Cecil's; Steak & Sopranos; Happy hour & farewell
6/11
A good old-fashioned Monday night at Cecil's.
6/12
Cindy and I had, independently, concluded that we needed to experience "The Sopranos". So I joined up with Blockbuster's by-mail program (at the time, clearly a better deal than Netflix, though I'm considering a switch), and we prepared for a night in.
Cindy found some cheap steak, which we decided to dress up with a chimichurri sauce. Now good steak is its own reward, but sometimes you want steak for cheap, and in those cases it doesn't hurt to dress it up. And chimichurri seems to be good on just about anything that's been grilled, particularly beef. On the side, we put together a nice salad of corn, avocado, tomatoes, peppers, and cilantro. A nice, south of the border-style meal all around.
As for the Sopranos, well, we enjoyed it thoroughly and found it and its characters compelling. I question how well it held up over the course of the series, and as such I think that, taken as a complete work, it's not as good as some of the very best of television such as "Lost". But it's still some of the best TV around.
Actually, this whole TV-on-DVD experience has highlighted for me the way I watch television in the DVR age. The best shows are the ones that have the same sense of scale as movies, and I think to just refer to them as "television" just connotes too many images of yokels slack-jawed in front of the idiot box. I almost never watch live TV now; to sit down in front of something I don't care for when there are so many other rewarding things going on is just boring. I watch the shows that I want to see, and avoid other things. Sometimes I am guilty of having it on just to have it on, but even then it's something I was at least interested in enough to record.
So, perhaps calling the Sopranos "TV" is doing it a disservice. "Serialized cinema", perhaps?
6/13
From here on out, if I skip a day, Cindy and I probably just stayed in and knocked out a few episodes of the Sopranos.
6/14
At the genetics department retreat every year, a contest is held and monetary awards given out for skits and videos. The money is administered by the school, though, and must be used for something that is ostensibly "educational" in nature. Used to be you could at least get an iPod, but it's apparently getting harder to swing fun things.
Except, apparently, beer. One pair of winners decided to share the wealth and throw a departmental happy hour. And there was a lot of beer. And when 5:00 rolls around and you've already had a few, the sensible thing to do is to just call the day "over", which Cindy and I did.
So after that, we had a little "good-bye" party for the grad student in lab who always managed to get on my nerves. Beers were had at Gingerman and then dinner at Nit Noi. After that I think Cindy wanted to watch some sort of televised sporting event and I may have snuck a nap in after all the beer.
A good old-fashioned Monday night at Cecil's.
6/12
Cindy and I had, independently, concluded that we needed to experience "The Sopranos". So I joined up with Blockbuster's by-mail program (at the time, clearly a better deal than Netflix, though I'm considering a switch), and we prepared for a night in.
Cindy found some cheap steak, which we decided to dress up with a chimichurri sauce. Now good steak is its own reward, but sometimes you want steak for cheap, and in those cases it doesn't hurt to dress it up. And chimichurri seems to be good on just about anything that's been grilled, particularly beef. On the side, we put together a nice salad of corn, avocado, tomatoes, peppers, and cilantro. A nice, south of the border-style meal all around.
As for the Sopranos, well, we enjoyed it thoroughly and found it and its characters compelling. I question how well it held up over the course of the series, and as such I think that, taken as a complete work, it's not as good as some of the very best of television such as "Lost". But it's still some of the best TV around.
Actually, this whole TV-on-DVD experience has highlighted for me the way I watch television in the DVR age. The best shows are the ones that have the same sense of scale as movies, and I think to just refer to them as "television" just connotes too many images of yokels slack-jawed in front of the idiot box. I almost never watch live TV now; to sit down in front of something I don't care for when there are so many other rewarding things going on is just boring. I watch the shows that I want to see, and avoid other things. Sometimes I am guilty of having it on just to have it on, but even then it's something I was at least interested in enough to record.
So, perhaps calling the Sopranos "TV" is doing it a disservice. "Serialized cinema", perhaps?
6/13
From here on out, if I skip a day, Cindy and I probably just stayed in and knocked out a few episodes of the Sopranos.
6/14
At the genetics department retreat every year, a contest is held and monetary awards given out for skits and videos. The money is administered by the school, though, and must be used for something that is ostensibly "educational" in nature. Used to be you could at least get an iPod, but it's apparently getting harder to swing fun things.
Except, apparently, beer. One pair of winners decided to share the wealth and throw a departmental happy hour. And there was a lot of beer. And when 5:00 rolls around and you've already had a few, the sensible thing to do is to just call the day "over", which Cindy and I did.
So after that, we had a little "good-bye" party for the grad student in lab who always managed to get on my nerves. Beers were had at Gingerman and then dinner at Nit Noi. After that I think Cindy wanted to watch some sort of televised sporting event and I may have snuck a nap in after all the beer.
Labels: bars, cooking, restaurants, school, TV
posted by L. Maxwell Ward at 11:43 AM
