DanMargarita.com

The guests were Sen. Richard Tsei, Rep. Brad Jones, Rep. Paul Casey, Rep. Michael Festa and some guy named "Charlie." I can't tell you Charlie's last name because Charlie was late in arriving, and when he did arrive, he didn't bother to introduce himself, as had the other candidates earlier. Charlie explained that he was late because he was working out at the YMCA, which he says that he always does in lieu of breakfast.

The Stoneham Chamber of Commerce hosted the affair which was emcee'd by the always-entertaining Michael Zizza, of Zizza Insurance and was $15 for Chamber members and $20 for non-members.

First however, came the matter of breakfast. It was a buffet style meal with eggs, bacon, potatoes (the plural for "potato" is when you use an "e," former Vice-President Quayle), bagels and ham. Of course there was coffee, both regular and decaffinated for those of us less in need for a legal buzz. The decaf coffee table was off in the corner away from the regular coffee and the rest of the food, as though it were being segregated. I sort of thought that there should be a sign over it reading "Decaf Only."

I like bagels with sour cream. It's really the sour cream that makes the bagel worth eating. In fact, I dare say that the sour cream "carries" the bagel. The problem is that the amount of bagel greatly exceeds the amount of sour cream that you put on it. Thus, you have devoured the sour cream before you've finished the bagel and the only reason that you finish the bagel is out of guilt. You don't want to waste food and you feel that you owe it to the sour cream.

The scambled eggs were delicious. Not too dry, and not too moist. Eggs are not to be eaten too much, we are told. "Cholesterol" was the scare word that we heard. "Stay away from cholesterol" we were told. "They'll take your wallet and sell your women" we were told. Then suddenly it was "Well, stay away from the bad cholesterol." Apparently there was "good" and "bad" cholesterol. So how were supposed to know the difference? I guess the "good" cholesterol wore the white hats and the "bad" cholesterol wore the black hats.

There were a variety of juices on hand. I'm a daily orange juice drinker so I proceeded to the three carafes of juice that I saw. One was apple, one was cranberry and the third was the strangest looking orange juice that I've ever seen. One sip and I realized that the reason it was strange was because it was pineapple juice. The o.j., clearly the post popular morning juice, had it's own, lager container.

Well it turned out to be a pretty good breakfast.

Oh yeah, the politicians? They made some speeches.