Rolls and Noodles c/o J. and J.

Last Saturday I went over to J. and J.'s for hanging out time and dinner. They have officially sold their house, which means that their departure from the Philadelphia area is even more imminent. This bums me out, as I like their company and value their friendship. He-J. made dinner. There were freshly made dinner rolls.
And a noodle dish with spinach and tuna (I think it was tuna?) and peppers, and I should really ask what else.
Lovely company as always. I stayed and watched a little of The Incredibles with J., J. and the kids. Great to see them too, S. and N. have grown up a little since I first met them in May of last year. I love that Sarah Vowell is the voice of the daughter in that movie. Thanks to the whole famly for a lovely evening.

A Little Wine, A Little Pizza

Two Fridays back, the first full weekend I'd be in Philly in nearly a month, I found myself wondering what the heck to do. I decided that drinking white wine on the deck would be nice...and knew it would be made much nicer if others were involved. I knew L. might stop by once she was finished with her work day, and A. had communicated that she was available for some 'hang time', so I called A. and suggested that we put this plan into action. She agreed. And that's what happened. The pizza, as it usually is, was care of Luigi's Pizza Fresca, the wine, I believe, was Corbet Canyon, and the company was fantastic.

Chicago, Adieu

After dim sum I returned with the crew to the Lincoln Square crew because I decided that, instead of taking the predominantly underground red line, that I'd like to take the all above ground brown line to get one last few of the city. When I first visited Chicago, trying to determine whether SAIC was a good move and whether I could live in the city, I only took the brown line, and fell in love with all the back porches and hidden yards and maintained (or not) alleys that one could look down upon from the vantage point of a train car. It, like dim sum as a last meal, seemed fitting that the brown line would be my mode of conveyance to, well, another train line (the blue line), which would whisk me (in a rather mediated not whisk-y fashion) on to O'Hare. I took photographs, of course.

A Little Extra

Other than getting to see grad school friends/two people I like very much get married, the hit of B. and L.'s wedding was the photobooth they rented. The prints that came out of the photobooth came in sets so that those in the photographs could have a set and the bride and groom could have a set. I wanted to include the photos in my blog posts of the wedding, but the scanner I was given a while back (and never used) seems to be broken (which may be why it was given to me in the first place. Recently, however, the photographs have come online. In other words: crisis averted.

Dim Sum c/o Furama Part 39

On Sunday I packed up my belongings and headed north to meet up with T., C., M. and D. for dim sum at Furama. Oh Furama, my dim sum stomping grounds of old. How often I used to sit at your tables, flagging down waitstaff for more hot pepper or soy sauce (or the occasional bubble tea). We were seated at a relatively large table for five people, complete with lazy susan. All the regulars of the meal were in attendance...though no taro.


So many of the Furama faces remained the same: the dude with some sort of disability (is that passe? am I supposed to say learning difference?) pushing the same cart of sticky rice around, the sullen teenagers closer to graduation wearing team Furama tee-shirts, new babies running around the stage at the front of the large banquet hall space, the same tall skinny guy seating each one of us, the same older gentleman with a scar on his face filling our water and adding up our check. Oh man. There were changes, Furama now has a strange gift shop area in its entrance area and the oft strewn beer bottles and cigarette butts from big parties on Saturday nights seemed to be a thing of the past. I did not expect to be remembered, and I wasn't, though the fact that the ebf and I managed to go so frequently is a feat in and of itself...seeing as how I go to dim sum in Philly once every three months or so. It was a good last meal for Chicago; a fitting last meal. Afterwards D. drove us back to his and M.'s house, taking a circuitous route that took us all through Andersonville's streets...the streets I knew so well, sniff sniff. Enough of this.

Close

I'll just have to say it:

Nights of Rodanthe may very well be in the top five of the WORST movies I have EVER seen.

And don't even think about giving me shit for watching it.

Also, while I have you:

Bloglines' customer service is for shit.

Mexican c/o I Forget

After the wedding festivities ended a few of us went on to Innertown Pub for a little more drankin'. Once that portion of the evening was properly done, M. Lady and I returned to her hood with dreams of pizza, which were quickly dashed...it was 3 in the morning you see. Instead M. Lady and I went to a nearby 24 hour Mexican restaurant. I had a combo platter and a horchata. The horchata was quite good, the food not so much.
Then we walked back to her place as the sky became decidedly morning-like.
I don't know if this would count as a late second dinner or an early breakfast, so I'm labelling both ways.

B. and L.'S Wedding, Part 3: The Mother Lode

Because a bride and groom can never have too many photographs taken at their wedding...
This begins the dancing part of the evening, which I also participated in (ironically, of course, and with no photographic evidence to support it happening).

The pig prop from the photobooth got around for sure.
Find the bride in this photograph.

Too lazy to make right, sorry.
C. and I made friends with this little girl.
Again, I'm lazy.
I forget what prompted this, but it was great.

C. tried to a similar move to T.
But may or may not have only ended up showing him her boobies...it's unclear.



The couple had no privacy, not even in the santified space of a photobooth.

Most disturbing picture of the night by far.
Obviously.
Again, why M. Lady s touching L.'s boob escapes me.






And that's that. I had a great time and it was just lovely to see so many familiar faces. A little weird in my own heart and head, but in the bigger picture just fantastic. I would go to this wedding all the time.

B. and L.'s Wedding, Part 2

Once we all arrived at the 19th Century Club there was a nice cocktail hour while the new husband and wife had more photographs taken. Next up was food. Mmm, food. A nice salad wth blue cheese, strawberries and (maybe?) candied walnuts.
A cupcake tower of power....I just realized that blogger has, once again, decided to switch up the order one needs to upload photographs, thus these are not in chronological order. Oh well.

During the cocktail reception...I really thought my hair looked better before we left the house...it didn't stay sleek. Or I should have worn t shaggy. Whatever, too late now. This was the best of about six photographs of M. Lady and myself...with the exception of the hilarious photobooth photos that were taken.
This was originally one of two photographs that went in order...now you'll just have to wait.
M. Lady and J. have big plans for the summer.
The above and below photographs happened in reverse, if you can believe it.
L.'s sparkly with unnecessary shadow.
The main course was either chicken or lasagna. I went with the chicken and it was quite good.
They had some sort of funny point/reference in what they were doing. It escaped me at the time and it escapes me now.
Fist pumping and looking surrious.
Remember when I lived with these two? We do.
A bunch of winners.
And this will end part two.