Weekend in New England

I'm off to Massachusetts tomorrow for the NEC conference and of course I've left things to the last minute to do, like color my hair, buy sneakers, and toiletries to take along with me.

They are having a little black dress party and since I'm trying to save money for National (San Francisco c'est tres expensive), I'm wearing this BCBG dress that I bought when I was supposed to spend New Year's Eve with Fun Guy. I've only worn it once so far, to Dancesport's Xmas party, so it's due for another airing. Its a little fancy perhaps, but when have I ever been afraid of overdressing?

Last night for my friend's birthday we went to see Shine A Light, the new Rolling Stones concert film. We met beforehand for drinks at the bar at the London Hotel which is next door. The restaurant and bar are Gordon Ramsay's creation, so this was my first time getting to experience a little of the Ramsay mythos. Let me just say that for the prices they were charging for cocktails, Gordon Ramsay should have been personally serving them! Seriously, there were items on the bar menu that were cheaper than the drinks. You can check it out for yourself here. However, the bathrooms were amazing, about the size of a New York studio apartment. They could rent them out and make some extra money.

As for the movie, well, I'm probably not the right person to ask. I'm not a huge Rolling Stones fan. I like them fine but I've never bought any of their albums, I've just downloaded a few songs from iTunes. Mick Jagger just reminds me a little too much of Cryptkeeper from Tales from the Crypt. My friend had a blast, dancing in her seat, singing along, it was a joy watching her have a good time. I have to say that I'm impressed that Mick Jagger can jump around like that for someone who is eligible for Social Security. He was wiggling his bum, pulling up his shirt, dancing around, wearing tight pants. Gave me hope that life doesn't end when you hit your sixties.

It's a fairly conventional concert film. Some interesting bits of Scorcese and the Stones getting ready for the filming and the interaction between the Clintons and the Stones, particularly when Hilary brought her like ninety year old mother to meet the band. There were some special guests during the concert, but they were like totally random, Jack White from the White Stripes, Christina Aguilera. What I really loved were the vintage interview clips with various members of the band over the years.

Afterwards, I ran home to watch Top Chef in real time for a change. I hate when the cheftestants complain about how they came up with a better idea in the team challenges, but no one listened to them. Dude, if you want to be a Top Chef, make your opinion known, and stick to it. Don't claim that you came up with something better when you didn't follow through. Spike should have insisted on making soup instead of the beef carpaccio. It would have been light and palate cleansing. Spike and Antonia arguing about whether they should have made butternut squash soup, with Antonia saying that she agreed to do it, and Spike claiming she didn't. Very passive-aggressive behavior, but I loved Antonia's comeback that the truth was on film for posterity. After last week when Spike made poor Manuel cook Vietnamese food and got him eliminated, Spikie and his hats must have decided to keep a low profile this time.

And then Dale's tantrum later and complaining that Lisa won for making bacon. Umm, Dale all you did was cut up some chilis for a garnish. How is that better than Lisa making bacon with a spicy miso sauce that Ming Tsai just loved. As Ted Allen said last season, everything goes better with bacon (perhaps Lisa watched that episode). I did agree with Dale about not wanting to do Asian, although it ended up working for them. Just because Ming Tsai is Asian and owns an Asian restaurant, doesn't mean that you have to make Asian food for him. You have to be damned sure that your food is going to be good. Seriously, do you think that when Ming Tsai goes out for dinner, he heads for the nearest Asian restaurant? Maybe he might have wanted a little Italian or Cuban food. I found it a little insulting, and so what if Lisa likes to cook Asian food. Its like Brian last season making fish all the time.

I don't know if I'm going to be blogging while I'm at NEC. If I can find a computer on Saturday, I might write up a brief post. If not, see you on Monday.

Thanks for reading,

EKM