Yabba Dabba Doo
The preceeding was uttered to me by our waiter on New Year's Eve at Mallorca restaurant. I'll explain why in a moment, but you have to imagine a dark haired Steve Martin playing a Spanish waiter saying it in order to understand exactly what went on. I can't really convey how surreal this evening was any better than that.
First up, the show at Gooskis on Friday night. We arrived really early as Rebby was doing projections and wanted to get everything set. Jeffy and Steve were already there setting up and we had a good time taking care of business and singing Throbbing Gristle's "I Want Discipline". I had a beer and set about rolling a lot of cigarettes. And smoking them. Colin asked me for discipline, and I delivered. It was a theme, I guess. Sat with Jeffy chatting and then Juli and Will arrived and I chatted with them too. It was nice, but I really didn't have the oomph for a seven band Gooskis evening. Telehors didn't piss me off nearly as much as I would have expected. And then we got up and played, and it was a lot of fun. Jeffy and I were tight....the Anita team were a little weird, and Steve banged on a big Korean drum. It was nice. Again I wished it had maybe been recorded, as some of the guitar stuff sounded really great from where I was, but it was not to be. I accepted some love and then ran to get a rum and coke. Ran into Benji and Eric who were sad to have missed us. Sigh. Chatted a bit more and then hid in the corner trying not to fall asleep. The Skinks were great...I love their 70's Am radio sound! Plus, Will hits HARD, but still manages to have a sense of dynamics, which is often missing in hard hitters. I was really tired, though, and we contrived to beat it out of there after the next act. We got a group of boys to help us carry stuff and then we sped off to run for the border. There was a REALLY chill dude working the window and he made us laugh.
Saturday I watched my shows and then got ready to start cookin at the Quiz. For some reason I had an intuition to get the catering trays ready early, even though the dude said he was coming at 6pm. I got them finished around 3, and then the dude showed up! He tipped me $10 for being early and also because they looked so good. I really wish I could do that kind of stuff all the time. Hopefully in the new year I will be able to cater my little heart out.
I worked the line for the late afternoon rush and got the rest of the NYE supper stuff done, and then Jilly came back and we fed something like 12 total people. Still, everything was nice and we had a good time dancing around the kitchen to Poison and Cher.
Rebby came to get me after I changed into my going out dress and we sped over to Mallorca. The place was seriously packed at 10:30pm, but we got a little table in the corner. Our waiter, the aforementioned Spanish Steve Martin, brought us sangria and poured it for us and then set about giving us the list of specials. Which was, no lie, at least 3 minutes worth of talking. Even though the flaming portugese sausage was very impressive, we opted for ordering off the regular menu: garlic shrimp, chorizo, sirloin steak(for me) and prime rib(for her) We had some delicious bread and surprise salads(with hearts of palm! blah!) then shortly our apps arrived. Holy shit. I had been dreaming of the garlic shrimp all day, and it did not disappoint. Spanish people have no qualms about using WAAAAY too much garlic. I was already starting to feel high from the garlic and the sangria and then I bit into the heavenly chorizo, which was a paprika explosion. I was really swooning. I decided if I ever get the chance to travel continentally, I am going to Spain. Damn. We managed to polish off the shrimp but slowed down on the sausage a bit. And then....out came an entire cow. Seriously, between the gigantic plate sized steak and the larger than plate sized slab of prime rib, we had to have been served an entire cow. We just sat there in shock for a few minutes. Staring incredulously at the immense hunks of beef. I cut into mine and it was absolutely perfect..butter soft, beautifully seasoned and seared. Rebby managed to finally dig in and I could tell by her face that she felt the same way. Then, the server brought side dishes. We laughed. I had to try the rice, which was fantastic(saffron rice with peas) and she ate some of the vegetables. Right about then Spanish Steve Martin came back and said "You knew it was going to be this big, yes?" We both shook our heads mutely. That's when he said "Yabbadabbadoo!" with a little grin and scampered off. He stopped by one more time and looked at me and said "relax, love, you don't have to eat it all now!" I was idly picking at the delicious potato chips. Every once in a while I would manage another mouthful of steak, but I was really in another world by this point. We gave up after about 40 minutes and asked to have it all boxed up. The server brought our leftover out in two disposable lasagne pans. They were both FULL. Spanish Steve Martin had gotten very busy as more and more tables were seated, so we waited a while for our check. He brought it over with two little shots of complimentary portugese almond liqour which was one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. More swooning. Then a lady server came around with complimentary new year's pastries, and we took little bites of them and then just managed to get out of there in time to get home for the ball to drop. We opened our bottle of Banfi and toasted the new year and then collapsed into a heap. Talk about a sensory overload!
New Year's day we lazed around, watched Of Human Bondage with Bette Davis, played some board games, and ate a lot of leftover meat. It was a perfect day. This bodes well for the new year.
Hope your celebrations were as decadent and pleasing. Roll on, 2006!
