Pretty Pictures 04.28.12 (Special Wedding Edition)

Happy Wedding Day to Jen and Steve (and to Jason Hottoe for officiating)!  I wish I was in Rico with you guys, but we'll get to party and celebrate your nuptials when you're back in DC.  And hopefully like our girl in today's Pretty Pictures.  Nicki Minaj with "Starships."  Good Lord, homegirl's insane!  In a great way.

Por San Antón, Echa Cueros el Lechón

Wepa!  I was really excited when the Jayhawk first told me that Giovanna Huyke* (the Julia Child of Puerto Rico) was coming to DC to take over the kitchen at Mio.  Reading Tom Sietsema's latest review of the restaurant (which is truly one our favorite spots in town -- I mean, really, the pig alone is reason enough to go and like it there) made me giggle and just about shed a tear of joy.  Welcome to Guasington, Giovanna! And congratulations to you and to Mio for the great review.  Looks like 2012 will be a good (and yummy) year, indeed.

(*Site en español.)

Wee for Me!!!

Santa brought me a Wii for Christmas!  I see some bowling matches in my near future.  Hopefully I won't fling the controller into the TV screen.  That's the Jayhawk's biggest fear.  Who, PS and BTW, must have been very good this year because Santa brought him a Galaxy Tab.  He just about cried when he unwrapped the box.  And his face light up once he powered the thing up and started playing with it.  I have to admit that I'm a tad jealous.  But, that's okay because the Three Kings are set to pay us a visit in a couple of weeks (with Bosox Siobhan and BKDM in tow!).  I can get my own Tab then.  Oh, the joys of being a Rican and celebrating 2 gift-giving holidays...I'm thankful for that.

And I'm thankful for being able to share our Christmas Eve dinner with Shatterproof.  It was a good time.  Beef stroganoff (with bacon), green beans (with bacon), corn with poblano peppers (with bacon), and biscuits (not with bacon but yes with lots of butter).  Yum!  And then there was the 18-pack of Bud Heavies, the bottle of wine, and the coquito (Liz Taylor's recipe, of course).  Can't have a proper Christmas without the booze.  Or without watching "A Christmas Story," which we did and almost watched twice.  But drunky sleep beckoned.  Shatterproof left around 2:30AM and took a jug of coquito for his sister-in-law's family dinner tonight (them peoples are gonna have the sobriety knocked out of them real good).  I finally made it to bed around 3AM; exhausted, but again, thankful.  And thankful that it's still just Sunday and tomorrow I get the day off.  Score for being a Gub'ment worker!

¡Feliz Navidad, mis bonitos!

And I'll Form the Head!

Ooph...Sorry for the extended Thanksgiving hiatus, mis bonitos.  The tryptophan from the Rican-spiced turkey had me in a mind/body coma.  Well...I say it was the turkey, but it was really the turkey and the ham and the arroz con gandules and the pasteles de pollo and the cheesecake.  And the beers.  The many, many beers.  Mi cielo, so many beers over the course of the long weekend!  Overall, it was great time with the Rican familia and the urban familia.  Especially hanging out in the 'hood with my cousin who flew in for the holiday.  I'm not sure that my vital organs (mainly my liver) agree with me on that, but they would agree that this news is awesome!  Learning of the possibility of a Voltron movie made me giggle and jump up and down with pure glee.  Eeee!

That's My Sandwich!

Boo Hiss!  My parents didn't make it out of Rico last night.  Well, they made it 30 minutes out when their pilot decided to turn back to the island because the plane cabin smelled like burning rubber.  Luckily nothing wrong was found, but mom/dad weren't able to find another flight to the Mainland.  So they're staying in PR.  And eating my loaded sammie!  Japi Zanguiving, papá!

(Caveat: My sisters are gonna send us new sammies in dry ice in the mail.  It's a Thanksgiving miracle!)

The Ricans Are Coming! The Ricans Are Coming!

The Jayhawk and I are getting ready to gobble gobble on some turkey and fixin's tomorrow at my cousin's house in the No Va with my parents!  I know that I saved up some space in my belly already today by eating a light lunch and dinner.  Gotta make room for the pasteles, alcapurrias, beans and rice, and many desserts.  And our sandwiches from Las Cumbres that my sisters bought for us this morning.  Nothing says Rican lovin' quite like pounds of roast pork, ham, salami, mortadella, and cheese on a freshly-baked hoagie roll.  By the time we get them tomorrow all of those juices and flavors will have melded together and seeped into the bread...Oh!  I'm going into artery-hardening, heart attack shock just thinking about it!  Too awesome for words.

Put a Ring On It

So, Steve Run asked Jen to marry him on Friday night, and she said yes!  Congratulations!  I'm so glad that we got to share the couple's joy and properly celenebriate the momentous occassion with beers and shots (and beers and shots) at Duffy's.  Thanks to The District for organizing the Chimneys to surprise Jen on the happy night!

(PS: Steve, you done good, friend.  Very good.)

Mi Casa Es Su Casa

Today's good news about Sotomayor's nomination is good news, indeed. The energy on La Isla has got be off the chain! ¡Viva, boricua! It's too bad that the good news couldn't extend to the gays in California. The struggle continues.

(Photo courtesy of Shawn Thew/EPA)

It's Alive! Alive!

We're back...It's been way too long, mis bonitos. To be honest, I was thinking of giving up on the blogging. But I logged onto the blog last week and got re-inspired. So, without further ado, here we are back to sharing with the world. ¡Un gran beso, mundo!