charged with: attempted forgery, attempted possession of a forged instrument and petty larceny.
Interestingly, according to section 170.35 of the New York Penal Code, you can’t be convicted of both “criminal possession of a forged instrument and forgery with respect to the same instrument”. I wonder if that applies to attempt as well.
Why, oh why, can’t this have happened when I was in either Criminal Law or Secured Transactions?
my dear pastor smackdown fans, it is with a heavy heart that i inform you that my dream of visiting Fiesta Mexicana on Cross Street in Ypsilanti and reporting back to you on it today was dashed by the misfortunate event of the restaurant being closed on mondays.
undaunted, i deftly switched cultures and hemispheres and went to Dalat Vietnamese Cuisine on Michigan and had the beef noodle soup(you may know this soup to be called pho). it was good. not Pho 777 in Chicago good, or Pho Pasteur in Boston good, but for the middle of stinkin’ Michigan, i’d say it hit the spot.
i’d give it better marks if it had come with a better assortment of condiments.
here’s what you get at Dalat: a bowl of noodle soup with sliced beef(you can also order it with meatballs or tendons or tripe), a dish of condiments including a wedge of lemon, bean sprouts, and sliced jalapeños. there are squeeze bottles of hoisin sauce and chili sauce on the table.
i’m partial to having basil in my pho, so i would give Dalat higher marks if my little side dish had included basil.
i also got a vietnamese iced coffee. the total came to $8.70 before tip. god bless ypsilanti.
of course, now i’m tempted to go try Miss Saigon on Stone School road tomorrow for a proper pho smackdown… unless of course popular opinion merits a re-visit to Fiesta Mexicana and a continuation of the pastor smackdown ASAP.
I think this guy’s story would have been more convincing if he was found in a city or country where the helpful creatures reside in large numbers. Not that Cincinnati isn’t known for being full of magical creatures. I just thought it was more famous for its chili.
the mission: 4 days, 4 taquerias the menu: 2 tacos pastor, rice and beans, orchata the objective: investigate the ‘authentic’ mexican food joints in the greater a2 area and don’t get sick.
day #1: Taqueria la Loma on Michigan Ave in Ypsilanti
tacos: good, but too weirdly saucy and moist to be a true taco pastor the way i remember them from my favorite chicago taquerias
rice and beans: dissapointing. beans tasted straight from the can.
orchata: ok. thicker, fruitier, and sweeter than i prefer.
ambiance: feels like sitting in someone’s living room that has been outfitted with vinyl tile and changed into a restaurant. telenovelas on tv in the corner a plus.
miscellaneous details: free chips, but not home made. decent, semi-spicy salsa verde. red salsa is mild and sweet.
the bill: $9 including tip
day #2: Taqueria la Fiesta on Packard just east of Carpenter
tacos: really good. reminds me of home. i’m going back for more of these.
rice and beans: nice. beans had a nice texture and flavor, red salsa provided a nice kick for the rice.
orchata: perfect summertime orchata. thin, but not too thin, not too sweet. refreshing!
ambiance: a tiny little slip of a place, i think there are 3 tables in there. from what i’ve read around the tubes, this place is owned by two sisters who also have a place on cross street in ypsi.
miscellaneous details: no free chips, but the salsa verde is really, really good. it looks and feels like everything here is home made. the flan i saw in the fridge looked tempting.
the bill: $10 including tip (this was including a dollar discount i got for being patient at the register)
day #3: Senior Lopez on Stadium in the same strip mall as Ace Hardware
tacos: tbd. they were out of pastor!!! i got carnitas instead, which is kind of like mexican pulled pork. they were good – bland on their own, but with the thick salsa (see below) they were dee-lish. stay tuned for a pastor re-visit of this place.
rice and beans: mmmmm-mm good. the beans were whole beans, and the rice had bits of carrots and peas in it.
orchata: another good orchata. not too thick, not too sweet.
ambiance: more ‘restauranty’ than the others. there’s a mural of a pueblo, and latin music on the sound system.
miscellaneous details: free chips plus three kinds of salsa: a fresh pico de gallo, a mild, smokey smooth salsa, and a slightly spicier, thick salsa with a texture not unlike tomato paste. the tomato paste one was my favorite.
the bill: $6 including tip. they have a two tacos + rice and beans special for lunch. i also think they may have cut me a break for being out of pastor
day #4: Taqueria Tacuba on Washtenaw across from the Hua Xing Asian Market
tacos: imagine taking Taqueria la Loma’s pastor and drying it in the sun.
rice and beans: dissapointing and forgettable.
orchata: i got like a big gulp size portion of it. crazy. anyways, it tasted slightly metallic.
ambiance: kinda feels like if a subway restaurant served mexican food. a big flat screen was showing soccer. i think it was chelsea.
miscellaneous details: no free chips, salsa comes in a little mini to-go cup. it was ok. they have a large menu of tortas. maybe that’s what they’re good at – it’s certainly not tacos and rice and beans.
the bill: $9 including tip
The Rankings: Taqueria La Fiesta slightly edged out Senior Lopez, perhaps only because they were out of pastor the day i went. While Taqueria la Fiesta’s tacos were better, and the orchatas were neck and neck, i prefered Senior Lopez’s rice and beans slightly, and they also have free chips and salsa. Taqueria La Loma, whose tacos were mediocre, might be worth another visit for tortilla soup and pupusas acording to local blogs, easily places third above Taqueria Tacuba, a forgettable place.
after all that pork, i’m really looking forward to eating nothing but salmon in seattle.
Can opener. This is a real drag when you want to make white bean salad for supper.
Toilet. I like having original fixtures in my bathroom, but the water in A2 is so bad that it finally ate the metal hook thingy that attaches the lever to the black rubber thingy.
Plant-tending abilities. Two of Pat’s plants died from the inside-out today - not the whole plant, but one stem from each. I am a bit concerned since I am tending to the plants for another month and I’d like to have something besides pots of dirt to return to him.
here is what you can do in july in dexter: pick blueberries.
first, finding this blueberry farm is an adventure in itself, involving dirt washboard roads and a grassy parking lot. after you park your car in the grassy parking lot, you will get of your car and be greeted by a porta-john. then, you will see a big tree with two plastic chairs under it. next, over by a shed, you will find a collection of ropes and belts, a scale, buckets, a tin can with a plastic lid on it that says, “make checks payable to dexter blueberry farm”, a price list ($1.35 per pound… but the math is done out for you in increments of pounds), and a sign that says “picking is slow today, we expect there to be more by 7/19. i really wish i had my camera with me, it was totally small-town-middle-of-nowhere style. you know… like on halloween when your neighbor leaves out the bowl of candy and the ‘take ONE’ note. it is grand.
i grabbed a bucket and took off towards the rows of bushes.
there were about 10 rows, i guess and these things are FULL of blueberries. i’m telling you… amazing amounts of blueberries. don’t believe me? check out this photo: blueberry bush
ok, now imagine all those bunches of blueberries are still green, and each bush has maybe 5-10 ripe berries on it. i noticed that there was a trend where the bushes under the high voltage wires had more ripe berries on them than the other bushes did. i have two theories about this:
these bushes were at the back of the rows and further away from the parking lot, thus being less picked-over.
these bushes are freaks of nature due to the magnetic field created by the high voltage.
after i had filled my bucket about 1/4 of the way full, i headed back to the shed to go weigh my bounty. just shy of two pounds! i owed $2.70 the price list helpfully spelled out for me.
i pulled three bucks out of my pocket, dropped it in the can to join the $8-odd bucks already in there, and grabbed a quarter in change.
now i have to figure out what the fuck to do with all these blueberries.
that one on the far right, it’s a monster. it’s nearly as wide around as a quarter. oh, and they’re really delicious.
