No iPad joy

Here it is, May 31st and still no iPad 2 yet. Sold the old one on the 6th but was shut out at the store and had to order on line. Tentative ship date of April 11th. Learning to live without it. Difficult after being attached for 5 months. Pretty lame.

iPad

Sold my 6 month old iPad today on Ebay in anticipation of the new one. Looks to be awsome!

Mexican 5 spice shrimp and the start of Chile Toreados

Movies at the Oscars

So the wife and I saw both the 'Fighter' and 'The Town' yesterday. Both movies were excellent and both did a great job capturing the essence of the cities that the movies took place in (Lowell and Boston/Charlestown). As for my favorite, I would have to say the Fighter was mine as the ending was so charged with the Micky Warde character winning the boxing championship. At the end I wanted to jump up and cheer Warde on during the match. The Town while an excellent movie, was quite dark and I was never certain how it was going to end for the main character played by Ben Afleck, and the ending was probably a bit unrealistic. The only downside to The Town, was that it will continue to reinforce the stereotype of Charlestown. The characterization as Charlestown as a white racist community stuck in the past, like Southie, is not fair these days. There has been a significant transformation of all the surrounding Boston communities over the past 10-15 years and the current images of the past are not fair or accurate. I would highly recommend both movies but The Town left me completely drained and was glad I watched it on pay per view as opposed to a theater.

Pirates...Fail.

So the worst possible outcome to the situation with the four kidnapped Americans happened today. Apparently while the Navy was negotiating with the pirates, they decided that it would be a good idea to execute the four hostages. Very sad outcome but now we are faced with the pirates that were taken captive by the Navy. No doubt they wil be returned to the US for prosecution and certainly face life in prison here in the US. I still think the solution to this problem is to execute the pirates once taken. On the spot. Todays outcome will only embolden them to continue. The pirates taken will now be given life sentences courtesy of the US taxpayer. This is not the optimal outcome. We need a solution that does not give them incentive to continue this behavior.

Brunch at Canary Square

The wife and I had brunch this morning at Canary Square here in Jamaica Plain. We have had dinner there on several occasions and brunch was just as good as any dinner we have enjoyed there. The wife had a bowl of fresh fruit with fresh wiped cream and it was excellent. I went for the Huevo rancheros, which while not cooked in the traditional style that you might find in an authentic Mexican restaurant, were quite good. The dish consisted of the expected 2 fried eggs, sunny side up on top of a bed of fresh pico de gallo, seasoned rice and red beans. This was complimented by a thick slice of bacon that had the rind attached, the back edge being similar to a chewy pork rind. It was quite good. I had also ordered a side of thick sliced bacon which was quite flavorful and if you love bacon, I would highly recommend ordering it. They have a great menu of different Bloody Marys. I ordered a traditional virgin Mary as I was still shaking off the Guinness from the previous evenings foray. I highly recommend Canary Square, after 5-6 visits it has yet to disappoint.

Matt Murphys Pub

The wife and I had dinner last night at Matt Murphy's Pub in Brookline Village. Excellent experience and we will definitely visit again. The name will throw you off as this is not your average Irish pub. The only thing that I would consider to be traditional about it would be the selection of Irish Wiskeys and of course the Guinness. The food is more on the upscale bistro side of things. They served traditional Irish soda bread with butter to start the meal and this was excellent. For an appetizer we had the Scottish Egg which was quite good. It was served in a bed of hot grits garnished with real, thin and crunchy onion rings, which sounds odd but it really worked well. We both had the fish and chips which were served wrapped in newspaper with a side of pickled onions which was delicious. The fish was not heavily battered so you were able to taste the fish unlike some places were the batter can overwhelm. For desert, my wife had the bread pudding which she said was one of the best she has had. We accompanied the meal with a few Guinness and Speckled Hen ales which were all perfectly poured with a nice frothy head. The only caveat I would add is that they don't take credit cards so bring cash. It is a small place, maybe a dozen tables, we sat at the bar which seats maybe 12 as well so if your going for dinner, you might want to get there early. The bill was $77 for the appetizer, two meals, desert and 5 beers, we will be returning.