Bugga-EWWW Creek

I found a few foreign objects in my jambalaya at Bugaboo Creek this week. Hair and a gnarly piece of aluminum foil that I found myself chewing on for a minute before realizing that it was certainly not something I wanted to injest.

The service itself was deplorable, with the teenaged waitstaff making socializing their first priority…we had to stare at an uncleaned table for an hour. (The guests seated there left not too long after we got there, but their used plates were never cleaned off.)

Pretty gross, I say!

Also, to not leave on such a negative note, I have sung the praises of the wonderful Rancatore’s before, and I am going to do so again! Rancatore’s is on 1752 Mass Ave. in Lexington. IT HAS the best whipped cream out of any of the ice cream places around here. It’s probably less healthy, because it’s far more creamy than your average whipped cream…but it’s perfect on a micro sundae. (With callebaut milk chocolate ice cream, hot fudge, and walnuts!)

Okay, folks, I’m off to the Jerz for the weekend. Adios!

Same as it ever was…

Charley over at The Blue Mass. Group wrote an article that horrified me, as a new homeowner.

Here’s an article from the NYTimes — front page of the Home and Garden section, no less — which discusses families (pretty darned affluent ones at that) having made lots of paper equity on their homes in the last few years, and no place to spend it when they outgrow or out-desire their current places. So maybe they make 100% profit on their investment, but find they still can’t afford an upgrade within their geographical areas.

YIKES.

Otherwise we may see the “Manhattanization” of entire markets like here and San Francisco, where folks pay higher and higher prices and hold lower and lower expectations because, well, they just have to live there. (After all, that’s me.)

You’re not alone, Charley.

After spending my entire life living with relatively easy access to a cool cities, I can’t imagine NOT being able to say, hop on the T and be around a ton of fantastic restaurants and entertainment options. But if things like this keep happening to cities like Manattan, San Francisco, and Boston…where would that leave people like Matt and I? We’ll end up living either faaarrr out in Metrowest (although, frankly, it could be worse) or to the boondocks of New Hampshire or something — yet still commute to Greater Boston. Or live right outside of Boston, as we do now, but never be able to get a bigger/better/nicer home.

Mama mia. These major cities are making it so that people who works their butts off (and make a decent living by national standards) will no longer be able to afford to live where they wish to. And it makes it even more difficult for people who work jobs in urban areas like waiting on tables, janitorial work, etc to continue living here.

Getrification has its ups and downs…one pro is that it makes streets safer and cleaner. But there are endless cons…like the fact that soon everyone will have to be a millionare to purchase property in a cool city.

Check out this interesting, albeit depressing, article re: the housing bubble & riskiest places to purchase a home.

Vive la T!

I’ve been having car trouble…so, I’ve been having to take the 70 bus to work. (From Watertown Square to the Bear Hill area of Waltham) The 70 bus is pretty unreliable, and I swear that the MBTA puts its most surly employees to work that bus line and it’s a little bit of a hike to my office from the bus stop…but I can’t help but be grateful for the fact that I actually live in an area where I have the option to take public transportation. And decent public transportation at that. AND cheaper than buses in most other major metro areas. :-)

Coney Island

No, I’m not talking about the amusment park in Brooklyn — I’m talking about the ice cream place in West Newton. (Coney Island — 1284 Washington St.) After reading a review of it on Tish’s Dish, I decided to try it. I am able to walk down there from the new house, so after unpacking some boxes I took a stroll.

What a treat it was! I had a micro-sundae, which is an itsy bitsy sundae for only three bucks. The micro-sundae is a fantastic idea, because sometimes when I go out for ice cream, I want a sundae but it’s too much ice cream!! Their ice cream is Toscanini’s, one of my favorites, and they’ve got some unique flavors. I had the chocolate thundah, which was chocolate with walnuts and pieces of ice cream sandwich. It was delightful.

Coney Island also has a variety of teas, which will keep me coming during the winter months…including white peony tea, a favorite of mine.

Ikea

I was just reading Bostonist’s article about how Massachusetts is finally getting an Ikea.

I need to reveal something. I do not like Ikea. I don’t like Ikea…at all. I don’t like being in their stores — they make me feel like some psychiatrists are watching me through a two-way mirror and laughing at how insane I am going by trying to find an exit WITHOUT buying anything.

I was just looking at their bookshelves and it confirmed how I don’t like their style of furniture. I like wood furniture. Granted, it’s more expensive…but I just like the way it looks. And it lasts for so long. Plus, I would much rather prefer to shop at a local furniture store instead of buying something from Ikea that 5 of my friends from around the world have!

Matt and I bought a really nice bookshelf from The Bookcase Factory Outlet in Watertown. It’s unfinished, but a really nice looking piece of furniture. It is really solid, too…it will probably last us for the rest of our lives. Sadly, the Bookcase Factory Outlet had a fire about a month ago…which is a shame, because I’d love to buy more furniture from them. I hope they re-open soon.

There’s also supposedly an Ikea opening up in Somerville…so, soon the Greater Boston area will have not one — but two Ikeas. Hurrah!

Recall

Only a few months before I left California, I experienced a historical event: The California Recall election.

I was at a supermarket, and a woman decked out in American flag swag came up to me and asked me to sign a petition to recall Governor Gray Davis.

“I haven’t heard anything about that. I need to read up on it before I sign anything,” I said.

“Oh,” said the woman, nodding knowingly and sort of rolling her eyes, “You’re one of those people.”

One of “those people”? One of those people who likes to know what kind of petition it is before signing it? Yes, yes, I am!

I found the reasoning for the pro-recall folks to be weak. It seemed like some sort of conservative agenda…the reason he was recalled was because :

[Governor Davis's actions were a] “gross mismanagement of California Finances by overspending taxpayers’ money, threatening public safety by cutting funds to local governments, failing to account for the exorbitant cost of the energy fiasco, and failing in general to deal with the state’s major problems until they get to the crisis stage.”

That’s what flag-clad lady’s petition said. California was dealing with some crises, but what state isn’t? I wasn’t some Davis cheerleader, but I felt like there were no real grounds for a recall.

I voted no on the recall, but if the recall were to occur, I voted for the lieutenent governor, Bustamante. I knew things looked fairly hopeless…Arnold Schwarzenegger was wildly popular, and people liked the idea of having the Terminator as the Governor, or the “Governator” as people began to call him.

Once sitting on the train, I accidentally started an argument between some dimwit and some chick with a shaved head. The dimwit sat down next to my friend and I, and just started babbling. I asked him what he thought of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a gubernatorial candidate and he said, “I like him. He’d be a good governor because he’s macho. I’d like a manly tough guy as the governor.”

The shaved-head chick overheard and said, “That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard! You should vote for Larry Flynt.” Most people wound up siding with the dimwit and getting annoyed with the shaved-head chick.

God, these are our choices? Schwarzenegger, Larry Flynt…Gary Coleman?? Arianna Huffington, who I liked, had already backed out at this point.

Yeah, so Schwarzenegger won. Only a few months later I moved to Massachusetts, excited to be in a solid blue state. I don’t know a lot about what Schwarzenegger is doing, so I can’t comment on that…but I did tend to disagree with most of his conservative policies.

Could you imagine my surprise when I learned about Mitt Romney? It took me about a year to start catching up with Massachusetts politics, and thanks to the blogosphere, I now know what’s up. Can I get a WTF?!

Two of my favorite blogs, .08 Acres and The Blue Mass Group have written great articles about what’s going on with Romney.

Sco at .08 Acres said:

Sure, governor Romney is himself part of that process too, but during his campaign he said he
favored emergency contraception, so if anyone voted for him on the basis of this issue, they were misled.

Usually I find that politicians are at least a little craftier with their lies…

Remember this?

Romney claimed his stance on abortion had changed (in 2002 he said he wanted to keep abortion “safe and legal in this country”). That same month he vetoed a stem-cell research bill he had once supported, claiming he objected to the use of human embryos (the legislature overrode his veto). The next month, a controversy erupted over comments chief Romney political adviser Michael Murphy made to conservative National Review magazine: “He’s been a pro-life Mormon faking it as a pro-choice friendly.”

My question is…if California was able to recall Gray Davis, can we recall Romney? Oh, I’d love that…

At least he’s ruining his chances of winning re-election.

Noo-in.

Accents are funny things. Being from California, Matt never ceases to be amused by the different accents found here in the Northeast. Every now and then he’ll point out a certain way I say something and either laugh or mimick me. Charming, eh?

Anyway, today I noticed that Matt and I pronounce “Newton” differently. He pronounces it phoenetically, emphasizing the T. New-TON. I don’t pronounce the T at all. It’s Noo-in.

I had an instructor at school in California who endlessly mocked the way I said buttons. (Buh-ins) And unfortunately, it was in a graphic design class where I had to design buttons for a website.

I would never say, “I walk my orange dog in Newton.” It is: “I wawk my aringe dawg in Noo-in.”

I didn’t even realize I had an accent until I moved to California and it became a major source of amusement among my classmates. It was pretty annoying. It was a Brooklyn/Jersey accent, but my classmates thought it was a Boston accent. They also asked me which state New Jersey was in and hear the shock in their voice when they reacted to the fact that New Jersey IS a state. Then they would ask me to say things like horrible (harrible) and coffee (cawfee). It stopped being funny!

It’s good to be in an area where my accent isn’t even noticed by most unless they are recent transplants from the west, although Matt is getting a kick out of Noo-in.

That’s where we live now. Not Wawtatown anymore. Noo-in.

Life Couch

On Wednesday, Matt and I began our move from Watertown to Newton. Before the Hot Tuna show, we moved boxes and then afterwards discovered Paddy’s Pub at the end of our block. A nice place, with burgers, pizza, pasta, soup, and beer. Apparently in the fall they have acoustic music on certain nights. Cool!

Yesterday, we did a lot more moving. We had a few extra folks to help us during the day, but for the last batch, it was just Matt and I. Now, I am not in particularly good shape, nor am I strong. In fact, I am a big fan of hiring movers. Matt said no, because we could easily do it ourselves. But Matt’s brilliant idea was to have me help him move the couch.

Moving this couch with Matt was one of the worst experiences of my life. It was agony. I have endured a bit of misfortune in my life, and even keeping that into consideration, I consider the couch-moving experience one of the worst I’ve had. I am not being hyperbolic in the least — it was awful. I’d pick it up and immediately drop it because I was just not strong enough to hold it up. I wound up trapped in corners, the couch landed on my feet a few times, I pulled about five muscles, and cried throughout 70% of the ordeal.

Next time we move, which hopefully won’t be for another five years, when we need more space…I am definitely going to hire a moving company! Never again will I deal with the torture I deal with last night. Never again, I say!

And now…all we have left to move is: an entertainment unit, a dresser, a chest, a bed (complete with box spring, headboard & footbard), a nightstand, two little dresser things, two desks, and an end table. Plus tons of boxes! AHHHHH!!!!!1!

Kudos to Khushboo!

Since my friend, Elizabeth, is living in Lexington for the summer, I’m getting to experience some of the restaurants in downtown Lexington. Yesterday, I went to what I consider to be hands down one of the best Indian restaurants I’ve ever been to. Khushboo on 1709 Mass. Ave. is delicious.

There are two amazing Indian restaurants in the Back Bay (both on Comm. Ave.), but coming from Watertown they are a little difficult for us to get to — so we rarely go. Although, once we move to Newton we’ll be right by a commuter rail station so we could hop on and get to the Back Bay in a jiffy.

All of the Indian restaurants I’ve tried out here so far are at least slightly above average, many are much better. But Khushboo really appealled to me. Their veggie pakoras were not overly greasy…they’re crispy and flavorful. Their naan was just right. I ordered chicken korma, which was also quite tasty. However, it must be noted that the scale of spiciness is by American standards, not Indian. I ordered mine to be medium spicy, but I would have liked it to be spicier.

They also have a variety of traditional Indian desserts and ice cream.

I have a bunch of leftovers that I am going to take to work for lunch today. Just writing this post and thinking about the good food I had is making my mouth water…

Keep on truckin’ mama!

So, Matt and I saw Hot Tuna last night! It was a lot of fun. Jorma Kaukonen rocked, as always, and his mandolin player was very impressive. We had a great time. One of the highlights of the show was “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning”. It’s one of my favorites, and it definitely got the biggest applause so I’m sure I wasn’t alone.

The Somerville Theatre is also a cool venue. We had really good seats (row M). I prefer smaller-ish venues as opposed to amphitheaters and pavillions…and the Somerville Theatre is perfect. It was particularly perfect for a low key band like acoustic Hot Tuna. (Although when Hot Tuna plays electric, they rock out, so that won’t be so low key!)

It was a little expensive, but worth it. These guys played at Woodstock and the opportunity to see them unplugged at a relatively small venue is worth it to me.

The crowd was diverse…there were definitely some pretty old people there, and then there were people in their 20s like Matt and I. There were also some pimply teenage hippie kids, either with friends or their parents. It made me nostalgic for my youth, when I was a pimply teenage hippie kid, going to concerts and festivals with my family. Hmmm…that might be the only time I’ve ever gotten nostalgic for my teenage years…

One of the reasons that I like Hot Tuna so much, and Jorma’s guitar style, is because it’s not a style we hear much today. It’s very traditional sounding finger-picking blues. They were unplugged last night, but they’ll be doing an electric gig at the Regent Theatre in December. They play all over New England pretty often, so if you like blues music, it’s highly recommended.