A few Philadelphia restaurant micro-reviews

I've hit up several very good to great restaurants in Philadelphia the last few months, so I figured I would post some quick thoughts.

Will: This French-inspired BYOB on Passyunk Avenue features a seasonal menu with really well prepared food.  Nothing outrageous, just very, very good.

Townsend: Another French restaurant on Passyunk Avenue, but this one features an interesting wine list and a very wine-savvy staff.  Great food, but my favorite part might have been the wine descriptions offered by our server.

Le Virtu: I've been meaning to visit this Passyunk Avenue Italian restaurant for some time now (this Passyunk Avenue sure has a lot of great places to eat).  It did not disappoint.  For places known for their pasta, like Le Virtu, I often go whatever pasta con vongole dish they offer.  At Le Virtu, the maccheroni alla chitarra con vongole was outstanding.  Chitarra is "guitar cut" pasta, basically like spaghetti but with a square cross-section.  This dish had a little bit of heat and the pasta was perfectly cooked.

Lo Spiedo: One of Marc Vetri's newest ventures, this restaurant located in the old gatehouse of the Naval Yard specializes in grilled and spit-roasted meats.  The menu is pretty funky -- it reads like Italian grilling meets Southern classics.  I really enjoyed the polenta cornbread (with fatty meat drippings), the grilled chicken wings, and the pork ribs with rosemary.

Buena Onda: Buena Onda is Jose Garces's taco joint and my new favorite local place to eat.  They specialize in fish tacos -- my go-to so far are the grilled mahi mahi tacos.  Big bonus: they have a soda fountain stocked with Boylan sodas.

I'm back! And Federal funding of science

To be honest, I haven't really gone anywhere, but I haven't posted on this blog in ages.  Now, after a 40 month hiatus, I decided I would like a public forum to talk about some things.  Without further ado, something that is on my mind.

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Today I received an e-mail from FASEB (Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology) asking me to send e-mails to my senators and representative, urging them to approve the FY2016 budget that includes a $2 billion increase in National Institutes of Health funding and a $50 million increase for the National Science Foundation.  So I did, and if you are a scientist or just a concerned citizen that wants to see science research supported in the US, please do so as well!

Now, I admit a tiny part of me is doing this because, well, I am a researcher myself, and more funding benefits me directly, if only in a very small way.  But mostly I care about education.  See, when the Federal government gives a grant to a researcher at a university, a large fraction of that money goes to supporting graduate (and sometimes undergraduate) students.  It pays tuition, offers a small stipend for doctoral students, and covers material costs for students of all levels to conduct research.

Why is this important, and why do I feel the need to mention it?  I can't count the number of times people have asked me why it is worth tax dollars to study zebrafish (which by the way are awesome model organisms for a lot of biological processes relevant to humans), or what is the point behind some of the (seemingly) more esoteric research conducted at universities.  What I tell them, and what I want to say here, is that aside from all the potential practical applications that could eventually derive from research, a big part of research at a university involves training a technically literate workforce and scientifically aware citizens.  I have had undergraduates, high school students, master's students, and doctoral students all work in my lab.  Some labs have primary / secondary school teachers and just interested citizens doing research in the lab.  In all cases, they learn stuff. And they take what they've learned and use it to contribute in myriad ways long after they've left the lab, and in a wide variety of settings -- not just research labs and academia (in fact, those are only a small minority).  From my own experience as a student, I learned more doing research -- knowledge, skills, ways of thinking and solving problems -- than I ever learned in classrooms.

So when the Federal government gives more money to the NIH and NSF, they're not just funding science -- they're helping prepare people for professional and public pursuits of all kinds.

2012 CSA: Week 5

This week I graduated to a full CSA share.  A friend and colleague of mine decided his family wanted in on the CSA, so we agreed to split a full share.  The main benefit, aside from saving money, is that the full shares almost have more variety.  After we divided our loot, I came out with the following:

• Fennel
• Red chard
• Garlic scapes
• Green escarole
• Broccoli
• Dill
• French breakfast radishes
• Zucchini
• Green kale
• Strawberries

Since the red chard (not normally a favorite of mine) looked very nice this week, it gets the photo:

One Page Dungeon Contest Winners

For the second straight year, I helped judge (though I was terribly late) the One Page Dungeon Contest (aka 1PDC).  For people that run RPGs, this contest is a gold mine of ready made adventures and campaign ideas. 

The contest has been run for several years now by my good friend, Alex Schroeder.  Check out this year's winners here: One Page Dungeon Contest Winners Announced.  There are many spectacular entries, and those that did not win are definitely worth a look too.

2012 CSA: Week 4

This week heralds the start of fruit share deliveries.  Like last year, it begins with strawberries and applesauce, but hopefully by mid-summer I will be reveling in delicious watermelons, like last year.

• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Deer tongue lettuce given away
• Romain lettuce given away
• Kale swapped for garlic scapes
• English shell peas
• Strawberries
• Applesauce

As I am prone to do, I already gave away the lettuce (I just find it to be a tremendously boring vegetable, and it almost always goes to waste in my refrigerator).

This week, I give you a picture of the wonderfully twisty garlic scapes!

2012 CSA: Week 3

Week 3 of the CSA has arrived, and with it a nice selection of produce:

• Sparkler radishes
• Red kale
• Portabello mushroom caps
• Scallions
• Spinach
• Strawberries

The strawberries, just like last year at this time, were included in my vegetable share (instead of my fruit share, which starts after Memorial Day).  And like last year, they were beautiful, red, and pretty tasty.

This week, though, I will stick with a photo of the sparkler radishes.  Regardless of whether you like radishes, you have to admit they are pretty striking vegetables!

2012 CSA: Week 2

Just like last year, the second week of my CSA happens two weeks after the first week -- go figure.  Anyways, one of the benefits of my new CSA pick-up location (3400 Spruce St., at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania) is that the location is open until 7 pm, so I can even make it after class sometimes.

This week's haul is heavy on the greens:

• Scallions
• Green kale
• Bok choy
• Frisee
• Turnip greens
• Spinach
• Puntarelle stretta (they called it Italian dandelion, but I am not sure about this)
• Cremini mushrooms

This week's photo is of the puntarelle stretta: