Family Memories and Meh Mexican (Mehxican)

The weekend before last I took a day off and made my way southwest to Gettysburg for a weekend-long rendezvous with my Ohio relatives. I knew I was going to get there before they did, so I first took a small detour to Fairfield, which is about 10 miles outside of the 'burg, and is also where my grandfather and his sisters (and a brother? I can't remember if he was the only boy) grew up. The family has long returned to the town. As a kid, I remember countless drives from the D.C. area with my mother, where we would meet up with our Ohio brethren at my great-aunt Helen's house. Helen was a school teacher and never married, and her house was a general meeting place for numerous holiday gatherings. We rarely spent Christmas-proper there, but always celebrated the holiday at some point. I have so many memories from those days; flashes of the rooms, furniture, knick knacks, wallpaper, piano, refrigerator magnets, unsafe back porch, grassy back sidewalk, clothes hanger, neighbor boxer dog, tiddly winks, armchairs. And the town itself was/is so small that as kids my cousin and I were allowed to walk around it with no supervision. I most vividly remember walking the two or three blocks to the local grocery store every time I was there to buy MAD magazine and gum - two things I never purchased at home. On another occasion, shortly after reading Harriet the Spy, I wandered down the main drag and up and around the few small alleys, taking notes on the various houses and looking for potential ways to get inside the houses...never did get inside, which is definitely for the best. When Helen ultimately had to be moved to an assisted living facility, the house and its belongings were sold. Actually, the things were auctioned off, so many of our family members went to the auction to get a few especially meaningful items (why we couldn't have simply taken them before the auction isn't clear to me). My mother got one of the two bed frames from the back room, where my cousin K, me and often my grandmother too would all sleep (the house may look a good size from the outside, but with three bedrooms needing to serve at least 8 people, things could get cramped. The mattress on that bed had a very pronounced dip in the middle, which I loved. That frame, with new mattress (to my chagrin) became my bed for the remainder of my years at home, and is now in the guest bedroom in Tennessee. I expect that whenever I have a more proper home I might try to mooch it. Mom also got an antique clock that sits in the dining area of the Tennessee house. All to say, this house has a lot of memories and feelings attached to it. So when I went to Fairfield, I first went to the cemetery where we spread some of Mom's ashes (by Helen's and other family members' graves) to just say hello to everyone - figuratively speaking. Then I became a super mccreepster, parking across the street from the house and taking photos. Driving around its block to see how things stayed the same or changed. Things have changed a little for sure, but this front view is exactly what we'd see when we drove up.

After the requisite amount of nostalgic thinking, I made my way back to Gettysburg. I hadn't eaten and wasn't sure exactly when our family meal would happen, so I stopped at a Mexican joint and tried their food. Guacamole was ok, but rather bland.

I ordered a quesadilla/enchilada/burrito combo, which was also lacking in any particularly marvelous or specific taste other than 'white people Mexican food.' I'm not bothering telling you where this was because I'm not recommending it.

Micheladas and Tacos c/o La Calaca Feliz

In early 2013 I met up with CPM. She was on break from the grueling school/commute schedule that has caused a sincere lack of CPM or pizza/puppy/wine nights and it seemed right to meet up, have a few drinks, and generally fill each other in on the goings on in our respective lives. We had this meeting of the minds at La Calaca Feliz. I ordered a michelada and I believe CPM did the same.

We also each ordered snacks. I chose to try the special bass tacos of the evening, which were quite tasty...though I'm not a huge fan of the pureed squash element that graced this dish, which shared a flavor profile with the gordita I enjoyed back in June. I think CPM had the carnitas tacos and seemed quite pleased. My favorite part of my plate was definitely the perfectly cooked and seasoned morsels of fish.

Dinner c/o Isabel with CP

It's been a few months since CPM and R's wedding. And I hadn't gotten the opportunity to see CPM since, which was sad making. She's doing a serious weekly commute to Maryland for graduate school, so the amount of time she's actually in Philly - and in a position to hang out with the likes of me - is limited. So I was glad when we began forming a plan to have such a face to face. In the end we took advantage of a Groupon I purchased a while back for dinner at Isabel. I enjoyed my last meal and dining experience at the establishment, but I hadn't found the opportunity to return so the deal (one appetizer, two entrees and dessert for $25) was tantalizing. CPM and I met up at my apartment before walking over to the restaurant. Almost on cue, it began torrentially raining. While we shared an oversized umbrella, we were both quite damp and dripping by the time we safely arrived at Isabel. We were quickly seated by the front window, which gave us a lovely view of just how rainy it was going to be (very rainy).

CPM supplied us with tequila for margaritas. We were curious about a few different options that Isabel provides, but took the advice of our server and ultimately chose the guanabana variety. We both struggled to describe what it actually reminded us of as far as taste, but we were in agreement that it was to our liking. Sweet, but not too much, and a nice mixer for the tequila.

We went with the mushroom and chorizo fundido, which I pointed out had many a similarity with our erstwhile pizza fave, just without the bread. It was a shallow bowl of melted cheese with plenty of chorizo and mushroom chunks, served with tortillas. So ooey gooey.

I debated what entree to choose and, again, took the advice of our server and went with the scallops.

This was a goo choice. I was surprised by just how many scallops I was given and the mango salsa accompaniment was bright and lively. The scallops were also nice and tender. I haven't tried cooking scallops in years, but I recall that when I did, they often ended up rubbery. These were nothing like my sad attempts.

And for dessert we shared the bread pudding, a warm sweet mess of tastiness with malted vanilla ice cream. Rich and hearty, a good dessert for such a rainy night.

It was great to catch up with CPM, and good to go back to Isabel.

Bachelorette Pre-Gaming, Dinner c/o Cabo, Dancing c/o Blue Moon

Once I returned to the fold I painted my nails and put on my party dress. LB, the lady of the evening, had quite the hot party dress.

We had dinner plans but before embarking on that part of our night there were first gifts and champagne.

LB got a mix of funny lingerie, things that lit up and a pretty cool sweatshirt. I gave her funny little bracelets and a to-go cupcake container.

The champagne-holding  bling ring was an especially neat gadget.

For dinner LX made us a reservation at Cabo, which wasn't far from our hotel. We got a nice table on the second floor deck and while we were waiting for it to clear I had a margarita. For dinner I chose to try the lobster ceviche and skirt steak. The ceviche wasn't quite right. Too sweet for something that was supposed to have a habenero element, and overcooked. Of course ceviche isn't cooked per se, but I think it sat in its juices too long. The texture was off. The steak, on the other hand, was delicious and cooked nice and medium rare. No complaints on that front.

After dinner we went to Blue Moon...or I think it was Blue Moon. It could have been somewhere else entirely. It was a predominantly gay bar with lots of dancing.

This was the unfortunate moment when an exuberant man lifted LB up and with her went her dress skirt.

Regrouping.

And then finally a few drinks at the Purple Parrot.

The whole weekend was wild. LB has so many good friends from different times and places in her life and it was so nice to finally put faces to some names I've been hearing about for over 15 years. I know I had a lovely time and I hope she did too!

Happy Hour Micheladas and Margaritas, Plus Snacks c/o La Calaca Feliz

Last week I met up with BC and AS at La Calaca Feliz for happy hour chats and snacks. Earlier in the day I had become quite taken with a photograph of their special for the evening, a Pork Belly Gordita, that the restaurant had posted on Twitter. I was also quite interested in trying their rendition of a michelada, having enjoyed R.'s version at my barbeque a few weeks prior. The michelada, unpictured, was delicious. A savory tomato beer treat. Refreshing. If you haven't given this particular drink a try, I'd suggest you consider it. As weird as beer, tomato juice, lime, salt etc may sound, it's kind of like a carbonated bloody Mary. In addition to drinks, we also enjoyed the albondigas, which were delightfully skewered, tender as all get out and with a secret center of molten cheese. Could have been maybe five degrees hotter as far as temperature, but I had no complaints with the taste.

The gordita was served on a puree of squash I think. Was it squash? Maybe not. The slivers of radish and water cress were a nice touch. The pork belly was a little tougher/crispier than I might have expected, but still satisfying in the flavor department.

Dinner and Margaritas c/o Isabel

So a few weeks back BC expressed interest in creating a plan that involved brunch and the Zoe Strauss exhibit at the Art Museum. I then sent her perhaps too thorough a list of all the different brunchy spots I'd like to try. Then it was decided that instead of brunch, it should be dinner and it should be followed by one of the museum's Art After 5 dance parties.
This basic plan was further fleshed out once we narrowed down our dinner destination to Isabel. Due to the relative early hour that the Museum broke down its entertainment (8:45) we went with an early reservation time of 5:45. This was a good plan. We all won, really. AS was nice enough to pick up the nice bottle of tequila we would end up completing after two pitchers of limon margarita mix. BC and BA came with red lipstick and sequins. Ok. Anyways. We started with the guacamole, which was a nice serving and I appreciated the slightly chunkier style than my other recent guac experience. Next up we tried one of the many specials of the evening. Fried cheese. Mmmmm. Fried cheese. Nice and hot, oooey, but not too gooey.
AS and BA both went the way of the enchilada. I enjoyed taking a little taste of their jalepeno cream sauce. Definitely a different approach than your typical red/green/mole. BC chose the special that included cubed pork shoulder, fried plantain, pickled onions, rice and beans (and maybe something else, there was a lot of food on her plate). I took a bite and the pork was certainly flavorful, but BC felt like it was a little dry and I have to agree. It wasn't terribly dry, but pork shoulder is a cut that so often lends itself to fatty, juicy, tender results that even a slight lessening of that effect does impact the whole.
I chose to try their chille relenos. I enjoyed the light red tomato sauce that smothered the peppers themselves. It was mild, not much of a kick, but fresh to the tongue and not flat. The peppers and the magical cheese within them were good. Nothing too revolutionary or unique about this presentation. I didn't care too terribly much for the rice, and the beans didn't strike me as 'wowza' material.
I'd say that the meal on the whole was a success. And enough of what came out of the kitchen was above average enough that I'd go back to try a different set of dishes. And the waitstaff was also friendly, if a little bit off with timing.

Margarita, Guacamole and Elote c/o Calaca Feliz

A little while back it was National Margarita Day, and I learned that Calaca Feliz was offering its signature margarita at a discounted $5 a glass price. It opened pretty recently in the neighborhood, and it was on my resolution list, so the holiday seemed the like the perfect excuse to check it out for the first time. I was seated quickly and soon a margarita was in front of me.
There were a few things on the menu that I wanted to try, but for this inaugural experience I went with the guacamole appetizer and the elote side. The guacamole was nice and fresh and I ate it all.
Their salsa was really quite good. Smoky. Different. Good. The elote was also satisfying, though I could have done with just a little more lime and a pinch of salt.
Pig bowl!

Drinks and Such c/o This Place and That

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.

Restaurant Week at Tequila's

So for months now L. and C. have told me about the glories of dinner at Tequila's, but we've never quite gotten our acts together to go. When we last met up we went to Cochon because they had plans to go to Tequila's with another set of friends later that week, which was fine by me but I still wanted to go. I asked my most stalwart of eating companions LW if she wanted to go. She did not. I called up Mr. Ass last minute to see if he was interested. He was not. So I decided to ask this guy I'd been communicating with online if he'd like to make the segue to actual face time over Tequila's three course meal. He did. It was a rainy evening, but Tequila's was warm and friendly, definitely bustling and celebratory in its overall vibe. Maybe not celebratory. Convivial? In any case, we both started with margaritas.
The chips, salsa, pico de gallo and pickled veggies that came at the beginning of the meal were definitely above average. The pickled veggies were surprisingly spicy, that kind of spicy that makes your eyes widen and for a minute you're not sure that the burning feeling in your mouth will ever go away ... but then it does and you're left with a perverse desire to do it again.
For my first course I ordered the ceviche, but the photographs I took were atrocious, so no proof for you. It was a generous portion and I liked it on the whole. For my main course I chose to go with the breaded and fried fish stuffed with guacamole and finished with a mango sauce. I liked the fish and the guac, but the sweetness of the mango weirded me out a little bit. My eat mate ordered the surf and turf of steak and shrimp and seemed to enjoy it pretty well.
For dessert I went with the tres leches, which looked and tasted nothing like I expected.
It wasn't a bad meal, but I think I went against some of my natural preferences in an effort to try new things to my disadvantage. I think I probably should have gone with their chile relleno entree and flan dessert. For never having spoken and knowing very little about one another, I'd say that the dinner as far as being a kind of date went pretty well. Though we haven't seen each other since. Hmpf.

Last Dinner at Silver Lake

This rock/tree pairing was on the path to the cabin's dock. That rock was really neat and pink. I'm no geologist, so I can't tell you what kind of rock it is or how old it might be, but I'm guessing an important but average kind of rock, and really old...but not as old as other things.
Eventually I gave up on finishing my book and joined the larger group. Most of the ladies had taken a hike to Crystal Lake earlier in the afternoon, and it seems they had their fair share of champagne at some point in that journey. They kept telling me I missed out. They got lost, though not as lost as M. and I managed to get when we went ... and they saw bear scat, but no one took photographs. I felt a little sad about my choice of staying behind. But what was done was done, and I did have a nice day nonetheless. In any case, spirits were good when I arrived on the scene. In this photo you can see A.'s sister V. swimming out to the floaty thing with an empty pretzel container full of beer.
I was beckoned.

Another lovely meal and starter snacks were created by the Texan contingent....I think they ended up making more meals than the rest, maybe because there were more of them? Maybe because many of them are actually in the food industry and know how to cook for a million people? I don't know. Everything on every night was so good.
This particular night was fajita night. Here the tortillas are grilled.
Here three of the four bros sit.
Here is just one of the copious numbers of plates brimming with grilled chicken and steak.
Along with the meat were corn, guacamole, cheese, oh man and so many other ways to dress up the fajitas.
Love.
And for dessert, tres leches with caramel sauce. Can we just bask in this glory? Ugh.
And this concludes the meals I shared with M. and the G. clan. It was such a great time and I'm so grateful that they welcomed me into their fold and forgave me my drunken night. Or at least I think they forgave me. I didn't do anything too terrible. I don't think. Oh god. Now I'm overthinking it...or I'm thinking just the right amount. One can never be sure.