philly

was just in philly for a conference, had half of an afternoon to walk around the city. It was hot and humid, but I enjoyed my time there. The rittenhouse square neighborhood was charming, if a bit yappy and completely white. I was impressed with the variety of tap and bottle beers available even in a dive bar or college kids' hangout, lots of local brews as well as good imports. but my perception is possibly a bit skewed since I have been living in the land of alcohol monopoly for over a year now.

Shared a solid meal at the place called White Dog near campus (where I endured three days of brutal but educational meetings) with chuck and some dudes from california also in town for the meeting. What disappointed me was that the wine list was made up entirely with california wine. Not that there is anything wrong with california wine, but how does an all california wine list make sense in philly? How about some NY wines? where are the french wines? It is probably not that much farther away compare to napa.

in any case, philly is not a place I would plan a trip to return soon without any good reason, but I certainly liked what I saw.

end of an era?

I just heard that matt's in the market, one of my favorite restaurant for lunch in Seattle, has just changed hands. A year or two ago, it had expended from the spot I knew, which was just a counter and maybe 4 tables, to a larger format. I have not been there since the expansion, now it has gone through another change.

I know I want to visit seattle again soon, but I am not sure if I will step up to the new matt's (or maybe the name need to change as well, unless the new owner's name is also matt?).

stay away from me - part ... oh who am i kidding

for dinner tonight, I made and ate: pea soup, a salad with fava beans, young lamb shoulder chops with roasted potatoes and caramelized green beans (possibly the easiest and best way to cook them).

I was going to say that you all should stay away from me for the next day or two, like a public service announcement (I think I did this before), but then I realize that, one, nobody reads this, and two, I don't know anybody here; so who gives a fuck that I will smell like ... oh we will find out.

oh no,

I think this Geithner guy is going fuck shit up worse than it already is.

WTF is this

I just read the 'Postscript' in this issue of new yorker on michael jackson, and it was really really fucking horrible.

we all know michael jackson was probably not a saint, and his life was getting a little out of control in the last 20 years or so. but this fucking piece focus on the copy right dispute around 'thriller' MJ had with Dibango.

really, seriously, you have to focus almost the entire page of one of the greatest pop musician of our time on one thing? I really lost a lot of respect for this publication, and as for Kelefa, narrow minded mother fucker, you suck.

governors gone wild - she needs to go away

so tina fey is resigning from her post as the governor of alaska. but most say this is not the last we will see of her, in contrary, some think she might be stepping up her efforts to fuck things up in the rest of the states. it is really hard for me to believe that there are people out there who think she will be good as anything more than just a mom who occasionally hunt wild animals or maybe a small town mayor. I know this statement may sound sexist, but regardless of her gender, I just don't think she qualify to run for state, not to mention national office. The fact that she is quitting now is the perfect example, she can't finish one term as a governor, how can we expect her to do more in other capacity? I don't think this can be stressed more, the people in alaska voted for her to be governor for 4 years, once that happened, she should assume the duty to serve the people of alaska, for 4 years. Now, either things are not going the way she wanted to, or she is got ambitions outside of alaska, either way, she should never be forgiven for ditching the people who believed her, trusted her. Thus, she should never be trusted with another public office. she really just needs to go away.

governors gone wild - time is changing

so the governor of south Carolina, Sanford, the dude who was banging a Argentinian lady behind his wife's back, is saying that he will stay in office. And I have not heard people being outraged by this.

everyone makes mistakes, sure, and sleeping with a lady that is not your wife is not a crime, but if someone capable of lying to his love ones (wife, sons, family), I think he is capable of doing that to the fine people of the state of south Carolina.

Clinton was impeached unsuccessfully when he was caught banging an intern, I am not saying Sanford needs to be impeached, but this thing feels like a non-issue compare to the mood back then.

I think it has to be said that if he was a democrat, the fox news and other conservative news outlet would be calling for his blood, and make a huge deal out of it. the reaction to Sanford's deed from the more liberal news media has been pretty tame in comparison to that scenario, perhaps they have more important things to report.