight. We all went to get gelato after for dessert and were just too full to go out and drink after.

Sunday
I don’t remember anything except for Mass and a lengthy hibernation as a result of the pancetta-fest. Oh and everyone else came home.

Monday
Chocolate class was about using cocoa as an ingredient for savory dishes, so through the wonders of molecular gastronomy, we made an olive oil ravioli, both regular and cacao pastas, grana padano sauce, and crushed cacao nibs. That night I went to the gym with Lisa and Adrian, and from the treadmill watched The Cardio Queen and Barbell Fanatic.

Tuesday
Mediterranean class was all about cous cous and lemon tart. Diedre and Sal had missed the tart in the vegetarian class the first day, so Adrian and I saved them each one. As well as some cous cous. Sal commented that it was “delicious, but the ones you always make Jesse are better.” That made me feel great. In vegetarian class, the vegetable of the day was bell peppers, so we made rolls of them and stuffed ones.

Wine-Wednesday
Cosimo took us up to his studio for our fashion photography class. We just played around a little with the professional equipment and shot some portraits of each other. He made us a pesto pasta for lunch and opened a few bottles of wine. Then Massimo cancelled our pairing food and wine class so we could go to a wine-tasting with the current boss of the Fiore wine family. Their wine is awesome and they even sell two types exclusively to Florence’s premiere, three-star Michelin restaurant. Then when I got home, my roommates convinced me to crash the aperitivo they were going to at Gabriela’s. Obviously there was lots of wine there. I was relieved when she greeted me with “Ciao caro! Dov’e tu fratello?” rather than “What the hell are you doing here?” It was an awesome, awesome night. Afterwards, a few of us went clubhopping but the numbers dwindled down until Diedre and I closed down the last club. When I got home, Tom, Gerard, and Jesse were still awake due to the aftermath of people being wasted and a certain someone almost setting the kitchen on fire twice. So we watched Requiem For A Dream and then all went to bed.

Thursday
Naturally the morning was slept away. Lampredotto. Coffee. Chilling. We went to the second anniversary aperitivo party for our favorite bar. Alex and I left the apartment a lot earlier since we were starving. We probably ate half of the huge pork roast at the aperitivo before the rest of the gang got there. Eventually, he, Lisa, Adam, and I left early to go get gelato. The house was quiet since almost everyone went to Rome for the weekend, for various reasons. I played Rummy500 with Tom, and we finished just in time for him to leave for his trip to Amsterdam. Aeri was still awake, so we watched American Psycho since she had missed the screening the other night.

Friday
I spent the afternoon at the wine bar getting wine and internet. Since Kyle and Aeri were coming to pick me up, I ordered a café latte to perk up. That miraculously turned into a coffee spiked with Bailey’s and whiskey. (I’m looking at you, Christian.) When we were about to leave, Christian jump-started Kyle’s birthday celebration with shots of limoncino. Aeri, Kyle, and I hit up aperitivo and gelato and a random church organ music fundraiser and went barhopping and celebrated Kyle’s birthday at midnight, as he wanted, by dancing. We met up with Johnson in Piazza della Repulica then killed some time at his place with him and some of his friends.

back in U S of A

Saturday my family and Adrian’s new girlfriend Neely picked me up from the airport and took me to The Cheesecake Factory. (I can’t think of a place to get a more generously loaded plate of American food.) After lunch, we went to Whole Foods to get ingredients for dinner. I decided to make two dishes up but went with flavors and ingredients that I love and new the family would too: Seared scallops on top of a porcini and portabello mushroom risotto. Neely, Adrian, and I closed out the night with a viewing of L’Auberge Espagnole.

Sunday I woke up to mom making a delicious American breakfast. We went to church and then to another church for a baptism – my father being the godfather – and then lunch at the parents’ house. Back at home, I started unpacking while everyone else took naps. But all I really got unpacked were my carry-on bags. We made a dinner of randomness from whatever we had. I contributed a chopped salad of avocado, corn, tomato, and red onion with a lemon olive oil dressing.

Monday after dropping Neely off at the airport, Adrian and I went to El Chalan to meet our mother for lunch and then stopped by Gonzaga to get some transcript information for him and ran into some familiar faces. Always a pleasure to see the faculty. “Those damn Marins, always hanging around!” – Fr. Robert Rokusek. My family spent the evening doing something only we could believably do. Get ready. We went to Hooters for dinner and then watched Prince Caspian.

Tuesday I spent the entire day in my pajamas, something I can’t remember the last time I did. A good amount of time was also on the phone with all the friends I’ve been out of touch with since moving to Italy.

Wednesday I cleaned my room a bit while watching a marathon of the season of Top Chef. Eh. I’m a little indifferent. Still love the show but don’t love or hate (even Lisa) anyone to really get emotionally involved with the show. But I’ll keep watching.

pack your knives and go.

Tuesday was full of errands. The most important of which was a visit to Valentina to work out my next semester here. So much easier than the first application process! The evening started with aperitivo at Kitsch that was supposed to involve a dozen people but ended up being only Sarah, Thomas, and myself because everyone else was being lame. But we didn’t let a lack of participation curb the fun. After a few drinks and plates of food, we went to meet up with Sergio, drink some more, and play pool.

Wednesday after making lunch in an attempt to finish off my ingredients left in the kitchen, I watched Rosso Come Cielo, which I’d borrowed from Southern Anna. We had our Food Writing final exam at the school’s new cultural association and from there, I went to campus for my Italian final. Then it was back to the cultural association for the book launch aperitivo my food writing class had scheduled. I stopped by Swedish aperitivo to say ciao to Isabel, Antonio, and the regulars at the bar and then went to Hilary and Risa’s last cocktail party. But Hilary left to meet her mother as I was arriving, so Risa and I, gradually joined by others, drank the night away before going barhopping.

Thursday was the final exam of my last cooking class of the semester, Claudio asked us what we wanted to make. Chicken breast florentine and panna cotta (with a season-inappropriate chocolate sauce) won the vote last week, so we made them. He approved. Food photography was just a final review of our portfolio. My professor said he’d let me into his fashion photography class next semester if I wanted in. Hell yeah.

The farewell party was so awesome. We had it at Villa Pandolfini as guests of Count Pandolfini. Yes. We were at a count’s house. And by house I mean palazzo. And by palazzo I mean a palazzo designed by Donatello. DONATELLO. Really awesome. Lots of food, lots of wine, all the students, all the teachers, a few awards, a band. The police. (They came to check out the noise situation, so watching two of my professors talk to them similar to the way Jack and Juan did the other week was quite amusing. Different outcome though. The police just left.) It was nice to get all semiformal with all the other students and drink and relax with all the faculty. Afterwards, Ross, Nick, Sarah, and I went off to a nightclub where the unofficial after-party was. We all got home past four in the morning, so yeah. It was a fun night.

Friday was a day dedicated to the word ciao. When I got up in the morning, I went to the gym and said ciao to the owner. He’d discounted the last few weeks for me and set my day of departure as the day my membership expired. He told me he’d await my return in the fall. Then before going home I stopped by the “eat-all-you-can” sushi restaurant and said ciao to the hostess/waitress lady there. I bet she and the sushi chef threw a party after I left since I’ve been putting them out of business for a few months now. I stopped by the FUA campus to say goodbye to Francesca and Marian at the front desk and library. After a phone call with my mom and a brief nap, I woke up to Henk and Juan in the apartment. Henk had asked me if we could have a party, and I’d agreed. And now he asked me if I could prepare “some aperitivo” for it while they sanded and painted the wall. So that was fun because we actually closed all three of the kitchen’s doors for once. (Between the four burners, stove, steaming pots, and infusing olive oil the place was like a sauna!) But it was a nice challenge to take all the leftover ingredients from our pantry. This is what I came up with:

• Tris of crostini: mixed jams, cannelini bean spread, egg saladPenne with red and green onions, garlic, and herb butter
• “Meat and potato” tortellini with rosemary infused olive oil
• French fries with honey garlic aioli
• Tropical trail mix
• Fresh strawberries and dark chocolate
• Gianduja torte and layered petit fours
• And of course beer, wine, and sweet liquors.

By the time all that was set up, a few people had arrived and Juan and Henk had showered, so I took one. And by the time I was out of it, it was more like an apartment full of people. No joke, never seen more people in our apartment. At least forty people came and went the entire time. At least. It was fun, drinking, reminiscing, mocking, and exchanging contact information.

I had made appointments with some of my other beloved Italians, so I left a little earlier than Henk and the die-hards who stuck around late. I stopped by the trattoria around its closing time of midnight to say goodbye to the owner and waitresses there. They even kissed me goodbye and told me best wishes in Italian. Aw. Then it was to the bar to say ciao to Isabel but Antonio, the other bartender, was nowhere in sight. Isabel and I said we’d visit each other in Florence and Milan next season. And of course, I had to stop by the cultural association to say goodbye to Sergio and Trine. Lucky for me Domenico, Miko, and Antonio all showed up – as I’d expected – so I had a chance to see them. Dom and Mik might leave the city before I get back, but they both plan on coming to the states eventually so I’m not worried. I also got to say goodbye to a girl named Lauren I met a couple of nights ago who’s coming up on her second week in Florence and she already doesn’t want to leave. It’s nice to hand over the burden of everyday partying to someone. A few million shots later courtesy of my generous Italian friends, I went back to the apartment and grabbed my bags and met the girls to take the drunk bus van to the airport.

fine settimana all'italiana

Saturday after Giuseppe had gotten up and we’d showered and found our respective keys, we went to the café to check e-mail and get some espresso. (Which, by the way, even though is stronger here is so much better. I still only drink it when I need to wake up. Same goes for cappuccino.) We went to lunch at this panini place that Henk had found. Sadly the time he took me there it was closed. But it was open now and was great.

I spent the afternoon icing my knee and napping since I hadn’t gotten that much sleep the night before. ‘Seppe woke me up in time to go to aperitivo at the bar/cafe I live at. I’ve already befriended the baristas, now I just need to get in with the bartender. We caught the tail end of the Milan/Parma game, which ended in a tie. The aperitivo was good. Red wine. Finger sandwiches, Italian sliced meats, olives, bread. I was tempted to make an imitation muffuletta.

We also made a stop at a clothing store. The mannequins which are the Italian standard are ridiculous. They’re all two inches skinnier than Giuseppe (whose waist is 30, max) and two inches taller than me (5’10). I have seen no one in this country with those proportions and am pretty sure no such man exists. But the clothes, of course, were nice.

I spent part of the night watching Divorzio all'italiana, which is an Oscar winner, highly entertaining, and not too optimistic regarding marriage. Giuseppe’s longtime friend Laura is visiting. The two of them just stayed in to get ready for a busy day today, but Henk, Juan, and I went out. We started at Kikuya, which is a great bar that has an Italian location, a Japanese(?) name, Irish beers on tap, and Brazilian music. One of the baristas at my café/bar apparently works nights there, and she hooked us up with nachos. Those just made us hungry for more food, so we went to the Mediterranean place near the apartment for gyros and mirsarasemi (a Persian dip new to me, it involves grilled eggplant, garlic, onion, tomato, and egg). Then we adjourned to Salamaca, the Spanish-tapas-restaurant-by-day / Latin-club-bar-by-night next door. I didn’t stay very long to give my knee a rest, but it was more fun than the first time we went when it was too packed to breathe.

Now it’s almost noon on Sunday. I’m at the café/bar online of course. So here’s something kind of crazy. The “church” we’ve been going to for mass is actually a Franciscan basilica. AND I just realized it’s the burial place of Machiavelli, Galileo, and Michelangelo. I knew they were buried at a church here in Florence but not at my neighborhood church. Craziness.

last week 4/29 - 5/6

Sunday

Sunday was the TCC crawfish boil. Crawfish are good. So are red beans and rice. Yeah, that's about it. Justin made cookies that afternoon apparently, so he made a special delivery. I know there were two kinds, and they involved some combination of butterscotch chips, peanut butter, white chocolate, and something else. I don't know. Heaven.

Monday

Monday was my last psych class ever. The topic of the day was Health Stress & Coping, so the professor managed to get one last jab in:

"That's my picture of marijuana. I got it from Andrew."

And then:

"We're from the same hometown, so we have the same dealer."

I'm going to miss that course.

Calculus was a sort-of review. Not really. Say your prayers for my final exam.

American Popular Music was... the usual mayhem. Not to be outdone, the professor not only gave us a lecture about how "when you're partying or getting laid, music is in the background, but in this class, [he] want[s] it to be in the foreground!" And then told us an anecdote of how he had to go to court and testify against Juvenile for plagiarizing the lyrics "you's a fine motherfucker won't you back that ass up." I might miss that course too.

I went to Stephen's final review and then went to Kyoto for dinner with him and a few other architects. Japanese beer and wine both made appearances. I got a Stella Roll (a spicy scallop roll enveloped in tuna tataki) and a Hotbox (a rainbow box with eel, avocado, and pepper sauces).

Tuesday

Former Vice President Al Gore delivered his famous "An Inconvenient Truth" lecture. David had the hook-up and provided a few of us with reserved VIP seating, which is especially great because I honestly wouldn't have gone otherwise. But I'm glad I did. Gore was hilarious in-person (and would've surely won the election if his personality was more in attendance back then) and does the world's best impersonation of Bill Clinton. (Figures.) He also went on record to say that he is never running again.

Tara and I skipped lunch because of the lecture and because she forgot her phone, and Ben and I had an early dinner (last one, sob) and caught up on each other's apparently-very-interesting weekends.

God, this was a busy Tuesday. I went to the last 1718 for the year, a gathering which always coincides with Columns Happy Hour. Andrei Codrescu did the author reading and was hilarious. I was sad to find out he was reading from a yet-unpublished book, so I bought his tribute to New Orleans, which spans 20 years. And I relate wholeheartedly to this excerpt from it:

"How did you fall in love with New Orleans? At once, madly. ... Looking back, sometimes I think it was predestined."

As always, the bartenders are great for conversation. We were talking about old age, so one (a woman who shall remain unnamed) asked me how old I was, and then told me "You're not old! I'm over 40!!!" and (the guy, also left anonymous) asked me what my plans were. When I said they were unsure, he suggested "Travel, get drun, have as much sex as possible, and don't be afraid to forget it all." Apparently it's what he did after college. God, I love that bar.

A bunch of us moved on to The Delachaise for wine and food. I don't remember what I got, just that it was the red that paired well with the "beefy bruschetta" I ordered, which is basically bruschetta with grilled flank steak. David met up with me, and we picked up Tara and Alison to go to Balcony Bar for more drinks and more food. I was all about the beef apparently because I got a "balcony burger," which is a half-pounder with tomato, grilled onion, green peppers, mushrooms, bacon, and jalapenos."

Wednesday

Adrian finally had free time to go to the "birthday lunch" my Mom gave us in April. We went to Pascal's Manale. I got the stuffed eggplant for an appetizer, while he opted for a dozen raw oysters. I got their signature Barbeque Shrimp, which are huge and delicious. He got crawfish ettouffee. We topped it all off with bread pudding and pecan pie, respectively.

That night was also interesting. LOST and a trailer party. Then a bunch of us went out to Bruno's and then TJ Quills for a little bit, but the bar crawl ended there... for most of us. Lauren called me about half an hour later wanting to go back out, so we met up at The Rat and then went to The Boot, The Palms, and Snake & Jake's. There was a guy there proving the rule that if you get shot at or get naked at the bar, you drink for free. I'll let you guess which.

Thursday

I think I bummed around all day? Whatever. Shannon, David, and I went to Rock-n-Sake for dinner. Their clear soup is easily the best I've ever had at any Japanese restaurant, and I know that's a strange thing to remember, but it was awesome. We got a portabello tempura appetizer, which was awesome. I got an omakase (chef's choice) plate of sushi, sashimi, and crunchy rolls. Then we met up with more people and went to Spider-Man 3, which wasn't as good as the first two, but every fan should still see it anyway. The main problems with it are it's perhaps too comic-book-y (everything is more extreme; the evil, the jokes, the romance). But I still enjoyed it.

Friday

Storming and flooding. Calc final. Sleep. Dinner with Whitney and Tully at Sake Cafe. TNT. which is tuna stacked with rice, various roes, and a quail egg. And an Uptown Roll, which is a mix of fish, roe, and avocado. We stopped by Creole Creamery after, where I got an I Scream Fudge Sundae. (It's a chocolate overload. A hot fudge coated glass with two scoops of I Scream Fudge, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, whipped cream, and a chocolate covered cherry.) I can now say I've had every delicacy I've ever wanted there.

After that, Tully left and David met up with us. Monkey Hill. Drinks. Shots. St. Joe's Bar. Blueberry mojitos. Storyville. Ms. Mae's/The Club. More drinks. Stephanie's. Hookah. Waiting. Wine. Awesome night.

Saturday

I finished my adolescent psych final in fifteen minutes. I don't remember what I did all afternoon, so I probably wasted it somehow. Shannon and I went to Whole Foods and bought dinner there. Those Xochitl chips we love, guacamole, a surprisingly/insanely spicy mango and pineapple salsa, salads (mine was basically a Cobb), and a "California Club" (a huge sandwich on foccacia with turkey, bacon, avocado, lettuce, and a sun-dried tomato aioli).

David, Nate, and I went out and met up with Whitney, Matt and Paul for Cinco De Mayo. Lots of Corona. Tequila shots. My roommates and I decided to do more bonding by going to Camelia Grill(!) which was as incredible as I remember. I love breakfast at three in the morning. WORD. I got eggs over easy with bacon and fries. And a chocolate cherry freeze. I let it get to my brain.

Now that I'm all caught up, I will do my best to update this reasonably on-time. Besides, what else will I do since there's no more class?

off to a good start

Easter Break, that is. So far it's been pretty chill. Last night was just LOST and Monster's Ball since everyone was stressed/tired/gone. I really think Halle Berry poured out all her creative energy into that one movie, and all we get now is the nothing that's left. Mike called. He'll be in town this weekend, so I'm pumped for that. That'll definitely add some craziness to the next few nights.

My only Thursday class was cancelled, and lunch with Tara was cancelled (by her). So I had today completely free. I slept in, read a little, conference call with Dad and Adrian, conference call with Mom and Bella, and then went for a jog. During this, I got hungry, so I ran to Hana. Japanese is the cuisine I feel most comfortable at dining alone because you just sit at the sushi bar and chat with the chef.

I ordered omakase (Japanese for "chef's choice" and what I always like to do when eating sushi). After the requisite noodle salad with chopped I-don't-know-what on top, he made me two huge "tako wasabi" rolls, which were octopus but very tender, almost the consistency of chewy raw oysters. Awesome. And then a plate of California rolls and several nigiri: Eel, salmon both fresh and smoked, snapper, shrimp, squid, tuna, and a marinated white tuna.

One of the Samsung HDTVs was tuned to CNN, where the closed captioning told me they were reporting on the rising rate of college students binge drinking. Then they started listing how various states are changing laws and policies to stop this. New York is pushing this, Massachusetts is banning that, California's suggesting whatever, etc. They showed a map and highlighted states when they talked about them. Guess what Louisiana's doing? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Speaking of binge drinking, I forgot to mention a discussion we had in my last screenwriting class. The professor pointed out that, in one of my colleague's scripts, "half the scenes" take place in bars. I gently corrected her that only two scenes took place in bars, but they were the ones with the most dialogue. She offered the idea that a movie in which "every character is drunk the entire time might get boring." Everyone's jaws fell. I also pointed out that in every screenplay we've read that's set in New Orleans (Is there a trend here?) a majority of the characters spend a majority of their time drunk. Is this a bad thing? I don't think so. She then observed that she's taught in several campuses around the country and that "you Tulane students definitely do a tad more drinking than average college students." Go us!

chill but great night

So today was pretty laidback to recuperate from the past couple of nights. "Becky" and "Andy" hosted another potluck. All-American Night was the theme this time. It was on a smaller-scale and low-key, but the food and company were awesome.

• barbeque chicken drumstics
• deviled eggs
• mac and cheese
• cornbread
• Bud Light
• Sam Adams
• apple pie
• chocolate chip cookies
• flag cake

Then Shannon and I went to go see The Namesake, which was really good and made me want to read the novel. I thought it'd be Meet The Parents meets Bend It Like Beckham, but it was heavier (and in my opinion better) than both. It more about entire lives than a few complicated days/weeks. I also never imagined Kal "Kumar/Taj" Penn in a serious role. T'was amazing. I got emotionally involved.

Kal Penn, Irfan Khan, Sahira Nair, and Tabu as The Ganguli Family

And on a silly note, for you V for Vendetta fans, the domino scene was not CGI like I thought. It took 200 hours of preparation by four experts armed with 22,000 dominoes.

I'd call this a good day.

Debate in terrorism class. Lunch with Tara. We caught up on our spring breaks. Shannon and Shivani joined us for lunch. Screenwriting class. I apparently forgot to attach my screenplay to the E-mail I sent out, but miraculously I was still ahead of the game because the other two presenters either forgot to send out E-mails or just entirely forgot to... write something? We watched a few clips from Goodfellas which is a fantastic movie.

Our class went out to dinner at Juan's Flying Burrito. I took Abie's suggestion to actually try his favorite... the fish tacos. (Yes, literal fish tacos.) They were surprisingly good. We ended up spending about $100 on food and then another $100 on drinks. (This is impressive considering their happy hour special was $1 beers and 2-for-1 margaritas but whatever.) Then we decided to buy a $50 chocolate cake, but that was worth it.

Back here, I took cake over to Lauren and Steph and then invited Whitney over to have some. She brought Ryanne and Tully with her for a study break.

I decided to be "responsible" or whatever and stayed in after instead of going out with the screenwriting people again...

spring broke

Yeah, I'm exhausted but the past week and a half have been amazing. Best spring break ever. Pictures are coming (slowly) as I recuperate. Sunday was laidback. Lauren and I got a very late lunch at Cooter Brown's, the Thibodeaux's Special and the Looter's Special. Of course with cheese fries. I finally got to the DVDs I borrowed from Blockbuster way back when. I love foreign films. The first was in Italian, the second Spanish, and the third French. I watched Malena by myself then saw Maria Full of Grace with Whitney while we ate dinner we ordered from Pyramid Cafe (sauteed vegetables with feta cheese on basmati rice) and closed out the night with 5 x 2. I recommend all three and would welcome any into my collection.

This morning Cunningham canceled class for the rest of the week!

spring break part 1: NOLA

Two thirds of my break were spent here in my beloved New Orleans.

SATURDAY

Saturday I missed ALL the St. Patrick's Day parade, which is quite different from last year. I thought I slept through the first two, but I was wrong since they ran so late. Tully drove Whitney, her friend Brittany (heretoafter referred to as "The -Ittaney's") to Babylon for dinner. Chicken tecka. Yum.

Adrian came over to use the kitchen to flex his culinary muscles. Whit, Keenan, and I went down to The Quarter to close out St. Patty's. We went to Pat O'Brien's, where we celebrated with carbombs, hurricanes, and Bailey's. Whitney and I danced to Flashdance's "What A Feeling," which I guess is "our song" now. When that died down, we went to The Palms, which was dead. Whtiney passed out, but I woke her up with the smell of sirloin steak quesadillas. Adrian and Monica were very finished with dinner by then, so I went with them to The Boot for a little bit.

SUNDAY

Tully, The -Ittaneys, and I took a Sunday Drive around the city, which may have lasted a little longer than we planned. We showed her uptown, the quarter, the marigny, and some of the destruction in mid-city. We grabbed a late lunch (mmm, chirashi sushi, salmon, yellowtail, tuna, crab, shrimp, mackerel, octopus, etc) at Mikimoto. We stopped by Blockbuster to pick up DVDs for break. I borrowed three that I forgot about and almost didn't watch.

Later that night, I went with Shannon to pick up her friend Ihita, visiting from Maryland, from the airport. Those two will be hereafter referred to as "Shanita." We met up at Port O Call with The -Ittaneys and Tony for monsoons and burgers.

Shanita was tired and frustrated with the loss of luggage, so they went home. The -Ittaneys and I went to The Pub, which rocks on "Sing-A-Long Sunday" because they play old music video, particularly from the '90s. We bought several rounds and David (my favorite bartender in the world because even though I'm never there he always remembers) gave us free shots. One was an Absolut Pear Kamikaze, which Whitney loved because its main ingredient is her favorite liquor. Then she and I chased whiskey with beer 'cause Garth said so.

After that, we went to Harrah's to play slots and Blackjack. Chad and I texted a bit. He would've been proud since it was an economically productive night.

MONDAY

Monday began with the Harrah's breakfast buffet. (bacon, andouille, smoked salmon, eggs/omelets made to order, fresh fruit, etc) We all ate too much.

After a nap, I went with Shanita to The Daiq Shack to get daiqiris (Starbucks Mudslide to wake me up) and Hana to get lunch (seaweed salad and spicy tuna, crawfish, and California rolls). We took our drinks and food to The Levy for a picnic.

The -Ittaneys and Tully met up with us, armed with daiquiris, and we played Circle-of-Death/Kings until the sun went down.

Shanita and I picked up Wes and Steve and then met up with Sam at Saltwater Grill. I love that place, but be prepared to WAIT if you order oysters. But we felt Ihita needed to try them raw. She approved. The owner gave us a baker's dozen to make up for the wait.

We met up with Josh, The -Ittaneys, and Tully and went to both old and new Bruno's for more drinks and C-o-D/K. I forgot my waterproof cards, but the bartender lent us some. Good times.

TUESDAY

Tuesday I mostly recuperated before a French Quarter afternoon with Shanita. We got dinner at Arnaud's Remoulade, which doesn't serve the largest portions, but they're tasty and filling. I recommend a Taste of Nola: Seafood gumbo, stuffed crab, and red beans and rice.

We got our palms read by Jerrik and tarot done by his daughter. He was amazing. I really do think palmistry can reveal a lot about a person. Her predictions were good to; the forecast is cloudy, with an occasional storm, but beautiful real soon.

We walked down to Frenchmen, which was chill, to grab a few rounds at DBA, and we gave part of the Brangelina Tour by showing Ihita their street, Whirling Dervish, and Angeli.

Then we hit up Tropical Isle and Pat O'Brien's so she could try hand grenades and hurricanes. She prefers the grenades. I (stupidly) combined hand grenade leftovers with hurricane leftovers and chugged it. We were all drunk, so we barhopped some more. We stopped by The Pub, where it was apparently lesbian night, so that was kind of funny, and then went to Cat's Meow. I was supposed to sing "Get Ready" with Shannon on back-up vocals, but they played "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch" instead. All the drunk people told me I was "the best," but consider the source. Ihitia bought a little pizza (8 inches in diameter?), and we drove home.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday we took Shannon's RAV4 to the Toyota dealership to get it checked out. We cruised the mall, like teenagers. Ihita and I hiked over (gasp) grass, her nemesis, to the Aveda Institute. She got a facial and, since it was the first day of spring, I chopped my hair off.

We went to Vietnamese lunch at Tastea Caffé. We all got bubble tea and beef. Grilled, vermicelli, and pho.

We stopped by the quarter again so Ihita could get some souvenirs.

We met up with Sam at Dick and Jenny's for dinner. I had an "escargot-boy" (a garlicky snail po-boy with creamy mushroom sauce) for an appetizer and a sampler entree (pain perdue, fried oysters, and crawfish alligator sausage cheesecake). We split a Nolamisu (tiramisu with local ingredients, Mom) and creme brulee for dessert. It's really good, but it's similarities to Jacques-Imo's invite comparison. My heart (aka stomach) still belongs to Jacques.

Back here, I went over to Whitney's to watch LOST and Saw 3, which we'd borrowed from blockbuster.

thickset Thursday

So my day began with a phone call from Mom to talk about the money we were planning to happily spend on "Gradfest."

I put scallops that were in the freezer in the fridge to defrost before going to pick up the package mentioned in yesterday's entry. I took a shower and got presentable (for my last "senior portrait") and headed off to Gradfest. They really should change the name because it's nowhere near as fun as it sounds. It's basically the university's last chance to get you to spend lots of money on overpriced things.

I was on the phone when I heard a familiar voice that I couldn't place calling out "ANDREW MARIN!" and I ignored it for a little so I could wrap up the conversation. It was Claire "Clourkie" O'Rourke. How very exciting, and I wanted to go to lunch with her and Ryanne but had to go do boring things like class and Gradfest.

My day was a little hectic because I only got half the things done at Gradfest that I wanted to, so I got to class a little late. This was complicated by multiple phone calls trying to finalize things with each parent and with Adrian regarding this upcoming Marin Immediate Family Reunion Weekend and other matters that required immediate tending.

After lunch with Tara and a quick visit from Adrian, I got my pictures taken. Mom told me to relax, so they'd come out well, but the photographer told me I looked "great." (I guess relatively speaking because he noted that some people came in wifebeaters and poorly groomed facial hair.) I picked up some announcements, diploma frame, and cap/tassel and gown. They almost gave me the orange engineering tassel, but Tara pointed it out - thank God - so I got the gold science one.

I remedied all that "fun" from Gradfest by going a late afternoon park trip with Rachel and then a dinner with Ben. Lots of laughs that only the two of us would understand.

I took a nap, which was too short, and then went over to Shannon's to watch The Illusionist, starring my favorite actor of all time. The plot's pretty much Eduard (Edward Norton) trying to save this Duchess chick (Jessica Biel) from marrying the Prince of douche (Rufus Sewell). Eduard and Sophie are childhood sweethearts, etc. In some ways, it's better than The Prestige and some ways not, depends on what kind of movie you're looking for. The Illusionist is more romantic and less self-centered, while The Prestige focuses on upstaging your competition. And of course, Ed Norton has more acting ability than the two male leads in The Prestige combined. It's strange watching Jessica Biel not be all tough, given Stealth, Blade: Trinity, and how every paparazzi photo of her is her working out. It's like watching Sarah Michelle Gellar in a horror movie; she can slay vampires, but masked murderers and ghost children are too much?

I was waiting for her to kick ass, but she didn't.

I got back here and between that and 80s Night remembered to cook my now-forgotten scallops. I was on the phone with Adrian and then Ben while in the kitchen, so I think I seasoned the dish twice twice when I wasn't paying attention. It definitely had too much kick to it, but it was still good. Butter, garlic, ginger, peppers, a little brown sugar, and old bay seasoning... It tasted like something you'd have in DC's Chinatown. I fixed this a little by dumping rice into the boiling liquid to soak up and cook.

After that, Lauren and I went down to our usual Thursday 80s Night at One Eyed Jacks to meet up with Ry Ry, B(ig) B(rains) C(laire), the UNO guys, et al. Fun times as always.

three of my favorite ladies - photo courtesy of Lauren Mitchell

Monday again?

Today's been pretty chill. My day began at midnight at The Rat. Whitney suggested food and beer. Great idea.

Classes. Late lunch. Rachel came over, and we watched The Talented Mr. Ripley because she'd never seen it.

After that, Lauren and I went to the dinner reception for and reading by Elizabeth McCracken at the Newcomb Institute and Rogers Chapel, respectively. Stephanie was introducing her, and naturally Lauren and I were there for moral support. (Well, perhaps Lauren was motivated by the food too.)

"I hope you don't screw up." - Lauren

"I hope you don't fall on your face walking over there." - Me

"I hope you don't both DIE in the next minute when I punch you in the face." - Steph

March already?

Another week flew by, another weekend flew by even faster, and suddenly it's Sunday night again... in March nonetheless. Seriously, where did January and February go?

My week was laidback, relatively speaking. Wednesday: Classes and LOST. Thursday: Class, lunch and hanging out with Rachel, 80s Night. Friday: Classes, Lunch and hanging out with Adrian, The Boot and The Rat with Keenan and some of his friends, a little bit of Dance Marathon. Saturday: A little more Dance Marathon, a delicious dinner (Ninja for various sushi, tempura, and rare beef tataki) with Shannon, Blockbuster, a Days of Heaven screening, and quality time with Ryanne and her roommates. Today: The ornithological society's crawfish boil in the park with Ry Ry, studying, napping, and I-don't-know.

I've added "labels" (for popular subjects) to all my journal entries and will continue to do so in future ones. The labels should allow for faster filtering if you want to look up something in past entries and at-a-glance notices of a new post's content if you're pressed for time.

Tuesday

Terrorism midterm wasn't too bad.

I went over to Adrian's, and we caught up for a bit. He brought me some special deliveries from home. He also showed me his new Polo Rugby wardrobe. (Their "skull and crossbones" insignia coincidentally matches with Sig Ep's. How lucky/convenient for Adrian because now he has an excuse to buy all that PR stuff besides just liking it.)

I met for lunch early with Tara (and Rachel today too). I missed Alison and Frazer by just a little because I had to make a deposit at the bank and print screenplays at the lab.

Lots happened in screenwriting class today. We reached a consensus on how we should spend our provost-awarded "entertainment budget." (Dinner and drinks, naturally.) And we had class for the first time in three weeks. And we canceled another upcoming one. This would be exciting, but if I had it my way, I'd have screenwriting every day and my other classes combined into a one week three-hour session. It's my favorite course thus far.

Chick: "Have you guys ever seen that movie Maria Full of Grace? The main character there, this girl who's smuggling drugs, and I can't for the life of me remember her name--"
Me: "Maria."
Chick: "Oh! Yeah. That's it."

The most (horribly) sensational part of the day was when I returned my father's phone call during a break in screenwriting class. (He called during the first half.) He told me my grandfather called to let him know there was a passing in the family. Unfortunately he didn't specify that it wasn't my grandmother but another "Letty" (my great aunt) right away. And then I asked if Adrian knew of and the correct identity of the death, and he said I should double-check.

After the break, we convinced the teacher that for our last assignment we should analyze the screenplay of and have a screening of the great Eddie Murphy film Coming To America.

Ben and I had our weekly dinner and caught each other up on the past few days. And now I should be writing a screenplay or doing other work or sleeping, but I'm going to push to get these other two Mardi Gras photo albums up.

Where'd the weekend go?

Friday was classes then groceries. Then began the back-to-back laser tag nights. Yeah. Apparently when you turn 22 you want to reaffirm your youth, so you decide to play laser tag. Ryanne and Ben, indepedently of each other, both wanted to play laser tag for their birthdays. Friday was Ben's night. We went with Katy&Co. After that I had made a raspberry tiramisu for Tara since she wasn't at Italian Night, so she and Ian came over. They approved. (Personally I prefer the strawberry version, less tart and less sweet. The raspberry version looks better though because it's a burgundy color and the berries require no chopping and distribute more uniformly.)

Shannon came over to have tiramisu also and convinced me to go to Beaux Arts Ball, the architecture party, at the last minute. I didn't have a costume ready. The theme was ConNEXTion. So she wrapped me in packaging tape because tape connects things? Whatever. Beaux Arts was fun. All the architects were drunk as usual.

The rest of the night is a bit of a blur: The Boot, J(ai)L Hall, The W Hotel, and then some French people's party somewhere.

Saturday was pretty chill. Laser tag again that night, Ryanne's "party." We had to split up into two groups of four because there weren't enough slots for all eight of us. Stephanie and I were on the red team and were assigned the code names "Cinderella" and "Aladdin." I had a lot of fun shooting the bitchy old couple who made two kids give up their vests and guns 'cause they accidentally let too many people in.

After that was a quick trip to the Big Easy because Lauren was hungry, and I just hung out at home the rest of the night. Mommie Dearest, which I'd never seen, and Bram Stoker's Dracula, which is one of my favorites, were both on TV. MD is a fucked up movie.

Sunday I made "macaroni" (really penne) and cheese from scratch to tide me over until Mexican Night. I'm never going to make the orange crap that comes out of the box again.

Mexican Night was a huge success although apparnetly "Mexican" is synonymous with "dip" because we had at least four of them. But one of them was Stephanie's guacamole, so I was automatically satisfied with our menu. We also had chicken and vegetable fajitas, Mexican lasagne, beans and rice, various forms of corn chips, a cake decorated with a Mexican flag, "Dos Amigos" ice cream (Mexican vanilla and Mexican chocolate), and of course, the strawberry tiramisu that we pretended was Mexican.

Just like Thanksgiving and Italian Night, we all said what we were thankful for (but Mexican things this time.) I guess that went succesffuly and unoffensively.

Some of us stayed after to watch The Oscars, but by the end only Becca, Leah, and I were left. I was happy because all of my predictions (Babel, Little Miss Sunshine, Helen Mirren, Martin Scorsese, Pan's Labyrinth, and THE DEPARTED) won except one.

happy 22nd, Ben!

Hmmm, since my last update: Classes, LOST, sleep, classes, lunch with Tara but this time on the sunny beautiful quad, errands, and laundry. Then Shannon and I went to a screening of Amazing Grace, which was pretty good for a PG movie. She and I were most excited, respectively, about the chick from Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and Mr. Fantastic playing the romantic leads.

Ioan Gruffudd and Romola Garai pre-Amazing Grace

After that I went out with Ben and Katy&Co for his birthday and spent the moments we were not drinking trying to cheer him and convince him that 22 is not that old. (Especially considering that I'll be the same age in less than two weeks.). Pub, free champagne, expensive champagne, Clover Grill for special club sandwiches and french fries.

from last Friday but pretendin' it's from yesterday

HAPPY MARDI GRAS

I'm sure it'll be no surprise that actual Mardi Gras itself was anticlimactic. Well, it always is for me at least because everyone is intoxicated and exhausted. And at that point I don't even care anymore. I don't even call for beads or Zulu coconuts, let alone catch them. I just kind of bat the flying objects away from my face, so I don't get bruised by eager throwers. (It's happened to others.)

On that topic, the best beads I got this year were not the ones that were signature to each parade, not the Christmas ornament size ones, or not even the must-catch clay medallions. My favorite were the fiber-optic Muses beads that light up and changes colors.

Anyway, despite being drained and drunk, Mardi Gras was tons of fun.

After Nacho Mama's, we hit up "The Daiq Shack." They had a special on large daiquiris, so we got those.

At Stephanie's apartment, we hung out with Sarah and watched The Butterfly Effect (which was on TV) and Mean Girls (from my DVD collection). I was able to find a drinking game for the former and had long ago concocted one for the latter, so we played both.

After those, we got ready and headed out to "Tequila Sunrise" at The Boot. (I'll just say at this point that almost everyone local went to Zulu, so I won't even bother dropping names.) We saw two awesome guys standing outside. The first was wearing a nice blazer but eating french fries out the trash can, and the second was making out with two different girls next to the porta-potties. Some of us stopped by The Palms for a bit. I guess they got tired of being classy, so they replaced their pool table with a stripper pole? Then a handful of us went to Jackson & St. Charles early to stake out our spot.

Stephanie and David had found a great little market next to Igor's (where we get Bloody Marys) where we could get hot breakfast. It was beyond awesome to have eggs, bacon, sausage links and patties, hash browns, grits, and biscuits all fresh and ready to eat. Zulu was fun. A few of us left before Rex. Sarah, sober sister/hero of the day, was nice enough to pick us up.

When I got up after the most glorious pass-out ever (no fire alarms like last year's Mardi Gras pass-out), I went to dinner with Lauren, Evian, and Stephanie. Apparently Mardi Gras coincides with National Pancake Day this year, so we went to IHOP for dinner/breakfast.

I've been putting the Gras in Mardi Gras all break as any avid reader would know by now. So I had the chicken fried steak dinner, which came with corn, onion rings, garlic bread, and a side salad. And of course I took advantage of the free pancakes for NPD.

I'm going to justify all those carbs with the fact that carbs soak up alcohol, and it was the end of Mardi Gras. Do the math.

My mom asked if I had "a picture or two" I could show her from this Mardi Gras season. It's more like "a hundred or two hundred." They'll be up eventually. Here's the very last one. We're laughing because Lauren had just shoved David to the side and said "I'm the girl. I get to be in the middle!"

HAPPY MARDI GRAS
AND HAPPY ASH WEDNESDAY TOO

All's well that ends well.

And this weekend definitely did.

I started post-Bruno's today by showing Steven and Katie around the new UC. They recognize a lot of it. When we left, a pair of drunk girls stumbled up the stairs. (Katie's sorority memories came flooding back. Chi O, for those of you who care.)

The two girls were like "Are you prospies??? You should totally come to Tulane!" (I guess they were still observant enough to notice that I was, in a way, giving a tour.)

And I told them that they were actually graduates, and I was a senior.

"Really. Come to Tulane!"

Whatever.

As we were walking out, another pair of drunk girls (perhaps the same) stumbled out after us.
They were yelling, so we could hear them get into a fight about which had the other's cell phone and who loved the other more, culmating in one calling the other a "smelly butt-whore."

Next time I get shitfaced, I know what I'm going to call someone.

After a couple of hours of sleep, I met up with Steven and Katie again for lunch. I also got to meet Steven's brother Matt for the first time, so now I can proudly say I've met the entire Brooksher family.

Fiesta Bistro, for those of who haven't been, is a restaurant on Carrolton that serves Spanish tapas (for appetizers or to combine into a meal) and Mexican entrees. They also have $2 mimosas all-day on Sunday. We got patatas bravas, manchego flambe, taco salads, and steak quesadillas.

As I was coming back to my room, I saw Ryanne, Steve, and Tully. They invited me to go see Krewe of Barkus (the dog parade) in the French Quarter. So I went.

As we were walking to the route after parking, we came across a peculiar creature... a mix of a poodle and a dalmation. Use your imagination. I christened it a "poomation," which sounds like something disgusting used for winter holiday television programming. Ryanne came up with a better title, "dalmadoodle."

Two other choice conversation excerpts were:

Steve: "Balls aren't funny, but blue balls are."
Ryanne: "Blue balls are funny? I'll have to remind you that next time."

Ryanne: "And when it's $5 per box..."
Tully: "Oh, is that what you regularly charge?"

After Barkus, we stopped by The Creole Creamery on the way home.

Shannon and I went to Target to get a few things, grabbed some Chinese food for dinner (some kind of chicken each and white rice) and then saw Pan's Labyrinth, which was awesome. A beautifully macabre fairytale. After watching, I took issue with something, but after thinking about it, the issue disappeared. Just be aware if you don't understand Spanish, you'll have to do some subtitle reading.

It should win at least half of its six Oscar nominations.

weight-gain Wednesday

Today was pretty much classes and a lot of eating. After my first class. I had lunch after returning my ethics book to the UC. (I dropped the class after staring at the first 300-word discussion topic for five minutes, realizing I would have to do this once a week for the rest of the semester.) More classes. David and I went shopping for Italian Night. My poor roommate almost had an aneurysm in the pasta aisle of Sav-A-Center because of a lack of gnocchi, but thank God we found some. He was in the middle of his own personal hell day/week/month/semester.

I went to the Tulane Big/Little Brother Reunion "Picnic" which ended up indoors with not that many people, but plenty of food was in attendance. Stephanie beat me to it, but [Grown Up] Sarah was still there. She commiserated with my uncertainty of what to do post-graduation and reassured me that "life sucking for a while" is completely normal. Great.

I made dinner because I realized the chicken breasts in the fridge were mine, and I didn't want them to go bad, but when I went over to Stephanie's for the Top Chef finale she gave me an extremely delicious barbeque chicken wrap. How could I say no? And I just had to sample [Roommate] Sarah's soup, which was also awesome.

After that I hurried out to meet up with Rachel to see Babel. I enjoyed it, but I could see why many people wouldn't. It is LONG. Lots of lingering shots. But it has a great cast. AMC Moviewatcher also gave me Wednesday-specific free popcorn, so I had to take it.

And since films seem to have been the focus of the past few days/entries anyway, does anyone who hasn't seen Pan's Labyrinth or who liked it enough to see it again want to go sometime in the near future? I think that's the last flick on my checklist.

Dr. Seuss says: Brad is sad.

week's goin' well

Sunday was Lizzie's birthday dinner at Lebanon's Cafe, and then we took her back to Steph's apartment to "surprise" her with the cake that said HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! T'was fun.

I don't remember what I did on Monday besides go to classes, so I guess it couldn't have been all that exciting?

I love my Tuesday schedule: Terrorism class, lunch with Tara, my awesome screenwriting class, and dinner with Ben. I went with him and Katy to a late showing of Children of Men, which was awesome.

I still want to see other Academy Award nominated films like Pan's Labyrinth, to see what everyone loves about it so much, and Babel, to see what everyone except for The Academy hates about it so much.

Helen Mirren deserves to win for best actress.

Children of Men deserves to win for cinematography.