Numbers 25 and 26: Repair a Piece of Furniture and Host a Grown-Up Dinner Party, Not Just A Bender Location

The story of my wanting to repair a piece of furniture starts with Grey's Anatomy and Martha Stewart. It's no secret that A) I'm in love with Martha Stewart and everything she stands for, and B) I have a thing for gay men. So turn back the clock to when Grey's Anatomy was still starting out and made me cry in every episode, to when George (TR Knight) was still fighting for Meridith's love, and to when TR Knight hadn't yet come out of the closet. TR Knight goes on an episode of Martha! And they refinish a chair. Martha asks TR about a girlfriend (he did not have one... yess!!!!) and they chat about chairs at his house that he needs refinishing. Martha says she will help. And me? Well, I develop a plan. All I have to do is write a book, go on a book tour, get an agent to book me a spot on Martha!, make friends with Martha, and have her introduce me to TR Knight and we'd live happily ever after. And in the meantime, I figured he'd want a handy girl around the house, so I'd learn how to refinish furniture. But, alas, TR Knight came out of the closet, being maybe the 8th guy in the list of celebrity-or-otherwise crushes I'd had that turned out to be gay, and crushed my dreams.

Sidebar, the last time I was in NYC, TR Knight and Patrick Stewart were in a broadway show together. I kick myself for not going to see it. It pains me, it really does.

Anyway. Having this on my list has taught me two things:
1. Recovering furniture is easier than I thought!
2. I don’t like it.

The thing is, I don't love rules. I'm NOT handy, and I hate measuring. It's the reason the only thing I can sew are straight lines, the reason why I can't follow patterns, the reason why I can only crochet and knit scarves, the reason why my cookies never turn out, and the reason why my life is full of disappointment. But what I DO like - experimentation, creation, wonderment, and that feeling of complete satisfaction when that recipe DOES turn out. I am also satisfied when things turn out from perfected recipes and online patterns, but it's not the same. I don't feel project ownership. I don’t feel empowered.

Anyway. I had this great idea. All you need to recover furniture is fabric and a staple gun right? So I bought some cheap beige vinyl, got an allen key and a staple gun, and took The Boy's dining chairs apart. He'd bought them from some guy at work's brother who was moving overseas. They were a million years old and the black leatherette was holey. I popped out the cushiony pieces, tucked the beige stuff around and stapled like crazy. Four chairs and a very very very sore back later, I'd done it! And when KO came over for dinner, he said that the whole apartment looked airier. Amazing! Totally worth it.


The story of my wanting to host a dinner party came from one Thanksgiving potluck at my parents' house. I have hosted thanksgiving potluck every year since my first year of university, where I had a few friends over because they weren't going home to visit family. One Thanksgiving, LJ brought some amazing cheesecake and this made up chocolate-caramel deliciousness she brought in a mug (how she didn't actually just eat it by the spoonful escapes me) and DQ tried to make conversation with her.

DQ: So. You hang out at my sister's place a lot, eh?
LJ: Yeah. We're there a lot.
DQ: So. Do you guys predrink there before you go out?
LJ: Um. No. we just.. We hang out.
DQ: but it's always busy right? She's always having people over to drink?
Me: Shut up! We do more than just drink. Geez.

But it was a lie. I lived in the market and people usually came over for some drinks before we went out for dinner/dancing/etc. and I really really wanted to have a real grown-up dinner party. Not just a potluck, not a time when ppl came over and we made something together, not ordering pizza. And last night, I did it!

The Boy helped, of course, but it was mostly me! We made bruschetta (sourdough, garlic butter, boconccini, tomato, basil), roasted carrot soup (carrots, celery, onions, pickled garlic, skim milk) with smoked gouda (using his new indoor pressure smoker), salad (belgian endive and microgreens with goat cheese pinelles rolled in toasted walnuts and maple flax, all with a fig and fire balsamic reduction), two-salmon ravioli (atlantic salmon, smoked salmon, ricotta, green onions, dill, won ton wrappers) with pesto (spinach, basil, garlic, olive oil), and chai crème brulee. Sure, the ravioli kind of melted together and we had to do some last minute patching… but it tasted good. And we had a really fun time! There was wine and music and conversation and loveliness. Thanks so much to LJ, DC, and KO for coming over to help me scratch this off my list!