Category: Columns

“Thai Time Bistro Thai Food”
1830 Sunset Cliffs Blvd.

After cooking dinner for 12 people last night, I decided to take one of my students and go out to dinner tonight. We found our way to a restaurant I have been to many times, and knew that my student liked Thai food so it was a natural.

We arrived about 6:50pm on a Saturday night and although the restaurant was not full there was a lot of action taking place. We were “sort of” greeted by the manager and left standing as he sat another patron. After seating them he came back to us and showed us our table. We sat for a few minutes, and one of the female’s that help serve the food brought us water (with lemon slices.) For the first time since I have been dining at Thai Time there was also a small bowl of warm fava beans served as an appetizer.

Sometimes when I’m feeling mellow I can’t help but reflect on the good moments in my life, on the things that make my heart sing. Being an actor, and a patron of the arts, theater is high among the list of things that energize my existence.

And there is a performing arts company in town called Mo’olelo (story in Hawaiian) that is dedicated to staging dramas that inspire us, no matter our ethnicity or creed or what we believe, to seek and embrace ways to respect each other for who we all are: human beings.

They are dedicated to such ideals in every play, going about it in a community-focused, socially-conscious way, seeking always to provide significant roles for actors of color and to allow the company to serve communities that are traditionally under-served in American theater. I especially appreciate that they visit classrooms to ignite students’ imaginations and prepare them for theater-going experiences before they see the plays. That’s walking the talk to me.

It’s no secret that marriage is in decline across America.

For example, a recent PBS report noted that only half of U.S. adults are married, an all-time low. And of today’s Americans, only 72% have been married at some point, down from 85% in the 1960s.

But a lesser-known fact is that our country’s marriage declines have not been distributed evenly across the population. Poor people, in particular, are much less likely to get hitched than they were just a few decades ago.

“Expresso Pizza – Ristorante Italiano”
1776 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., San Diego, CA 92107

For the past twenty years, my husband and I – when he was alive – housed foreign language students in the United States to learn to speak English. Over those twenty years, more than 360 have lived with us in an “immersion” program. Currently I have two students – one from Korea and one from Switzerland. I was very surprised with my Swiss student told me tonight that he had never had Italian food in a restaurant in the United States. So…since it was Wednesday night – Farmer’s Market Night – I thought we would try Expresso Pizza on Sunset Cliffs because I didn’t want to fight the traffic from patrons leaving the OB area.

The restaurant is really two parts: one to place orders to go and the second adjoining part a dining-in establishment. Our waitress welcomed us and told us that we could sit anywhere we wanted to sit. After being seated she asked us if we wanted to start with water and bread. We did.

When a good friend of mine – a gourmet chef that teaches several culinary classes in the San Diego area – asked me to join her for lunch the other day, I was delighted to accept. I met her at her house in North Park about 11:15am so that we were one of the first patron’s at the restaurant when it opened at 11:30am.

The restaurant could easily be missed if you did not know where you were going. The name is on a sign high above eye level; and the entrance is very unpretentious. Upon entering into a darkened room, with the hostess desk and the bar on the left, I was immediately struck with how long and narrow the room was, and it reminded me of many of the restaurants in San Francisco. There was an outside eating area on the right, but because it was overcast and damp we elected to eat indoors.

We were seated at the farthest seat at the back of the dining room, up against the wall that obviously housed the kitchen. (I say “obviously” because we could feel the vibrations from the kitchen on the wall nearest to where we were seated.) It was not distracting; we just knew it was there.

In my column last week, I pointed out what Scott Peters’ accepting the endorsement by the New Democrat Coalition meant. Specifically, I outlined the history of the Democratic Leadership Council and its transformation into the New Democrat Coalition and noted that these organizations have been the chief engines behind the Democratic Party’s shift toward a far more business-friendly orientation. I also observed something that even Bill Clinton’s former advisor Robert Reich has recently written about—that the Clinton administration’s loosening of economic regulations as a result of this ideological shift helped grease the wheels for the great financial train wreck from which we are yet to recover.

This ideological shift in a large chunk of the Democratic Party was made possible by a web of corporate interests funding the DLC and its NDC offspring in order to influence policy on both sides of the aisle. It is, I argued, just as important to note these ideological and economic networks inside the Democratic Party as it is to look at the well-funded think tanks behind folks like Carl DeMaio.

Seduction: What is it? The dictionary says it’s the “act of seducing.”
Seductress: A woman who seduces.
Seduce: To persuade or tempt.
Seductive: Tending to seduce or lead astray.

My online dating has opened up new horizons for me – one that I was aware of but never thought would pertain to me. But, in answering some of the required online questionnaires, I am looking at myself differently. And, consequently, am looking at others differently too.

For example, I completed a survey that was titled, “Seduction Style.” I surprised to find out that the it would be available for all to see, and that the results are broken down into three parts: How to Approach Me, How to Date Me, and How to Sexually Seduce Me.

If you really want to understand what’s at stake in the race for the 52nd Congressional District between Scott Peters and Lori Saldaña, the most important thing to consider is not personality conflicts or whether the candidates get along with the media but which wing of the Democratic Party they would represent. Both want to unseat incumbent Republican Brian Bilbray, but whose interests would each candidate serve? What kind of Democratic Party would they help shape?

As has been noted elsewhere in the OB Rag, Saldaña has the backing of many local and national progressives and would certainly head straight into the Progressive Caucus. This is the most liberal caucus in the House and describes itself thusly:

Our Caucus members promote a strong, progressive agenda, what we call “The Progressive Promise–Fairness for All”. The Progressive Promise is rooted in four core principles that embody national priorities and are consistent with the values, needs and aspirations of all the American people, not just the powerful and the privileged. They reflect a fundamental belief in government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

The four, core principles of the Progressive Promise:

1. Fighting for economic justice and security for all;

2. Protecting and preserving our civil rights and civil liberties;

Thirty-two months on the 21^st of May my husband of 44 years passed away from Lung Cancer. He began smoking while still in high school, and before he stopped smoking 34 years later, he admitted to smoking three packs of cigarettes a day. I always wondered that if he admitted to smoking 3 packs a day, how many packs did he really smoke.

He would say that if he had known the evils of tobacco he probably would never had had that first puff. That’s what he would say, but is it the truth? Who knows?

He was a charming blue-eyed Irishman that frequently had a twinkle in his eye. He was a leader, not a follower, and I suspect that if he thought it was “cool” to smoke, he would have smoked. But there was no research like there is today; when he finally did stop smoking – 31 years BEFORE he died – he stopped because he finally believed what research was telling him. He thought that by quitting smoking, he was prolonging his life, and the cause of death would never be “lung cancer.”

What a fun place to eat with friends, the Raglan Public House – at the corner of Bacon and Niagara. The ambiance is inviting; the beers are numerous – I counted over 81 on the menu; the food is wonderful and the waitstaff – Josie and Alex – were delightful. Josie is really from New Zealand, and her charming accent only added to the atmosphere of the place. Alex, for the women in the audience, was nice to look at; has a mean handshake – like he was really glad we were there – and charming as well. (Yes, I know it is a sexist comment, but let’s face it – I enjoyed watching him.)

Do I need to write more? For those of you that criticized me on my last Ocean Beach venture, I hope that this redeems my taste buds and you no longer come after me with a forked tongue or steak knife.

A friend and I went for lunch at what was formerly “The Vine.” I remember the same restaurant when it was an Italian Restaurant and, like “The Vine” was sorry to see them both close down. I hope that this eclectic place remains in Ocean Beach for a long time.

by Emilie Astolat

People who think they’ve never taken their loved-one for granted, no matter how many years have passed, should think again. I’m sorry, but there are no ifs, ands or buts about it. And if you’re one of those people, I suggest you ask said loved-one for their opinion. You just might be surprised.

As I think about my own relationship, I realize I have a lot to be grateful about. We share a happy home, a child, security, a sense of humor, family (like it lump it), tribulations, joys, decisions, love and the list goes on and on. There isn’t anyone on this planet I’d rather come home to and I know he feels the same.

But as the years tick by, sometimes I think we both get into the habit of the everyday routine: kid, school, work, dinner, sleep, repeat. It can go like that for weeks before one of us says, “Hey, how ‘bout a date night?”

Whoever invented the idea of a date night for long-term couples should be given a Nobel Peace Prize. I really mean that. It’s a simple concept, but it does so much to rejuvenate the romance in a relationship.

Having just attended a pagan ritualistic ceremony uniting two very special people, I am now more inspired to find a soulmate of my own that is willing to bind our hands together for life. What I witnessed was very inspiring.

Those of you that have been following my saga of “on-line” dating are probably not aware that even though I stopped my “subscriptions”, there was no refund and so I have been getting “winks” for what seems to be months, on a regular basis.

And…I have enlarged my groupings. My name is now listed as wanting to find a “companion” on the following websites: “SeniorPeopleMeet”; “BB (the Big and Beautiful Network)”; “Match.com”; “EHarmony”; “Speed Dating”; “Zoosk” and “Chemistry.com”.

After all, I don’t want to leave this great experiment to small chances. Of course, I am finding that I am not the only person that has signed up with more than one on-line service. No… so are the many of the men whose names keep popping up on my computer screen. That would not be a problem if they used the same name, for, believe it or not, I have an “a-z” spreadsheet (s) of 11 pages. I kid you not! Not all of the slots on all of the pages are filled in, but I have attempted to make contact with 344 (!) men since I began keeping the spread sheets.