A Quick Restaurant Review - Parish

Last year, for the first time in four or five years, Shade and I didn't spend her birthday together. She'd just moved to DC from Boston, had just started her residency and the idea of flying in for one or two days just wasn't in the cards. I thought we'd ended that little streak when she hit me up this year and let me know that she was slipping into town this year to do her usual, I was like yeah.

Then the rains came. And came and came. Then it rained some more. And her plan had been to eat her favorite little hideaway, Canoe. With it's garden right on the river.

Yeah.

Did I mention the rain? Did I mention it rained so hard it flooded and shut down I-20, I-285, and the I75/85 downtown connector? THE three major arteries of the city? Whole neighborhoods underwater? And did I mention Canoe with it's garden is, er, was "riverside"? I did? Oh. Well, let's just say that Canoe probably wasn't going to be the spot this year. Probably not.

So Sunday, we dropped into this Spot in the Virgina Highlands called Parish, as the fill-in location. It's the kind of restaurant that Sporty and I would have hit in our heyday, a little off the beaten path but still cool enough to charm your pants off. I had originally invited Schmoopy along when it was at Canoe, but I demurred, as I had also been supposed to slide into her birthday party the night before and had fallen asleep with Tort Law in my lap. I didn't figure she'd be too happy I'd went to one and not the other. Next time we go to brunch I'm taking her there...as kind of a makeup trip. I'm a bad friend.

Parish is one of those spots you're not sure of. The interior looks like the building has been their a hundred years, but the exterior looks brand new. The walls are a mix of raw brick and peeled plaster, and the ceiling is a medley of tin tiles that looked like they were salvaged from an abandoned building. It's supposed to be a New Orleans theme, and it looks like they nailed it. And if I hadn't been reading every home renovation magazine and and watched HGTV off and on before goign to law school, I would have much like my dining companions been wondering "how did they do that?" Don't get me wrong, it's a good look, but it's just a look. Also note, because the sound echoes off the brick, the din is gonna be a little thick once the place gets full. We mercifully had a fairly slim late brunch crowd.

The actual food on the other hand is real. The Belgian Waffle with the brown butter, powdered sugar and maple syrup was great. I should have ordered two. The waitress thoughtfully had it brought out first, unlike some places where all the food arrives at once. Shade, myself and two other all got a taste and agreed that somebody needed to go steal the recipe. The food emerged a few scants seconds after we'd finished, a testament to the kitchen's timing and even the two people who arrived late and ordered late had their food arrive quickly. The cook is a professional, not one of the many food burners that infest far too many a restaurant. Considering our orders varied between standard fare, omelets, eggs Benedict, shrimp and grits and a few other things, we really had worked him out.

There was supposed to be a picture here, but my little camera sucks.

The conversation on the other hand was a little too varied. The side debate of health care and big government turned into conversations of home security and the recent Atlanta flooding. The sound issue made it hard for one end of the table to talk to the other, so we were kind of stretched out and couldn't be as inclusive as some other spots. That and I met the other black person who isn't an Obama fan. Imagine that.

The last time we gathered for Shade's birthday brunch, it lasted well into the time the restaurant was setting up for dinner. We repeated this time, only after we'd taken the requisite pictures and had the one more conversation, we looked up and found ourselves in an empty restaurant. I mean no other patrons, no staff, just us. We considered turning off the music and the lights before we left. I've been places before where I have been told to "lock up" when I leave, but this just struck me as unusual.

All in all, Parish is a gem. I just wouldn't expect to be too conversational if you arrive and the place is full. I understand, but didn't go down and see, that they have a nice little specialty market downstairs from the restaurant, which a couple of my party breezed into afterward. The neighborhood is nice, the food is good and if I can get this law stuff off the ground, this is the area where I'll be moving to when I get the chance. If you get a chance, swing by and hit Parish. I know I will again.

A Quick Weekend Recap - Redundant

Ramblings Post #62
You wake up ready to go get it done. Then you run out of toothpaste, toilet paper and you breakfast biscuit looks like they gave you the one they dropped in the back. I mean it still has the bugs on it. But the cute girl smiles at you right before your car gets towed, so it's not a total loss. Okay, none of this happened to me, but just think....

Let's Recap from last week...

I got the TV guy coming Saturday morning [He didn't show], a seminar for law school from 10am to 4pm, [Which was nice, informative and educational] my alma mater is playing in the GA Dome [ Didn't get to go - SEMINAR - but I heard the band was on fire. And I think we won too.] , a old partner of mine is riding in from out of town around 6pm or so [He didn't show] , Schmoopy is having her birthday party[ I owe her an apology, I fell asleep waiting for it's late starting time], my old partner wants to go to Old School Saturday[if he wasn't here, I wasn't about to....], the city will be on fire as everybody and their cousin will be throwing a party for the FAMU-TSU classic [ Seminar, study attempt, sleep, what happened?], and Sunday morning Shade will be in town...only Canoe (her favorite restaurant) got flooded so we're scrambling for a new spot to have her birthday party, [went to a spot in the Va-Hi] my Civil Procedure writing assignment needs to get done [er, and still needs to be done], I still have my regular homework [still have bits and pieces], and somewhere in there...I might want to go the bathroom [May I suggest Charmin, good stuff].

Bar Chatter

Bar Chatter #5
When it's not enough to make a post, but deserves to go out to the world... it's just Bar Chatter.

Is it true? Are Crunchy Cheez Doodles making a comeback. After discovering a cache at my local grocery, and buying all three bags left, I noticed that one of the packages mentioned that a New new and improved (yet again?) edition was coming out. Or they were changing the bag. Or something. I just hope it means the store will carry more. I'm that far from writing the company again and asking why the local supplier won't stock an obvious seller.



Will my Doodles ever come back to me?

And can Kellogg's Dig'em Smacks be an adequate substitute?

News from the Desert

Ramblings Post #61
Sometimes we make decisions based upon a careful thought out and well reasoned set of facts, sometimes we make spur of the moment calls, and other times we make the best of a bad situation. I'm not sure which one law school is, but I do know that it has been both good and bad on more levels than should be reasonable. And thus, we soldier on.

They haven't kicked me out yet!

Some aspects of my law classes are finally starting to come together. In reading for the last few classes the cases no longer appear to be some sort of secret law club hieroglyphics and are turning into actual discernible and understandable words. I even formed learned opinions about the past few constitutional issues, so much so that I was giving more commentary than answer in class.

Huzzah!

Picture from Photobucket...and that's all I know.

Of course when my RP was in law school, he said it was right before the end of the first semester when the light clicked on for him. Granted he was going full time, so he isn't as distracted as I am by the rigors and manufactured hysteria of my workplace. Sliding into the work mind space, sometimes I think our people believe we're overnighting water to people on fire. Which for the record, probably isn't the most efficient way to do that. But everyone seems to think we work in seconds, not the usual hours that anything actually takes. Or what any activity usually entails. If one more sales person says the client is hysterical, and when you get them on the phone they're actually quite pleasant.

You just don't know.

School seems at once easier AND harder at the same time. I did find out some of my study habits were perhaps flawed - I would read the case before the case supplemental, when I should have been reading the supplemental before the case (that way I know what I'm looking at) - and that some my exam prep exercises were severely lacking. I need to order the books with the example tests next week. But then the tips did come from a full time student, who has vastly more time than I to get some of that done. I'm still thinking about switching the full time if I'm still in the program next summer. Yeah, its still like that.

Life's funny. And then it's not.

Barkeep. Some of the Maker's Mark and a touch of Sprite.

Let's see, this weekend...

Ramblings Post #60
Every now and then, everything comes to a head. You have to go in for the interview, the test date actually arrives, you actually have to open your eyes who see who that is snoring, and so forth and so on. It's just generally unusual that all of it happens at once. And then there is that one instance that it does. And it's funny because it happens to somebody else. This is both not and is this case.


I got the TV guy coming Saturday morning, a seminar for law school from 10am to 4pm, my alma mater is playing in the GA Dome, a old partner of mine is riding in from out of town around 6pm or so, Schmoopy is having her birthday party, my old partner wants to go to Old School Saturday, the city will be on fire as everybody and their cousin will be throwing a party for the FAMU-TSU classic, and Sunday morning Shade will be in town...only Canoe (her favorite restaurant) got flooded so we're scrambling for a new spot to have her birthday party, my Civil Procedure writing assignment needs to get done, I still have my regular homework, and somewhere in there...I might want to go the bathroom.

Did I leave out anything?

Funny. Last weekend all I had to do was read my homework and eat every so often. Oh the difference a few days makes.

Barkeep, let me a Crunk Juice with a shot of Red Bull.

Old Age

Ramblings Post #59
We get little signs as we get older. A twinge where there used to not be a twinge. Somebody calls you sir or ma'am, for no reason. The first gray hair, I got that one at 25 for the record. Suddenly, ten shots of tequila has the reeling, where twenty used to just be the start. And you realize that cute little thing in the tight pants that you'd like to introduce to your "game" is young enough to be your daughter --- and she's drinking in the same bar you are. There are a lot of signs. Damnit.

Yesterday old age arrived. I noticed the beginnings of a double chin.

If there is anything that makes you suddenly realize you need to take thine ass to the gym, it's looking in the mirror and seeing the start of that extra little roll of fat under your chin. The roll of fat on your hips you're used to. You've learned designer camouflage. Now you're trying to figure out how you'd look in an ascot, and thinking it might not be that bad.

I had been waffling on tightening up my diet: Adding the salads I'd started skipping back into the mix, going back to the bran cereal, cutting way back on the carbs....but have you ever tasted fresh hot fries? Or had chocolate chip fudge brownies that a still kinda soft and warm? Well I have and since I'm not working out for the moment, those snacks are looking at condo prices in my love handles. And since some old acquaintances have started pasting old photos.. and I looked stuffed and bloated in a few of them... this is not a new problem. I can see why I've avoided cameras and pictures and all manner of preserving for posterity.

It is singularly depressing.

I've done short term adjustments before: The juice week, low carbs, brief diet changes... but short term isn't gonna get it.

As many times as I've complained - whined, lamented, etc - about how women are a lot more visual than folks want to admit I'm letting a situation I can control with a little will power slowly become a a real problem. I dream of one day taking off my shirt to get into the pool and having the women look at me like a fresh grilled pork chop. With BBQ sauce. That hungry look in their eyes, that says "I need to gets me some of that." And I may have to cut back a lot of things, but I will get there.

Salads. Cutting carbs. More fruit. Already cut out the sodas. Get back to the gym.

I is gonna make it.

And this time, I mean it.

Barkeep. Pear Juice. And two rolls of toilet paper and a good book. And a magazine.