David Leite's Blog, page 11
February 14, 2017
Forever and Completely
A long-term relationship has a lot in common with cleaning out a closet. Over the years, you learn what’s worth keeping and what can be tossed. In my nearly two decades with The One, we’ve often cleared the emotional and interpersonal closets of our lives, each time reshaping the sum of us. For example, I’ve...
...
December 3, 2016
My Memoir: The Cover Revealed
I’m out of my mind with excitement! Here’s the brand-spanking new cover for my soon-to-be-published memoir,Notes on a Banana. I’m in love, love, love, I tell you.
It was a long process to create thecover. I saw the first iteration way back in June. Since then, the extremely talentedart directorMumtaz Mustafaworked closely withhand-lettering savantJoel Holland, and a week or so ago, this neon beauty...
...
November 30, 2016
Grandma’s Silver Spoon
I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. In fact, when I was growing up, I often heard adults say that I had a difficult childhood. I somehow understood what they were saying to be true, but heck, it was all I knew. When I first told David, my partner of nearly 20 years, about my tumultuous upbringing, he was shocked. You see, my emotionally volatile mother, whom I loved dearly, was seemingly strong on the outside but fragile inside....
November 18, 2016
How to Buy a Thanksgiving Turkey
This month, millions of us will find ourselves standing, dazed and confused, at butcher shops, supermarkets, hoity-toity gourmet stores, and farmers markets, wondering how to buy a Thanksgiving turkey. Once again we’ll be confronted, as we are each November, with every conceivable type of turkey, each labeled with terms that may seem straightforward but in fact don’t always mean what you’d think. Fresh. Frozen....
October 29, 2016
Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese
Each autumn, it goes something like this in our house:
“Hey, The One. What do you want for dinner?”
“Something pumpkin.”
“What about lunch?
“Something pumpkin.”
“A snack.”
“Something pumpkin.”
“Dessert? Let me guess: Something pumpkin.”
“No, chocolate.”
I can’t win with this man. But I have gotten good at serving him all kinds of pumpkin dishes:...
...
October 18, 2016
Trick or Treat for the Childless
Every Halloween, in the elevator of my apartment building, there’s a sign-up sheet for residents willing to welcome treat-or-treaters. It’s never a long list, mostly just a few names of people pressured into opening their apartments so desperate parents have a few places their kids can beg for candy. See, in the city it’s considered poor etiquette to hit up another hi-rise for Halloween hooch–some parents would even say it’s...
...
June 25, 2016
My Beans are Gay
My beans are gay. Let me explain.
This morning I was messing around with Facebook Live Streaming. You know, that new thing where you point your phone’s cameraat yourself and hope a lot of people will watch your antics. But I actually had a question I needed advice on from my Facebook followers.
You’ll see from the video above that I accidentally plantedRoyal Burgundy Bush Beans. I say “accidentally” because 1.) I...
...
June 11, 2016
David Hosts The Splendid Table
Heads up. You absolutely, 100 percent have tolisten to the latestepisode of The Splendid Table. And not because I’m hosting. Well, all right, maybe partly because I’m hosting.We have a remarkable lineup of talented folks and experts whose very words you’ll be hanging on to–whetherthey’re talking about love in all its egregious and ecstatic forms, the making of pie crust, or Peruvian-ified fried rice....
May 19, 2016
When a Stranger Cooks Your Food
I lost my virginity to Ron Leal. It happened recently, in the waning weeks of my fourth decade. The One was there, watching every move, every nuance on my face, as were four others, including Joseph Montebello, Ron’s partner. It wasn’t weird or freaky. In fact, it was one of the sweetest moments in memory: It was the first time someone—a virtual stranger, no less—cooked my food and served it to me and others at a dinner party.
...
...
March 5, 2016
Savior on a Stick
June 1988. I stood on the front porch of my friend Patty’s Arlington, Texas, home with suitcases in hand, not unlike Felix Unger in the opening credits of “The Odd Couple.” Like him, I was being thrown out–not out of a tiny Upper East Side classic six–but rather a sprawling six-bedroom casa, complete with pool, three-car garage, automatic sprinkler system, and, what I would miss most, a freezer full of corn...
