Day 84: All Asia

Thank goodness for Mariposa.  The best part of waking up... is waking up early enough to go have coffee and chill a bit before work.

Otherwise you're screwed.

Somehow, All Asia played in to my day two days in a row.  The first (as you'll know if you religiously read all my blog posts... which you should NOT) was yesterday, pre-fireworks.  The second was today, post-work, pre-live-band-karaoke.  One of the few times recently that E. and I have carved out some chatterbox one-on-one time that didn't involve riding in a car (for 12+ hours at a time).

It was, of course, again ruined by the music, but luckily better music was in our near future.  However, first, on the way to Asgard, in the same damn plaza as yesterday, we again run into my former dorm-mate from college!  This is getting uncanny, so it seemed like kismet that she should join us for karaoke at Asgard -- which (about an hour later) she did.  Excellent.

Asgard was dead tonight until it just wasn't -- nearly everyone showed at the same time.  D. showed with JRock about the same time as C. and party came in for her birthday.  Everyone was having a smashing time (on multiple levels), I sang some crazy-sappy tunes ("Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" and Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours"), and the night was LBK as it should be.  The night ended with some falafel, some funny lines, and some funnier moments. All that was missing was ... you know what? I don't think anything was missing.

Day 34: Tú y Yo

I was so lucky today to be able to spend the day with one of my best friend's family (and in particular, his mom) while I wasn't actually able to spend Mother's Day with my own mom (granted, we celebrated a week early while I was home).  E. and I drove out to Waltham, where his parents recently moved from Puerto Rico, so that I could see their new place (sidebar: Waltham is amazing!) and so that we could all drive to Tú y Yo, a fantastic Mexican restaurant in Somerville.  Thanks to me we were astonishingly late, missing brunch entirely and "relegating" ourselves to their dinner menu, but the afternoon was exceedingly pleasant and it seemed so relaxing and effortless that I am left feeling that all in attendance enjoyed it.

The menu is amazing -- nearly everything sounds delicious, despite some mildly sketchy "pre-hispanic" era dishes involving cockroaches (I have not yet been quite brave enough to try them but it's on the bucket list!).  The Mexican coffee is also tops -- typically I am a puritan in this respect, taking good coffee purely black, but their coffee comes with a blend of amazingly tasty and aromatic spicy cinnamon-y goodness (plus some other magical ingredients unbeknownst to me) and is perfect as is.  After br-inner it was back to work for me, meaning that I finally got caught up on hours and feel that the next week is starting off on the right foot.

Day 13: Bloc 11

This past year I have finally felt like the pieces that make up my understanding of the jigsaw puzzle of Cambridge and surrounding cities have been clicking more rapidly. Not only can I navigate Harvard Square (for example), but I know how it connects with Fresh Pond, Inman, and Central. And recently, I'd say that I can add Union Square to the puzzle. I've been there several times, but mostly by car or perhaps even bike. Today I walked, and I must admit that I was shocked at how short a walk it was and a bit embarrassed at how rarely I get up there.

In particular, I was looking for a new coffee place that would be good for studying, and a friend reminded me of Bloc 11. I had been there before, but not in ages, and I didn't remember that they had (gasp!) outdoor seating. Since it has been so gorgeous, this made my day. It also turns out that their coffee is pretty good, too :).

Another thing learned today pre-studying was that at 3pm, it is nearly impossible to find lunch on a Sunday in between Central and Harvard - Cellar, Plough & Stars, Mass Ave cafe all out. However, People Republik will serve you -- but at that point you might as well just walk back the way you came (either Harvard or Central would do) because although People's Republik is a lovely place to enjoy a beverage, they haven't quite figured out how to accompany those with pub fare. Not hating, though, I promise.

Day 8: Toscanini's

This past September, I moved into an apartment right smack dab in the middle of Central Square. It also happened to be above my favorite coffee (and ice cream) shop, for better or for worse (I think for better) -- Toscanini's.

For months, I didn't mind the fact that I couldn't find my old coffee maker after the move, or that my second coffee maker was still in its original packing on top of a shelf in an office at school, because I could just grab a cup-o-joe on my way out the door (see today's cup above). A few months ago, I finally retrieved the mini-coffee-maker that was in the school office, only to have the plug melt due to its proximity to our very feisty gas stove.

This evening, I was making dinner (carbonara and salad) in another apartment in the same building of my old apartment on Plymouth Street. When I moved in with two other MIT graduate students three summers ago, it just so happened that four of our friends (*also* graduate students at MIT) were moving in to an adjacent unit in the same building (we shared a beautiful back yard -- hopefully there will be a picture of that once summer comes for real! -- with an incredible garden and a pluot tree). Anyhow, I was cooking with a friend who still lives there, and I remembered that I still had some things in the basement and popped down to see what was there. Lo and behold, I found my original coffee maker.

After transporting it and a few other items upstairs, my friend kindly offered to carry the coffee maker out to my car. Mere seconds after I had expressed that I thought this was very nice, he picked up the appliance and the glass pot slid out from the coffee maker and shattered all over the ground (I really can't express how perfect the comedic timing of all this was). I burst out laughing of course, because really I was still ahead -- I now have one working coffee maker with no glass pot, and one coffee maker with a bunk cord but a perfectly acceptable (if smaller) glass pot.

The upshot of all of this is that I have decided that Toscanini's must be conspiring against me -- perhaps I am just not meant to own a working coffee maker right now, but rather to bask in the bliss of no-hassle Dancing Goats each morning.