Binary Tuberculosis

Oh man, non-stop week for TB here. My little sister was visiting me for ten days, it ruled, but oh so tiring. I think I averaged ~4 hours of sleep a night, work was horrendous the next day, but it didn’t matter. Also, I think I’ve eaten more this past week than I have in a long long time.

Checked out the new Potter flick in IMAX 3D, abso-freakin-amazing, check it if you can. Went over to Excelsior for her birthday dinner. If you get a chance, please check out the “Shallow” Fried Maine Sea Scallops, they’re honestly the best prepared scallops my taste buds can remember. We also tried the Hudson Valley Foie Gras, which failed to impress me, I will not be trying that again. The salmon, my main course, was perfectly glazed, a very slight crisp on its edges and the center being beautifully pink and flavorful. We ended our meal with a Peanut Butter Tart for dessert. My friends, even on a full stomach I could not stop myself from enjoying the peanut buttery chocolately sexness of that dessert.

Later in the week we checked out Oleana, the Mediterranean inspired chef showed his range in all the dishes I could see on the menu. The Warm Organic Kalamata Olives were a given, we had to get the pre-appetizer appetizer. Warm olives, surprisingly rememberable, never had warm olives plain before, I think I prefer them that way now. Ordered the Grilled Octopus with Spicy Sicilian-Style Bread Salad & Cauliflower as our appetizer. It wasn’t the best octopus I’ve had, but the breading made up for its elastic taste. I was excited about ordering the Softshell Crab Saganak, but was let down in the end. Maybe it was cooked too much or not enough (I’m no cook), but I’ve had better soft-shell crab before. I did very much enjoy the stewed tomato, fennel, and peppers stew around the crabs though, but the crabs themselves were mediocre. The dessert as usual is my highlight (I love sugar), the Sicilian Almond Cremolata with Warm Chocolate Panino. It arrived, huge on a small plate, all eyes in the room looking toward the server and the ladies on the next table let out a soft “oooh” while they look over from their menus deciding on an appetizer. I don’t know what it was made of, but I do remember ice-cream as the seed in a sweet, almost-roasted marshmellow like, fluffy glaze fruit.

I did have to bail on a Modest Mouse and Yeah Yeah Yeahs festival the first weekend my sister arrived, but I would do it again. She’s back home now, awaiting the start of a new school year, all the best.

Oh, and the new apartment is coming along nicely, I’m almost broke, but the place looks a lot better. Only a few more things to toss on my credit card, ugh.

Family came up to visit, great right? We got tickets to see Harry Potter 5 in IMAX 3D, had plans to do so much, BUT it was just so freaking hot in Boston. So what right? Well right when we got to the car on Sunday…hey look, our passenger side window is busted open and our GPS system is stolen.

Great, another hassle.

So we had to go through the whole hassle of insurance, police reports, clean up, taping up the window, and after all that, we were just tired. Got some sushi, skipped out on the Potter flick (woe is me), and they drove back to their own state.

Hopefully next time they visit it won’t be so bad (oh yeah, the first time they visited me, two of their tires blew out from their car, at the same time). I’m cursed.

I want to see new movies when they come out, but I despise going to theaters. The price, the people, the freaking commercials that I *pay* to watch before the movie starts, the people, the “be there on time”, the crying kids, the people, the bad seats…

I hate the greed that drives the movie industry AND the music industry. Not the directors/actors/artists themselves (well, some of them, greed is greed after all), but the big-company-screw-over-the-consumer-mentality.

I’d rather pay double the price of a movie ticket so that I can watch that same movie at home, even if it’s only a one time viewing until the movie is released onto DVD.

Well, I haven’t really been major busy with something, it’s just the little things that need to get done end up taking a lot of time everyday. By the time I can sit down and relax…time to get ready for bed. I’m actually typing this past-midnight, even with work tomorrow. My past few posts have been about recaps, well, this is another one.

So last Saturday I went to Kimball Farm in Westford, MA. The large location with a driving range and water tubing and mini-golf and other junk. Why’d we go there? The ice-cream obviously. Let me tell you, this place has the MOST creamiest and …”ice-cream tasting” ice-cream ever. Oh, and the “small” size is HUGE. Good thing I got the large, I’m an animal. I gotta go back there. Plus I was the only one to finish all his ice-cream too. Woof.

That night a couple of us went to see Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End. Much much better than the sequel, but not quite as good as the original. But then again, it was a “let’s make more money” type of trilogy anyhow. I love Geoffery Rush…and Johnny Depp…and Keira Knightly, gawd she’s amazing.

Sunday I grabbed some lunch with Lyds at Toscanini’s. We both got the Fried Egg Sandwich with rouille (spicy mayonnaise) and some fresh squeezed orange juice. The OJ was a bit tangy, but the sandwich, wow, a must eat, try it out, the spicy mayo was perfect. Had a pretty good lemony scone and ice cream too, but the sandwich…ouch. After that I got Lyds to try her first Ferrero Rocher. I honestly can’t believe she’s never had it before, what a freaking weirdo. And here I thought the Chow sisters had tried all the amazing foods in the world. I was sadly mistaken.

Oh btw, other than the waking up early, I’m still loving every day at work. Seriously, I can’t believe they’re paying me for this job, I would be perfectly content being an unpaid intern there…don’t tell them that though.

And what the hell is up with the freaking hot weather yesterday and today? Seriously Ra, get your act together.

Been waking up early lately. Mornings taste like burning…

Well today was a good Saturday. Busy, yet enjoyable enough to make it a good weekend.

1. Woke up at 9:50AM, started refreshing the Ticketmaster webpage like crazy, scored some tickets to see Tool at Tweeter in July.
2. Met with a potential roommate, he came over, checked out the place, he seemed really cool. I don’t think he’s coming back, ah well.
3. Went over to the B&B Circus with Manz, saw some kick arse 5th grader band do a cover of Green Day’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Those kids were really good. Got some awesome mint chocolate chip ice-cream and hung out with Manz, who I hadn’t made fun of face-to-face for a while.
4. Went to see Hot Fuzz with Lyds and rydw i and then got some Lebanese food with the Chows and rydwi afterward. Correction, after we got some drinks and amazing french fries at Deep Ellum. Hot Fuzz is the most amazing movie ever.

Also, I finally got around to putting up lotsa pics in the photos section, in the 2007 folder, Letters’ visit last weekend, and some from today too.

‘Kryptonite’ discovered in mine
[Local PDF; 13kB]

Addendum to grocery list:
Lead Paint