(no subject)

Had a pretty good weekend so far. I went up to kyoudai02's on Friday and spent the evening hanging out with Solo. We were originally going to go visit Rhianna for her Otherkin Open House that she holds on Fridays, but by the time I got off work and made it up there through friday evening traffic, and we went out to grab some dinner at TGI Fridays since neither of us had eaten, it was already 10pm and we weren't much feeling like arriving at 11pm. So we just headed back to his place and watched some movies: Clerks 2 and Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Btw, Solo, I left Resident Evil and Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest at your place. Feel free to hang onto them, I got them both just to watch with you guys anyway. :)

Then on Sunday, I mostly hung out with Duo. We (and technobushi, who was hovering near front) were going to grab lunch at a japanese restaurant and sushi place over in Ellicott city, but I'd made the mistake of not checking their hours and when we finally found it, we learned it would not open for almost 2 more hours (at 2pm.) So we ended up going to an intriguing little Korean restaurant we had passed on the way to it, ironically directly opposite a McDonalds that he and I had gotten into a minor car accident in front of a couple years ago. I have to say, I'm glad the other place was closed. We may have found this restaurant, the "Silver Dragon" by chance, but the food there was amazing, and the service was wonderful. When we first entered, both of us noticed that we were the only non-asian customers, which is generally a good sign when it comes to the quality of asian food. At first, the food on the menu looked intriguing but somewhat expensive. 17 dollars was about the median price, down to around $7 for weekday lunch specials, and up to as high as $25 dollars. Duo ordered a fairly cheap ($10, IIRC) sea food noodle combo, and I ordered the more expensive sweet and sour chicken ($17, IIRC). In retrospect, this was a mistake... we should have ordered one thing to share between ourselves. What we didn't realize was that these prices are for serving dish sized portions, more than enough to be shared between at least two people. But the food was absolutely delicious. They also provide free kim-chi and some sort of pickles, raw onions, and dipping sauce as an appetizer. The food, service, and atmosphere were all so great that although our bill only came out to just over $30, I left a $10 tip, and I don't regret that in the least. I definitely recommend this one. Unfortunately, I've had some trouble finding it online. I think I've finally tracked it down, listed under what I assume is its Korean name:

Han Joong Kwan
9338 Baltimore National Pike
Ellicott City, MD 21042
(410) 461-1099

The google maps I've done of this address appear to verify that this is the same restaurant. It's right near the intersection of N. Chatham Rd and US-40 (Baltimore National Pike), across from the McDonalds. If you're headed West on US-40 from US-29, it will be on your right. The name "Silver Dragon" is very prominent in neon in the restaurant window, along with the description "Korean Chinese Restaurant" (or possibly Korean Chinese Cuisine... working purely from memory here at the moment, but it was something like that). I cannot recommend this restaurant too highly.

After that, we headed to Baltimore proper, specifically to the Inner Harbor and the Baltimore Aquarium. I can't remember the last time, indeed if ever, I've been there. I really can't remember if I've been to that one before, or just to the NJ State Aquarium. But it was definitely a lot of fun, even if the crowds made parts of it difficult to really appreciate to their full potential. We even caught a dolphin show while we were there.

All in all, a very pleasant weekend, with lots of happy new memories made. :)