Fries c/o Bards

On Friday after the sad sushi I met up with L., B. and M., my coworkers in crime. We met at Bards for a rousing round of watching the Olympics in a loud bar where you don't get to hear any of the commentary. I ordered French fries to drown my panic sushi let down. They were pretty good, crispy and well seasoned. I chose the gravy option as the side. The gravy was okay not quite delicious, not quite gross. It was there that we watched the Phelps race where his winning or losing was a matter of an itsy bitsy of a tenth of a tenth of a hundredth of a second (or whatever)...we wouldn't know, since the volume was off. The bar had a pretty good juke box.

Rebound Sushi

On Friday a few coworkers and I made plans to watch some Olympics at a bar. I made my own plan to go to Vic Sushi Bar because Yelpers had said wonderful things about it. But I had underestimated exactly how small the place is (literally six seats at the bar, nothing else). I panicked, suddenly I had an hour to kill and a hankering for sushi (specifically three rolls for $9.95). Living on a perpetual budget does not necessarily lead me to make the best decisions at all times. So I walked around a little bit, trying to decide how to satiate my hunger for a rock bottom price, then faltered when I saw Sushi on the Square. I went inside, I had two rolls for far more than $9,95 and while they were not bad, they did not truly make me happy. I think I went into it with the wrong attitude. Plus the special spicy white tuna roll I ordered was described as: sesame seeds on the outside, white tuna etc on the inside...but it turned out that the white tuna was on the ouside and all that was inside was cucumbers. Rough deal if you ask me, rough deal. Sigh. General summary: not a bad place but not extraordinary thus not worth the amount of money I spent. Sorry, Sushi on the Square.

Happy Hour c/o The Black Sheep

Last Thursday a number of my coworkers and I walked on into Center City and had a few beers at The Black Sheep.

Double Rainbows, Rain, Lightning and Me, Sounding Like An Idiot

This happened while we did all that other stuff.

Disregard my voice, focus on the crazy.

Chinese c/o Long River

The rest of our Sunday was spent playing Rummy on the porch then going to the apartment in Center City, spending some quality time with Zul, watching the Olympics and playing rummy while eating dinner. I ordered from a new Chinese place, Long River. The reviews on Yelp aren't all that encouraging but I tell you what, these were some of the most delicate and tasty dumplings I've had in quite a while. less dough, more filling. The roasted pork lo mein was also quite tasty. I plan on ordering again...I might even even try their bean curd and broccoli in brown sauce. And if it's not good, well, I will stick with the dumplings and try some other kind noodley dish (this is me growing as a person).

A Very Real Breakfast

The Sunday K. (and later J.) came down, K and I went to Taylor's up in the general Roxborough area (on Ridge). As far as I can tell this restaurant has no internet presence. It was very, very 'authentic'. Old school decor, fake rocks and brick walls and not all that friendly waitresses. Oh and butter on the water glasses. K., from his angle, saw something that disturbed him greatly but I didn't see it and he never really explained it...other than mentioning the word seizures. The breakfast was very much on the affordable side though, since they didn't take credit cards, I didn't end up paying for mine (thanks K!).

Picture Fun And Stuff

So all the cool kids (or at least past Chicagoist compatriots) are doing this fun Flickr Mosaic thing. And I'm a sucker for cool kids. So here's what you do:

Go to Flickr, search the following information, pick an image from the first page and put the url to the image in the mosaic thingy et voila! Fancy pantsy!

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3.What high school did you go to?
4.What is your favorite color?
5.Who is your celebrity crush?
6.What is your favorite drink?
7.What is your dream vacation?
8.What is your favorite dessert?
9.What do you want to do when you grow up?
10.Who/ what do you love most in life?
11.Choose one word that describes you?
12.What is your Flickr name?
(except that, actually, I did it wrong somehow and you can't see my pictures it's still fun)

(I will try redoing it soon...for my own benefit...I'm sure, though, that you are all dying to see what a random mosaic using words and flickr would say about myself and myself)

Saturday Fun Time

So K. and I played some mad Rummy when he came to visit. Drinking our drinks on the back porch with J.D. by our sides. And every once and a while Marla would make an appearance as well.
Sometimes I won by a lot. Some times I did not. I love playing cards and shooting the shit. All I want to do with the majority of my free time is sit outside, playing a game of cards (or Catan...sigh) and talking to someone whose company I enjoy....especially when I get to jackal the hell out of somebody.

Breakfast c/o Sabrina's

On Saturday morning K. and I drove back to the apartment to give Zul a little face time and have breakfast at Sabrina's. There was a little wait but ended up in a nice booth. I had their "Ocean Blue Mexican Special", I just put that in quotation marks but it's not actually accurate. This breakfast included: eggs, cheese quesadilla, beans, cilantro sour cream, tomatoes, potatoes and blue tortilla crab cakes. I know, it was ridiculous. And pretty tasty. K. had the French toast and it looked thick and amazing.

Happy National Rum Day!

By the by, a Mount Gay Rum representative contacted me to let me know that today is National Rum Day! And they were kind enough to send me a sample bottle of their product in order to celebrate the festivities. I plan on using one of their food recipes and one of their drink recipes today...or tomorrow (the bottle didn't arrive until Thursday and I haven't had time to go grocery shopping for any of the necessary ingredients...other than the rum). So stay tuned!

Dinner c/o Manayunk

Last Friday K. came on down from NYC for a weekend away from that particular city. We made ourselves Shirley Temple Rogers and played Rummy for the majority of his (and later J's) visit but we did manage to walk down the hill to Manayunk for dinner at the Manayunk Tavern. Whenever I told people about how I liked the Manayunk/Roxborough neighborhoods the people I was speaking to would give me an odd look and say something along the lines of 'yeah if you like drunk frat boys and vapid women'. And I didn't get it because I'd only really hung out in the area north of Main Street, where the row houses have more yards and the streets are a bit better kept and the residents all seem to have been a part of the neighborhood forever. But during our walk down the street, looking at different menus, trying to decide where we wanted to eat, I began to get the idea. Then, sitting outside during dinner watching more women in extremely short skirts walk by me than I think I've ever seen in my life, and dudes with wide wide shoulders and that slicked back look and take all the sidewalk manner, well I got it. K. ordered a Caesar salad. I tried it, it wasn't bad. Though not amazing.
I ordered a cup of the tomato basil soup and it was way too salty. I had serious doubts about how homemade it really was.
I had the lobster spring roll appetizer as my main meal. Eh.
K. had their riblets and black and tan onion rings. He had good things to say about the onion rings. Our server was a bit, shall we say, clueless and, at times, inefficient. Would I go back? Maybe...but for beer or a burger...I would definitely not drive out there specifically to go to the tavern, that I can say for sure.

I've known she-J. since I started working at a now defunct coffeehouse in Red Hook, New York. I got to know he-J. a bit at their wedding and after that. I like them both. This initial knowing was about 7 years ago, so we were all younger then. They lived in Rhinebeck in an octagonal house in the woods with their two dogs and cat. And I always envied them their sense of decoration, ability to keep plants alive and J's tendency to make his own limoncello. To be frank I very much wanted a similar life with my own significant other. Well, now they are way married, with two kids and a house they own in Philly. And though being a grown up and a parent is certainly not something to envy lightly, I still very much like the feel they lend their homes. And so, while watching J.D. and Marla I felt more relaxed than I have in months, because their house reflects my natural inclination for a home. Most of the time you would find me on their back porch, having a beer and reading a book and telling J.D. he didn't need to get up every time I did.
I didn't actually read David Sedaris' book on their back porch, I read it while going to C. and T.'s wedding in Indiana. But that's neither here nor there, really. It's good. Funny. David-Sedaris like, it really is an amazing skill--his way of moving from one topic to another and back again. Man. He's good.
Scott Spencer's Willing is one of those satiric, wack-a-doo books that I don't really enjoy reading because I don't really feel like I'm supposed to care about any of the people in the book. But it was, at least sometimes, relatively entertaining. Basic plot outline is as follows: freelance writer dude has bad break up, is given opportunity to go on luxury sex tour in Northern Europe, takes opportunity, stuff ensues.
Jodi Picoult has, in my mind, some sort of stigma. I guess it's the MFA in me speaking, no one ever mentioned this woman a someone worth talking about or worthy of emulating. And I don't think I'm interested in emulating her but her ability to write very compelling novels with extremely difficult moral and ethical themes is quite surprising. And she writes these books from a minimum of three different points of view (or at least this is true for the books I've read by her...My Sister's Keeper and, um, maybe that's it?). This one was no exception. My only real problem with it was when a woman with a less than stellar body (but great personality, of course) ended up with the traditionally handsome, blue eyed, tall British doctor. I can't really talk about my problem with this without going on a long rant and somehow betraying my own insecurities but, I'll say this: when was the last time one of your size 14 friends ended up with a tall, handsome, kind, British doctor (or his equivalent)?
Then I read Madeleine Brent's Golden Urchin. When I was in middle school (and high school) I would read Brent books frequently, or enough that I've read at least two of her books three times. When I began reading Golden Urchin I realized that a large problem with the way I expect one's (re: my) love life to go is predicated on the plot lines of Brent books (which is even more disturbing now that I have googled Brent and learned that the author is actually a dude and so he's probably like Jack Nicholson's character in As Good As It Gets...son of bitch). All the books take place in turn of the century locations, usually somehow related to the British Empire and the main characters are always orphaned girls of some kind (in Golden Urchin she has been raised by Aborigines...shut up) and then somehow they find themselves back in 'proper society' with their lives in danger and a man they care about who sometimes seem to really like them but other times pushes them away. Sigh. Of course the men push away these women for propriety's sake and in the end it all works out. I think this idea: that to have a 'true relationship' or 'true love' (I don't really believe in true love, actually) one needs to be rejected, in danger and persevere has had a very negative effect on me. But heck, at least I'm narrowing down on the roots of this theory.
The end.

Macaroni and BYOCheese Night

For the last ten days (ending yesterday) I was staying in Roxborough, watching J&J's dog (JD) and cat (Marla) and house (lovely). The first Wednesday I was there I invited A. to invite a bunch of his friends to a bring your own mac n' cheese night. It was a success. I gave a few starting guidelines (no swiss, no blue) and many a suggestion (not many of which were taken) for the kinds of cheese to bring and trusted that my method would make the combination a winning one. I was right...even with the large number of goudas I was working with (smile). I think it was thoroughly enjoyed by those who attended and it was nice to see a whole new set of faces in Philly. We'll see if I ever see them again (smile). (I don't know what all this 'smile' is about, I guess to convey the fact that I'm not making these statements with snark in my heart).

Sunday Dinner

For dinner on Sunday, last Sunday--or the Sunday before last, rather--I cut up a cucumber and one of the less not-so-great heirloom tomatoes for a little salad. Then I roasted a chicken. The chicken was made more special because I made it a lime, basil and garlic butter roasted chicken. Yeah, it was pretty good. It was my dinner for days to come. That may make it a little sad. Or economical. Or both.

Oh Rita's, I Love You So Good

After my walk I went to Rita's and took advantage of my own hard work...by this I mean that since May I have managed to have Rita's 10 times (though actually my mother helped)...and after 10 Rita's you get yourself a free purchase. I had a black cherry and peach gelati. And I'm not ashamed about it. At all.

The Rest of The Walk

This is the rest of the best of my walk. You know what, I don't find women's beach volleyball all that interesting. Where is the equestrian? That's what I want to know, people. Where are the freakin' horses?

Garblack

Last weekend I also took a walk. I took a lot of photographs near the Art Museum and then along Kelly Drive and then by the Rodin museum. But I'm not bothering with them at the moment. Instead I'm thinking about my impending move. You see, I found (with a lot of long distance craigslist help from my mother) quite a nice apartment ridiculously near my place of work, tracked down a roommate and the ebf was kind enough to bring all my stuff from Chicago to Philadelphia (I feel it is important to clarify that this was not something I asked for but, rather, something he suggested. It was extremely helpful if, as always, a little sad making to see him). Now, however, I have a whole new bunch of problems.

1) My entire neighborhood has permit parking. If you don't have parking there's a two hour limit. So, well, I need to get myself a permit.
2) In order to get a permit one must have a car with Pennsylvania plates.
3) In order to have Pennsylvania plates you must have a Pennsylvania driver's license.
4) Also, in order to have PA plates you have to make sure that the lien holder on your car doesn't mind the change of location/you may have to pay another heaping pile of money for a Pennsylvania title.
5) In order to get a Pennsylvania license you need to have proof of residence.
6) It would make sense to get the license with my new address but in order to do this I'd need to have official mail sent to me there. But that wouldn't happen until the 1st and where would I park my car?
7) I don't really have a base of people I can cajole into helping me move so I need to decide whether I want to hire movers and a truck, rent a UHAUL and move as much as I can by myself, bring things from the storage unit at a piecemeal pace and continue paying for the unit even after I've moved in.
8) I still don't have a local bank account (Chase, it seems, exists on every street corner in Chicago and New York but has some sort of craaaazy issue with existing at all in Philly).
There are more but I'm sort of over even thinking about it.

Sigh.

Fun With Photoshop and Philly Skyline

One of those self-explanatory posts.