Much thanks to my friend, Jim Lundy for suggesting this photo. It is practically begging for some witty captions.
Hopefully the caption I’ve shared below inspires you to offer up a caption or two of your own. Leave a funny caption as a comment for this post, and I’ll approve it for readers to enjoy.
“Does it hurt if I squeeze here?”
One year ago, Sergio and I were starting the second week of a five week adventure, traveling through Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. We flew out of Boston the Saturday after Thanksgiving and in retrospect, I’m so thankful that we took this amazing trip last year and didn’t defer it.
Initially, we flew to Brazil to drop off holiday gifts at Sergio’s Mom’s home then hopped on a plane the next day to fly to Mendoza, Argentina to explore wine country. I’ve only visited wine country in Napa and Sonoma Valleys in California and Hepburn Springs and Daylesford just outside of Melbourne, Australia. Mendoza struck me as more refined than Australia but less busy than Napa and Sonoma. The city of Mendoza is the jumping off point for wine enthusiasts and it is where we stayed, making daytrips to Ucco Valley and Lujan de Cuyo. It’s a cute and clean town but it isn’t until you get out of Mendoza that you can really appreciate the natural beauty of the Andes Mountain range and wine country.
After a decadent few days in Mendoza, we flew to Córdoba, Argentina which has the distinction of being Argentina’s second largest city and home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Jesuit Block. We stayed at the Azure Hotel near the Plaza de San Martin and explored the city as well as the surrounding area, making a day trip to La Cumbrecita and Belgrano. For those unfamiliar with Córdoba, it is depicted in the 2019 film, The Two Popes when they flash back to Pope Francis’ life as a Bishop in Argentina during the anti-Communist military dictatorship from 1976-1983 that cozied up with the Roman Catholic Church.
From there we flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina. This beautiful city is filled with great restaurants, beautiful architecture, gorgeous parks and a pulse that makes going out always fun. Sergio and I had visitied B.A. previously but not for many years so we used the week here to explore. For those unfamiliar with the city, it is the largest city in Argentina and of huge political, historical and cultural importance. A third of the entire country’s population lives in the metropolitan area. If you plan to travel to Buenos Aires and need tips, feel free to reach out. I can share what we did, where we stayed and places we enjoyed visiting.
After spending more than two weeks in Argentina, Sergio and I hopped a ferry to Uruguay, staying one night in the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. The following day we rented a car and drove out to Undarius. Owned by Fran and Mario, this small property caters to gay travelers and is a 5 minute walk to the gay beach and a 15 minute drive to Punta del Este.
I had never heard of Punta del Este prior to planning this trip and think it caters more to affluent South Americans than Americans and Europeans, but this is a place you’ll hear of more in the future – mark my words. Despite my lack of familiarity, I did recognize the city’s most famous and photographed statue, “La Mano” or in English “The Hand”, which shows a large human hand emerging from the sand on Brava Beach.
Our final leg of this amazing adventure brought us back to Sergio’s hometown in Brazil, Belo Horizonte, spending 10 days with his Mom to celebrate the Christmas holiday. We spent our final three nights in to Sao Paulo, celebrating New Years Eve and starting 2020 poolside at the Renaissance Sao Paulo enjoying one last day of summer in South America before flying back to Boston.
This was an amazing trip, and I can’t help but reminisce. Thinking about what we were doing a year ago has been a healthy and happy distraction and is just one more reason I love to travel. Even if the trips must come to an end, the memories can last a lifetime.
May this post help distract you from the fact that it is a Monday morning.
GTI Properties had Jeff Gates (former parter of The Aquitaine Group) speak at last week’s East Berkeley Neighborhood Association (EBNA) – formerly known as the Old Dover Neighborhood Association. He shared GTI’s plans for two interesting projects; a new restaurant called Pho on Thayer at 530 Harrison Ave. and converting the long abandoned Power Station 540 Harrison Ave. into an event space.
This week Jeff will again be speaking on behalf of GTI at a Virtual Abutters Meeting on Thursday, December 10th at 6PM, seeking approval for the transferance of two all-liquor licenses for these properties. Jeff shared some preliminary sketches of the proposed Asian restaurant, Pho on Thayer that included decor, layout and design. I assume no plans have been created for the Power Station since none were shared but you can check out the progress on Instagram, here.
If approved, both projects would bring life to commercial space that has been mostly vacant and unused. However neighbors had questions about noise and traffic at last week’s EBNA meeting. If you live in the neighborhood and have questions about either project you can join the Virtual Abutters Meeting (info below).
Virtual Abutters Meeting
6PM Thursday, December 10th
WebEx: https://bit.ly/2JEBANe
Dial In: 408.418.9388
Access Code: 179 762 8102
In our family recipe book this is called “Easy Bake Chicken”. Even a novice in the kitchen can make this dinner and the good news is it has virtually no clean up and is always delicious. The ingredients you will need include:
With regards to the chicken, you can use breast meat if you prefer. I sometimes mix the cuts using both light and dark meat.
Start by preheating your oven to 350⁰ and begin your prep work which includes adding about 3 tablespoons of olive oil to your baking pan (I use a 9″ x 13″ pyrex for the oven). Make sure the oil coats the pan because it will help prevent the meat from sticking.
Thinly slice your onions, mince your two garlic cloves and give a rough chop to the parsely (about 1/2 a cups worth) and set all that aside.
Roll your chicken in the oil coating the pan. This will help the seasonings stick. Then season with a few pinches of Italian dried herbs, a dash of salt and pepper and the minced garlic on both sides. Finally, sprinkle just enough breadcrumbs to lightly cover the top of the chicken and add 1/2 a cup of sherry in the pan. Next place your sliced onions on top of the lightly breaded chicken followed by the chopped parsley. I also add sundried tomatoes (not part of Nana’s recipe and optional to include). Your pan should look something like the photo above.
Cover the pan with foil and poke a few holes in the foil with a fork then put it into the oven for 35 minutes. Then take off the foil and bake for another 35 minutes, adding the sliced mushrooms with ~10 minutes remaining (again, optional). Finally, give it a good broil for about 2 minutes.
The one pan meal is easy to clean up and always delicious. Serve it with a salad or with steamed broccoli (cooked in the microwave for easy clean up). It is also delicious with pasta. You can use your extra sherry to make a sherry, shallot and butter sauce for the pasta, but I’ll share that recipe in a future post.
He would cuddle you so hard. At least that’s what his coffee mug promises.
Song Inkollo is a comic book artist of Chinese descent who is from Nantes, France. He uses his comics to share his stories, and I really enjoy his comic series “Daily Life of a Gay Couple” and recently shared his work. If you like what you see, follow Song Inkollo on Twitter or better yet check out his Patreon site.
Click on this week’s comic strip to enlarge
The South End Business Alliance (SEBA) and South End Local have partnered to create a “multi-date” 2020 Holiday Stroll and with so many local and small businesses struggling I’m hoping more people will come out to buy local this year and show the South End businesses some love.
South End Stroll
December 3-5, 2020
List of Participating Shops / Businesses
More than 90 local businesses and working artists will be opening their doors (of course there will be strict adherence to state guidelines and everyone must wear a mask and observe social distancing protocols).
Although all official celebrations in Provincetown were cancelled this year due to COVID-19, this coming weekend would be Holly Folly a LGBTQ+ holiday-themed festival. Since I have Ptown on the brain, I thought I’d share this vintage photo of guys posing on the beach in Provincetown. You can barely makeout the Pilgrim monument in the far right of the photo.
I believe this photo is part of the George Chapin Scott and Edward F. Bernier Collection now owned and cared for by The History Project which would likely date this to the 1940s or 1950s.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
This week I am featuring the Instagram account of American model, Eric Rutherford. I envy this 50-something’s wavy salt-n-pepper hair and appreciate his classic good looks and assume you will as well.
Many of you may already follow Mr. Rutherford since his Instagram currently has 200,000+ followers but for those of you unfamiliar with this out and proud male model he’s worth checking out and following.
You can follow this week’s featured account on Instagram here, and you can check out previously featured IG accounts here.
BosGuy 