Hoegaardens & Harpoons

February 8th, 2004 · No Comments

Aimee threw a great party for me at her house last night, with about a dozen friends, an assortment of appetizers, and beers of many nations. It was great to see everyone, especially some of those whom we hadn’t seen in awhile, and everyone got along famously. Some guests chose to ignore the “no gifts” note and were kind enough to bring a little something, like the Pumping Iron dvd, and the real highlight of the evening, Cosby’s monumental hand-picked limited-edition nine-cd compilation called simply, definitively, “The 80s.” It has, in one fell swoop, redrawn the landscape of the 80s box-set. If you know a song from those ten years, it’s in here – and there are already a bunch of songs I’ve never heard before, so it’s nostalgia and education all in one. I’m immensely proud to have been a part of the nominating committee that night at the Enormous Room, and I’m excited to tackle the massive quantity of music in this extremely limited-edition set – like items from the Danbury Mint, this opus had a limited number of firing days, making it highly desirable. Thanks, Coz!

The cake also deserves mention, for it was a classic ice cream cake from Carvel, whose advertising jingle (“Car-vel….Ice Cream….”) always comes up when I’m with my brother, though, strangely enough, we got the commercials in Anchorage, but there aren’t any stores up there. It was no Cookie Puss, nor was it Fudgie the Whale, but that’s not Aimee’s fault; as Coz told us, those specialty cakes are only available from Carvel stores, rather than the in-store freezers we have in Boston. You’d have to go to Brockton, Seekonk, or Woburn to find an honest-to-goodness Carvel store. Either way, the cake was terrific.

Aimee and I enjoyed a great meal at Fiore in the North End on Friday night, after I extracted myself from the sold-out screening/visiting filmmaker situation at work. It was a little icy and rainy outside, but the food was delicious, and it’s always a nice treat to eat out in the North End. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like once it becomes re-connected to the rest of the city thanks to the Big Dig, if it ever gets finished.

I’m not afraid to admit I was excited at the prospect of presents, after receiving some great cds (more interpretations of Radiohead and more interesting sounds from Iceland) from Scott earlier in the day. Aimee made her typically thoughtful choices when it came to my presents; a Trachtenburg Family Slide Show Players cd, with many of the tunes and slide shows we saw them present; three books on how to avoid Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome and damage to my Iliotibial Band, among other things, as I train for the marathon; a beautiful poster for the Chuck Close exhibition we went to a few weeks ago – signed, no less (!); the incredible new iLife ’04 suite from Apple – my GarageBand compositions will be posted shortly; and last but not least, the revelation of our secret winter getaway location for next weekend: beautiful, snowy Stowe, Vermont. Wow! I can’t wait – cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, hot chocolate, fondue, fireplaces, sweaters, all of that great stuff. It was a terrific birthday weekend, and a great way to start off the year.

Tags: Cambridge