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Stonewall opens tonight
STONEWALL is a drama about a fictional young man caught up during the 1969 Stonewall Riots.
The movie has created a lot of discussion in the LGBTQ community, including talks of a boycott. The criticisms center around the film’s decision to remove several key roles of queer women of color and in particular a black transwoman who played a significant role in the real Stonewall riots. Other leaders within the LGBTQ community, like Larry Kramer, have said that the fact the movie has been made is something to be proud of and to support. Do you have plans to see this film which opens tonight?
An American in Havana: The cars
I have written a few posts about my recent trip to Havana, Cuba, but it would seem odd not to dedicate a post to the cars you see all over Havana. While not every car is a 1950s American automobile, there are truly more than you would believe.
Cars in Havana fall into one of three categories; vintage American cars, old Russian cars that stick out like a sore thumb (like the one above), and newer cars from Asia and to a lesser extent Europe. The vintage American cars are truly a sight to see and while some look like they are held together by electrical tape, glue and a prayer, many appear to be in great condition. Below I’ve included some of my favorite pictures of the cars of Havana.
Check out the newer car in the background. Not every car is from the 1950s.
This vintage Ford taxi was outside the Hotel Nacional de Cuba (Definitely put this place on your list to see when you visit Havana.)
I felt like I saw this exact model in the Indiana Jones movies.
Havana taxis lined up in front of Cuba’s Capitol Building (which happens to look a lot like a building we have in DC).
Blog posts from this series:
Post 1: An American in Havana
Post 2: An American in Havana: The Cuban people
Post 3: An American in Havana: The architecture
Post 4: An American in Havana: Old Havana
Post 5: An American in Havana: The food
Post 6: An American in Havana: The cars
Furry Friday
Much thanks to friend and blogger from You Think You Know for suggesting this guy as a possible Furry Friday.
Dinner Lab pop up dinner in Boston, Oct 3
Saturday, October 3rd Dinner Lab partners with Bombay Sapphire gin to host a pop-up restaurant for foodies in Boston. Dinner Lab is a members-only supper club that operates in 25+ cities around the US that connects adventurous diners with rising star chefs for an unique dining experience.
The forthcoming dinner in Boston will also showcase creative cocktails with two specialty pre-dinner drinks that Chef Uckan will have designed personally to whet your appetite. To attend you must become a member (membership fee is $175). I have no affiliation with Dinner Lab and have not attended an event previously, but if you have attended or do end up going, please let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment in this post.
THE MENU
Corbasi
Yogurt soup | pulled lamb shoulder | spicy kale root |fresh herbs
Salatasi
Fresh herb & bulgur salad | roasted & spiced pepper |pomegranate seed | molasses glaze
Shakshouka
Crispy eggplant | oven roasted vegetable ragout |tomato sauce | crème fraîche
Oglak Kebabi
Roasted goat | charred eggplant | pickled red cabbage| pea pureé & poppy seed
Dondurmali Irmik Helvasi
Semolina halva | vanilla ice cream | walnut & pistachio stuffed fig
An American in Havana: The food
Prior to arriving in Cuba I kept hearing that the food ranged from bland to bad. And that is exactly how I would describe some of the food we had while visiting, but the good news is there are some really good restaurants. Rather than focusing on the disappointing meals, I thought I’d highlight two of my favorite.
The day we spent walking through Old Havana we had lunch at Paladar Dona Eutimia. The tiny hole-in-a-wall restaurant with a tiny patio in the front had a bit of a wait when we arrived so we gave our names to the host and walked to El Patio Restaurante, (which I would recommend for drinks). After having a cocktail followed by complimentary shots of Cuban rum at El Patio, we were more than ready for lunch. The good news is that the handsome host / manager took a liking to our table and ended up waiting on us. After he heard our American accents and friendly demeanor more rum seemed to materialize. While I’ll admit I had a good rum buzz, I can assure you the food was as delicious as it was affordable. The majority of appetizers range in price from $2 – $4 and main plates range from $7 – $12.
Unfortunately my ‘rum buzz’ meant that I was too stimulated to remember to take photographs of our meal. Although as you can see at the start (before all that rum) I remembered to take a picture of the menu (see above). The food was fairly simple – think of it as ‘home style Cuban’ – but it was delicious. I ended up ordering the Suprema de Pollo Grille (grilled chicken breast) for $7.00. All meals came with large bowls of rice, beans and fried plantains. Needless to say we all left very satisfied.
By contrast, the next meal I would like to share was much more chic. El Cocinero is located in the Vedado neighborhood and occupies space that was formerly a vegetable oil factory. They have a beautiful outdoor dining room patio on the second floor as well as a small indoor dining room that has an urban vibe. If you climb to the top of the building’s roof deck, you can get food (although it is not the full dining room menu) and drinks under the night sky in Havana. The night we were there the roof deck was full of foreigners and well-heeled Cubans sipping cocktails, enjoying their food and listening to a great DJ. I didn’t take notes on the price of the plates we ordered but dinner which included starters, main dishes, dessert and (lots of) cocktails came out to $30 per person.
Blog posts from this series:
Post 1: An American in Havana
Post 2: An American in Havana: The Cuban people
Post 3: An American in Havana: The architecture
Post 4: An American in Havana: Old Havana
Post 5: An American in Havana: The food
Post 6: An American in Havana: The cars
Instagram account for men with beards and those who love them
The past few Instagram accounts that I have shared have been of male models so I thought I would mix things up and share an Instagram account that pays homage to men with beards and those who appreciate them.
If men with beards make you weak in the knees and you are on Instagram, I’d suggest you check out @postbadbeards and while you are on Instagram I’d like to make a plug for my own account, @bosguyblog and ask that you follow me too.
Elizabeth Warren on Late Show with Stephen Colbert tonight
Set your DVRs for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert tonight. Massachusetts U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren will be his guest. Elizabeth Warren joins a growing list of powerful politicians recently invited to the new show including, V.P. Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidates Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Ted Cruz and Loudmouth Donald Trump.
An American in Havana: Old Havana
Cathedral of The Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception (A.K.A. Havana Cathedral)
If you’ve traveled through South America or visited San Juan, Puerto Rico, you would probably be familiar with the “Old Town” section of Havana. The Spanish did an amazing job of replicating their European towns in the New World and Havana is no exception. It appears as if the Cuban government is trying to revitalize the area by cleaning up and fixing many of the buildings. This is clearly an important tourist destination. When we were visiting, all of Old Town was awash with tourists from all over the world; many American.
We actually had a fantastic meal while visiting Old Havana at this tiny restaurant at the end of a street, but I’ll talk more about that in a future post regarding the food of Cuba.
While visiting you’d be remiss to skip over Old Havana even if you’ve seen other Latin and South American Old Towns. Located near the port and by the Malecon it is an easy and popular place to spend the day. We started exploring this part of the city by taking a taxi to the Arts & Crafts Market located along the port in Old Havana in what appears to have formerly been a warehouse or possibly a train or bus depot. From there we meandered through the streets of Old Town until we ended up near the Cathedral of Havana. We stopped for a round of cocktails at El Patio before heading over to a tiny hole in the wall cafe where we had a delicious lunch.
The Cuban Capitol Building is an exact but smaller replica of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
The Cuban Capitol building and the Great Theater of Havana are by Old Town and should also be visited even if just from the outside like we did. Interestingly, Cuba’s Capitol building is an exact replica of the US Capitol Building; just 1/3 the size of the US building in Washington, D.C. This was the most tangible reminder of what was clearly a friendly and close relationship that our countries once shared. It was surreal standing on the steps of Cuba’s Capitol building – an exact replica of the US Capitol Building – with 1950s American cars whizzing by you.
Blog posts from this series:
Post 1: An American in Havana
Post 2: An American in Havana: The Cuban people
Post 3: An American in Havana: The architecture
Post 4: An American in Havana: Old Havana
Post 5: An American in Havana: The food
Post 6: An American in Havana: The cars
Caption this photo
Each Wednesday morning I post a photograph that gives me pause. I’ll get you started with a possible caption that hopefully inspires you to share a few of your own in the comments section below.
Masshole
Rick and Dave share #KissesForKim
Look at this adorable #KissesForKim photograph of Rick and Dave from California. Rick shared in his email that they met online sixteen years ago and were one of the lucky few to get married in CA in 2009.
#KissesForKim is an online campaign that I first read about on Queerty by two straight guys to show their support for the LGBT community. I really liked their positive message of love and wanted to invite our community to be a part of this positive message. Rick and Dave join my friends Dirk & Jesse and Cole & Hunter with a #KissesForKim photograph. What a handsome bunch of guys.
Boston Freedom Rally is Sept 26-27
2012 Freedom Rally to legalize marijuana at Boston Common
$125 Million: Colorado marijuana tax revenue is on pace to double bringing in an expected $125 million dollars to the state.
Did you know that Boston hosts one of the largest rallies in the US to educate people on the benefits of marijuana and celebrate its many uses every September? This year marks the 26th anniversary of The Boston Freedom Rally. Come to the Boston Common to check out the two day celebration. The rally will be used to also collect signatures for Bay State Repeal initiative to legalize cannabis; they are hoping to collect more than 65,000 signatures this weekend.
Freedom Rally website
Freedom Rally FB event page
Both the sitting Governor of MA and Mayor of Boston have done everything they can to thwart medical marijuana dispensaries from opening, despite overwhelming support in the polls back in 2012 when it was passed. If you are in favor of the legalization of marijuana come to show your support. Aside from money, nothing gets a politician’s attention like large rallies.
Did you know? ~750,000 people were arrested for marijuana violations in 2012; what an unnecessary burden on law enforcement and our judicial system.
An American in Havana: The architecture
As I mentioned in my previous post, Havana has a shabby chic vibe that even a city like New Orleans would envy. But one needn’t just visit Old Havana to see some amazing architecture. The neighborhood we stayed was filled with homes that appeared to date back to the first half of the 20th century (if not older) and exuded an old world charm with high ceilings and architectural details from that time.
A lot of homes were once family residences but now many of them are overflowing with multiple families since there seems to be a housing crunch in Havana. I asked why some appear decrepit and some looked like they had been restored to their former glory and was told that it really came down to money. I was told one way you can tell if a family had money was if their house had recently been painted. It was stories like this that often time gave me pause to consider the implications of our relations with Cuba. Unlike many poor nations, I couldn’t help but get the impression that this could all so easily be averted.
While most of Havana remains in a depressing state of disrepair it would be unfair not to share with you examples of the “New Havana”. Like this restaurant that recently opened in the neighborhood we were staying on our visit to Cuba. 
In addition to “Sara” which I’ve shared in photographs of above, there are also national treasures like the Hotel Nacional de Cuba which according to our guide was the playground for many American mobsters in the 1940s and 1950s and is still a functioning hotel.
The hotel has beautiful views of the ocean and manicured grounds that include a tunnel rumored to run below the streets of Havana; intended as one of many escape routes for Fidel Castro back during the days of Bay of Pigs.
Blog posts from this series:
Post 1: An American in Havana
Post 2: An American in Havana: The Cuban people
Post 3: An American in Havana: The architecture
Post 4: An American in Havana: Old Havana
Post 5: An American in Havana: The food
Post 6: An American in Havana: The cars
Temptation Tuesday
Perfection
BosGuy 