this weekend was spent back in the city of bro love (where else would i be?). it was a full weekend, starting off by going to johnny brenda's. it's a really neat space on girard in fishtown. there's three floors - well, technically 2 floors with a 3rd floor balcony that overlooks the stage.

since jb is blocks away from b-o-b and ga, we all decided to go. the sound was pretty good on the 3rd floor balcony and i think they enjoyed the georgie james show so it worked out well for everyone involved. (and, there was minimal, if you want to call it that, absinthe in the picture, so that was good as well. hihi)

the next day we went to lunch with the fam (jano's bday) to our go-to chinese restaurant in chinatown, sang kee. there were 10 of us crammed around one circular table, but it was fine.

ever since i first took cavin to sang kee, we always ordered the half peking duck, which comes out in 2 courses (make your own pancakes; leftover chopped duck with scallions and whatever veggies they decide to mix with). when we ordered the whole peking duck this time around, i don't think my family had ever had it! (wha?!?) so when the plate of cut up boneless duck, the plate of scallions & bowl of hoisin sauce, and the bamboo steamer of folded pancakes came out, everyone waited for cavin and i to show them what to do. i think everyone really liked the duck (i know pv&chief bro were asking us about it during the meal, so they must have taken a liking to it!). i recall jano also asking for the 2nd course of duck to be passed over to him because he couldn't get enough!

so while the italian tales were shared, we chowed down on all of the following dishes (~$160):

whole peking duck
crispy softshell crab in 5 spice dressing
pork fried dumplings
shrimp dumpling soup
baby bok choy in garlic sauce
roasted pork, roasted duck & soy sauce chicken on rice with veggies
beef & broccoli
house special pan fried noodles
beef & eggplant
salt baked squid
house special fried rice
bubble tea (for dessert)

later as we were getting ready for the eagles vs. saints game, we got a little GH in. what is GH you ask? well, we know for sure that you cannot be a GH sitting down! here are some action shots from my new favorite game:

















































when i woke up saturday morning jano was like, 'sachi, did you see what i got downstairs?' when i walked down there, i was super excited - GUITAR HERO!!! i had never played the game, even after all the hype that i heard during the holidays. so i immediately woke cavin to tell him the good fortune and after he got up, we tested out our rockin' skills.

i'm completely hooked! as we were driving in the car, all i could think about was how the song on the radio could be used in GH and i caught myself trying to play it on the air guitar as we were listening. i'm a dork!

but seriously. the game is really fun, and my family got into it. before the eagles game we played GH. during half-time we played GH. after the eagles lost (why, oh why, andy reid, did you decide to punt on 4th and 15 with < 2 min. left???) we salvaged the day by playing GH. i played so much that my left arm hurt. it was out of control. my brother is also hooked. he originally bought GH2, but saturday we went out and i bought jano GH1 for his bday. woah!

if you get a chance, please try to play the game. it's freaking hilarious, and it's hard as well. as someone who plays guitar, it's really not the same, and it's actually harder than playing the real instrument.

oh, and i think the funniest part about guitar hero is that when you watch people playing, they really feel like they are a guitar hero, and they make all the same body movements as if they were really heavy shreddin'. it's frakin' great!

Labels: games, philly, random