Roast Pork Sandwich c/o John's Roast Pork

There are a number of tasks that make moving a drag. There is, of course, the packing and consolidation of things. The emotional toll of going through multiple boxes and other such things, remembering your past just as you're trying to get to your future...but there are other practical tasks that this consumer society makes far more difficult than necessary. Changing names on bills, for example. It was quite easy to get our apartment's electric bill into my roommate's name...but when it came to Comcast? Not so easy. Couldn't do it over the phone, nope nope nope...had to show up in person with two forms of ID...which is just insane, but it did lead my roommate A. and I to head off to South Philly on one of my last days in town. The Comcast center of doom was actually not as depressing as it sometimes is, and in the end we only needed one form of ID. After making the name switch, I needed to go to a hardware store to get paint in order to get my room back to white, and I also thought that one last truly Philly sandwich was in order. A. had never been to John's Roast Pork, so I felt quite smug about giving him one last 'first' on my way out (as I had done in terms of pho and ramen in prior months). It was a relatively warm day, and so after standing in line only briefly and both ordering the roast pork with provolone, we sat outside to consume our monstrous meals. Seriously. So much pork. Juicy and tender. The wind kicked up a bit but that didn't stop us.

A. was a very good roommate in my opinion. We got along quite well, never really had any tensions or issues. It was a good balance in as far as he was on the dart team, so we socialized a bit outside of the home,  while also generally enjoying each other's company and conversation on occasion while at home (watching the occasional NFL or Breaking Bad episode together, for example). But we still had independent lives and all that. It's a strange thing, I lived with him for over a year and who knows if our paths will ever cross again. I was glad to have one more outing with him before our lives diverged.

Martini and Banh Mi c/o Alla Spina

Week before last LW and I headed west in search of some rather spectacular lobster deals...but we hadn't made a reservation at our intended destination and found the wait too long for our liking. So instead we went to Alla Spina. I believe we both had dirty martinis.

In times past, I have always enjoyed the look and the feel of Alla Spina, but never quite loved any of the small dishes I tried. But it's not a place I don't want to go back to. It's a place that I am convinced makes tasty things, but that I'm simply ordering wrong. That evening was the first time this basic philosophy was validated. I chose the Italian banh mi with roasted pork shoulder, chicken liver paté, pickled daikon, carrots and cilantro. I found it much to my liking. The baguette was generally tough but pliant on the outside with a little more give and tenderness on the inside, and the mix of pork and chicken and carrots et al worked as well. I think I had expected slightly thicker bits of pork, but on the whole it was a sandwich I enjoyed. 

Work Lunches Including Sushi and Sandwiches

More lunches came our way with another week of busy times. Here was my lunch combination from Kansai. Eel avocado and spicy crunch crab rolls.

A grilled cheese sandwich with tomato from Rybrew. The dragon felt strongly that the sandwich should not be eaten and, instead, should serve as a permanent cave-like shelter for himself. I argued against this and was ultimately successful. There are advantages of being alive and one of them is being able to have the final word in arguments with plastic dragons found inside Kinder eggs.

A spicy turkey sandwich with coleslaw and spinach from 3Js. The dragon wasn't entirely sure what to do here so he just started lurching around like a zombie. Which makes sense, given the loss of one of his wings. Not the dragon he used to be.

And of course a lovely looking Primo's hoagie. The dragon was too distracted by its love of flatware to even investigate, which made the eating of the sandwich quite a bit easier than it sometimes is.

Random Roundup

Frankly my life since my camping trip has been however many weeks of working every single day. That isn't to say that I haven't had any fun, but when your weekends aren't really your weekends and you're working longer hours during the regular week, well it does funny things to your brain. In any case, the one positive of working crazily is that you get subsidized lunches. For instance, this Primo's ham and cheese mini-hoagie, which was a little soggy but still an all around tasty interruption of sustenance in the middle of a work day. The dragon was happy to get back to the action.

Then another day and time, I went over to C. and R.'s for a pizza/puppy/laundry evening. The pizza was clearly half cheese and half pepperoni/olive, and just what the doctor - and by doctor, I mean "I" - ordered.

And then there was the evening that LW and I went to McCrossen's knowing it was T.'s last official night with the place. I ordered the boquerones and then we had some beers with a few other folks, including T. It was a good evening and an end to an era. LW and I went to McCrossen's a lot more a few years ago than we have been as of late, and it was my first-ever darts home bar. While our barfly ways petered out once darts became less of a thing there, it's still a good spot and I've always enjoyed talking and shooting the shit with T. and will be sad that he won't be in the neighborhood anymore. An end to an era I say!

In this photo T. and G. were speaking to each other and LW requested a photograph in which neither of them were paying any attention to us or my camera. It kind of worked.

They had some sort of magical raspberry beer that I liked very much.

Then another work meal. This time a take on a BLT from Rybrew.

Oh how the time it does fly. I really can't recall if this was a series of two or three days, or more than that.

Road Trip Lunch c/o Penn Alps

What is it about certain places? How do they manage to lodge themselves into our minds as meaningful, as beautiful, as timeless? And how often can those places ever measure up to whatever strange hold they've had on a person's brain? I ask these questions because when I started planning my drive to Columbus in order to celebrate Cuz K.'s engagement I did not struggle very much in making the counterintuitive decision to drive south before west and north. This is not the first time that I have driven to Ohio and made a stop at Penn Alps. The first was pretty much three years ago. I drove to Ohio on the way to go down to Tennessee to be with my parents for became my mother's second and last extended stay in a hospital. That was the drive that began a reality that ended with my mother's death less than a month later. When I was driving there and while I was actually eating and walking around Penn Alps and its rather remote Grantsville, MD location, however, it was not entirely apparent that that was the circumstance. I haven't actually re-read what I wrote about the last visit. I know that I was generally reflecting on the same ideas of place and time and nostalgia. And that I was non-plussed by the change to the entrance and to the gift shop, both of which were expanded and made slightly less quirky and more in line with the 'tourists stop here and we sell them things' vibe that I don't totally love. The funny thing is that as I knew I was going to stop at Penn Alps, I also started thinking about another location that I'd been to a few times in my youth that strangely stuck with me in terms of shaping some element of something that I care about. It seems. Hancock, Maryland is a second example of a place where I never spent much time, but that I visited a few different times throughout some formative time in my life.

I took no photographic evidence of my last minute decision to peel off the highway and drive down Hancock's main strip. I hadn't actually been sure that the place in my memories was Hancock, but when I saw the roof of and sign of the orchard/farm market literally just off the highway, I was pretty sure it was a place I had been. I don't know when. As a four year old. As an eight year old. As a nine year old. As a 12 year old. I simply don't know if I've been to that town three times or ten. At least three, that is for sure. In any case. It was a surreal thing driving down Hancock's Main Street and having at first a moment of feeling like I was totally mistaken. If it wasn't that apple/farm building market thing, then what town was it? I was driving the same route that my mother would often take when we drove to Ohio, but I had never remembered any of the roads. It's a strange thing to see things you've already seen but not entirely on purpose or realizing you are about to do so. Hancock is like that. I remember the market. I remembered a diner that I kept thinking was going to be just a little bit farther, and then I started to think that it didn't exist, and then it suddenly appeared and was exactly as I thought it would be. I remembered a General/Discount store with some weird mix of cheap toys and groceries and asundry things. The kind of place where there really is dust on some of the merchandise. I remembered going entirely through the town and turning right and going who knows how far to a place to park in order to then hike a while to get to a cabin with my parents that was along the Appalachian Trail.

So this town is just a location I somehow saw a number of times up until the time I was about 13. It is 17 years later and I am still drawn to it. And why? It's just a pretty small town with no huge anything that I could tell. Just strangely fragmented memories of being there. Being struck by the small town-ness of it. Struck by perhaps the run-down-ness of some of the people I saw. I don't know and I've just gone on a considerable tangent when my main point is that I revisited an entirely different place that I totally associate with driving trips with my mother for the first time since she died. That may not be my main point, but it certainly is part of the fabric of the situation.

In any case. I got to Penn Alps around 1 after hitting just terrible traffic on 95 south. I went directly to the hostess stand (past the still weird-to-me cashier plaza) to get a table. I was seated in an area I'm not sure I'd been to before. Though there is an especially cobwebbed part of my mind that feels like the answer is yes, and there was hot chocolate with whipped cream involved. But I could be wrong. In any case, I knew that my meal the last time hadn't been a runaway success so I tried to choose more carefully this time around. I went with a sweet tea that totally won. And enjoyed taking a look at the place mat - or should I say place map? With its nicely illustrated landmarks and routes as well as a pretty interesting slogan...the photographic evidence of which is only on my phone. Oh man it was funny, perhaps in part because of its spacing. It went:

Come once & see what we 

have yet, still

That shit is deep. 

More thinking led to a far better choice in meal. Though I don't usually order Reubens (in large part because the sandwich reminds me of my ex-boyfriend's eating tendencies), this seemed like the place to get even more over something that is so far in the past as to be the kind of thing that shouldn't influence my eating habits. It wasn't the thickest of sandwiches, but the country style bread (I requested non-rye b/c that is just the truth of my preferences) really did add something to the mix. And what I believe was truly homemade sauerkraut was absolutely not your standard stuff. It was deep and dark in taste and not crunchy, which to me suggests it really did ferment and pick up a lot of flavor before landing in my sandwich. I really don't know enough about corned beef to say how it ranked, but I will say it was thicker than some of the Reuben sandwiches I've seen in my time. I also ordered a side of mashed potatoes and gravy even though the sandwich came with homemade potato chips that I shamefully ignored. The potatoes had some nice lumps that suggested being made not out of a box. And I liked the gravy regardless of its providence. Providence? Provenance?

And then it was time to take a stroll through Spruce Forest. I, again, somehow found myself too shy to actually go into any of the workshops. Honestly I think as a kid I never did go inside. I just loved all the little cottages and the idea of creation happening within.

In this instance even if I wanted to go in I couldn't "due to a weekend workshop in feather carving." Because THAT IS A THING THAT HAPPENS!!!!!!!

Then I went to the bridge/Casselman River to sit for a moment. The ground was a little wet so I didn't really do what I thought I might, which was take off my shoes and put my feet in the river. This was in part due to the squishy-ness of the ground and one part the fact that there didn't seem like there was a really perfect place to get in there. Also, I'm not sure if there are rules against putting your feet in a river right by a crafts village and don't want to be banned.

Yup. I haven't read what I wrote, but I have looked at the photographs. It's kind of terrible. It demonstrates an entire lack of creativity. I keep getting stuck wanting to capture the same exact view or a very similar one, which doesn't capture any more of the feeling or thoughts that I may have been trying to capture. How can you capture the feeling of just being a kid being slightly interested, slightly mesmerized and slightly bored by a place?

In the end I basically took the same exact photographs that I took the last time, only fewer of them. After my meal and stroll I continued heading west. For a while I was on a pretty solitary/small road, which provided me many a beautiful vista of the hills and mountains around me. I am still not entirely sure what the mountains would have been, but my car definitely enjoyed the challenge of driving up and down a few of them. Also: coal propaganda is the worst.

Carolina-style Pork Sandwich c/o Fresh Market

The next day we had to do a bit of a grocery run in preparation for the meal we'd make that evening. We didn't really have lunch so while we were at Fresh Market we were taken in by the idea of a sandwich made right at their deli counter. I chose to try their barbeque pork tenderloin with coleslaw. I forget what CPM had, but I believe it involved Brie. Neither of us were terribly impressed, though the sandwiches did sit for about 45 minutes due to my thinking I knew how to take us on a nice back route...except I had no idea what I was doing so it took a pretty long time. In any case, the bbq sauce on my sandwich was extremely sweet. I would have preferred a more vinegar-based sauce. Lesson learned.

Cocktails, Soup and Sandwich c/o Lemon Hill

While I was on my lake trip my cat was predominantly fed and taken care of by my roommate, but I had also reached out to CPM about possibly covering a day or two when the roommate would be elsewhere. She and her hubby also had plans to go out of town and had asked me if I would watch over Brutus the dog during their absence. So she had a set of my keys and I needed hers and we hadn't seen each other in a while. It was decided we could do a key exchange and catch up at Lemon Hill, and that is what we did. LW also joined us. I got there first and ordered the happy hour beverage of the evening: a traditional dacquiri that I enjoyed.

I was also attracted to their chilled tomato sou (not gazpacho) with bacon croutons. Let me tell you a thing or two about this soup. Thing 1: it was delicious and so freshy fresh in its tomato-ness, but somehow clearly not a gazpacho. Thing 2: bacon croutons are the new everything-that-is-right-with-the-world.

I then deliberated between two different cocktails for a second drink and ultimately asked the bartender to choose between two options. Oh man and I can't remember either of their names and the restaurant's website cocktail list doesn't seem to reflect their most recent summer menu changes. I'll tell you what, it was tasty? I'm useless.

I was also very attracted to the roasted chicken sandwich with bacon, fried green tomatoes, and smoked tomato creme fraiche.The fries weren't all that interesting but the sandwich itself with its thick but toasty bread hit just the right spot.

It was a lovely evening with good company in an establishment that never fails to please.

Twin Sisters and Ben Bay Beaches in Eleuthera

The next day I had two new beaches on my radar: Twin Sisters Beach and Ten Bay. Twin Sisters wasn't far north of Gregory Town according to the internet directions I found, and while that was true the directions weren't totally helpful when it came to finding the beach. I think some of the landmarks had changed so while I could see the beach from the shoulder of the road, it wasn't quite clear how to get through all the brush. Eventually I did figure this out, but I wasn't feeling it. Many of the beaches on Eleuthera necessitate some rather rough driving off the main highway. This gives you more a sense of peace and isolation, but this beach was within spitting distance (if you were a superhero Llama) of the highway, which kind of ruined the vibe. Because a) I felt far more exposed...anyone could see my parked car and peer over toward the beach and see me. Who these 'anyones' could be and why they would give a shit is totally unclear to me but I guess I'm always on the offensive against rape and murder. I had planned on swimming out to the 'sisters' to see what kind of fish I could see, but I ultimately chose to simply eat half a sandwich before moving on.

Half a sandwich. My Kindle Fire also stopped working that day, so I had to take a book from the cottage. John Grisham's The Appeal.

My next destination was Ben Bay, which was described as having easy/close snorkel options on reefs that also helped keep the beach/water calm even on rougher/windier days. Now the directions to this place were a little more complex, involving right and left turns at forks every .1-.5 mile once off the main road. This was complicated by the fact that it seemed like there were options that wouldn't come at quite the distance I had written down. At some point I definitely took a left when I should have taken a right and found myself bumping along a mainly dirt/rock road with rather dense brush on my right and left. Suddenly I found myself looking at a huge tractor like machine in the middle of the road and got concerned. Was there someone in it? Or was it a farming piece of equipment left behind for some later time? Would they just move without my having to get out and ask? A few seconds later three blonde headed boys hopped out of the truck and one man to boot. The man came by and said they could move the thing and I confirmed I was even on the right road for Ben Bay. Now here's something about the boys and man that might surprise you: they were white. And maybe that won't surprise you that much. How about this...they were dressed in what I can only describe as 'Amish-styled clothing.' Dark pants, simple shirts with no buttons, straw hats. The man had a beard and very piercing blue eyes. In any case it turns out that I was not on the right road. So first he helped me get turned around (these are not roads that are built for 3-point turns) then gave me the directions I needed to get to the Bay...then he asked me if I was alone and I said yes and he kind of gave me a look. Then he asked me if I had a cell phone. I said no and he gave me even more of a look. Then he also noted that I needed to put more sun lotion on behind my ears because they were burned (entirely true) and noted that I had to be careful about sticks on the sides of the road that could potentially pop a tire. I asked him what kind of farming they did, and he said mostly sheep. At that point I realized that beyond the brush that lined the roads there were wire fences and beyond those fences were definitely some sheep doing their sheep thing. He said they also grew fruit. He was very nice and we ended our conversation with his saying if I got into trouble I could just come back their way because they'd be around. Which actually was kind of comforting; if I had gotten a flat tire in the middle of really and truly nowhere it would have been quite the thing. With better directions and a little chutzpah I made my way and found Ben Bay. And man. What a great spot. Because it's harder to find and rougher on cars I think it doesn't get as much traffic as other spots (which again is sort of a stupid thing to say because no beach ever had more than 10 people on it at one time). For the first 40 minutes I was the only person with this view.

I think this may be me being smug about how stupid beautiful it was.

A few other folks showed up eventually. A group of younger Italians I think and a couple. I took a walk along the edges, which is all I guess volcanic rock or something? Research is not something I've done clearly.

The person who took this picture just couldn't wait for me to finish opening and closing my mouth. That person was me.

So you see how it's white all along there where the water is breaking over the reefs? Yeah that's where it was fun to swim out and see some things. It's where I saw the barrucuda-like fish.

So neat.

Rough around the edges.

Later on the Italians left and then a couple and their three red headed children appeared. The husband quickly got into snorkel gear and headed out to the reef with a spear. I spoke with the wife briefly, asking just what he was out to catch and she said lobster. She mentioned that earlier that week he had caught one big enough that it fed the whole family for dinner. Soon enough he came out with one lobster and put it into a bucket. I was a little shy and didn't want to crash the party but you know I wanted to see it. Then when he came out with another one closer to where I was situated, I did go over and ask if I could take a photograph because that is just really the coolest thing ever. Then he asked me if I wanted a photograph of me holding it, which of course I did. Of course I did! So he told me how to hold the lobster and I got my moment. I told him I'd tell all my friends that I caught the lobster....but I just ruined that now didn't I.

After more delightful snorkeling, reading, lying down and sandwich eating (and beer drinking) I decided it was late enough in the day that I should do my ritual Gaulding's Key time period (basically 3-5). There I spoke with a couple I had seen on the two days prior. They'd just been talking to a younger couple who had just arrived on the island and were in search of a car to rent. Then the older couple left. Then I left and went to Daddy Joe's because I thought an early meal out would be nice. There I reconnected with the older couple, who suggested I try this green drink. The name of which I cannot recall. It was sweet and heavy on the rum.

I hadn't realized that Daddy Joe's was cash only and I was running low on money in hand, so while I had planned on trying more of their menu, I ended up with the conch soup because it was in my budget. But it was very good. Spicy and rich.

The younger couple also came in and sat down. We chatted for a while (they were from Brooklyn and the closest in age to me that I'd really seen on Eleuthera) and they also ordered drinks that turned out to be strong in liquor and vibrant in color.

And after my drink I went back to the cottage and settled into a lovely evening. I think I may have chatted with other guests on the property that night and the night before, or some combination.

A Night Out Featuring Wine and Snacks c/o Tria Wine Room

CPM had a slight break in her graduate studies, or at least a little more time in Philly, earlier this month and we capitalized on that free time/her hubby's being out of town for a bachelor party to meet up and catch up. At some time prior to this meeting I purchased a Groupon (or it could have been a Social Living) discount for cheese and snacks at Tria Wine Room. I had tried, previously, to cash the coupon in, but hadn't read the fine print that stipulated it could only be redeemed at the West Philly Tria location. In the end that early mistake was a blessing, as it was far more fun to explore the menu with a fellow food lover. I believe we went on a Saturday evening, braving the cold, a bus, and a walk past streaming UPenn students going east to Center City to arrive at our destination. I had realized that our choice of evenings could potentially lead to a wait/the fact that we might be the only two people in the establishment not on a date ... and at least one of those expectations was pretty much met; we were seated immediately at the bar but all around us were couples. The bartender was friendly and handsome and we quickly had glasses of wine in our hands. Well, in my case, a Spanish cava/prosecco (Cava Brut, Castellroig, NV). When it came down to choosing what to eat we ultimately chose Tria Sliced Meat Plate with Sweet Red Pepper, Pickled Onion Mostarda and Spicy Garlic Oil. The variations of the sliced cured meats was lovely, as were the accompanying slices of bread and garnishes. The garlic oil was particularly delightful.

We also split the Claudio Mozzarella Sandwich with Crispy Prosciutto, Piquillo Pepper, Pesto and Garlic Vinaigrette, which was above average for a fanci-fied mozzarella panini. I was especially fond of the pesto element.

We additionally enjoyed the Housemade Lamb Sausage with White Beans, Piquillo Peppers and Mint-Feta Sauce. CPM enjoyed the white beans a whole heck of a lot while I became enamored of the lamb sausage, which was savory and hearty and magic.

We also enjoyed a chunk of Crémeux de Bourgogne cheese with its accompanying preserved cherries, but the photograph of the cheese just didn't come out well enough to bother showing you. We each ordered a second glass of wine to round out our treats. The Tria industrial complex (heh) is not fooling around with its curated wine list or attention to interesting flavor combinations and I was glad to finally check out the third of its locations. Afterwards we were going to try and have fancy cocktails at Franklin Mortgage and Trust, but it was cold and there was already a line of a good 10 people and that would have translated to a good 30-who knows minute wait, which we were having none of. Instead we went in a markedly less high-brow direction to The Bards, where we ran into LW. LW was playing darts but with folks who really know how to shoot...and CPM would not have had much fun if playing against them, so we set up shop at the lower board and played a game or two with two dudes. We topped the night off with one round of beers at McCrossens, which is generally a good way to end a night and lived up to that description admirably on this occasion.

Random Round Up

The latter part of December was spent working, which, as we have already covered, meant subsidized lunches. This is a turkey sandwich on brioche c/o Rybread.

A day or two before Christmas I walked around Center City looking for gifts and ended up enjoying a sushi lunch at Aki. Nothing too spectacular, lunch special priced crispy salmon skill, eel and avocado and yellowtail with scallion. I also had green tea.

This Christmas was spent again with NC Catherine and J. Work is so crazy and the expectations of my bosses not entirely reasonable, so I ended up going down on a train Sunday and returning on a train Wednesday. The train allowed uninterrupted work abilities due to wireless, and was altogether far more pleasant the airport/plane experience has become. Though each way there were certainly some delays. On the way down, however, I was able to complete my work day and still have a few more hours of train living. With those hours I watched Sense and Sensibility, blogged about cheese and wine, and eventually made my way to the club car to pick up a snack and a stiff drink. Snack was hummus. Stiff drink was Jack Daniels and ginger ale. I'll say this for certainty: it's worth spending the additional $40 for business class on an Amtrak train, more legroom, a reserved/guaranteed seat, and just one car away from the cafe/club car. On the way back up there was even a proposal over the loudspeaker.

When I arrived in Greensboro, my father, NC Catherine and J. were all waiting for me. Also waiting for me? Corn chowder. Good stuff and start to a rather rushed holiday season.

Egg Sandwich by the Fire

 The weekend before last found me in the country yet again. It was finally cool/chilly enough to rationalize if not totally warrant a fire. And a fire I did stoke throughout the days. I also made this egg sandwich on a Portugese roll.

Sandwich, Snacks and Drinks c/o Prohibition; Comedy and Music c/o Underground Arts

LMP Brigade strikes again. In other words, I had a last minute plan idea and I asked BC if she might want to join in. She said yes and so on the night in question a plan was born. Basically, I was interested in seeing Starlee Kine and the West Philly Orchestra at Underground Arts. We decided before getting there that we'd have some drinks and perhaps food at Prohibition Taproom. I walked there and it took a lot less time than I had thought, which made me a good 20 minutes early. BC then ended up being a little late, so I sat at the bar alone for a bit of time. When I sat down there were people on either side of me, but eventually one person departed, which made me glad because I could then save the seat for BC. It was a crowded house for a Thursday night, so I wasn't really aggressive about the seat...didn't put a jacket on it or a bag or anything. But when a big guy came up and asked about it I said, well no one's there now but I have a friend coming in 10 minutes so....He got quite grumpy about that, went to another section of the bar and grabbed a seat. Meanwhile the bar manager came up to me and gently chastised/scolded me, saying they have a first come first serve policy on seats. All fine and good really. I wasn't trying to be difficult. At the same time the guy's extreme grouchiness/telling on me and the bar managers faux conciliatory/judgy tone were kind of off-putting, even if I get it: it's busy, you'd rather have an ass in a chair now then have me leave because my friend won't have an chair for her ass later. But I didn't leave. A nice lady sat in the seat next to me, had a drink and left just as BC arrived. So all worked out. I just found it a little something. We decided to split the grilled cheese sandwich of the day, which included brie, pears and I forget what else. Good, but not quite hot hot hot enough.

I'm a sucker for fried green beans and I think they do an excellent job at Prohibition. The dipping sauce is also quite addictive.

They had an 'old man drink' special, which was the 'Fine and Dandy.' It was a mix of gin and other things. Potent. Old mannish for sure.

After our drinks and meal, we departed Prohibition for Underground Arts. There, we the 215 Festival put together a show that allowed us to see the comedy stylings of Juliet Hope Wayne whom I had seen perform once before. She is funny, but it kind of makes me sad that her entire schtick is 'I was poor, doing heroin and drinking too much and these are the decisions I made as a result.' It's legitimately funny, and she seems to have gotten her act together now, but after only hearing her two times, I kind of wish she'd find fresh material.

Then there was the West Philly Orchestra. They came out and played and it was fun and good.

Many of the musicians were wearing costumes. One girl was dressed up in a kimono while playing her tuba. I think it was a tuba.

And then came Starlee Kine. She decided to do a bit with two audience members, except she chose pretty much the two worst people in Philadelphia to do anything with on stage. The basic set up was: she had recently attended a wedding of two people she in one way or another had helped bring together...and she wanted far more credit than she got. So she brought up these two people and the bit was supposed to just be this list of how many points she'd get if they ended up doing a variety of things together. The problem is that these two were just surly and weird. In the initial introduction they quickly established themselves as being unable to 'go along with a bit' and kept on saying pretty much the opposite of what Kine expected or could have wanted. While this could have ratcheted up the comedy, it really didn't. It was just aggravating. Both the dude and the woman had this strange Philly swagger/I don't give a shit attitude and Kine struggled to keep them and the audience engaged. I truly believe it would have gone over so much better if she had randomly called out two more recent Philly transplants or just other people altogether....unless the whole thing was supposed to be a little Andy Kaufman/Tom Green socially awkward. If so, totally nailed it.

While there were more performers after Kine, it was getting late and BC and I both had work the next day. So, alas, we left before it ended. A good and lovely LMP.