My 10 Favorite Foods/Meals
Nov/094
I just ate lunch and it was great. I got a 10″ tuna hoagie from Wawa and it was just wonderful. It made me think about how I’ve had a lot of tasty foods lately and how I should probably share some aspects of this with the world. Currently, these are the 10 foods/meals that either get me really excited or are especially satisfying and thusly can be labled as my favorites. In no particular order.
- Vegetable lo mein
- Thai drunken noodles
- 10″ tuna hoagie from Wawa with hot peppers, pepper-jack cheese, tomatoes, onions, parmesan cheese and oregano
- My homemade spicy turkey meatload
- Mashed potatoes and/or stuffing covered in jar/packet-made gravy
- Peanut Butter Crunch cereal
- Spaghetti squash with butter and salt
- Meatload from anywhere
- New England clam chowder
- Turkey and cheese hoagies from Sorrentino’s Deli on Cresson St. in Manayunk
Adult Furniture
Nov/093
While I decided to not buy a whole bunch of new furniture, I did decide to tie what I had together with a new coffee/cocktail table. One of my buddies from work helped me move the big couch up from the basement and while the room looked much better, the empty space in the middle of the room just wasn’t working.
I looked at a variety of stores looking for something nice for the right price. I looked at Pier1, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Raymore & Flanigan and Target. I’d say that Target surprised me the most as they had a lot of relatively inexpensive options that looked pretty nice but were only available online. I wanted fairly instant gratification so I couldn’t wait. I went to an R&F showroom right down the road from my office and browsed around. I found my first piece of “adult” furniture and it really ties the room together.
No Cabin!?!
Nov/092
Nate has decided to cause some drastic changes in the balance of mankind. He has decided to invite us to his house this year for the pre-Thanksgiving event instead of going to the cabin. What is he thinking!
Actually, this might be a good idea. There will be a real bathroom, consistent warmth and well, those were the only two things I could come up with but those are good enough for me. Also considering that I went to the cabin the other weekend, I’m satisfied. It will be nice to be able to relax, have a good time, make a huge mess in Nate’s house and leave it for him to clean up in the morning (and for his wife to declare we are never allowed to come over again). Or maybe not.
I’m very much looking forward to this event. I’m hoping everyone can make it (Adam, Trevor, Phil, Bill and Nate’s brothers and maybe my younger brother too). We will deep fry a turkey. We’ll drink some beers. Will tell some stories about back in the day that we’ve retold about a thousand times already but they seem to get better and better. I might break out the picture archive for old times sake and create some laughs. Oh, and I will present this year’s special shot.
I started a tradition last year (how many years do you need before something is really a tradition?) where we do a shot of some interesting liquor and we all say what we are thankful for (I’m not sure if we even did that part last year). I had this great idea to buy a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label this year but I’ve since decided dropping ~$200 on a bottle of liqour to do shots is crazy and interesting but not exactly a great idea (maybe someday when I make my first million). So, I am going to rethink this one. I’ve got some ideas but I think it will come down to browsing a liquor store.
It will be a great time for sure.
Worcester
Nov/091
As I mentioned many times before, when I travel I like to find interesting beer-related places to visit. This makes most trips just a little more bareable. On this particular trip I had two idea.
The first was to visit Julio’s liquor store again in Westborough. It might be the most interesting liquor store I’ve ever been to and possibly the best beer store which is much more significant to me. The beer selection is amazing and that is putting it quite mildly. I imagine I’ll drive up to Westborough at some point in time and I look forward to when that happens because that means I can drive liquids back to PA.
The second was to find a decent bar or brewpub in the general area. I browsed BA for a little while trying to find something good. I stumbled across a place named the Armsby Abbey in Worcester. They had a nice descriptive website, a great tap list, an interesting menu and a disclaimer that they were a bar first and a restaurant second with a policy that it isn’t a kid-friendly environment. I was sold.
I convinced a handful of coworkers to join me in checking it out. To make it even better, one person in the group doesn’t drink and offered to drive us back. On a side note we were rolling in an Escalade which was kind of neat. It was my first time in said vehicle.
The beer list was indeed great as was the beer selected. The selection of bottles might have been one of the best I’ve ever seen. Interestingly enough, I had a beer (black saison) that was especially crafted to honor the 35th aniversary of the Julio’s liqour store I mentioned. It was made in conjunction with an excellent Belgian brewer De Proef Brewery. It was quite tasty and named L’ Ange Tombe (The Fallen Angel).
The food was also worth mentioning. We shared a really good cheese board served on a large chunk of slate. For my main course I had a jerk chicken sandwich. I kid you not in saying this was definitely the most spicy sandwich I’ve ever eaten. I was almost in tears. The waitress warned us on how spicy it was and I didn’t really believe her. She was not kidding. It was powerful enough to pretty much make the sandwich not that enjoyable. My one coworker who also ordered it told the waitress that he had ordered spicy things in Boston and that he was always dissappointed with how weak spicy foods were. She responded by saying “Well you aren’t in Boston any more. You’re in Worcester.”
Updates
Nov/091
- This was a poor sports weekend. Penn State played like crap and the Eagles couldn’t pull it together. I hate poor sports weekends.
- I flew into New Hampshire this week. This was my first time in the state. It was quite beautiful looking with an abundance of evergreen trees. It makes me extra curious about Maine. I think that a visit there will be on my list of things to do in the next year or two.
- I got to see my parents this weekend. It was nice to catch up with them and see their progress on the kitchen. After 30 years or so they’ve decided to pull down the wallpaper and make several renovations. It looks a little odd right now but I’m sure that by Christmas it will look really nice. One of the highlights of the kitchen area is a new diningroom table. It looks great.
- I’ve been in a pattern on Sundays before travel where I get the desire to cook a large meal even though I know I won’t be able to eat it all. This week I made meatballs. I made a change to my recipe and include rosemary, sage and fresh red bell pepper. I think they were pretty decent.
- I’m now the proud owner of a portable grill and tailgating canopy. Not only are these useful items for tailgating but they will likely come in handy for some camping trips. Speaking of camping, I’d really like to do that in a more formal fashion in 2010. This might sound bad, but the one thing that bothers me about state park camping in Pennsylvania is that you can’t have beer. It isn’t that I need beer to have a good time but there is just something excellent about sitting in the woods around a fire drinking a cold one. I guess I could go without for a few days.
- I’ve already forgotten about that list I made last week about things I promised I’d write about. Opps.
- Over the last couple months I’ve really enjoyed the blog oy my buddy Mike. He is in the Air Force and stationed in Afghanistan. He’s certainly got an opinion about his topics but it is an interesting read.
- I’ve had a headache all evening. It started after I had a cup of coffee. It really hasn’t gone yet. It is starting to get annoying. I don’t really get headaches all that often so hopefully it goes away by the time I wake up or it might lead me to believe it is more than just a headache.
- I bought the new Weezer CD Ratitude last week and I almost devoted an entire entry to it. In terms of meaningful, talented music it is terrible. In terms of annoying pop catchiness it is strong. Everytime they come up with a new CD I really hope that it is like the Blue album or Pinkerton but that hasn’t happened yet and each album it becomes less and less likely they will ever make music like that again.
Tailgating Season Over
Nov/091
It makes me quite disappointed to note that I won’t be traveling up to State College this weekend to tailgate. I had planned on it all season as a great event to attend and expected to be last game of the season for me. More significant than my disappointment in not getting to see my friends this weekend is the sadness I had to experience when I explained why there would be no trip this weekend. When is the last time you looked someone in the eyes and felt their pain and frustration of being treated unjustly?
Issues pop up in our lives from time to time. You can’t prevent all of them but we should certainly strive to limit them. This is achieved by recognizing issues when they are merely risks. Confront them in a tactful and mature manner and everyone goes home with a fair deal before a worse case scenario takes control. Watch that risk mutate into an issue and you are the one who has failed.
While we can’t all live our lives taking every action and trying to analyze the consequences of said action, it would do us all good to take a moment and try to understand the big picture and long-term implications of anything that could at least be deemed confrontational. Humans are a delicate and sensitive creature.
Let’s go Penn State!
22 Hours In Montreal
Nov/094
This week I’m only out of town 1 night. That’s a nice change of pace. I’ll be in Montreal for 22 hours.
The last time I was here was the summer of 2007. I remember how customs gave me a rough time and I got temporarily detained. It was all due to me not being prepared. This time around things went nice and smooth. A short drive later I was downtown.
On this particular trip I’m traveling with one other coworker. The trip is more a benefit for him to get our next site ready for the project but it seemed like a good idea to have me along to see what we are up against. I’m sure it will be valuable.
I’ve noticed that all of the Marriott hotels I stay at have a matching scent. I’ve found that to be quite welcomed. It is like coming home or something. Is it sad that a hotel makes me feel like I’m coming home?
Anyway, since this is such a short trip the adventures will be limited. I will be back the week before Christmas and again in January so more opportunity to check out the city will come. Tonight consisted of a couple pints while watching the end of the Phillies game followed by Monday night football. Things are expensive here as 4 beers between the two of us with a tip ended up being $37.
One of the most interesting things about Montreal is that it is so close to the United States that you’d assume to be very Americanized, but in fact the French influence continues to be quite strong. The ability to speak French can be an excellent tool here.
What?
Nov/094
Please tell me what I need to write about to please my readers? All I ever see in the comments any more is bitching. I’ve tried to increase the frequency and it is clear that the number of posts I write in a week is not a direct path to satisfaction. I’ve tried to dig deep inside and write about things that really matter to me. No one seems to care what matters to me. I’ve tried to write bold statements, but no one has much to say other than to bitch about that stuff as well without much of a counter argument.
With that said, here is what I plan to write about this week: Geremany trip, my first Eagles game, my latest batch of beer, Montreal, why DC is a terrible place to live, the Phillies, why Philadelphia is a great city and maybe some other stuff.