I Suck At Visiting My Friend

I think I have become quite "South Shore" with my old age. I never used to be that way. Quincy just seems far these days for me, which is sad because Quincy is really not that far from where I live. For anyone curious, I live in Norwell. If Quincy seems far now, you can only imagine how far the city of Boston may seem to me.

In keeping up with the Boston-themed weekend (as I visited Karen's Nana at a nursing home in Boston on Saturday), my friend (Hot Amy) invited us over to her new place on Sunday. Hot Amy and her husband (Mark) live on Beacon Hill in Boston. Since getting married, they have been working on getting their apartment "ready" for visitors. So for the second straight day, Karen, my seventeen month old daughter (Briana), and I headed into Boston. Luckily, I suck at visiting my friend. And just so you know, carrying a seventeen month old while walking up a hill... not as easy as you think.

It was a good visit. I really haven't talked with Hot Amy in probably well over a year. Granted, I went to her wedding and the annual cookout that her parents have on the fourth of July, but those times were more of a salutatory conversation of "congratulations" or "hi" or something like that. I don't really remember the last time I hung around and just joked around with her.

And truthfully, I didn't get a chance to do much of that at her apartment. As is common these days, either Karen or I have to make sure Briana is not getting into things when she shouldn't. So one of us always has to keep an eye out for her. I've gotten pretty used to it from my weekly get together with my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). Needless to say, I spent much of the time cooped up with Briana and Hot Amy's sister's (Terri) daughter in one of the rooms watching them as they screamed out to the pedestrians below.

When I did make it out of the room, though, it was nice to laugh it up with my friends (Jen and Andrea) who were also there. And I know some of you may be curious, Andrea has just completed the third season of Friday Night Lights. But all in all, it was a good time. I even got to see my "mom" (Shirley) again. There is a story to that, of course, but I'll divulge it at some other time.

I Suck At Not Your Average Joe's

It has been quite some time since Karen and I (and our seventeen month old daughter, Briana) grabbed a bite to eat at Not Your Average Joe's. I love Not Your Average Joe's. In general, I find the food there very delicious.

I guess you could say that I suck at Not Your Average Joe's because I haven't been there in awhile. Yesterday to my surprise, Karen asked if we wanted to go out for dinner to Not Your Average Joe's. She didn't have to ask me twice.

Apparently, the occasion was due to the fact that Karen received a gift card from one of her friends (Shirley) and current boss of our friend (Hot Amy) for helping out with a family matter. It was very nice and very thoughtful of Shirley. So thank you, Shirley!

Anyway, it felt good to go to the restaurant again. Sadly, our favorite waitperson (Renee) was not working yesterday. It has been some time. So hopefully Renee still works there.

Nevertheless, I had a good time at Not Your Average Joe's and the food did not disappoint. One of the specials on the menu was "free form lasagna". Now I normally wouldn't order lasagna at a restaurant. Intrigued by the term "free form", I decided to give the lasagna a try.

The lasagna was absolutely delicious. I was expecting a big glob of lasagna ingredients on a plate. (Hence, the "free form".) For anyone curious, I had actually envisioned a high school lunch lady scooping a big heaping mound of slop and plopping it on a tray. But I was so wrong. The lasagna was actually shaped like a rectangle... on a rectangular plate. The free form lasagna almost reminded me of a crepe or wrap folded over. I thought it was quite visually appealing, and it tasted great. It was chock full of vegetables and spinach. Yum!

Briana even enjoyed parts of the lasagna. Of course, she seems to enjoy eating anything edible... or non-edible for that matter. Needless to say, I would definitely recommend the free from lasagna.

All in all, it was good to get out of the house and enjoy dinner at Not Your Average Joe's yesterday. Thank you again, Shirley!