A weekend full of stuff

One of the quirks of my apartment is that our upstairs neighbor is allergic to a number of things, among which are scented candles and high-powered cleaning supplies. I miss the vanilla candles most of all and anything else that smells like baked goods, but I don't really miss the cleaning supplies.

That is the obvious answer, right? If your upstairs neighbor is allergic to cleaning supplies, just don't clean. It's a simple, elegant solution, really. Well, we've tried it my way for the better part of our sojourn here, but this weekend Lauren decided a different approach might be in order, so we cleaned. Normally, when someone refers to cleaning, I think of a process that's more accurately called "picking up," but Lauren didn't mean any such thing. No, we really cleaned this place up, and I have to admit it's rather nice. Our dog doesn't shed that much, but our wood floors were starting to look like carpeting, and while the dust bunnies were almost as comforting on the feet as bunny slippers, the feel of clean floor underfoot is satisfying in its own way. 

Who knows? Maybe we'll do it again sometime...

 

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Also this weekend, we took advantage of the promotion Borders is running, offering a 25% discount to all current and retired educators. It runs 'til Oct 2, so if any educators out there hadn't heard about it, you still have time, unless you're reading this as an archived entry sometime in the future. They do this every year, though, so you can at least look forward to it coming around again if you're in that boat.

 

We got a few books each, some free chocolate, and some bookstore ambiance as I sat around reading a book I already have at home (The Pillars of the Earth--not that you asked). It's such a long book that I have to read it where I can.

When we emerged from the warm cocoon that is Borders, we contemplated getting dinner there downtown, but it was so busy that we decided to retreat back to Providence's east side. We ended up near the headwaters of Hope Street, up past Rochambeau, at a place called Blaze. I think it's a fair characterization of the prices to say they were on the low end of upscale: two people with dinner, an appetizer, and drinks was around $50, and what we got was middle-of-the-road in fiscal terms, neither the most expensive dinners nor the cheapest. The food, though: there was nothing middle-of-the-road about that. It was, across the board, excellent. Although Lauren doesn't usually like calamari, I ordered some for myself, but she ended up trying it and liking it so well that I was almost wrestling her for the remains. It wasn't, strictly speaking, the best calamari I've ever had, but it was combined so well with a hot sauce, a hot pepper relish, and lettuce that it's the best calamari platter I've ever had. For dinner, I went with an old standard: the burger. I decked it out with all the options offered: cheese, bacon, sauteed onions, and mushrooms, and got it with a bit of moo for good measure. It was delicious and huge. It's not the most adventurous fare on any menu, but you can tell a good deal about a restaurant by its burger, and Blaze measured up well. The sweet potato fries were, as advertised, the best we'd ever had, and we consider ourselves rather connoisseurs of sweet potato fries. Lauren got a brie salad which was amazing. It was mostly brie, with the salad being almost an afterthought, but it was wonderful with its chutney and the little crostini, plus some of the most moist chicken I've seen in a restaurant. The desserts looked good, but we were taking home leftovers as it was--leftover chicken and sweet potato fries, both of which reheated well (a surprising feat for fries of any sort). 

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