ides of blog: April - edible tour of Philly

in honor of "fabulous Philadelphia," I hereby present you with a sampling of some of the finest in cuisine that Philly has to offer. well, actually, this is just stuff I like. Philly actually has great restaurants, some of which you can learn about here.
(WARNING: this is a non-vegetarian tour. will you vegetarians please exit the bus now.)

1. first in my edible tour of philly is, of course, cheesesteaks at the italian market or any corner store. but I definitely recommend visiting the italian market cause it's fun, you're guaranteed to see some new foods, and if it's cold enough, you can jog down the street pretending to be Rocky. I like the cheesesteaks at Lorenzo's (9th & Christian), or of course, you can go to the famous Pat's Steaks. (I went to Pat's on my first date, then on to a Yes concert at the Spectrum. man, was I a cool lil' 12-year-old! shout out to Arthur Russell!)

2. if your trip is on a hot day, make sure to stop for some water ice at any place that looks good. I think they used to have a Rita's up on ridge ave. in roxborough that was awesome.

3. definitely have the sausage and peppers at reading terminal market. it's at a little cart near the back. this is a good place to get any fresh veggies you didn't pick up at the italian market, plus amish stuff.

4. next why not go to lancaster county to visit the amish themselves? (sorry, I couln't find an amish blog to link to -haha) while you're there enjoy the most best ever 'dairy' ice cream at a place like this.

5. finally, remember what you learned in Rocky: "retards like the zoo." do yourself a favor and head over there. you can get one of those huge round lollipops with the rainbow stripes. those were the best! these guys do have a blog..... (with one post. hey, it's a start.)

enjoyz!

I thought it was funny...

Professor Deathridge discusses the devil's interval

ode to Rocky

I've been totally Philly oriented since I came back from my trip to PA* (I'm putting together a late, Philly-related ides of blog post). The last few nights, I've been watching a few minutes of my Rocky DVD before I go to sleep - and I just want to say:

ROCKY is the greatest movie!!!

you know how you've always remembered Rocky as being a good movie, better than you'd think... well, be sure to watch it again, because it stands the test of repeated watchings. I notice something new every time I watch it; this time, I found a number of interlacing themes from scene to scene, that I never noticed before. ROCKY KICKS ASS!

*except for a brief sojourn to frenchy/beer-land, at Bastone, with BRAINON (you guys rule!)

summer foods

travelling with my brothers, I had to laugh when we stopped for snacks because they got the same exact things I used to eat when I was a kid. anyway, it got me to thinking about the foods you eat in the summer only......

1. pink lemonade bubbalicious
2. sunflower seeds
3. frozen snickers
4. pickle from the barrel
5. iced tea

I'll add to this list as I think of them....

building family memories... ;)

well, we had a good trip out to PA. my little brothers (who are both taller than me now!!!!) came too, so it was a fun trip..... my grandparents were thrilled by the visit, and they seem to be doing pretty alright.

the funniest thing that happened was... when we got to the hotel the first night my littlest brother, Omari, who is 13, came into the lobby saying "I really have to go to the bathroom" and walked over and politely asked the clerk where the bathroom is. my older little brother, Malcolm (15), then ran past him in the direction indicated to 'bathroom block' him. he got in there ahead of Omari and stayed.... and stayed... and stayed.... until my mom was completely done registering, so it must have been at least 10 minutes. we grab our luggage and mom goes "where's Malcolm?" and I explained how he was busy being rude to his brother. so we all looked at each other, shrugged, grinned and got onto the elevator giggling.

you should have heard us laughing when he knocked on the door about 15 minutes later!!!!!!!!! it was hi-larious!!!!!!!!

************************
but we didn't get to meet up with my sister & nephews... nor my dad and step-mother, who were in town nor my brother or his girlfriend of about 1 year who I haven't even met yet ........ booooo!!!!!!!!!


****************************************

question for you math geeks

so I've been playing sudoku lately and it occured to me: how many possible sudoku grids are there? the grid is 9x9 places, and the numbers 1-9 must occur once only in each row, column and box of nine (of which there are nine).

because if there are like, 10 or 20 or even 40 potential grids, wouldn't it possibly be easier to memorize all the potential combinations and just recognize the pattern, rather than spend all that time going through the logical process to discover each value for hours on end. mightn't that strategy actually save time? and make you equally good at all levels of the game, which, when you solve it the traditional way, you probably aren't.

am I right?


ps- if you're some MENSA person, don't even answer me. as a matter of fact, get off my blog until you've solved some crimes or something. you tell em, shamy!

on the road again....

I've got a roadtrip coming up! but this time not to Toronto. instead I'm headed to pennsylvania to visit my grandfather, better known as "Pop-Pop," and my grandmother, better known as "Marie." Pop's been kinda sick lately, so "ROAD TRIP!" me and my mom will drive out there tomorrow till Sunday and try to get some stuff straightened out.

I'll plan to stop and see my sister in Villanova, too, so get ready for some super-cute pix of my nevvies if I can get my technical *#&$*& together....

1st game of the season!!!!!!

I'm so lucky!!!!! Friday I went to the baseball game with BRAINON (sorry, I'm tired of typing out BRITEW and anon)! it was so much fun! thanks, guys!

the tig's chewed up cleveland 5-1, and there were quite a few stellar plays to enjoy. BRITEW tried to keep a scorecard but petered out in the 5th inning. friday night fireworks won't start for about another month...

only other news, I wished I brought a camera so I could get a pic of armpit-guy to show you... maybe next time......

then we ate at the traffic jam - yeah! I had a crabcake. I have to stop getting those, they are so expensive..... but it's like crack for me

OVERHEARD: huh?

I just overheard my coworker - a church-going grandmother - in the following telephone conversation:

CGG: "Hello?"
CGG: "Oh, really?"
CGG: "Is is kind of skunky or what?"
CGG: "Alright, we'll see. Alright, I'll see you in a minute."
CGG: "Bye."

PEEPS!!!

hi there folks, I hope all is well. I've been incommunicado for a few days on account of a migraine, but I'm (84%) back in the saddle now. well, I'm back at work anyway.

and what was waiting for me upon my return but the best medicine in the world - peeps! my coworker gave me a whole tray of the very freshest peeps!!! (yellow ones)

'ah believe ah shall live to see anothah day!' hurray!


**********************************
also, my dad's neighbor (in Vermont) died - he was famous and apparently awesome - you might want to check him out......


*****************************************

today is opening day for the Detroit Tigers! they're at 6-1 for the season so far, and the first home game is today, a day game. it's supposed to be perfectly gorgeous, 60 degrees and sunny. lucky for my boss, who's going. lucky duck!

************************
for those of you who don't know much about baseball, this should clear it right up for you.


****************************************

I chickened out

I went to the video store last night and I had my hand on Crocodile Dundee in LA....... but then I ...hesitated........

what if I didn't find it funny...? would I be terribly disappointed...? I decided that I better wait and watch it with somebody else. that way, we could make MST3K-type comments about it and it would be funny no matter what.

anon, britew, xi-nanado, Dad.... anyone want to see this... ? it has been recommended by the that scion of good taste, tha cookie monster.....

more about movies

I think I'm gonna rent some movies tonight. I found a small independent place near my home that is a) cheaper and closer than blockbuster and b) although small, always has copies of new releases in stock and c) is not blockbuster. cause I hate blockbuster.

but after awhile, I noticed there's a reason why the movies are always in stock. because nobody's ever in there. BECAUSE IT'S A FRONT FOR A PORN SHOP. the only other customers I ever see are guys who furtively trot into the back room.

oops.

************************
cookie, I'm gonna look for croc. dundee in la! hahahahaha!


****************************************

I need a nap

yikes!! what a busy last two days at work - I'm so beat, I've decided to put my difficult work to the side for the rest of the day and just blog look up strolling accordian players. seriously, that's one of my real, true, official tasks at my job this week. when I'm tired of that, maybe I'll look through our order book for highlighting pens.

(& sneak a peek at the royal elastics website!)

those of you who became fans of fabulous december guest-blogger cookie monster may want to drop by his site to wish him and his family well. his younger sister's sick and it sounds scary... good luck tanis and cookie and family!

cute gramma

I talked to my gram on Sat - it was her b-day - and we got to talking about movies and she said the last movie she saw in the theater was ..........

Crocodile Dundee!!! that was like twenty years ago! I was cracking up :)

she said she went to movies most when she went to school at U-M (for engineering!) among other things, she remembers they always played gone with the wind during finals week.