Meals I Have Eaten

Time

2012-02-02T06:40:00.001-05:00

Ack, I don't have time to catch the blog up to present day before my impending trip to the BAHAMAS. But don't worry, when I return there will be sushi, sandwiches and (I would imagine) plenty of photographs of the beach and me lying on it.

Restaurant Week Dinner c/o Buddakan

2012-02-01T09:21:00.003-05:00

Some weeks ago, I asked AS if she might not want to go to another fancier-than-average restaurant during the winter Restaurant Week madness. She expressed interest, so it was on. We decided to go big and try out Buddakan, which wasn't too far away from Union Trust, which is where we went in the fall. I walked the three + miles, which wasn't too much of a thing since winter isn't really doing its thing this year...except that about a mile in to the walk it began to spit rain and I hadn't thought to bring an umbrella. Thank goodness it didn't really get worse. We both decided to get specialty cocktails. I chose "Solid," which was a mixture of bourbon, jasmine, honey and cherry. AS went with a drink that I recall being named "Strength," which I don't see on their downloadable cocktail list. I think it was gin based with cilantro perhaps? I enjoyed my beverage very much and appreciated the slightly fancier version of cherries - no neon red, but a subdued burgundy that packed a sweetness and a bit of tartness into each little bite.
Because it was restaurant week, we were given a few different options for our three courses. We were both intrigued by the satay and dumplings, so ordered both and split them. The satay was certainly above average in terms of the cut of meat or its preparation. Far more tender and rare than the satay you might get in a high turnover thai place. You'll note that the lighting posed a considerable challenge to me. In fact none of the dumpling photographs are worth any of our collective time, but they were delicious and I could have eaten far more than the two allotted to me.
Our server was pretty cool considering the shit show of people in the place. When I asked him if I should go with the fried sea bream or the shortribs with chow fun, he suggested the bream as it better displayed what the chefs could do. I'm not sure I 100% understand that argument, as the bream was fried and I've always thought that it takes less talent to fry something than it does to slowly make something tender as hell...but if I am not anything, I'm most certainly not an expert. The bream came with a mandarin miso sauce and gingered cucumbers and a few peppers. The citrus note of the sauce was a little weird for me, but the fish was really delightful. The light batter was nice and crisp and had a saltiness to it that worked, and the fish inside was nice and moist and flaky and delicious. AS also ordered the wasabi mashed potatoes, which were an interesting combo. I think I would have liked them even a little spicier.
For dessert I chose the 'dip sum' donuts. These five spice sugar suckers were fresh from the fryer and came with a chocolate sauce, blackberry jam and gingered cream cheese. These were quite tasty but filling at the end of the meal. I wasn't able to actually finish them all and AS' chocolate lava dessert was so filling for her, she couldn't give it a shot either.
It was certainly crowded. And we were given a table by a column, which blocked the view of the larger dining space/giant buddha on display...but the server wasn't grumpy and the food was really tasty. I'd go back again and try a few different things. Though probably not all at once; place is pricey.

Rampin' Up the Darts

2012-01-30T07:57:00.002-05:00

So after a holiday hiatus, darts started back up last week. Our team has been put into a different (better) division, which may or may not work out in our favor (I'm thinking it may not). Our first match was at McCrossen's. Almost the entire team showed up early to practice and sit, which warmed LW's heart if I recall correctly.
The match itself didn't go too terribly well. At least in terms of who won and who lost.
I, however, had a nice time.

Roasted Chicken

2012-01-29T08:50:00.002-05:00

D. was nice enough to leave a chicken in the fridge for me to roast to my heart's content. I spent a part of that Saturday morning brining the chicken a little and then after a few hours, stuck it into the oven. I managed to find more patience than I sometimes do, which led to a bird that browned nicely in less time than it sometimes takes when I'm constantly opening the oven to check the internal temp of the meat. The skin was especially crispy/crunchy.

Also, the geese kept flying around in droves.

Country Snow

2012-01-29T08:24:00.003-05:00

I woke up pretty early for my Saturday morning in Bucks. I can't say I was surprised to find that it was snowing, because I had actually checked the weather. That said, I still found it quite pretty. I took a photograph with my iPhone I will have to track down for my next iPhone photo round up. Here is Yma. She looks more worried than I think she actually was.
This is Pipo. Pipo sometimes seems confused by what she wants. Or perhaps more accurately she doesn't know how to communicate her feelings in a productive manner. In other words, she's a growler. But she is also a lover of stuffed hedgehogs. We played some keepaway with the hedgehog, where I pretended that I really wanted the hedgehog, and she growled and ran in circles...I know this was actually fun to her because when I stopped chasing her, she'd look behind her with a expression of 'I wasn't done growling and running away from you, please continue.' When I was done with the game, she would lie down in a comfy pile and just keep the hedgehog in her mouth. It was funny.
It eventually stopped snowing. I don't think the accumulation was more than three inches. I noticed a definite uptick in geese flying around the big field that runs up to some woods, which is then bordered by a creek. There were so many of them that you could hear the honking from inside the house. I decided to investigate, as I had a suspicion that some kind of congregation of mass proportions was happening in the creek.
I was right. But what I was wrong about was forgetting my zoom lens at home, so the photographs of the hundreds of geese I saw are just not all that impressive. Apologies to myself.
Snow and cut corn stalks.
Geese taking flight as they clue in to my presence by the creek.
Flippity, flappity, flippity, honk.

Very pretty.

Country Sun

2012-01-28T08:28:00.002-05:00

Last weekend I went to a different section of Bucks County and spent another weekend in the country watching dogs...but not the same dogs as the preceding weekend. Totally different dogs. I arrived on Friday afternoon and got to see this beautiful light as the sun began its way down.
It was lovely.

Soup and Tuna Tartar c/o Hickory Lane

2012-01-27T07:41:00.003-05:00

Over the last couple of weeks I've really been trying to actually start going to some of the restaurants on my resolution list. I have also begun to make dates months in advance for such establishments. It makes me feel productive. On this particular night I met up with C., formerly of pizza,puppy and laundry nights. We don't see as much of one another now that she's commuting to Baltimore for her Master's degree, and this makes me sad. So a few weeks ago we made a plan that we would enjoy a dinner together during her school break. And we did. At Hickory Lane. It's BYO, so I brought my own bottle of Chateau Caroline, courtesy of my father. This is a relatively new place, just open for a month or so. On a Sunday night it wasn't too terribly busy. I walked in just moments after a larger party, or that's what it seemed like, as they were milling around the relatively small entry way. They were all men, so I was confused as to whether any of them was actually the host. That makes no sense. In any case, I was seated right next to that large party, though there were other tables available. I am fascinated by how restaurants choose to seat people. C. arrived and we both decided on what we wanted for our meals. I went with the French Onion soup and tuna tartar with ponzu sauce, wasabi lime ailoi and grilled lavash flatbread. C. ordered the mussels, and I can't remember what else.
The soup came out hot, but wasn't terribly remarkable. My personal preference for the actual soup is always slightly more savory than sweet, but this particular broth had more sweet notes to it. I liked the mountainous slab of cheese coating the whole thing, but struggled to actually consume it all (C. ended up helping in that regard). The tuna tartar was also a little underwhelming. The wasabi lime aioli didn't have as much or any kick as I might have expected. The tuna itself was nicely chopped (cubed?) and had the beginnings of an interesting sauce, but perhaps just needed a tad bit more in my opinion.
So, on the whole, this place seems solid but not all that special. Our waiter was friendly, the place had a dark walled, dimly lit, date kind of vibe to the place. But I guess I was not all that impressed with the quality of the food for the price it was. This seems to be a running theme lately. Have I lost my ability to actually love anything, I wonder?

Soup and Scallops c/o Black Bass Hotel

2012-01-26T08:12:00.005-05:00

The Sunday of my dog watching weekend was a quiet one. I cleaned up the house a bit, watched some Vampire Diaries and putzed. M. and A. came back in the late afternoon and we hung out for a bit. It was A.'s birthday so we went out to celebrate it. They also wanted to thank me for hanging out with the dogs, which was unnecessary as hanging out with two dogs in the country isn't really something I consider a burden. In any case, M. suggested the Black Bass Hotel because she had always been curious about it. We took a twisty, turny Bucks County drive to get to the establishment, which is right along the Delaware River. It's one of those set ups where the main building is on one side of a narrow road and then parking and perhaps additional rooms are across the street. A very river-country set up. We were seated in the main dining room, which had what I'm sure was quite a spectacular view of the river. It was dark, so it was hard to get the full effect, but the light reflecting on the dark water below was pretty neat. M. and I had cocktails to start, I went with a dirty martini. M. was a bit more adventurous and went with the 'Basstini," which was Earl Grey tea infused Beefeater Gin, simple syrup and lemon juice. I actually thought it had a few other things in it, but that's what the menu says so...Her cocktail was a real surprise. Definitely had Earl Grey and citrus notes. Different, but successful. She and I also decided to try the crab chowder. The menu described it as spicy, but I don't think that was really true of this bowl. I guess my own preference for cream-based chowders made this a bit of a let-down. I didn't ask the question, made the assumption, etc. Still good, but not magical.
For my main course I was drawn to the Seared Sea Scallops with House-Cured Pork Belly with caramelized fennel, potato pave and brandied apricot glaze.
I had no idea what potato pave was, and when I first saw my plate, I thought that the potato pave was actually some extremely fatty form of pork belly. Once I established that wasn't the case, the dish made a little more sense. I would actually preferred more pork over the potato portion. The scallops were nicely seared but still tender. The sauce was interesting.
M. went with the mushroom risotto appetizer as her main course, while A. went with the Coffee Lacquered Duck served with pear ginger chutney and coffee sauce. I think I tried a bite and liked it, but that somehow there was a slight disconnect between what I expected from the menu's description and the actual taste profile of the 'lacquer.' I think that A. felt similarly, but I could be remembering incorrectly.
This was a lovely meal, and I enjoyed having a nice dinner with M. and A. The issue with the establishment itself, I think, was that the prices for the food are definitely a bit high for what you actually get. It's not bad food, but it's not transcendent either. And for $28 (the price of the scallops), I hope for a really special experience - even if I'm not actually footing the bill. Our server was friendly and nice on the whole, though at some point in the meal she became perhaps a little too familiar for the environment. In a diner or greasy spoon I think waitresses can call you honey or sweetie with impunity, but in what is selling itself as a 'fine dining' establishment, calling first time guests by this kind of endearment strikes me as a bit odd. But, again, it was a lovely night and I thank M. and A. for their company and for the meal!

Chicken Legs, Brussels Sprouts and Leeks

2012-01-22T09:16:00.002-05:00

Last weekend I went out to the country to hang out with M. and A.'s dogs Panda and Ella while they were in New York. I knew I wanted to cook myself some food, but I struggled to think of anything all that great. In the end I breaded and baked more chicken drumsticks than I could eat because I couldn't be bothered with dealing with left over raw meat.
The chicken turned out meh, which is what happens when you don't really have a good feeling or excitement about what you're doing. The side dish I made, on the other hand, was quite satisfying: brussels sprouts, leeks, a little bacon and mmmm, tasty time.
Panda and I lay by the fire for most of my stay. It was nice and warm and lovely. Even if I made crappy chicken.

Chicken Liver Paté c/o McCorssen's

2012-01-22T09:11:00.001-05:00

With the dart league on break, I haven't been playing so much of the darts. But at some point in the last few weeks, LW and I met up at McCrossen's. I tried their chicken liver pate with pear jelly, which surprisingly came in this jar. The jelly was on top. The dish was rich, but tasty.
Later on we played darts for a bit.

Sushi and Sandwich

2012-01-21T08:43:00.002-05:00

Another week, more meals. I'm not sharing the curry from King of Tandoor because it really isn't that much to look at, but I enjoyed it at the time. Another meal was from Kansai. I believe I went with the spicy/crunchy crab roll, eel and avocado, and smoked salmon with cream cheese. Very authentic sushi, no doubt. Satisfying though.
And then a turkey, pickle etc sandwich from Rybread. Their definition of a brioche is kind of off the mark.

Breakfast Sandwich c/o One Shot Coffee

2012-01-21T08:24:00.002-05:00

A few weekends back I drove over to L.'s neighborhood, picked her up, then we drove on to the main Northern Liberties strip for coffee at One Shot Coffee. Except I ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on a house made cheddar cheese and chive biscuit as a meal, and an earl grey latte as my drink. So no coffee for me. Coffee for L. though. It was nice to catch up. L. has had a number of quite big life things happen over the last month or two, and between our schedules we haven't had much time to actually see each other and talk about all the big things.
The sandwich was good, though I wondered how they made their eggs. I still, from time to time, remember how we made egg sandwiches at the coffee house I worked at during college, and shudder (it involved plastic and a microwave).
A good catch-up and meal, I particularly enjoyed the earl grey latte.

Korean and Hoagie Lunches

2012-01-20T19:57:00.005-05:00

The lunches kept coming. The dragon, however, isn't as young as it used to be and finds the whole thing more of a challenge. Another bad landing and wing loss in the Kim Chi stew from Koja Grill.
The dragon was able to enjoy the rice with no problem.
And on another day, another Primo's hoagie. I think this was the Sicilian.

Roast Beef Sandwich c/o Rybread

2012-01-20T08:33:00.002-05:00

Another subsidized lunch meal at work. This time from Rybread. I believe this was roast beef, cheddar cheese and horseradish mayo grilled paninni-style. The beef didn't really have a lot of goodness to it, which meant the whole thing was a little flat; not Rybread's best, I didn't think.

Chinese c/o Hunan Szehuan

2012-01-19T18:11:00.002-05:00

At some point we ordered Chinese. I ordered the chicken noodle soup, which wasn't all that great. Then I thought I'd try a new form of tofu without fully knowing what it would be. In this case I believe it was "Tofu Home Style." It turned out to be pretty great, thick and crunchy tofu with snowpeas and really meaty mushrooms in a kind of spicy sauce. I really dug it.

Charcuterie and Pickles c/o Farmer's Cabinet

2012-01-19T09:48:00.004-05:00

On the first while I was hanging out with M. and A. et al, Mr. Ass gave me a ring and inquired as to whether I might like to grab a dinner-type meal in Philly later on. I thought that was a good idea and then we spent far longer than necessary deciding where we might go. In the end we met up at Farmer's Cabinet. The drunken dredges of the Mummers' Parade were still hanging about that area of the city; Mr. Ass mentioned that while he was waiting for me a man, standing outside just like him, asked Mr. Ass whether it was raining. It was. In any case, Farmer's Cabinet's interior really is pleasing to the eye with high ceilings, the walls of which are punctuated by what seems to be real lit candles. The bar starts with what seems to be the cheese station before morphing into quite an impressive number of drafts. We were seated at the long communal table in the back of what appeared to be the main space.
On Sundays they continue their brunch menu into the evening, which was quite a temptation, but in the end I made choices independently of the breakfast offers. I am a sucker for pickled things, so I jumped at the chance to order their Kirby Cucumber Quarters. Good, but maybe a tad too sweet for me. I like my pickles to have a bite.
Then I ordered the tasting menu of their house cured meats, which included duck prosciutto, salami gentil, pate de campagne, toscana and finocchiona. As is often the case, I should have written down my thoughts to really give any true direction as to what stood out the most. I believe the pate was a clear winner, as was the salami. The whole grain mustard was good as well. Mr. Ass ordered the Lancaster Roasted Chicken with Yukon gold puree, caramelized pearl onions and turnips, black kale, and blood orange bitter jus. He was kind enough to let me have a bit, and it was quite good. Mr. Ass made the observation that sometimes the chicken on a restaurant's menu is the secret start, but we're all too bothered chasing down foie gras or rabbit to realize it. I added the foie and rabbit references. I often try, when going to a restaurant, to think of what I cannot or do not make for myself, and order accordingly. And while I can make a decent chicken, I may have to give it a better shot when I'm out...in order to further inspire my own chicken making abilities.
There was a little weirdness with the bill. On the menu I had looked at, the tasting plate was $17, but the bill made it $19, and Mr. Ass had ordered the smaller sized beer but was charged for the larger one. When we pointed out these inconsistencies to our server, she was quick to bring a different menu over to show me that I was wrong...but I pointed out that that wasn't the menu I looked at so... And then she basically told Mr. Ass that he had ordered a large one, and that's why he was charged the large price...though I had clearly heard him ask for the smaller size. I know that being a server can suck, and that people complaining about things is annoying. But I guess I still felt like her response, which was to sort of blame us and then reluctantly go talk to her manager without ever once apologizing for the confusion, could have been more diplomatic or something. It's not a cheap place, but I'd probably go back for drinks and snacks.

Pulled Pork, Slaw and Cornbread to Start 2012

2012-01-18T18:36:00.002-05:00

On the first I had to complete a bit of work in the morning, but helped with the lunch for the day. A.'s mother, M., shredded the remaining pork shoulder and then I made my version of pulled pork, which is definitely some amalgamation of a few different styles and totally inauthentic. T. whipped up some slaw, which I enjoyed mightily, and gluten-free cornbread to boot. A good final meal with this crew.
Then we played one more game of Catan before I headed back to Philly. Pretty sure I didn't win this game either, though I did have a pretty long road until I was stymied...by whom I can't quite remember. A. or C. probably.
I do like when the same thing happens in consecutive years; the sense of at least a fleeting tradition. I'm sure that as A. and M. and their respective families grow and change New Year's won't be at this location or include me, but for this year and last, it was a wonderful and relaxing time...except for the work, of course. By that I mean: thanks to S. for hosting us all and to the whole crew for their contributions to broadening my palate's experience with Italian wines and Wegman cheeses.

Well Hello 2012

2012-01-18T18:01:00.002-05:00

Ours was a relatively subdued New Years Eve night. I think M., A., C. and I played a game of Catan while S. and M. went to bed. Then M. made a yule log while A., C., T. and I played a second game as the minutes of 2011 dwindled. We cheered to the new year first with sparkling Italian wine that was found to be a bit lacking, and then switched to the better stuff while finishing up our second game.
Here you can see the process of rolling up the yule log.
Once it was rolled up, it was covered in icing and then we all contributed a few marzipan (marzipan?) mushrooms to make it have more of a log-look. And yet no photographs of that truth are available to me.
I don't think I won a single game of Catan over the course of our three days of playing, but did I mind? Not too terribly; I just like getting to play.

New Year's Dinner

2012-01-18T08:49:00.000-05:00

On New Years Eve Day, I woke up early and did some work. Then S. and I went to the grocery store to get what was needed for the evening's dinner. And what was that, you ask? It was pork shoulder as the main protein, with artichokes and additional veggies. I was in charge of the pork. I made my standard garlic, tomato, cider vinegar etc wet sauce. I also did my standard 'stabbing of the pork' and put lots of bits of garlic in those consequent tears in the shoulder.
Cooked for about 8 hours at a low temp, this came out quite well. Actually, I was a little surprised by just how moist it was. Tender for sure, but not quite in the same way that the dish usually works. I think this may have been partially because it was a better quality of meat than I sometimes use, and that it wasn't as fat-ridden as some of the shoulders I've played around with. Or neither of those things, I surely am not sure.
The dogs knew something was going on.
A. diligently scooped the thistle-y part of the artichokes out before steaming them, which meant that when it came to eating them, you could go straight to the heart without all that untasty fluff.
I cooked the pork with the sauce and a fair number of onions, carrots, mushrooms and potatoes. These veggies soaked and soaked in the tomato/fatty wonder that was the combined result of the pork's fatty juices and the sauce I added into the mix.
I believe we had a salad course and then a cheese course. The triple cream was especially tasty.
And for dessert, homemade gingerbread and M.'s hand whipped cream.
A wonderful way to spend the last night of 2011.

Chicken in Morel Sauce

2012-01-14T15:04:00.002-05:00

The New Years Eve/Day weekend is always a pretty crazy time for me and my coworkers. The work we do is very deadline oriented, and a lot of deadlines come in around the 3rd or 4th, which means the days leading up to those deadlines are ridiculous. This has - in tandem with my own reluctance to set myself up for disappointment - in past years led me to simply stay in on New Years Eve. Last year a nice balance was struck when I joined M. and A. and S. and A.'s family in the country. I was able to enjoy myself and feel like I was part of a group, but without the crazy crowds or, let's face it, the expectation that I would be kissed as I rang in the new year...and also with the ability to get up relatively early and get down to doing some work. So I was glad when I learned that M. and A. were once again going to be on the east coast for 2012, and happily joined the same bunch for another new years weekend. I arrived Friday evening, just moments before they sat down for dinner. M. and A. had made chicken in Madeira cream sauce with morel mushrooms. It was delicious. Delicious! We also had a salad and cheese course, but I was too busy enjoying it to photograph it.

Grower Champagne and Truffle Dinner c/o McCrossen's

2012-01-14T09:55:00.003-05:00

In the last days of 2011, LW and I made our way to McCrossen's for their big champagne and truffle event. We arrived on time, but a lot of other folks didn't, so I ended up getting a glass of wine while we killed time. This was a nice red, I liked it very much.
Eventually it was go-time. The first course was Champagne Thierry Triolet, NV paired with a roasted sea scallop with citrus, Bordier seaweed butter and julienne truffles. I believe LW said of the first champagne "it tastes like money" but that may have been the second? I took photographs of most of the bubbly, but they all looked pretty much the same, so I'm not bothering. The scallop was similar to other scallop dishes we've had at the cheese/wine/food events. Good, but not quite hot...like it was one of the first plated, but last to be taken out or something. Still tender and tasty, but I would have liked it more if the temperature had been up just a bit. Of all the courses, this was the one where the truffle element didn't come through quite as much. For me, anyways.
Next up was a Champagne Brut Reserve, Henri Billiot Fils. Paired with Coeur de Cochon Pithivier with creamed salsify and Perigueux sauce. The sauces on all of these dishes were off the hook. It doesn't look like a lot in any of the photos, but each slurp or scoop was just rich, rich goodness personified. Only not personified. Foodified.
Hearty and rich, wonderfully flaky outside. Mmm. I think I may have literally used one of my fingers to get the last of the sauce from the plate to my belly.
On to the Champagne Brut "Tradition," Gaston-Chicquet paired with sauteed foie gras with picked prunes, Sauce Foyot and sliced truffles. I'm a sucker for foie gras, so it probably won't come as any big surprise that this was my favorite course. I also liked the prune element, as I'm most familiar with foie being paired with cherries or balsamic...or both in some combo, so trying something slightly new and different was neat-o. Rich. Fatty. Melty madness. Just. So satisfying.
The final course was Champagne Rose de Saignee Brut, Rene Geoffroy, and went along with Wild Scottish Pheasant "Demi-Deuil" with potato fondant and truffles. The potato fondant. My goodness me. LW asked T. what he had done to them, and he said something about cooking them in butter for six hours. This made me laugh and laugh, partially because of the champagne, and partially because of course butter made it so good...but also of course if I tried to cook potatoes in butter for six hours, I would get nothing like the results of this dish. Butter is your friend, but only if you know how to wield it. Because we all wield friends. The pheasant was plentiful and tender. Perhaps not my favorite game/fowl, but that's a reflection of my preferences.
Last up were assorted desserts including pistchio brittle, a truffle, a macaron, and something else. I was so stuffed and champagne giddy by this point that I didn't really have the wherewithal to properly investigate. I recall the brittle being tasty and crunchy. I need to develop a better appreciation of macaroons, so many other people love them and yet I'm just sort of 'meh.'
A whirlwind. It was very cool to try some above average champagnes, and the dishes that shined, shined bright. Thanks to the whole McCrossen's staff for a great meal and evening.

Work Meals and Dragon Flight

2012-01-12T18:11:00.002-05:00

The free lunches kept rolling at work. This particular day was hot and sour soup and some chicken dish. The dragon really wanted to bathe itself in the thick viscosity of the soup, but lost control in its approach, ultimately parting with a wing. Soup dreams dashed.
The next day, however, the dragon was renewed and had far more success when landing on my salad from Luigi's (complete with fried zuchini sticks).
The dragon really is a little sneak and a mooch. Always getting bites of my meals. But what has it ever done for anyone! Nothing. Just sits and stares at me til lunch time. That's it.

Onion Soup c/o McCrossens

2012-01-12T18:10:00.001-05:00

At some point I also went to McCrossen's with LW. I ordered their onion soup with tripe. I haven't really ever tried tripe. This mostly just tasted like an above average french onion soup, didn't really pick up on a new taste, positive or negative. Which then begs the question, if you try tripe but your tongue doesn't really register it, have you really tried tripe?

Primo's Hoagie

2012-01-12T18:07:00.000-05:00

The busy work times continued. At some point I enjoyed this hoagie from primo's. From the look of it, it's probably a 'Big T' with pickles, long hots, tomato and mayonnaise. I don't remember being disappointed.

Night Flying

2012-01-10T08:17:00.002-05:00

The day after Christmas I worked, then we all visited an old friend of my father's and his wife ... and their GREAT DANE DOG. Then we regrouped at NCC's before all piling into a car to deliver me to the airport. There was a little delay between when I was supposed to depart and when we actually did, but it wasn't too bad. I like night flying. It's all dark and cozy. It's much easier to forget that you're surrounded by strangers thousands of feet in the air when all the lights are off. Unless, of course, you look out the window and take photographs.

I have no idea what state this is, or why so many lights were still on so late in the evening. Humanity really is weird from above.

Christmas Dinner

2012-01-10T08:09:00.001-05:00

For Christmas dinner NCC cooked a standing rib roast and grilled asparagus...and made rolls. I contributed slightly by mashing up some garlic mashed potatoes. It was a good holiday meal.

Christmas Breakfast

2012-01-09T08:10:00.001-05:00

After a rousing round of present opening and mimosas, we enjoyed bacon and sausage and monkey bread. Then I think I pretty much took a nap until dinner.

Christmas Eve Dinner

2012-01-07T09:29:00.003-05:00

I flew into Greensboro on Thursday night. During my work day I got a text from NCC about the status of her house and while I understood the words, I didn't really understand what the picture would be once I got there. Said another way, NCC let me know that they had a pipe explode earlier that morning, which resulted in copious amounts of free falling water spilling out and all over, seeping from the second floor's floor to the first floor's ceiling. The result was three big machines and lots of little tubes sucking out moisture from the first and second floors. I meant to take a lot of photographs of this situation, but got accustomed to it so quickly that I never actually took those series of photos. The most proof I have is this...me making friends with the alien tube that extended from a new whole in the kitchen ceiling.
On Christmas Eve day, after the lunch and visit, we returned to the house and I think I took a serious nap. I napped like I never napped before, I tell you. And I awoke to the always wonderful smell of a long cooking pork shoulder. I forget what J. had said or done to warrant her mother giving her the middle finger, but it was entertaining.
Getting a photograph of J. properly smiling when you ask her to smile is a challenge I have yet to meet, but taking a photograph of her smiling when her mother's hamming it up is quite a bit easier.
This is usually more how it goes.
NCC and J. were watching their neighbors' dogs over the holidays, which was great because that meant they had an auxiliary oven. NCC had diligently prepared the dough for a "monkey bread" and had popped it into that oven, forgetting that the neighbors' oven simply wasn't as nice as her own. This resulted in the tragedy of a good monkey bread gone bad. NCC really didn't want me to take a photograph, but I did anyways. Though it was blackened on top, it was still a pretty thing - you could imagine quite easily what it could have been.
So the dinner that night was pork shoulder a la NCC based on my amazingly non-specific recipe for the same. What? I'm at a mechanic's and I stayed up too late last night, you should be amazed that I'm writing full sentences at all.
A nice little salad.

Dad and me after dinner. You will note that my dress's belt is unbuckled due to how full I was. I'm a sexy beast.

Salad c/o Filling Station

2012-01-07T09:09:00.002-05:00

Other than doing work and hanging out with my Dad, NCC and J., I didn't really have much on my agenda for my brief Greensboro trip. The only added thing that needed to be done was meeting up with my cousin, S., for lunch. We decided a Christmas Eve lunch at a New Orleans-themed restaurant was the way to go, but neither of us actually checked to see if it was open. I walked there - just a little over a mile - which was the only thing resembling exercise I did the entire trip. It quickly became apparent that the place was closed, but there were a few other restaurants at this specific intersection, so when S. arrived we just went to the Filling Station instead. I became very excited when I saw a salad that included fried oysters, then became very disappointed when our server told me that they were all out of oysters. I went with a salad sans oysters, which was certainly the healthy choice ... but not as satisfying as the fried oyster salad I had already begun to dream about.
S. and I weren't cousins that really grew up together. I think I met her once when I was very small and then not again until many a year later, at a relative's wedding when I was still in college. We share an interest in writing, so we've kept in touch. She only recently returned to Greensboro after a few years' stint in New Orleans. It was good to catch up, talk about writing and jobs a little and enjoy a pint or two of beer. Afterwards we walked to another cousin's house and met up with Dad, NCC and J. at M. and A.'s house. M. and A. have border collies. I'm sorry, but border collies are crazy dogs.
Way too smart and weird for their own good.
A nice visit was had. M. had made self-published books of her mother's 1940s/50s/60s recipes, which I enjoyed seeing very much...it's fascinating how the average concept of dinner has changed. I also now have a booze-filled punch recipe that would serve 50. I wish I knew 50 to serve booze-filled punch.

Mac n' Cheese Night, Slightly Adult

2012-01-06T18:25:00.003-05:00

In an era before this blog existed, I lived in Red Hook, New York. Not the Brooklyn Red Hook but the country Red Hook. I lived there for about two years after I graduated from college because my boyfriend at the time still had some schooling to finish up and I loved him and wanted to stick around. I also had no idea what to do with my life, so living in the country and working at a sheep farm seemed like a pretty good plan. Of course, many of my closest friends went on to greater things after graduation. Is that true? Not really. Sort of. A lot of people actually stuck around - K., C., P., and A.&R. among them. In any case, I soon found that while I lived close to campus, I didn't really want to spend time there...but I did still want to have friends and drink with them. So I created what became a pretty regular event for at least a year: Adult Macaroni and Cheese Night. No, this wasn't a night with penis-shaped pasta or porn. My thought was that it was 'adult' because I used at least four or five different kind of fancy cheeses in this mac n' cheese (sometimes bacon), and there would always be booze. This event also solidified some acquaintances into deeper friendships. K., for example, is someone I had always known, but didn't really totally befriend til he started being a regular. E. often arrived early and helped me grate the cheese while we watched rerun episodes of Buffy on my pirated cable. At its prime I think I had about 6-10 people showing up to my house on Mondays. We always made our way through two Dutch ovens of the pasta (I soon began making one of mac n cheese and one of baked ziti) and at least one bottle of Smirnoff vodka. Often enough someone would bring beer to boot. It was a lot of fun, those times. Maybe a little too saturated in fat and alcohol...but we were young. In any case, once I left that location and time in my life, I didn't really continue making what at least one person has called 'the best macaroni and cheese of my life.' It fell by the wayside in grad school, where instead wine nights usually featured copious amounts of cheese and other types of snacks. All to say that a few years back I did make the dish for C. and J. And when it was decided that my father and I would join them for Christmas this year, young J. (who recently got into her top college choice!) requested that for one of our meals I create the dish that I had made once before for them 'lo so many years ago. And that I did do on Friday night.
Paired with a helping of broccoli to make us all feel better (Dad had arrived in the later afternoon).
I'd say I hadn't completely lost my touch, and it certainly made me think about those early aughts in Red Hook and the many folks whom I hung out with then, and still hang out with now...and those I don't. The whole bunch of them were in my mind. This was, of course, a much more subdued mac n' cheese occasion, but we were certainly all adults. In addition to her college success, J. also turned 18 the day before. It's weird that I remember her being born and being a wee one and now she's, like, a fully formed person.

Nachos and Reuben Burger c/o Natty Greene's

2012-01-06T18:01:00.003-05:00

On the Thursday before Christmas I flew down to Greensboro, where NC Catherine and J. picked me up and drove me back to their place. After some visiting we all went to bed. The next morning I woke up early to get some work done (busy season negates possible vacation days around the holiday). At a certain point I was pretty caught up and then the three of us went to Natty Greene's for lunch. I totally forget which variety of beer I chose to try. Something light and not too hoppy. Something that pleased my palate. Ugh. Memory fail.
We all shared 'The Big Nasty," a walloping pile of nacho goodness properly adorned with a festive holiday cap of sour cream and a red tortilla.
I chose to go with the special burger of the day, the Reuben Burger. Except instead of Swiss cheese I chose cheddar. It was ok, but not outstanding. The sauerkraut didn't have too much of a tartness to it and I could barely taste the corned beef or Russian dressing.
Still and all, a good meal and a nice break from the work load.

New Years Resolution

2012-01-05T12:45:00.005-05:00

While I could resolve to find a job that would be a bit more creative, or resolve to move somewhere warm, or make it my mission to lose ten pounds, I chose only one resolution for 2012. And that was to try a lot of new restaurants, perhaps one a week - give or take. Below is that list. I also thought it might be fun if part of the resolution was to make new friends through dining. But I'm not sure how that would work because I don't really have a large enough Philly following for readers to suddenly chime in and say 'yes, I would like to hang out with you in real life and go to x place.' But I'm open to friends of friends and whatnot. Unless they're creepy or weird. Then I'm not open to it. This list is in no order whatsoever, and I expect I'll add a few more in the coming weeks or months.

Hot Diggity
Franklin Fountain
Bibou
Han Dynasty
Bistro La Minette
Tashan
Vedge
Lemon Hill: check Jan 17. Just drinks, no food.
Fond
Maru Global
Monsu
Fish
Mica
A.Kitchen
Marigold
Federal Donuts
Route 66
Talula's Table
Sbraga
Farm and the Fisherman
Salt and Pepper
Llama Tooth
Honest Tom's
POPE
Jamaican Jerk Hut
Southwark
Sang Kee Noodle House
Kyber Pass
American Sardine Bar
Pumpkin
Hickory Lane: Check Jan 23, soup and tartar with CP.
Vietnam
Isabel
4th Street Diner
Tampopo
Han Chon Korean BBQ Restaurant
Ela
Amis
Roundeye Noodles
Calaca Feliz

Last Minute Plan Brigade c/o Tria and Varga

2012-01-05T08:16:00.007-05:00

Some time in December I was at home, all cozy with a new hair cut and plans to make chocolate chip peanutbutter cookies while watching Vampire Diaries, when my phone rang. It was BC, who recently moved to Philly and whom I have veritably stalked with suggestions for last minute things she might enjoy doing. She was calling to throw a LMP my way, as another high schoolian was going to be in town and they were planning on meeting up. Though the cookie/vampire plan was still very appealing, I thought it might be good for me not to sink so softly into that kind of comfy when conversation and new places beckoned. In the end I met up with BC and LS at Tria, where I enjoyed a glass of '06 Nebbiolo Blend and '09 Malevolent Kaiken Malbec. We then decamped to Varga Bar, where beer was enjoyed and we tried three of their snackies: fried pickles, fried calamari and the sliders.
The calamari was above average in its breading flavor and tender crispiness.
The sliders, which I had once before so long ago, held up pretty well to my memory of them.
This was a blackout stout I enjoyed. I managed not to blackout. Though I did end up going to the Bards and meeting up with LW.
And looking like this.
And this: Drunky McSquinty Face. I got a new hair cut that afternoon, and was reasonably pleased with the impact it had on, um, me?

Drinks and Such c/o This Place and That

2012-01-03T19:18:00.002-05:00

On a Friday some time before Christmas A.S. and I made a plan to go to El Rey for happy hour. The problem with that plan is that we wanted to go around 5:30 ish, but the establishment was having a private shin dig, which we didn't know about until we were both already in Center City. We regrouped and went to Tank Bar instead and thoroughly enjoyed their happy hour. I went with peach flavored martinis. Judge me. After that we met up with LW at The Bards, but it was too crowded. So we regrouped and finally got our margarita and taco fix on at El Rey, but not at happy hour rates. AS had the nachos.
I believe I had the chicken tacos. We both enjoyed margaritas.

December Cheese, Wine and Foooooood

2012-01-03T18:58:00.002-05:00

Well, hello there. It's been a while and I have quite a lot to report since my last real entry. I wish I was one of those people who could just jump ahead, but I'm not. I'm diligent like that. And perhaps slightly compulsive. Who knows. In any case, a little bit before the Christmas time holidays (the 14th of December, to be exact), LW and I made our way to McCrossen's for that month's cheese/wine/food event. The theme of the wines this time around was that they were all sparkling, which was exciting because I love me some sparkling wine/champagne. It's been so long I don't have much to say about it. I think I had tried two out of the four cheeses, so I wasn't as surprised by each pairing or discovering new things in that regard. I enjoyed the sparkling combos. The first course was a Prosecco di Valdobbiadene "Crede" from Italy paired with Humboldt Fog as the cheese and Emerald Cove Oysters with spicy pickled cucumber as the food. You can't go wrong with Humboldt Fog, it's a good cheese.
I loved the look of the oysters, but the spicy cucumber element didn't pop too much and I wasn't overly fond of the Emerald Cove variety. LW thought perhaps they were past their prime, as they had more of a fishy note than a salty one. I agreed that they were a bit on the fish side, but couldn't determine if that was simply how they tasted or not.
The next pairing was Blanquette de Limous "Le Bercau," from Domaine de Martinolles. I remember digging this one, but I can't tell you anything about it. The cheese was Gorgonzola Cremifacato, and new to me. I think I was surprised by it...creamier or smoother than what I usually associate with a Gorgonzola. Or creamier in a different way? I really need to start taking notes.
The food pairing of this section was roasted jumbo sea scallop with orange, tomato and bordier seaweed butter. Of the dishes served that night, I think this was the most successful. Crisp flavors, nice sauce, perfectly tender scallops.
This, I believe, was the Delice de Bourgogne, a French cheese I often choose when trying to impress people with an above average triple-creamy cheese. Though it wasn't a revelation, it was nice to have a mouthful. It was paired with Cava Brut, Avinyo, of which I can tell you nothing.
The food entry here was Delice Risotto with chanterelles and truffles. Creamy and rich, but not altogether mind blowing.
The last cheese was Rush Creek Reserve and was paired with Vino Spumante Brut Rose, another Italian entry. The food was Wild Boar Ragu with handmade gnocchi and nutmeg. I took a few pictures of the dish but it really didn't lend itself to photographs, or at least not the photographs I was capable of taking.
While I wouldn't say this was my favorite wine/cheese/food event, I will say that it was relatively smooth sailing as far as the turnaround time between courses, which can be a little long. I understand why, of course, as Rocco and Lauren -the cheese monger and sommelier respectively- come around to each table to talk about their picks, which is totally cool but sometimes leads to long delays between the time you've gotten the drink/food and they talk about it...or between the time you hear about it and you get the next one. On the whole it seems like they're ironing that out pretty well.

Apologies and Promises

2011-12-30T07:33:00.001-05:00

Apologies for the long delays between posts, dear five people who read my blog :) Work has been very go-go-go these days, and then there were the holidays. I plan on trying to make a dent in my backlogged meals soon. Don't give up on me. No matter where I go. You will find me. What? I just bastardized a movie quote - can you guess which movie?

Best of 2011: Meal Edition

2011-12-26T08:05:00.003-05:00

Another year is wrapping itself up and I've been meaning to cobble together a look back on some of the meals I enjoyed most throughout the year. I finally sat down to do so was struck by what seemed to be a lack of new places to choose from this year, as it seems I relied more on a few old standbys. There are, of course, some notable exceptions to that general trend. I also found that the meals I enjoyed most that weren't out on the town usually were not created in my own Philadelphia kitchen, but in the country kitchen of M. and S. , which makes a fair amount of sense; I feel more connected to my own cooking abilities when I'm in a kitchen with enough counter space and outlets that I don't feel like I'm bumping into myself every ten seconds. As I looked back I remembered all sorts of activities that, while not being the best meals I enjoyed, were certainly memorable and meaningful moments. Perhaps one year I'll create a list of those top events ... but perhaps not. In either case, happy holidays to one and all and happy new year to boot!

The jerk chicken I so enjoyed in Jamaica last year was succulent, juicy and made all the more special by being consumed on a lounge chair right by the sea in 80 degree weather. You could count on me to be queuing up for my fair share each lunch time day.
Pho usually makes the list, but this year ushered in the era of Ha Saigon as king of the Philly pho joints, as far as I'm concerned. A little bit more of a trek than the Washington Ave. locations, its staff and pork rolls just added value to its already sumptuously beefy broth.
Hanging out with my erstwhile friend G. introduced me to at least two veggie-friendly restaurants, but I particularly enjoyed the extremely intimate experience of Hardena (maybe six tables total in a very cramped, non-descript space) - as well as its obscenely bountiful buffet plates. I keep meaning to go back to try their satay.
While I wasn't 100% wowed by their generous portion of scallops, D'Mitri's grilled octopus appetizer was some of the most tender and flavorful that I've had in my lifetime.
Another annual favorite that pops up is softshell crabs, and this year was no exception. I very much enjoyed frying a gaggle of these guys up in order to introduce them to L. and Fatty during our early Spring country soujourn.
The country made another appearance when I went up there solo for the July 4th holiday times. Did I cook skewers for six when I was just one? Yes I did. But were the two different kinds - Chipotle/Coca Cola and Soy Sauce/Garlic/Ginger/Lime/ - a revelation to me, even though I was the one who made them up to begin with? Yes.
My father's and my omakase experience at Morimoto may have been a challenge to my camera adjusting abilities and stretched my ability to appreciate neon and white leather, but the food itself was no joke. I particularly enjoyed this salmon morsel - as well as the sushi, of course.
I wasn't sure exactly what to expect when L. and I made our way to Manhattan for my first-ever ramen experience at Ippudo...but this meal surpassed whatever expectations I might have had. The rich, fatty pork broth and tender pork and spring noodles. Oh man. Just thinking about it makes me want it.
While my summer adventure with M. featured copious meals worth of a nod, I think the one that stood out the most was our extremely early-bird dinner at Au Pied de Cochon, especially our foie gras dish served simply with balsamic and bread. Though her steak tartar was not anything to turn your nose up at either.
Though one of my two early birthday beach adventures was derailed by Hurricane Irene, I can say that the one b-day dinner that I was able to enjoy at Fin's was quite something. The rockfish was a revelation and the company fantastic....I was also quite glad to try my first (and so far only) pickle martini.
While sometimes the lighting of restaurants prevents me and my limited skills from really taking the best of photographs, the food is still worth applauding. In this case, it was Cochon's charcoute garni - with its nicely grilled and slightly smoked pork ribs, backed up with sausage, pork belly and sauerkraut - that suffered the wrath of my camera ineptitude. It may not look like much, but it was good stuff indeed.
I log enough time and spend enough money at McCrossen's that it would be a damn shame if I wasn't recognizing and appreciating the place. I especially enjoyed the monthly cheese/wine/food pairings that T., L. and R. concoct for their guests. But it was this Rabbit "Porchetta" with speck, swiss chard, PX and lavender dish that really just blew my brains - and palate - away. The man knows his way around the kitchen, the woman knows her way around a cellar, and the other man knows his way around a cheese cave. Or something. Kudos.

Brunch at Bolete was another country meal I enjoyed quite a lot. The fried oysters had flavor and crispiness, the eggs perfectly cooked but still runny, the sauce delightful and not too heavy. There's something comforting about a restaurant of this caliber seemingly capable of thriving outside of a heavily urban environment.
I went to Modo Mio a lot this year, more than I really realized until I paged through the blog. And once I went through it all I was confused about which meal I wanted to highlight the most. There was that especially splendiferous raviolo, bursting with yolky goodness but there was also the greatness of a simple amatriciana with tomato and pancetta. In the end, however, I decided to go with what was freshest in my mind and most delectable on my tongue: the complimentary special beef cheek ravioli from my meal there just last month. Or earlier this month, maybe.
And that's the list for this year. Thanks to all who contributed to each one of the dining experiences that so tickled my tongue, warmed my heard and soothed my belly. I already have a few ideas of places I'd like to try in the new year, and hope that I will be just as amazed in the next 365 days as I did over the last ones.

You can see past years' wrap ups here: 2010, 2009, 2008.

Korean-Style Cheese Steak c/o Koja Grill

2011-12-22T08:08:00.002-05:00

The days after Tuesday night darts are often a struggle due to the large amount of beer I consume, as well as the fact that I usually stay up at least two hours later than I usually might. To counteract that rough feeling I often get a sausage egg and cheese bagel in the morning. After this last darts night I went a different route and chose this Korean marinated beef cheese steak concoction. Authentic it may not be, but fully delicious and capable of improving my brain capacity? Indeed it is.

Playoffs and Wings

2011-12-21T20:07:00.003-05:00

Hmmmm. Tuesday before last the darts team played in the play offs. There were wings.
And beer.
And fake prom shots.
And darts, of course.

In the end we came up just a little short and didn't make it to the finals, but as far as I'm concerned it was a good season. In that, I had fun and really, what's more important than that?

An Exceptional Evening c/o Modo Mio

2011-12-16T08:43:00.005-05:00

Months ago, M., C., LW and I made a plan. That plan was to baptize M. into the wonders that are a Modo Mio meal. Our first proposed date for such an introduction was foiled by L.'s sudden 30th birthday. Or, put another way, I canceled and the ladies were nice enough not to go without me. So we rescheduled for early December...but then C. couldn't make it, but somehow we weren't collectively willing to wait again...so C. just had to miss out, which is sad. So a few Fridays ago I met up with LW and M. for dinner, and oh what a dinner it was. At my suggestion M. brought a prosecco, which we promptly opened to celebrate our very presence in the restaurant while debating the relative merits of different menu combinations. The specials that evening were particularly compelling and I really need to remember to write that sort of thing down. While I thought up until the last second that I wanted to go with the regular menu item chicken liver bruschetta, at the last moment I decided the shrimp with marsella (sp?) sauce, dried cherries and a piece of soaked up with sweet goodness was a better option. This was surprising; sweeter than expected. The bread had a bit of a French toast feel to it, so saturated with the shrimpy, mapley, cherry-ness of the whole thing. The shrimp were nice and plump. Succulent even.
I agonized over going with the amatriciana pasta or the special (beef cheek ravioli with reduction sauce) but in the end I decided to go with the classic and hold off on a heavy meat until my main course. And this pasta, as always, did not disappoint. Just so good. I feel like I should be capable of making at least a close approximation of this dish at home, the flavors and ingredients are pretty simple - but the execution. I don't know. I'd screw it up. I was very happy.
You know what made me even happier? I will tell you. What made me even happier was when the Manager, Steve (though maybe it was Mike and too much time has passed for me to remember...I am a jerk), came over and formally introduced himself to us - noting that he had seen that I come in a fair amount. We shook hands. I told him my name too. It was a nice moment followed by his bringing out the special pasta of the night for us to try gratis. And that special. Oh my. I'm so glad he gave us the opportunity to try it, because I now know that we were missing out by choosing anything other than it. It was decadent. Rich. The mouth-feel was something not to be messed with. I soaked up some of the sauce with my leftover bread it was so delectable. I think I could have made it through all three raviolis by myself and then moved on to a heavier entree (originally my concern was that it would have been too rich and heavy to precede my steak choice), but it was nice just to have the one and still have the body space for what came next.

LW brought a really nice Chianti that we all enjoyed thoroughly.
Before our main courses came out, we were given yet another complimentary dish - grilled asparagus with a soft fried egg on top. This, too, was a marvelous little dish. I won't lie, I really appreciated the extras. It made me feel special and appreciated in a way that is hard to come by at most restaurants, mainly because you really do have to come to a place a whole heck of a lot to get that kind of little thank you and I just don't have the time or money to develop that kind of familiarity/closeness with multiple establishments. But Modo Mio definitely is a place I've frequented a fair amount since moving to Philly, and the entire front-end staff is exceptionally good at remembering faces and making you feel welcomed back. What is my point? That I was grateful for these little add-0ns and the attention that comes with the whole Modo Mio experience. Also, as usual it was someone's birthday and we all got to sing to them. I love that.
I went with the skirt steak with a number of yummy things, one of which was a sort of sweet and sour pumpkin. Man. I don't usually think of skirt steak as being a meat you can really dress up or make special, but Modo Mio has twice proved me wrong on that front. The meat was medium rare, had plenty of flavor and character and the sauce and pumpkin additions just made this whole thing waaaaay too good. I wish I could tell you about some of the finer points of the dish, but I didn't write down its description and their website menu is woefully out of date/not even working from the look of it. Of course at this point in the meal I was getting full, so I was able to keep myself from devouring the whole thing in one sitting.
After our entrees, the manager came out again and offered us fresh-made limoncello, which was very exciting to me, as my fresh-made limoncello connection is no more and I still like to get a fix from time to time. This was a nice one, more citrusy and not as sweet as those I used to enjoy. Do you see the glee in my eyes from the food, the wine, the company and the extra treats? If you don't see the glee, you are probably dead inside.
And finally dessert. LW decided to go with tirimisu and it was also decided that M. would take a photograph L. holding her dish up close to her face, kind of like she was modeling it - or wooing it. But what ended up happening was that as she was posing the tirimisu began to precariously slide off her plate due to the angle at which she was holding it. This went from being just kind of funny to very funny when the tirimisu entirely slid off the plate and onto the glasses LW had taken off specifically for the photo. Oh the hilarity. I really just couldn't not laugh and laugh. LW was a good sport about it and I think her glasses recovered.
I went with the saffron semi-freddo. Mmmm.
This was a particularly successful meal at Modo Mio. I really enjoyed each dish choice I made and didn't feel stabs of envy when I tried what M. and LW had on their plates, which is something that happens fairly often to me. The service, the company, the food. Oh my. My oh my. Just. Yum.

Salad and Breaking Bad

2011-12-14T09:17:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I eat at home. Most times, if I'm at home, I'm watching something on my computer. In this instance the thing I ate was a Romaine salad with the left over pickled tomatoes from Village Whiskey, smoked salmon, hearty black olives and a truffle lemon vinaigrette. I enjoyed this salad while watching Breaking Bad, which I resisted enjoying for quite some time and yet continue to watch because it is pretty compelling stuff. It's just that sometimes I can't deal with watching such total misery, and that show is chock full of just that.

A Little of Everything and Darts

2011-12-13T17:26:00.006-05:00

Last week we had our last regular game of the season for darts. It was away at a bar in a neighborhood I never go to. LW and I begged a ride from fellow teammate AJ and waited to meet him and P. at McCrossen's. They were having a fancy dinner that night and T. was kind enough to give us a little taste of one of the dishes. Oysters with a cucumber something kind of something - I wasn't there when they were delivered so I didn't hear the full description. It was a nice little lagniappe.
Our competitors were a group of dudes very comfortable with themselves and their bar. The bar itself I liked, all Christmassed up and with a whole back room for darts. I liked that they wrapped their air conditioner.
Their food offering was a little sad. But maybe I would have liked it better had J. not told me that it was a bag of industrially frozen meat balls with a few jars of Ragu warmed up in a crock pot.

It was a close match but in the end we lost by one game. That, however, didn't matter all that much as LW learned...in this series of photographs her 'sources' are telling her who won what in our division. Meanwhile K. and T. are bro-ing it out in the background.

Right here is the moment when LW learns that the team has made the playoffs.
Hilarious.
It was a funny night. Our opposite team wasn't overly friendly and seemed bent on misunderstanding many of us. I ended up in a conversation with one guy in which he insisted I was judging him and his bar and his neighborhood and thinking them all 'dive-y.' When, in fact, I was thinking that the bar had a nice feel to it. It was kind of weird. And by that I mean, it was weird.
We then returned to McCrossen's for a few rounds of late night darts.
And cake.

Manapus Adventure and Darts c/o the Bards

2011-12-11T19:45:00.002-05:00

Our next destination was in the platypus beak area of our route and took a few moments of confusion to find. I'm telling you, Philadelphia really is quite a bit bigger than one (I) would think. So the next stop was Bulls Eye Dart Supplies. After two or three months of playing darts once a week, I started thinking (against my apathetic nature and way of being) that perhaps having my own set of darts wouldn't be a bad idea. Actually, part of the idea was inspired by my time at Buffalo Billiards. Their bar darts were so terrible I began to realize how nice LW's darts really are, and while I wasn't quite willing to plunk down the kind of cheddar she lays out for her supplies, I did think that perhaps an upgrade from 'no darts' to 'some darts' wasn't the worst idea. So, we went. We talked with the knowledgeable dart man. I threw two different weighted darts in my price range, made a decision and chose a few sets of flights. Here I am taking stock of my purchase.
LW and I had a third stop on our trip: Target. But it was the Pt. Richmond Target, a whole new shopping experience. Well, the layout was certainly different. Then we made it back to our neck of Philadelphia to go on with our respective lives. Later in the evening, however, we met back up and went to the Bards. There my darts had their 'debut.' Owning one's own darts doesn't necessarily make one any better of a player.
Behold. My darts.
Behold my darts again. You can't see it but I'm wearing quite a cute dress and yellow tights along with my boots. No one else really saw it either, but it was an outfit worth a passing glance if you ask me.

Planatee Adventure

2011-12-11T10:55:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday LW and I went on a bit of an adventure. We had three destinations, all in new places for me in Philadelphia. And the route, once determined on Google maps, resembled a manatee's body with a platypus' beak (beak?). It started with driving up Route 1 to Pho Hoa. This was a new pho place to try for us both. And unlike my still-favorite Pho Ha, this is a chain. They have locations in Philly, California, Florida, even Missouri. It was a big space, a little run down in the corners, but not to such an extent that I felt uncomfortable eating there. We sat in a booth with sprung springs and decided on what we were going to eat. I decided to try their summer roll to start, and then pho with steak, flank and fatty flank.
This was an ok roll, the the grilled pork version at Pho Ha had a lot more character and punch in terms of flavor. Decent, but forgettable.
The pho itself was pretty good. By the time my bowl got to me, however, the meat was all entirely cooked, which was a bit of a bummer. I don't need bloody steak or anything, but I like to at least start with something a little more pink. I think what I may have to do, no matter where I go, is to really make it clear that I want my meat rare.
Then we both had the hot condensed milk coffee treat that opens your eyes and wonders your mind. Yes. It wonders your mind. Deal with it.
This was sort of on the back of the manatee.

Burger c/o Village Whiskey

2011-12-11T09:46:00.002-05:00

While I was in Maryland, A.S. texted me and wished me a happy birthday. She suggested, also, that we get together upon my return for celebratory burgers at Village Whiskey. That's the kind of plan you agree to with absolutely no reservations; which is fitting since Village Whiskey doesn't take reservations. We both started with our preferred jar of pickled wonder. For me, that is their pickled cherry tomatoes, which are still so sweet but with a little kick of vinegar and spices they become something entirely new. And they go great with the toasted slices of crusty bread, olive tapenade and whipped ricotta (?) that accompany them. A.S. went with the pickled green beans and shallots, which were also so totally a cut above. I had a very long internal debate about what to eat for my main meal. Part of me was tempted to branch out, to try the chicken sandwich or pulled pork. Perhaps order the fries with cheese and a salad. But eventually I came to terms with the fact that I wanted the burger and then had another round of deep introspection to determine exactly what the toppings for said burger would be. Cheddar and bacon? Caramelized onions and blue cheese? Truffled mushrooms and chevre? Oh yes, it was the mushrooms and chevre that did it.
I asked for my burger medium rare and it came out just as I liked. Oh me. Oh my. A tasty treat indeed. A.S. and I both cut our burgers in half, as they are incredibly unwieldy things. The bread generally is up to the task of soaking up the juices of the burger, the shrooms and the special sauce...but they can only do so much before everything's sliding around a little bit. This is a hands-on burger. Or, alternatively, this is a burger that could in some ways benefit from being consumed with a knife and fork. I ended up doing both - eating the first half all handsy, then being a little deconstructionist with my approach to the second half. At some point during our meal two dudes sat down at the table next to us and they seemed like they were somehow famous or something. Not famous. If they were famous I would have known who they were. Semi-famous. Philly hip hop promoters or some such thing. A.S. had the angle to really look at their faces, but she didn't recognize them. A mystery.
We each had two cocktails. My first was the Ginger Rogers (not pictured) and to round out the meal I had the Ward 8 - or I thought that was what it was - rye, orange and lemon with a touch of grenadine. I liked it very much.
It was good to catch up with A.S. and to enjoy a fine burger meal on a weekday. We went early enough that we had a good table and no wait, which really is the key to making the most of VW and is harder to do past 5:30 pretty much any day of the week. Huzzah!

Turkey Etc Chili

2011-12-11T09:34:00.002-05:00

I think it was a Monday that I developed a hankering for chili. To meet that hankering I went shopping and bought the ingredients necessary to make such a meal. In my version there was predominantly ground turkey - spicy and not - as well as a little ground pork and ground lamb. Added into the mix were peppers, diced tomatoes and a few other things. Turned out pretty well, had a little spice but not too much. Great with melted cheese or sour cream.

Darts c/o McCrossen's IV

2011-12-10T13:40:00.002-05:00

Two weeks ago we had a home game at McCrossen's. I had a particularly long day at work and wasn't overly inspired to take photographs, but took a few nonetheless. Wings.
We were playing the Shamrock team. I think we won in the end? Not sure. Unlike most dart nights, I went home on the early side due to the load of work I knew I had to get done the next day.

Foie Gras Mushroom Tasty Treat

2011-12-09T08:11:00.003-05:00

After returning back to Philadelphia I tried to organize my house a little bit (never really sticks) and lie down after all the great meals and late nights. At some point, however, LW and I decided to meet up for a drink and snack at McCrossen's. I was drawn to the foie gras mushroom tasty treat on toast. That is what was written up on the specials board (not really). It was delicious. The bread kind of had the consistency of French toast, having soaked up the balsamicky sauce and mushroomy juices.
Ugh. Tasty stuff.

Dim Sum c/o Good Fortune

2011-12-08T18:50:00.003-05:00

Our last adventure in Maryland brought us to Good Fortune for dim sum. We were there quite early, but that only meant that the fried food was hot and crispy as opposed to slightly tepid after hours on a cart. We tried most of the standard things and a few newbies.
Meat and things.
Taro! Such a strangely pleasing mass of starch.
Good eating.
Dad left from Wheaton while I returned to the house with the T.s because I hadn't wanted to leave many of my new gifts in a car. As we pulled in we all had the collective moment of 'oh, well there's Milo the dog on the front porch ... wait a second, why is Milo the dog on the front porch!' It's a good thing he's straight up geriatric these days, as he was free of leash and could have done any number of dangerous unattended things. Luckily it seems like he probably just lay in the sun wondering what had happened to his collective owners' minds.
A great and deeply felt thank you goes to the whole T. clan. To B. for her great attitude and hosting abilities, to D. for his cooking prowess (not that B. isn't a good cook), and to R. for his affable nature. It was a great weekend and I'm so glad Dad and I were a part of it. Also thanks goes to all who gifted me presents for my b-day!

Sunday Morning Baby and Flowers

2011-12-08T18:44:00.003-05:00

The last day of our Thanksgiving weekend in Maryland featured a visit from R. with new little one R. The men just sat and didn't ask for a turn holding the baby. I held her briefly but she was a little hungry and while I do quite well with babies once they're about 6 months, when they're under that age they're so small and attached to their mothers that I generally don't give it a good college try. 'It' being continuing to hold them if they're at all uncomfortable.
B. took this photo after little R. had herself a meal.
Cheeeks!
It was great to see both R.s! Oh and look at the pretty flowers.

Luncheon on the Capital

2011-12-08T09:26:00.003-05:00

My birthday has a habit of falling on, or around, Thanksgiving. When I was born it was actually Thanksgiving, and my parents had plans to watch a movie in D.C. and then I think they were going to go have dinner at J.'s. It turned out that my mother went into labor before they could watch the movie, though her experience of having her water break was so underwhelming to her she wondered if they couldn't go watch the movie and then do the whole hospital thing. The story goes that my father had at least two Thanksgiving dinners that night. Maybe three. In the years that followed we almost always went to J.'s for Thanksgiving, and that remained true until around my 19th year when my parents moved away from Maryland. I have many a memory of J.'s house on Capitol Hill and the long table chock full of turkey, gravy, leeks, etc etc. But it had been at least 10 years since I'd visited the house. We went down that way on the afternoon of my birthday to catch up with J., her kids S. and J., as well as J.'s wife, their two kids and his mother in law. I had seen M. the eldest of the kids, when he was no bigger than a bread box, but I had never met S. J. put together a lovely spread of pork loin, brussels sprouts and salad.
I had a sense of deja vu when I saw the bowl that the salad was served in, as it was the same bowl that my mother also used for salads. I commented on this to J. and it turned out that a hundred years ago they both went shopping together and bought the same bowl. This was similarly true of the flatware used for the food, the same winter pattern that my mother also had.
J.'s back yard looked strangely larger than I thought of it as a kid.
M. had a way with climbing.

There was even a cake in celebration of my big 3-0. Coconut. Mmm.
People singing happy birthday while I pretend it's no big deal and take photographs.

It was great to catch up with these folks who were such a constant in my early years. While we didn't see each other so often, the regularity of Thanksgiving - and some Christmases at our place - did result in my having a sense of belonging, even after such a long break. Thanks to our hostess and her family for a wonderful afternoon.

Black Friday Party

2011-12-07T18:02:00.004-05:00

After our oysters, R. and I drove on over to his sister and her husband's house for their annual 'no grown ups or kids' party. I just made up that name. Basically if you're under 21 or over 45 you're not invited. They throw a good party and boy do they know how to feed their guests. I wish I had taken a little more care in taking these photographs, but if you didn't act quickly the food would be gone. Because it was so good. This is some sort of tomato shrimp creamy thing. I liked it.
This was Korean marinated beef that was then topped with banana peppers and a sauce.
There were also pulled pork tortilla treats. And then this happened. I couldn't tell you why.
Perhaps the greatest anticipation was reserved for the beef tenderloin and its accompanying horseradish or red sauce. Seriously, as soon as it was cut people were lunging for it. So. Damn. Good.
Everyone circling the beef.
Snapshots.
The red sauce finds its bowl. Seems the red sauce was a mix of the drippings, red wine, and something else. Like crack if crack was something you wanted to dip beef into.
G. the host and my besties. This couple and I seemed to be on similar schedules as far as going out to enjoy the firepit, going back in for drinks and food etc. I asked them how they met and now I know.
At around midnight it suddenly was my birthday. C.'s boyfriend was kind enough to take a birthday shot of Maker's with me.
A pretty good pic taken right soon before we departed for the evening.

Oysters Chez T.

2011-12-06T07:56:00.005-05:00

Earlier in the day Dad, R. an D. drove down to some water-like place in D.C. and picked up a fair number of oysters. At some point after I returned from my adventure with G., D. and R. got down to the business of cleaning and shucking many of them.

Meanwhile thekids were eating french fries and popcorn shrimp. Oysters were not their thing.

I forget where these came from, but they were a very mild and sweet oyster, not heavy on the salt/brine.
My mind was totally blown when R. found quite a number of these little crabs inside the oysters. Some had expired, but a few were still wriggling and rockling. Nature!
D. also fried oysters, but I didn't take any photographs of that and I don't know why.

Ramen c/o Ren's Ramen and Old Stomping Grounds

2011-12-05T08:48:00.004-05:00

On the Friday after Thanksgiving I didn't have a lot of plans. Earlier in the week I had reached out to G. to see if he might like to meet up. G. and I grew up together. His mother watched me when I was little, and we lived about a 1 minute walk from one another and spent our entire elementary school and middle school years waiting at the same bus stop. We were buds back in the day, I'd say. But it's been a while since we've hung out and with time on my hands I thought 'why not,' especially when I saw a write-up for Ren's Ramen in Wheaton. Braving the Black Friday traffic, I wended my way over, parked, exchanged a dollar for four quarters, paid for my parking, and finally sat down. G. and I both liked the option of ordering pork belly into the mix, but he went a spicier route than me. I thought I'd be able to find their menu online and tell you exactly which dish I ended up ordering, but that seems to be a wash. In any case, it was porkful and I added a seasoned hard boiled egg to the mix of pork, seaweed, springy noodles, tofu thingies and scallions.
The broth wasn't quite as complex or creamy as my first true ramen experience in NYC, but it was still a marked improvement over the Top Ramen type of sodium laced water that often is what we think of when we think ramen. Tasty. Wheaton is not the most appealing of suburban cities. It's chock full of congested traffic, strip malls and real malls, and copious numbers of boring brick apartment buildings that eventually taper off into rather forgettable neighborhoods. I think the the regrettable thing about Wheaton is that it has no secret magic spaces of the outdoor variety. It's all concrete and brick with very few parks, and even those parks (I actually can't think of one) are sad. That said, Wheaton has also been a veritable cornucopia for adventurous eaters. It was to Wheaton that we would go to get dim sum on Sunday mornings, or Vietnamese on an odd week night. I believe Wheaton is also where I tasted my first pho and enjoyed teriyaki beef for the first time. Indonesian? Check. Salvadoran? Yep. And there used to be this really neat Viennese bakery, but that, unfortunately, is long gone. Anyways. G. and I both enjoyed reminiscing and catching up; pulling out names of past classmates to reflect over, often with no idea of what has become of them. As well as a few of our shared experiences. After lunch it was decided that we'd get coffee closer to where we grew up.
But once at the establishment that once was the Country Store, we found that it was closed and would not give us the glory of espresso. So, coffee-less, we traipsed through the woods, perhaps trespassed a little on the new construction, made a big loop and ended up on the train tracks, which truly did form some central part of both our childhoods I think. While the trains no longer honk their horns (horns?) as they barrel down in the tracks like they did in my youth, they are still an ever present part of the neighborhood and landscape. After scrambling up a relatively steep incline just feet away from my old house, we were up.
Took some photos.

Saw some deer parts.

It was nice to see G. I think we hadn't seen each other in the flesh for about 10 years or so, which certainly meant there were a lot of life experiences to share and catch up on.

Turkey Sandiwch and Porch Swing and Harry Potter Spoiler

2011-12-04T10:50:00.003-05:00

The next morning I availed myself of a little of the leftover turkey and made myself a turkey, mayo, cranberry and croissant sandwich. I enjoyed it.
Later on B. and D.'s grandkids stopped by.
It was during this porch swing interlude that one of the twins with a very earnest expression asked me what happened at the end of Harry Potter. I made the ultimately flawed assumption that he was asking about the end of the last movie/book, which even for an adult could make more sense. So (SPOILER) I launch into how there's a part of Voldemort in Harry and the only way to get that out is to allow himself to be killed (that is the deal, right?). They also ask me if Harry will find his parents and the end of the book. Following this interchange it comes out that they have only watched or read the first book. So I have effectively told them the ending while also bringing up the concept of suicide. I always said I was a winner.
Still, on the whole I think they recovered pretty well.

Thanksgiving Dinner and Beyond

2011-12-03T08:39:00.004-05:00

Once the deep fried turkey was out of the oil, had its rest and was expertly carved, it was time to dig in. In addition to the two turkeys, there were a number of other dishes to partake in, including corn bread, two kinds of stuffing, brussels sprouts with pancetta, mashed potatoes with gravy, turkey shaped cranberry sauce and butter, and I'm sure at least two other things I've forgotten.
Deep fried turkey in the foreground, roasted in the oven turkey in the back.
Plates full while the Thanksgiving prayer is read.
Some late arrivals busied up the place after dinner and dessert.
Not sure what prompted this, but B. giving R. some motherly love.
Again, not quite sure what this was about. There was a healthy serving of two different kinds of riesling during dinner.
Our hosts, to whom I am so grateful for giving Dad and I a place to be and celebrate on this holiday.
Just hanging out.
I remember when both of these guys were shrimps and now they tower over me. My face conveys my feelings on this matter.
Later.
And then the Glenfidditch is brought to light.
A wonderful Thanksgiving meal and subsequent time of revelry and fun.

Laughable Moment of the Day

2011-12-02T15:09:00.003-05:00

I'm having a conversation with a friend about another mutual friend with whom I once briefly made out and who is now causing problems for the other friend.

i hope making out with me didn't turn him
i have that effect on people
they're nice
they kiss me
they suck

Thankfully that's not entirely true. Not entirely.

Thanksgiving Pre-Eating (With a Side of Eating)

2011-12-01T19:21:00.007-05:00

After I returned from my walk, the Thanksgiving preparations notched up a gear (wow, that makes sense). I was generally in the way or not overly helpful, but at least I documented some things? I guess? I did help with the mashed potatoes? In any case, here is what the dining room table looked like. Turkey and its babies!
A beautiful cornucopia of fresh flowers.
A refreshing blend of champagne, cranberry juice and pineapple juice. This day was the first day that I ate a cranberry straight up ... and promptly spit it out due to its intense pucker-sour effect. Who needs sour patch kinds when you have cranberries? Other than Method Man, of course.

I got very, very excited when it was revealed that one of the two turkeys that we would eat was going to be deep fried. I have long wanted to see the process and try the results, but without being responsible for the whole situation. So I was glad that I could simply observe R. and C. and their process. Here are the oil jugs, emptied of oil, that it took to fill up the pot.
C. had rubbed the ten pound turkey with some Cajun seasoning. At this point they're skewering it on a base that would then be lowered into the bubbling oil.
There is some dignity to this turkey.
D.'s sister made a spinach dip that was brought out during the turkey prep. Seriously it was 66+ degrees. I was so happy.
R. lowering the turkey, ever so slowly, into the vat of boiling oil.
C. protecting his cousin's nether regions from any spattering. Now that's family.
And all the way in!
I bet there are now over 200 photographs of these guys doing their turkey dance, as we all gathered and took our respective angles on the process. Digital photography has ruined us all.

We all continued sipping on champagne and eating little treats while waiting for the second turkey to be complete (another was happily roasting in the oven).
Seriously a beautiful, beautiful day. This sunlight on the trees really got me.
And after about 40 or so minutes, it was time to remove the turkey from its scaldingly lovely home.
Then came the delicate process of getting it into a horizontal position and unskewering it.

I encouraged them to have 'triumphant' looks on their faces, I think that they a) had too many cameras to look at and b) perhaps didn't realize how truly triumphant they were.

Woodsy Walk

2011-12-01T07:51:00.003-05:00

Last week I made my way to Maryland to celebrate Thanksgiving with my father and the T. clan, as we did last year. I really need to find the photographs of the last few times I walked through the woods that bordered my house and neighborhood in order to demonstrate the changes, but I can't at the moment. It was a beautiful weekend, seriously nice weather. So soon after arriving on Thanksgiving day, I took myself on such a walk.
The field that we could formerly walk through continues to be fenced off, but now there's an actual building. Last time it was just a giant hole and some foundation.

Yup.

String Beans and Tofu c/o New Place

2011-11-29T07:40:00.005-05:00

For lunch the day after dart night I rallied the office troops and we tried out a new Chinese place in the neighborhood. I ordered the sauteed string beans in garlic sauce and added fried tofu to that mix. LW and I also split steamed pork dumplings. All was better than some places but worse than others. Hunan Szehuan still wins as far as green beans and tofu are concerned.

Darts c/o Dark Horse

2011-11-29T07:40:00.004-05:00

Last Tuesday I made my way southerly to Dark Horse Pub to participate in that week's dart match with the pub's team. Unlike most other bars in the league, Dark Horse brought out the food pretty early on in the evening. I appreciated this, as often the food comes out just as 1001 starts...in other words, just as I am actually throwing darts. They offered us mini quiches, fried pierogies, spring rolls, spankakopita and an unappealing tray of rice with turkey.
Can't go wrong with fried things. Can go wrong with lots of rice. Well, I wouldn't actually know since I didn't try the turkey rice. Maybe it was awesome and my thoughts just confirm the fact that I am a jerk.
Another great thing about the Dark Horse set up is that the dart game had its own room, so there was plenty of space for us all to sit and whatnot without getting in the way of other patrons or the pub's employees. A nice set up indeed.
We were down a few players, but LW worked with what she had.
I drank lager.
J. shooting left handed.
P. and T. having some sort of tete a tete.
It was a rainy night. Rainy, rainy, rainy.
I think J. might have hit his photograph threshold in this photograph, or K. said something particularly awful.

No idea what this is about, but enjoy it.

And there you have it, another night of dart league. I played more because of the low numbers, but didn't have any big a-ha moment. Or maybe I did and it's been a week and I forgot.

Pizza and Rockstars

2011-11-28T07:40:00.003-05:00

The Sunday before last I drove over to She-J.'s to hang out with her and the boy-os. After some discussion, it was decided we would order one plain pizza and one with half green peppers and half black olives. Definitely saucier pizzas than cheesy, and I think She-J. and I were both a bit surprised by just how minced the green peppers were, but pizza is pizza, and that's almost never a bad thing.
It's been a while since I saw N. and S. They are so totally growing up.
S. did a few numbers with his new microphone and blow up guitar. N. sang back up.
S. is rocking a mini mohawk.
Taking a look at the footage of the live show.
It was nice to hang out with these folks. I'll have to track down the pizza place's name to give it proper credit.

Omelet c/o Cafe Estelle

2011-11-24T07:53:00.002-05:00

Last Sunday I met up with BC and L. for breakfast at Cafe Estelle. This time around I chose to go with their fontina, broccoli and bacon omelet. I liked the thick little bits of bacon and the extra flavor of the fontina. It was nice, too, to chat with L. and BC. Good stuff.

Darts and Quesadilla c/o Buffalo Billiards

2011-11-23T17:16:00.003-05:00

After a pretty non-eventful Saturday afternoon, I gussied myself up to resemble a secretary and bussed it down to Old City to meet up with BC and L. for some fun and stuffs. BC recently moved to Philly, so this was a bit of a 'I live in Philly' celebration, for which L. came down from New York. At some point BC suggested that we play two of her friends in darts. I'm convinced that the distance between where we were throwing and the boards were not regulation length, and the bar darts that we rented out were very awful after having gotten accustomed to LW's way more classy set.
I hit a few good shots, but we were playing Cricket and I didn't suddenly become amazing just because all the other people I was playing with weren't as well versed in the rules as I was ... it also became apparent that I don't really know all the rules; I had to text LW at least once for some of the rules regarding play.
I was pretty worn out from my Brooklyn adventure and needed sustenance, which I found in the form of the veggie quesadillas. Nothing revolutionary or special about them, but I did feel better after consuming them. Way too many pieces for one person.
A little later on Mr. Ass showed up and I took some photographs to memorialize the occasion. This they were doing on purpose.
This time I caught them completely off guard.
BC looking pumped for life, L. and I making an effort not to have double chins.
Winkaroooooo.
It was a fake glasses night in order to complete the secretary look.

Fried Chicken Sandwich c/o Smith Canteen

2011-11-23T09:01:00.004-05:00

On Saturday we all slept in. Eventually L., J. and I went to Smith Canteen for breakfast-like foodstuffs. In fact, we were particularly motivated to get ourselves egg sandwiches of some kind. Unfortunately the canteen stops with the breakfast at 11, and it was noon. So we all had to recaliber our hunger to meet the place's menu. I ordered a latte.
And a fried chicken sandwich. We sat at a nearby park while enjoying the sun and warmer weather. The sandwich was pretty good, though I kept thinking that it was just a fancy version of a McChicken sandwich. Like, really, it tasted really good but in that same Mcway. Mmmmmm.
After breakfast/lunch (not brunch really), J. went her own way and I gathered my stuff before getting on the road. A whirlwind New York trip that took less than 24 hours to complete. Crazy. Happy birthday to L!

Big 30 for L. c/o Southpaw and Union Hall

2011-11-21T18:06:00.004-05:00

Last week L. turned the big 3-0. At the last moment she and Fat T. decided to have a party to celebrate that fact. So I made some rearrangements to my ever-so-overbrimming social calendar in order to drive up there Friday night and join in. The plan was to go to Southpaw and enjoy the musical stylings of PitchBlak Brass Band. I arrived in Brooklyn just in time to hoof it over to the venue with L., Fat T., N. and J. Soon after our arrival, C.S. joined us. Don't believe me? Look, there she is.
The music was good. So many people playing brass instruments. There was a female sax soloist, certainly channeling Rob Lowe's character in St. Elmo's Fire as far as putting a little sexy into it. I kept trying to figure out how this group found one another. I imagined they had all been kids in band during their youth, but that most of them had real lives and jobs, keeping their love of brass in a nearby closet or something. And then lo, one day, they found each other and a super brass band was formed. Or who knows. Brass shining and reflecting.
I tried their beer and a shot deal, as did CS. Little Kings is a weird beer that I did not particularly care for.
L. at one point foisted a Red Bull in my hand, which was no better than the Little Kings. My face tells the story of how I felt about both.
J., L. and C.
A triple high five moment outside.
Dunno what this is about, but it's happening.
Squeeeze.
This photograph astounds me. It looks like C. is having an awful time and half of L.'s face went and had a stroke. I don't believe it's accurate to either lady, but the result is interesting.
Fat T. looking more chipper than I believe he was. Curmudge-a-grump.

I didn't even really try to take good photos of the band. My track record of getting worthwhile shots of live music is just awful and I chose not to get frustrated.
C. left, but not before she lost her phone. Once the music was over we then went on to Union Hall, where I would lose my wallet then find it ... minus $40.
A fun, if truly debaucherous night. L. has a few more photos that I felt were stellar, but I don't have them. So there's that. A great big thank you goes to J. for taking on the task of keeping an eye on L. and me at the end of the night.

Easily Amused

2011-11-18T13:53:00.003-05:00

Two tiny snippets from a convo I recently had online.

Talking about the shoes I'm thinking about wearing to her birthday party:
L,:ah those ones!

you will not be able to walk or dance for very long

but they are hot

me: yeah the walk from work to the office is treacherous

but i stand tall

and they accentuate my calves

or something

L.: thats what heels are for

me: i could also stab someone in the eyes with them if necessary

L.: elongating and sculpting

and self defense

me: heh the trifecta all shoes should aspire to

And then when L. expresses some frustration with her day at the office:

me: i have listened to the latest britney spears album on repeat all day

you should try it

l.: what the hell is your problem are you losing it?

Darts c/o Druid's Keep

2011-11-18T08:46:00.004-05:00

This past Tuesday the team had an 'away' game. LW and I took the 43 bus down Spring Garden and realized that Northern Liberties really doesn't necessitate a cab. I put that in the GTK column (good to know). So the Druid's Keep team is in first place within our division, and we lost rather handily to them the first time we encountered them, winning only 2 out of 13 games. We were missing a few players on this particular night, but the spirits of those of us in the place were inexplicably high nonetheless. AJ came in with swagger, J. seemed to be feeling pretty good about his game, and LW was moving like Jagger. In fact, at some mid-point in the game, we were all busting moves in our area of the dart board playing space. Here you can see teammates in motion.
Here you can see LW and Jack doing a little lean and shimmy. Even I broke it down, ironically of course ... but no photographs will ever prove that. Because they don't exist. But it did make me wonder why LW and I weren't going to dance clubs all the time. Kind of. Except for all the reasons why I know I don't do that, such as the fact that I cannot really dance.
So Druid's Keep doesn't have a kitchen, but part of the league's covenant (not really an existing thing) is that the hosts of the games must provide some sort of snack for players. To help cover the cost, the barkeep and 'landlord' (see what I did there, I used a British term for bar owner), organized a '50/50' competition, which had to be explained to me very slowly because I had no idea what they were talking about the first time through. Basically, you pay $5 or $10 and get either a whole wingspan's worth of raffle tickets or half a span's, depending on whether you put in $5 or $10. I put in $5, but right before I did, AJ did. Here he is with his bounty.
Later in the evening all the tickets were put into a pitcher and a third party (re: another patron) pulled out the winning ticket. And wouldn't you know it? It was AJ.
They wanted to make sure the dog got into the photo. I liked Druid's Keep. I thought I would be scared or something. New bars in new places give me anxiety. But they had friendly dogs, a friendly bar tender and plenty of space. And a nice back patio kind of thing.
Darts continued.
I played three games (1001, 501 and 301) due to missing folks. I didn't exactly have the same kind of big moment that have marked my last few games, but I did hit three 20s in a row for a total of 60 in one turn, which suggests deliberate aiming ... and that is accurate; I was actually aiming. But don't tell anybody. K. and I played 301. I hit an in-shot, but too late to really matter.
T. rolled in late and finished up the match with cricket.
AJ was kind of forced into sharing some of his winnings with the team an buying us drinks. T. and LW. opted for whiskey, and after smelling it as it wafted past, I wanted it too. I shake my head at that desire, but it was met. Here is LW. holding three shots, one for me, and two for her? Ha. No, just one for her.
Holding the shots from a distance and with a kick.
I have no idea what is going on with the faces of these two, but I kind of love it.
It was fun to play more. It was fun to dance and shimmy a little. And while I shouldn't have then gone with T. and LW to meet up with their division 1 buddies in Old City ('shouldn't' as far as, I could have been home by 12:30 but was instead home closer to 2), the evening was good hearted, tipsy and fun. We ended up losing six games to seven, but this was such a better showing that no one was really in a foul mood about it. LW was especially pleased with breaking the other captain's 100% record in a particular game.

High School Heavy Brunch c/o Fork

2011-11-17T17:26:00.002-05:00

Last weekend was chock full of activity. Saturday evening I went on a date with a nice enough fellow, then met up with LW and two of her buds in Center City before going forward to McCrossen's for late night drinks. The next morning I lay-in a bit during the morning hours, before walking to Fork to meet up with BC, BM and, eventually, LB, LS, C. and M. The two B.s were already there when I got there, but we couldn't sit at our table until our entire party was present, so we took up seats at the bar while we waited. I liked the look of the bloody mary, so I ordered one and it lived up to my expectations. Fair amount of horse radish. Altogether tasty.
When everyone arrived we got seated. It was C.'s birthday, so we wished her a happy one. I tried their two poached eggs with Lancaster double-smoked ham bechamel, spinach, chives and sourdough toast. I was all ready to love it, but I really didn't. The smoky, hammy-ness of the sauce, which I assumed I would love, actually turned out to be a turn off. The eggs were nicely cooked, but the sauce so overwhelmed everything that this was a case of me most definitely not cleaning my plate.
While the food as a little disappointing to me (LB also noted that her omelette had a strange look to it - the bite I had didn't exactly wow me either), the company was top notch. This is a lively group of women, all of whom with the exception of M., were in my graduating class of high school. So there was much catching up for some of us, in addition to simple shootings of the shit. I sometimes get overwhelmed by such groups, but in this instance whenever I couldn't quite follow the two to three different strings of conversation, I simply sat back and enjoyed the fact that 17 (I was about to say nearly 20, but that made me feel uncomfortably old) years ago we were all starting out at the same school together, little tiny versions of ourselves tightly furled in the bodies of teenageers. What? What I'm saying is that there is a comfort to faces staying around through the years, growing and changing, appearing and disappearing, but always resurfacing and familiar. LB was in the corner and had an even tougher time keeping track of the different conversations.
I don't remember what was so funny, but it was.
Then I insisted on a few group shots outside before we splintered and went our separate ways.

Had I thought, for even a second, about how I would want to take such photographs I may have dressed up just a bit more. Whatevs.

Modo Mio Mania

2011-11-15T18:01:00.004-05:00

Last Friday, C.P., R. and I met up and cabbed on over to Modo Mio, where we rendezvoused with L. and C.M. for some magic eating. While C.P. had met C.M. and L. at a barbeque some time ago, R. hadn't met them before, so I was hoping everyone would get along and be friends. Alas, L. quickly offended R. and the rest of dinner was quite awkward. Just kidding! We all went for the turista menu, which is of course what we did because it is incredible and the obvious right choice. I agonized between a few different dishes for my first course, but in the end I was most drawn to the torta with salt cod, semolina tort, fried egg, and sweet and sour tomato. Mmmm. Loved it.
C.P. ordered the bruschetta with rustic chicken liver pate, capers and fig on garlic bread. I enjoyed the little piece that she gave me, as I did the taste of L.'s Mozzarella en Carozza.
I was really torn between the bucatini amatriciana, which I've enjoyed a few different times over my visits to Modo Mio, and the 'priest's chokers,' or, said another way, potato gnocchi with green olives, plum tomato and fresh mozzarella. In the end I decided to try something new, but I must simply accept that I'm not all that big a fan of gnocchi, no matter its nicknames or accompaniments.
C.P. ordered the tortelloni, with gorgonzola dolce, pumpkin and almond asparagus butter. The taste I had of this was surprising, and perhaps the most complicated but fully realized dish of the pastas. The pumpkin and gorgonzola informed each other in ways you might not expect.
L. tried the pasta special of the night, which involved tomato cream, lots of cheese and baked pasta. Her life was forever changed by this pasta. I know this because she told me.
For my main course I went with the pan seared trout with boquerones, raddichio, truffled vinaigrette, green olives, tomato and pecorino. There was a lot going on here, and while I liked the various elements, it wasn't quite the perfect match between me and this particular fish preparation. The truffled vinaigrette and radicchio were good but to me there was a disconnect between the flavors going on there and the boquerones/trout element of the dish. Meanwhile, C.P. ordered the breaded skate wing with raisins, pine nuts and arugula pesto. And let me tell you what, that was off the hook. Literally. Heh. No but seriously, so good.
We were also given complimentary arugula and this roasted pumpkin dish. I love arugula and have a strangely standoffish relationship with pumpkin, so I gravitated toward that which I already had an appreciation for. At this point we had probably shared and enjoyed one bottle of champagne and maybe three bottles of red wine?
No dinner would be complete without complimentary sambuca shots, which we all enjoyed either in one fell gulp or at a more sipping pace.
And then, of course, there was dessert. Oh my god. Since there were five of us, and there were five options, we just got them all and maneuvered for bites of each one. There was a goat's cheese something that I liked very much, and something with crazy amounts of nutella that also had its charms.
Then I asked L. to take a photo of C. and me. Actually, she took two ... but the first one was of C. and a crazy person I have no understanding of.

Monster Chicken c/o McCrossen's

2011-11-15T08:51:00.003-05:00

On perhaps Wednesday, or some other day very soon after regular Darts night, LW and I met up. I was hungry and wanted to go to McCrossen's, but first we stopped off at The Belgian, the food of which I am not totally enamored (terribly constructed sentence alert). After one drink we changed our venue and headed to McCrossen's, where I decided to try their chicken sandwich for the first time. Their massive, monstrous chicken sandwich, which is: chicken breast, provolone, arugula, roasted pepper, aioli on ciabatta, fries. Neither angle I share in photographic form properly demonstrates just how substantial this piece of meat was. Though I hope it demonstrates the potential tasty.
Well, maybe this does give a bit of scale? Half of this sandwich fulfilled my hunger needs, the rest became my lunch the next day. Mmmmm. Sandwich.

Darts c/o McCrossen's Part IV?

2011-11-14T17:29:00.002-05:00

After parting ways with A.S. I hoofed it up and over to McCrossen's for dart league night. The match up ended with another win for our team, though A.'s face in this photograph would suggest defeat.
I do find it interesting how these different people set themselves up for their throws. K. does this, while T.'s tendency for complete body relaxation has already been documented. A member of the other team had this weird hand circle, circle, circle throw thing. I just stand there, smile, look down at my boots, smile again because they're so great, then squint my eyes and aim to the best of my ability.
She-J. stopped in after a class she was taking and sat patiently throughout the majority of the game. If not all of it.
Post-game talk time.
Sippy sippy sip time.
Triple chin stupid face time (for me).
McDrunkyboots McGee did not make such an appearance as she did on our last match, for which I think we were all grateful.

Cocktails c/o Franklin Mortgage and Trust

2011-11-14T08:43:00.002-05:00

I hadn't seen A.S. in a bit, so we made plans last week to meet up for cocktails at Franklin Mortgage and Trust. I'd heard about this place from time to time over the last couple of years, but never quite got myself down to the establishment. Down literally because it's in a lower level space, basically unmarked unless you know what you're looking for. Trying to put a slightly speakeasy feel on the whole place, I believe is the point. I met up with A.S. by her work place and we got to the bar by 6, which meant that the process of being 'bounced' was not an issue because it was too early for there to be any critical mass of folks waiting to be let in. There was a special set of happy hour drinks featuring a certain bourbon I cannot remember and a bartender from Chicago whom I similarly can not tell you much about. But this cocktail, whatever it was, was a potent tasty thing.
We stayed for two drinks. My second was the Coal Cracker Cocktail, which consisted of Wild Turkey rye, Galliano, house blackberry syrup, angostura bitters, and sarsparilla tincture "served on a rock." Of the two, this was my favorite. I had expected it to be sweet due to the blackberry/sarsparilla aspects, but it wasn't really. But it wasn't really sweet in a good way. An interesting way. A pleasing way. And the zest of lemon did something magic with my olfactory to tongue connections.

We noticed that others were getting small plates brought out to their tables, so we investigated. Turns out they have a small number of cold food items supplied by Supper. I decided to try their pickled vegetables thinking that it would be similar in tastiness to Village Whiskey's offerings. But, like my long ago snack meal with Mr. Ass at Supper, while it sounded really, really good, I found the actual product only ok.
It was lovely to catch up with A.S. while trying a new place and cocktails of a slightly higher standard (and the price tags to match) level of quality than I typically sip. By the time we left the place was a bit more busy. I'm not sure I'd wait around for seats if none were to be had when I arrived, but on off-peak times, definitely a spot to check out.

Lima Bean, Carrot and Garlic Soup With Chipotle Peppers

2011-11-13T17:04:00.002-05:00

Last weekend I made myself a soup. Initially I didn't plan to puree it, but to have the whole beans and slices of carrots in the chipotle/garlic broth..but it just seemed like the thing to do. A successful soup. Spicy but hearty. Nice with a lime garnish.

Burrito Taco Type Lunch and Dinner

2011-11-12T08:22:00.002-05:00

I have no proof, but on a Saturday I went to Q Mart in Quakertown. I didn't take any photographs because it was kind of a weird, wondrous, depressing place and I didn't want to bring attention to myself (like anyone would really care) by taking photographs. Really, there's no reason to bring it up at all, as the only point I'm really trying to make is that on my way back I stopped at a little farm store and bought fresh eggs and some ground beef. Upon my return I cooked some of the beef with green olives and a little taco flavoring.
Then cooked black beans and rice, \chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese and sliced avocados and made myself a tasty lunch.

Fire, Birds and Fields

2011-11-11T08:44:00.003-05:00

Another day, and my devotion to stoking and maintaining a good fire didn't dwindle.
This log was well on its way to being engulfed in flames and adding to the rich, hot mana of coals below it.
Woodpecker.
Buzzard?
Earlier in the week this whole field was covered in snow. By the end of the week there was not a flake left on this particular patch of land. Snow lingered in the shadier spots.

Woods and Field

2011-11-11T08:40:00.001-05:00

Another quick walkabout later in the week saw far less snow all around, and clear walking preferences of deer.

Farm Eggs and Everything Bagel

2011-11-10T09:27:00.001-05:00

And for breakfast on another day, fried eggs on a bagel in the sunlight. Eggs are a wonder.

Treats

2011-11-10T09:26:00.001-05:00

Another evening in the country I enjoyed half an avocado, some goat brie and a little salami, all washed down with an inexpensive Pinot Noir.

Cat, Country and Salad

2011-11-09T17:22:00.002-05:00

This is what Zul looked like while I was making stew.
This is what my finger looked like after I once again forgot that knives in kitchens other than my own are actually quite sharp.
While the stew stewed.
Later in the day.
A hooded individual.
The salad I had for dinner.

Beef Bourguignon Minus the Tomato Paste and Cognac

2011-11-08T19:57:00.002-05:00

Even before arriving in the country, I had plans on making a beef stew during my week. The snow storm made a slight wrinkle into that timing, but I still managed to get it accomplished by that first Sunday. I followed a recipe by the Barefoot Contessa, and didn't really mess around with it much except for the addition of potatoes.
I gotta say, it was really delicious. I ate it with egg noodles and a dollop of sour cream. Of course, I made enough for an army, and I am not an army. After a couple of days I got around to freezing it so I can enjoy it completely again in some weeks' time.

Sunowday

2011-11-06T09:21:00.004-05:00

When I went to bed last Saturday, it was still snowing a little bit. When I woke up and went outside the following Sunday, it was hard to imagine the snow would last a week it was so warm and sunny.

In this photograph you might catch a light sense of motion as a big wallop of snow falls out of a tree. Or you might not catch that, but it's happening.
The nice thing about the relatively warm weather was that nothing got iced over or slippery. When I eventually drove to the grocery store the issue wasn't slippery roads as much as downed trees and lots of them. Because the snow was prolific and struck before all the trees and thought it time to shed their leaves, the extra weight of the snow caused some major damage. While S. had a generator, the majority of folks didn't have power from Saturday afternoon to Wednesday evening - maybe even Thursday, I'm not quite sure.
Already the snow was melting its way off roofs.
Drip.
But the trees still had a fair coat in place.
It's like those little bunny hill courses for skiers, only the skiers in this instance would have to be very small mice or insects. What do you call those hills? Moguls!

Here, however, the look of the green and the snow suggested that this was the beginning of spring - of green pushing through the slowly melting build up of a long winter. I wish that was the case. I kept on getting this strange misplaced sense of spring as I drove along the country roads, a healthy stream of melting snow water again making me think that in a couple of days we'd be seeing crocuses and daffodils. Alas.
The pumpkin flowers didn't do terribly well after the storm.

Endeavoring to Remember Mom, One Year Later

2011-11-03T18:24:00.012-04:00

A few days back, one of my mother's friends emailed me and asked me what her favorite number was. I don't think she had one, but what do I really know? A day or two past that, I asked my father if they dressed me up on my first Halloween after I saw a whole slew of 'babies as...' on Facebook. He had no idea, but I expect Mom would have. So there is the loss of her memory bank of me and my early life, which my father simply does not have. And I do grieve that loss of reference and resource. But then, when I think about trying to write something meaningful on the one year anniversary of her death, I know that the bigger loss is that of her actual person. I no longer call her about once a week (though we spoke more frequently after her diagnosis). I, on a Saturday evening when I have no plans (anathema!), can no longer calle her up and chew her head off for an hour about the whole horror of not having any plans. But it is greater than me. She no longer makes my father dinner; they no longer go on weekend jaunts to the track. She no longer meets up with her lady friends for tea, or sketching, or book club. Nor does she lend a helping hand in food drives or take in dogs whose owners are on vacation.
She will never know any of the men I may find myself with in the coming years. And, perhaps more importantly, none of them will know her. And if I ever find myself married, or with kids, she won't be there to see me down the aisle or through some of those first crazy/terrifying nights. For every milestone or benchmark we shared - from my first step to buying my first car (and it is, unfortunately, in terms of my own milestones and not hers that I think) - there are untold events in my future life that we will never share together.
When I left for Tennessee in late October of last year to go to the John Stewart/Steve Colbert Rally For Sanity, I left tensions and the realization that she was only going to get worse. Once I arrived in the vicinity of my childhood home, I stopped at one of the parks near the Mormon Temple to take a walk along a path I remember going down with my mom during my childhood. I expected it to be comforting and to hearken back better days. Unfortunately the pond that I remembered pulling sacs of frogs' eggs from had dried up, and every photo I tried to take of myself turned out wrong. At the time I didn't see it. But later I realized they came out bleak.
Even when I tried to look more light-hearted than I felt, I still had a look to my face and eyes that better resembled my dying mother's countenance during the the last few days I had been with her: bird-like, wide-eyed, alarmed, sad, weak, resigned, angry.

Perhaps part of the trouble I'm having remembering her and missing her now that a year has passed, is that the most prevalent memories are the most difficult to reconcile.
I would prefer not thinking of her being to weak to walk without the aid of a walker, the toddler-like way she would sway when standing upright for even a second. The fact that almost anything we tried to feed her would quickly be rejected by her body, causing her to hold it in until a bowl or other receptacle could be found to house the offending french toast, stew, muffin or what have you. We were lucky when she would accept Pedialyte with ice.
At times it was difficult because it seemed like no one - her friends, relatives, etc - understood that she was not going to make a recovery of any kind. When I came up to Maryland that weekend, B. and D. talked about us all joining them for Thanksgiving. While I didn't really think that she would be gone by then, I did think that a 12 hour car ride by that point in time (about a month from that time) would be out of the question.
Trying to help her bathe, or wipe herself after using the now-with-hospital-arms toilet. Or, after I left, the decrease in her ability to speak intelligibly to the point where when I called I was just listening to silence, or breathing, or mumbles that had no resemblance to words I could possibly embrace and understand. All of this time period - from going down to Nashville in October through bringing her home later in the month - I'd rather not have as the way that I remember her. She was not her death, which I wasn't even there to see. And yet her death and her dying days are the first layer of any thought I can dredge up about her when I try to sit down and write about this date.
The true passage of 365 days seems like nothing. A snap of the fingers. A camera's harmless flash at night. And this brings me to ask myself what has happened over the last year that my mother would have loved, hated or otherwise cared about. And again, I could talk big picture things like the upcoming elections, the Occupy Wall Street Movement, and who knows what else. But I'm not talking big picture. I'm talking 'me and mine picture.' What would she have had to say about my brief not-quite relationship with an attractive but flighty belly dancer? How would she have shown support for the New York job opportunity that didn't quite happen? What would her words of commiseration been for me on the days when I felt I was falling farther and farther away from my own self-imposed goals? The truth is that my mother's words rarely solved my problems, but the fact of her listening and understanding helped mediate some of the fall-out. While she rarely had the answers, she was a comfort and safety. Simply having her to share my life with was often enough.
At some point, when L. flew down for Mom's funeral in a whirlwind trip that I still feel a bit guilty for having accepted, we were outside, smoking cigarettes. I felt like it was supposed to be the scene in the movie, where the grieving friend finally loses their shit and breaks down, and the good friend is there for a good long hug and a really wet shoulder. But all I could muster or think and say was "My mother loved me. And I loved her."
And in some ways, that's really all there is to say. I could recount my recollections of life in the hospital. Of the strange routine my days took on during our time in Nashville. But, again, that would be besides the point. The point that should be celebrated is who my mother was not only to me, but to everyone who knew her. And, unfortunately, today I can't quite come up with that sort of message or content. And while that fills me with some regret, I'll just have to work hard over the next months to remedy the situation. Til then, I encourage anyone who has gotten all the way to this point in the post, to read things I wrote at other points in time:

Funeral
Maryland Memorial
Fairfield Memorial
Brain Renovation

I also encourage anyone with the inclination to donate to the American Cancer Society's multiple Hope Lodges, especially the Nashville location, as it was a great resource to us during the time after my mother was released from the hospital last spring.

Steak and Corn

2011-11-03T08:23:00.002-04:00

On Saturday evening I realized that my supply of black olives, snap peas and Camembert had pretty much exhausted itself (it wasn't substantial), and yet I didn't have much as far as other food options. So I took a closer look in the freezer. There I found a small, frozen Delmonico steak from Meadowbrook Farms and decided that I could filch it from the freezer (not really filch, I'll replace it). I prepared it simply, crushing black peppercorns and using kosher salt to give it a little rub. Then I took some frozen corn and cooked it up with a bit of half and half, ginger, and the drippings from the steak once I cooked it. Pretty good. I overcooked the steak, but that's nothing new.

Lost Breakfast

2011-11-01T10:16:00.003-04:00

Last weekend I was really annoyed with myself when I realized that my camera's battery was low and I had forgotten to bring the charger with me. I held off from taking photographs of most things until Sunday, so the camera's juice would be used mostly for brunch. But I did have breakfast on Saturday, and used my phone's camera to take a photo. These were farm fresh eggs from a nearby, well, farm. Chickens!

Snow Later On

2011-11-01T08:56:00.002-04:00

Just a few more shots of the snow later in the day, still coming down and collecting.
Zul found a spot to sit.
This is usually where you can find me: on the floor by the fire doing something on the computer.

Saturday Early Snow

2011-10-31T17:50:00.002-04:00

The end of this week will mark the one year anniversary of my mother's death. I didn't feel like spending it in the city, and certainly didn't want to deal with office folk throughout the week, so I asked my employers if I could work remotely, which they graciously granted me permission to do. My plan was to return to S.'s house, which is where I spent a good number of days after departing the south and returning northerly after Mom's funeral. My initial plan was to arrive Saturday, but there was all this talk of 'snow' so I decided it probably made more sense to leave Friday evening, which I did. Though I stopped briefly to get myself some wine, I didn't make a proper grocery run because I figured I'd have plenty of time before the snow to do so on Saturday morning (my priorities in action). This turned out only kind of true. When I got out of bed around 9 it was already snowing, and though I'm sure I could have safely made it the 10-ish miles to the grocery store and back without disaster striking...I decided that maybe I didn't want to, and that I had enough weird things to eat to last me. Here's what it looked like within an hour of me waking up when I took my first snow walk. Well, actually this photograph of the pumpkin patch was taken inside.

It was seriously coming down and didn't really seem like it had any intention of letting up. As the day went on, and the snow kept falling, lights flickered and flashed until eventually regular electricity conked out entirely. Thankfully for me, S. has a generator, which has seen me through the last two days and hopefully will see me through until the power is restored.
Just a little snow.
It didn't feel quite wintery, so I didn't wear a jacket but I did wear a hat.

Darts c/o McCrossen's III

2011-10-30T09:34:00.005-04:00

This past week's darts match was once again held at McCrossen's. We played a team from Kensington. They had lots to say about the set-up of the McCrossen's dart board, the prices of McCrossen's drinks, and the tendency of many customers and employees to walk by players as they were shooting (hard to avoid, as the bathrooms are all near the board). While I have no official role in the team (past 'unofficial drunken mascot') nor at the bar, their litany of complaints (some well-founded...it really is a tight space if you have a team of 10 people and when they first arrived there was nowhere for them/us to sit), I did take their early criticisms to heart. Or something. Not to heart. Basically in my head I believed conflict was a'brewing, so I drank heavily and tried to stay out of its way. At one point I really thought about just sitting under the table by the board and building a temporary fort...but I didn't do that. The end result was actually no large conflict, and me becoming very drunk. Though I still managed to have my 'moment of zen' by hitting an outshot just after the opposite team started making cracks about women, and how they throw. I don't know what LW is reacting to in this photo, but I like it.
This guy's nickname was Shorty. He and I had a conversation later about all the other nicknames he has 'upstate.' But I forget them now.
I did envy the other team their matching shirts.
K. shooting. I believe he and I had some kind of conversation about how one of the opposite team's member's flights were a confederate flag motif. Ugh.
Bunch a dudes playing darts.

Not sure what this is about, but I like it.
The older gentleman to the right was quite the flirt. I don't know why it is that I'm fine with men over 60 calling me sweetheart or hon (he was 83), but men under that age calling any woman they don't actually know either of those things raises my near non-existent feminist hackles.
I think this was after we won, which we did.
K. probably telling T. a number of things we could do to improve something.
Fist bumping it out. If I were fist bumping, I would be blowing that shit up.
Drunky McDrunkerpants (me, not LW).
I wore my boots, but you can't see them.
L. and K. talking about one thing or another.

Looking Up, Down, And All Around

2011-10-29T10:44:00.004-04:00

After brunch I returned to the house, put on S.'s feet fortresses and took a little walk in the woods. I forgot my zoom lens, so I didn't even attempt to take photographs of birds. Though I think I saw a heron and a Kingfisher.
S. said that there wasn't any great beautiful moment for foliage this year, which made me feel better than if I had missed it by a week. Leaves were still on trees and it was in the mid sixties temperature-wise. I'm actually back out in the country today and it is snowing. So I'm extra glad I made it out last weekend when the weather was more fall-like than winter.

Who doesn't like a stream?

There were a few buzzards circling about and a whole murder of crows in a tree I couldn't quite see but could certainly hear without trying.
I love this big open field. Such a sense of scale to travel from one side to the other.
Stone barn.
P-u-r-t-y. Purty.

Brunch c/o Bolete and S.

2011-10-28T22:06:00.003-04:00

My weekend in the country last week was a relatively low key affair. The main food event of my own making was a rather epic session of cookie baking, which somehow I made no effort to capture. Know this: for the last week my coworkers have been drowning in butterscotch pecan and chocolate chip pecan cookies. This goes for my roommate as well - but I'm not sure he's really drowning. Though this evening, as he took a cookie from one of the FOUR different containers I originally needed to contain them all, he said that I would be to blame for his weight gain. Dude generally seems to eat only peanut butter sandwiches and protein shakes, so I feel ok about it:) The one slightly social/food noteworthy element of the weekend was when S. invited me to go out to brunch with her, A. and H at Bolete. We drove together and sat down at our table while we waited for A. and H. I ordered a Bloody Mary, which was pretty tasty thought not mind blowing...though its alcohol content snuck up on me a little bit in a surprising way.
Once A. and H. arrived they set down this little plate of bread goods. I forget what it all was, though I did try a bacon/cheddar scone kind of thing.
I had done my menu research before even arriving at the joint, which I've enjoyed twice before -once with A. and M. and S. in the summer of 2009, and once with Mr. Ass last year. So I was pretty sure I was going to go with the 'Eggs Chizmar.' With no real crazy additions and no specials, that choice was not put into question. What are 'Eggs Chizmar' you ask? Well, they're two poached eggs with two fried oysters, magically tasty (but not hallucinogenic) mushrooms, bacon and mizuna on buttermilk biscuits with a nice helping of hollandaise to finish it all off.
Unlike my recent fried oyster let-down at Oyster House, this set of fried oysters still had some flavor and succulence. The eggs were perfectly cooked and the addition of mushrooms was superb. Seriously, I was a happy camper.
I may have creeped A. and H. out when just as we were all separating and going our own ways I made reference to the fact that I remember having a drink with them and M. and A. when they were first seeing each other. I think it could have creeped them out because A. and I - though we traveled together for nearly a month when we were 19/20 - don't really keep in touch. And I'm sure that neither of them have any recollection of seeing me during their very, very early moments of courtship. They have since gotten married. Nonetheless, I thought it was kind of neat to see them x years later, but maybe I could have expressed it better. In any case, I thank S. for thinking of setting up the brunch in the first place and then generously buying us brunch. She made this comment about how 'if you're the person who invites people to brunch then it's implied that you're paying.' Those are not her words verbatim, but they're awfully close. I had to chuckle and respond with 'when I ask people to brunch, I just want them to come with me not pay for them.' S. responded that with age comes great brunch maturity. Well, she didn't say that. The point is: I enjoyed my meal very much and I was glad to see A. and meet H. and thankful that S. was willing to foot the bill:)