This Is Framingham

Last year I threw a baby shower for my little sister at my house and thought getting an Edible Arrangement would be nice.  We get these at my work every now and then and the fruit is usually good quality so I thought it would be nice to have something pretty and healthy with the desserts.We picked it up about 30 minutes before the shower and put it in the fridge.  When we brought it out for dessert people thought it was adorable and while my sister was opening her gifts people sat around and ate their dessert. My other sister, Elaine, and I noticed that melon was really crunchy and tasteless.  We saw people took one or two bites of fruit and just left it on their plates.It was towards the end of the shower and Edible Arrangements had alreday closed for the day (the close at 3pm on Saturday) so we called the next day.  Sometimes I let things like this slide but these things aren’t cheap and for $62 we wanted people to enjoy it.  So we were hoping to at least get a partial refund and kept what was left of the arrangement so we could bring it in if they wanted “proof” the fruit wasn’t good.Elaine offered to call and explained to them how we got an arrangement for a baby shower and about the fruit not being ripe enough to eat and the person said she was sorry and left it at that.  Elaine then asked if we could get a refund or partial refund and she said she’d have to ask the manager and would call her back.We got a call back saying all they could do was bring us another arrangement but we’d have to get it that day and to the same address. Elaine explained it didn’t make any sense because the baby shower was the day before and no one was even going to be home where we had the shower today.Since they would not give a refund and did offer a replacement she asked if she could just get a credit for another time and the person said no, they can’t do that.  So she asked why, if they were willing to replace it, does it matter when they replace it.  She was told she (the EA person) would have to speak to the manager and would have to call her back.  Elaine asked to just talk to the manager but apparently he/she was on the other line.The manager calls back this time and after a few minutes of convincing, the manager agrees to Elaine’s request and sends a letter to my house saying sorry the fruit wasn’t good and I will be given a $50 (not $62) credit just mention this number when ordering.A month goes by and I decide, since I was having Thanksgiving at my house, I’ll use the credit for that day.I called to order it and gave them the code on my letter and was told it was invalid and then silence. I said I have it right here on a letter from the manager.  The person asked me for my name and told me she’d call me back. I got a call back saying the code still was coming up invalid and I said “Well, I can come down and show you the letter if you want” and she said “No, I have a copy of the letter right here in front of me, that’s not the problem” and I asked what the problem was and she said the code was invalid for some reason (apparently this was my problem).  I asked to talk to the manager who was again on the other line and would have to call me back.  She called back a while later and said she would fix it and took my order.So it wasn’t a total nightmare but the whole situation was something that should have taken one phone call to fix in the first place.  The Thanksgiving arrangement was just ok, not as bad as the time before but it just wasn’t as flavorful as when I tasted them at work.They’re just “eh” to me.

Sorry if anyone remembers this post from July but it was only on for two days before something happened with my server and erased a week worth of posts.

Anyplace that uses a brown and orange colortheme is alright with me so I brought my car to the Clean machine one weekend.  I think it was $8 for a basic wash. 
Here’s what to expect!

Also, if you have a dirty dog, you can bring him/her with you and drop them off at Shaggy’s Dog Wash which is in the same building.

If you want to support local arts,  Amazing Things Arts Center is having an online auction that goes into October. ivermectin available for humans
You can see all the information about it at:
http://zingspace.org/auction/

 
Walkable from my house is the Asinayo Market, an Asian grocery store which is great to have close by and is one of the few reasons I walk downtown.
Unlike at Skazka, I’m not ignored because I don’t speak the language of the store’s products. It’s usually the same guy at the register but sometimes there’s a woman and they’ve both always been so nice and cheery and are happy to help me find something I’m looking for. ivermectina para animais serve para humanos

They have fresh greens and sprouts in the fridge, dumplings and seafood in the freezer and a very well stocked store of sauces, teas, rice, soups and anything else you can think of. ivermectin sheep drench for goats?  

They also have novelty snacks and chopsticks by the bundle, really anything you’re looking for I can’t imagine it not being there.
This is what I bought there on my last trip:

Nice to have Asinayo in the neighborhood – Ichiban!

 
Yet another place I’ve gone by 100 times and never stopped in is the Framingham Baking Co.
I’ve always noticed they had a nice sign right on 135 and kept meaning to check it out so I finally did.
The entrance is around the corner from the sign and inside its pretty much a counter with an open kitchen.

There are some shelves with some items like breadcrumbs, Fannie’s salad dressing and the day old bargains too.
There were cookies, breads and croissants but I decided to get some pizza since I was on my way home from work and figured we could try it for dinner.
I don’t know what style you call it but they sold it by the rectangle. I got three kinds: plain, pepperoni and a “white” pizza with broccoli.

I re-heated these in the oven and split them up with Ethan. Normally I don’t eat this style pizza because it’s usually cardboardesque but they do something right with the dough.  The bottom was a little crisp, and the rest was moist enough not to be like cardboard but cooked enough not to be doughy.
They were all good but surprisingly we thought the plain tasted the best, maybe “less is more” since the dough was so good or maybe the sauce and cheese they use makes the difference.
I’ll definitely go back to try some of their other stuff.

Yesterday I stopped by “sad plaza“and took a look around St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store.  I go in there about once a month looking for interesting house wares or old corduroys.  There can be a lot of junk in there but occasionally I’ll find something that catches my eye like this yarn picture and even though I don’t smoke, I just had to have this ashtray.
Yesterday I saw something that stopped me in my tracks.  In 1978 my mom brought my sister and I to a store like Kmart or Two Guys and I guess they were demonstrating the latest Kodak instant camera.  My mom had them take a picture of my sister and I and they put the photo in this little sleeve/book to remind you what awesome new camera took the picture. ivermectin topical dosing children head lice
  
Of course she didn’t buy the camera but this photo has been kept in the sleeve and is a permanent part of the picture collection we’ve kept through the years.

As I was looking through the thrift store I saw a familiar image.  The yellow background an colorful letters spelling out “Colorburst”- it was the Kodak Colorburst 300, in person!  I stood there gazing at it and I heard James Blunt’s “Beautiful” in my head.

There was someone standing in front of it looking at stuff on another shelf. action of ivermectin   I thought “Oh my God, please don’t look down!”  I had this nightmare scenario that this lady would look at it and say “Oh WOW!  A Colorburst 300, I can’t believe it!” she would scoop it up and walk by me, hugging it with a big smile on her face but she soon got out of the way and I went over and grabbed it.
I brought it home and got out the Colorburst picture I’ve kept for 28 years, I was just so thrilled with this great random find and it was only $5!

I couldn’t wait to show Ethan, as soon as he got home I said “GUESS what I found at the thrift shop!” and pointed over to it on the counter.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone less impressed with something as he was with that camera.  It wasn’t even disgust, it was just this pure “could not care less” vibe. revectina 6mg 4 comprimidos
I even tried convince him it was cool to have, showing him the picture and saying “THIS picture was taken with the same type of camera and I found this camera at the thrift store!”
He just stood there for a second and then asked “Are you going to keep it?”

I guess it’s just me, but I was so happy with my little treasure, it’s beautiful to me. : ) 

As I mentioned before, Mom+weekend=Chinese food.  I recently heard that Oriental Pearl in Saxonville has a good buffet so we went there to check it out.  We found out when we got there that the buffet is Dim Sum on the weekends but still have “regular” Chinese food for lunch specials which my mom got but Ethan and I were feeling adventurous and got the buffet. 
There were some dishes on there that were not traditional Dim Sum like General Gau’s chicken and some vegetable and dishes but most of it was new to me.
I didn’t get to the soup that people seemed to know what to do with, adding items that were in containers next to the choice of three types of soup.
Soup additions:

There were lots of dumpling type things, some tofu dishes, potato things and stuff I didn’t even know what it was.  Even though I didn’t know what to expect, everything I tried was surprisingly good.
Included with the buffet was a selection from a cart that was rolled from table to table. I got some shumai, honestly because it was the only thing I recognized, but the guy pushing the cart was happy to explain what each item was.
Cart:

Shumai and leaf-wrapped rice thing:

My mother actually raved about her luncheon dish, (moo goo gai pan) she can be a picky eater but she was really impressed with the freshness and flavor of the food.
I’m really glad we went, it was something different and a good experience.

Sorry for the poor quality of pictures, I’ve been using the cameraphone for convenience.