Sometimes you just feel like a good “date” dinner, the kind of dinner where you sit for a few hours, chatting, eating, sipping wine, chatting more, eating more, sipping more wine, chatting a little louder, eating too much, slurping wine, hooting and laughing and disrupting others’ dinners, etc.  So to that end, on a recent Saturday night, Mrs. Eats and I found ourselves entering Esquire Grill. Now I had never actually sat down to a full meal at the ‘Squire before– drinks sure, appetizers definitely, dessert absolutely–but never a full snout to tail meal. This was to be one of those splurging nights; with a two-for-one coupon and a $50 gift certificate, we figured that we could go pretty crazy and still be not break the bank.
Month: July 2007
Yellow journalism at the Bee?
I’m wondering what other people think about the Bee’s stirring article yesterday on “wounds that have festered for some time between Sacramento’s gay community and members of the Slavic evangelical community,” brought to clearer light by the beating death on July 1 of Satender Singh at Lake Natoma.
But I think it’s irresponsible for the Bee to make the jump that the attackers are part of that church. The tragedy of Satender Singh’s death is a reality. The danger represented by the tensions between the gay community and anti-gay Slavic Christians is a reality. But the lone thread connecting those two stories is that the attackers spoke Russian.
One need only read the comments on the Bee’s article to see how quickly readers picked up on the Bee’s assumption that these attackers were motivated in any way by their church. Some commenters go so far as to advocate closing the nation’s borders to prevent entry by “these people.” The only reason such commenters think this has anything to do with Christians is because the Bee made that assumption.
I feel like this might only inflame those tensions by putting it in the minds of readers that all Russian-speaking Sacramentans are necessarily bigots. If it’s true that those bastards, when they are caught, were influenced by the church’s rhetoric, then we have a problem. But until that is known, isn’t it irresponsible to cast the net as wide as the Bee has done?
Watcha Doin’ This Weekend?
Ah, Second Saturday. A good time had by all, that is if all knows where to go, which can be a little bit tough sometimes. So, why don’t you let me tell you where to go. I’m going to check out a good friend’s exhibition in a gallery that is having a grand opening. Saturday from 6-9pm, Ianna Nova Frisby is showing her drawings and ceramics at the new Tangent Gallery at Franklin & 24th Ave. My good buddies the Tip Top Trio will be performing to really spice things up. Add to that the usuall shenanigans at the Sacramento Comedy Spot and you’ve got a pretty darn good weekend.
Improv at the Sacramento Comedy Spot: Friday, 8pm 1716 Broadway. $6
Second Saturday Opening:Â Tangent Gallery 6-9pm 2900 Franklin Blvd, 95818, Free
Demographic fun from Zillow
I didn’t even think about the fun one could have with the Demographics features on that new Zillow thing until my wife pointed it out. This is how one can learn that Boulevard Park folks are more likely to be females working for non-profits, or speak Gujarati. Or that New Era Park is lesbian-friendly, or that Elmhurst is home to the Humble Class. Or that there is a neighborhood called Brentwood (it’s over near the Exec Airport) that has a freakishly flat age distribution and lots of Puerto Ricans who speak Hindi and Laotian. The possibilities are endless.
Fadipe out at CBS13
A former British Broadcasting Company (BBC) reporter who was educated at Oxford and earned a master’s degree in communication at UC Berkeley…
Wow, no offense to Charlotte, but how did she get stuck at CBS13? I guess she’s a holdover from before the Sam and Pallas era began. And what a dark day that was…
Community real estate features on Zillow
Real estate site Zillow.com announced two new community features yesterday, including Neighborhood Pages, which allows residents to create content about their neighborhoods. Not just cities, but neighborhoods, like Alkali Flat or Richmond Grove or Poverty Ridge. And there is a main Sacramento page with one piece of content, a photo by yours truly.
That main page has links to all the covered neighborhoods, so make sure to check yours out.
Free Slurpee Day
Need I say more? Probably not but that fact has never stopped me in the past. Tomorrow, 7/11, is one of the best days of the year because it is the day on which 7-11 gives away free slurpees. Pick one up on your way to a free Regal movie and you’ve got yourself one heck of a day. Enjoy!
Free family movies at Regal Theaters
Looking for fun and free stuff to do with the kids on a hot day? Free family movies are back at Regal Cinemas through August. Looks like we missed “Curious George” and “Charlotte’s Web” but there’s still “March of the Penguins” next week and “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit” the week after. And a few others I don’t care about. Why is “Happy Feet” rated PG? Don’t get me started…
Seating is first-come-first-served and the shows start at 10 a.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Bounty Hunters
This weekend, Mrs. Eats and I hit up our local Farmer’s Market and came away with a veritable s-load of fantastically fresh goodies. We bought berries for a week, fixings for a giant party salad and our absolute favorite, the hot BBQ almonds and orange-honey almonds from the vendor we affectionately call “Nut Guy.” Summer is here and her bounty is ripe. Don’t miss out on the fresh melons, tomatoes, cherries, peaches, plums, pluots, flora, fauna, fruita, fangora, etc. Click here for a list of markets in your area (we’re pretty partial to the Saturday CC Mall Market and the Tuesday Fremont Park Market, but feel free to explore and find out for yourself who has the freshest white freestone hybrid seedless waterpeachplums).
A plea for niceness
Three run-ins with idiots this weekend reminded me that our area has a real rudeness problem. I was asleep at the wheel earlier this summer when news arrived that area drivers are some of the worst in the country and I think our stupid and reckless driving can spill over into stupid and rude encounters. I was having trouble formulating this until I read TalkingPocket’s comment.
My favorite (i.e. least favorite) kind of rude idiot is the kind who is rude while in the giving or accepting of a favor. They come in two varieties: the rude favor acceptor and the rude favor giver. The rude favor acceptor usually comes in the form of a pedestrian who waves you on when you pull up to a Stop sign (usually clearly marked for cars with a red Octagonal sign). Dude, guy, buddy, I’m tryin to throw you a bone here.
The Sac Rag 