New Year, New Project
Jan. 5th, 2011 04:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyspriteSo, having spent the past two years with a project to push me and intrigue me and keep me thinking and excited, finishing the Cookbook Project left me feeling a little bit lost and bored. So when it was finished, I spent a little time tossing around new ideas. I thought about cooking my way through a book, but that didn't seem particularly interesting, somehow - no one book is all winners, and I know I'd get frustrated and give up about 3/4 of the way through when I hit a run of similar and boring recipes. I thought about cooking a recipe from every magazine that I own, and I'm likely to tackle that at some point, but it was a little too similar to what I just finished.
And then a woman I work with mentioned a project that a friend of a family member of a friend had taken on with her social group (how's that for tangential relationships?), and it just clicked, and sounded like a heck of a lot of fun, and enough of a change of pace to keep me entertained and interested.
So I am about to take on the Alphabetical Restaurant Project.
Over the next no-idea-how-long, I am going to go to 26 different restaurants, one starting with each letter of the alphabet, in order. No chains. For the purpose of this project, at least to start, I am defining chains as restaurants with more than two branches in more than two distant cities - I may need to revise this, but at the moment that's what seems to make sense.
I'm giving myself an open-ended time period for this, because it's going to be a little more expensive and time-consuming than the last project. But![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
umbran and I don't go out to eat too often, and at the moment I think our funds are such that we can take on a challenge like this. Plus, it'll help us expand the field of restaurants we're familiar with beyond the half-dozen that we tend to wind up at most often.
And that's where I'm going to need help, in all of this. I'm not a restaurant kind of person; I don't know a lot of what's out there, even when "out there" is within five miles of my own house. I want to learn about new places, and try new things, with this project, so I'm going to ask you guys reading this for recommendations. Even if you're not local, please feel free to chime in - I never know when I might wind up traveling and want to find someplace fun to go. Besides, half the fun of a project like this is sharing experiences, and that goes both ways.
Right now, though, what I need is ideas for restaurants that start with "A."
Any suggestions?
And then a woman I work with mentioned a project that a friend of a family member of a friend had taken on with her social group (how's that for tangential relationships?), and it just clicked, and sounded like a heck of a lot of fun, and enough of a change of pace to keep me entertained and interested.
So I am about to take on the Alphabetical Restaurant Project.
Over the next no-idea-how-long, I am going to go to 26 different restaurants, one starting with each letter of the alphabet, in order. No chains. For the purpose of this project, at least to start, I am defining chains as restaurants with more than two branches in more than two distant cities - I may need to revise this, but at the moment that's what seems to make sense.
I'm giving myself an open-ended time period for this, because it's going to be a little more expensive and time-consuming than the last project. But
umbran and I don't go out to eat too often, and at the moment I think our funds are such that we can take on a challenge like this. Plus, it'll help us expand the field of restaurants we're familiar with beyond the half-dozen that we tend to wind up at most often.And that's where I'm going to need help, in all of this. I'm not a restaurant kind of person; I don't know a lot of what's out there, even when "out there" is within five miles of my own house. I want to learn about new places, and try new things, with this project, so I'm going to ask you guys reading this for recommendations. Even if you're not local, please feel free to chime in - I never know when I might wind up traveling and want to find someplace fun to go. Besides, half the fun of a project like this is sharing experiences, and that goes both ways.
Right now, though, what I need is ideas for restaurants that start with "A."
Any suggestions?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-01-05 10:48 pm (UTC)I'll be in Boston area (Marlboro) next week for work, and we should do a restaurant together... and it could even be "A"!
no subject
Date: 2011-01-06 12:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-08 02:17 am (UTC)When are you getting here? Restaurants are fun, but I think I owe you a home-cooked dinner, too....
no subject
Date: 2011-01-08 06:42 am (UTC)A home-cooked dinner would be for the win. If tomorrow works, that might be best -- drive to your place from Logan. If not -- any of Mon-Thur will work, though dinner time would have to account for driving time, as I won't be right next door the way I was last time I was down there.
I'm actually only at Arisia because of this business trip bringing me to Boston (area) the week before Arisia. Otherwise, I don't think I'd have added the extra travel to my schedule.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-08 09:42 pm (UTC)And I know I've asked this before, but I can't find the answer saved in my email - any allergies or food restrictions?
Edited to add: I think I remember that peanut butter is a no-go; what about other nuts?
no subject
Date: 2011-01-09 05:53 pm (UTC)I'm allergic to peanuts, but not to any other nuts. I don't worry about "may contain traces of peanuts", just about peanuts or peanut oil as an actual ingredient.
I am picky about vegetables, but will eat around what I don't like. I am not a fan of seafood, though fish is fine. I am fine with spicy.