The Pour House Won't Send Me to the Poor House

Wednesday night I headed over to Chip's apartment in this adorable neighborhood near the border of South End and Back Bay. It is surprisingly quiet and quaint... I met up with him in the neighbor's yard where Shauna and the boys were picking cherries right off the tree. They have a great roof deck, like something you would see in the movies, complete with an incredible and up-close view of the skyline as the sun was going down. It was so nice to have a home cooked meal. Thursday night I went out with Katie (another intern) and her cousin who lives in the city. We headed to An Tua Nua, a college place nearby my apt. and then met a pedi-cab driver who took us to the Cactus Club which was really cute. Last night we went to the Pour House where we had a great dinner (esp. considering it was 10 pm) and things got even better when I discovered that the 22 oz beer mug of Blue Moon was only $5.50, sadly, the cheapest I have paid since I have been here. We stayed here the whole night and I think will be back soon.

Today I went to Chinatown with Kelly where we ate at a very authentic Malaysian restaurant called Penang. You know how in a Mexican restaurant they immediately bring you a basket of unlimited chips? Well here it is a pot of unlimited tea which was really good. We ordered the only things we could pronounce and were quite happy with it. I think from all the Zagat ratings and awards this place has gotten, everything is excellent. It also made us feel better that we were some of the only people speaking English... now that's authenticity. We also walked around and shopped in all the cutesy, cheap stores. I bought Chinese slipper shoes and a wallet (total: a whopping $7). We also went into an Asian market which made me feel I had traveled around the world. Ironically enough my friend Todd called to tell me goodbye as he is leaving for 2 months in China tomorrow. I think he is the only person I know that could have read the labels on the stuff in that place. As for me, Chinatown is the closest I will get to the real thing for awhile. We also ran across a hole-in-wall place called "Anna's Fast Food." Doesn't sound very Chinese to me, but maybe my name is more exotic than I ever gave my parents credit for.