Matty's Birthday weekend

I know these are boring . . . but back when I first started blogging I told you all that this was not going to be interesting. Because my life simply isnt. So stop reading, or get over it.

So when we left off I was still waiting to find out what I was supposed to be talking about at the MidAtlantic Transposon Meeting on Tuesday. This was last Friday. And Nina was MIA. Well I put together a skeleton of a talk and at 4:45 I left. On my way out guess who I run into. Of course, now Nina is back. So I ask her what I am supposed to be talking about and she tells me that she hasnt submitted a title because she completely forgot about the meeting. Even though I had been emailing all week about it. So she said she would call the organizer and email me. I had specifically planned on working on this talk over the weekend and so I had made no plans whatsoever. Including no party for Matty's birthday.

Friday night we went to Sidecar for happy hour and then had Joey and Tank over to play some Street Fighter 2 which we downloaded to our Wii. Then we went back to Joey's with Patrick to watch Darjeeling Limited. Now this was the 3rd tie we had attempted to see this movie. And of course when we got to Joey's we sat out on his deck and had some wine and ordered a tomato pie and hung out. So by the time we actually tried to watch the movie none of us were paying any attention to it and finally we just gave up and went home.

Saturday morning I check my email and lo and behold there is an email from Nina informing me that I was not actually on the schedule to give a talk at the meeting because, since she never sent a title and was never asked for one, the organizer took this to mean that I was no longer interested in speaking. But that she was working on getting me put on the schedule. Well I wasnt going to work on a talk that I wasnt going to give. And I really didnt think I would be added to the schedule. Such is the politics of academia. So Matty and I headed out to wander the city. It was VERY hot. I think the actual temp only got up to 95 but the heat index was 105. First we went to a flea market and wandered around there for awhile. I like doing that. You see the neatest stuff. Then we picked up some soft pretzels from The Philly Pretzel Factory and ate them in Rittenhouse. Then we wandered around the Rittenhouse Square Fine Arts Show. Which is nice. Especially if you have lots of money to spend on art. Which we dont. But nice nonetheless. For lunch we tried a new place, Pita Pocket, which I would highly recommend. We both got falafel sandwiches. There was ALOT of falafel in there. And some really good toppings. And then the complimentary salad bar was also fantastic. Salads and pickled veggies and olives and yumminess. Lots of really good fresh food for very cheap. We walked around some more and then bought a bunch of limes and went home. Matty has decided that this is going to be the Summer of the Margarita. Which is funny since a few years ago he refused to drink anything with tequila. After a quick stop to buy a new parsley plant as mine has died, and a stop to see Dan's new place (welcome to our side of the river Dan!) we went home and Matty made a basil and lime infused simple syrup. Then we went to the Sidecar (yes, again) for dinner with Dan, Joey and Brian. Then back to our place for more Street Fighter and margaritas with all those limes (juiced by yours truly) and that simple syrup. We need to work on the recipe a bit and but by the last batch I think they were pretty good. We need to use more basil though. Couldnt really taste it. Maybe adding some muddled in would work.

Sunday I checked my email again and still no word about the Meeting. So again I decided against working on my presentation. Another sweltering day, this time topping 100 for temp. First we walked through Odunde which had taken over our neighborhood (and our doorstep). Lots of lemonade and fried chicken and shea butter. Then we wandered towards Old City and ran into the Pride parade so we followed that to Old City and then checked out Foster's which is awesome. If anyone ever wants to get me and Matty a gift certificate somewhere, I could totally buy that entire store. Then i decided I needed to eat because the copious amounts of water we were drinking in the hopes of staying alive were simply not enough. So we checked out Triumph but as it was way too hot to actually drink beer we ended up at Cuba Libre which we had been talking about trying forever but had not actually made it. It was FANTASTIC! We started with (well besides the pressed cuban bread with mango butter that toally could have been a meal in and of itself) Papas Rellenas (Roasted garlic potato croquettes filled with beef picadillo. Sweet and spicy guajillo pepper sauce, crispy onions and manchego cheese crema) then we had Tortilla Especial (Fluffy three-egg omelette filled with julienne of Serrano ham, artisan chorizo, slow roasted pork leg and Swiss cheese. Papas criollas [Home fries of sweet potatoes, Idaho russet potatoes, red onions, leeks and enchilado sauce]) and One-eyed Ropa Vieja Hash (Classic Cuban shredded beef brisket stewed with tomatoes, bell peppers and red wine on a hash of Idaho russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, maduros and corn. Fried egg). It was all SO good. Then we walked around a bit and then stopped for ice cream at Franklin Fountain. I just had a scoop of black raspberry with hot fudge. Matty had the Stock Market Crunch (ROCKY ROAD ice cream coated in thick peanut butter sauce and paved with crumbled salt pretzels. William Dreyer and Joseph Edy concocted the first batch of rocky road ice cream in 1929 following the great stock market crash to give consumers something to SMILE about during the impending Depression). By that time I had had enough of the hotness so we grabbed cab home and I took a nap. After my nap we watched August Rush and made a pizza with rosemary ham, arugula (from my garden!), mushrooms, fresh garlic and fresh mozzarella. Mmmm!

Weekend puzzles:
Family Tree: Patrick is not married. On the way to the mall, Patrick picked up his only brother-in-law's only mother-in-law's only husband's only daughter. What relationship is she to Patrick?

What two six-letter words that are anagrams of each other can be used to complete the sentence below?
In an exciting scene of the wildlife movie, the rescue worker ______ in to save the valuable ______ monkey.