Author Archive

Monday, February 4th, 2008

On or off?

Half the time I wear glasses, half the time I wear contacts. As such, I am in a constant state of confusion as to what exactly on my face is enabling me to see more than just a colorful blur. The effects of that confusion are outlined below. Please note that the following chart is based on thirteen years of rigorous data collection.

glasses

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Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

Weekend GO!

Signs point to a good one. This morning I’m off to a baby-shower-ish thing (does it count as a baby shower if it’s mixed-gender, there are no weird games, and everyone is supposed to bring a book?) for Matt and Mel, and then Becks and Ficke get here! We have exchanged many emails outlining our complex Philadelphia plans, and have come to the following conclusions:

  1. Eat some stuff
  2. Drink some stuff
  3. Deep fry some stuff
  4. Watch football

I’m not really sure what could possibly be better than that. Maybe if you replaced football with hockey.

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Thursday, January 31st, 2008

I fully expect all my friends to be living here within the year

A new Philly bar/restaurant is in the works, via the City Paper…

Ladies and gentlemutants, behold the concept to end all concepts: Isaac McCrimmon, the chef at Jose Pistola’s (263 S. 15th St.), is currently seeking investors for Heroes, a comic-book-themed restaurant he hopes to open in the giant South Philly space that once housed Engine 46 Steakhouse. “[It'll be] Dave and Buster’s fused with the theme of what was once Marvel Mania [at] Universal Studios,” says McCrimmon of the idea, which’ll combine arcade gaming, live music and space for “team role-playing events.” Even the food will be designed to mimic comic characters. (Gambit po’boy?!) Also, they will have Belgian beers. The location is not set in stone yet, but if this sounds like something you want to sink your adamantium claws into, e-mail McCrimmon at blacknostalgic@aol.com.

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Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Public Service Announcement Regarding Hard to Find Foundational Garments

Just before New Year’s, I went on a slip-purchasing odyssey–did you know they are extremely difficult to find these days? Most department stores carry only one variety, so if that doesn’t fit you properly, you’re out of luck.

I’m baffled by the disappearance of the slip, especially given our current surfeit of cheap unlined dresses. So! For those of you who have expressed similar concerns (Kay, I’m looking at you), I wanted to let you know that Urban Outfitters is having a sale on a whole bunch of slips. Here are most of them (plus a few pairs of slip-on Vans, because their search options are crap). I ended up buying my slip at Urban Outfitters, and I tried a lot of these on in the process. Overall, they’re quite nice. I especially like this gold one for $25. Make sure you check the material, though–a few of them are cotton, which is great for wandering wraith-like through mansions in the dead of night, but less good at keeping your dress from sticking to your butt. Good luck!

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Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

Surprise!

Although the day started out badly and hasn’t gotten much better, there has been one shining moment. Cleaning my kitchen, I decided it was finally time to move the pile of empty cardboard boxes in the corner down to the basement. But one of them…wasn’t empty! It contained a half-case of Yards that I’d completely forgotten about. This totally changes the dynamic of the ongoing beer-mustard race taking place within my refrigerator. Mustard had pulled ahead in recent weeks taking a commanding lead with five types of mustard to just three varieties of beer. However, the addition of the the Yards Saison, Tavern Porter, and IPA has just given Team Beer a slim lead. Me, I don’t know yet who I’m supporting–they both go so well with pretzels.

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Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

2008 is Irish whiskey’s year!

John Hansell of Malt Advocate claims that “the stars are aligning properly to make 2008 the most exciting year this decade” in Irish whiskey. This is seriously exciting–Irish whiskey is my first love, but the variety offered in the U.S. is minimal. It’s for that reason that I’ve generally switched to bourbon when I go out–the chances of a bar having a bourbon that I’ve never or rarely tried are far better than it having a novel Irish whiskey.

Hansell’s article focuses mainly on high-end products from the Jameson and Bushmill lines, but given the way that particular alcohols seem to come in fads in America, I have high hopes that they will spur an increase in more affordable options as well.

Via my favorite beer and whiskey blogger Lew Bryson.

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Monday, January 28th, 2008

This is a relevant issue for many of us

“To date, there have been no reported cases of people bursting open due to cookie dough rising in their stomachs.”

Or so they claim. If you’re not already reading it, I highly recommend Chow.com’s Nagging Questions feature, which answers such food-related queries as “What Is Freezer Burn?” and “Do Vegetarians Lose the Ability to Digest Meat?” (answer: no one knows because all vegetarians secretly eat bacon at night when they think we’re not watching).

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Monday, January 28th, 2008

Superdelegates: Dean ‘04 vs Clinton/Obama ‘08

I’ve been compulsively poring over this list of committed superdelegates. My first impression was that there were a lot of names on the Obama roster that were familiar from the Dean campaign. In an attempt to quantify this observation, I tried to get the list of Dean-committed superdelegates from 2004 (he was leading in the early part of the year) but I could only find this list of endorsements. Unfortunately, the list comprises only the elected-official part of the superdelegates–the DNC members are unaccounted for. But for what it’s worth, here’s the overlap between Obama’s and Clinton’s committed superdelegates and Dean’s endorsements (with the caveat that this is the result of about a half-hour’s worth of Excel analysis on probably-sketchy internet data and should not be considered a stringent comparison).

Obama: 92 superdelegates committed, 10 Dean overlaps (10.86% of total)
Rep. Xavier Becerra, CA
Rep Zoe Lofgren, CA
Rep. Neil Abercrombie, HI
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, IL
Rep. Jesse Jackson, IL
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, IL
Rep. Elijah Cummings, MD
Rep. John Conyers, MI
Rep. Bobby Scott, VA
Senator Pat Leahy, VT

Clinton: 195 committed, 15 Dean overlaps (7.69% of total)
Rep. Grace Napolitano CA
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard CA
Rep. Loretta Sanchez CA
Rep. Hilda Solis CA
DNC Steven Grossman MA
Gov. Martin O’Malley MD
DNC Joe Cryan NJ
Rep. Frank Pallone NJ
Rep. Donald Payne NJ
Rep. Joseph Crowley NY
Rep. Maurice Hinchey NY
DNC Judith Hope NY
Rep. Jerrold Nadler NY
Rep. Nydia Velazquez NY
Rep. Sheila Lee TX

Must be pretty great being from the delegate-rich state of NY, eh? At first I thought that Clinton might have locked down her NY superdelegates before Obama had locked down his IL contingent, but as far as I can tell they both have the same number of home-state uncommitted–six on each side, mainly DNC members (notable exception: Rahm Emanuel).

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Friday, January 25th, 2008

Election dreams

It’s getting closer! Last night I dreamed that I woke up in the morning and realized that the Nevada primary had taken place during the night (apparently Dream Time Zones are slightly different than ours). Anxious, I checked online for the results–and Obama won! Even more interestingly, the Democratic Party had decided that they didn’t want to bother with Super Tuesday, so they released a statement saying that whoever won South Carolina would just be declared the nominee.

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Thursday, January 24th, 2008

Gmail advertising

Usually Gmail advertising is right on–it tells me to subscribe to the New York Times, watch High School Musical On Ice (what? it looks good!), and order expensive coffee online. Today, though, not so much. I only wish that the email that generated these was as exciting as the advertisements make it sound.

Find a Booty Call
Don’t Promise Marriage - Just Date! Search For People Who Want Booty

Become a Scottish Lord
Buy a Scottish Highland Estate A fantastic and inexpensive gift

WholesaleSword.com
Halfling sword $14 Ranger sword $27 Reforged King sword $28 Wizard $27

Decorated Sugar Cubes
Exquisitely hand-decorated sugar cubes. A must have for tea parties!

UPDATE:The email that SHOULD have produced these ads. If only.

To: Friends
From: Emily

Hey guys! What’s everyone doing next Saturday afternoon? I was thinking about having a sexy tea party. You know, one where we dress up however we want–robots, train conductors, Muzzy, Scottish Lords, whatever turns you on–and drink some hot HOTT tea. Let me know if you’re interested!
-Emily

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Thursday, January 24th, 2008

Making pickles in Philadelphia

I’d been away from Philadelphia for almost a month, and Tom had been gone for even longer, so we figured it was high time to get reacquainted with the city–and what better way than through the joy of pickling?

I had bought Tom a book on Quick Pickles for Christmas (by Chris Schlesinger, chef at the East Coast Grill a few blocks away from my old Boston apartment), and Saturday seemed like an auspicious time to try out our first pickle recipe. We purchased the following, all within a few-block radius of my house. I really, really love my neighborhood.

  • Coriander, allspice, fennel, and mustard seeds (we needed them whole so we could toast-and-crack them) at the Spice Corner in the Italian Market, Philadelphia’s largest spicery. (using…all…mental..energy…to…avoid…making…Dune…reference).
  • Pickling cucumbers, peppers and carrots at the 1st Oriental Supermarket–it was my first time there and it was even larger and awesomer than I expected. Frozen durian-sicles (I am serious), rotisserie Peking ducks, and aisle after aisle of delicious-looking spicy fish sauces. Also, the produce was dirt-cheap.
  • A giant pickle jar at Fante’s Kitchen Wares (the store that consistently makes me think things like “Maybe I should get into pastry decorating” and “If I had an avocado pitter, would I eat more avocados?”)
  • Oddly inexpensive apple cider vinegar at an Italian Market store that I’m fairly sure was a front for something else, since all they had was sugar, vinegar, Jell-o packets, Doritos, and bulk gummy candy.

The pickle experience went even better than expected. I like to think it was Philadelphia’s way of saying “I missed you guys! Why were you gone for so long? ENJOY MY PICKLY BOUNTY! Also, eat a pretzel, and would you like some beer?” Spices were toasted, brine was brined, vegetables were cut, and eventually the pickles went into the refrigerator until the next day, when they were ready to be eaten.

Okay, that’s a lie. Actually, we tried them right away. And they were great! But they were even better the next day, and they have continued to get better each day that they pickle. Thanks, Philadelphia! A couple of pickle-photos are here.

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