In true Me fashion, I totally flaked out on blogging. I just got busy, I guess. Or ADD or who knows.
Generally, not much has changed. I still love to travel and eat and drink. I still take terrible pictures, I still have two adorable kittens and an amazing boyfriend.
The biggest update right now is that I'm going through my 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training. So far I've completed 2 / 10 weekends, so I can teach about 20% of yoga. I'm hoping to use this to kick myself back into blogging. I'm supposed to try a bunch of different styles (I'm dreading Bikram), try teaching my friends, live by the yogic principles and all that good stuff.
I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with my teacher certification. I already have a full-time job and a full schedule, so we'll see. I'm really in this to learn and see what happens. I'm going to try and blog about the experience to see what comes up, to see what I discover and see what I can start to share with the larger world around me. Here goes!
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Friday, January 3, 2014
The Oil Cleansing System
I forget exactly why I did this, but a few months ago I started trying The Oil Cleansing System. For those of you who have no idea what this is (I certainly didn't used to), it's where you stop using harsh detergent-based cleansers on your face and instead clean your face by smearing it with oil.
Sounds gross? Sounds like it won't work? I was skeptical too.
I've never had what you'd call "nice skin". When I was a teenager I had terrible acne. In hindsight I probably could have improved my situation by washing my face more often or clipping my huge, thick bangs back when I slept. Instead I went about it in my typical teenage fashion, trying to solve problems by whining.
Fast forward a decade, and my 20-year-old skin has fewer rampaging breakouts (I also lost the bangs, so I think the two might be related), but I still had the amazing ability for my skin to be flaky dry while having an oil slick on top of it. I also have enormous pores, but my mother does too so I think I'm just genetically screwed in that department.
Now that I'm in my 30's, I really was waiting for the day that I had acne and wrinkles at the same time, and I'm still not entirely convinced that's not my fate.
Anyhow, some crunchy hippy friends of mine were talking about the OCS a while ago, so I goggled it and came to the page I linked to above. They kept talking about how great their skin was, so I figured I'd try it, and if it made my skin disgusting it wasn't like I didn't still own soap.
Now, I'm consistently terrible at following directions and I think my crunchy friends weren't using castor oil and I didn't have any in the house, so I went with just straight coconut oil. I was doing this at night for a while, and I noticed that after I washed my face in the morning with my regular facial cleanser my skin was kinda red and irritated and dry. I stopped for a while mostly because I'm terrible at washing my face at night (gross, I know) because I go from active to passed out on the couch in about .5 seconds. If I was smart, I'd get ready for bed before sitting down on the couch, but that just doesn't happen.
I started up again maybe a month or so ago. No clue why I did, I probably just ran out of face soap and was like "heck, let's go back to that OCS system because I still have oil in the house". This time I used sweet almond oil and for fun put lavender and eucalyptus essential oils in with it. I ran out of sweet almond oil the other week so now I'm onto grapeseed oil with lemongrass essential oil.
Here's the crazy thing - it totally works. Do I look like an airbrushed magazine model? No. But my skin is less oily, I haven't had a zit since I started (that could just be luck), and I think in general my skin looks more fresh and clear.
It's certainly possible that I want this to work, so even accounting for that, the OCS works just as good as facial cleansers with the words "deep cleaning" and "pore minimizing" in their names. My skin certainly isn't any worse. That's freaking nuts. And I'm not even following the system exactly, imagine what could happen if I just ordered some castor oil on Amazon Smile!
This time around I'm washing my face only with the OCS system in the morning in the shower like I usually do, and sometimes at night if I think to. I'm not seeing the red, dry, irritated problem and I think that's because with the combination of the OCS followed 8 hours later by harsh facial cleansers, I was over cleaning my skin.
I think I liked the coconut oil better, it seemed to get down into my pores better and I could feel them opening. But I do like the ability to add essential oils to the liquid carrier oils. Downside of adding lemongrass oil is that I constantly crave Thai food now.
You can also use the oil you wash your face with as a facial or body moisturizer AND it removes makeup. Just as an FYI, I think a lot of the lotions I was buying before had chemicals in them that made them absorb quickly, so moisturizing with straight oil is a bit different. It's good to moisturize right before bed so that way your skin can absorb everything and you won't have the problem of not being able to do anything since your hands are covered in oil.
I read an article on lifehacker about shaving with olive oil, so I tried shaving with the same oil I was cleaning my face with, and that also totally works. I actually like it better than shaving cream since it repels water, it actually stays on your legs for longer without having to constantly re-apply the saving cream you've just accidentally rinsed off.
So, all in all, with one bottle of sweet almond oil (which sells on Amazon Smile for like eight bucks), I've been able to replace:
* makeup remover
* facial cleanser
* facial moisturizer
* body lotion
* shaving cream.
Just buy yourself a spray bottle, some essential oils and go to town! You'll save money, won't be putting harsh chemicals on your skin and you'll smell delicious.
Sounds gross? Sounds like it won't work? I was skeptical too.
I've never had what you'd call "nice skin". When I was a teenager I had terrible acne. In hindsight I probably could have improved my situation by washing my face more often or clipping my huge, thick bangs back when I slept. Instead I went about it in my typical teenage fashion, trying to solve problems by whining.
Fast forward a decade, and my 20-year-old skin has fewer rampaging breakouts (I also lost the bangs, so I think the two might be related), but I still had the amazing ability for my skin to be flaky dry while having an oil slick on top of it. I also have enormous pores, but my mother does too so I think I'm just genetically screwed in that department.
Now that I'm in my 30's, I really was waiting for the day that I had acne and wrinkles at the same time, and I'm still not entirely convinced that's not my fate.
Anyhow, some crunchy hippy friends of mine were talking about the OCS a while ago, so I goggled it and came to the page I linked to above. They kept talking about how great their skin was, so I figured I'd try it, and if it made my skin disgusting it wasn't like I didn't still own soap.
Now, I'm consistently terrible at following directions and I think my crunchy friends weren't using castor oil and I didn't have any in the house, so I went with just straight coconut oil. I was doing this at night for a while, and I noticed that after I washed my face in the morning with my regular facial cleanser my skin was kinda red and irritated and dry. I stopped for a while mostly because I'm terrible at washing my face at night (gross, I know) because I go from active to passed out on the couch in about .5 seconds. If I was smart, I'd get ready for bed before sitting down on the couch, but that just doesn't happen.
I started up again maybe a month or so ago. No clue why I did, I probably just ran out of face soap and was like "heck, let's go back to that OCS system because I still have oil in the house". This time I used sweet almond oil and for fun put lavender and eucalyptus essential oils in with it. I ran out of sweet almond oil the other week so now I'm onto grapeseed oil with lemongrass essential oil.
Here's the crazy thing - it totally works. Do I look like an airbrushed magazine model? No. But my skin is less oily, I haven't had a zit since I started (that could just be luck), and I think in general my skin looks more fresh and clear.
It's certainly possible that I want this to work, so even accounting for that, the OCS works just as good as facial cleansers with the words "deep cleaning" and "pore minimizing" in their names. My skin certainly isn't any worse. That's freaking nuts. And I'm not even following the system exactly, imagine what could happen if I just ordered some castor oil on Amazon Smile!
This time around I'm washing my face only with the OCS system in the morning in the shower like I usually do, and sometimes at night if I think to. I'm not seeing the red, dry, irritated problem and I think that's because with the combination of the OCS followed 8 hours later by harsh facial cleansers, I was over cleaning my skin.
I think I liked the coconut oil better, it seemed to get down into my pores better and I could feel them opening. But I do like the ability to add essential oils to the liquid carrier oils. Downside of adding lemongrass oil is that I constantly crave Thai food now.
You can also use the oil you wash your face with as a facial or body moisturizer AND it removes makeup. Just as an FYI, I think a lot of the lotions I was buying before had chemicals in them that made them absorb quickly, so moisturizing with straight oil is a bit different. It's good to moisturize right before bed so that way your skin can absorb everything and you won't have the problem of not being able to do anything since your hands are covered in oil.
I read an article on lifehacker about shaving with olive oil, so I tried shaving with the same oil I was cleaning my face with, and that also totally works. I actually like it better than shaving cream since it repels water, it actually stays on your legs for longer without having to constantly re-apply the saving cream you've just accidentally rinsed off.
So, all in all, with one bottle of sweet almond oil (which sells on Amazon Smile for like eight bucks), I've been able to replace:
* makeup remover
* facial cleanser
* facial moisturizer
* body lotion
* shaving cream.
Just buy yourself a spray bottle, some essential oils and go to town! You'll save money, won't be putting harsh chemicals on your skin and you'll smell delicious.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Tilex v Diet Pepsi
I tend to be slightly crunchy, I like things organic and natural, but I also like things effective and convenient. This leads me to waffle back and forth between making cleaners at home and browsing Home Depot for whatever is labeled "industrial strength". It confuses my poor boyfriend to no end, which leads to him deep-frying donuts which leads to me being ultra-hippy for a few days, renewing the whole cycle.
Long story short, I read an article (on lifehacker, maybe ...) about how you can totally use Coke to clean your bathroom. The Texan in me realized that when they said Coke, they meant any soft drink that came in a can and/or bottle. This was totally awesome news, since I stopped drinking coke a year ago (lowercase c for the Texan definition) I have a bunch of old cans in my beer fridge. I keep trying to pawn them off on my coke drinking friends, and they're all like "uh ... I think this is old, and bad and the sugar has separated" and I'm all like "it's a can full of chemicals, how can you tell? Shut up and drink it". That doesn't go over well.
The news that I can clean things with old, potentially bad coke now means that I can kill two birds with one stone. I get a clean bathroom, get rid of old coke and make more room for beer, which using my logic is way better for you than coke. I guess that's three birds, so even better.
I tried cleaning my tub with Diet Pepsi. Spoiler alert, it totally didn't work. It made the bathroom smell like coke, so if your definition of "clean" means "smells different than normal", then I guess you're good. But all the soap residue was still there, and I think the scrubbing did more than the coke did.
I ended up spraying the whole tub down with Tilex Mold and Mildew which worked like a champ, like usual.
I still have Dr. Pepper and Pepsi Max which I'm going to try on a toilet to see if perhaps those work any better. Maybe it didn't work because it wasn't the full fledged coke with all the calories and corn syrup?
Either way, I'm not sure this will pan out. I'll keep you updated with more trials.
Long story short, I read an article (on lifehacker, maybe ...) about how you can totally use Coke to clean your bathroom. The Texan in me realized that when they said Coke, they meant any soft drink that came in a can and/or bottle. This was totally awesome news, since I stopped drinking coke a year ago (lowercase c for the Texan definition) I have a bunch of old cans in my beer fridge. I keep trying to pawn them off on my coke drinking friends, and they're all like "uh ... I think this is old, and bad and the sugar has separated" and I'm all like "it's a can full of chemicals, how can you tell? Shut up and drink it". That doesn't go over well.
The news that I can clean things with old, potentially bad coke now means that I can kill two birds with one stone. I get a clean bathroom, get rid of old coke and make more room for beer, which using my logic is way better for you than coke. I guess that's three birds, so even better.
I tried cleaning my tub with Diet Pepsi. Spoiler alert, it totally didn't work. It made the bathroom smell like coke, so if your definition of "clean" means "smells different than normal", then I guess you're good. But all the soap residue was still there, and I think the scrubbing did more than the coke did.
I ended up spraying the whole tub down with Tilex Mold and Mildew which worked like a champ, like usual.
I still have Dr. Pepper and Pepsi Max which I'm going to try on a toilet to see if perhaps those work any better. Maybe it didn't work because it wasn't the full fledged coke with all the calories and corn syrup?
Either way, I'm not sure this will pan out. I'll keep you updated with more trials.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Happy Birthday, Dave!
It was my friend Dave's birthday this Saturday, and despite feeling like I'd been run over by a truck, I went and had a good time. Dave's birthday thing is to choose a restaurant, and then we all go out and eat there. Simple!
We went to 8407 Kitchen bar in Silver Spring, MD. This is actually my go-to place in Silver Spring because 1) I know where it is and 2) more importantly, it's really good so why go any where else?
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It's got all the things that lure me in
1) a good cocktail program
2) the word "charcuterie" on the menu
3) cheese board
4) good scotch menu for dessert.
and this isn't on my list usually, but I like it about 8407: their portions are reasonable so I don't leave hating myself.
Despite #1, I didn't get any cocktails both because I wasn't feeling awesome and because THEY HAD MUSCADET ON THE MENU!!! I've been looking for that wine forever. It's light and crisp and just a bit sweet, it went perfect with my squid ink tagliatelle and shrimp.
Because we're us, we ordered a metric crapton of appetizers and shared them around:
* deviled eggs - this was my order. Nice, classic deviled eggs but served with crispy pork rinds and pickled beets. Not sure the pork rinds were necessary, but who doesn't love them.
* trotter tots - easily my favorite. The were creamy and porky and crisp around the edges. Heck yes!
* calamari - was the classic fried, breaded calamari. What was most interesting was the sauce they served it with, wasn't the usual marinara but tasted like a Cuban Aji sauce with cilantro and jalapenos. It was delicious and a bit spicy, but might have overwhelmed the squid a little.
* grilled liver pate - everyone else thought this was too salty, but I liked it. I like salt and grew up eating liverwurst, so that could be part of it. Overall a good classic pate.
* cheese plate - unfortunately I couldn't hear what cheeses were on it, but there was a blue, I think a camembert and a cheddar. The camembert and blue were easily my favorites, but that's pretty normal for me. Everyone LOVED the honey that came along with the cheese, I didn't try it and have no idea why.
* Rabbit rillette - for me, this was overpowered by the liver pate that I had right afterwords. It was good, but was blown away by the much stronger taste I of pate. Wish I had slowed down and had the rillette with my muscadet.
I'm surprised I didn't get the oysters, and surprised I didn't get scotch for desert. Instead I got a chocolate peanut butter concoction that looked like a giant Reeses' peanut butter cup. It had peanut butter chunks instead, so it wasn't as consistently peanut buttery as I would have liked. I'm not a sweet dessert person, so please don't take my word on this one. The thing that I thought was most interesting was the scoop of curried vanilla ice cream that came on top. I'm going to have to make that at home, wish it had been more curried, but I'm a curry sucker and honestly if they had done that it could have overpowered the rest of the dessert.
All in all, my Silver Spring go-to still holds! Will return and eat more another day!
We went to 8407 Kitchen bar in Silver Spring, MD. This is actually my go-to place in Silver Spring because 1) I know where it is and 2) more importantly, it's really good so why go any where else?
.png)
It's got all the things that lure me in
1) a good cocktail program
2) the word "charcuterie" on the menu
3) cheese board
4) good scotch menu for dessert.
and this isn't on my list usually, but I like it about 8407: their portions are reasonable so I don't leave hating myself.
Despite #1, I didn't get any cocktails both because I wasn't feeling awesome and because THEY HAD MUSCADET ON THE MENU!!! I've been looking for that wine forever. It's light and crisp and just a bit sweet, it went perfect with my squid ink tagliatelle and shrimp.
Because we're us, we ordered a metric crapton of appetizers and shared them around:
* deviled eggs - this was my order. Nice, classic deviled eggs but served with crispy pork rinds and pickled beets. Not sure the pork rinds were necessary, but who doesn't love them.
* trotter tots - easily my favorite. The were creamy and porky and crisp around the edges. Heck yes!
* calamari - was the classic fried, breaded calamari. What was most interesting was the sauce they served it with, wasn't the usual marinara but tasted like a Cuban Aji sauce with cilantro and jalapenos. It was delicious and a bit spicy, but might have overwhelmed the squid a little.
* grilled liver pate - everyone else thought this was too salty, but I liked it. I like salt and grew up eating liverwurst, so that could be part of it. Overall a good classic pate.
* cheese plate - unfortunately I couldn't hear what cheeses were on it, but there was a blue, I think a camembert and a cheddar. The camembert and blue were easily my favorites, but that's pretty normal for me. Everyone LOVED the honey that came along with the cheese, I didn't try it and have no idea why.
* Rabbit rillette - for me, this was overpowered by the liver pate that I had right afterwords. It was good, but was blown away by the much stronger taste I of pate. Wish I had slowed down and had the rillette with my muscadet.
I'm surprised I didn't get the oysters, and surprised I didn't get scotch for desert. Instead I got a chocolate peanut butter concoction that looked like a giant Reeses' peanut butter cup. It had peanut butter chunks instead, so it wasn't as consistently peanut buttery as I would have liked. I'm not a sweet dessert person, so please don't take my word on this one. The thing that I thought was most interesting was the scoop of curried vanilla ice cream that came on top. I'm going to have to make that at home, wish it had been more curried, but I'm a curry sucker and honestly if they had done that it could have overpowered the rest of the dessert.
All in all, my Silver Spring go-to still holds! Will return and eat more another day!
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Thanks Hannah!
You ever have one of those days where you're pretty sure you have strep throat so you spend all day at home on the couch, and if it doesn't involve lozenges and/or the internet, you're not doing it?
That was my day today, and it just took a really unexpected turn.
There I was, dicking around on the internet, trying to watch funny videos to pass the time between lozenges.
I started on Mental Floss (see previous post), because their videos are hilarious and I learn things. Double whammy! From there I went on to My Drunk Kitchen, because that's also one of my go-tos for quality You Tube humor. I love drinking, and I love food, so it's pretty much a perfect combination.
And that's when it took a left.
It's not that I ever thought poorly of Hannah Hart, I've loved her videos, and it's not that I ever thought her dumb, not even remotely. I've always found her adorable and hilarious (I love puns too!). It's just that I never thought about her beyond her My Drunk Kitchen videos.
That's really unfair. I learned this by stumbling upon this:
Dang, Hannah. Thanks for making me realize again that all humans are so deep and complex and *personal*. It's one of those lessons that yoga is supposed to teach me but that I somehow have to learn time and time again. Everyone is on their own journey.
Back in high school I was friends with all of the weirdos. We were all super straight-laced kids who got really good grades and were involved in extra curricular activities like orchestra, band and theatre. We were essentially a huge group of nerds who bonded through our mutual outcastness and became the first unconditionally supportive group of people I'd ever been around. You'd think our parents would have been thrilled with the friend group we'd all chosen, but no.
Needless to say, a lot of my friends ended up coming out as gay. I'd like to say this didn't bother me the first time it happened but due to my religious upbringing, it really did. I got over it by the time high school ended, but I also got over a lot of religion as well, which is it's own story.
It's so nice to see the Internet coming together now and then. I think we get too blindsided by hateful comments and slurs people call us on XBox. The Internet can really be a force for good, it can really be a powerful message for life and hope. It gets better. No matter what closet you're stuck in, there is a group of people out there who support you and love you. When young, people can now find like-minded people on the Internet when 20 years ago we all thought we were so alone. We don't have to wait until adulthood to learn that we're OK and that this too shall pass.
Thanks Hannah, for taking my sick day and showing me again the beauty and patience and love this world has to offer.
That was my day today, and it just took a really unexpected turn.
There I was, dicking around on the internet, trying to watch funny videos to pass the time between lozenges.
I started on Mental Floss (see previous post), because their videos are hilarious and I learn things. Double whammy! From there I went on to My Drunk Kitchen, because that's also one of my go-tos for quality You Tube humor. I love drinking, and I love food, so it's pretty much a perfect combination.
And that's when it took a left.
It's not that I ever thought poorly of Hannah Hart, I've loved her videos, and it's not that I ever thought her dumb, not even remotely. I've always found her adorable and hilarious (I love puns too!). It's just that I never thought about her beyond her My Drunk Kitchen videos.
That's really unfair. I learned this by stumbling upon this:
Dang, Hannah. Thanks for making me realize again that all humans are so deep and complex and *personal*. It's one of those lessons that yoga is supposed to teach me but that I somehow have to learn time and time again. Everyone is on their own journey.
Back in high school I was friends with all of the weirdos. We were all super straight-laced kids who got really good grades and were involved in extra curricular activities like orchestra, band and theatre. We were essentially a huge group of nerds who bonded through our mutual outcastness and became the first unconditionally supportive group of people I'd ever been around. You'd think our parents would have been thrilled with the friend group we'd all chosen, but no.
Needless to say, a lot of my friends ended up coming out as gay. I'd like to say this didn't bother me the first time it happened but due to my religious upbringing, it really did. I got over it by the time high school ended, but I also got over a lot of religion as well, which is it's own story.
It's so nice to see the Internet coming together now and then. I think we get too blindsided by hateful comments and slurs people call us on XBox. The Internet can really be a force for good, it can really be a powerful message for life and hope. It gets better. No matter what closet you're stuck in, there is a group of people out there who support you and love you. When young, people can now find like-minded people on the Internet when 20 years ago we all thought we were so alone. We don't have to wait until adulthood to learn that we're OK and that this too shall pass.
Thanks Hannah, for taking my sick day and showing me again the beauty and patience and love this world has to offer.
sick at home
The best part of having the flu is sitting on the couch watching Mental Floss videos all day
Yup, these will eat up an afternoon, no problem!
Yup, these will eat up an afternoon, no problem!
Kit .. Bar???
Last Wednesday I went to get a haircut. This sounds like a totally normal, boring event, and I assure you it is. Because I'm a crazy person I drive 1.5 hours to get my hair cut. It's because the salon is near where I used to live and I really like my stylist and it gives me pre-allocated time to listen to audiobooks.
Totally nuts or not, It ensures that I have some me-time every 4-8 weeks.
Given the fact that I gave up on going to several pumpkin beer festivals, this shows that I was looking particularly rough and really needed to get my hair fixed.
After doing so, I was quite hungry and slipped into the Stone's Cove Kitbar. I had only been there once before, and I kinda liked it so I wanted to go back.
This place has a really interesting concept. In the middle of the restaurant is the kitchen, and surrounding it are all of the seats. A lot of it is bar seating (which I love), with little table-like peninsulas sticking off for larger parties. When you sit and eat, you don't have one waiter, you just have the team of people working in the middle and any of them can get you something. This seemed strange at first, but I totally love it. I love being able to watch people prepare the food, to see everyone bustling around. It's like dinner and show if you're a person who loves the service industry like I do.
As it turns out, Wednesdays are half-price wine night. I said I didn't really want to sit down and drink an entire bottle of wine, but they said they could wrap up whatever I didn't finish. Game on! I ended up getting a really great bottle for like $15. Since I was in a white mood (I was hoping they had Muscadet, but they did not ... nowhere does, it's my curse), I ended up getting a bottle of Ricardo Santos' Semillon (I posted a picture on twitter that night).
It was a bit sweeter than I was expecting, so I counteracted that by ordering some spicy fish tacos. I was expecting them to be salsa-spicy but instead they were more spice-rub spicy. Not what I had planned, but it turned out perfect! They serve their fish tacos on this interesting wavy plate to hold up all three tacos. This is awesome because you can eat half of a taco and put it down without the whole thing becoming a disaster.
I want to go back and eat more. They had these interesting cones that contained avocado and some form of seafood (lobster or tuna, I think). Maybe next time I'll bring the boyfriend, leave him to get a few drinks and return later with nicer hair and we can split a bunch of appetizers.
The waiter said they were opening up several other locations, but unfortunately none of them are closer to me. The whole place is cozy, with stone and wood decor. It would fit perfectly in Denver. If there was one closer I'd eat there all the time.
Totally nuts or not, It ensures that I have some me-time every 4-8 weeks.
Given the fact that I gave up on going to several pumpkin beer festivals, this shows that I was looking particularly rough and really needed to get my hair fixed.
After doing so, I was quite hungry and slipped into the Stone's Cove Kitbar. I had only been there once before, and I kinda liked it so I wanted to go back.
This place has a really interesting concept. In the middle of the restaurant is the kitchen, and surrounding it are all of the seats. A lot of it is bar seating (which I love), with little table-like peninsulas sticking off for larger parties. When you sit and eat, you don't have one waiter, you just have the team of people working in the middle and any of them can get you something. This seemed strange at first, but I totally love it. I love being able to watch people prepare the food, to see everyone bustling around. It's like dinner and show if you're a person who loves the service industry like I do.
As it turns out, Wednesdays are half-price wine night. I said I didn't really want to sit down and drink an entire bottle of wine, but they said they could wrap up whatever I didn't finish. Game on! I ended up getting a really great bottle for like $15. Since I was in a white mood (I was hoping they had Muscadet, but they did not ... nowhere does, it's my curse), I ended up getting a bottle of Ricardo Santos' Semillon (I posted a picture on twitter that night).
It was a bit sweeter than I was expecting, so I counteracted that by ordering some spicy fish tacos. I was expecting them to be salsa-spicy but instead they were more spice-rub spicy. Not what I had planned, but it turned out perfect! They serve their fish tacos on this interesting wavy plate to hold up all three tacos. This is awesome because you can eat half of a taco and put it down without the whole thing becoming a disaster.
I want to go back and eat more. They had these interesting cones that contained avocado and some form of seafood (lobster or tuna, I think). Maybe next time I'll bring the boyfriend, leave him to get a few drinks and return later with nicer hair and we can split a bunch of appetizers.
The waiter said they were opening up several other locations, but unfortunately none of them are closer to me. The whole place is cozy, with stone and wood decor. It would fit perfectly in Denver. If there was one closer I'd eat there all the time.
Competition in Annapolis
I love Annapolis and spend a *lot* of time down there. I eventually want to move there and have these idyllic ideas in my head about how I'll ride my bike into downtown and pick up wine and cheese and pedal home. It'll be amazing. I'll have a porch.
Unfortunately that dream is several years away so I have to drive down to Annapolis hang out, have a blast, eat amazing food an then drive home. I'll take what I can get.
One of my usual defaults in Annapolis is The Metropolitan. It's a great little place, good beer selection and it's in the farm-to-table vein that I love so much. In fact, during winter sailing season I'll stop by the Metropolitan most Sundays for a pre-race brunch.
The other weekend my friend Andrew wanted to celebrate his billionth second alive and since he lives in Annapolis we decided to eat down there. I campaigned hard for the Metropolitan, but I was overruled.
We ended up going to Level, a small plates style restaurant just down the street. Honestly, even though I felt like I was cheating on the Metropolitan, I was really excited to go. I love small plates because it allows me to sample a TON of different foods, and I love places with a good cocktail program.
I also love eating dinner with my friends but because they're super into food also, we usually end up ordering what seems like the entire menu and sharing everything.
I browsed around on their website to see generally what I was going to get. I had no idea except that I wanted a negroni as my first cocktail. Their website is useful to get a general feel for the place, and I think there are several menu items that are standard. The rest is fair game for changing due to seasons, farm availability, etc. To me, this is a very good thing.
When we got there, the negroni was no longer on their menu, but I asked and they made one for me anyhow. I know that it's a full bar and good bartenders can make me anything and I don't *have* to stick to their pre-described cocktail list, but the fact that they were instantly like "yeah, we can make you one of those" earned points in my book.
I've come to the realization that I need to start taking notes on what we order, but I didn't so here's a rough list of everything we got.
* Tuna tartar - This was amazing. It wasn't ground into a paste like you'll see with a lot of tartars. Instead it was more like large chunks of tuna sashimi. Easily one of my favorite things I ate all night. And it was SPICY, way more so than I was expecting, but I love spice. My friend Brian, who is from Iowa was sweating bullets. He agreed that it was delicious.
* Veal sweetbreads - These were on special and I can't turn down sweatbreads, that's what I ordered. Nice, moist and juicy and lightly breaded. All around fantastic. I could have eaten a way larger plate.
* Tomato bisque and grilled cheese - These were also one of my favorites. The tomato bisque was amazing! It was rich and creamy but still with a strong tomato taste, but not too acidic. I wish I had ordered this and not Andrew so I would have been justified in wolfing down way more of it.
* Chorizo dip - who doesn't love chorizo and cheese?
* two flatbreads, Margherita and some sausage variety that I've forgotten the specifics on - I love their use of fresh mozzarella. They should note on their menu that these flatbreads are not "small plates", and two people could easily split one for an entire meal. Great dough, great cheese, so I didn't mind having too much of these.
* grilled calamari - I love how this was actual grilled squid, not the breaded and deep fried variety you find everywhere. So great, nice and chewy (in a good way).
* bison and bacon sliders - great sliders. I think my problem is that I only got half a slider. It was good, but I think the person with the other half stole all my bacon.
* korean duck tacos - Also completely fantastic, I could have eaten a giant pile of these
* cuban pork spring rolls - Delicious, great dipping sauce
* scallops - always a favorite
I know we got more, but that's all I can remember so I'm assuming those were the best things we ate and therefore the best list to talk about.
Apparently Level has a special on Monday night where if you get a bottle of wine you can get a flatbread for $2. This sounds like a great plan that the boyfriend and I will have to enact one of these weeks.
All in all, it was a great dinner, the service was fantastic and I'll definitely be back again soon!
Unfortunately that dream is several years away so I have to drive down to Annapolis hang out, have a blast, eat amazing food an then drive home. I'll take what I can get.
One of my usual defaults in Annapolis is The Metropolitan. It's a great little place, good beer selection and it's in the farm-to-table vein that I love so much. In fact, during winter sailing season I'll stop by the Metropolitan most Sundays for a pre-race brunch.
The other weekend my friend Andrew wanted to celebrate his billionth second alive and since he lives in Annapolis we decided to eat down there. I campaigned hard for the Metropolitan, but I was overruled.
We ended up going to Level, a small plates style restaurant just down the street. Honestly, even though I felt like I was cheating on the Metropolitan, I was really excited to go. I love small plates because it allows me to sample a TON of different foods, and I love places with a good cocktail program.
I also love eating dinner with my friends but because they're super into food also, we usually end up ordering what seems like the entire menu and sharing everything.
I browsed around on their website to see generally what I was going to get. I had no idea except that I wanted a negroni as my first cocktail. Their website is useful to get a general feel for the place, and I think there are several menu items that are standard. The rest is fair game for changing due to seasons, farm availability, etc. To me, this is a very good thing.
When we got there, the negroni was no longer on their menu, but I asked and they made one for me anyhow. I know that it's a full bar and good bartenders can make me anything and I don't *have* to stick to their pre-described cocktail list, but the fact that they were instantly like "yeah, we can make you one of those" earned points in my book.
I've come to the realization that I need to start taking notes on what we order, but I didn't so here's a rough list of everything we got.
* Tuna tartar - This was amazing. It wasn't ground into a paste like you'll see with a lot of tartars. Instead it was more like large chunks of tuna sashimi. Easily one of my favorite things I ate all night. And it was SPICY, way more so than I was expecting, but I love spice. My friend Brian, who is from Iowa was sweating bullets. He agreed that it was delicious.
* Veal sweetbreads - These were on special and I can't turn down sweatbreads, that's what I ordered. Nice, moist and juicy and lightly breaded. All around fantastic. I could have eaten a way larger plate.
* Tomato bisque and grilled cheese - These were also one of my favorites. The tomato bisque was amazing! It was rich and creamy but still with a strong tomato taste, but not too acidic. I wish I had ordered this and not Andrew so I would have been justified in wolfing down way more of it.
* Chorizo dip - who doesn't love chorizo and cheese?
* two flatbreads, Margherita and some sausage variety that I've forgotten the specifics on - I love their use of fresh mozzarella. They should note on their menu that these flatbreads are not "small plates", and two people could easily split one for an entire meal. Great dough, great cheese, so I didn't mind having too much of these.
* grilled calamari - I love how this was actual grilled squid, not the breaded and deep fried variety you find everywhere. So great, nice and chewy (in a good way).
* bison and bacon sliders - great sliders. I think my problem is that I only got half a slider. It was good, but I think the person with the other half stole all my bacon.
* korean duck tacos - Also completely fantastic, I could have eaten a giant pile of these
* cuban pork spring rolls - Delicious, great dipping sauce
* scallops - always a favorite
I know we got more, but that's all I can remember so I'm assuming those were the best things we ate and therefore the best list to talk about.
Apparently Level has a special on Monday night where if you get a bottle of wine you can get a flatbread for $2. This sounds like a great plan that the boyfriend and I will have to enact one of these weeks.
All in all, it was a great dinner, the service was fantastic and I'll definitely be back again soon!
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Finally a good breakfast!!!
I completely hate the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Hate. It.
The only redeeming thing over there is the National Aquarium. The rest of the place is covered in touristy shops, chain restaurants and not a single good bar (with the obvious exception of the Pratt Street Alehouse).
Now, if you know of a good place I've just walked by a hundred times, I'd love to hear it. I'm always willing to be convinced otherwise.
That being said, for beer-related events, the boyfriend and I often get a hotel downtown so we can stay there without worrying about getting home. Some people think this is a bit excessive, but a hotel is way cheaper than a DUI and it provides a convenient base of operations and gives us a good excuse to go out to dinner and brunch in Baltimore.
Dinner usually isn't the problem, with the combination of Harbor East, Fells Point and Little Italy, we can square dinner away pretty easily. Breakfast/brunch is always the problem.
Everyone always sings the praise of Miss Shirley's, and I'd love to eat there eventually. The problem is that the wait is always over half an hour and they don't take reservations. This kinda rules it out for us. We usually want to get a good breakfast and head home and get on with our day. And we're usually too hungry to wait that long for good.
We've tried a bunch of other place's in the Inner Harbor and they're all seriously meh. Good views of the water, but seriously mediocre food.
There's Teavolve over in Harbor East, which is SUPER GOOD. I'd eat there all the time, except I already eat there all the time and I'm ready for a change. Not a permanent change, but maybe a place to alternate between.
Today we discovered a new breakfast location that's been open since Feb. It's called The Saturday Morning Cafe. It's got really good food as well. Not as upscale as Teavolve, but way closer to the Inner Harbor and a little more Baltimore-ey. It's a small place so we ate at the counter. The boyfriend and I both got shrimp and grits, which comes with bacon and cheese on top. Yum! My shrimp were prefectly cooked. They also have a seafood omelet which looked quite good. A lot of their offerings were on the heavier side: chicken and waffles or french toast. The one downside is that they don't have cocktails so I had to go without my weekend bloody mary. It's definitely a great option for good, quick breakfast downtown.
The only redeeming thing over there is the National Aquarium. The rest of the place is covered in touristy shops, chain restaurants and not a single good bar (with the obvious exception of the Pratt Street Alehouse).
Now, if you know of a good place I've just walked by a hundred times, I'd love to hear it. I'm always willing to be convinced otherwise.
That being said, for beer-related events, the boyfriend and I often get a hotel downtown so we can stay there without worrying about getting home. Some people think this is a bit excessive, but a hotel is way cheaper than a DUI and it provides a convenient base of operations and gives us a good excuse to go out to dinner and brunch in Baltimore.
Dinner usually isn't the problem, with the combination of Harbor East, Fells Point and Little Italy, we can square dinner away pretty easily. Breakfast/brunch is always the problem.
Everyone always sings the praise of Miss Shirley's, and I'd love to eat there eventually. The problem is that the wait is always over half an hour and they don't take reservations. This kinda rules it out for us. We usually want to get a good breakfast and head home and get on with our day. And we're usually too hungry to wait that long for good.
We've tried a bunch of other place's in the Inner Harbor and they're all seriously meh. Good views of the water, but seriously mediocre food.
There's Teavolve over in Harbor East, which is SUPER GOOD. I'd eat there all the time, except I already eat there all the time and I'm ready for a change. Not a permanent change, but maybe a place to alternate between.
Today we discovered a new breakfast location that's been open since Feb. It's called The Saturday Morning Cafe. It's got really good food as well. Not as upscale as Teavolve, but way closer to the Inner Harbor and a little more Baltimore-ey. It's a small place so we ate at the counter. The boyfriend and I both got shrimp and grits, which comes with bacon and cheese on top. Yum! My shrimp were prefectly cooked. They also have a seafood omelet which looked quite good. A lot of their offerings were on the heavier side: chicken and waffles or french toast. The one downside is that they don't have cocktails so I had to go without my weekend bloody mary. It's definitely a great option for good, quick breakfast downtown.
My favorite bar in San Antonio
My friend Paul was kind enough to take me to my favorite bar in San Antonio.
The Esquire is a really odd (in a good way) place that looks like it just stepped out of the Wild West, serves amazing cocktails and craft beer and has the longest bar in Texas!
I've been there a few times, usually with Paul, who doesn't drink much, or with co-workers on business trips. I really want to get a hotel in downtown San Antonio and go there with the boyfriend so we can sample more than one drink.
Every time I go back to Texas, I'm pleasantly surprised by the state of craft beer. When I lived there Shiner Bock was about as craft as it got (or that I was aware of), but a lot of breweries have been opening up and making really great beers.
During my last visit to The Esquire I had an Oatmeal Pale Ale by Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling. I thought it was a really interesting beer, but not as Oatmealey as I had expected. Paul thought it was too hoppy, but he's not a big Pale Ale fan to begin with.
I really want to eat a meal at the Esquire too, their menu looks like an interesting mix of local/sustainable/organic, bar food and Tex-Mex. Totally right up my alley.
The one thing I don't like about the place are the bathrooms, they freak me out. The ceilings are really tall, it's really dark in there and the mirrors are old (or look old) and are highly patina-ed. I keep expecting to turn around and see the girl from The Ring looking back at me. Paul says the men's room isn't as bad but he could be trying to either get me to convince him to go into the women's room or get me to go into the men's room for comparison purposes.
Next time I'm there, I'm ordering a cocktail that comes in a copper cup, devouring an organic burger and going next door to pee.
The Esquire is a really odd (in a good way) place that looks like it just stepped out of the Wild West, serves amazing cocktails and craft beer and has the longest bar in Texas!
I've been there a few times, usually with Paul, who doesn't drink much, or with co-workers on business trips. I really want to get a hotel in downtown San Antonio and go there with the boyfriend so we can sample more than one drink.
Every time I go back to Texas, I'm pleasantly surprised by the state of craft beer. When I lived there Shiner Bock was about as craft as it got (or that I was aware of), but a lot of breweries have been opening up and making really great beers.
During my last visit to The Esquire I had an Oatmeal Pale Ale by Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling. I thought it was a really interesting beer, but not as Oatmealey as I had expected. Paul thought it was too hoppy, but he's not a big Pale Ale fan to begin with.
I really want to eat a meal at the Esquire too, their menu looks like an interesting mix of local/sustainable/organic, bar food and Tex-Mex. Totally right up my alley.
The one thing I don't like about the place are the bathrooms, they freak me out. The ceilings are really tall, it's really dark in there and the mirrors are old (or look old) and are highly patina-ed. I keep expecting to turn around and see the girl from The Ring looking back at me. Paul says the men's room isn't as bad but he could be trying to either get me to convince him to go into the women's room or get me to go into the men's room for comparison purposes.
Next time I'm there, I'm ordering a cocktail that comes in a copper cup, devouring an organic burger and going next door to pee.
Are you Mofongo?
While I was in San Antonio, unfortunately I wasn't able to eat at all of the places I wanted to. Tried a few new places, but had entirely average meals not worth writing about.
However, there was one stand-out meal at a place called La Marginal Puerto Rican and Latin Cuisine. My friend Paul had been talking about a dish called mofongo. When he mentioned that you could get it filled with seafood, I was suddenly game.
La Marginal isn't a place I would have found on my own. It's in a strip mall, but a Kwik Wash. It's a total hole in the wall, which usually means it'll have amazing ethnic food. Paul has no idea how he found it either, but was pretty sure it was recommended by a friend.
Since it sounded so interesting I ordered the mofongo. It's is unlike anything I've really seen before. You can get either yucca or plantain (I got plantain) pounded until smooth, almost like grits or mashed potatoes. It's served in a bowl and either pork, shrimp or assorted seafood is piled on top. It comes with an orange cajun-ish spicy sauce that I poured on with reckless abandon. It was really fantastic, the plantain was crispy around the edges where it had cooked in the bowl. Paul wasn't a fan of the fake crab they included, but I thought it provided a nice texture and flavor. I don't generally mind fake crab. In total it had mussels, shrimp, fake crab and flaky white fish. Really really good and new and different!
They also had fantastic mojitos. They took a while to come out, but I think that's because they were muddling the ever living heck out of that mint. It tasted far mintier than I thought it would have, judging on the amount of visible mint leaves. I don't mind waiting for a super quality product! Their secret to a their mojito was adding a splash of Sprite. When Paul told me that I was severely skeptical, but it turned out to make a great drink.
All in all, La Marginal was a fantastic place that I'd absolutely return to again.
However, there was one stand-out meal at a place called La Marginal Puerto Rican and Latin Cuisine. My friend Paul had been talking about a dish called mofongo. When he mentioned that you could get it filled with seafood, I was suddenly game.
La Marginal isn't a place I would have found on my own. It's in a strip mall, but a Kwik Wash. It's a total hole in the wall, which usually means it'll have amazing ethnic food. Paul has no idea how he found it either, but was pretty sure it was recommended by a friend.
Since it sounded so interesting I ordered the mofongo. It's is unlike anything I've really seen before. You can get either yucca or plantain (I got plantain) pounded until smooth, almost like grits or mashed potatoes. It's served in a bowl and either pork, shrimp or assorted seafood is piled on top. It comes with an orange cajun-ish spicy sauce that I poured on with reckless abandon. It was really fantastic, the plantain was crispy around the edges where it had cooked in the bowl. Paul wasn't a fan of the fake crab they included, but I thought it provided a nice texture and flavor. I don't generally mind fake crab. In total it had mussels, shrimp, fake crab and flaky white fish. Really really good and new and different!
They also had fantastic mojitos. They took a while to come out, but I think that's because they were muddling the ever living heck out of that mint. It tasted far mintier than I thought it would have, judging on the amount of visible mint leaves. I don't mind waiting for a super quality product! Their secret to a their mojito was adding a splash of Sprite. When Paul told me that I was severely skeptical, but it turned out to make a great drink.
All in all, La Marginal was a fantastic place that I'd absolutely return to again.
Blood in the Water
Bad things don't happen in my family. We're a group of the most spoiled, coddled people you'll ever meet. Everyone (except me) has nice cars, is building or lives in beautiful enormous houses. Everyone is well educated, has good jobs. We all are happy, have beautiful families and amazing Christmas cards. Nobody gets seriously ill and nobody dies unless they are old.
Most of the time this completely pisses me off, not because I wish ill on my family or begrudge anyone their happiness, but because it makes people (my mother in particular) so completely out of touch with reality and the rest of the world. I'm also the only Democrat and I sometimes wonder if the two are related.
Why would anyone want government subsidized healthcare? My mother will wonder. I'll respond with the fact that many people are kicked off their healthcare plans due or cannot afford insurance or a multitude of other reasons that leave them ill provided for in the healthcare arena. I'll show that most other western countries have some sort of government-provided healthcare and that America is not the leader in healthcare we think we are.
Well, why don't people just get better jobs that give them insurance? Yes, mother, it's just that easy. People just aren't getting better jobs because they'd rather whine about things. Why didn't they just think of that.
My most favorite comment that people make frequently is "Sandra, when are you going to buy a real house?". This one throws me into fits of fury like nothing else. I have a house, it's a townhouse. The roof over my head is real, the floor under my feet is real and my monthly mortgage is most definitely real. However, it's attached to another house, so I guess to my family, it's a fake house. They even call it an apartment sometimes, I don't know if they're trying to piss me off or really don't know the difference.
My internal monologue replies with "look, you fuckers, I live on the East Coast. My shitty tiny townhouse cost 300,000. Also, there are two of us in my family, the boyfriend and I don't need more space. WE DON'T HAVE THAT MANY CATS!!!".
I usually end up responding either that we don't want a bigger house or that we can't afford one. This is met with either looks of confusion or pity. Both make me angrier for different reasons.
So it's always interesting when something "bad" does actually happen. The last "bad" thing that happened was that my youngest brother didn't get into medical school right away and had to get a Master's degree in something else and THEN go to medical school. The horrors.
This time the "bad" thing is divorce. My cousin's to be exact. This isn't to say that divorce is a great thing, but rather that it's not the end of the world. It sucks, but like most things, time will pass, wounds will heal and life will move on.
We all started noticing things a few months ago. Facebook makes things entirely too obvious. When the boyfriend and I were in Dallas a few months ago my mother and sister-in-law immediately brought it up. "Have you noticed that she went on vacation with her friends?Have you noticed that she hasn't mentioned him? Have you noticed there are fewer pictures of them together?". I had noticed the exact same things and had come to the exact same conclusion, but at that moment I suddenly felt guilty. I responded "oh please, people go on vacations with their girlfriends all the time, it doesn't mean anything". Who were we to sit there and gossip?
As someone who has had long-term relationships shatter (not marriages, but with my point of view on marriage, it might have well been the same thing), it sucks. There's a whole slew of emotions that are involved, anger, hurt, embarrassment. I wouldn't want my family to be eating affordable french food at a La Madeline's gossiping about me. Now I know they probably did, and I just don't want to do that to other people.
Last week it finally came out that my cousin and his wife were getting divorced, ending their three-year marriage. Granted, I've only heard things from my cousin's point of view and his wife is the one who filed, but it sounds like divorce was a pretty good option. They both sounded miserable.
To my family, this is the worst thing ever. My mother sent me a text message saying I had to call her IMMEDIATELY. She couldn't wait to tell me the bad news, which is kinda messed up. It's like they're all so upset for him, but all so gleeful to spread the bad news. I really don't understand it.
I know a LOT of divorced people. Most of them are totally great people, divorce is something that happened to them, it doesn't define who they are. Maybe it's this that leads me to treat divorce as something that happens sometimes, not some earth-shattering scandal.
When my mom asked me what I thought, I replied that it sounded like divorce was a good solution to their problem. What I should have said was that I'm sorry that my cousin's failed marriage was the blood in the water, that I was sorry we were all feating upon my cousin's potential unhappiness.
I say potential unhappiness because I haven't talked to my cousin, we're not close. For him to call me about this would be incredibly strange. For all I know, he's relieved to be getting divorced. He's not even 30 years old, he has his entire life ahead of him. He's getting a second chance, and a way out of what seems to be a very hostile and volatile situation.
I guess my answer wasn't what my mom wanted. She asked me what the boyfriend thought. Being the only other divorced person in the family, I guess he's the resident expert. He totally doesn't care. He's met my cousin like two times. My mom reiterated that the boyfriend's opinion matters to her.
Who are we to have opinions on someone else's divorce?
I'll be sad for my cousin, if that's what he wants. I'll be happy for him if he wants that instead. Until he lets me know if he wants either emotion, I'll continue to treat it like I have been, a fact. This is happening. It's neither good nor bad, it's just an event taking place.
We've all been explicitly instructed to not tell the Grandmother. Based on how the text was worded, I know it was one of those messages my mother sent to everyone.
We are such assholes. Can we please stop feating on what's perceived to be someone else's misfortune?
Also, someone's got to tell Grandmother. She's old, but she'll start noticing a missing wife.
I'm not really sure the moral of this story, but I for one am going to try to stop gossiping. It's really assholeish.
Most of the time this completely pisses me off, not because I wish ill on my family or begrudge anyone their happiness, but because it makes people (my mother in particular) so completely out of touch with reality and the rest of the world. I'm also the only Democrat and I sometimes wonder if the two are related.
Why would anyone want government subsidized healthcare? My mother will wonder. I'll respond with the fact that many people are kicked off their healthcare plans due or cannot afford insurance or a multitude of other reasons that leave them ill provided for in the healthcare arena. I'll show that most other western countries have some sort of government-provided healthcare and that America is not the leader in healthcare we think we are.
Well, why don't people just get better jobs that give them insurance? Yes, mother, it's just that easy. People just aren't getting better jobs because they'd rather whine about things. Why didn't they just think of that.
My most favorite comment that people make frequently is "Sandra, when are you going to buy a real house?". This one throws me into fits of fury like nothing else. I have a house, it's a townhouse. The roof over my head is real, the floor under my feet is real and my monthly mortgage is most definitely real. However, it's attached to another house, so I guess to my family, it's a fake house. They even call it an apartment sometimes, I don't know if they're trying to piss me off or really don't know the difference.
My internal monologue replies with "look, you fuckers, I live on the East Coast. My shitty tiny townhouse cost 300,000. Also, there are two of us in my family, the boyfriend and I don't need more space. WE DON'T HAVE THAT MANY CATS!!!".
I usually end up responding either that we don't want a bigger house or that we can't afford one. This is met with either looks of confusion or pity. Both make me angrier for different reasons.
So it's always interesting when something "bad" does actually happen. The last "bad" thing that happened was that my youngest brother didn't get into medical school right away and had to get a Master's degree in something else and THEN go to medical school. The horrors.
This time the "bad" thing is divorce. My cousin's to be exact. This isn't to say that divorce is a great thing, but rather that it's not the end of the world. It sucks, but like most things, time will pass, wounds will heal and life will move on.
We all started noticing things a few months ago. Facebook makes things entirely too obvious. When the boyfriend and I were in Dallas a few months ago my mother and sister-in-law immediately brought it up. "Have you noticed that she went on vacation with her friends?Have you noticed that she hasn't mentioned him? Have you noticed there are fewer pictures of them together?". I had noticed the exact same things and had come to the exact same conclusion, but at that moment I suddenly felt guilty. I responded "oh please, people go on vacations with their girlfriends all the time, it doesn't mean anything". Who were we to sit there and gossip?
As someone who has had long-term relationships shatter (not marriages, but with my point of view on marriage, it might have well been the same thing), it sucks. There's a whole slew of emotions that are involved, anger, hurt, embarrassment. I wouldn't want my family to be eating affordable french food at a La Madeline's gossiping about me. Now I know they probably did, and I just don't want to do that to other people.
Last week it finally came out that my cousin and his wife were getting divorced, ending their three-year marriage. Granted, I've only heard things from my cousin's point of view and his wife is the one who filed, but it sounds like divorce was a pretty good option. They both sounded miserable.
To my family, this is the worst thing ever. My mother sent me a text message saying I had to call her IMMEDIATELY. She couldn't wait to tell me the bad news, which is kinda messed up. It's like they're all so upset for him, but all so gleeful to spread the bad news. I really don't understand it.
I know a LOT of divorced people. Most of them are totally great people, divorce is something that happened to them, it doesn't define who they are. Maybe it's this that leads me to treat divorce as something that happens sometimes, not some earth-shattering scandal.
When my mom asked me what I thought, I replied that it sounded like divorce was a good solution to their problem. What I should have said was that I'm sorry that my cousin's failed marriage was the blood in the water, that I was sorry we were all feating upon my cousin's potential unhappiness.
I say potential unhappiness because I haven't talked to my cousin, we're not close. For him to call me about this would be incredibly strange. For all I know, he's relieved to be getting divorced. He's not even 30 years old, he has his entire life ahead of him. He's getting a second chance, and a way out of what seems to be a very hostile and volatile situation.
I guess my answer wasn't what my mom wanted. She asked me what the boyfriend thought. Being the only other divorced person in the family, I guess he's the resident expert. He totally doesn't care. He's met my cousin like two times. My mom reiterated that the boyfriend's opinion matters to her.
Who are we to have opinions on someone else's divorce?
I'll be sad for my cousin, if that's what he wants. I'll be happy for him if he wants that instead. Until he lets me know if he wants either emotion, I'll continue to treat it like I have been, a fact. This is happening. It's neither good nor bad, it's just an event taking place.
We've all been explicitly instructed to not tell the Grandmother. Based on how the text was worded, I know it was one of those messages my mother sent to everyone.
We are such assholes. Can we please stop feating on what's perceived to be someone else's misfortune?
Also, someone's got to tell Grandmother. She's old, but she'll start noticing a missing wife.
I'm not really sure the moral of this story, but I for one am going to try to stop gossiping. It's really assholeish.
Things overheard in airports
Due to the fact that I travel a lot for work and fun, I spend a TON of time in airports. Two great quotes from my last trip to San Antonio. These were either overheard in Baltimore, San Antonio or Chicago.
* "Emily wore her wiener dog pajamas for a year and a half straight. We told her that if she wanted to have any more kids, she'd probably need to find something else to wear once in a while".
My response to this: holy shit, I want wiener dog pajamas!!!!
* "Look at those luggage carts, I totally went on a rampage in one those in GTA 5 the other day".
I guess my household isn't the only one inundated with GTA these days. Also, are luggage carts good or bad for a rampage??
* "Emily wore her wiener dog pajamas for a year and a half straight. We told her that if she wanted to have any more kids, she'd probably need to find something else to wear once in a while".
My response to this: holy shit, I want wiener dog pajamas!!!!
* "Look at those luggage carts, I totally went on a rampage in one those in GTA 5 the other day".
I guess my household isn't the only one inundated with GTA these days. Also, are luggage carts good or bad for a rampage??
I'm back!!
I can't believe it's been so long since I've last posted. Life has been a whirlwind as usual, so I have a lot to tell you guys about! Trip to San Antonio, several beer festivals, etc. Please stay posted for a ton of new updates!!
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Trying to be a good friend
Warning: this post is a little sad, but it's something that's been kicking around in my head for a while and I had to get it out.
Let me start off by saying that I'm really glad that people are starting to talk more about depression, that the stigma is slowly being removed and people are opening up dialogue. Dialogue is always incredibly important.
Depression is something that has affected my life greatly. I don't personally suffer from it, I almost have the inverse problem where I can turn into a juggernaut-tank and don't know when to stop. Even if tank-mode isn't particularly healthy I'd pick it over depression every time. However, a LOT of my friends suffer from it.
My best friend in highschool had it and I still vividly remember the end of our senior year when she was going through a particularly bad spell and I was too young, too stupid, too naive, too inexperienced to ask her what the hell was going on. I sat by in silence as the person I loved more than anything continued to isolate herself and demonstrate some incredibly strange (to me) behavior. I felt like I was losing her and I was too scared to lose her more so I said nothing, asked nothing.
A man I loved was diagnosed with depression. Without the depression we'd likely be married with kids by now. Instead I haven't talked to him in years. I had to end that relationship, I felt like I was being pulled down by an anchor. I kept waking up next to this stranger I hated where a man I had loved since I was a teenager used to be. Ending that relationship was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but I felt I had no other choice. It was either ending it or lose myself. End it or be dragged down as well. I feel that I made the right choice but still feel guilty of not being stronger, more supportive, more unconditionally loving.
It's hard to watch friends you love struggle with daily life, struggle with what seem to be minor things that happen to everyone. Not suffering from it myself, I attempt to intellectually understand it. They're depressed, that's why they're acting this way. But I don't, in my heart, honestly understand it. I have compassion but not comprehension.
There have been a lot (or seemed to me a lot) of articles coming out lately about depression. Maybe my friends just have a sampling bias on what they post on Facebook, but it seems to be a theme. This is a good theme. Like I said above, dialogue is a good thing, understanding the disease is a good thing, removing the stigma and helping people function and cope are really good things.
Examples of these articles are:
* The 10 Stupidest things you can say to a depressed person
* Comics that capture the frustration of depression
Most of these are focused on the stupid/unhelpful/ridiculous things people say to those who have depression. Having been that person SO MANY times, my reaction is "ok, I get it, I'm stupid and unhelpful". I know depression isn't simple, I know there's not just a "be happy" switch you can throw and fix it all.
I'm sorry for saying stupid shit that doesn't help at all.
But if I'm sitting on a couch watching someone I love struggle to get through day after day, it breaks my heart and I want nothing else in the world but to be able to fix it for them. Logically, I know I can't, I know it's the disease, but I want so badly to help, to cheer them up, to get them back to the amazing person I know they are. In that scenario, stupid crap will come out of my mouth. Not because I honestly think that going outside more will really help, but because my feeble brain completely cannot come up with anything better.
I'm sorry my lame attempts to help actually make things worse and more frustrating. Making things worse is the last thing I ever wanted to do. I also don't want to get up and leave and avoid my depressed friends because I have no idea what to do. I want to keep trying, keep maintaining relationships with them.
What would be really nice would be a link after these articles to "10 super helpful things you can do". I'd really love some suggestions.
Let me start off by saying that I'm really glad that people are starting to talk more about depression, that the stigma is slowly being removed and people are opening up dialogue. Dialogue is always incredibly important.
Depression is something that has affected my life greatly. I don't personally suffer from it, I almost have the inverse problem where I can turn into a juggernaut-tank and don't know when to stop. Even if tank-mode isn't particularly healthy I'd pick it over depression every time. However, a LOT of my friends suffer from it.
My best friend in highschool had it and I still vividly remember the end of our senior year when she was going through a particularly bad spell and I was too young, too stupid, too naive, too inexperienced to ask her what the hell was going on. I sat by in silence as the person I loved more than anything continued to isolate herself and demonstrate some incredibly strange (to me) behavior. I felt like I was losing her and I was too scared to lose her more so I said nothing, asked nothing.
A man I loved was diagnosed with depression. Without the depression we'd likely be married with kids by now. Instead I haven't talked to him in years. I had to end that relationship, I felt like I was being pulled down by an anchor. I kept waking up next to this stranger I hated where a man I had loved since I was a teenager used to be. Ending that relationship was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but I felt I had no other choice. It was either ending it or lose myself. End it or be dragged down as well. I feel that I made the right choice but still feel guilty of not being stronger, more supportive, more unconditionally loving.
It's hard to watch friends you love struggle with daily life, struggle with what seem to be minor things that happen to everyone. Not suffering from it myself, I attempt to intellectually understand it. They're depressed, that's why they're acting this way. But I don't, in my heart, honestly understand it. I have compassion but not comprehension.
There have been a lot (or seemed to me a lot) of articles coming out lately about depression. Maybe my friends just have a sampling bias on what they post on Facebook, but it seems to be a theme. This is a good theme. Like I said above, dialogue is a good thing, understanding the disease is a good thing, removing the stigma and helping people function and cope are really good things.
Examples of these articles are:
* The 10 Stupidest things you can say to a depressed person
* Comics that capture the frustration of depression
Most of these are focused on the stupid/unhelpful/ridiculous things people say to those who have depression. Having been that person SO MANY times, my reaction is "ok, I get it, I'm stupid and unhelpful". I know depression isn't simple, I know there's not just a "be happy" switch you can throw and fix it all.
I'm sorry for saying stupid shit that doesn't help at all.
But if I'm sitting on a couch watching someone I love struggle to get through day after day, it breaks my heart and I want nothing else in the world but to be able to fix it for them. Logically, I know I can't, I know it's the disease, but I want so badly to help, to cheer them up, to get them back to the amazing person I know they are. In that scenario, stupid crap will come out of my mouth. Not because I honestly think that going outside more will really help, but because my feeble brain completely cannot come up with anything better.
I'm sorry my lame attempts to help actually make things worse and more frustrating. Making things worse is the last thing I ever wanted to do. I also don't want to get up and leave and avoid my depressed friends because I have no idea what to do. I want to keep trying, keep maintaining relationships with them.
What would be really nice would be a link after these articles to "10 super helpful things you can do". I'd really love some suggestions.
Friday, October 4, 2013
The sherry saga continues...
I've learned two things in my sherry quest:
1. Finos. Yes, I was right, that's the type I like.
2. Serve slightly chilled.
The boyfriend was kind enough to buy me a bottle of Osborne Pale Dry Fino Sherry.
I was going to pour myself a glass and then I noticed a small "serve chilled" note on the front. I popped it into the fridge and made dinner.
Maybe the serving chilled makes all the difference. This bottle was fantastic, slightly sweet in a delightful refreshing way, but not too cloying or raisiny. The bottle is now empty, which absolutely says something. I almost wish I had some left so I could do a test of chilled vs room temperature to see which I preferred and if it makes that big of a difference. I have another bottle of sherry that I'm not a huge fan of, so I'm going to try chilling it and see what happens.
I drank this one with steak tacos. Probably not the recommended pairing but I like to live on the edge. It was quite good. The sweet crispness of the sherry cut through the spiciness of the tacos and provided another layer of flavor to my meal. Heck yes. I would absolutely buy this bottle again.
1. Finos. Yes, I was right, that's the type I like.
2. Serve slightly chilled.
The boyfriend was kind enough to buy me a bottle of Osborne Pale Dry Fino Sherry.
I was going to pour myself a glass and then I noticed a small "serve chilled" note on the front. I popped it into the fridge and made dinner.
Maybe the serving chilled makes all the difference. This bottle was fantastic, slightly sweet in a delightful refreshing way, but not too cloying or raisiny. The bottle is now empty, which absolutely says something. I almost wish I had some left so I could do a test of chilled vs room temperature to see which I preferred and if it makes that big of a difference. I have another bottle of sherry that I'm not a huge fan of, so I'm going to try chilling it and see what happens.
I drank this one with steak tacos. Probably not the recommended pairing but I like to live on the edge. It was quite good. The sweet crispness of the sherry cut through the spiciness of the tacos and provided another layer of flavor to my meal. Heck yes. I would absolutely buy this bottle again.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Consigning is awesome!!
I'm always amazed at the amount of crap people have in their houses, myself completely included in that. I'm kinda the anti-hoarder, I really hate clutter and love when everything has a place. Full disclaimer, sometimes things don't always make it back to their home immediately, but everything has a place to go. Clutter gets to me so much that sometimes if the house needs a bit of tidying, the boyfriend will find a Hoarders marathon and watching it will bother me so much I'll get up and clean something (he helps too, he just finds this funny).
During all of the rounds of The Great Shacking Up, we gave away so much stuff to charity. It seems that between both of us we must have given away an entire household's worth of stuff. A household with two kitchens. We had SO MUCH kitchen stuff.
We still have so much stuff to get rid of though, closets are full and boxes still aren't unpacked. I really don't know where it all came from. Neither of us shops a lot, so I think either gnomes bring things into our house in the middle of the night or stuff breeds more stuff while in closets.
I've been trying to get rid of old clothes using an app called Poshmark, which was really fun. However, I ended up doing way more buying than selling and my stuff wasn't selling that quickly. I blame my horrible photography skills for that. This left me with piles of "inventory" squirreled away throughout the house, which kinda defeated the purpose.
Yesterday I discovered the joys of consignment. You just drop a box off and they sell it and give you a check! It's fabulous! My quest today is to find a consignment store that takes old prom / bridesmaid dresses. I'm going to have so much room in my closets, this is going to be amazing!
My favorite stores that I've found so far in the Maryland suburbia areas are:
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Really, Congress??
I am an American and my government has shut itself down. I'm completely flabbergasted and appalled, but sad to say, not shocked.
There are really two facets to my thoughts here. The first is that I was always taught to respect authority. Taught that the people in charge are smart and good and know what to do. I'm starting to suspect I have been horribly mislead.
How can these people not do their jobs? It's not like needing a budget snuck up on them, it's a regularly scheduled event. I can't just not to my job, not only because I'd get fired but also because I AM AN ADULT. Sometimes I do things that are difficult and upsetting because they need to be done.
The Affordable Care Act has already been signed into law, it's a done thing. Stop throwing a hissy fit, put on your big boy pants and freaking fund it. Seriously.
(As a total side note, I don't really understand why people are so upset over the Act. I'm more than willing to pay a bit more in taxes so my friends (and everyone else in this country) without insurance can get some. Also, people without insurance still go to the emergency room, which we end up paying for anyhow. I'd rather pay for preventative care. Might it take a bit of time before we figure the whole system out? Sure. But it's worth it. I had a friend a few months ago who jacked up her knee falling and couldn't go see a doctor because she had no insurance. This is a girl with a MS in Architecture, not one of those uneducated lazy schlubs the Republicans keep inventing and blaming things on. I'm all for the greater good. Anyhow, I digress)
I fell asleep last night on the couch while watching C-Span 2. Listening to the Congressmen made me want to drink. They all sound like either blithering idiots or whiny children. These are really the best and the brightest we can find to run our country? I think something has gone really wrong with our political system. Have all the good people been driven out and been replaced by idiots bent on only securing their own re-election and pandering to party lines? Do those people care about the greater good?
The second facet is related to federal employees and tangentially the greater good. I'm starting to think that Congress views the people who work day in and day out as people who belong to the aforementioned "uneducated lazy schlub" class. Heck, I'll tack an "entitled" on to that. Federal wages have been frozen for years, so there's no cost of living increase. Not that it was an amazing increase to begin with. "5% more! Wow, I'm buying a mansion!" said nobody ever. Now all federal workers are at home, not being paid. These are THOUSANDS of Americans who suddenly don't have a paycheck to rely on for an undetermined amount of time. While Congress is still receiving their paychecks. What assholes.
Do they not realize what they're doing to their Federal employees? Do they not care? Is Congress stuck in its own Ivory Tower such that they don't realize they're actively screwing over everyone who works for them?
It's incredibly disheartening. We're Americans, we're better than this. Or rather, we should be better than this.
There are really two facets to my thoughts here. The first is that I was always taught to respect authority. Taught that the people in charge are smart and good and know what to do. I'm starting to suspect I have been horribly mislead.
How can these people not do their jobs? It's not like needing a budget snuck up on them, it's a regularly scheduled event. I can't just not to my job, not only because I'd get fired but also because I AM AN ADULT. Sometimes I do things that are difficult and upsetting because they need to be done.
The Affordable Care Act has already been signed into law, it's a done thing. Stop throwing a hissy fit, put on your big boy pants and freaking fund it. Seriously.
(As a total side note, I don't really understand why people are so upset over the Act. I'm more than willing to pay a bit more in taxes so my friends (and everyone else in this country) without insurance can get some. Also, people without insurance still go to the emergency room, which we end up paying for anyhow. I'd rather pay for preventative care. Might it take a bit of time before we figure the whole system out? Sure. But it's worth it. I had a friend a few months ago who jacked up her knee falling and couldn't go see a doctor because she had no insurance. This is a girl with a MS in Architecture, not one of those uneducated lazy schlubs the Republicans keep inventing and blaming things on. I'm all for the greater good. Anyhow, I digress)
I fell asleep last night on the couch while watching C-Span 2. Listening to the Congressmen made me want to drink. They all sound like either blithering idiots or whiny children. These are really the best and the brightest we can find to run our country? I think something has gone really wrong with our political system. Have all the good people been driven out and been replaced by idiots bent on only securing their own re-election and pandering to party lines? Do those people care about the greater good?
The second facet is related to federal employees and tangentially the greater good. I'm starting to think that Congress views the people who work day in and day out as people who belong to the aforementioned "uneducated lazy schlub" class. Heck, I'll tack an "entitled" on to that. Federal wages have been frozen for years, so there's no cost of living increase. Not that it was an amazing increase to begin with. "5% more! Wow, I'm buying a mansion!" said nobody ever. Now all federal workers are at home, not being paid. These are THOUSANDS of Americans who suddenly don't have a paycheck to rely on for an undetermined amount of time. While Congress is still receiving their paychecks. What assholes.
Do they not realize what they're doing to their Federal employees? Do they not care? Is Congress stuck in its own Ivory Tower such that they don't realize they're actively screwing over everyone who works for them?
It's incredibly disheartening. We're Americans, we're better than this. Or rather, we should be better than this.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Mormons
There are a few times when the boyfriend and I just don't see eye-to-eye. I know, shocking, right? Disagreement in a relationship? Totally a new thing.
Long story short, the boyfriend used to be Mormon. He converted in college but has long since "left" the church. By left I mean stopped attending and has come to the conclusion that he doesn't hold those beliefs anymore. It's not like he sent them a letter or made a big deal out of it.
While I'm not a fan of organized religion in general, I try and have a "live and let live" policy to life. You can believe whatever you'd like, and as long as you don't try and force me to do the same or get the government to legislate based on your belief system, we're cool. I might even engage in some debateful conversation if it's done in a spirit of learning (not conversion) and you don't mind me recommending some Christopher Hitchens books.
However, something that totally goes against my policy of "live and let live" is the practice of knocking on people's doors on the weekend and attempting to gain access to their house in order to talk to them about religion.
The southerner in me finds showing up uninvited INCREDIBLY rude and the Texan in me hates uninvited people on my property.
We've been living under the Mormon siege for a few months now. Prior to the Great Shacking Up, the boyfriend lived in a third floor condo with an interior door. That means in order to get to his front door, you had to gain entry into the condo building itself. My personal theory is this prevented many Mormon visits. But now they've found him.
It started out by them leaving cookies and notes "We heart the <boyfriend's last name> family!!". I found this note in the trash where the boyfriend had tossed it. I'm still debating if he honestly thought nothing of it or attempted to hide it because he knew it would freak me out. It totally freaked me out because #1, it's massively creepy and #2 shows a terrible lack of research on their part. Housing records are public and the house is in my name. We are not the "boyfriend's last name-family". When we refer to our household, we hyphenate.
Since then they've left us more notes and visited twice (that I know of). The first time I answered the door and they asked me if I was "Sister Boyfriend's-last-name". Nope. Wrong on at least two counts there. Now I'm pretty sure they think I'm the boyfriend's ex-wife, which annoys me on new and interesting levels.
I kept telling them that we weren't interested and to please have a nice day while slowly closing the door. They tried the brilliant tactic of "if you just let us in, we can take you off our list". Nope, nice try kid. Get off my lawn.
It's my theory that they think I'm some crazy harpy and if only they could talk to the boyfriend alone then they could save him and they keep coming back in an attempt to do so. The boyfriend thinks that they keep coming by because that's what they do. If he's right this means I'm going to try extra hard to earn crazy harpy status. If anyone is up to the challenge, it's me. Except for today.
They stopped by again today and I refused to answer the door, I was enjoying my day off while watching The Colbert Report and eating caprese salad in my bathrobe. No way was I going to deal with Mormon teenagers trying to get into my house to talk to me about religion. I was way too tired to attempt to earn crazy harpy status, which is pretty damn tired.
Strange fact that I'm still researching - they signed their note "The Elders", now the people who knocked on my door were clearly teenagers. Since when are kids "elders"? This makes zero sense to me. Also, people should not send children to deal with grouchy me.
How do I get this to stop? How do they think it's OK to keep knocking on my door interrupting my weekend?
This really is starting to annoy the crap out of me. They boyfriend thinks I'm nuts for getting so alternately creeped out and annoyed. I think he's nuts for just assuming that Mormons are going to constantly visit us and that he's OK with this.
Long story short, the boyfriend used to be Mormon. He converted in college but has long since "left" the church. By left I mean stopped attending and has come to the conclusion that he doesn't hold those beliefs anymore. It's not like he sent them a letter or made a big deal out of it.
While I'm not a fan of organized religion in general, I try and have a "live and let live" policy to life. You can believe whatever you'd like, and as long as you don't try and force me to do the same or get the government to legislate based on your belief system, we're cool. I might even engage in some debateful conversation if it's done in a spirit of learning (not conversion) and you don't mind me recommending some Christopher Hitchens books.
However, something that totally goes against my policy of "live and let live" is the practice of knocking on people's doors on the weekend and attempting to gain access to their house in order to talk to them about religion.
The southerner in me finds showing up uninvited INCREDIBLY rude and the Texan in me hates uninvited people on my property.
We've been living under the Mormon siege for a few months now. Prior to the Great Shacking Up, the boyfriend lived in a third floor condo with an interior door. That means in order to get to his front door, you had to gain entry into the condo building itself. My personal theory is this prevented many Mormon visits. But now they've found him.
It started out by them leaving cookies and notes "We heart the <boyfriend's last name> family!!". I found this note in the trash where the boyfriend had tossed it. I'm still debating if he honestly thought nothing of it or attempted to hide it because he knew it would freak me out. It totally freaked me out because #1, it's massively creepy and #2 shows a terrible lack of research on their part. Housing records are public and the house is in my name. We are not the "boyfriend's last name-family". When we refer to our household, we hyphenate.
Since then they've left us more notes and visited twice (that I know of). The first time I answered the door and they asked me if I was "Sister Boyfriend's-last-name". Nope. Wrong on at least two counts there. Now I'm pretty sure they think I'm the boyfriend's ex-wife, which annoys me on new and interesting levels.
I kept telling them that we weren't interested and to please have a nice day while slowly closing the door. They tried the brilliant tactic of "if you just let us in, we can take you off our list". Nope, nice try kid. Get off my lawn.
It's my theory that they think I'm some crazy harpy and if only they could talk to the boyfriend alone then they could save him and they keep coming back in an attempt to do so. The boyfriend thinks that they keep coming by because that's what they do. If he's right this means I'm going to try extra hard to earn crazy harpy status. If anyone is up to the challenge, it's me. Except for today.
They stopped by again today and I refused to answer the door, I was enjoying my day off while watching The Colbert Report and eating caprese salad in my bathrobe. No way was I going to deal with Mormon teenagers trying to get into my house to talk to me about religion. I was way too tired to attempt to earn crazy harpy status, which is pretty damn tired.
Strange fact that I'm still researching - they signed their note "The Elders", now the people who knocked on my door were clearly teenagers. Since when are kids "elders"? This makes zero sense to me. Also, people should not send children to deal with grouchy me.
How do I get this to stop? How do they think it's OK to keep knocking on my door interrupting my weekend?
This really is starting to annoy the crap out of me. They boyfriend thinks I'm nuts for getting so alternately creeped out and annoyed. I think he's nuts for just assuming that Mormons are going to constantly visit us and that he's OK with this.
Baldwin's Station
While planning to go to the beer festival, my friend Dave decided to try and find a place for us to go eat dinner afterwords. Dave and I have similar taste in food, so I have to admit that that much mocking ensued. What did he hope to find in the middle of nowhere, Maryland? I heard they just got an Olive Garden.
Allegedly, he found a good Mexican restaurant in Westminster, MD. Being from Texas originally, I have a blanket aversion to Mexican food this far north, especially in areas that aren't known for having wide ethnic diversity. I abruptly vetoed this suggestion.
We ended up going to a place in Sykesville, MD called Baldwin's Station. I've driven by this place a ton of times on my way to visit friends, but I'd never stopped to eat there. It was surprisingly good. It wasn't crazy gourmet, or particularly innovative, but it was on the nicer side of casual and the food was solid.
For an appetizer, I had what I think they called a scallop bisque. It was OK, but it wasn't a bisque, wasn't creamy at all. Not 100% sure I like scallops in a soup. My favorite part about scallops is the nice crust they get while being seared and their sweet, delicate flavor. All of this gets lost in a soup and the scallops just become a bite of mush.
My main course was much better. I had beef shortribs served over mushroom risotto and grilled squash. The squash seemed like a bit of an afterthought, just placed on the side and not really incorporated into the dish. It could have been any vegetable/side: asparagus, mushrooms, an artichoke.
The shortribs were cooked perfectly, and would have fallen off the bone had they still been on the bone. The bones were nicely arranged on the side of the plate, I guess to show me that they were once attached to the meat ... or something. But, the meat was delicious and covered in a tasty glaze. The risotto provided a nice texture and flavor contrast to the richness of the meat.
They had a shockingly good scotch menu, so I had a glass of Oban for dessert. Dave had Talisker, which I actually liked more than my Oban. The Oban was a bit too smoky and didn't go well with the rich, almost fatty taste I had left in my mouth from the beef.
All in all, it was a solid restaurant in an unexpected location. I know this review sounds incredibly picky, but my meal was good and I cleaned my plate. For having zero expectations of having a good meal last night, I was really pleasantly surprised.
Allegedly, he found a good Mexican restaurant in Westminster, MD. Being from Texas originally, I have a blanket aversion to Mexican food this far north, especially in areas that aren't known for having wide ethnic diversity. I abruptly vetoed this suggestion.
We ended up going to a place in Sykesville, MD called Baldwin's Station. I've driven by this place a ton of times on my way to visit friends, but I'd never stopped to eat there. It was surprisingly good. It wasn't crazy gourmet, or particularly innovative, but it was on the nicer side of casual and the food was solid.
For an appetizer, I had what I think they called a scallop bisque. It was OK, but it wasn't a bisque, wasn't creamy at all. Not 100% sure I like scallops in a soup. My favorite part about scallops is the nice crust they get while being seared and their sweet, delicate flavor. All of this gets lost in a soup and the scallops just become a bite of mush.
My main course was much better. I had beef shortribs served over mushroom risotto and grilled squash. The squash seemed like a bit of an afterthought, just placed on the side and not really incorporated into the dish. It could have been any vegetable/side: asparagus, mushrooms, an artichoke.
The shortribs were cooked perfectly, and would have fallen off the bone had they still been on the bone. The bones were nicely arranged on the side of the plate, I guess to show me that they were once attached to the meat ... or something. But, the meat was delicious and covered in a tasty glaze. The risotto provided a nice texture and flavor contrast to the richness of the meat.
They had a shockingly good scotch menu, so I had a glass of Oban for dessert. Dave had Talisker, which I actually liked more than my Oban. The Oban was a bit too smoky and didn't go well with the rich, almost fatty taste I had left in my mouth from the beef.
All in all, it was a solid restaurant in an unexpected location. I know this review sounds incredibly picky, but my meal was good and I cleaned my plate. For having zero expectations of having a good meal last night, I was really pleasantly surprised.
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