Cheese, Please.

MmMm...DiBruno's!!!!

I decided that this year I am going to try to stay away from the beach. STAY AWAY FROM THE BEACH??? Yep. Stay away. I figure that with all of the sun that I am forced to get in Costa Rica by being in the water, that it would be so horrible for my health to just SIT on the beach in Jersey. Therefore, this summer I am trying to limit my sun intake and keep the beach bronzing to a minimum. With this said, Shawn and I decided to head to Philly for the day as opposed to a day plopped in a beach chair at the {not so sunny anyways} Sumner Ave. We obviously had Vietnamese for lunch. We skipped the Vietnam Restaurant, and the Vietnam Palace for the place on 11th street that I really love. Shawnie wasn't feeling the Green Papaya Salad yesterday, and I was torn between Vermecilli Bun {because I love the spring roll topping) and Pho - so our order was a bit of a deviation from the usual. I had a spring roll appetizer {so delicious} followed by Pho, which Shawn and I both had. We decided that the overcast day, and my vicious head cold, called for some spicy soup. For those of you that aren't familir with "PHO", it is Vietnam's national soup.

Phở is served in a bowl with white rice noodles in clear beef broth, with thin cuts of beef (steak, fatty flank, lean flank, brisket). The broth is generally made by simmering beef (and sometimes chicken) bones, oxtails, flank steak, charred onion, and spices, taking several hours to prepare. Seasonings include Saigon cinnamon, star anise, charred ginger, and cloves. The dish is garnished with ingredients such as green onions, white onions, coriander leaves (cilantro), ngò gaiThai basil, fresh Thai chili peppers, lemon or lime wedges, and bean sprouts. Phở can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The noodles are usually picked up with chopsticks and placed onto a soup spoon. The spoon is then dunked into the broth and topped with meat/condiments and eaten. Vietnamese phở restaurants usually retain the cultural practice of not delivering the bill to a customer's table, since it is considered rude—in the Vietnamese culture, it is seen as a way of trying to rush the customer out the door.

When they place my bucket sized bowl of Pho in front of me, I begin doctoring it up to my taste. First I rip up some thai basil into it, throw in a few slices of jalapeno, squeeze two big chunks of lime juice into the bowl, and throw in some bean sprouts for crunch. Then I add in a big of Sriracha hot chili sauce and some {plum} Hoisin Sauce. NGON! {this means "delicious" in Vietnamese}. Being the beverage queen that I am, I surrounded myself with a glass of water, a never ending cup of hot tea, and an ICED VIETNAMESE COFFEE! MmMmMm sweetened condensed milk and strong, fresh espresso over ice :)

Our Vietnamese indulgence was followed by a trip to the famous {ahem, expensive} DIRBUNO's. If I was to die tomorrow, I hope that heaven is DiBruno's. It has all of my favorite things: cheese, bread, olives, salami's, spreads, dips, crostini's and MORE! UGHHHH..love it. Love it. LOVE IT. If you don't live in the Tri-State area, and haven't had the glorious opportunity to step foot into this small, delicacy filled heaven then you can check out their website,

www.dibruno.com

Shawn says that I get all "cracked out" the second I step food into the shop, and you know what - I'll agree. So many smells and delectable aromas, I don't know where to start. Did I mention that this place is always jam packed too -- which stresses me out a bit, gets me excited and confuses me all the same. One day I want to go during the afternoon, on a weekday, and just sit in there and try every cheese (they are very nice about letting you sample). I spent $70 in a matter of minutes....that was MORE than I had in my %10 Play Money Envelope, damnit. I walked with a Vermont Brie, my tried and true fabulous brand of Parm Reg, some spicy Sopressta, and a pepper encrusted goat cheese. I ran next door to Claudio's (a similar store...less pompous, less expensive, but less glamorous, and purchased a bag of my favorite Rosemary crostini's! They are $2.50 cheaper here than DiBrunos...).

The rest of my day was spent with a huge smile on my face, and an empty wallet.

"A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be oversophisticated. Yet it remains, cheese, milk's leap toward immortality."
Clifton Fadiman

Today is Sunday.

Today is Sunday. I know this because Shawn has to work tomorrow, and I have no gym classes today. So today MUST be Sunday. I'm pretty sure. My {inferior} Moleskin 2009 Daily Planner should be arriving within the week, and until then I will just have to guess as to which day of the week it is (I won't even try for the date...).


Friday evening I had a lovely dinner party! It was a beautiful beautiful SPRING day, spent outside with jeans and a tshirt on, bare feet, throwing the ball for the dogs. Jeff Pace came over in the afternoon and drank some beers and we talked about surfing. Surprise surprise. Later, Catching-up with old friends was long overdue, so Emily Rosenberg & Alex, Jeff & Sharon, Dawn, Paul, Jill, Rochelle, Shawn and I hung out at my parents house (I was house sitting) and drank, ate, laughed, and told {some inappropriate} stories. It was a great time, my only regret was that we all got too drunk, too full and too sleepy...and the night had to end.

Saturday was a lounge-filled day. Shawn and I watched movies, laid on the couch, and ate chili...perfect for the crappy-ass , rainy, cold day. Turns out that Friday was NOT the coming of Spring, it was just some kind of sick joke that Mother Nature played on me. I lay bundled up all day until Shawn and I ventured out to make an appearance at my friend Maryanne's Birthday Bowling Party. Maryanne is hysterical. Truly an oddball, off in almost every sort of way, but the most fantastic, fascinating person you'll meet...especially around these parts. So it was not surprising that when we got to Mar's birthday, we were greet with "Gift Bags" (ya know, the kind that you get at birthday parties in 1st and 2nd grade).
Shawn's bag had: wooden cooking spoon, 2PAC Joint Roller, 2 bags of oatmeal, a party hat with 3 goldfish (the crackers) inside, Fantastic 4 sticker pack, among other things.
My bag had: ovulation testing kit, a miniature pecan pie, little debbie oatmeal cream pie, a party hat with 3 goldfish inside, Fantastic 4 sticker pack, decorative candy cane christmas ornament, glow-in-the-dark earrings and hair pins (perfect for the black-light-bowling-alley), and a few other odds and ends.
Shawn and I didn't bowl...I was feeling under the weather, but we enjoyed our goodies and had a few laughs. It was great to see some friendly faces that I've missed during my winter away.

Maryanne and I, Christmas 2008 Party @ Surfer Supplies, OCNJ

Today is Sunday. Yes, Sunday. I'm 100% sure now because I checked on my 'computer calendar'. Shawn and I are sitting next to eachother on our respective laptops, Shawn looking for apartments...me blogging away. We are sipping local AVALON COFFEE 'Sumataran Blend' (our latest addiction!!) and preparing for a day in PHILADELPHIA. We are going to eat some VIETNAMESE FOOOOOD (woohoo for 'Valentinos', Green Papaya Salad, and Vermacelli). Also going to stop at DiBruno's for some gourmet cheese and olives and bread...maybe some good salt, and then the fabulous spice shop two doors down for some essentials. MmMmM. Gotta love it.

Coming up, on FRIDAY APRIL 3rd, I have a show at COFFEE COMEDY in Sea Isle City. The show starts at 730pm, music starts at exactly 8pm. If everyone gets there a half hour early we can chat it up, catch up, and drink some cocktails. It's $5 at the door, and it's BYOB. Woohooo for that!! Coffee Comedy also serves up some kickass caffeinated beveragios and sweet sweets. I'm (supposed to be) playing this show with my right hand man, Christian Mahr. He has yet to return any of my 50 phone calls, or 25 texts, but that's usually the way it goes. I'm pretty confident that he will show up the night of the show. I hope. Cross my fingers.

Christian and I, December 2008, Trinity Pub, Atlantic City