Day in DC
Tuesday was spent in the city, which involves quite a trek from Great Falls. I lunched with my old co-workers and then met up with Grace and Anne for dinner and a walk around Dupont while we enjoyed the hands-down spectacular weather. In between lunch and dinner, I visited the Hirschorn Museum since I had a couple of hours of time to kill. Seriously, the FREE museums in DC are a beautiful thing. The best thing too was that the Hirschorn was basically deserted since it was the day after Labor Day weekend. Man, I love DC museums!
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Just got an email from the NU president. They're also accepting students from Tulane free of charge (as long as they paid Tulane) next year. There's also an article in the Post today about how Howard is accepting Xavier University students.
Monday, September 05, 2005
A couple of days late, but...
Slate's article called "The Rebellion of the Talking Heads" is heartening.
Slate's article called "The Rebellion of the Talking Heads" is heartening.
Buy the t-shirt
They're selling a t-shirt inspired by Kanye West's words. Which is a quick turnaround. And funny.
They're selling a t-shirt inspired by Kanye West's words. Which is a quick turnaround. And funny.
Pho-Pho-Phun
Lunch today was with the FOG DC faction. Well, like 80% of the DC faction since Grace couldn't make it. James, Des and Bry, Clarence and Jonathan and I met up at Pho 75 for some Number 12's and some coffees with condensed milk. Lots of fun. Des was telling us about how Kanye West off the cuff derided Bush for ignoring the poor people in New Orleans, which I wish that I could have seen. We wondered why Toby Keith wasn't involved in the concert in some way, but figured that he was probably working on a song cussing Katrina out as we spoke. It would be called something like "Blow Me, Katrina."
Lunch today was with the FOG DC faction. Well, like 80% of the DC faction since Grace couldn't make it. James, Des and Bry, Clarence and Jonathan and I met up at Pho 75 for some Number 12's and some coffees with condensed milk. Lots of fun. Des was telling us about how Kanye West off the cuff derided Bush for ignoring the poor people in New Orleans, which I wish that I could have seen. We wondered why Toby Keith wasn't involved in the concert in some way, but figured that he was probably working on a song cussing Katrina out as we spoke. It would be called something like "Blow Me, Katrina."
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Labor Day!
It's been a fun weekend so far. It kicked off with a Friday night with Des and Bryan meeting their sweet pup. Perfectly chill and perfect company.
Saturday morning Anne and I took off on our road trip, which is actually commemorates our road trip exactly one year ago when she helped me move to Chicago (for which I am forever grateful). It certainly seems like this year has passed with a quickness. Traffic was astoundingly light on 95, which is kind of amazing for Labor Day weekend. I don't know if people canceled their plans because of the price of gas, but the roads were definitely clearer than I expected.
Anyway, we first hit Williamsburg where we went for a walk around campus and then had lunch at Paul's where the sandwiches are more expensive (my Hot Holly was like $7.50!) but the drinks are still cheap. After a little walk around Merchant's Square, we hopped back into the car and headed to Richmond.
Ahhh, Richmond. Although we were unable to connect with Emily, we were treated to the gracious host skills of Bill who drove and who took us to various establishments along Main Street. My favorite was the first place that we went called Avalon which was a classy restaurant with a bar that served a variety of good beers for non-outrageous prices. The bartender also played R&B oldies which always makes everything better. We also visited an Easy Street, a Bamboo, and some other place with a island theme going (what was the name of that one, Bill?). It was a quite fun evening, especially since I had never spent time along the Main Street strip before.
It was a beautiful night as well, and as always I was bowled over and charmed by the Fan area. I love, love, love the neighborhoods and the houses and the streets in the Fan, and if I had endless amounts of money I would buy a weekend house in the Fan area. It would have a porch on which one can soak in a balmy evening. Plus, cost of living in Richmond? Dirt cheap, comparatively. Come on.
This morning Anne and I shook off the excesses of the past night, got some breakfast and then took off back to the DC area. Anne suggested that we go north on Route 1 instead of 95 for the first part of the journey since they run parallel to one another and it would most likely offer a more scenic enjoyable trip. This sounds like a good plan, except finding Route 1 northbound in Richmond proved to be an Herculean, if not impossible, task. Let's just say that we spent 45 minutes going back and forth over the same five mile stretch trying to find where the eff one would pick up Route 1 North. The best is when we backtracked for the second time on 95 to take the exit that would lead to route 1. So you get off, and there's a large sign pointing out the direction of Route 1. In this situation, one would assume that there would be a well marked signs and exits for the highway in both directions. No. What you find is an intersection where one can go right or left and that's it. No signs. And you're not going right or left on route 1. This story bores me typing it so I can't even imagine what it's like to read it, but godDAMN...why must it be so impossible? Eventually we gave up and just took 95 back home. But it only took us a little over an hour and a half so that certainly ain't bad.
It's nice to be back home and to shower and get cleaned up. I got back in town to have dinner with Clarence and Jonathan at Little Viet Garden in Arlington (when did it become a crab house too, btw?). Afterward we enjoyed the lovely September night by strolling around the revamped Clarendon (aka, Bethesda #2).
My favorite moment of the evening happened when we were leaving Little Viet Garden. As I walked out I noticed a young couple sitting at a table with a single plate between then. They glared at eachother silently, and from the split second of dynamics that I caught I noticed the woman put her fork into the plate of rice, just to throw down her fork onto her place, cross her arms and lean back continuing to glare at her date. The baseball hatted young man sat there unmoving staring at her stoically. As soon as we were out the door I leaned over to Clarence and whispered: "Dude, that couple is so having a fight right now!" Clarence looked back quickly, and was like: "oh yeah, they were the couple that ordered the fried rice." He noticed them too in that second that we passed them, but instead of noticing any body language or relationship stuff, he noted their food and that isn't it kind of weird to order only one plate of fried rice for two people on a date? Yes, it's totally weird. We concluded that maybe the woman was pissed for precisely that reason.
Later on in the night we were sitting on the benches outside Lazy Sundae watching the people walk by. We sat out there for about 20 minutes and the entire time there was a woman standing next to us screaming shrilly in what might have been a Filipino dialect into a cell phone. She was clearly pissed, and it was a constant screaming diatribe with no pause to listen to the person on the other end. There was lots of anger in Clarendon tonight!
It's been a fun weekend so far. It kicked off with a Friday night with Des and Bryan meeting their sweet pup. Perfectly chill and perfect company.
Saturday morning Anne and I took off on our road trip, which is actually commemorates our road trip exactly one year ago when she helped me move to Chicago (for which I am forever grateful). It certainly seems like this year has passed with a quickness. Traffic was astoundingly light on 95, which is kind of amazing for Labor Day weekend. I don't know if people canceled their plans because of the price of gas, but the roads were definitely clearer than I expected.
Anyway, we first hit Williamsburg where we went for a walk around campus and then had lunch at Paul's where the sandwiches are more expensive (my Hot Holly was like $7.50!) but the drinks are still cheap. After a little walk around Merchant's Square, we hopped back into the car and headed to Richmond.
Ahhh, Richmond. Although we were unable to connect with Emily, we were treated to the gracious host skills of Bill who drove and who took us to various establishments along Main Street. My favorite was the first place that we went called Avalon which was a classy restaurant with a bar that served a variety of good beers for non-outrageous prices. The bartender also played R&B oldies which always makes everything better. We also visited an Easy Street, a Bamboo, and some other place with a island theme going (what was the name of that one, Bill?). It was a quite fun evening, especially since I had never spent time along the Main Street strip before.
It was a beautiful night as well, and as always I was bowled over and charmed by the Fan area. I love, love, love the neighborhoods and the houses and the streets in the Fan, and if I had endless amounts of money I would buy a weekend house in the Fan area. It would have a porch on which one can soak in a balmy evening. Plus, cost of living in Richmond? Dirt cheap, comparatively. Come on.
This morning Anne and I shook off the excesses of the past night, got some breakfast and then took off back to the DC area. Anne suggested that we go north on Route 1 instead of 95 for the first part of the journey since they run parallel to one another and it would most likely offer a more scenic enjoyable trip. This sounds like a good plan, except finding Route 1 northbound in Richmond proved to be an Herculean, if not impossible, task. Let's just say that we spent 45 minutes going back and forth over the same five mile stretch trying to find where the eff one would pick up Route 1 North. The best is when we backtracked for the second time on 95 to take the exit that would lead to route 1. So you get off, and there's a large sign pointing out the direction of Route 1. In this situation, one would assume that there would be a well marked signs and exits for the highway in both directions. No. What you find is an intersection where one can go right or left and that's it. No signs. And you're not going right or left on route 1. This story bores me typing it so I can't even imagine what it's like to read it, but godDAMN...why must it be so impossible? Eventually we gave up and just took 95 back home. But it only took us a little over an hour and a half so that certainly ain't bad.
It's nice to be back home and to shower and get cleaned up. I got back in town to have dinner with Clarence and Jonathan at Little Viet Garden in Arlington (when did it become a crab house too, btw?). Afterward we enjoyed the lovely September night by strolling around the revamped Clarendon (aka, Bethesda #2).
My favorite moment of the evening happened when we were leaving Little Viet Garden. As I walked out I noticed a young couple sitting at a table with a single plate between then. They glared at eachother silently, and from the split second of dynamics that I caught I noticed the woman put her fork into the plate of rice, just to throw down her fork onto her place, cross her arms and lean back continuing to glare at her date. The baseball hatted young man sat there unmoving staring at her stoically. As soon as we were out the door I leaned over to Clarence and whispered: "Dude, that couple is so having a fight right now!" Clarence looked back quickly, and was like: "oh yeah, they were the couple that ordered the fried rice." He noticed them too in that second that we passed them, but instead of noticing any body language or relationship stuff, he noted their food and that isn't it kind of weird to order only one plate of fried rice for two people on a date? Yes, it's totally weird. We concluded that maybe the woman was pissed for precisely that reason.
Later on in the night we were sitting on the benches outside Lazy Sundae watching the people walk by. We sat out there for about 20 minutes and the entire time there was a woman standing next to us screaming shrilly in what might have been a Filipino dialect into a cell phone. She was clearly pissed, and it was a constant screaming diatribe with no pause to listen to the person on the other end. There was lots of anger in Clarendon tonight!
Thursday, September 01, 2005
What I've been doing lately
Not much, but I've been getting tons of practice in with my Tetris, and really...nothing makes me happier. I live for Tetris. LIVE for it, I tell you. I also live for sleeping in, reading the paper in leisure over coffee, and free laundry at home.
Besides constantly watching the news gobsmacked over how shit is going down in New Orleans and the rest of the battered gulf states, I've also watched a couple of movies including "Shattered Glass." I found it absorbing actually, and it's kind of a thriller even though it's not action packed. I wonder what Stephen Glass thought of it. I bet that there's an essay somewhere that he wrote in response, actually. Anyway, that one is Netflix recommended.
I went with Anne today to catch the matinee of "The 40 Year old Virgin." It was pretty good, although it was more horndog than I usually go for in my movies (which I expected since the entire movie's premise rests on being a horndog). Anne marveled afterward about the fact that it's been number one in the theaters for so long, which *is* kind of odd. We do celebrate the Apatow effect, though.
Not much, but I've been getting tons of practice in with my Tetris, and really...nothing makes me happier. I live for Tetris. LIVE for it, I tell you. I also live for sleeping in, reading the paper in leisure over coffee, and free laundry at home.
Besides constantly watching the news gobsmacked over how shit is going down in New Orleans and the rest of the battered gulf states, I've also watched a couple of movies including "Shattered Glass." I found it absorbing actually, and it's kind of a thriller even though it's not action packed. I wonder what Stephen Glass thought of it. I bet that there's an essay somewhere that he wrote in response, actually. Anyway, that one is Netflix recommended.
I went with Anne today to catch the matinee of "The 40 Year old Virgin." It was pretty good, although it was more horndog than I usually go for in my movies (which I expected since the entire movie's premise rests on being a horndog). Anne marveled afterward about the fact that it's been number one in the theaters for so long, which *is* kind of odd. We do celebrate the Apatow effect, though.
Plugging for rock
Todd's awesome band, All Limbs Intact, has their website up and running. Refresh the link a few times and watch the picture in the upper left hand corner. Check it out and note that it will be added to the links session soon!
Todd's awesome band, All Limbs Intact, has their website up and running. Refresh the link a few times and watch the picture in the upper left hand corner. Check it out and note that it will be added to the links session soon!
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Rock it revisited
I went out with Annie last night to Old town's best dive bar, Rock It Grill. As the Washingtonian Magazine, my old employer, describes it in their "Best of" issue:
WHERE NOT TO TAKE YOURSELF SERIOUSLY
I went out with Annie last night to Old town's best dive bar, Rock It Grill. As the Washingtonian Magazine, my old employer, describes it in their "Best of" issue:
WHERE NOT TO TAKE YOURSELF SERIOUSLY
Rock It Grill (1319 King St., Alexandria; 703-739-2274) is a dive karaoke bar where there’s always at least one person who knows the words to every country song ever written, one person who sings so badly you can’t be as bad as she is, and one bachelorette party going on. Add strong drinks, good dance-music sets, and . . . chill.
Anyway, I always love the Rock it because it's like this blue collar jewel in the midst of uppity Oldtown. A smoky oasis of neon and cheap beer amidst Oldtown's cobblestoned streets and tasteful lighting. Annie and I have been there a few times to enjoy the karaoke (which is every night starting at 9 for those who are interested). The place gets more crowded as the night wears on and it's mostly composed of regulars; these karaoke people know eachother well. I'm always kind of amazed by these loyal karoke-ers who could out on a Tuesday night to sing Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of all" and are still going at it at like 1:30 a.m. Who are these people?
Last night at the table closest to the stage there sat three men who were nursing pitchers of sodas and O'doul bottles. Annie and I surmised that they may have been visiting from some sort of halfway house facility since the men were of varying ages, but all seemed to have some sort of cognitive delay or disability. They each took turns at the stage, though, earnestly singing a variety of songs (often spoken word) and the BEST thing about Rock It Grill is that everyone in the bar was just as respectful as these guys as they are of anyone else. I loved the older hunched over white guy who stood up to talk his way through Boys II Men's "End of the Road."
It was the first time I've ever really paid attention to the lyrics either, watching them on the screen while the guy sang. And the lyrics are awesome. I wish that there were an occasion that I could launch into the spoken word part.
Holy Crap
I was blown away by the photos in the Post today showing the aftermath of Katrina. Mindblowing.
My dad just told me that he couldn't even get onto the website for the Salvation Army or the Red Cross because they're so busy, so that's good at least.
In a bit of good news, I was reading an article as well about UVA's push to attract students from poorer incomes. Apparently, more of the state schools are really striving to make sure that they are still accessible to everyone. The article mentioned:
And Friday, the College of William and Mary announced a scholarship program, the first major initiative of new President Gene R. Nichol: Any student accepted with a family income of $40,000 or less will graduate debt-free.
I was blown away by the photos in the Post today showing the aftermath of Katrina. Mindblowing.
My dad just told me that he couldn't even get onto the website for the Salvation Army or the Red Cross because they're so busy, so that's good at least.
In a bit of good news, I was reading an article as well about UVA's push to attract students from poorer incomes. Apparently, more of the state schools are really striving to make sure that they are still accessible to everyone. The article mentioned:
And Friday, the College of William and Mary announced a scholarship program, the first major initiative of new President Gene R. Nichol: Any student accepted with a family income of $40,000 or less will graduate debt-free.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Words: I love them.
I'm adding a new term to my lexicon: sturm und drang. I had seen it around before occasionally, but today saw it in two different articles that I read. I finally went and looked it up. So next time you and I are talking about violent upheaval or disturbance, you can expect to hear those words.
I'm adding a new term to my lexicon: sturm und drang. I had seen it around before occasionally, but today saw it in two different articles that I read. I finally went and looked it up. So next time you and I are talking about violent upheaval or disturbance, you can expect to hear those words.
Back in the swing of things
Yes! Back online and no longer having to pirate. Thanks to Robin who figured out what was going on.
I also need to thank Matt who brought me my second grade journal the other night; I had left it in the apartment when I moved and he saved it for me. This journal is different from my aforementioned My Melody diary since it was for school and read and graded and all serious and crap. We were required to write an entry a day and let's just say that some days were more inspired than others. The best thing about the it is that it was one of those black and white composition notebooks and those things stand the test of effing time. You can't even tell that the thing is over 20 years old, it looks like you could have bought it from the local CVS last week.
I had also included some illustrations with my entries, which also held up to passing of the years quite well.
So what were some of the scintillating topics that I felt worth broaching back in 1984? A few entry titles: "Time to go to dinner," "My Pencil Box," "Chinese People," and "My Brother the Brat." I was running out of steam toward the end and offered up entries with titles such as: "Flag," "Paint," "Football" (of which I knew then as much as I know now which is to say NOTHING), and "Fish."
Today, I will share with you a sample, written on February 9, 1984. I was clearly influenced by the upcoming Valentines day holiday.
HEARTS
I love makeing [sic] hearts.
For girls it's fun.
Boys hate hearts very much.
Some can't make one.
Some can.
I shared this particular entry with the table on Saturday night and I think everyone was appropriately bowled over by its depth. So put it in your pipe and smoke it.
Man, it would have been hilarious to have been my second grade teacher, Mrs. Barnes. Can you imagine reading like 25 of these things every day?
Yes! Back online and no longer having to pirate. Thanks to Robin who figured out what was going on.
I also need to thank Matt who brought me my second grade journal the other night; I had left it in the apartment when I moved and he saved it for me. This journal is different from my aforementioned My Melody diary since it was for school and read and graded and all serious and crap. We were required to write an entry a day and let's just say that some days were more inspired than others. The best thing about the it is that it was one of those black and white composition notebooks and those things stand the test of effing time. You can't even tell that the thing is over 20 years old, it looks like you could have bought it from the local CVS last week.
I had also included some illustrations with my entries, which also held up to passing of the years quite well.
So what were some of the scintillating topics that I felt worth broaching back in 1984? A few entry titles: "Time to go to dinner," "My Pencil Box," "Chinese People," and "My Brother the Brat." I was running out of steam toward the end and offered up entries with titles such as: "Flag," "Paint," "Football" (of which I knew then as much as I know now which is to say NOTHING), and "Fish."
Today, I will share with you a sample, written on February 9, 1984. I was clearly influenced by the upcoming Valentines day holiday.
HEARTS
I love makeing [sic] hearts.
For girls it's fun.
Boys hate hearts very much.
Some can't make one.
Some can.
I shared this particular entry with the table on Saturday night and I think everyone was appropriately bowled over by its depth. So put it in your pipe and smoke it.
Man, it would have been hilarious to have been my second grade teacher, Mrs. Barnes. Can you imagine reading like 25 of these things every day?
Monday, August 29, 2005
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Back East
I'm back in DC and have been for a few days now! The blog has been silent, though, since the Internet connection at my parents' house is all wonky but I can sometimes pirate off of the elusive signals from our neighbors if my position (northwest corner of my bed) and the timing (random) is right. Thanks and sorry to the mystery neighbors who are feeding my Internet addiction.
It's been great to be back, though. I've seen Anne, Suzi and Tom, Matt and his sister, Des and Bry, Liesl, Madeline, and Annie and it's been awesome. I've also gotten comfortable with the ebb and flow of having no schedule. I wake up at my leisure, fix some coffee, read the paper, watch some trashy tv, and then spend the rest of the afternoon attending to whatever miniscule task I've set out to accomplish. Last week I was concerned with trying to renew the registration on my car. It went relatively well, but all I can say is Damn You, Great Falls Shell! who charged me for an emissions test while never performing one and causing me to run about like a crazy woman all afternoon trying to figure out why I couldn't re-register when that emissions information should totally be there!
I also have like two weeks left of this, which is pretty gosh darn awesome.
Okay, now to see if this questionable connection will allow me to upload this entry.
ps. Happy Belated Birthday to Bill who turned 29 last week!
pps. Congratulations to Todd who got a sweet new vehicle this past weekend! I'll miss his Jimmy, but I'm sure more gas and space conscious Altima is a nice replacement.
I'm back in DC and have been for a few days now! The blog has been silent, though, since the Internet connection at my parents' house is all wonky but I can sometimes pirate off of the elusive signals from our neighbors if my position (northwest corner of my bed) and the timing (random) is right. Thanks and sorry to the mystery neighbors who are feeding my Internet addiction.
It's been great to be back, though. I've seen Anne, Suzi and Tom, Matt and his sister, Des and Bry, Liesl, Madeline, and Annie and it's been awesome. I've also gotten comfortable with the ebb and flow of having no schedule. I wake up at my leisure, fix some coffee, read the paper, watch some trashy tv, and then spend the rest of the afternoon attending to whatever miniscule task I've set out to accomplish. Last week I was concerned with trying to renew the registration on my car. It went relatively well, but all I can say is Damn You, Great Falls Shell! who charged me for an emissions test while never performing one and causing me to run about like a crazy woman all afternoon trying to figure out why I couldn't re-register when that emissions information should totally be there!
I also have like two weeks left of this, which is pretty gosh darn awesome.
Okay, now to see if this questionable connection will allow me to upload this entry.
ps. Happy Belated Birthday to Bill who turned 29 last week!
pps. Congratulations to Todd who got a sweet new vehicle this past weekend! I'll miss his Jimmy, but I'm sure more gas and space conscious Altima is a nice replacement.
Monday, August 22, 2005
Eating our way through Chicago, Part III
Okay, I'm back to report on how the family visit has been progressing (or, progressed now that we're almost done here).
On THURSDAY, my parents and Erik arrived at their hotel in Lincoln Park around 12:30 in the afternoon. Robin hid in the Borders across the street while I went to go and greet them. While we all stood in the lobby of the Days Inn waiting for the elevator to come to shlep the bags up to the room, Robin ambled in. My mom howled with happiness and surprise: it was pretty awesome. The surprise was a success.
And with my parents' arrival, the serious touristing and eating began.
For lunch, I took them to Belmont to Giordano's to have Chicago deep dish pizza (or, their "famous stuffed pizza"). Thumbs up all around. Afterward we walked over to Boystown so I could show them my place and they could appreciate the sweet thickness of the air that one obtains of lack of air conditioning. Mmmmm. Then we walked over to the lake where we sat by the water at Belmont Harbor and laid around and chatting and enjoying the late afternoon sunlight. We whiled away at least an hour there before heading to Broadway for a quick dinner (Joy's, Cheap Thai place #3), and then finally to see the Blue Man Group perform that night at Briar Street Theater. I had never seen them before, but they were pretty awesome. Excellent multi-media presentation with lots of audience participation.
After the show my parents and Erik went back to the hotel to hit the hay and I went out with Robin who was itching to see some of the nightlife in Lincoln Park. It's not an area that I frequent as much, but I'm game. We walked down to the chichi-for-Chicago (read: sparse decor and $6 drinks) bar, The Gramercy. We stuck around there for a drink before seeking a livelier joint and found one at The Tonic Room on Halsted (it's no wonder since drinks were a sweet two-fitty each). After people watching there for a while I finally caved to the sandman and had to beat it by 1 a.m. or so.
On FRIDAY, I met my family at the hotel and we walked over to the Diversey el station where we caught the purple line express up north to Evanston. We walked through Northwestern's campus, at one point sitting down by the lake and talked my Erik and my dad snacked on some delicious Norris Center Sbarro's. (Halfway through his piece, my dad was like: "this isn't that good," like he was all surprised). After they got fill of checking out the campus, we caught train to Argyle, in the Uptown area of Chicago so my mom could try their pho there. We went to Pho Xe Tang (Tank Restaurant) at Broadway and Argyle, a big bright space with tons of round tops. Mom, Robin, and Erik ordered their bowls of pho XL, which was just kind of hilarious. The sheer gigantism of these servings would have given anyone with a large appetite something to contend with, but my petite mom whipped it. Impressive.
Afterward my mom perused a pottery shop by the el stop and purchased some sweet porcelain, even convincing the shopgirl to carve a couple of bucks off the price. After this, she was quite satisfied with herself (my mom, not the shopgirl so much...but maybe she was too), commenting on the nice manners of the aforementioned shopgirl, and wondered if maybe she was single since she would be a good match for Robin? That would be a match made in a heaven because, hey: nice Asian girl for Robin and a lifetime supply of porcelain.
After this we all chilled for a little bit before gearing ourselves for dinner. We decided on Indian, so I took everyone to Tiffin, a slightly upscale Indian restaurant in the heart of the Indian neighborhood, Devon. Todd came along, supplying rides for the overflow, and we all stuffed ourselves to the gill wiht succulent Indian food. Robin ordered some crab marsalla as an appetizer which made me want to drop to my knees and weep from the sheer awesomeness of the dish. I love Tiffin's garlicky naan as well which is fresh and hot and puffy and swimming with garlic.
Did you think that after the massive food coma that Tiffin brought on, we would be dominated? Oh no.
After dinner, we all drove back to Lincoln Park, deposited under-age Erik back at the hotel, and walked over to Kingston Mines on Halsted to see some blues. The place was packed so we couldn't get seating for the main blues band, but we did nestle in the second room to wait for the next show on the alternate stage. We were treated some mean guitar playing from a woman named Joanna Connor and then called it a night at around 1 a.m. (a theme for me this week). My parents impressed me by staying up that late, actually, especially when we had such a full day beforehand.
Okay, I'm back to report on how the family visit has been progressing (or, progressed now that we're almost done here).
On THURSDAY, my parents and Erik arrived at their hotel in Lincoln Park around 12:30 in the afternoon. Robin hid in the Borders across the street while I went to go and greet them. While we all stood in the lobby of the Days Inn waiting for the elevator to come to shlep the bags up to the room, Robin ambled in. My mom howled with happiness and surprise: it was pretty awesome. The surprise was a success.
And with my parents' arrival, the serious touristing and eating began.
For lunch, I took them to Belmont to Giordano's to have Chicago deep dish pizza (or, their "famous stuffed pizza"). Thumbs up all around. Afterward we walked over to Boystown so I could show them my place and they could appreciate the sweet thickness of the air that one obtains of lack of air conditioning. Mmmmm. Then we walked over to the lake where we sat by the water at Belmont Harbor and laid around and chatting and enjoying the late afternoon sunlight. We whiled away at least an hour there before heading to Broadway for a quick dinner (Joy's, Cheap Thai place #3), and then finally to see the Blue Man Group perform that night at Briar Street Theater. I had never seen them before, but they were pretty awesome. Excellent multi-media presentation with lots of audience participation.
After the show my parents and Erik went back to the hotel to hit the hay and I went out with Robin who was itching to see some of the nightlife in Lincoln Park. It's not an area that I frequent as much, but I'm game. We walked down to the chichi-for-Chicago (read: sparse decor and $6 drinks) bar, The Gramercy. We stuck around there for a drink before seeking a livelier joint and found one at The Tonic Room on Halsted (it's no wonder since drinks were a sweet two-fitty each). After people watching there for a while I finally caved to the sandman and had to beat it by 1 a.m. or so.
On FRIDAY, I met my family at the hotel and we walked over to the Diversey el station where we caught the purple line express up north to Evanston. We walked through Northwestern's campus, at one point sitting down by the lake and talked my Erik and my dad snacked on some delicious Norris Center Sbarro's. (Halfway through his piece, my dad was like: "this isn't that good," like he was all surprised). After they got fill of checking out the campus, we caught train to Argyle, in the Uptown area of Chicago so my mom could try their pho there. We went to Pho Xe Tang (Tank Restaurant) at Broadway and Argyle, a big bright space with tons of round tops. Mom, Robin, and Erik ordered their bowls of pho XL, which was just kind of hilarious. The sheer gigantism of these servings would have given anyone with a large appetite something to contend with, but my petite mom whipped it. Impressive.
Afterward my mom perused a pottery shop by the el stop and purchased some sweet porcelain, even convincing the shopgirl to carve a couple of bucks off the price. After this, she was quite satisfied with herself (my mom, not the shopgirl so much...but maybe she was too), commenting on the nice manners of the aforementioned shopgirl, and wondered if maybe she was single since she would be a good match for Robin? That would be a match made in a heaven because, hey: nice Asian girl for Robin and a lifetime supply of porcelain.
After this we all chilled for a little bit before gearing ourselves for dinner. We decided on Indian, so I took everyone to Tiffin, a slightly upscale Indian restaurant in the heart of the Indian neighborhood, Devon. Todd came along, supplying rides for the overflow, and we all stuffed ourselves to the gill wiht succulent Indian food. Robin ordered some crab marsalla as an appetizer which made me want to drop to my knees and weep from the sheer awesomeness of the dish. I love Tiffin's garlicky naan as well which is fresh and hot and puffy and swimming with garlic.
Did you think that after the massive food coma that Tiffin brought on, we would be dominated? Oh no.
After dinner, we all drove back to Lincoln Park, deposited under-age Erik back at the hotel, and walked over to Kingston Mines on Halsted to see some blues. The place was packed so we couldn't get seating for the main blues band, but we did nestle in the second room to wait for the next show on the alternate stage. We were treated some mean guitar playing from a woman named Joanna Connor and then called it a night at around 1 a.m. (a theme for me this week). My parents impressed me by staying up that late, actually, especially when we had such a full day beforehand.
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