indian eats, fort lauderdale = college, & art that involves pig roasting

who can believe another week has gone by?

beginning at the beginning... friday night was our third-installment of 'eating adventures.' how time flies. we made a mass-exodus from miami beach to fort lauderdale for the night (well, technically the place was in sunrise, which is actually farther away than the fort, but still, at least a 45 minute drive). the cuisine was vegetarian indian, which for most of us (i think) is relatively familiar-- but this place met all expectations of deliciousness. it was, like most of our 'eating adventures' restaurants thus far, in a random strip mall with a mix of 'available space for rent' and 'law offices' tucked away in the middle of nowhere. upidi cafe was busy with a handful of indian couples & families, which if you ask me, is a wonderful sign in a state where you barely see non-latin-or-hatian-minorities. we again did the jam where we share a huge mess of appetizers, all partook in the various byob contributions, tried an amazing, huge dosa, various puffy breads, saag panner, baigan bhartha, tofu dishes, black dal... the list goes on. like we did at both the russian and the nicaraguan restaurants, we shut it down. eventually the servers started pulling down all the blinds, and we wrapped it up (hours later, mind you).

of course, this only entailed us moving the party to the parking lot, where we hung out for another 15 minutes or so, deciding what to do. justin had brought a friend who was from the miami area and familiar with fort lauderdale, and suggested we go out to some bars there to taste the local flavor, assuming we'd never have another reason to hit it up... about half the party went home, but ashley, carla and i followed justin & elana to the glorious fort lauderdale.

fort lauderdale. ah, what to say? it was like we were suddenly transported into a college town-- one street packed with bars, drunk people outside everywhere, everyone looking young and overly dressed up. our first stop was an irish bar on the corner, where there was a live cover band (we immediately positioned ourselves in front of them and started dancing). our feet stuck to the floor, covered in what was probably years-worth of spilled drinks & lingering refuse. like most bars these days, there were numerous MJ songs played, which we loved. but as soon as the music started sucking, i rounded us up and out... across the street to another bar, which we went into for approximately 7 minutes before i decided i didnt like it. it reminded me of any bar in ny that used to be cool for like, 1 second, but then suddenly is overwrought with business students and/or i-bankers, in crisp collared-shirts, everyone slinking around, no one dancing, just starring at one another. as if the bar was taking itself too seriously. so i demanded a new location. this took us a few door down somewhere else, where there was a much larger dance-floor that we occupied for a bit before deciding it was time for bed. thankfully, we left when we did, since the major highway home was closed and we had to take back-roads for a while, depositing me at home around 1.30am. no, not late-- but a difficult bed time, considering i had to set an alarm for boxing in the morning...

i know! more boxing! i love that shit. i highly recommend it. i exhausted myself with punching, sweating, jumping-jacks, push-ups, spinning, weights and then abs... killer class, but such a great feeling. then off to shower & grab rachel from dance class, to go eat some brunch on licoln road. ashley met up with us and partook in our white wine & salad saturdays, which was the followed up with some fake-tattoo-getting. temporarily for a month, there are now some vines slinking around under my collarbone. of course, this has caused me to reconsider this placement for permanent purposes, so truly, it was a good idea. what was not a good idea, (or what i didnt even think about) was the fact that id have to walk around for at least an hour waiting for it to dry, with my dress completely unbuttoned and off my shoulders... thankfully, though, we live in miami, so no one thought it was weird at all (esp. considering there were tons of other women walking around more scantily clad than i at any moment in time).

later that night, i met up with abby & justin & abby drove us over to the design district, for second saturdays art walk. we got a late start but first hit up this one place i'd never been-- they were having a pig roast out back (!!!), where the artist was somehow recreating an anicent-chinese-method of roasting pig, as part of some kind of installation and/or performance piece? i mean, i didnt get it either. but it was so cool when they took it out of its little baking/roasting chamber, and the artist just started hacking it up, serving it to miami-scene-hipsters who then gorged on the eats sans silverware or plates or anything. after some of that, we went over to wynwood and hit up some of the galleries there before everything closed. then, off to dance at the vagabond for a bit, until we grew tired a few hours later, and headed back to the beach for some buck 15. who even knew what time it was at that point. all i knew was that my feet were killing from dancing in heels, and i needed some cuban toast. abby walked me to my car & we parted ways.

sunday was spent like they usually are-- roasting delicately in the sun like that little piggy from the night before; some swimming; lots of water drinking. i felt exhausted and slightly miserable, mostly because these saturdays are so busy and rushing and involve an alarm clock- that sundays i feel relatively incapacitated (i know, i know, wah wah wah) (its hard to imagine i spent the last 3 yrs in a library every sunday, eh?). when it was feeding time, i made myself get into the car & hit up the sushi-market on the 79th street causeway, where there was delicious fresh eats, and then, back to the pool. highlights from the day later included me setting fire to a potholder bc i left it on the stove (and happened to turn on the wrong burner), watching reno 911/miami the movie and america's next top model marathon, and making soup. all in a day's work. its quite a lovely, lazy life i have here from time to time. i think its the heat that encourages the inactivity, but also, its the lack of crowds and shoving and people that makes it all a little less hectic and more well-suited for hedonism. sigh.

well, back to work for a moment. ashley's trying to convince me to do boxing again tonight, and then tomorrow the standard hotel has a new 'game night' that we might check out... other week activities include girls movie night, perhaps a little more dancing, and then friday-- time to hit up maine! woop woop! get excited... if i can manage it, ill bring and/or throw together a little tres leches cake in jessi's honor. this would, however, require said cake to travel well on two planes, so we'll see...

xoxo