With the craziness that the Grand Prix is bringing–the most noticeable besides the Grand Stands (which look kind of unsafe since they are nothing more than scaffolding and painted boards) are the retaining walls and fencing that is going up all through the city.

Walking home from the bus stop the other day, I snapped a picture of Pratt Street, as seen from the pedestrian side of things.This time next week it will be even worse.

Too bad the Grand Prix can’t be more like Mario Kart. That’s fun, whereas, the actual Grand Prix just sucks.

Along with Chewpons, I also religiously check Groupon and Living Social for awesome deals.We have discovered so many new restaurants and events, and gotten deals at places we go to anyways, that it’s totally worth taking the time every day to review the latest posted deals. And we just don’t get deals for Baltimore–we check most of the cities that we visit on the regs: Philly, Wilmington/Newark, Harrisburg, DC, Richmond…and even cities that we are planning on visiting in the near future.

Today, the Brain and I headed to Jersey to catch a Camden Riversharks game (2 level 100 tickets for $12 via LS). Front-row, bullpen seats.  Score! Oh, and there was a bench clearing (almost) brawl. We were kind of disappointed that the fight was averted–but it was fun while we waited to see a what would happen.

On the way to the ball park, we took a slight detour to hit Planet Hoagie in Wilmington, Delaware, to redeem another LS deal of $10 for $20 worth of food. BTW–awesome place, delicious food. The sandwiches are HUGE.  A medium is about 12 inches–and a full is 24.  And they are loaded with meat. They have met the Pinky and the Brain (TM) standards of quality–and we will be back.

I’ll leave you with a beautiful view of the Ben Franklin Bridge at night. We love the Philly/Camden skyline at night. It’s so beautiful.

So, you were on the website that says that this blog was nominated for that MVB thing, right? And you wanted to check out the competition? And you just realized, OMG this blog is freaking awesome and the rest of the blogs in the “everything else” category are totally lame and should be embarrassed to even be competing against all this, right?

Yeah, that’s exactly what I thought, too.  All the other blogs are lame, I am awesome, and you should give me a vote.  If I win that $50 amazon gift card prize, I will share it with all of my loyal readers (I know who all four of you are, and one of you actually lives with me..so yeah, there’s that).  At least I can find comfort in the fact that I did NOT nominate myself for this….thanks, honey! I love you!

Smooches.

The last group of women to look good in a flare leg jean!

Dear Old Navy,

I was shocked and dismayed to see your latest fashion ‘trend’ in your most recent television commercial.  The flare-leg jean.  Really? You’re bringing flare jeans back. Again?

Don’t you think that the flare has already had way too much attention, with its huge iconic symbolism of the 1970′s hippie movement…and again most recently with the reinvention in the mid-to-late 1990′s?

Let it go, Old Navy. Don’t subject us to another decade of the flare leg pants. It’s bad enough that my child-hood is raped on an almost daily basis.  I don’t need to have to relive high school over and over again with your attempts to make even more money in this failing economy. And stop ripping off good music and rewriting it for your crappy commercials.

Much love (and Peace Out!)

~ Pinky

I know that we’ve all had it–that dream of just running away from it all and never coming back.  I have it. I think about it. And then reality sets in and I realize that it’s not really a very mature dream to have. Life needs money, and bills need to be paid, and I like to eat. All good reasons to put a cabash on the whole running away thing.

Monday,  I went to run errands during lunch –and for a split second I harbored the idea of just getting on the freeway–and not looking back. Of just taking that on ramp, and going to where ever I ended up-as far as I could get on the money I have in my account.

It’s a nice dream, isn’t it?

The other day, the Brain and I decided to take advantage of our Chewpons to the Suburban House Deli in Reistertown. (PS: I LOVE Chewpons!)

I love good Jewish food.  I had a Jewish roomate after college (well, she was kinda Jewish–if kinda means that she ate bacon on everything and begged for ham every Easter and Christmas).  Having said roomate meant that I was invited to her parents house to celebrate various holidays–all of which involved food. Her mom made the BEST matzah ball soup and noodle kugel and farfel and brisquit. Mmmmmm. I love me a good Jewish holiday feast!

So the Suburban House Deli has a reputation of good Jewish food and huge portions. And that is not a lie.  I highly recommend the “chicken in a pot”. It has EVERYTHING in it–1/2 of a chicken, noodle soup, a matza ball and a kerplach (beef dumpling). Anyways, this isn’t about the soup.  The soup was awesome, but I digress.

While at Suburban house, I saw something I had never ever seen before.  Dr. Browns Cel-ray soda. Say what? A soda that tastes like celery? Well, I had to try it. For $2 for a 12oz can, the price was kind of steep–but it’s something different and unique. And that’s the kind of girl that I am!

I think it’s important to note that I have a love/hate relationship with celery. Sometimes I totally dig it–especially with peanut butter and raisins. Other times, I can’t tolerate the stuff.

The soda is….interesting. It’s kind of ginger ale’ish. Overly sweet–but with the essence of celery seed at the end. It also has kind of a lemony feel to it, but actually finishes on a maple syrupy note. Was it bad? Not really. Would I get it again? I don’t know–I kept thinking it would be interesting in some kind of bloody mary concoction with tomato juice and a wedge of lemon–maybe a dash of old bay or tobasco for good measure. It was really sweet for something considered a savory soda–so maybe the longing for a salty companion is understood.

Anyways, if you ever see it out–give it a try. You might just find something you really like–that goes for the soda and the deli. And don’t forget to give a shout-out to Chewpons–who has had some pretty awesome deals on restaurants that the Brain and I would have never tried without getting a deal!

Peace!

No? Really? Well, guess who else hasn’t'?

That’s right–Councilman William Cole who represents district 11-which ironically enough includes Ridgely’s Delight.

The Grand Prix has deemed it necessary to cut down some very nice and old trees on Pratt Street to accommodate GRAND STANDS for the race crowds that will be descending on our fair city in the very near future.

Really? I don’t ever remember them saying anything about cutting down over 50 trees in the city.  And William Cole supports the Grand Prix, who supports the cutting of our beautiful established trees.

For shame, William Cole, for shame–you are no friend to the environment or me.

I hope the injunction filed by David Troy causes the Grand Prix to not happen this year–or be back ever again. I hope the Grand Prix is a huge gargantuan failure.

Lets have a moment of silence in memory of the now departed trees who had no other reason for dying except for greediness in the echelons of our city government.

You know, Friday–that day after Thursday but before Saturday? Yeah, that one!

HA! Now you’re stuck singing that god-awful Friday song by Rebecca Black!

Anyways, my B1tches, it’s Friday here in the lovely B’more, and I’m ready to rock.  Er…well, more like I’m ready to go home, throw on some pj’s and kick back on the couch with the Brain. Either way–it doesn’t matter because tomorrow is Saturday, and we all know that means sleep!

It has been one long freaking week here in the city where everyone will die eventually.  Seriously–if not of natural causes, then of gunshots, stabbings, rocks to the head, light rail collisions, or just plain stupidity.

Have a good one. See ya on the flip side! And keep on singing the anthem that we can’t ever ever forget.

Dear City of Baltimore and Gran Prix douches,

Thank you EVER so much for the forced vacation that I will be taking the weekend of Labor Day 2011. I really appreciate that this stupid race has necessitated the fact that I have to use multiple of my accrued leave days to get the hell out of town.

I read recently in an article where you all deny that the City of Baltimore is ‘shutting down’ for the Grand Prix. I call Bull Sh!t. Seriously. Bull. Sh!t.

How can you close down Pratt Street, Greene Street, and 395 into the city, and STILL insist that you are not shutting the city down. Has anyone else looked at the maps showing the street closures? Has anyone else noticed the rerouted bus schedules? Hello? The buses aren’t on time EVER–and now your gonna move the routes? Puh-leez–you couldn’t pay me enough to have to use the bus during the next few weeks. I’d probably be fired for being late, or not showing up at all.

And this whole Gran Prix thing is for FIVE YEARS? Five. Whole.Years.?!?!?! WTF.

So thank you Baltimore City and Gran Prix douches.  I guess that I’ll be going out of town EVERY LABOR DAY weekend until 2016.

Much love, as always.

Pinky (and the Brain)

Dear Neighbor,

Although we have lived next to each other for about a year now, we have never been formally introduced.  Hi, my name is Pinky..and my partner in crime over here is the Brain. Nice to make your acquaintance.

It’s probably a good thing that we’ve never HAD to meet.  After all, if we can co-exist in peace and harmony, sharing a communal wall and stoops that reside next to each other, and never need a reason to speak more than “hey”, or “how’s it going”, that has to be a good thing, right?

Well, consider our friendly and affable silence broken with the writing of this letter.

Until this point, you have been a good neighbor. We have no beef with you, other than the few times you’ve played your music just a wee bit too loudly–and when we’ve banged on the wall, you’ve turned it down.  And we don’t necessarily appreciate hearing the cheers for teams OTHER than the Raven’s coming from your home on Sundays–but we can live with that.  Of course, we don’t blame you for not being an O’s fan…seriously, we question our own fan-dom with them every season.  But, I digress.

The reason of this letter is to let you know that although we like you (from our limited contact), we do NOT like your friends.  You know the ones–while you’ve been gone all summer, back visiting friends and relatives, you let four of your nearest and dearest come in and stay in your house, during an O’s home-stand against your hometown baseball team.  Yeah, THOSE friends.

These “friends” of yours made our lives hell for the five days they were here.  They sat on your (and our) stoop EVERY NIGHT until at least 4am or later.  They smoked and drank on said stoops.  They were loud and obnoxious while some of us had to sleep and go to work. They pissed next to OUR stoop. And they smoked some of the skunkiest pot EVER.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not a pot expert.  In fact, I’ve never actually smoked anything in my life.  But I’ve been to concerts.  I was in a sorority that went to a few frat parties back in my college days. And when I was in elementary school, the DARE officer let us smell raw pot–just so we would know what to look for, since we were being trained to be little school NARCS.

The funny thing is–for five days, while our house reeked of skunk–we actually thought there WAS a skunk.  Maybe one had wandered in from the country, and got lost. We began to think there was a rogue skunk in the sewers, defending us from rats and other mutated things.  But, the day they left–the skunky smell went away.  And thanks to Google–we now know that they were smoking pot.  Outside our door.  For five days.  According to Google, not only was it pot–it must have been some really high end sh!t–because only the ‘good’ stuff smells skunky.

So, neighbor, we understand that those were your friends, but how good of friends were they? We didn’t see them empty the garbage in that time frame while they were here.  Did they leave it for you? Will it sit there until September, and your return to the city? And if our house reeked of skunky smoke–how badly will your house smell? We fought off the nasty smells with Febreze and Febreze air effects, but I don’t think anyone is in your home, trying to make it smell better.

Oh yeah–not to mention that the Brain and I BOTH suffer with chronic sinus problems and allergies to any kind of smoke.  We really appreciate having our breathing impacted on such a high scale–to the point that even over a week later, we still are congested and wheezy. Thanks for that!

Anyways, neighbor, as nice as you’ve been–your friends have rendered any further possible friendliness between us.  We will remain civil, but I have no respect for you when you allow such behavior to occur in your premises, without any regard to those of us who live on either side of you–and the impact that it would have on us.

Sincerely,

Pinky (and the Brain)