Sports Bar Virgin

Yesterday, Mark and I wanted to watch the Olympics mens' hockey game between USA and Canada. Because we have this super-duper system of antenna and TIVO, we do not get MSNBC. So I suggested we do what most poor college students do...... find a sports bar. Now many of you may not find this a unique idea, but I have never watched a game in a sports bar. And, being new to SJ, I didn't know of any sports bars. I went online and began searching..... While many advertised that they showed football and Sharks hockey, none mentioned Olympics. We decided to write down a few addresses and take a chance. We took light rail downtown and first saw a great show at the Quilt and Textile Museum - Joan Schulze retrospective. I took a class from her 15 years ago and she is amazing. She takes quilts to an artistic place that speaks to me. After leaving there, we wandered in the rain up and down the city streets searching for a bar with just the right elements...... The first was TOO FULL..... the second was TOO CLOSED..... and the last, the Britannia Arms (better known as the Brit) was JUST RIGHT. They had empty tables where Mark and I could spread out, lots of beer choices, good appetizers and LOTS of flat screens. Being a sports bar virgin, I wasn't sure what to expect. As the game began, the tables began to fill up..... lots of young-ish men bonding together over vast quantities of beer. The full table facing east was rooting for USA. And the full table facing west was rooting for Canada. With sons in and of Canada and daughters-who-play-hockey in the US, I was on the fence. We ordered our beers and appetizers (lots of salt and grease!) and settled in. Then a young woman who was followed by a guy holding a camera came to our table.... she was from the local NBC station and interviewing people about the game. Apparently a lot of Sharks players are playing on both teams (who would have known??). She wanted to get our thoughts about the game. And before I could protest, Mark announced that Sure, his wife would LOVE to talk to them. Oh my! Do I have pepper in my teeth? What kind of things were they saying in the Olympic interviews I watched last night? Should I sound knowledgeable or cute? It's so hard when you don't have time to prepare for your moment of stardom. Then she was asking me about the Sharks.... (the kind in the movies??) and who I was rooting for and what did I think about the game..... So I explained that we weren't Sharks fans.... YET (Phew, I remembered to throw that in at the last second) and that we had moved from Maine (how long can I keep claiming that?) and that we had 2 sons in Canada (forgive me Clint-who-lives-in-OR for the little white lie on TV) and 2 daughters in the US and most of them played hockey..... and the final foot-in-the-mouth was my bravado statement that I didn't think the score would be very high as they were both good teams (are they??). She thanked us and moved on. So back to the game..... it was very exciting to watch.... the patrons, I mean. Especially when a goal was scored. One of the 2 tables would erupt in cheers while the other would moan and swig beer. Come to think of it, they ALL would swig beer. And the final score was 5-3 USA. I REALLY hope that last statement to the TV lady is NOT on the air.
So, over all - the pros of going to a sports bar to watch sports:
1. snacks and beer that I didn't have to buy or serve or clean up
2. crowd watching - the energy is infectious, I found myself shouting, moaning and swigging right along with the kids
3. friendly staff who take good care of you - like having a mom when you are sick
4. being interviewed for the news - no one EVER came into my living room to interview me
And the cons:
1. public bathrooms - this one was clean and being a girl in a mostly male crowd, it was usually empty
2. chairs - not our squishy recliners
3. having to maintain "proper sports bar" behavior - like looking at the game ALL the time and acting really excited ALL the time and only knitting during the breaks between periods so you don't look like a bored old lady and not flossing or picking your teeth (not that I do that ALOT at home) and asking Mark game questions in a low voice so fellow sports bar patrons won't realize that you know very little about what is happening
All in all, I would say that it was a very fun evening and I would be happy to do it again. I'll keep you posted.

Supermarket - TNG

I know that many of you are getting bored with my blathering on and on about grocery stores. But I just HAVE to tell you about the store we found - Cosentino's. Mark has been whining to everyone at work that there are NO meat markets/butcher shops in the South Bay. And everyone he talks to says, "Yes, you're right". So when I mentioned it to Ron-of-across-the-street, he suggested that I check out Cosentino's, one of the oldest Italian markets in town. So, Mark and I went. And OMG! First, it has LOTS of atmosphere..... dark ceilings that aren't 30 feet overhead, beautiful flowers and fruit/veg right as you walk in so all you see is color, good smells coming from many aisles of FOOD not vitamins and pots and pans. We found very nice fresh veg and then decided to just wander a bit. As I was admiring some of the "prepared" foods (like roasted pumpkin and white cheddar tamales and wild mushroom filled gnocchi), Mark disappeared. When he returned, he was holding THREE jars of pickled watermelon rind (we have been OBSESSING over the fact that we couldn't find ANY in all of San Jose and here were THREE different brands). I gasped and ooohed and aaahed. And then, as we proceeded down the aisles, we found other amazing features...... like 20 different types/brands of capers and 21 different types/brands of anchovies - NOT including the pastes. I even found Baltic sprats - a northeastern Atlantic herring-type fish that is smoked. There were SEVEN 8-foot shelves of olive oils! And half an aisle of homemade-style crusty breads IN ADDITION to the bakery section of the store where they had Mardi Gras King cakes filled with bourbon pecan filling. And then there was the meat...... A long case filled with beautiful meat. AND they had lamb - chops, roasts, stew meat..... AND veal - chops, roasts, scallopini. And, most amazing.... ground EVERYTHING. Now, in the past, when Mark has asked for, say, ground pork or lamb, he is usually told that the store won't do that because they have to clean the grinder between each type of meat and so they only do beef. But at Cosentino's, they grind everything - lamb, beef, veal, pork, chicken, turkey..... if they can catch it, they will grind it. So we brought home lots of goodies to try. And I bought a King cake and took some of it over to Ron as a thank-you for alerting us to this delicious goldmine of palate pleasers. Yum!