"Dinner With Jim and James at Aroma" written by Paul on estrip.org

Category: food

06/29/08 08:45 - 69ºF - ID#44824

Dinner With Jim and James at Aroma

Gym
Went to the gym again with (e:terry) and saw (e:james). That makes 6 days of the gym this week. Hit the sauna again - I really want one at home - next year.

Aroma
Then we went to dinner at Aroma on Bryant with (e:jim) and (e:james) for dinner. I had the rack of lamb with pistachio mint pesto for $26 which tasted really good but was such a ripoff in terms of portion. Same with (e:matthew)'s chicken and (e:jim)'s steak. I would probably never eat there again. Serioulsy, my lamb rack was three ribs and the "with fingerling potatoes" meant actually just two mini potatoes.

It actually looks bigger in the pic than it was. I was starving afterwards.

paul writes at 10:35:26 06/30/08 - Comment #36630: You can't promise proscuito and not deliver, its cruel and unusual.

james writes at 10:16:23 06/30/08 - Comment #36629: The menu was pretty pretentious too. They put the grade of Brandy in the description of every dish they used. If I am paying that kind of cash for that tiny speck of food they damn well better use quality ingredients. Ya, they drizzle truffle oil on their chicken. ZOMG! Trufflz are SO Xpensive!

But, I doubt they actually use the ingredients listed in the description, as my pizza was missing the single meat ingredient. Not something that goes unnoticed.

matthew writes at 05:56:28 06/30/08 - Comment #36628: It was pretty awful. If the food was amazing the tiny portions they served would be okay, but it wasn't good. and WAY overpriced! Noodles and bread are the cheapest food ever, so it's no wonder that the pizza and pasta dishes are huge. I've had much better food out of a box.

and you are so right ,(e:tinypliny), about the pretension. I'll never go back.

jenks writes at 05:23:20 06/30/08 - Comment #36626: omg, I LOVE that place. sorry you had a bad experience, but it's seriously one of my fave restaurants in town. I could eat there every day. The pizzas are awesome, and the pasta dishes are huge.
yummmmm.

tinypliny writes at 12:14:56 06/30/08 - Comment #36622: I hate that place because:
a) The waitresses are not only pretentious, they have a discriminatory attitude towards people who may not be upto their snooty levels of "sophistication".
b) There were flies all over the place INSIDE when I ate there.
c) The ladies room had two stalls, one had a broken door, and the other had no toilet paper. There ran out of soap on the counter for washing hands.
d) With all the above they STILL charged like we were eating at a gourmet restaurant in Paris or something.
e) Our waitress' attitude was revolting, disrespectful and made our evening an eating hell.

Trattoria Aroma, YOU ARE BOYCOTTED.

joshua writes at 12:01:00 06/30/08 - Comment #36620: Haha - rule #1. Small portions in Buffalo doesn't play too well. Even if the food was very good, pretentiousness like that in our city is way out of place.

james writes at 09:45:10 06/30/08 - Comment #36614: Perhaps it will be more reasonable during their going out of business party.

Permalink: Dinner_With_Jim_and_James_at_Aroma.html
Words: 129
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: party

06/29/08 05:47 - 69ºF - ID#44821

Dave's Daughters Party

Saturday, after the photoshooot we went to Dave Daughter Errin's graduation and birthday party. Conratulations Errin. It was one of thsoe surpise parties where she really had no idea and we all jumped out to surprise her at her house. Her girlfriend had taken her to the aquarium for the day.

The party was lesbiantastic, accept that (e:fellyconnelly) and (e:lauren) were missing. Seriously, maybe you guys should all meet. Anyhow, I got this great pic of (e:Terry) and Dave oggling one of the cutest lesbians I ever saw.

I wish I had gotten her picture.

Pat and Terri, our hiking buddies, were there as well. I can't get over how much Terri looks like (e:iriesara) - I think they must be related. The other half of the picture is (e:matthew) but he made me cut it out because he looked crazy.

Permalink: Dave_s_Daughters_Party.html
Words: 150
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: photography

06/28/08 04:27 - 78ºF - ID#44812

Getting our photos did

Scott Pasfield came to take our picture

for his book. I hope we make it in the book. It was pretty fun to be photgraphed at home. I never realized how much goes into a photo setup. I thought (e:southernyankee)'s diffuser was all out - lol - he had like a whole studio to go with him. He was deifnately a great guy.

Before the shoot (e:matthew) and I went to the clothing shop on Elmwood near mythos. They didn't have much in our sizes. I didn't get anything - (e:matthew) got some fancy schamancy linen pants that get to get customed taylored. The store had nice quality material and the staff was friendly and attentive but the prices were kind of steep (like $139-$189) for pants and the slection in our sizes was not so great.

Last night after the bar this kitty (e:terry,44809) had me trapped in the backyard. It wouldn't let me out and I thought it was trying to attack me (I have no experience with cats) . I text messaged (e:mike) for help - it was 2:30am and he got (e:terry) to come out and help me.

(e:terry) played with it and now it won't go away - apparently it just wanted to be petted. It won't even leave the backyard. It just purrs and sits and rolls over and waits for petting. It is seriously the most affectionate cat I ever saw. Last night (e:terry) thought it was a cat in hat but today we saw it has heavty man-cat nuts. It makes me wonder if it is a stray - the thing that is so weird is how affectionate it is.

Someone want to give kitty a home.

Permalink: Getting_our_photos_did.html
Words: 303
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: hiking

06/27/08 11:59 - 68ºF - ID#44808

Hiking at Eighteen Mile Creek in Hamburg

Hiking On thursday Night
I have been complaining to (e:Terry) about him playing warcraft so much - so today after work he surprised us by whisking us off on a short hiking excursion to 18 Mile Creek in Hamburg. It was nice to get outside and run around. I brought only the iphone. Neither (e:matthew) nor I had a real camera with because it was so spur of the moment.

The iphone takes the shittiest close ups and sadly there was the cutest froggy I ever saw. It was like the size of a small raisin.

In general the rest of the pics are nice. It does fine in perfect light from about six feet away or more.

So that does not include these cute little blueberries. (e:hodown) - do you remember eating these?

Okay so for the not close up pics.

What are thes epurple bug study things about. I keep seeing them everywhere. What bugs are they catching and who is doing the study?

At the top of the waterfall

Walking along the creek was so beautiful. Its amazing that this place is only a 20 minute drive from home.

What kind of animal is this

I call this tortoise rock.

here is (e:matthew) catching some frogs.

Evidence of the iphones

There were these awesome patterns in the shale at the edge of the creek. I thinki t looked much cooler in real life.

(e:terry) and (e:matthew) having fun near the water

Afterwards, we came home and I went to the gym for a good workout and the eye candy. Then after that I cooked some rack on lamb on the grill using my new smoke box filled with pear wood chips from one of the dead pear trees we cut down. It gave it a really nice flavor.

I looked up what (e:jim) was talking about and here is the beatle itself. Its kind of pretty. I am sure they are bad.

Permalink: Hiking_at_Eighteen_Mile_Creek_in_Hamburg.html
Words: 377
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: work

06/27/08 11:59 - 68ºF - ID#44807

Work, the gym and photos

work
Well, I got the new job. I am offically the Programming Standards Architect at Roswell which is a much better job than my old one althought the duties kind of overlap. Today, however, was a very challenging and stressful day. I hope that doesn't last, lol. Not good for the Crohn's.

The Gym
I sucessfully went tot he gym anothher five days this week. At this rate I will be buffer than (e:terry) in no time. Unfortuantely, the Crohn's makes the massive eating plan not doable but I am gaining weight and eating lots of yummy sea things.

I started using the sauna. It really makes your muscles feel better afterwards and seems to make my skin pretty nice, however, it is really damn hot. Like 200+ degreees hot.

Getting Our Photos Taken
(e:matthew) saw this ad in Craigslist about a photographer named Scott Pasfiled

doing a photo book of gay couple and was looking for some in Buffalo. I thought we would make an interesting story so I wrote to him and he is coming to take our pics tommorow. Seemed like an honest guy, has an nice portfolio and blog.

I am willing to try and find out - then again I got this weird email from some random stranger:

Hi u should know that some NY City photographer guy is forwarding emails you apparently sent to him. The guys seems like a flake. Thank you Jim

The strange part is that I have not shared anything personal that is not on my blog in public with him - so I have no idea what that stranger is talking about.

Permalink: Work_the_gym_and_photos.html
Words: 277
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: computers

06/25/08 01:20 - 75ºF - ID#44784

Using Windows XP

Every once in a great while I have to use windows instead of Linux or Mac for something and I remember how truly awesome it is. It is so hard not to switch back.

I mean where else can you paint with crashing windows like this:

Permalink: Using_Windows_XP.html
Words: 50
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: food

06/24/08 08:33 - 67ºF - ID#44776

Dinner! and are they dead?

Matthew's Mom's Birthday
I will start with dinner because it is a prettier picture. Tonight was (e:matthew)'s mom's birthday dinner. Happy Birthday Krista! We headed over to Betty's on Vrigina. It is such a great restaurant. The atmosphere was excellent, as was the food. I had yummy apple glazed pork chops.

(e:terry) had chicken pot pie. The rest of the food all looked so good too but after I started eating I forgot to take pictures, lol. I think everyone had a nice time.

The dead ?

So the dead thing? I was walking down Allen today with (e:enknot) and (e:hjon) and as always I peered into this old store that looks really abandoned at what I think is 14 Allen St.

Not sure what the deal with it is, it is such an eyesore on the street. However, the really crazy thing is there are now like about 5,000,000 big fat flies inside - which mean someone or something has died. The only time I have seen that many flies was when I have seen dead. So may latest idea is either a cat, a dog or the former owner has died. Does anyone know anything about this place? Should I call the police or is that redic? Maybe the non-emergency line as whatever is dead is dead.

They are relaly huge flies. I wish I brought my real camera so i could have gotten a pic of the inside where most of the flies were in bunches.

On another note, this house on Allen is for sale. I always wanted it. I wonder how much it is going for, the realator does not have it on their site. I don't know if I could ever really live on Allen. It would have to change a lot, like the fly shop would have to go, lol.

Claire has a question - Can anyone help her?

Hi,
My names Claire and I live in Wales, UK. In January 2000 I did a student exchange to Buffalo and I helped out in a shop on Elmwood Strip called Octopus Garden. The guy who run the shop was called Lou and I am very fond of him and have fab memories of working in the shop. I just wanted to know if he is still there and if he's ok? Thanks, my hotmail is claireyg1 AT hotmail.com .

Thanks,
Claire

Permalink: Dinner_and_are_they_dead_.html
Words: 412
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: work

06/24/08 03:36 - 70ºF - ID#44768

blogging from the job interview

So today I had a three panel interview for a new job at Roswell. Right now, I have a 5 minute pause. It is nerve wracking. I wore a tie.

Permalink: blogging_from_the_job_interview.html
Words: 29
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: crohns

06/23/08 08:33 - 68ºF - ID#44763

New Medicine Rocks

Medicine
I started a new once a day medicine called Lialda

. It is actually the same formula as the old medine but I only take it once. This is a huge difference. I can't express how much stress there is in having to take 3 pills, three times a day and how many days were ruined because I forgot my medicine and had to return home. Really, its a miracle.

Other than that, I have forgot to take picturs of everything this week. Yesterday we went to the garden walk.

There were the cutest little clay pot characters

Someone lost the one eyed cat ;(

After that we had a gay diner party. I used our new grill and made shrimp, about 20 lamb chops, sausage and clams with corn on the cob. The guests brought potato, tomato and macaronni salads. It was so freakin delicious.

Wegman's had the most ridiculous vergtable pack. First of all who - the fuck cannot cut vegtables. Seriously, going form full vegtable to cut takes about 30 seconds. Secondly, is that not a rediculous price for what's in the container. And then last, the container is just a huge waste of plastic. Really vegtables do not ned styrofoam backing.

They did, however, have a great deal on Cherry Stone clams - my favorite kind - $5.40/doz - yum.

Permalink: New_Medicine_Rocks.html
Words: 234
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: cars

06/22/08 10:08 - 63ºF - ID#44748

Remember my electric bike car fantasy

Remember when i wrote about this electric transport device I wanted back in (e:paul,32328) - well it is getting closer to reality I think. Today on engadget

they reviewed a prototype of what they refer to as a ghastly device but is actually exactly what I want

I can't wait for the day when I can get something like this. I hate the guilty feeling I get when I travel around in my car around the city. Frankly though, I would like a third wheel and room for two.