... and then we saw Jimbo

Friday night held for us two good things.  The first was an enjoyable dinner at Openaire.  The second was a show at the Wiltern:  Jimbo's Drag Circus.

Don't know Jimbo?  No worries.  Jimbo is a Canadian drag queen based in Victoria.  He first appeared on Canada's Drag Race season 1, and while he made it pretty far, he didn't win.  Arguably, however, he was the star of the season.  He appeared on two further series in the Drag Race family, ultimately winning RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars season 8.  And now he's doing a tour to capitalize on fans' familiarity with and love for what he did on Drag Race.  In short, there were a number of things I knew and was delighted to see.

Take, for example, how he opened the show in the outfit that he wore when he entered the work room on the first episode of Canada's Drag Race. 

He established the framework for the show ahead (which included a clown and two dancers),

and we were off!  We got the Shirley Temple he won Snatch Game with in his last season morphed into a modern version

and the Joan Rivers he won his first Snatch Game with. 

In the interstitial video clips, there was his Nancy Grace from a mini-challenge in his first season.  The things the fans hoped for were there.

There were two characters I didn't know (but perhaps others did).  One was a German stripper investigator.  The other was an old-timey sort of burlesque/stripper who revealed breasts all over. 

That second one involved spraying cream from her main (and very large) pair of breasts on the dancers and then on front row audience members).

And there was the baloney ghost. 

I don't know how else to call the character.  Jimbo debuted the ghost on television in the talent show for the UK Versus the World initial season, and it was weird and funny.  On stage, it was weird and funny and - we think - suffered a little wardrobe misfunction.  Ah well.

All in all, it was stupid and funny and good.  It showed so much thinking about how to link these things together.  It had singing and dancing and many jokes.  The set was great. 

It was very worth it.  Plus, come on, the theater is gorgeous. 

Over 100 years old.  A real beauty.  The three of us had a super time of it, surrounded by many many many gays and more.  And yes, I bought the tshirt.  Two of them.  😉

First we went for dinner...

What a fun Friday night.  Getting to a part of the metro that I had never been to before.  Dinner.  A show.  And making it home to the little girl well before the rain set in.  Thumbs up all around.

I guess that the area where we went was sort of Koreatown, but very edge of it or adjacent maybe.  Wilshire and Western area, which I know the Metro goes to.  The dinner?  In a sort of greenhouse structure on the pool deck of a hipster hotel on Wilshire. 

A place to return to:  Openaire. 

I will add this caveat before I dive into the food:  it was loud.  And it wasn't even that full or busy as early as we went.  Conrad and Van sat on the banquette with windows behind them. 

I had my back to the dining room and bar.  Normally Conrad cannot hear things well, but the number of times I had to lean across the table and ask Van especially to repeat things was a little ridiculous.  Ah well.  Different seats next time.

Drinks first, and I opted for the Heart of Gold. 

It was good.  The others enjoyed their drinks as well.  And then we all ordered our dear friend, The Last Word, for round two.

Our server, Frank (really excellent), recommended a family style approach, but I think each of the three of us is a little tired of not having a plate to ourselves.  So, other than the milk buns with nori butter

and the chocolate cake (which I didn't photograph), we each had our own thing.  Pigs ears for my starter,

something a little unusual and surprisingly rich.  It was a big portion, and even with Van and Conrad helping me, I didn't eat it all.  It was tasty, I promise.  My main was a small meal, a plate of sand dabs and not much more. 

Van had a fish dish as well, and we agreed that they cooked fish well there.

And then it was out into the street

and down Wilshire for the show.

I would go back, for sure, especially if there is an event at The Wiltern to attend.  I might sit in a different seat, but yes, worth a return.  A good dinner for us!

He. Is. Home.

YEEEEEESSSSSSS!  Conrad is home from back to back conferences, and I am not letting him out of my sight.  For a couple of weeks, at least.

Thursday night sushi (though I only got a shot of the agedashi tofu appetizer) at Mama M. 

Just so good to have him back!💖

I swam this morning!

Amazing, but true.  Also, not especially well.

But friends, I swam!

so what have I (we) been up to this week?

It's not all catching up on The Bachelor and American Idol these days, you know.  There's been some real stuff done.

I've mentioned previously that we sold the condo.  That sale closed last Thursday, the new owners took possession last Friday.  And prior to that, Conrad and Van had gone up to close up the condo, get rid of the things we no longer needed/wanted, and oversee the pick-up of things to be shipped to the United States.  On Tuesday, those things arrived.

No, there isn't a lot.  We didn't need the Vancouver furniture, nor did we want the expense of transporting it across the border to us to have to deal with.  We gave it all away (save for a few things we sold to the new owners).  But we did want a fine carpet that we'd had for a number of years.  And we did want all the artwork that we had on the walls before the staging of the condo.  And we did want the Russel Wright ware that I had been collecting and we had been using.  And lo!  Those things arrived with us on Tuesday afternoon.

I'd taken Tuesday off work to be available for the delivery, and then I unpacked the Russel Wright.  Happily, it all made it just fine (which wasn't the case for every piece the guys had packed back with them in their suitcases).  All of it now has a home on the shelving in the dining room, and I think it looks pretty good there. 

Over time, I may add a bit more.  We shall see.

The artwork still sits in the living room.  When Conrad gets home tomorrow, we'll shift it around, and I think it will make for an interesting weekend project if we swap out some of what we have and move it to storage, making room for the pieces from Vancouver that we haven't been able to enjoy for a handful of years.  The carpet will go for a cleaning, a badly needed cleaning.  And then I have plans for it to be unfurled and used in the bedroom.

Ah, but that's not all that happened on Tuesday.  I can only claim to have helped a small bit with the other big project underway.  Van came over to work on our potted plants.  And by work on them, I mean get rid of most of them.  It was badly needed.  Here's the truth:  Conrad and I are indifferent plant parents, and we have never properly cared for the collection of succulents that were getting more and more unruly (and probably potbound) over the years.  We've badly wanted to do something about it, and Van came to the rescue.  You see, he takes care of all the pots and planters on his deck, planning and changing things out as needed.  So there he was on Tuesday afternoon, ridding us of the fire stick that was once so nice and now was ragged.  And the jades that had become spindly.  And more.  He left one pot untouched. 

Once the several lawn trash bags were carted away, we had a barren-looking front and back to the condo.

We trust in him, though, and what he's thinking for sprucing the place up in the days ahead.

Busy times, then, and getting some things accomplished, which always feels good.  And that, friends, is in part what has been going on this past week.

exercise?

What is this?  An actual effort to try to regain some level of fitness?  Whoa!

Conrad's out of town again, this time until tomorrow.  I've been at Van's instead of at home for the most part, and that means getting different routes than the usual for morning walks.  It also means - and believe me, I do love time with Conrad and miss him - that I don't need to do walks at our usual modest pace together.  Instead, I've been trying to get in more mileage and mix in running.  Jeffing, I think, or something like it.  5.2 miles this morning, 5.67 yesterday when I (pooped and sweaty) got back to the house in time to take Olive out.

I had yesterday off work, in fact, and made even more of that by heading to the pool.  Not a long swim - I was wary of being away from the phone too long because of a delivery I was expecting.  But a swim nonetheless.

Shocking, right?  My step count these past two weeks has been vaguely admirable.  And I have been going to bed and conking out hard because I have been exerting myself.

Exercise, right?  Who'd have thunk it?

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Not, not Olive.  Come on!  It's Olive. 

But no, a short entry to say hello.  I've had a busy week of catching up on television with Van and some other things in my free time, so I've not posted in recent days.  Sorry!  I'll get my act together in days ahead, for sure, but for now, here's one more of this gorgeous girl.

I know I haven't done much of this lately, sorry

I have been cooking.  I cook most days, in fact.  But I haven't had much joy in the cooking lately.  It's dinner.  It's a meal.  It's perfunctory.

In recent days, I've been messaging friends on Facebook.  Folks I haven't kept up with in a mighty long time, folks I thought it might be nice to say hello to and catch up with.  One of them responded (yay!), and in the response said that they missed my cooking photos.  I realized that no, I hadn't been posting many.  So here we are.

Van (and Olive, not pictured - she's had a lot of attention on here lately!) came over late afternoon for dinner here.  I didn't photograph the dessert either, a mango brown butter tart.  Tasty enough!  Conrad will take some of the leftovers to NOLA tomorrow.

But I did take photos of the dinner.  Now that we have some of the Russell Wright dishes from Vancouver, I decided to serve the meal in them.  Tomatillo braised country style pork ribs with rice cooked in black bead liquor. 

Not a bad meal at all!  I was pleased with it for a change.  A little more salt, perhaps?  But it was good.

On a side note, and as you all probably know, we like our cocktails.  The Last Word is our favourite, a concoction that relies on green chartreuse.  That spirit is hard to find (though I shan't confess to our stockpile).  And some people suggest substituting Genepy.  I've had that before, and we do have some on hand, but Van had never tried it.  So I made a Last Word with the Genepy, and that led to me having Conrad

and Van

do a comparison of the chartreuse and the Genepy.  That was interesting.  Genepy is lower ABV and easier to drink, but the chartreuse makes a better cocktail, we agreed.

It wasn't all Last Words, though.  I also had a Preakness to cap the evening.

And now Conrad will be heading out of town.  Darn it.  Time with Van ahead (yay!), but it will be good to have Conrad home.

he's back!

Ah yes, Conrad is home.  For all of 36 or so hours in between trips.  San Antonio behind him, off to New Orleans tomorrow.  And then he's home for a nice little spell.

Our morning walk plans were stymied or perhaps only postponed by the latest rain to move through southern California (and hooray for getting rain!), so we drove over to the grocery store and then strolled to Amara for some breakfast. 

To be sure, we were dampened,

but by the time we finished breakfast, there were patches of blue sky peeking through.

As for breakfast itself?  The usual:  an arepa and decaf oatmilk latte for me. 

And I couldn't be happier!

We'll get out for a walk later.  I think, I hope.  I have a mango tart about to come out of the oven in the meantime.  Happy Saturday, folks!