Al's Corner

Free Popcorn!

2007-06-04T13:10:00.001-07:00

So for the past month, a friend and myself have been going to the movies at Franklin Mills every Tuesday. And for those who aren't too familiar with Franklin Mills, it is located in North Philly, approximately a 20 minute drive, and on Tuesdays is a $5 ticket with a free small popcorn. Thus, it is the clear winner of theatres when it comes to poor college students.

This past Tuesday we saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. In my opinion, I felt the movie was only just entertaining. Despite it's rather long run time of 168 minutes, the movie itself attempted to cover too many things and therefore somehow felt too short for number of plot twists... if that made sense. To clarify, they should have made four movies in total elaborating on the turn of events and condensing the movie length.

Regardless, I did still thoroughly enjoy it and do recommend it for mere entertainment value.

And once again, Keira Knightley gets to crossdress...

Waffles!

2007-05-21T11:47:00.000-07:00

"We could stay up late, swap manly stories, and in the morning, I'm making waffles!" - Donkey, Shrek

If you have yet to notice, waffles will in fact be the topic of blogging for the day and for quite a compelling reason. Some people call me a philathropist, for I truly try to make the world a better place. And chosen medium is with food. This morning I stumbled upon a fun little establishment on 17th between Sansom and Walnut Street by the name of Bonte. Situated below street level, it is a small coffee cafe distinguished by their token Belgium Waffles from which the name is derived. Now these waffles are made fresh from what they say are traditional imported ingredients. I may not know terribly much about Belgium fare, but I do know that the waffle served was perhaps one of the best waffles I have ever had the privilege of indulging myself with. While they can be with merely powedered sugar, I and many of the regulars recommend some sort of addition. The most popular appeared to be a chocolate dunk, but there were many a waffle with such toppings like blueberries, nuts, whipped cream. Yes, they may sound similar to the iHOP's but don't be mistaken. These waffles and Bonte are the real deal; they are quite simply wafflicious...

And for those of you not familiar with my prose... it quite differs when I'm writing under the influence of really, really good food.

Spring Jam!

2007-05-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

So next Saturday Jack's Mannequin is performing for our annual Spring Jam. (Fun fact, Andrew McMahon [third from the left] also fronted Something Corporate.) And for those of you who aren't terribly familiar with Spring Jam, it's basically a week of random festivities... everything from Volleyball tournaments to Casino night. Considering my friend Jen is generally obsessed with Jack's Mannequin, I believe my attendence will be a definate. For everyone who isn't a Drexel student, you can still come. The concert is only $5 per person.

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In recent news... Friday before last I had my first First Friday experience. The first Friday of every month, most of the galleries in the city are open free of charge. And for the poor, hungry college students, they also almost always have free food and beverages if you arrive early. To be entirely honest, I thought it was really cool. My friend Samir found a painting he loved: it consisted of random child toys celebrating the stabbing of a teddy bear. He said it was like Caesar. I said it was disturbing.

Friday night culminated in us once again frequenting Aeromatic at 2nd and Chestnut. And once again, the hummus topped with shirazi salad was simply amazing.

Absolutely Hysterical

2007-04-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

Last night my friends and I went to see the Drexel Football Team perform. For those of you not familiar, Drexel doesn't actually have a football team and instead has an improv group by the same name. And I just have to say, they were absolutely hysterical. It's the second time I've seen them perform, and each time it honestly just gets better. And now they're having auditions for the fall. I really want to tryout... alas I've confronted myself with the simple fact that I'm simply not that amusing.

In unrelated news... Famous Dave's BBQ has some of the best BBQ I've ever tasted. Located on Columbus Blvd, I highly recommend it. I'm more than likely dragging my friends there sometime. Perhaps after our IKEA expedition... conveniently located next door...

Dining Daze...

2007-04-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

So did I mention that my friend, Nancy, has an eating problem? Basically she eats everything she see. But it works for her... somehow she's still the tiniest girl I know. This, my friends, is what I describe as jealousy.

Anyway, now that Nancy's back from coop and is living in Philly once again, we've been going out to every posh new restaurant Nancy can find. And she spends more time on restaurant sites than she does on facebook. And we all know how much time everyone spends on facebook...

Thursday we went to Apamate, a spanish tapas restaurant at 16th and South. It was cute, to say the least. The tapas were around 3 to 4 bucks... not bad, even when you get 8 or so. But the best part of the meal was the chorizos. In short, they were SO GOOOOOD! Six dollars were never better spent. They came with a dark melted dipping chocolate, and were simply orgasmic. (I probably should've put a PG-13 disclaimer at the top... haha) I highly recommend visiting. Apamate is a very small establishment, and both the owners were working when we went, and Nancy and I were able to meet both of them and see the kitchen. Also, byo... (now it's rated R or so...)

Afterwards we took a trek down to 2nd and Chestnut... quite a hike, but enough to burn off all the calories. There we made a stop at Aromatic, a persian hooka and gyro restaurant. After dinner all we wanted was some hummas and pita. And that's what we got. Just in portions five-times larger than we expected. At least it lasted a couple hours. Once again, the restaurant is off the beaten path. It was the first persian restaurant in the city, and has just splendid service. Ask for Helen, the owner, and she'll treat you well. We're going back tonight for more food.

Now all I need is Nancy's metabolism.

10 Second Intermission

2007-04-16T22:05:00.000-07:00

Broken umbrella, or yellow poncho?

There's only one good answer...
I hate the rain.

Apparently Diet Coke isn't Caffeine Free

2007-04-16T21:47:00.000-07:00

So once again insomnia sets in and this time coinciding with a case of ADD... at least that's my excuse for putting off my English paper.

I've already written about transitioning back from coop, but I still feel terribly aloof about it all. While I have considerably more down time, it's hard for me to focus on a simple task such as studying, or doing research. Instead I find myself gravitating to anything that can pass the time... my latest deviation being to Center City.

My friend Nancy and I took a trip down to the city the other day. It was nice to show her around; she's been doing coop in new for the past half a year, and I've been getting better acclimated to the city since coop began. Our first stop was to my favorite coffee house, Village. It's about a 30 minute walk to 12th and Locust from campus (my preferred mode of transportation since I stopped going to the gym), but we were feeling a bit lazy that day, so we ended up just subwaying it. And that was probably a good idea, because after our coffee stint we just ended up wandering around the neighborhood for the next few hours. Even though I felt like I knew the area fairly well, Nancy and I ended up discovering quaint grocery store and cute tapas bars... already we have a date planned for Wednesday to go eat at the latter. I'm personally visiting the former to pick up some fantastic (blood orange and other herb infused) EVOO I tasted. If you haven't gathered at this point, my relationship with Nancy basically gravitates around food. And for two fairly tiny (her) and lanky (me) people, we pack it in. Although I did blame my freshmen 15 on her presence. It wasn't until she left for her coop in New York that I exercised it off. Oh well, I guess I'm entitled to a sophomore slump... or lump.

Easter Weekend

2007-04-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

For once I wish Drexel was like the other religiously affiliated schools so we could get time off for the Easter season, but alas...

Regardless, Sunday was nice. Like normal, mother cooked an obscene amount for Easter supper. Clearly it's one of the perks of going to college close to home: it's never an issue if I ever want to take a trip home for one day. And it's particularly nice if it involves food.

Spring?

2007-04-06T11:51:00.000-07:00

It flurried yesterday.
I need a heavier coat.

A Week of Firsts...

2007-04-06T05:04:00.000-07:00

So classes started this week... and it's the first time I've been in class in about nine months. And trust me, it takes a while getting re-acclamated after that extent of time. In fact, it took me around an hour-and-a-half just to write a page in response to some reading. Sometime along my coop I somehow forgot the use of topic sentences, how to use a paragraph, and what exactly commas are used for, <- that would be a comma splice apparently.

Yet regardless, classes are going superbly. Once again I somehow have the rather eccentric professors. And by eccentric I actually mean a little crazy. And I love it! It definitely makes class interesting, and surprisingly fun to attend; even in dull subjects like business law.

Since this is a week of firsts, I guess I should mention that I moved into a new apartment. I moved in Sunday of this week... so in a couple days it will be one full week that I've been here. I absolutely adore my new place: it's so much larger that my old one, in a quieter neighborhood, and closer to campus than the old one. By far my most favorite attraction here would be my new deck on the second floor... I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can actually put it to use.

And that's a good point. What happened to the short and t-shirt weather?!?! I'm probably a bit peeved only because I already packed my heavy coats... hypothermia here I come! Hooray!