Don't Mess With a Classic

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I admit it: I am a picky eater.

There are classes of things I don't like (e.g, seafood), specific foods I don't like (e.g., mushrooms), and classes of things I don't like in specific circumstances (e.g., gourmet foods on pizza -- hell, I don't even really want vegetables on my pizza). Sometimes its the taste (seafood again), sometimes its the texture (mushrooms again) and sometimes its the taste, or lack thereof, combined with the texture (tofu). I also like to be able to identify the components of what I am eating.

Dating is always an adventure. Sharing is either tough for me or boring for my suitor. Sushi invariably comes up and becomes an argument.

"Have you ever tried it?" Yes. I'm 34 now, and have lived in Baltimore, Atlanta, San Francisco, and San Diego. C'mon people.

"You'll like [insert restaurant]'s. Their's is the best." By this time, we've usually established that I don't like anything that lived in the water. No preparation will change this -- it still tastes like fish, crustacean, eel, etc. If you ever take me out and I eat seafood, it means I REALLY like you.

I could just claim I'm allergic, but as a matter of pride I don't. I could claim I'm Jewish, but then I couldn't order anything with bacon. It's not even that the foods make me gag -- I just want something I like if I'm going to pay that much for it. I don't care what you order, and it doesn't disgust me to have it one the table.

There are two ways for a picky eater to order food. One is to ask about everything in the dish, and reject it or modulate it. If it's as simple as asking people to hold the olives, I may do that. Not wanting to sound like Sally, though, I usually go for option #2: order something safe. (In most sushi restaurants, that's the chicken teriyaki.) Which brings us around to the today's title.

Monday I ate out. I found a little Italian place on 5th with a cheap but drinkable house Chianti. The first time I had the spaghetti and meatballs, which were excellent. This time, I tried the chicken parmesan -- a classic safe dish for me: breaded chicken, sauce, and mozzerella. What could go wrong?

Mushrooms. It came to the table with pasta on the left and something mountainous covered in slightly burnt cheese to the right. I cut into it thinking, "Wow, that's a lot of chicken!". Nope -- what it was was a mountain of mushrooms atop a fairly normal sized serving of barely breaded chicken. As the mushrooms, cheese, and sauce were melted together, they ended up on the now empty bread plate together. And I had pasta with breaded chicken.

Last night I stayed at home because someone was supposed to call me about dinner. They never did. So, already in a bad mood, I ordered in pizza and a Caesar salad. As I was alone, I got to pick the toppings on the pizza, so what could go wrong? Olives and tomatoes. I usually like tomatoes, but I'm not a fan of olives. Neither, though, belong on a Caesar salad.

When I order a classic dish, I expect it to be prepared as I've had it 100 times. Is it wrong for a chef to experiment? No. Just put it in the menu so the picky (and allergic) can make an informed decision. I'm not going to order chicken parm with mushrooms; however, find a way to add bacon and I'm your man.

Speaking of Italian classics, it looks like there is an attempt to remake the Sopranos coming. Except that it will be on network TV, it's about a family of rum barons, and Jimmy Smits heads up what Newsweek suggested was an attractive Latin cast. There's a spin on a classic that's right up my ally.

Paging -- Necessary, but not benign

I am frequently involved in battles with staff about the appropriateness of pages. In the end, many people say -- "Why does it bother you? We just want to give you information".

This is a valid argument on it's face. What could be bad about information? I've made this very argument to people who ask why I will talk to pharmaceutical representatives. I like information. It's what you do with it that is important. If I don't need that information or recommendation, I can just chuck it. (We'll leave turf wars and condescension out of it for now.)

The problem is that every page distracts you from something else, and it can be dangerous. This evening, I have an example I can share, because it doesn't involve patients. I left the hospital a bit before 5, and I hate going to the gym at peak hour. So I came home, cleaned up a bit, watched Countdown (without Keith tonight), and prepared to hit the gym at 6. At 5:40, I was packing my bag with magazines, my lock, and a towel.

At 5:41, my pager went off. I spent the next 40 minutes on the phone answering pages about a possible transfer. The only ones I deem "bad pages" were the ones to numbers that didn't exist, but hey, I've made that mistake. By 6:30 I had tied up the situation, picked up my bag, and went to the gym. When I got there, I realized I had grabbed my work bag, not my gym bag. Since I didn't have a towel, and my cash was in the other bag, I had to bail.

The only things harmed this time were my dreams of ripped abs, but that's not always the case. Sometimes, there's a slightly more imporant decision on the line than which bag to take to the gym. In those instances, I usually check my plan twice. But I make mistakes, especially when I'm distracted. (Sometimes, like at Lei Lounge, what distracts me becomes the mistake, but that's a different story.)

In short, the benefits of the page need to outweigh the risk of distracting me. Pages that are not likely to be beneficial are therefore mostly just risky. So next time I'm venting about being paged for normal lab values, it's not (entirely) because I'm a prickly egomaniac -- I'm just trying to keep myself, or someone else, healthy.

The Logo Forum

I just got back from watching the Logo Presidential Forum at Bourbon Street. Here are my thoughts.

Best Friend - Rep. Dennis Kucinich, with former Sen. Mike Gravel not far behind. Pro rights, pro marriage. In fact, neither Rep. Kucinich nor the panelists could come up with anything that the LGBT community wanted that he wouldn't support. Unfortunately, he comes across as wanting to have Congress get in a big circle and sing Kumbaya. In other words, I'm afraid he's not electable; though, to paraphrase the candidate, he's only unelectable if you don't vote for him.

Best Performance - Sen. Clinton. I think they were a little easier on her than they were on Sens. Obama and Edwards, but she still did great. While the others were interrogated, she seemed to be in charge of a friendly chat -- you could almost imagine her pouring tea. She espoused the same "civil unions yes, marriage no" position as Sens. Obama and Edwards, but sounded a lot better.

Best Question - The very first one to Sen. Obama, grilling him on marriage vs. unions and separate but equal. I e-mailed in a similar question (check earlier posts for my similar analysis of the gay marriage issue). I just wish he had posed it so bluntly to everyone.

Where were you? -- Sens. Dodd and Biden. When you're a "second tier" candidate, you don't snub a relatively wealthy constituency with an 80% voter turn-out. They just confirmed the idea that they're not serious candidates.
An honorable mention goes to all the Republican candidates, who must have figured they'd lose more votes by showing up than they could hope to gain. Or they felt it was too dangerous to step into the crosshairs of Melissa Etheridge's intense scrutiny.

Crashed and Burned -- Gov. Richardson. In theory, I like this guy and his resume. But he really blew it on the gay marriage question. Not by saying that it wasn't realistic, or that the country wasn't there yet. I can deal with that answer -- in some ways that's better than Sen. Edwards, who isn't there himself. But at least Sen. Edwards is honest about it -- when Melissa asked Gov. Richardson if he would sign legislation allowing gay marriage, he showed (by declining to say he would do so) he's not there yet either. He just doesn't want to admit it.

Best Word: Sen. Obama, the self proclaimed "Hope-monger".

Moment I Almost Cried: When Melissa talked about Inauguration Week 1993. I wasn't out then, but I know how she felt, because I felt the same way. I was a College Democrat, and a Young Democrat, and I got to attend the Inauguration and the Youth Ball. We listened to President Clinton's speech in the cold January weather, kept warm by the belief that we had just changed the world. I still have my mock National HealthCare card (anyone else remember "Health Care That's Always There") and my "Vote 4 a Change" T-shirt.
Within 2 years, healthcare reform been halted by a Democratic Congress and President, Don't Ask, Don't Tell became the law of the land, and Newt Gingrich took the Speaker's gavel. All that was left was triangulation and an economic engine that kept the country going right on the same homophobic track.
I thinks that's my big question about Hillary. Can we trust her to fulfill the promises she and Bill made the first time? Or will she, like her husband, falter under the pressures of alleged "realism" and the desire to win again in 2012?

To be continued...

I want what I want

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted. It's been a busy two months. I've been working a lot, and working on other stuff when I'm not in the hospital (there may be more on this later). The last few days, I've been holding out because I wanted to come back with something happy, rather than in-depth political analysis or a rant. So here it is.

I've been saying I want a relationship, or at least the start of one, for a while. I just haven't found a way to meet guys outside of the bar scene (softball in SD isn't what it is in SF). I've always prided myself on keeping "hook-ups" to people I'd be willing to date. Recently, I find I've been straying from even those minimal criteria, I think out of sheer frustration.

Recently, I had a third date. We had a nice brunch and got back to my place before 3:00. Both of us were feeling lazy, so we decided to watch something OnDemand. We ended up watching Friends With Money, Scary Movie 4, Little Miss Sunshine, an episode of Big Love, and 2 episodes of Sex and the City.

We didn't do anything but lie next to each other and kiss occasionally. And it was a hell of a lot better than most of the more "intimate" -- scratch that -- "physical" things I've done in a while. He left around 10:00, and I slept better than I have in ages.

I don't know how it will go with this guy -- nothing's ever simple, and my usual timing issues may be coming into play. But I'd been wanting something more towards a relationship for a while, without knowing if I was really ready, or if I'd even like it. Sort of like studying hard to get a job you've never done. Even if it doesn't work with this particular man, it's nice to have some evidence that if I ever get what I want, I'll like it.