SIMPLY DELISH

A few days ago, my friend K asked me to go to lunch.

We went to a restaurant called Simply Delish, a place with chintz curtains and flowered wallpaper. Their specialty: quiche.

We had a lovely meal, sitting there sipping our tea and eating our quiche. It was excellent: flaky crust, filling is rich but still light, the vegetables were so fresh. I do recommend.

But it was in the middle of out lunch when I posed K a question.

"Do you think we've become a little bit too gay?"

He was smoothing his napkin in his lap, ever-so-perfectly. "What do you mean?"

"We are eating quiche in a restaurant decorated with autographed pictures of Judy Garland," I said, pointing above my head. "And the only customer in here who is a woman is at least 80 years old, and she doesn't look like she knows where she actually is, so I don't think she counts."

"Did you know our waiter was in a porn movie?" he asked, as he pointed to the man who just served us our food. "He played a teacher. His student was very, very bad."

"That's great."

"So what? We're fine." He took a bite of his quiche. "Mmm," he said. "This is delish."

And this brings me to my point.

My editors consistently give me gay-themed articles to write. This week's assignment? A benefit party for Misty Eyez, a drag queen who is raising money to compete in the Miss Florida At Large pageant. The "At Large" part means it's a pageant for the full-figured girls. Who are, of course, really men.

I go out and am surrounded by gay people, my phone is filled with the numbers for gay people. I go out with gay people and talk ad naseum about other gay things, gay events, gay people.

So I think it's time to step out of the comfort zone for a while. I'm trying things not typical for the gays.

Last night things got off to a great start: I told my friend A, who is in fact a heterosexual, that I was going out last night. And he said "But you're going to miss The Family Guy. It's the Star Wars episode." Not knowing what this meant, I took his recommendation on faith, and watched it with C (another gay) while eating tacos. HILARIOUS. Usually The Family Guy's lame slap-stick jokes are cheap and pointless, having nothing to do with the actual episode they're in. But within the structure of Star Wars, it was perfect. You must watch. My brother and I are scheduled to have a critical-analysis conversation about the show later today. It's important, this show. It must be discussed.

Comments

[Liz]

I think gay people surround themselves with "gay culture" because they can be open and feel safe and people get them. It's understandable. The most open gays I know, work for gay people and have mostly gay friends. Personally, I relate best to girlfriends and gay men. That is my comfort zone.

[Scott]

First off, if you don't want to sound too gay, it's just "Family Guy"...no article. Quite funny episode last night, definitely.

As for the rest of things...I'm pretty much the opposite. I have no gay friends, I enjoy activities that traditionally gay men probably wouldn't partake in, blah blah. Works for me, except that I don't get any dates, because I don't know any gay men to ask out.

I guess we all need to find that happy medium, wherever that medium falls for each of us. I'll take you to a hockey game if you introduce me to some of your single friends.

[misscrankypants]

I'd totally hang out with you and take you all over our Nation's Capital to see the sites. If you are ever in town, let's hang out!

Hanging out with your readers has GOT to be out of your comfort zone.

[Jacob]

mmmm, I love quiche - particularly with a bellini. That's not too gay is it?

[Michael]

Too much gay is definitely better than too little. Trust.

[Michael]

But I suppose there is a happy medium to be found which includes both quiche and Petergeist. Oh. Wait.

[dan]

Actually consider yourself lucky. As a single gay man on the other coast of South Florida most of my friends are straight, we don’t have anything like you would find in SoBe, and many times I wish I had more gay culture in my life. Heck the people at my part-time job (second job) don’t even realize I’m gay. I'm sure there must be a happy middle ground but I haven't found it yet.

[Nate]

I feel like I've run the gamut on this. Three and a half years ago I was living in an apartment with a gay friend, and all our gay friends came over every night, and we went out five times a week.

Now I've got a boyfriend and we stay in, and our best friends are two straight couples, and I have to say, I rather like it. We watch sports - and the Simpsons - and walk the dog, and we still have a ton of gay friends, but we almost never go out. I've started to find that a lot of things about gay culture just aren't me - techno music for example.

I feel good about it.

[Yummsh]

If ya ever find the need to talk titties and beer, Dan-o, you know where to find me.

[David]

I'm curious. Do Koreans worry that they are acting too much like Koreans? Do Italians worry if their lives are too Italian? Do heterosexuals worry that they don't have enough gayness in their lives?

Why should one worry if their life is "too gay?" Just what is "too gay" anyway? Has someone established an official benchmark that we can measure our lives against?

If you feel your life is missing some dimension, that's wonderful. Broaden those horizons. But I think there is a subtle, negative connotation inherent in deciding that someone can have "too much" of an ethnic, religious or sexual identity. Just my observation.

And Family Guy rocks.

[mary]

I want quiche. :(

[blaugra]

gay or straight, it's really good to recognize when you feel your life is "too" anything. And it's always good to diversify your friend portfolio a little. I'm so happy that along the road of life I met friends who are wonderful and gay. Totally changed my world for the better.

[Coy]

^WTF?! lol.

yeah, so Dan, it's a good thing to have a balance. Good luck with that.

[chesca]

im totally down to be your fruit fly. i can't believe i haven't seen you out around the beach. now i'll keep my eyes out. your blog is hilarious. thanks for making me laugh.