The Bright Side of Halloween

What's this? A curmudgeon talking about "the bright side" of something? Maybe it's the overall spookiness of this holiday season that has brought me to such a crossroad. Or maybe it's because I've gotten some, how you say, "feedback" to the effect of "shut up, get over it, it's Halloween." Valid point. Can't say I like it, but valid nonetheless.

So I searched around for something nice to say about Halloween and lo, the answer was staring me in the face. Literally. TV! Horror movies! Of course! Every station imaginable runs a good ole horror movie or two this time of year. Love the genre. I do believe I missed a great opportunity - project a great horror movie like Nosferatu or a good gorefest like Final Destination on the outside of the front door!

That should scare the little buggers away. A win-win, as we curmudgeons like to call it.

Halloween 2013

I spent a lot of time last year with you reviewing my thinking on and approach to Halloween. Needless to say, things haven't changed any this year - I still hate the holiday, have absolutely no motivation to involve myself and are probably doing the little urchins a favor by not exposing them to me.

But (and isn't there always a but?) my Sainted wife feels a "responsibility" to the new neighborhood mini-cretins that have moved in. Needless to say, me? - not so much. Actually, more like "not by a long shot."

Time for the Curmudgeon Societé Generale to give us a clubhouse. We need our safe haven from the huddled, costumed masses.

Pumpkinalia

What the hell is going on with all these pumpkin-themed things this year? It is really getting out of hand - pumpkin lattes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin M&Ms, Pumpkin Eggos, Pumpkin Pringles - heck, Trader Joe's had an entire 20-page flyer filled with pumpkin-flavored crap.

I like pumpkin as much as the next guy, but that is pretty much due to its specialness in that it generally appears on my table as a delicious pie a couple times a year, NOT as a bewildering variety of crapola for a month.

But hey, that's just me. And that's about all that matters to a curmudgeon.

When Good Restaurants Go bad

I recently dined with friends at a well-known seafood restaurant that we had dined in quite a few times before. To my eternal dismay, this night they had decided to BLARE their music. Worse, periodically they would turn it up even louder AND DANCE between the tables.

Now, I'm prepared for such stuff when I go to say, a Johnny Rockets - a burger, a milk shake and a 60s-themed floor show. Fine. But at a seafood place that charges $25 a bucket?

The music was so loud that conversation was virtually impossible. So after the meal (which was actually quite good), we retreated to the parking lot outside for peace, quiet and conversation. To our astonished dismay, they were blaring it out there for the "benefit" of people waiting for tables.

I'm still trying to figure out what the diner on his phone in the restaurant was trying to accomplish over the din.

Oktoberfest

My good friends and I found the Oktoberfest holiday to be a delightful way to get together in the fall. The fact that I was unalterably a pilgrim, and two of us were of Italian descent didn't deter us from gleefully celebrating a German holiday.

Then the German restaurants started to disappear. German beer gardens (with zillions of TVs playing a noisome quantity of sporting events) are of course doing fine, but not so much the traditional food bit. We pined for sauerbraten, spaetzle, potato pancakes and wiener schnitzel.

Well, heck - why couldn't WE make German food! Then we discovered what it involved. Daylong marinades. And remember, these are German recipes: 23 hours doesn't cut it - daylong means 24 hours, not a minute less. And after that, you still have to COOK the damn stuff, so this option was definitely out.

For once in my life, my gastronomical genius came to the rescue: tubular meat products, of course. Readily available, easy to cook, and quite delicious. Most importantly, very German.

A good time was had by all.