Andrea's Pizza

Tonight, I decided to get a greek salad from Andrea's Pizza on the corner of Swanton St. and Main St.  I consider myself somewhat of an expert on greek salads.  They are consistently on my favorite foods list, and I must say that this wasn't my favorite.  Typically, restaurants count the number of olives they put on the salad (if you have ever looked at them at the grocery store, you would know they are kinda pricey).  So, I can tell you with confidence, that Andrea's puts 3 olives (with pits) on each salad.  This is pretty good; i feel like two is the norm.  Yet, I felt unsatisfied with the amount of feta.  My other qualm with the salad was that there were some brown pieces of lettuce.  This could be because they pre-make the salad, with the exception of the cheese, and store them in the front cooler.  Getting one on a sunday may not be the best idea.  Also, something to know if you are going to eat there: they serve Pepsi products.  Being a coke girl myself, I was disappointed.   

On the other hand, I must say that I saw a pizza in the making and the products on it (tomatoes, spinach, mozzarella) looked fresh and delicious.  

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I have made many trips to the post office in Winchester since I have lived here, but today I was astounded by the number of other people there.  When I arrived, there were 12 people in front of me in line.  The line was outside of the marked, twisting line, which I previously always thought was excessively long.  When I left, there were 15 people waiting.  One man hit the nail on the head when he said it was almost like christmas time.  I can't help but wonder why so many people were there this morning. 

Alicia Sacramone

The past two weeks, most of America has been consumed by the Olympics.  In Winchester, MA, residents have been closely following women's gymnastics, cheering on hometown athlete Alicia Sacramone.  Before the Olympics began a sign was hung in the center of town wishing Alicia good luck.  

Shortly after, hand made and printed signs wishing her luck started to pop up in store windows.   With elections in the near future, it was exciting to see the entire town united on one thing: pride in Alicia.  Alicia came home from the olympics with a silver medal and was welcomed back with a sign on the opposite side of the bridge.

There was also a parade in her honor including police cars/motorcycles, a marching bad, cheerleaders, young gymnasts (ankle braces and all) and more.  I wish I had gotten better pictures, but it was packed!  Everyone came out for the parade and were so enthusiastic and excited to welcome her home.  At the end of the day, not only was I proud of Alicia, I was proud of the way this town was so excited for her and went to such extents to show her (and show her off).  She really helped put us on the map this month!

Thank you Alicia for representing our nation and town! 

Jiffy Lube

(I am not sure how to turn that picture)

Since I have been living in Winchester, MA, I have been going to the Jiffy Lube on Main Street.  While, most people go every 3,000 miles or 3 months, I have been taking full advantage of the free top off policy since my steering fluid line in leaking.  I probably go to Jiffy Lube every 2 weeks or so.  

In the beginning, I LOVED this store.  It is very clean inside (spot less!) and it is in a very convenient location for me.  As I started to go more frequently, I have begun to but heads with one of the men on the staff.  I must say, that I do enjoy most of the other employees (well except for the one who didn't appear to know how to drive standard, but that was a skills problem, rather than personal).  Anyways, this older man who works at Jiffy Lube often tries to joke around with me.  I am good for one or two laughs, but sometimes the things he says are not funny.  My typical reaction to a lame attempt at a joke is to smile and laugh lightly or briefly out of politeness.  This is not good enough for this man.  If I am not laughing hard enough, he will try to make me laugh harder.  Really though, this only annoys me.  He will also say:

"You were right, you were really low on steering fluid" (Thinking: No shit!  That is why I drove in here and specifically asked you to fill up my steering fluid and not bother topping off any other fluids)

"Yes, I know.  That is why I came in."

"Ya know, you are probably leaking it."

"Yes, I know.  The line is rusted out."

"I had my guy look and see if he could see what's wrong, but he doesn't see anything.  You should really get that fixed." (Didn't you just hear me tell you what is wrong with it?!)

At this point I am annoyed because this conversation is tedious as it is, but we also had the same one 10 ten days ago.  This may be a sign of my insecurities in or defensiveness of my dying car, but part of it is also me taking offense to their assumptions of my knowledge on cars, or lack there of.  So I respond:

"Ya, I'm gonna get it fixed.  This is just to tide me over."  And then I thank him to end the conversation and rush out the door.  Thankfully, I have an appointment in a few days to get it fixed so hopefully I can reduce the frequency of my trips to Jiffy Lube and the tension between me and this man!

Joe's Main Street Pizza Shoppe

When I first moved to Winchester, I picked up a takeout menu for Joe's Pizza.  While the place had the look of a great pizza place, I rarely get pizza.  Today though, on my way into town for the parade for Alicia Sacramone, I saw that it was packed with families.  A good sign that the pizza is good.  Then, once in town I saw lots of people wandering around with single slices.  Seeing only an ice cream truck in the vicinity, I knew this pizza must have come from Joe's.  

I must say, that had I not seen people with single slices, I might not have gone to Joe's for a while yet.  But, I stopped in on my way back to my car. Sure enough, they sold pizza by the slice.  This is important because:

1. It is ready faster
2. Portion control!

One large piece (potentially 1/5 of an entire pie) was a little under $3.  They popped it in the oven for a few seconds to get it nice and toasty for me and then put it on a paper plate in a paper bag (I note this, because this avoids styrofoam and reduces the amount of waste created by a pizza box).  The service was not only fast, both men working the counter was very nice.

Back to the pizza - I almost thought I wouldn't last the short drive home.  It smelled so delicious!  I was even more excited when it tasted as good as it smelled.  I must admit I may be overly excited about this because I have not eaten pizza in quite some time, but this was the greasy, floppy kind.  The kinda people crave!  As good as the pizza was, I almost wish I hadn't tried it because this could become a weekly (or dare I say more-than-once-a-week) tradition.  

P.S. - Don't worry, I will talk more about the parade once I finally remember to bring my camera cord home from work. 

Steps 2 Cure NF

I was out for a run around Horn Pond this morning when I saw a sign posted for a 5 mile race.  Always up for an event that involves a little competition and a free t-shirt, road races are even more fun when they are for a good cause.  After noting the web address and finishing my run, I did a little research into this race once I got home.

My first question was: What is NF?  

NF is an abbreviation for Neurofibromatosis.  According to Neurofibromatosis, Inc. "neurofibromatosis is a genetic disorder of the nervous system that causes tumors to form on the nerves anywhere in or on the body at any time.  NF affects all races, all ethnic groups and both sexes equally.  NF affects more people than Cystic Fibrosis and Muscular Dystrophy combined!"

My second question/thought was: Tell me more about this race!

Details:

Sunday, September 21, 2008 @ 10am

Registration: online, mail-in, or on-site (8:45am to 9:45am)

Race: 5 mile run (2 laps) around horn pond or 2.5 mile walk (1 lap) 

Cost: $20 before September 1, $25 after

For more information visit: here

Other Bloggers

On a typical Sunday morning web browsing session, I discovered that I am not the only one who reads the Winchester Police Log.  The blog Plog follows/ed some of the funnier police log entries in Middlesex county.  Unfortunately, this blog was abandoned in 2004.  Just in case, I still added it to my RSS feed.