Oops Missed a Weekday

Yes I know I missed a day and I am sorry, but I had a lot of stuff going on. First of all it is cold out there, I had hoped we would make it through this winter without the extreme cold like we had last year. On the bright side I noticed the commute isn't nearly as bad as last year because I just have to walk to the subway and I am all set.

Last night was our second and final wine tasting class and once again it was great fun. We learned a lot in the three hours we were in class and I now actually enjoy wine. I did drinking a lot of wine last night, which when combined with my empty stomach made for a long drunk walk home. Jennifer was rather amused so I guess that was good and I was able to fall right asleep. I have had trouble the last four nights or so trying to sleep through the night. This morning I woke up at 5:30, which was a great improvement over prior nights.

On Friday night Jennifer and I went to Helmand, an amazing Afghani restaurant in Cambridge. We ordered a whole bottle of wine, a Riesling, a wonderful sweet white wine. For an appetizer we had baked pumpkin with a ground beef sauce. I had a prime rib and Jennifer had leek-scallion raviolis. If you are looking for a nice place to go that isn't too expensive you should try it. Helmand Restaurant

Rainy Friday

First of all here is a link to some pictures from trivia night on Wednesday BoCaNO Trivia Pictures

Well it is my first Flex day since we started them and conveniently it is rainy and I am just sitting in my house using the computer. I would have been better off just going in to work at least I would have had something to do. Oh well no sense in complaining. I just walked down to Davis Square and had lunch with Andy at Mikes Pizza. It was good stuff. Now I am going to look at pictures and try to label them before going to CVS and printing them out. Tonight we are going to an afghani restaurant in Cambridge. I am a bit nervous, but I know everything will be fine and I will find something to eat. If only they had Chicken Borek.

Enjoy the rain everybody.
KWS

Bad Showing

Last night was trivia night at the Kinsale and the BoCaNO crew was in rare form. We ended up with under 80 points. Oh well you can't win them all. It was nice to finally all be settled back in after New Years. Afterwards I went home and watch Project Runway. I must say it is a damn good show, one of the most dramatic reality series out there.

I guess thats about it. Check out this new drink from Starbucks. Chantico There goes my food budget for the year.

KWS

EDIT: I just tried the Chantico and must say it is so very very good. The taste reminds me of the warm chocolate chips in a chocolate chip cookie. I highly reccommend.

Again? You betcha!

I just had to post an entry today because I am very happy today. Last night we went to the Wine Tasting class in Boston and it was so much fun. We learned all about white wines last night and it was really cool to learn the differences between each variety of grape. We had two Chardonnays one that was stored in oak barrels and one that wasn't, the smells were very different. I really enjoyed the Riesling wine from Germany, nice and sweet without too much bite. I can't wait for next week's class on red wine.

Afterwards we were walking through the Public Garden in the snow and decided to go get dinner at Parish Cafe. I always have a hard time finding something I will like, but last night it was easy. I ended up with a pasta dish with tomatoes and a ham like meat in a pesto basil sauce. It was amazing!!! I think that is the best Tuesday night I have had in a while.

Two In A Row

Believe it or not this is my second entry in as many days. So now I have to come up with something clever to say. This morning I walked by the free Boston Globe person and grabbed my much Metro on the way down to the train and saw this picture:

Now thats a big boulder, can you imagine driving down the street and you see that thing rolling down the hill towards you. AHHHHHHH!! I then started to read about the ACLU trying to get the police out on the Cape to stop getting DNA samples from everybody. I then thought maybe we should have DNA samples of everybody stored somewhere. After thinking for five seconds more I realized it might not be the best idea because with the DNA you could use it for clones which is a scary thing. I just remembered being young and going to the police station to provide them with my fingerprints for record keeping purposes. So now I sit on the fence and wonder what would be best? I think the government will have to trick us into using our DNA for identifcation purposes before everybody gives up their deoxy ribonucleic acid.

Question Marks

I recently realized I have a very hard time using question marks. I will often times write a question in an email and end the sentence with a period. It probably has to do with my horrible history in the subject of English. Wow looking back at my writing today is very disturbing. What is wrong with me these days? I can't write anything that makes sense or is in the least bit interesting.

Since I can't write today here are some pictures:
BoCaNO at Grendel's Den
Weekend In Bethel

After battling the flu a.k.a. The PIP all last week Jen and I went up to Sunday River for some rest and relaxation. It didn't start off that way though because first I had to sand the driveway at the Outpost. We stopped in Amesbury to get sand, which was an adventure in itself since the 100 lb container I put in my trunk broke and required me to take all of the stuff out of my trunk so it would sit nicely on the floor. We finally got to the Outpost at 11:00 and I spread out all of the sand with my hands because the shovel didn't fit in the container. It was a mess, but I survived. Saturday was a ski day and upon returning home my very wonderful girlfriend had baked brownies and walked to town to get food for dinner. We ate a lovely dinner of bow tie pasta, feta cheese, sun dried tomatoes and chicken sausage before going to the Grizzly for some dancing. It was a great time. Jen got to see "Middle Aged Dancer Woman", who's breasts nearly popped right out of her shirt. We also saw the weird guy with the tight white shirt dancing. He is a freaky dancer, I mean really freaky. Sunday morning had me waking up way too late and rushing to a full mountain. The conditions were okay, but it was just too crowded for my liking. I went home at one and was back in Somerville by five.

A nice weekend overall, it was so nice to get out of Somerville for a change. The week ahead looks to be relatively busy with an evening of mulled cider today, wine tasting tomorrow night, BoCaNO on Wednesday, dinner on Friday night and on Saturday we are driving to Connecticut to spend the weekend with Jen's parents.

KWS

To Bag Lunch Or Not To Bag Lunch

One of my resolutions has been to save money, so in the beginning I figured I would bring a bag lunch everyday. So on Sunday night I went to the store and bought groceries for the week. First I stopped by the deli counter to pick up some turkey, which now runs at about six dollars a pound. I bought a half pound of turkey and then decided to get Swiss cheese. I asked the man for the cheese and he asked if I wanted domestic Swiss cheese, which I didn't really understand. Did he mean domestic as in from the US? Because to me that doesn't make much sense. You should only be able to buy domestic swiss cheese in Switzerland. It's like buying domestic french wine or a domestic Toyota, it makes no sense to me. The confusion didn't end there, I asked for six or seven slices of swiss cheese and he began slicing. He threw the over sized sliced pieces, over sized in both thickness and overall surface area, on the scale. The total weight was two thirds of a pound. I didn't want to admit my guffaw, so I just said it was fine. Now I have to eat swiss cheese sandwiches with a little bit of turkey. I bought some other lunch things like apples, cookies and granola bars. Next I decided to shop for dinner things, which for me is one of three things: macaroni and cheese, spaghettios or cajun chicken soup. I have been eating this way for months and it is getting very old, but since I never know where I will be for dinner I never buy stuff to make a good dinner. Not to mention the fact that all of the recipes I have make way too much food. I finally checked out and found I had spent $36.

Fast forward to yesterday morning when I put together my lunch at quarter to seven in the morning. It took me about five minutes to put everything together. I went to work and once lunch time came around grabbed my bag lunch and went with my friends. Of course none of them brought a lunch and instead went to Viga and bough $3.50 worth of the yummiest looking pasta. I sat there with my stupid sandwich trying to eat it slowly so I filled up quicker envying my companions. Only then did I officially conclude that I would save more money, time and effort by setting up a fixed budget of $20 a week for having lunch outside instead of bringing my lunch. Now I just have to get through the rest of my swiss cheese and it will be Jay-Bo and viga once again. Woohoo!!!!