Ramsayings

What’s your favorite locally-roasted bean? I’ve tried three recently myself: old favorite La Colombe as well as new jacks Green Street and ReAnimator. Is it blasphemy to say I prefer La Colombe?

It may be my personal preference, but no matter how much coffee I brew, I just find that La Colombe has a better, rounder flavor than the others.

Am I missing something? Are their local beans that blow your socks off? Drop me a line in the comments.

Yesterday’s visit to the firehouse at 4th and Girard rekindled Charlie’s love of firefighting. He climbed on all the trucks, played with everything he was allowed to touch and he even sprayed me with a firehose.

Don’t believe it? Here’s proof:

Special thanks to Hipster Henry for organizing the outing. Was a great way for Charlie to share his remaining firefighter helmets from his birthday party. We had so much fun playing with friends on the trucks!

Here’s how I fought Hurricane Irene last weekend in Philadelphia, PA:

• Drove wife and son to be with family in northern Va as they prepared to vacation in, gulp, Corolla, NC this week.
• Watched news at mother-in-law’s house. Wondered if Outer Banks would still exist.
• Slept.
• Drove home to Philly at 6 AM. Caught in traffic twice behind terrible accidents. Wondered if I’d be stuck in traffic for hours both times.
• Upon arriving home, made perfunctory gestures at shoring up basement storage.
• Ate hot dog lunch in a light rain at Memphis Taproom Beer Garden.
• Ratcheted up panic by watching national and local news outlets.
• Didn’t eat dinner. Drank a pitcher of daiquiris instead while watching Bourne Supremacy with friends.
• Hid in bathroom, then basement during tornado watch.
• Fell asleep around midnight.
• Awoke to howling rain at 2:43 am.
• Checked basement and ceilings. Found no leaks.
• Tried falling asleep. Couldn’t.
• Stayed awake until dawn when storm relented.
• Walked over to friend’s house for coffee.

A quick recap:

Charlie keeps a ticket in his hat, just like Daddy.

He likes to walk around, but shouts, “Missing!” when he realizes he’s not watching the game.

He dances to Jimmy Rollins’ at bat music.

He got on the scoreboard again last night.

He REALLY loves baseball.

Ah, spring. It’s so nice to be outside again. Nothing quite like running Charlie ragged in some nice parks. Thing about nice parks in Philadelphia is that most of them are in West Philly. Helen and I may be riverward  chauvinists, but, man, I wish Penn Treaty Park were as nice as Clark Park.

You know what else the riverwards don’t have? A brewery and pizza spot like Dock Street Brewing Co. Went with Mark and Erin before a Party Photographers’ show at Younglove’s last winter, but had no idea how great it was for lunch. Bought two pies — Flammenkuchen and Florentine — and got a growler of their Summer Session to go. Can’t beat it!

Helen, who tends to hate brewpubs because the food is often oh so bad, really loved it. Win-win! Beats having to convince her to haul out to Iron Hill or Victory for lunch and we can stroll down to Clark Park afterward.

Maybe we’ll be West Philly people yet…