I wanted to acknowledge the Thanksgiving holiday which has always been a personal favorite of mine. In recent years I have used the time off to travel abroad and visit new places. This year is no exception. My partner and I find ourselves back in Brazil celebrating the day.
Happy Thanksgiving
Well, technically the category these marriage equality campaigns have been nominated is not “Wicked Awesome”.
The four successful marriage equality campaigns have been nominated collectively as the most successful grassroots organization this year. With their historic wins at the election booth, they make for a compelling consideration at the very least.
You may join me, by voting for RootsCamp 2012, here.
Much thanks again to blogger Joe My God for sharing this bit of new.
Since Thanksgiving is so widely celebrated and significant to Americans it makes me wonder why we don’t have “Thanksgiving Eve”. After all, we have Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and any American will tell you Thanksgiving ranks right up there with those holidays; many actually will tell you they prefer Thanksgiving.
So even though it is not official, I’d like to wish those who celebrate this holiday a very happy Thanksgiving eve.
Safe Travels
Many Americans are making a mad dash to airports to fly home in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. If you happen to be traveling, I want to wish you a safe and speedy trip.
Last week it was widely reported Mitt Romney explained to fund-raisers and major donors to his campaign that he lost because President Obama provided “gifts” to young voters and minorities.
Debt forgiveness? Contraception availability? Access to parent’s health insurance? These are gifts? I suppose with that logic so are veteran’s benefits, social security, Medicare, etc…
These aren’t gifts Mitt – they are priorities; we value and want our youth to be able to afford a college education; we want sexually active young adults to be responsible and use contraceptives; and we want everyone to have health insurance.
Obviously Romney didn’t perceived his campaign pledge to increase military spending by $2 Trillion a gift. What a dick.
Last week Boston Magazine hosted The Taste of Boston at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. While the photos above clearly show me having a lot of fun with my good friend and blogger, Frenchie and Yankee, overall the event left a lot to be desired, and I hope that Boston Magazine can do better next year.
While the venue was beautiful, The Mandarin Oriental really didn’t have appropriate space for the event. Tables were spread throughout four rooms (some quite tiny) and accessing many of the tables proved troublesome. However, perhaps the biggest disappointment was the food (or maybe I should say the lack of it). There were too far too few restaurants serving food, but this may have been in part due to the limitations of the space, which were significant.
Lest you start to think of me as a glass half full kind of guy, I’ll shift gears and tell you what I think Boston Magazine did right. As the photos at the top of the post show, the “Chef’s TV Booth” was both a great idea and clearly the hit of the party. We may not all be celebrity chefs, but it certainly was fun pretending.
Bobie’s Candy Bar also proved to be extremely popular. The lines near the end of the evening were not however, and allowing people to access this colorful candy bar from both sides would have gone a long way in making this less crowded for attendees.
When it came to my favorite foods, I have to tip my hat to Post 390. They served a delicious house smoked salmon, garlic chive goat cheese with a touch of jalapeno jelly (below left). Asana also deserves a nod for the bay scallop sashimi with a bacon vinaigrette and togarashi kale chips (below right). These combined for my favorite dishes served at an otherwise lacking tasting. 
I hope Boston Magazine moves to a more open and larger venue next year. It will make it far easier to access the tables and allow for more options for people to truly get a “Taste of Boston”.
The Mayor of Reykjavik, Iceland clearly calls it like he sees it. I can appreciate his candor and find it refreshing for a politician to take a bold stand against homophobia and homophobic slurs. Hat tip to blogger, JoeMyGod, for bringing this to my attention by posting the Tweet.
It is a Brazil-themed temptation this week.
Fogo de Chao opened in Copley Square earlier this month. The 300+ seat Brazilian steakhouse is the chain’s first location in the northeast and will be a welcome addition for meat lovers. The steakhouse has several dining rooms. I would suggest requesting a table away from the main room with the salad bar and rice & bean stations; these other rooms have less foot traffic and are more quiet.
Upon being seated, you’ll be invited to serve yourself at the salad buffet, which includes more options than you can hope to pile on to your plate. When you return to your table you’ll be provided all sort of treats to accompany your salad and the many cuts of meat offered by roving “gaucho chefs” who offer continuous table side service. Of all the sides that constantly appear, my favorite is the pao de queijo “cheese bread”.
Each place setting comes with a dual-colored coaster (green and red) to guide the restaurant’s gaucho chefs on whether you want to be served. The attentive service is appreciated but makes this a better dining option for groups and families than a date night.
Dinner at Fogo de Chao Boston is $46.50; $33 for lunch; and $23 for the salad bar only (not including drinks or tip). The restaurant is located in Copley Square at 200 Dartmouth Street. Phone: (617) 585-6300.
Mark your calendars! The organizers of one of my favorite parties in Boston have announced that this year’s Toys for Joys will be held Saturday night, December 15, 2012. They will be updating their Facebook and the Web Site soon with all the information on this year’s event and registration. Link here to see photos from the 2011 Toys for Joys party in Boston.
Stay tuned for more updates that I’ll publish here.
Toys for Joys, Inc. is a non-profit event/organization dedicated to providing toys and gifts for underprivileged children during the holiday season. This annual event, through donations from businesses, organizations and individuals, will collect toys and gifts with 100% of the donations given to local charities for distribution at their holiday events.
Just a friendly reminder that I’m in Brazil for the next two weeks, and I’ll be much slower to approve comments and respond to emails.
After agreeing to pay a ridiculous sum, we’ve been upgraded on our flight which means the remainder of our flight to Brazil and back will be far more comfortable.
I’m leaving for the airport now and by tomorrow morning I will be in Belo Horizonte Brazil. Each day this week I’ve posted a “Brazil post” which I hope you’ve enjoyed. Blogging will definitely slow a bit while I’m away but I have scheduled several posts while away. Apologies if comments don’t get approved as quickly as usual.
It’s that time of year when publishers trot out their “Sexiest Man Alive” issue. This year People Magazine named Channing Tatum the sexiest man alive but this is so 6 months ago. You only need to turn on the radio to know that everyone in America is cuckoo for Koreans. How else can one explain “Gagnum Style” by Korean singer, Psy?
So I have to agree with The Onion who named Kim Jong-Un, Supreme Leader of North Korea the sexiest man alive for 2012. You can read more about Kim Jong-Un on The Onion, here.
BosGuy 