Pickled

Excellent work, Poppy Ott.


Yesterday I received my first birthday card of the season. It was pickle-inspired and from Michnya, one of my oldest and dearest friends.

I don't know when this started, but we've been getting each other pickle cards for our birthdays for a few years now. It's both enjoyable and a challenge to find a card with a pickle on it, let alone birthday-themed.

Michnya's birthday is in a month, but I'm already ruminating on pickled papers...

Let me tell you how it will be...

Have you filed your taxes yet? If not, you probably should... today.

Call Maker Update

"Do you love me?" "Eh..."


Also a quick note that Gin and Jews was discussed on TBTL this past Wednesday as part of the Call Makers segment. Very exciting to get that call, and Ricky enjoyed listening to the segment as well. Hopefully Gin and Jews will spread to the West Coast.

Luke did bring up the issue that it might be slightly insensitive to have a theme night called Gin and Jews, which is fair. I'm happy to report, though, that the in studio guest that day, Deborah of Neptune Coffee, gave me the thumb's up. She also gave some recomendations for future musical/cocktail evenings. (so for that, I think if you're in Seattle you should only get your coffee from Neptune Coffee).

Unfortunately at the end I sound like a space cadet since I couldn't hear Luke over Skype anymore and there was a 9-alarm fire going on down the street from me. You can hear it here. (the date of the show is Wed, April 7)


L'chaim!

On the prowl for a patio

I'm just a girl, looking for a little patio to call my own...

The weather is getting nicer, and unlike the last two years in Salem, I don't have a porch to call my own. For the last two years, I had a private porch where I grew all my herbs and flowers, and at night I could sip drinks and read on while watching the sunset. (I know I know... "boo hoo I don't have a porch!")

So I think this year will be my hunt for a porch or patio to sip drinks on on warm nights and enjoy the Summer. I caught this bug a few weeks ago at Great Scott in Allston with my friend Dave. After a trying day at our respective jobs, we decided we needed to drink a beer while sitting on patio furniture. It was lovely. Newbury St dining also keeps luring me in during lunch, but I don't have the funds and time to keep that lifestyle up.

There are a few candidates for my patio. Unfortunately, my first choice in a patio (Edgewater Cafe) has closed down. Here are the candidates with pros and cons, in no particular order:

Gulu Gulu Cafe, Salem
Pros: Good food and imported beers. Can listen to the bands playing indoors. Open all day long, so I can have breakfast on a "patio". Short walk from where I live. Near Modern Millie's, for post-breakfast consignment shopping.
Cons: Service is slow. It's not really a patio, inasmuch as it's a chained off section of sidewalk.

Rockefellas, Salem
Pros: Big area for sitting. Big drink menu that's decently priced. Also close to where I live.
Cons: I feel like the scene here is more for moms who are out with their girlfriends and left their kids and husbands at home. Again, not really a patio, more of a chained off area of sidewalk.

Tavern In the Square (TITS), Salem
Pros: A burger stuffed with bacon and blue cheese. Big drinks for not that much money. Waffle fries. Also down the street from where I live. Open until 11pm. More of a formal patio than other places. Pithy nickname.
Cons: LOUD. Could be very crowded, as it's the first summer of patio-living. Kind of chain-y. A burger stuffed with bacon and blue cheese (I'm in a wedding in August, can't be tempted too much!)

Murphy's, Salem
Pros: Dirt cheap. Wing nights, burger nights. Tucked away and fenced in from the street.
Cons: I hear if you don't get there early enough, there's a cover. Every night I've been there, it's been a bit "yah dude!"


Right now, there's no clear winner. Are there any other patios in Salem I should check out? Should I just live on Newbury St after hours and go broke? Or should I go to Gloucester every night and just hit up Madfish?

Pouring out some blackberry jam

Got Biscuits?


I saw on my friend Michelle's wall some sad news coming out of Nashville. It seems The Biscuit Lady Carol Fay Ellison has passed away after 3 1/2 weeks in the hospital at the age of 48. Man! She seemed like such a lovely lady and a riot.

She also made the best biscuits I've ever had in my life. Readers may remember my failed biscuit attempt a few months back. She truly had a biscuit gift, so much so that she went up against Bobby Flay in a throwdown. She lost (which I still think is BS) but still kept her title as The Loveless Cafe's Biscuit Lady.

So thanks so much, Carol Fay, for one of the best meals in my life. When I return to Nashville, I will eat at your restaurant and think fondly of your culinary gifts.

All I want to do is sleep and watch Chronicle

Zoning out with his one true love... coffee.


This is a quick birthday shout out to my wonderful boyfriend Ricky, who is 28 today. We'll be eating cupcakes and delicious food later on to celebrate.


That is all.

The balcony is *not* closed

Over the weekend, Ricky showed me Roger Ebert's blog post about At the Movies being canceled, but that in spite of this, he and his wife are still moving forward for their own Syndicated film review program.

It was a great blog article, and showed Ebert's passion for the program and movies all over again. He does not blame anyone involved in the current version of the show for the cancelation, but rather what television is morphing into. He's not deterred, though, and has many new ideas with how to get film criticism, news, and passion to the masses. I'll be eagerly awaiting this new show.

I've always been a big fan of Ebert's writing, and in light of his cancer battles that has rendered him voiceless, it soars even more. His movie reviews -- albeit possibly kinder -- are elegant and thoughtful. Even his twitter account is always impressive reading in 140 characters or less. I'd also recommend finding the Esquire interview with him that was published a month or so ago, great reading that left me misty.

And so in closing, I leave you with my first introduction to Ebert and At The Movies, the Sesame Street parody that left Ebert and the late Gene Siskel battling it out about fairy tales after Oscar introduces the idea of a Thumbs Sideways.