kalat-o-scope

stay tuned...

2009-04-27T15:27:00.001-04:00

i'm trying to gather my thoughts on a eating and drinking blog. i'm still trying to come up with the proper name for the new blog. in the meantime, i'll try to post all of my food adventures to kalat-o-scope in the very near future...

thanks for sticking around!

cractus

2008-12-05T08:35:00.007-05:00

so i didn't post anything about the making of the rillettes, nor the beef jerky. but here's a quick sum up:

rilletes: i cut the pork into too small chunks so that by the time it was cooked and i put it in the kitchen-aid stand mixer, the finished texture was kind of dry, overcooked and mushy. the thing is, though, is that it wasn't overcooked but it's texture was really not that great. so i'd have to say the potted meat project was a failure. *sigh*

beef jerky: this was cavin's project, so i can only comment on what i know. because our oven's temperature only goes as low as 150 or 165, and the beef needed to dry out at 90F, he propped the door open. in the beginning, this turned out pretty good; cavin had the thermometer inside the open oven and the temp was steady at around 90-100. but, i was told after an hour or so of cooking, the oven door somehow shut close, without him knowing it, and so the oven temp went back up to 160. i don't know how long the jerky stayed in the 160 oven, but cavin decided to take it out a lot sooner than the 10+ hours it says in ruhlman's charcuterie book. either way, it actually turned out pretty good, though, probably more dried than supposed to be, and a little more saltier than it should have been. i think it was saltier because he left the beef to sit in the marinade (of onion powder, garlic powder, adobo chipotle chili, and salt) longer than called for. but we've been snacking on it and he's ready to try another batch in the near future!

but the real reason i wanted to post was because the other night we finally went back to cractus, uh, i mean cactus (cantina). it's yet another restaurant/bar trying to cater to the mediocre college graduates looking to take it one step higher than say, the newish manayunk tavern.

the first time we went was opening day. sure, i expected it to be chaotic that first day. but i didn't expect to not even get greeted by the host, waitress, or the several bartenders helping the other boozers trying to get their drink on. i mean hell! i understand all about getting their drink on - that's why cavin and i went. but i at least wanted someone to say to me, "hi, i'll be right with you," even if they were lying.

but we got nothing. so after standing behind all the bar patrons for a good 10-15 minutes with no acknowledgment that we existed, we decided to walk out. and of course, as soon as we started leaving, someone at the door who worked there was alarmed and asked us, "leaving so soon?" to which i responded "yeah, it's too crowded". (i think that's what i said. i could have been more pissed, but it's been months since and i've cooled down.)

so this week was our actual first trip back to the cractus, and i wasn't too impressed. there wasn't really anyone there because it was kind of early, though, there was a surprise party for some beotch that came in blindfolded, led by her idiot friends that didn't close the door behind them so there was crazy cold wind blowing into the bar until cavin went over and closed the door.

we sat at the bar, but honestly? if i ever happen to go again, i won't sit AT the bar. i might sit at the tables against the wall in the bar area, but definitely not at the bar, especially if i'm trying to get something to eat. the bar counter doesn't hang too much over the actual bar. it's hard for me to explain, but basically we couldn't sit facing the bar - we had to have our bodies turned sideways because there wasn't enough knee-leg room. i really feel like owners and designers need to actually sit in the chairs and at the bars of the places they are working on. this was really annoying to me as i had to basically sit slanted for me to have enough leg room.

the food was ok, but nothing special. of course they give you the complementary basket of tortilla chips and their chipotle-spiked salsa (i should mention that it specifically states that only ONE basket of chips and salsa is free). the salsa wasn't terrible, but it was kind of sweet, and i felt like it was a costco tub of salsa that was mixed with some chipotle chiles to make it smokey. i bet i'm not too far off on that.

we ordered a salad with steak, and three pork tacos. you can't really go wrong with a salad, and the pork tacos were decent in flavor, but the texture of the pork reminded me of the pork rilletes i made a few weeks ago: over-cooked, over-shredded, and over-processed.

that leaves me to the drinks. we both stuck with margaritas, and while i didn't taste cavin's 'aztec gold' (cuervo 1800, gran marnier, fresh squeezed lime juice on the rocks), my 'pasion de fresca' (sauza gold tequila, fresh squeezed lime juice, triple sec, shaken over ice with fresh strawberries) was pretty decent. though, i happened to noticed that the bartender (probably the manager) was taking a really long time to mix up the drinks because he was measuring EVERYTHING. now i understand why that first day it was so busy - if you can't get decent bartenders, everything backs up!

they do have some specials, and the ones that looks the most promising is their sunday $10 pitchers of margaritas or their tuesday $2 tacos or their thursday (?) half-price pitchers of sangria.

i was pretty sure that this place wasn't going to be on our go-to list, but think i'd go back for drinks. oh, and did i mention that they have a huge tequila list (something that i'm sure cavin and i would like to go back to sample when we had the time) though i'm betting that the majority of jerks that go there go don't even notice all the tequilcs and care more about getting margaritas, or even coronas.

cactus restaurant and bar
4243 main street
manayunk 19127
(267) 385-6249

rillettes + jerky = back to blogging.

2008-11-14T13:14:00.005-05:00

i've been absent.

two people have asked me why i haven't updated. i'm not sure why. partly because i didn't have time for a while with buying a house. partly because i'm lazy. and partly because i didn't feel motivated to write about anything.

i've been in a funk and because two people actually cared to ask me why i haven't updated, a spark has been lit and i will get motivated.

i'm making pork rillettes now, recipe courtesy of m.ruhlman and b.polcyn. i haven't made anything from their charcuterie book yet, so i'll try to document as i go.

cavin is also making beef jerky so i'll keep everyone posted.

thanks for sticking it out...

homeowning thoughts

2008-06-04T14:14:00.007-04:00

i'm sitting here waiting. we're getting a new couch and it's getting delivered in 15 minutes.

we've gone a long way from settlement five days ago. here are some thoughts on my new title, "sucka homeowner" (sike!):

we've uncovered the truth: it's the seller's wife and his pig-face* agent who put the B in the word Bitches
some of our neighbors have been living here since the 1950's
i didn't know we were supposed to have our friends and family over for a (cleaning) party
pre-planning (packing lists, u-haul truck rental / van use for the move, paint colors, etc) was a waste of time
i have the most generous family (in the world)
i'm 100% thrilled that poyu was our agent and our friend
we spent a lot of money buying the house, but now we're spending more $$$ on all the things that go into the house

i've been taking pictures, but unfortunately (for you) i used an old school polaroid camera. so until i get a scanner or start using my digital camera (where is that thing anyways?), my home posts will be sans pictures.

* yes, i know that pig-face holds no ground in the joseph chaves theory, but maybe it's time that theory has been revisited...

"did iiiii do thaaat?" --steve urkel, family matters

2008-05-29T13:17:00.010-04:00

i can't even believe that tomorrow cavin and i are going to be homeowners. i know tomorrow after closing and we're back in OUR house, i'm going to turn to cavin and say, "um, did we just buy...a HOUSE?"

i thought i was nervous last week! today, after going to the bank and getting a cashier's check for a large, insane amount of money, i can't sit still. my hands are shaking, and i'm constantly freaking, making sure i didn't misplace the check, or it didn't get stolen from my bag. and to top it off, my stomach hurts!

30 days ago, when we started counting down the days, cavin told me that the days were going to fly by - and they have. two weeks ago, i was telling myself that we were going to start packing up all of the kalat we've been accumulating while living at my parents' house, and start cleaning up. but did we do any of that? uh, no. but in our defense, we DID decide on a couch, which took a lot of discussion of the pros and cons, and we started going to stores that sold things we might need, to find out prices, and hey! we made a list! but in the famous words of doug martsch, "but the plan won't accomplish anything, if it's not implemented." *sigh*

besides this minimal preparation, i guess we've been trying to deal with this soon-to-be major change in our lives. let's see if i can recap the ways we (well, at least me) have been "coping": dinner at cochon; drinks at james; buying new cell phones; duran duran at the mann (thanks bob&ga!); 3 pairs new shoes (for me); new clothes/coat (for me); taking crosby to the vet (is there such a thing as cat insurance??). so yeah, basically spending TONS of money before dropping major bones this friday. great way of "coping", right?

hopefully tomorrow everything will go smoothly: the seller will be moved out before walk-in and we're not waiting around, and that signing the paperwork won't result in me losing my patience (and getting carpal tunnel). if everything DOES go smoothly, i know the first thing i'll be doing: spending more money on built to spill tickets for both shows at the troc in september (perfect from now on, here i come!). i mean, i should get some sort of reward for successfully walking away from the house buying process only semi-scathed, right? hehe

one week jitters

2008-05-23T10:31:00.006-04:00

this time next week, we will hopefully be new homeowners. i say "hopefully" because there have been a whole slew of things that has happened that has made me lose faith in human beings, in general.

the whole process has been a real struggle, and the most recent thing that has happened (which is stressing me out) is that the sellers' agent asked us if we could push our final walk through AFTER settlement. i've never bought a house before, but i'm fairly certain that it doesn't happen that way. i think the buyers need to walk through the house beforehand so that the house is in the condition they expect it to be in, with all of the seller's crap removed from the house for the walk through.

of course, poyu responded to the seller's agent, "uh, i'll talk to my clients, but i'm fairly certain they are going to say NO." (duh).

being the nice people we are, we are allowing them to finish moving the morning of settlement, and push back the walk through and settlement. so they are supposedly going to have movers come at 6am and hopefully be out of the house by 10am, so that we could have walk through at 10:15am, and then settlement at 11am. i'm very dubious about the entire moving process, because i've moved many times in my life (and been part of other's moving process) and i feel like i have a good grasp of how long it takes to move.

i'm not doubting the fact that it can get done in 4 hours, but honestly, when moving, you usually end up taking longer than you anticipated, no matter how much extra cushion time you add. and the fact that we KNOW that the seller's lady person is going to be out of town the night before, doesn't give me much confidence that things will be packed and ready to be moved out by the time the movers come (if they even come on time).

i'm concerned they are going to leave all their crap behind for us to get rid of because they didn't do it ahead of time. i'm worried because i'm going to feel rushed during the walk through, because we have to make the settlement at 11am (downtown). i'm stressed because if their move doesn't go as they planned, then we might be sitting around waiting for the sellers to finish moving, and then everything would get pushed back several hours. i'm annoyed at the seller for not having thought this plan all the way through ahead of time, thus affecting everyone's time (buyers, agents, titling company, etc). i'm nervous because a large chunk of the money we saved up will very soon be gone, and because for the past 6 months, we (me, cavin AND crosby) have grown comfortable living under my parents' roof and we're going to have to acclimate again (hopefully this will be the last time we move for a while).

i'm trying to think of everything we need to do to make settlement go as smoothly as possible. but not having bought a house before, i really have no idea what to expect. i really hope that things go as planned, because if they don't, knowing my temper, there might just be words exchanged between myself and the seller. watch out!

strip mall sushi

2008-05-07T12:49:00.011-04:00

i don't think i've written about sushi since we've moved back in the area. while my allegiance is always to kotobuki, there are some worthy contenders for getting our sushi on.

we haven't been actively exploring sushi restaurants, but we have gone to a few places (some since we've moved back, others while we were living in dc or nj). each has its pros and cons.

i would say that sagami has very fresh sushi, killer agadashi tofu as well as other japanese cuisine (other than sushi), is a byo, and has cozy feel to the place, but it's all the way in nj, so it's more of a i'm-bored-wanna-drive-to-nj? kind of place.

osaka is in chestnut hill, which is very close to where we live now, but it's expensive, and it's not a byo, so getting sake, wine, or liquor adds to the already high prices. [though, i just read this so maybe kirin ichiban is the (cheaper) way to go.]

speaking of high prices. while we haven't visited in a while, morimoto is spectacular, if by spectacular you mean having the freshest seafood (they have seafood tanks in the restaurant where they fish out your entree's main ingredient for you - at least they did the last time i was there). on the menu is my favorite dish of all time, rock shrimp tempura with spicy 'kochujan' aioli: light and crunchy batter on the outside, perfectly cooked sweet rock shrimp on the inside, coated with a sweet/sour fruit-based sauce (morimoto's take on the korean kochujan, a sweet and spicy bean paste) and masago (i seriously LOVE this dish!). this is definitely the kind of place you go to if you have a surplus of money lying around (hello economic stimulus!), or for a very special occasion.

our most recent find is bluefin. it's in a most unsuspecting strip mall in plymouth meeting, which happens to be a mere mile from my office. cavin and i have been a few times, and actually, we ordered a ~$100 tray of sushi for christmas 2007 for my family gathering. while it's not as cheap as kotobuki, their fish is quite fresh, and going for lunch isn't terribly expensive (today i had their 'sake lunch special': soup or salad, 1 spicy tuna roll and 4 salmon nigiri for $14). one of the other best things is that the sushi chef trained/worked with morimoto, and has added a 'spicy rock sundae' which pays tribute to morimoto's rock shrimp tempura dish. while it's not exactly the same as morimoto's version, it's a close match and definitely worth the price ($~9 vs morimoto's $18).

i suspect we'll be going to bluefin more often whenever a sushi craving strikes. the only downside is that it gets super crazy for dinner and if you forget to make a reservation, you are looking at a long wait, or dinner at bluefin another night.

bluefin sushi
1017 germantown pike
plymouth meeting, pa 19462
610.277.3917

adobe cafe

2008-05-02T08:34:00.005-04:00

if you're just finding out about dining out for life, then you're too late. it was yesterday. heh.

restaurants donated a percentage (most i've seen are 33%) of their profits yesterday to aids organizations. it was a great cause, and an excellent excuse to go out to dinner.

we were tempted to go to one of our favs, beau monde, but we decided to pass and try out adobe cafe, a southwestern restaurant in the roxborough/manayunk neighborhoods. [it's actually in roxborough, though, but a lot of people are like, 'roxborough? where's that?', to which i respond, 'have you heard of manayunk - it's right next to it.' and then most people have a general idea of where i'm talking about.]

i think this place has been here forever, though, i haven't gone to many restaurants in roxborough for the 15+ years i've lived in the area. so, hoping for the best, we gave it a try last night since we wanted to support dining out for life.

when you are driving/walking around the neighborhood, the building is hard to miss: it's a converted stucco home, painted an aztec-y, adobe orange, in a sea of white/tan row houses. there is an outside patio that has the potential for lazy, summer evening hangouts, but we didn't eat out there, as it was a little dreary out.

the hostess sat us towards the back section of the restaurant, and from our seats, we could see there was a bar area, and it was also good to see that the place was at the start of a busy evening - a good sign, maybe? or maybe not - could dining out for life possibly be one of those amateur "holidays" for going out - like valentine's day, or new years eve?

we started with a half pitcher of the red sangria, which wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything special. we also shared the french fried yams, which were lightly covered with melted cheese. again, nothing special, just sweet potato fries with shredded cheese melted on top.

my pork burrito was dubbed the title, "new mexican" because it had white beans (canned, i might add) instead of red or pinto beans. how fancy (not). the portion was large and someone in the kitchen had a heavy hand with the cheese in the filling (seriously - way too much). it was covered with some sort of canned imitation sour cream, which the chef squirted on with a bottle, no doubt. why he/she didn't just give a small side of fresh sour cream, one will always wonder. once i pulled the pork out of the flour tortilla and separated it from the cheese, it was, uh, edible? there was a side of grilled squash and mushrooms, which was bland, but at least didn't come from a can.

cavin ordered the combo: a tamale (not wrapped in a corn husk though), taquito (flauta), soft flour taco, and enchilada. i only took a small bite of his food, and while it was better than what i ordered, that's not really saying much. though it was only yesterday, i honestly don't remember what type of fillings were in his food, except for the chicken (in the soft flour taco), ONLY because we both were like, "oh look, there's cilantro in there".

both of our dishes were served with a yellow rice (boxed) mixed with lima beans (frozen) and corn (also frozen). and, of course, it was bland.

i know the economy is in a slump. and maybe adobe cafe's managers expected a busy night (for amateur restaurant goers). but why were the dishes totally lacking (lacking in what? EVERYTHING)???

so, i beg you adobe cafe: if you are going to serve mostly canned and prepared foods, at least try to sandra lee it up! come on! splurge and buy fresh herbs and add them to the canned sauces! buy fresh sour cream instead of the fake crap that you squeeze on the dishes - i'd much rather have been served one of those little plastic containers of the real stuff, than artfully squeezed faux sour cream any day. oh, and please season your food! there was seriously no salt added to any of the side dishes and my side of veggies could have used a quick marinade in olive oil and salt and pepper.

we spent a total of $45 and left totally unsatisfied. well, at least ~$15 went to a good cause. *sigh*

it was quite disappointing that adobe cafe could have been so great, but just fell so, so flat. i KNOW i can make dishes 10 times tastier than what i had last night (i should just open up a restaurant!). if i ever go back, maybe i'll have better luck drinking a michelada (which they actually have on their drink menu) and sitting outside on the patio.

adobe cafe
4550 mitchell street
philadelphia, pa 19128
215.483.3947

eating on the train in chinatown

2008-04-30T14:07:00.004-04:00

it's always good going out to new restaurants with a bunch of people, especially when the menu is rather large and it would take you many return visits to try a good selection of the food. this is definitely the case when eating ethnic food (like in chinatown).

last week my college friends decided to meet for dinner at the choo choo restaurant. i've always walked by this place, but have only ever gone in once, a long, long time ago. so to me, this was a new restaurant.

the name of the restaurant is not choo choo restaurant, as you might expect. there is a neon choo choo train in the front window, which is why we (my friends) call it that. the real name of the place is pho xe lua (a viet-thai restaurant).

with nine of us there, we were ready to try everything, and we did.

the salt baked squid was better than the last time i had them at neighboring sang kee, but not as good as the when the dish is spot on there.

the papaya salad with shrimp and pork could, and should have been pre-dressed with the vinegary/not-so-spicy chile garlic sauce, which would have allowed for the green papaya to soak up the vinegar and take on some sort of flavor (raw, as is, this particular papaya was tasteless). [just to mention, i've had the best version of this dish at thai square, in arlington, va: very spicy and highly flavored with shrimp!]

the snails in lemongrass and hot peppers was ok - i'm not a connoisseur of snails, but they taste very similar to mussels, but a bit more firm. i'm guessing they had been cooked a tad bit longer than they should have been, leading to a tougher texture [or maybe i'm wrong, because again, i'm not a snail snob]. we were served a big bowl of them, with a little dish of toothpicks. you are supposed to remove the "foot" part of the snail, which is hard and similar to the shell itself, and then you use the toothpick to pry the snail out of its shell. they were tasty, and i would try the snails with coconut and basil if i were there again with a group willing to give it a try.

we also ordered frog legs in garlic butter, but i just wasn't feeling it. i passed on it, but cavin took a liking to them. i've only every had frog legs once before, many, many years ago, and i remembered them tasting like chicken.

while cavin ordered pho, i just couldn't do it because it was already so hot in the restaurant. so i opted for #305: minced shrimp on sugar cane, grilled pork balls, and bbq pork on vermicelli noodles. it was quite delicious. it was served with a side of the vinegary chile sauce, similar, if not the same, as the sauce used for the papaya salad, and the raw flank steak we ordered. one complaint was that the entire dish was served in one bowl (with lettuce at the bottom of the bowl), so it was difficult to get at the noodles. but that is a tiny negative and i would re-order this dish again any day. (and for $5.50, it's a complete steal!)

i tasted cavin's pho (#114: beef balls rice noodle soup - beef in the shape of balls, not "beef balls"!) and while it was good, i thought the broth was heavy on the star anise and i think i prefer pho 75. but that's just one opinion.

after dinner, we walked a few blocks to zen teahouse to end our meal (not our night, though) with bubble tea. my cold taro bubble tea was pretty good, and since they have hot bubble tea, i might opt for the hot taro the next time i stop by.

when we go to chinatown this friday, we'll probably try another restaurant, but maybe we'll give zen teahouse another whirl!

pho xe lua
907 race St (btwn n 9th st & n 10th st)
philadelphia, pa 19107
(215) 627-8883

zen teahouse
225 n. 11th street
philadelphia, pa 19107
(215) 629-4848

duck prosciutto

2008-04-28T18:57:00.007-04:00

holy crap. tonight cavin and i discovered the joys of our first homemade charcuterie! but before i get into it, let me first tell you how we started down this road.

about a year and a half ago, while we were living in dc, we decided to press our luck by ordering a half hog from a butcher leigh knew. since the first year turned out quite well, we decided to go for it again in 2007. needless to say, we haven't used up all the pork yet, and it was taking up a lot of room in my parents' new freezer. after reading through jacques' complete techniques, we thought, 'what the hell?' and decided to dry cure a ham.

i'm a little pissed at myself for not documenting the process more, but basically we took a ~5 lb. ham (organic), salted it for about 2 weeks, draining the liquid every so often, removed all the salt, rubbed it with garlic and cracked peppercorns, wrapped it with cheesecloth, and hung it the garage. we're supposed to let it sit for 6 months or longer. we did this march 13, so if we waited the obligatory amount of time, it would be ready for my birthday.

fast forward one month later. i was reading ruhlman's blog on curing and i had this hankering to buy his (and brian polcyn's) charcuterie book. as we were driving home from work, we took a mini detour and stopped by the bookstore to pick up a copy.

ruhlman says, 'Duck breast is one of the easiest dry-cured items to prepare at home. Duck breasts are widely available, and their size is perfectly manageable. Even a frozen store-bought breast of duck will provide results that will surprise you, especially if you've never cured your own meats, yielding a rich prosciutto-like flavor.' [p.54, charcuterie]

as soon as we read this, cavin and i immediately got to steppin'!

we couldn't find duck breast, but we did find a whole duck, which i ended up butchering myself, in the hopes to maybe confit the legs (but we didn't have enough rendered duck fat so we'll try again once we've save up enough fat).

anyway, we basically did the same thing we did for the ham: we salted the duck breasts for 2 days in the fridge, removed the salt, dusted with white pepper, wrapped each breast in cheesecloth, and hung it next to our friend (the ham) in the garage for 1 week. so guess what today was?!?

here's a picture of the two duck breasts after drying for one week. i have to admit that the breasts were thin to begin with, but since this was our first attempt, we continued on, wanting to see how it would turn out. the breast at the top of the picture is skin side down; the white stuff is the white pepper that we sprinkled on it. the bottom breast is skin side up.

this is a picture of one of the breasts after i thinly shaved pieces off. you can see that the breast is a deep red color (which is how it's supposed to look), and you can see that there is a lot of fat on the breast (cavin and i haven't been eating the fat, though, it's perfectly acceptable, as you would if you were eating a traditional piece of thinly sliced prosciutto.

it tastes a bit salty - we could have probably adjusted the salting period, based on the thickness of the breasts. ah, maybe next time. but anyway, prosciutto is supposed to be salty!

but the fact that we ate a piece of duck that we never really cooked, and am still alive to write about it makes this, in my book, a successful attempt. we're taking this as a sign of good things to come in the fall/winter when we uncover our dry-cure ham project. i can't freaking wait!

debunking the yunk

2008-04-22T11:07:00.003-04:00

so ever since cavin and i decided to take the plunge and become homeowners in manayunk, we've been trying to embrace our inner meathead by hanging out on main street. [there is future in a spin-off blog on manayunk, but for now i'll keep everything in kalat-o-scope. though, i have now added a manayunk tag.]

whenever i have been back visiting philly in the past 10 or so years i've been living elsewhere, i've only hung out in manayunk a handful of times. it always felt so cheesy and the people that hang out are so young, and so naive (and so god damn annoying), that i've avoided it at all costs. in fact, the only times i've hung out in the 'yunk since i turned 21 were times when other people dragged me there.

but now that this is our soon-to-be neighborhood, i'd better start owning it. and so it begins.

i'll hopefully be dedicating a separate blog entry to a different establishment in manayunk (or even roxborough, maybe east falls and mount airy, too).

stay tuned to see if kalat-o-scope can get motivated and find a decent place to hang out! hehe

korea, an neong ha seh yo!

2008-04-18T09:44:00.006-04:00

when i think of my blossoming love affair with korean food, i think of that fateful day at hill center registering for my first classes in grad school, where it all began.

three asians (one of them me) sat on the bench in the hallway outside of room 501, waiting in line to see the secretary. when one of them left to register for her classes, i was left with who i now know as sung hee, and that was the beginning of our friendship. but had i gotten there a bit earlier or a bit later, i could have befriended the chinese girl and would have been gushing about my love for chinese food. or the chinese girl could have befriended sung hee, and you would be reading a chinese girl's blog professing her love for korean cuisine. but alas, it was i who became entangled in the bibimbap mix (and brought cavin with me).

after leaving new brunswick and all the korean joints in nj, cavin and i explored the korean restaurant scene in dc and outlying areas. so when we moved back to philly, we had to start from scratch and see if we could unearth the holy korean bbq.

some research later, we discovered that philly does indeed "do" korean in the form of our own little koreatown. armed with this knowledge, and the fact that we basically drive near this part of town to get to hong kong supermarket, we ventured out to olney to reconnect with our inner mandu.

what did we find? one place was a small korean noodle house on cheltenham ave that hand draws their own noodles. nothing was written in english, but as we looked around, everyone seemed to be eating either a big bowl of the seafood noodle soup, or the black bean noodles - so of course, we got both. while it was tasty (and rather cheap, if i can recall correctly), we left still in search of good ol' fashioned korean bbq.

Cheltenham Seafood Noodle Shop
401 W. Cheltenham Ave.
215-635-3959

the next place we found was actually not in koreatown, but in north wales, of all places. koko restaurant is next to the assi plaza, an asian grocery store, reminicent of h-mart. koko restaurant opened up fairly recently and we decided to take our chances - plus, we knew where they were getting all of their ingredients...

they had electric grills at only some of the tables, and i recall the prices being fair. i remember that the panchan was a little lacking (maybe only 3-4 varieties), and the portion of kalbi was a little smaller than i expected. that said, it's still a good fix if you are out in the suburbs, jonesing for korean bbq.

korean bbq koko
1222 welsh road
north wales, pa 19454
(215) 412-4300

around the same time cavin and i started to really search for korean restaurants, the philly inquirer came out with a timely piece on koreatown. the day before the article came out though, we already had plans to try korean fried chicken we had heard so much about down in dc.

apparently there is a lounge on cheltenham ave, soho cafe, that serves only one food item on their menu: bon chon chicken. we went and picked up 2 boxes of mixed spicy/mild chicken wings and were completely blown away. one box had 20 pieces of large chicken wings, a container of cubed daikon radish, a can of soda, and a cute magnet for the fridge with their info on it. the coating is so amazing - it's light and airy and the technique used to fry the chicken allows the skin of the chicken to be super crispy. i remembered reading a nytimes article about the korean fried chicken, but i wasn't expecting it to actually be this addicting! [and now i understand sung hee's unwaivering devotion for fried chicken, like popeyes - if only we had found a bon chon in the area!]

be aware though, the frying technique takes time, so i'd advise you to call 30 minutes ahead of time to place an order, or be prepared to hang out in the soho cafe lounge and wait. oh, and while an order of 20 wings (with daikon radish and soda) is $20, it's totally worth it. trust me.

Cafe Soho
468 W. Cheltenham Ave.
215-224-6800

finally, i treated the fam out to our most recent korean outing at everyday good house. the service was great and they serve alcohol. there were 7-8 varieties of panchan, our kalbi and bulgogi were intensely flavored, and they were more than willing to keep refilling our requests for more of the japchae panchan (which my mom loved).

each diner received a small dish of seasoned sesame oil and fermented soybean paste for our bbq. this is something that i hadn't seen before in all of my korean restaurant experiences to date (except i think they did that at koko), but it was a welcomed custom, especially when eating the grilled, unmarinated pork belly.

another korean custom that i KNOW sung hee has recounted tales of is getting a room at a karaoke bar, drinking with friends and getting sloshed while singing neil diamond tunes. apparently the building that houses everyday good house also has these karaoke rooms of which i speak. cavin and i have yet to go, but maybe in the future we'll build up enough courage and take the plunge. i mean, it IS a private room, so why not?

Everyday Good House
5501 N. Front St.
Philadelphia, PA 19120
215-276-7942; New World Karaoke 215-549-7942

amada, or should i say, a-MEH-da

2008-04-18T08:34:00.006-04:00

i'm behind on my blogging about restaurants so hopefully today i'll get to post a whole slew of mini reviews of the places that we've been in the past 3 weeks or so.

cavin's birthday was in the beginning of april, and since we've been living with the 'rents, i thought it would be nice to get out and do something, so i not-so-secretly made a reservation to amada, with high expectations. before his birthday date night, i kept dreaming of a philly version of jose andres, since amada was created by another jose, jose garces, and because, quite frankly, i was missing the dc dining scene.

i already posted a reply to don rock's post on the alleged fantastic restaurant on donrockwell, but it bears repeating below:

QUOTE(DonRocks @ Jan 24 2008, 11:15 AM)
I went into Amada with high expectations, given that its chef, Jose Garces, was a 2007 finalist for the Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic James Beard Award.

Eleven dishes later, and $240 poorer, I can say with confidence that Amada - at least on this night - wasn't even as good as the downtown Jaleo, and considering that it's a much smaller operation, that's saying something.

The highlights of the evening were the Sangria, a glass of Godello, the dip brought before the meal, and the dessert. In between came an armada of courses, ranging from decent (Albóndigas ($11), Amada's Empanada ($12) Chipirónes A La Plancha ($5)), to mediocre (Pulpo A La Gallega ($11), Boquerones ($12), Piquillos Rellenos ($12), to poor (Gambas al Ajillo ($9), Entrecote A La Plancha ($15)), to inedibly salty (Patatas Bravas ($4), Caldo Gallego ($7)).
. . .
Cheers,
Rocks.

QUOTE(purplesachi @Apr 9 2008, 12:22 PM)
i wholeheartedly agree about amada. politburo and i went this past saturday and the best thing i had that night might have been the dessert (banana torrijas). nothing was memorable, except the extremely saltiness of every dish we tried (boquerones, pulpo, patatas bravas, etc). the pato con datiles (duck confit flatbread) could have been any meat other than duck and it was extremely greasy. the hamachi special was seared too much, creating a rubbery, tough texture to the fish. and the dip brought before the meal was reminiscent of canned tuna and capers swimming in an excess of mayo and olive oil.

on top of the mediocre food, there was a very loud table at the front (next to the window) that almost started a fight with the table nearest to them (because they were asked to keep it down a bit). the waitress knew they were loud yet didn't do anything about it.

i'll give tinto a try, but i don't think i'll be heading back to amada any time soon. *sigh*

yeah, so basically that's it. oh, i did neglect to mention my thoughts on the seating. while the space inside is quite cozy and warm, there are many tables that are up against the wall, so that there are chairs on one side, and bench seating on the other. while i don't mind the padded benches, i DO mind the fact that when you sit on them, they sink down so that you are basically a whole foot lower than your dining companions at the other end of the table. it really makes for awkward conversation (cavin sitting up high staring down at me) and i felt like i was a little kid again, barely being able to see above table height.

amada
217 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Phone: 215-625-2450

missing jackie

2008-04-04T10:56:00.005-04:00

at the end of february, during a break in a training class i was attending, i stumbled into a conversation about hair salons.

girl 1: ... yes, i got my hair cut, but this was a few weeks ago. i got it all chopped off! An did such a good job! i love him! did you know i work there as a massage therapist?
girl 2: oooh! i didn't know! i LOVE An also! he's the only person i ever let cut my hair!
me: are you talking about hair salons? i've been looking for a good place to get my hair cut, because i'm really nervous about paying a lot of money for a haircut that sucks.
girl 2: oh! then you should DEFINITELY go to heaven and earth - it's in lafayette hill. you should have An cut your hair. see this? see my hair? this is An's work. i don't even have to blow dry my hair! it just dries naturally like this! TOTALLY go to heaven and earth and get your hair cut by An!
girl 1: yeah, you should go there - the only thing is that An doesn't do "updo's". but other than that, he's REALLY good. here's the phone number. definitely make an appointment.
me: sure, why not? i'll give it a try. thanks!

so, i made an appointment to get my haircut by the alleged amazing An. i'm picturing this total diva, perhaps with stylistics similar to Christian, from project runway. i mean, what kind of person (guy) has the name "An", except an over-the-top, self-righteous prima donna?

but before i go into the details of heaven and earth and this "An" character, let's review the conversation i had weeks before my fate, which might have hinted at what was to come...

clue #1: i was in a training class AT WORK. no shortage of khaki pants and tacky color coordinated sweaters and cardigans here! i should have guessed that the people dressing like color coordinated robots get their hair cut at robot salons.

clue #2: the salon is in lafayette hill. while i don't doubt that there are some trendsters in the area, i would bet my mittens that the majority of people going to this salon are suburbanites and that more style-conscious peeps are not traveling to the suburbs to get their hair styled.

clue #3: girl #2's uninspired hair cut. she basically had long (down to the middle of her back), straight, hair. no layering. no angles. just cut straight across. !?!? like that is supposed to show off "the amazing An" and his prowess with scissors? pul-leeze. i just cut jano's hair a few weeks ago and i think i did a better job than what An did with girl #2's hair...and i don't even get PAID to cut hair!

but, my hair was just getting too long since my last haircut several months ago. i didn't have any other leads, so i thought, well, maybe it won't be that bad...

i was really nervous all day before my haircut, and with good reason. when i parked the car, i was thinking, 'well, this can't be that bad." heaven and earth is in a house that was converted to a salon. when i was walking up to the door, i noticed a woman walking out - a middle aged lady whose hair didn't look terrible, but looked very unremarkable.

once inside, the lady at the front desk was an older woman (no hair style whatsoever). she was nice enough, but as i started to look around, everything there seemed to scream, "WE ARE MEDIOCRE IF YOU PLEASE!" (teen magazine in the waiting area; Q102 music blasting from the speakers; no younger people). yet, i went against my better judgement and still hoped for the best. plus, i didn't yet meet the amazing and mysterious An!

to say that i was disappointed when I met An is an understatement. he wasn't a diva in any way, shape, or form. most importantly, his hair wasn't styled (or even cut) remarkably, plus he was going gray. and, the mysteriousness of his name was debunked: he was vietnamese. (i was secretly hoping that it was short for something fantastic, like Anwanatobioshizimbabwe - and maybe it is, but after one look at him, i didn't really care anymore.) but still, i was hoping for the best...

i showed him a picture of what my hair used to look like after jackie cut it and i asked, "do you think you can cut my hair like this?" and unequivocally, he stated, "of course!" and started hacking away. and it seemed like everything was on course until he started blow drying my hair.

i took my glasses off during most of my haircut, but something didn't feel right. i felt bristles scraping my scalp, very similar to bristles that would be on a ROUNDED brush. i quickly asked, "maybe you want to blow dry my hair straight? isn't that a ROUND brush you are using?" the response i got was, "oh, i'm just giving your hair some body, that's all. it's so fine that it needs body." to which i responded, "are you sure? i think you should blow it straight" but he reassured me that it would be fine.

then i said, "please don't cut my bangs so short because i don't want them getting into my eyes" and he reassured me that they would be fine. then later he used the small rounded bristle brush to curl my bangs. (yes, i just said that he CURLED my bangs!)

finally i put my glasses on. he handed me a mirror and spun me around and said, "i didn't stack it as much as you wanted in the back," (i.e. he didn't cut it that short in the back AT ALL, which basically meant he didn't cut my hair like in the picture i showed him at the start). when i saw what he did, my first reaction was shock. he totally had styled my hair as if i was some senior citizen working the streets in north philly. all i needed was uber red lipstick and blue eyeshadow to make the look complete. "oh, uh, thanks. it looks...pretty ok."

then he handed me his business card and told me to call in the future for my next appointment. as i walked to the front desk, i felt embarrased that i let him style my hair the way that he did. did he see me as a complete idiot? (apparently so, since he cut my hair to look one.) i tried to get out of there as quickly as possible.

driving away in my car, there were moist cheeks and screams coming from the mess that i was. by the time i made it home, i was livid that i had spent all that money for an awful haircut. i made a scene when i walked in the door and my parents thought something terrible had happened to me. "LOOK AT THIS! LOOK AT THIS!!!" my dad was nice, "it looks good." meanwhile, my mom could see that it wasn't good. but she was on the phone and couldn't console me.

i immediately ran upstairs and washed my hair, muttering swear words at An and at myself for not knowing better. after it dried, it wasn't necessarily as bad as it could have been: he left it longer than i wanted, though the bangs were shorter than what i asked for.

my saving grace was telling myself that because he left it long, when i get it cut in the near future (NOT by An, or anyone else in that old folks home they are calling heaven and earth), i would still have enough hair to get it styled properly.

so... to sum it all up:

1. don't go to heaven and earth
2. don't get your hair cut by any vietnamese person named An
3. don't listen to co-workers in corporate america about where to get your hair cut
4. do trust your instincts
5. don't betray the all-knowing and most awesome stylest, jackie.

maybe temple mba candidates do have a brain?

2008-03-26T14:49:00.005-04:00

boy. the stuff that can happen in just one week!

after we decided we weren't backing down, i started to have doubts about whether we had made the right decision. i'm sure part of it had something to do with the fact that i wanted the house even more, now that i couldn't have it. but after we started hunting for houses again, it became clear that this house had all the things we needed in a house, and was cheaper than other houses that were on the market with the same specs.

over the weekend, i called poyu and told her that cavin and i were going to send her a list of new prospective houses we wanted to see. i also expressed my doubts about the house we just backed out of. because i brought it up, she then proceeded to tell me that the other agent called her a few days before, saying that maybe we could still work through this, because she thought ours was a good offer.

this brought light to the situation: was it possible that the seller realized his mistakes only one week later? both cavin and my mom knew that the seller was going to come back to us, but thought that it wouldn't happen so quickly.

the skinny: the seller got the integral plumbing work done. monday we made a new offer, and the seller chose our offer over the other three that were on the table. we are getting the warranty for the plumbing work transferred over to us. settlement date is still july 31, unless the seller and us agree on a date sooner (this will be highly dependent on whether the seller buys a new house sooner than later).

we will probably have a detox party before year's end so get your drinking / dancing shoes on!

temple mba candidates = assholes.

2008-03-18T08:29:00.007-04:00

the ordeal is over. one week later, and we have decided not to go through with the agreement of sale.

our reasons for backing out:
1. we did not get the $ credit (for the inspection) that we wanted. the seller decided that he would only offer us 3/4 of the cost to get integral plumbing done. it's not like we were trying to rip him off. we just didn't want to have to pay for something that he should be vested to fix himself, since it's still his house and he would be living there until the end of july.

2. we felt that we were making all the compromises (late settlement date; 10-day inspection period; no credit for the AC unit as was listed on the agents' listing sheet; having to get all of the plumbing work done on our own time after settlement, etc), and he wasn't giving us anything in return.

3. we did not appreciate the seller making comments, through his agent to poyu to us, that there were a lot of buyers out there that he could sell his house to. basically, threatening us that if we didn't accept his "firm" inspection contingency counter-offer, that it would be fairly easy to get the price he wanted (or more) for his house from other prospective buyers. i think there was a moment where we almost took his counter-offer credit, but when poyu informed us that the seller/seller's agent consistently bragged about how there were other buyers in the market that would pay more than what we were offering for the house, we were immediately turned off. it didn't feel professional because at that point, the seller was still committed to us and if our offer was not "acceptable" to him, then why did he accept it in the first place?

it's sad. i purposely distanced myself emotionally from the house itself, so i'm basically over not getting this particular house. though, i am sad that we spent much time and effort to buy our first home and we got stuck with an asshole seller that seemed concerned only about getting his wants, was not willing to compromise, and tried to take advantage of us as first time home buyers.

but even after yesterday's disappointment, i'm realizing it was the right decision, and we are just going to take it as a learning experience (though, i already knew that there are lots of assholes in the world). so i guess we're still waiting for our house to find us...

nickels and dimes

2008-03-10T15:42:00.005-04:00

ever since my emotions jumped off my sleeve and i went bezerk when my mom was pestering me (see?) about my stomach issues, cavin and i have started the house hunt.

all i ever hear is, "it's a buyer's market! it's a buyer's market!" which i guess is fine and dandy in candyland, but it seems that everyone else has been hearing it's a buyer's market too. in my mind this translates into a lot of other people looking to buy themselves a purty home to live in, which basically equals: me getting my panties in a bunch. it's been pretty competitive out there - houses on the market for less than 2 weeks getting snatched up before i've even gotten my foot in the door to see it...but then again, what do i know?

for the past month or two, our awesome agent, poyu, has been showing us houses we've been interested in in mt airy and chestnut hill. after deciding that all of the houses had the same crappy layout, or had a concrete box for a backyard, and also after our almost near purchase of the wrong house for us, we took a two week break. (plus, pv and cb became canadians so we were busy with seeing them off.)

after two weeks, we extended our search to the 'yunk. this past thursday we saw a house we liked and decided (for real) to make an offer. being the nosy selves we are, we noticed in the seller's kitchen, written on a calendar that he (and the gfriend) were going on vacation, and that they had some appointments lined up as well as an open house when they got back from vacay in a week. knowing that the odds would be against us if we waited to make an offer when they came back from their trip, we made an offer. it was a very stressful time trying to decide what to offer, because we found out that the seller didn't want to entertain / negotiate an offer since they were leaving on vacation in just two days, and also because he knew that the house was going tbe shown 12 times in the next few days and that would give him a better chance to get his asking price. our only hint was that he said that he would consider an offer before his trip, if it was a "good offer". (close to his asking price and with a later settlement date.)

what constitues "good"? who the hell knows. cavin and i put down on the table a "good offer" (in fact, the figure we came up with was a number that we thought he would like, and wouldn't have to negotiate - because remember, he said he didn't want to negotiate because he was going on vacation!) with a july 2 settlement date. we compromised because ideally we would have liked to be out of rudy and vicky's by spring, and july - well, that's summer, man!

well, being a jerk, of course the seller counter-offered, increasing the price, asking for only a 10 day inspection period (as opposed to a 15 day one) and a july 31 settlement date. woah. after discussion with cavin, we caved in to the inspection time and settlement date, but did not budge on the price. and he accepted. woo-hoo!

we're in the process of getting the house inspected and some things are coming up (it's an 88 yr old house - it's to be expected), and i'm not so sure the seller is going to like what our inspector is finding (btw. if anyone reading this needs a PA inspector, i can give you his name - he is very thorough and is very good at explaining things that a person like myself doesn't quite understand). but screw the seller! there's other things that have been going on that lead us to believe that he's a complete asshole after we've been very accommodating to his requests.

stayed tuned for more drama. i'll update more as i get deeper and deeper in the seedy business of buying a first home!

oh, and he doesn't want us to nickel and dime him on the inspection? yeah, we'll see about that, buddy...

winter updates

2008-02-28T20:22:00.004-05:00

work is busy. i'm busy. this past month it's been crazy busy.

my company is laying off 10% of it's entire global workforce (over the entire year) and it's quite frightening. i have been told that, while nothing is guaranteed, i shouldn't have to worry. i'm doing a lot of production work, so if i was let go, who would do it? (i guess whomever was doing it before, hunh.)

but it's scary because cavin and i are in the process of looking for a house and i don't know what we would do if i lost my job. we did find a house that we liked, very much, but after a second viewing and my dad pointing out that there might be structural damage to the house (floors were sagging and were being held up by 2x4s in the basement), and the fact that the price wasn't right, we lost our nerve and renegged on making an offer. so, we're still searching around for our new home (oh, excuse me. i meant to say, "our new home is still waiting for us to find it")

my family life has been, for lack of a better word: dramatic. some members are boycotting events, others are acting like greedy bitches, another is being brainwashed by his parents, cousins are moving across the country, and two of my immediate family members have been in the hospital over the past 2 weeks. it's been a bumpy road, seriously.

so between my family, the house hunt, and my really busy work schedule, i haven't had time for anything else (fun).

oh, i guess, except for rock band!

...i can feel it!

2008-01-15T15:55:00.000-05:00

trying to save money is leaving me in a trifecta of funk: work, eat, sleep. repeat.

but recently the fog of funk has been lifting:

we saw juno. i don't want to give anything away or give any hints, but you should watch it for yourself and then we can discuss in the comments.

last thursday we went to matyson, a downtown byob, for their (weekly changing) tasting menu. pv alerted us to one of her "favorite meals in the past year" so since we didn't have anything else to do, we took the train and made it in time to grab a drink at elephant and castle (a big MEH), and to our 6:30pm reservation.

last week the tasting menu focused on duck:
1.rilletes with a trio of garnishes [apricot marmalade, crumbled blue cheese, & cornichons]
2.foie gras ravioli & truffles [black trumpet mushrooms, parmesan foam]
3.cassoulet [crispy duck confit, andouille sausage]
4.duck l'orange [potato puree, haricot vert, almonds]
5.chocolate toffee cake [vanilla ice cream]

while it wasn't the best meal of my life, it was very affordable ($45 for the 5 course tasting menu) and delicious. probably my favorite course was the foie gras ravioli & truffles second course: a very savory pasta and mushroom dish, one that i could have eaten 10 more of (seriously). the cassoulet was not as heavy as the dish could have been, which is a good thing, but the spice of the andouille sausage was too strong and overshadowed the duck confit (which was delightfully crispy). everything else was good and indicative of the quality of food they prepare. we'll definitely be going back in the future.

matyson
37 S. 19th street (between market and chestnut)
philadelphia, pa 19103
215.564.2925

i'm also super excited because i've started listening to yrock at work, and i was just talking to cavin about maybe going to the electric factory to see this "freezetival" show (three bands: editors, hot hot heat, louis xiv). i was listening today and they were giving away free tickets to the show, and guess freaking what? i won! yea! i never win anything! so now we have a date to go out again and be social (or something).

things are definitely picking up, i can feel it!

car accident

2008-01-11T08:43:00.000-05:00

so nothing serious, but cavin and i got into a car accident this morning on the way to work.

we were on germantown pike going west, past st. philip neri, when the truck/van in front of us just stopped. because it was a little bit rainy and wet out, and when cavin hit the breaks, we skid and hit the truck/van in front of us.

we got out of the car, and the guy in front of us got out also and was saying that a car pulled out of a driveway and he had to stop suddenly. there seemed to be no apparent damage to his car, but the front bumper of our car hit the trailer hitch of his car, thus pushing up the bumper and preventing us from opening the hood of our car to make sure there was no internal damage.

no information was exchanged, basically because nothing happened to his car and because we hit him. i guess it's better so that our insurance rates don't go up, but looking at the damage of the car, it's something that we are definitely going to have to get fixed, especially since we can't open the hood of our car unless we use a screwdriver, which we'll probably have to do once we get home today.

cavin dropped me off at work but now i feel a little depressed. i'm not sure why. maybe i'm also just tired from our trip to matyson last night (i'll write about it in a bit).

i feel like going home. blah.

living with your parents: could YOU do it?

2008-01-10T08:47:00.000-05:00

so i've been living at home for the past couple months - something i never would have guessed i'd be doing. but here i am, 30 yr old sachi, once again living in my pink bedroom (but without the hot air balloon wallpaper!!), the only difference is that this time around i've got crosby and cavin (plus all my kalat).

it's really nice that my parents are so giving and letting us stay here for a year or so while we save up money to buy a house, and especially magnanimous of them to allow us to live rent-free. and while this is really great, i've come to realize that there is an underlying reason why i never moved back home since college.

whenever i have a conversation with my parents, i can't seem to communicate as clearly, or i can't really understand what they are saying. it's really frustrating to me and i think it's one reason why living at a distance is preferable. i already have a hard time getting my point across, so add trying to talk to my parents, and i'm completely stressed out.

case in point. we got my dad a computer for christmas. he's super excited, and i'm glad to be able to afford this present for him, especially since he's totally into "new gadgets". but i honestly don't have the patience to try to teach him how to use it, especially when we can't communicate what problems arise.

at work yesterday, i missed his phone call. when i called him back, he told me that the computer wasn't working but now everything is fine. but when i asked him what exactly happened, all he kept saying was, "well, when i clicked, nothing happened." and while i'm not a whiz with computers, i do know that i would need a better, more explicit description of what the problem was in order to fix it. when i got off the phone with him, i realized that i was talking much louder than i had started and that people around me probably picked up on my rising stress level.

so when i got home, i see my dad and he's telling me that the calendar and other stuff that used to be on his desktop is now missing. ok. easy enough. i can help fix that. and i did. and everything was fine.

but as cavin and i were leaving to go to the movies (to see juno), my dad is telling us that the dvd burner isn't working and that he can't burn stuff anymore. i left it up to cavin while i went upstairs to get ready. when we got back 2 hours later, he's still on the computer, and next to him is a new stack of coasters, the result of those that didn't burn correctly. i'm trying to ask him what exactly what happened, except he's backtracking with his words and just when i think i pin down what is going on, he's telling me that's not what's going on and something else happened. cavin is trying to calm me down because at this point i'm just yelling, but it's no good. so i just retire upstairs, hoping that cavin can fix whatever the problem is.

and it's not just with my dad i'm having communication problems. early on when we first moved back, we went to dinner with my immediate family. we drove an hour + away to go to this smorgasbord that my parents had gone to several times in the past. i seemed to have remembered going there also when i was younger, and when i brought this up to my mom, she's telling me that it can't be. but i'm pretty sure that i remember being there and definitely remember that on the way back home, i was driving with art and pv in the car and a bee flew in while art was driving. he started flipping out and we almost crashed. so anyway, my mom is insisting that i've never been there before. i'm telling her that i DO remember being there and that i'm not making it up. well, it won't drop because she can't be wrong, and i can't be wrong, and then it turns into this chaotic conversation ending with me talking very loudly in a room filled with people, asking my mom how she knows my memories and how can she know what i remember?

i don't know how my brother does it - he's never moved out except for college. i'm glad to be around my family, in fact, i like it very much and it's a welcome change from my jersey and dc days when i would only be able to visit for a weekend. i guess i just need to figure out how to deal with them without freaking out and getting an ulcer from stress.

i'm such a hater.

2008-01-04T20:00:00.000-05:00

um...so yeah. when i first started this blog, i was living in dc and i had more downtime at work and could blog while getting paid. but now i'm living in philly and have a new job where i'm constantly busy. in fact, just today i was telling cavin on the way to work that i was "not going to do anything today because i didn't feel like it."

of course, when i got to work, i had at least a dozen emails with details of all the things i had to do. blah. i guess it makes the day go by faster. something.

so i've been working for about 2 months now and it's actually not as bad as i thought it would be. the people i work with, for the most part, are pretty friendly. but i've come to realize that i don't want to mix work with my outside life anymore, and honestly, i don't need any new friends. i have enough right now - some i haven't even seen since i've moved back (i'm the worst!).

now that this is my third "real" job, i've been thinking that there are certain types of people that you inevitably end up working with. there's one particular character that i've come across that i can't quite figure out.

so there's always this one person that seems to be someone that i would get along with. but when i try to actually talk with them or be friendly towards them, i don't know...something just isn't right with this person, or rather our relationship. here are some examples:

let's call the first person, felly. felly started work after i did, and since there weren't that many young people where we were working, especially girls, i thought i would be extra friendly and try to engage her in conversation. but whenever i did, our conversations would go like this:

sachi: hi felly!
felly: hi.
sachi: so, did you do anything exciting this past weekend?
felly: no.
sachi: oh, so you just stayed in town then?
felly: no.
sachi: so you went out of town?
felly: yes.
sachi: oh, i went out of town also. i went to philly this weekend to visit some friends.
felly: oh. me too.
sachi: oh, you went to philly? that's cool! did you go anywhere exciting?
felly: no.
. . .

as you can see, having a conversation with felly was very painful, as she basically only gave one word answers. i probably would have had a better time talking to myself (which i probably did later at my desk because i was so bored). but i just couldn't understand why she didn't want to be friends with me. am i that unappealing? at the time too, i could have really used a friend, but alas, a friendship was not formed with felly. a year later or so, new people started coming into the area and she somehow became good friends with these other people, and then, of course, i became bitter about it and now i hate her. ok. let's move on to the next example.

let's call this second person, fee. i was working in an office that was hiring new people every other week, or at least it seemed. in a matter of months there were 4 new people, and when each one started, i talked to them and they seemed pretty nice, though they weren't necessarily people i would hang out with outside of work. but no worries - i wasn't looking for that kind of relationship. i just thought it would be nice to be friends with someone that i could have lunch with every now and then. then fee started working, about a few weeks before i moved to another office at the same company. i found out from a third party that fee and i had lots in common. but for some reason, every time i would see her, we would have the most awkward conversations. sometimes i'd get to work and happen to be walking in with her at the same time, forced to ride the elevator with her. but every conversation we had would go like this:

(walking into the building, waiting for the elevator, riding the elevator with her, and then walking past her office to my office)
fee: oh. hi.
sachi: hi.
(silence)
sachi: uh, so. how's work going?
fee: it's ok.
(more awkward silence)
sachi: oh, did stephanie have her baby yet?
fee: yup.
(more silence)
sachi: oh, that's nice. i was thinking i should stop in and say hi because i haven't seen everyone in a while since i changed offices. it's so different in my new office.
fee: hmm.
(we FINALLY get to her office door)
sachi: well, have a...
fee: (at the same time) uh, yeah, have a good day
sachi: yeah, you too.

i just could never get into a jived conversation with her. but when i would have lunch with my old officemates, she would be jibberjabbing away, laughing at inside jokes, and basically ignoring me. so i said, 'fuck her then!' and i ignored her whenever i'd run into her on the train or see her in the hallway. so yeah, i hate her too.

finally, at my new job, i've come across another one of these people. let's call this one, feather. at the holiday luncheon, she sat diagonally across from me, and basically with all the younger people in the office. because we sat pretty close to each other, i could hear what she was saying. it sounded like she had some interesting things to say and we had some things in common, like traveling. and i was going to talk to her, but during the lunch, out of the corner of my eye, i could see her kind of looking / staring at me, and i was kind of uncomfortable, so i didn't approach her. and at work, she is good friends with the girl who sits across the aisle from me, so every now and then she goes to her desk and chit chats. but i feel like she says things really loud so that everyone (especially me) can hear. in fact, just yesterday she trampled over to the friend's desk and was basically having a one-way conversation:

feather: oh! good! you're here.
friend: yeah, i just got off the phone with this company who screwed up my online order...
feather: oh yeah. my vacation was really great. you know, cause i like to travel, and my new year's resolution is to ski every black diamond out there
friend: mmhmm.
feather: and so i did that, but you know, the black diamonds out on the east coast are way different than the black diamonds on the west coast. but next time we're going to this other place so that we can try all the other mountains
friend: mmhmm
feather: and then after that, i'm going to try to...

it was pretty obvious that the friend was trying to tell her the story about how she ordered this coat online and when it got delivered it was the wrong color and she had been on the phone for a while trying to get it straightened out (i know because i sit across from her and i heard the entire thing!), but feather just wanted to talk about herself. and while it is cool that she likes to travel and have fun (she was bragging at the holiday luncheon about a xmas costume party she and her husband had and how they made a 12-month calendar of him w/o his shirt on at all the different places they traveled to as the take-home presents), she just comes across, kind of fake.

she's actually a manager and i'm glad that when i interviewed with her, i didn't take the job working for her. i think my opinion of my job would be a lot worse.

but yeah, i basically stay away from her and, you guessed it. i hate her.

i don't know what it is. maybe as i get older, i'm more bitter about people not wanting to be my friend, or at least willingly want to talk to me. and i know i said i didn't want to really make any friends. but it's always nice to have a family-like relationship with the people you work with (like my very first job, which i will forever be thankful that was my first real job experience) and it makes it more enjoyable to be at work and go to work functions or even just to have options for lunch.

i guess we'll see how it goes in my first few months. but as of right now, i'll just stick to hating the fellys, fees, and feathers out there and flying solo for lunch.

i'm back.

2007-11-06T14:53:00.000-05:00

well, by now i've alienated anyone who might have read my blog in the past. oh well.

if you didn't know, cavin and i are back in philly. the month of october was dedicated to packing and moving. i have to say that although moving is my least favorite thing to do, this time around it wasn't that bad. it rained the day we moved, and there was major traffic which led to a 12 hour total move, but we had lots of help from john&cheri, pv&chief bro, and jano and rudy.

but yes, we are finally here and we are trying to figure out how to live comfortably and without chaos with vicky and rudy (my parents). [i should also mention that crosby and jano are also living under the same roof also.]

with that in mind, i've decided that i need to find a place where cavin and i can go to escape. right now since i am jobless (i start in a week - yikes!), being at home all the time coupled with being around my parents in the evenings has already started to prove disastrous. i exaggerate, but i can imagine it only getting worse. and of course, once i start my job, i won't be around them so much, but i still need an escape to go to when i need to get out of the house. kind of like a second home to hang out in (beck's anyone?).

so for the past week or so that we've been living in roxborough, we've been trying to find a decent place (or bar) to go to that is relatively close. it's actually harder than it might seem.

we've gone to a few places so far: manayunk diner (meh), manayunk brew pub (totally not worth going to), mcnallys in chestnut hill (the lights at the bar are piercing - how can anyone stand it?). last night we went to the general lafayette inn. i used to frequent this place when i would visit town and stay with my parents. it's close and i would run into people i knew (which may or may not be a good thing). the only bad thing about it is the smoke. i guess the no smoking ban is only in philadelphia, and since this is in lafayette hill, patrons can smoke to their hearts content. when i woke up this morning and put on my sweatshirt, it reeked of smoke and then i started to miss dc dearly. :(

my next place to try is this coffee house less than a mile from my parents house: spoons. i'll have to check it out - once i get un-lazy and walk my ass over there.

hugging banned?!?

2007-09-30T19:36:00.000-04:00

cavin alerted me to this article, "school bans hugging". the last line of the article is best, but i won't ruin it for you. but seriously. this is outageous!

vodka martini - the focal point of mediocrity?

2007-09-18T11:23:00.000-04:00

this past weekend i was at (another) wedding. i always have the same problem whenever i go to an event like this: what will i drink?

sometimes i will have a craving for something, like a white russian, which most bars will have (unless for some strange reason they don't have milk). more usually, though, i will order something based on what liquor is smiling back at me from behind the bartender.

on saturday when cocktail hour rolled around, and after having drank my fair share of homemade white russians in the motel room, i decided that it was time to move on to another drink. i felt like a dirty martini, and when i looked to see what they had on the shelf, the pickins' were mighty slim.

a couple of years ago, i have to admit, i was an ignorant bastardess when it came to martinis. i didn't really know what was in them, but i knew i liked the extra dirty briney-ness to them. for all i would have cared, a bartender could have poured rubbing alcohol in the martini glass, with a large helping of the olives and their au jus and i would have been set. so of course back then, i ordered the sacriligious vodka "martini", because, gin was for old fogeys and losers, right?

but as i've been more inclined to make my own drinks at home, i've read more about this martini character. hmmm...gin? vermouth? in the past two years, i've been schooling myself in the art of tending bar and learning about the martini (shaken vs. stirred, how much vermouth, etc) and i'm a convert. gin does have more flavor than vodka, which translates into a more flavorful martini (a "martini" doesn't need the gin qualifier - that's exactly what a martini is). just this week i've discovered more people on my (the correct) side of the fence who think "vodka martinis are for twats and wankers" and that they are the "focal point of american mediocrity."

since i've finally come around, the more important question is what type of gin is best?

cavin and i have been experimenting with different types of gins. he is of the "gin&tonic" camp, meanwhile i of the "dirty martini" camp. while cavin has been purchasing many gins and assessing their quality and their success mixed with tonic and lime, i haven't been quite as enthusiatic with making the home martini as of late. as we get ready to move though, this bad habit of not drinking the liquor in the house (and drinking belgian beers at beck's) will probably shift to all out benders because 1) the less stuff we have, the less stuff we have to move, and 2) moving is very stressful and what better way to relieve stress than by drinking (and yelling)?

last weekend at the wedding, i wanted a dirty martini, but all they had was tanqueray. "do you have any other gin back there?" i was asking while trying to peek over the bartender's shoulders and waist, fantasizing there would be some cabinet of bombay sapphire, hendricks, beefeater, junipero, etc. the bartender looked at me like i was crazy, as probably no one had ever asked him that type of question before. "nope." argh.

why is it that tanqueray is the one gin that most places invest stock in? after having many tanqueray&tonics, i can see how the typical novice non-gin drinker can stand the extra sweetness of this liquor, especially when mixed with lime and soda. but for the purist i'm becoming, tanqueray is probably the worst gin to have in a martini, especially a dirty one. who wants a sweet martini with olives in it? of course, if you're one-of-those that wants an appletini then perhaps tanqueray is perfect for this, though, i just read that an appletini is made with vodka, not gin. hmph. go figure.

we've had several gins in the house in the past months, and while i cannot assess their quality in the G&T (earth to cavin?), for dirty martinis, i prefer hendricks, beefeater, and boodles. i've been to some nicer bars that have hendricks and beefeater, but i have yet to see boodles in public bar, unless you count gin under the counter in one of these. (haha - i would never do that...!)

don't get me wrong. vodka has its place (rusky standard!), but in a martini, it does not.