comfort food

last night my girlfriend Gerri invited me to a dinner at her friend Anthony's place downtown. turns out it was a potluck... filipino food! Raf and I arrived with a bottle of wine. "oh honey i had no idea it was a potluck!" i said. "i know, i didn't tell you, i know you can't cook filipino food". god love her.

but i did enjoy the eats, the drinks, and the talks. present last night was a bevy of very lovely and funny pinays and other asian hotties as well. there was sinigang, chicken tinola, lomi lomi (not filipino, but delicious anyway), beef steak (or "bip-istik"), and for dessert gerri made fruit salad (ambrosia). i met a woman named nella, we got along so well we began to wonder if we were separated at birth. a couple of the things we share is a common hatred/distrust turned admiration/crush on gavin newsom, and shock and disappointment in oaktown's mayor jerry brown. it was great to see other folks i hadn't seen in a while. the very funny and good natured thomas boasted he made siopao (he made it just like mom did... store bought!!), but certainly he did make lumpiang shanghai, which i didn't try (i can't stand that stuff!). he came directly from his restaurant, and i teased him that he doesn't wear anything but his uniform day in and day out. he says he sleeps in it too. gerri's new beau, ola made chicken adobo. i don't know, swedes making adobo, i don't trust him. i had my doubts, even as i ate it. i did discover though, that adobo goes very well with gewurtzaminer. i hate to admit that his adobo was good, so i won't. it was ok. after all, he's a swede!! something's not right about that.

we talked about everything from city politics to crazy dysfunctional filipina women to different ways our moms and grandmoms cooked our favorite foods. we had a great time, and i didn't have to cook or clean!! we got home quite late, full and happily inebreated.