radiopeter

I just about birthed a kitten when I saw this:

http://www.indianajones.com/community/news/news20070621.html

Yay, yay, and YAY!!!

Well I’m not really depressed. But after having a home full of great people who were all laughing and enjoying themselves, it was a bit quiet after they all left.

The day started a bit later than I intended. But soon the arrival of my sister Elaine and her boyfriend John was exactly what the food table needed. They did a fantastic job of saving my ass and getting everything laid out in a neat and orderly fashion while I was slaving over a hot stove and an inferno of an oven.

As folks began to file into my apartment, the bar began to swell up with liquor and mixers, as well as the fridge. At one point I think my refrigerator had nearly fifty bottles of beer jockeying for space with countless bottles of sparkling and white wine.

Boozylicious. Indeed.

The real joy for me came from watching folks eat my food. I have to admit, the spread was pretty fantastic if I do say so myself. But the stream of ‘mmmmm’s and ‘yummmmm’s were music to my ears. And by the end of the shindig, there was barely any food left. Less than a couple spoons of Tzatziki and barely any hummus. They ate it ALL which means that it must have been some sort of good.

Nobody got too drunk (except John, not my sisters boyfriend, one of the wall-of-tall guys) and nobody was in a bad mood. In fact, the group of people that showed up were so freaking diverse that I kept wondering how on earth I have had the good luck to meet such a fantastic collection of folks.

As I laid down to sleep last night I could still hear the goings-on of Pride on the streets and in the apartments nearby. So many people were still out there partying and enjoying the celebration. Mine had came and went, but I couldn’t have been happier about it.

It was truly a great day.

What are your thoughts about Pride? Here are some of mine, as told through a recap of a recent visit to New York.

Well it’s official. The Peapod man is coming with loads of groceries and I’m starting to cook this evening for My Big Fat Greek Pride Party. I’ll share with you the menu that I’m preparing along with some simple descriptions for each dish.

The Appetizers:
Tzatziki - The famous Greek cucumber-yogurt dip spiked with garlic.

Taramasalata - Greek caviar dip, usually pink in color. Salty and savory.

Hummus - While it’s not technically terribly Greek, I’m adding some Greek flair to my version.

Tiropitakia & Spanakopitakia - Cheese and Spinach & Cheese triangles. Lovely little bundles of tastiness wrapped in phyllo dough.

Dolmades - Stuffed grape leaves

Pita chips - Do you need an explanation?

Salad:
Horiatiki - Peasant salad, which consists of sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions and a Greek vinaigrette. No lettuce here.

Main:
Tzouzoukakia - Small beef patties flavored with spices and fried. Think Gyros meatballs. The Tzatziki sauce is above.

Patates me Limoni - Oven-roasted potatoes with lemon, garlic and spices.

Dessert:
Revani - All the details on this one are here.

Loukoumi - Sweet pistachio candy.

Hopefully I can make it through all of this by Sunday morning.

Yassou!

I’ll tell you about the rest of my NYC trip in a podcast. But for now, a pic of Justin.

tee hee.

Well it’s certainly no joke. That Isaac Mizrahi knows full well what he’s doing on a microphone in front of a band and he’s not afraid to show it.

Comfortable. That’s what I’d call his show. It was very comfortable and fun and surprising AND there were gifts. For those who hollered the loudest, or those who wore sparkly jackets, he had some stuff to re-gift. Including a ham. Yes indeed, someone sent Isaac Mizrahi a ham. Who knew?

I would really love to see him bring his band to Chicago to perform. I think they’d rock the socks off Chicago cabaret. His voice is great at times, rough at others, but it’s the show as a whole that shines, not his vocal prowress. I was delighted and fascinated with seeing him all at the same time. Just wonderful.

Following La Mizrahi, there was a handful of modern dance pieces that were choreographed by students of a New York choreographer. I’m not one to run in many dance circles, so the names escape me. But some of the pieces were simply delightful and didn’t take themselves too seriously. Dance can be tedious. Some of it was, but on the whole it was enjoyable.

After that we hit a handful of bars and enjoyed ourselves all the way to the bed, where sound sleep drifted over us immediately.

Today we shopped, and shopped, and shopped, and went to see Spring Awakening.

Wow. Just wow. That’s about all I can say at this point because I’m still reeling from how good it was. I’ll fill in more details about the show at another time, but seriously. Wow.

Well we made it here. The hotel is delightful and Chelsea is so full of hot men I can barely stand it. But honestly, I’m thinking about the handsome man back in Chicago.

But I digress.

The flight was uneventful and full of larvae. I mean children. They were noisy but it wasn’t unbearable. I managed to sleep a bit.

So we’re here. In da big apple. Going to see Isaac Mizrahi’s band The Ben Waltzer Quintet tonight at Joe’s Pub

Another weekend that felt like seven days in just two. Friday night after work, I rushed home to interview K.D. Lang with Amy for the Queercast, but it turned out she cancelled (K.D.) just moments before the interview. I was kinda mad as hell and so was Amy. We’ll see if we get her again. Thankfully we were able to record a bunch of stuff, so our work tonight is lighter.

After that, Adam, Aurora and I went to Opart Thai in Lincoln Square for dinner. It was fun to catch up with them, but the food wasn’t spectacular. It was tasty, but I don’t think I’ll be going back there again any time soon. There just didn’t seem to be enough flavor in the dishes for me.

From there, I went back home and changed to hit Spin to host the Shower contest. I wasn’t in drag, and just hosted as Peter Mavrik, which actually turned out to be pretty spectacular. We had a great time in the club and although the crowd was sort of small, the show had five contestants and went smoothly. It was like being back on deck for Friday nights again. Totally fun, but no lonely hours up in the DJ booth. Good times.

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I’ve met someone. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to jinx it, but so far so good. He’s interesting and funny, and somehow he feels really comfortable. I hope I can continue to see more of him.

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New York is only four days away. I have a to-do list the length of my arm, but I’m gonna get it all done before I go. Can’t wait!

My copy of Cooking Mama: Cook Off! just arrived for my Wii. I shall have to do some practicing with it before I invite my friend Laura over to play.

Foodies unite!

More pictures of Dexter the bicycle.

Last weekend I biked to the North Branch trail to capture some periodical cicada pictures. The woods were absolutely crawling with them and the sound was deafening. I loved every moment of it.

Click the photo for my full Flickr photoset.

I somehow feel like this weekend has been one of the longest ones yet this year. Saturday felt like three distinct days.

It started really early with a bike ride to my parents house. I hadn’t actually done that before, and the ten miles was relatively easy. Mom was out when I arrived, but she soon came home to pick me up along with her friend and we went flower shopping. Saw some cicadas. Yay!

After I parted with them and rode home, I had to get myself together to host the Windy City Gay Idol at Sidetrack. The show went swimmingly and we promoted 13 people to the finals. This was my last Idol event this year because thankfully I’ll be in New York for the finals. I say thankfully because I’m over it this year. I was over it when it started…

And then after Trax, I headed home to change and hit a birthday party for Brad of the Ken & Brad fame at their place. Loads of fun with good folks. Michael and Will and I left the party to hit boystown. SO CRAZY that night, but somehow I ended up in one piece at home.

That was only Saturday.

Sunday held a morning bike ride and loads of work. Work, work, work, work. Sound work on my show, tech rehearsal at the Bailiwick, and loads of other work, work, work. After tech was done I came home around 10pm and watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Such a good movie.

I should be tired today but I’m not. Sadly I didn’t get to ride in to work because it looks like there is serious rain on the way. It was raining when I left home earlier, and it’s dark and moody outside. I love the rain, but I like riding my bike better…

The approval came in yesterday for my proposed business trip to London. I’m heading out there because we have a major release that I want to be on site for. Not to mention, since I’m a manger now I need to do a healthy bit of social networking as well as a handful of requirements gathering for some training plans I’m managing.

It’s going to be a long trip. Ten days methinks, possibly more of the mood strikes me.

I haven’t been out of the country for that long since Japan. The only downside is I’m going to miss my cats. I always miss them whenever I leave home for more than a few days. They really are my children.

But anyway, I’m London bound and I need to do some serious research to figure out what I’m going to do with myself in the evenings. I’ll be traveling with one of my direct reports, but I need to do some foot work to discover which clubs I want to hit because yes, I DO want to take in some of the nightlife.

And you can believe I’ll be up early in the mornings to capture some photographs. I took rolls and rolls when I was there last in 1999. But now I’m all digital so it should be rather incredible…