Not much happened over the weekend other than acquiring the elusive beer can, us just trying to survive this gross heat wave with no A/C, and cowering in fear at the thought of WWIII thanks to that motherfucker who is unilaterally in control of America, and, in his pea-brain, the world.

However! We did meet Todd and Brittany for lunch at Novo Asian Food Hall and that was a definite highlight of the weekend! Obviously, I have known Todd for 10+ years now but this was only the second time I have hung out with Brittany and both times felt like the complete opposite of a first time meeting! We have so much to talk about! Even Henry sort of piped up here and there, lol.

I was sad though because the place I had my heart set on – Lolo – looks like it’s closed forever. So I settled on a veggie chicken sandwich from Kungfu Chicken and made Henry also order a side of FRIED MILK which I then forced upon Todd and Brittany, lol. I thought it was delicious! The general consensus from the rest of the table was that it was fine, but I was lowkey obsessed with it. I loved how jiggly the inside was! It definitely had the texture of tofu which I refrained from saying until I finally managed to get Todd and Brittany  to try it because I know that tofu has a reputation of being off-putting for some people but really, it’s just so misunderstood.

But still…..

Don’t Ask Me About Tofu

Our beloved Sumi’s Cakery also has a stall here now, and ended up closing their flagship bakery in Squirrel Hill because of it. This is actually dreadful because the bakery was so much better – more authentic, more real Korean flavors, just all-around MORE. They had some food-food on the menu too so Henry ordered rose tteokbokki and proceeded to sit at our table for over 30 minutes (he had food from Kungfu Chicken as well, so don’t cry for him like Sally Struthers) before the pager finally buzzed and he was given a refund because no one knew that they were out of tteok.

On the way out though, we did grab some bbang to go, and a slice of ube cake, and everything was delectable as usual but it just didn’t hit the way it did when it came from the actual bakery in Squirrel Hill :(

But regardless!! It was a terrific afternoon and we sat around for a LONG time after we had finished eating because there was so much to chat about. For instance, Brittany mentioned that she took Latin in college and I was like YO I TOOK LATIN IN HIGH SCHOOL and then we talked about languages and how it’s good to be forced out of your comfort zone when traveling in foreign countries where you don’t know the language. It made me think about a time recently where someone said in convo that they really think English is going to be the universal language soon and they were excited about this concept but I was NOT. Brittany agreed with me that it would be awful and part of what makes the world so great is that there ARE so many languages. I am super passionate about this topic to the point where I often regret not going to college for real and majoring in linguistics or something. (Oh, I know – it’s not too late except that I am tired and am already back in debt putting Chooch through college, let’s not add more tuition to that lol.)

Anyway, I feel like this happens every several years but I went down memory lane HARD re: Latin class. It was my worst class yet the one that has stuck with me the most into adulthood I swear to god. I was so bad at Latin but I loved being in that class at the same time.

I feel like a Latin Memories post is long past due.

Penelope, splooting on a Saturday night.

Other than that, the rest of the weekend was quiet. Henry spent most of Sunday running a new electrical line or something, I wasn’t paying attention, from the basement to Chooch’s room so that a window A/C unit can be turned on without blowing a fuse. Oh, the joys of renting an old piece of shit house! And in between that task, he took breaks to work on the crucifix drawer pulls for our dresser. I spent all day doom-scrolling and panicking and then I tried to distract myself by looking for quirky diners to stop at on our July roadtrip but all that did was make me panic even harder because who knows what will be going on in the world then and I’m over here watching a YouTube video about an Iowa diner that inspired “Roseanne”???

Ugh.

SHOULD I SAY IT AGAIN, LOUDER FOR THE MAGA IN THE BACK??

UGHFUCKYOURPRESIDENT.