Miscellany

I won the weekly Chinatown poker tournament on Monday. In case you're interested (I know BH won't be), we play no-limit Texas hold 'em, single elimination with no re-buys, and, last night, eleven players. I'm pretty happy about winning, mostly because I hadn't so much as finished in the money before last night in four or five tries.

I haven't posted for a while. Since my last post:

1. I have done stuff.
2. Things have happened.
3. I have had thoughts.

So, here are some items that fall into one or more of the above categories, presented in the popular and accessible Bulleted List form:

• I participated in a soup cookoff, finishing third out of six (or was it seven?). My entry was a mushroom, carrot, and leek soup. The base was equal parts chicken and beef broth, both made from scratch right before making the soup. The carrots and leeks were julienned and the mushrooms (shiitake/white ratio = 4/1) were sliced very thinly, giving each spoonful a long, slender profile. Each bowl was garnished with a sprig of Italian parsley and a few shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano. Speaking of, I still have a chunk of the aforementioned cheese in my refrigerator and I don't know when or how I'm going to use it. Free to a good home -- let me know.
• I grew a beard.
• At the weekly Sunday hockey game, I played goalie two weeks in a row. I had no desire to play goal, but playing any non-goalie position would have been impossible. I tweaked a ligament in my foot the week before my first foray into the crease, leaving me unable to run (thanks for the diagnosis and treatment plan, Bethy). I've been able to play non-goalie for the last couple of weeks, which is good -- I like running around, and goalies don't get to run around much.
• I went to a wedding in the Northeast with Ginneh. Pictures. She was the only person at the wedding I had met previously, which was odd, but I had a good time. Ginneh and I spent about 30 minutes playing tabletop Ms. Pac Man on a very slow machine.
• Bars I've visited in February (I might be missing one (or more than one)): Dirty Frank's, Royal Tavern, Cantina Los Caballitos, South Philly Tap Room, The Dolphin, Vesuvio's (ugh, not my choice), North Bowl, The Abbaye, Tattooed Mom's, Tritone, Grace Tavern, Locust Bar, Jones.
• I still haven't met the courtyard neighbor who moved into Lea's old place five months ago. Weird.
• I picked up a couple of heart-shaped soft pretzels for Tom and delivered them to Emily on his behalf for Valentine's Day. Tom got me a bottle of high-end bourbon as a thank-you, which is much more than my meager efforts deserved. Much appreciated, though.
• Milton Street entered the Philadelphia mayoral race. Let the comedy flow.
• I signed on for another season of soccer, with most of last year's fall team returning.

OK, enough.

Another byline

I wrote a review of the new Refrigerator album Bottles of Make Up for the current issue of the CityPaper.