Long weekend for some - three days in the life for me

This past weekend was a lot of fun. Mr. Keane's birthday was on Saturday. He, Rinweeney and Fleabag got tickets to the Saturday and Sunday Red Sox games, and made the trip up here for the weekend.

Rinweeney got in early, so she and I hung out a bit on Friday afternoon. Walked around a bit, bought some beer, and made the requisite Newbury Comics stop. Then Pegg got home from work, and the three of us had a beer or two at home, before going out to meet Mr. Keane and Fleabag, who spent the better part of the day battling traffic and getting lost in Boston. Did I neglect to mention that Fleabag used to live here, yet they got lost anyway? I guess not.

In honor of the birthday at hand, we all went out to dinner at The Capital Grille on Newbury. What a great dinner. This was our first trip to a steakhouse in Boston, and it did not disappoint. Some of the dishes ordered included lobster bisque, new england clam chowder, steak tartare, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, potatoes au gratin, filet mignon, porterhouse steak, and steak au poivre. Everything was excellent. Really. Top-notch meal. I'm now waiting for someone else to have a birthday.

After dinner we were too stuffed to really drink anything, so we stopped into a bar just to watch the end of the Sox game, and then called it a night.

Saturday while the three New Yorkers were at the game, Brother and his fiancee came up from New York. They took the chinatown bus, so we decided to meet them in chinatown, and grab some dim sum. We stopped in at the ticket office for the bus line they took, just to double check the drop-off point, and we found out that the two major chinatown lines now use South Station Bus Terminal in Boston, as opposed to a random street corner in chinatown. I guess they're moving on up.

We grabbed the weary travelers at the station, and then went to China Pearl for dim sum. Pegg explained to us as we sat down that we would "need to take it easy" because there are a lot of choices, and we wouldn't want to fill up too quickly. Then, within 30 seconds of the pep talk, she proceeded to load up our table with about six different selections. Not a cart passed that she didn't agree with. It was very funny. Needless to say, we wound up eating more than we needed to.

We made our way home, went swimming with Brother and his fiancee, and then got ready to go out. Brother's roomate from college was also in town that weekend, and was at the Sox game with his father. So we all decided to meet up at the Tiki Room for some drinks. When we got there, Brother's friend and his dad were there, but the NYC crowd was not. So we went inside, had a drink or two, and then Brother's roomate took off. A little while later the NYC crew showed up, having made a pit stop at Cask & Flagon first. Booze-hounds. We then proceeded to spend several hours at the Tiki Room, and consumed many many beers and mai tais along the way.

Sunday morning we took Brother and his fiancee to the Pour House for brunch, having heard good things about it. The food was ok, but we were starving, so we could have eaten anything. During the brunch, we were talking about Brother's old NYC roomate. He knew her from high school, and they are still friends. She is expecting a baby, and thinking about moving out to the town where we all grew up. We were talking about how weird it would be to go live there as adults. We were also talking about how her younger sister lives in Boston, and how Brother and his fiancee felt they should have called her to say hello. Well who walks into the Pour House for breakfast? His old roomate's sister. This is the smallest fucking city on the planet. I'm not kidding. So we talked to her and her husband for a bit, and then left them to their breakfast. What are the odds? The one couple Brother knows in Boston, and they show up at the same dive bar for breakfast.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the apartment, and watching movies. Then Brother and his fiancee hit the road. When we were in the bus station waiting for them, Champy called to see if we wanted to go to Tavern on the Water with them and some of their friends. Tavern on the Water is in the Charlestown Navy Yard, right near where a bunch of us had training for our first job. Pegg, Champy, Mr. Keane, Red, and I all worked for the same company years ago, and all went to this training program. Everyone from the program used to go to Tavern on the Water to eat and drink. So it is very nostalgic for all of us. We have been talking about going there for a while this summer, but never got around to it. This was as good a night as any, so we went. It was a lot of fun, but more corwded than I remembered. Maybe because it was a holiday weekend. In any case, the food was really good, and we had a great time.

Monday was a quiet day for Pegg and I to recover. We did a little shopping, in order to take advantage of the big Labor Day sales and all. We went out to Chestnut Hill and bought some linens. New sheets, new towels, etc... Then we grabbed a quick lunch at Bernard's chinese restaurant in the mall. It was nothing special, and completely overpriced. On the way out, we noticed that they had a framed copy of the Improper Bostonian Best Of Boston issue by the register. We were trying to figure out what they got Best-Of for. Best rip-off? Best low-grade mall restaurant? Then we got home and looked it up in the copy of the issue that we kept. They got Best-Of for Chinese food. I couldn't fucking believe it. In such a big city, with its own chinatown, the best Chinese restaurant distinction went to a rip-ff mall restaurant?? Get out of here. I now have to question the validity of the entire Improper Bostonian Best-Of list. I am completely thrown off.

The weekend was capped off with a trip to the gym, dinner at home, and some TV. Nothing better really.