Busy holiday weekend!

On Thursday, Faith, The Little Lord, and I were in Philadelphia for business and pleasure.

I had some INS business to attend to that went rather quickly because our lawyer gave us some good advice to schedule an appointment instead of just showing up at the INS building like some ham-and-egger off the street. We were done within fifteen minutes. But it would have been sooner because The Little Lord almost had the security come down on me like the Taliban on a woman driver. She brought a book (which was in my bag) and apparently her metal bookmark looks just like a switchblade on the x-ray. I came thisclose to being pepper-sprayed when we went through the x-ray!! But disaster was averted and like I said, we finished quicker than expected which was great.

After that we did some window shopping and had an early dinner while we waited to see The Mountain Goats at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia. This was our first time seeing John Darnielle live and none of us could wait! Unfortunately, circumstances beyond anyone's control ended the evening on a disappointing note. But that's for later.

First of all, we were first in line so we were right in the front! The opener was a duo called The Moaners. They were great. The guitarist played a very bluesy but crunchy slide guitar technique which was about ten kinds of awesome rolled into one. But it was the drummer who stole the show. Everyone around us was pretty much crushing on her. She played an aggressive yet playful set of drums. She was mugging for the camera every time someone took a picture but never missed a beat.

As for The Mountain Goats themselves, it was a little bittersweet for the three of us. We were glad to finally see them at a show but John Darnielle was extremely sick. He looked pale and by the end of the show, I was afraid he would pass out on the stage. He had to call the set short because he just couldn't go on. It was a wonder they actually played. According to all the other previous show reviews for this tour, Thursday's show was definitely an anomaly. It wasn't as energetic because John really didn't have the energy to do the louder numbers from Heretic Pride. Even "Dance Music" was a very subdued affair.

Even though we all enjoyed the night, it wasn't quite a true Mountain Goats experience because of John's health.

*********

Friday morning:



FINALLY!!!

Four and done!

The Little Lord Visits the Mütter Museum

Since we usually take a trip to NYC and do fun stuff for Amy's birthday, we asked Anna what she wanted to do for hers. The Little Lord decreed that we would visit the Art Museum or the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia for the day. We had originally planned on the Art Museum but wound up going to the Mütter Museum instead (mostly because the Art Museum has to be the most boring place on the planet and her friends talked her out of it). We had a great day! The most awesome part of the day? I found $20 in the street on the way to the Museum!!!!! WHOOOOOOO!

Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed in the museum, but here are the pictures we did take of our fun trip. The museum itself was really neat, but not for the squeamish. There was a lady who turned to soap after she died and Amy got really freaked out by her face. (A picture of the soap lady can be found on this page.) There were entire brains and cross-sections of brains and skeletons and skulls galore, but the thing that really broke me was the multitude of pickled punks: deformed babies preserved in formaldehyde. It broke my heart -- all of these babies denied life or even a proper burial, to be gawked at forever by tourists and thrill-seekers. There was the skeleton of a guy who, when he was five, broke his leg and his entire body went crazy repairing the break. I felt bad for him -- if he's got a tombstone somewhere marking his life and death, his body isn't there with it. It made me really sad and I had to sit down and stop looking after a while.

Anyway, here are Amy, Anna and Onil standing in front of the Museum:




On March 20, we're going to see the Mountain Goats at the First Unitarian Church, which happens to be around the corner from the Museum.





We walked down Chestnut Street and stopped at Liberty Place to do some window shopping. We also went to the food court and blew some of the $20 I found on ice cream. Onil and I got ours right away, so we found a table and left Anna to wait there all by herself. Haw!!



Then we went out to Market Street and walked over to Chinatown. On the way there we took a couple of pictures of City Hall and the Clothespin statue (check out Onil with his cup that's bigger than his head):







Once in Chinatown, we visited some shops (lots of Hello Kitty stuff!) and took some pictures of the Arch and the Pagoda. We also laughed at some poor sap who got a ticket.







After we were done in Chinatown we went to Reading Terminal Market to get something to eat. Most awesome place ever. We went to Rick's Steaks and got a couple of cheesesteaks. I used to go there to get cheesesteaks a lot when I worked in Philadelphia, but I think it's changed. If I remember right, it used to be Oliveri's Steaks and the actual sandwiches were better constructed. Didn't really matter, though, because a bad cheesesteak in Philadelphia is a billion times better than the best cheesesteak anywhere else (and that includes Lancaster county who, although they're only an hour away from Philadelphia, can't make a decent cheesesteak to save their lives).

Onil found a couple of tables in the middle and while we were eating we were entertained by the most awesome piano player ever. He was great! He played some older songs but also a lot of Earth, Wind & Fire, for some reason. There was also a guy with him who kept an eye out to make sure no one walked off with the tip jar. He was also an occasional singer.









We took the train back to Jenkintown station and drove back to Lancaster county. On the way we stopped at the Walmart in Ephrata for a few things and found this atrocious car in the parking lot. So we took a picture of us laughing at it.



Fun!! Happy birthday, Little Lord!!!!

Christmas Lights! Wow!

This past weekend we hung up our Christmas lights (and by "we" I mean "Onil and Amy"). When Onil was in NYC last week he went to the Phil-Am store in Queens and found an inexpensive parol, so he got one for us. We have a larger, more expensive parol that we hang inside, but we figured that for $15 we could hang this one outside. Here are our pictures:

As usual, the Littlest Lord of All contributed NOTHING to the procedure other than to sit on the stepladder and play her guitar for the cars passing by. Hmmm... I seem to remember this happening before....
















Here she is, pretending like she's actually working:




This is a good shot of the parol, by the way:




I was upstairs folding laundry while this was going on, and I came out and saw the Little Lord playing guitar for the passing cars, so I shook my booty like she was a rock star or something. Amy eventually joined in. Please ignore my glasses and lack of make-up. I usually try to look better than this. NOTE: Torrk, if you take any of these pictures and do rude stuff to them I will totally kill you.








At one poin during my dance a car pulled over to laugh and watch. Good times!




And here's what our house looks like, all lit up! Yay!!!





The one with Amy is all fuzzy because we suck at taking night pictures but you get the idea.

One Local Summer, Meal 5

Our local meal this week was maybe one of the best we've had so far, and I sincerely mean that in spite of the fact that I say this every week. We ate out on our new picnic table in the yard, which was great except for the annoying little gnats all over the place. Onil, Amy and I dealt with it, but the Littlest Lord of All was so completely grossed out that she didn't finish all of her corn and went stomping in the house while the rest of us finished up. She is definitely a teen-ager, and truly the Little Lord.

When Onil and I bought our Daisy flour a couple of weeks ago (and how many times have I typed "Daisy flower" and had to correct it? Oh, like a billion) we noticed a bag of cornmeal on the shelf next to it. We bought it because:

1) We like cornbread,
2) It's produced by Haldeman Mills in Manheim, and
3) The packaging totally cracked us up.

Take a look:



I mean, really. Who wouldn't want to buy a product with a picture of their granddad on the front?





BBQ Chicken - Chicken breasts and legs, Pennfield Farms, Lancaster (8 miles) by way of Sensenig Poultry, Lititz (7 miles). Believe it or not, this was the first time I made bone-in chicken on the grill because I am deathly afraid of undercooking chicken. This time I decided to be brave and give it a try. It turned out great. Rubbed with dry herbs and spices (probably none of it local but mixed up by me) and slathered with my homemade BBQ sauce.

Turkey Apple Sausage - Sensenig Poultry, Lititz (7 miles). This is the reappearance of the turkey apple sausage we had on July 4th. You will probably see this again as it is only $2.99 a pound and outrageously delicious.

Corn on the Cob - Nolt's farm stand, Manheim (2 miles).

Quick Pickled Cucumbers - Produce from Millersville (13 miles) by way of Eastern Farmer's Market, Lancaster city.

Cornbread - Cornmeal from Haldeman Mills, Manheim (7 miles), wheat flour from Daisy Flour, Annville (16 miles), egg from Meadow Run Farm, Lititz (12 miles), milk from Kreider Dairies, Manheim (2 miles), honey from Stockins Apiary, Strasburg (21 miles). I was thinking it was going to be like the Jiffy cornbread mix, but it was a little heavier than I'm used to. Maybe because of the wheat flour? It was delicious anyway.

Cantaloupe Juice - Nolt's farm stand, Manheim (2 miles), honey from Stockins Apiary, Strasburg (21 miles) by way of Eastern Farmer's Market, Lancaster city. This is a Filipino specialty. Using this tool...



... Onil scraped out a cantaloupe to make strings. He then mixed the juice, the strings and a few spoonfuls of honey in a pitcher, then filled to the top with ice water and mixed well. Perfect for a summer day.

Finally, dessert!



We stopped off at Central Market in Lancaster city as well and picked up a couple of individual cherry cheesecakes. I'm not sure if the ingredients were local and I don't remember exactly where they were made, but it was definitely Lancaster county. I also got a springerle cookie at Central Market. It was made by The Springerle House in Strasburg (21 miles) and I just couldn't resist. Look at the detail on this cookie:



Just exquisite, and so yummy. All washed down with a glass of Kreider milk, Manheim (2 miles).

Why the Little Lord is the Little Lord

Or, How Two People Put Together a Picnic Table While the Little Lord Looked On.

I had wanted to do a post about our Fourth of July activities, but I'll spare you the long story and just tell you that our camera disk is acting up so I won't have the pictures for you until next week.

So, in the meantime, I'm going to show you one of our activities this past week: building a picnic table. We've been wanting to get one for a while but just never had the funds. We finally bit the bullet and went to Home Depot and got this table, unassembled, for $70. We thought we were going to have to rent a van or a truck to get it home, but we took all of the pieces of wood out of the packaging and managed to make it fit in our tiny Nissan Sentra. (I regret that I didn't take a picture of the car all packed up before we unloaded it.) Man, the things we've been able to fit into that little car.... two wicker chairs.... a desk.... seven people on a 1½ hour car trip. Now we can add a picnic table to the list.

Anyway, we unloaded the wood and started working. I helped put stuff together in between taking pictures. Amy and Onil got right to work...





The Little Lord did nothing.



Amy and Onil continued to work...





The Little Lord continued to be of no help whatsoever.



This is why we call Anna the Little Lord. Onil and I watch the Sopranos (or used to watch it, anyway), and in one episode, Christopher refers to the son of a late mob boss as "Little Lord F---pants". Onil and I heard that and thought, Boy, if that doesn't sound like Anna, we don't know what does. She sits around with a sense of entitlement, waiting for others to serve her. She's perfectly happy playing her guitar while the rest of us build a picnic table for her. We love her very much, but come on. She is the Little Lord.

Notice she had no problem posing for the picture of the nearly finished (sans benches) product, like she actually had anything to do with it herself: