Brother #2 was here this weekend, along with his lovely wife. They were hanging out for the weekend, meeting Lindsay, and celebrating a little. We did what was expected: we ate and drank like damn kings.

Dinner on Friday, after a delayed flight, was at Tabule. We had falafel and flash-fried cauliflower and akaawi cheese. We had lamb chops and veal skewers and grilled shrimp. We had muhalabiya (lebanese custard topped off with pistachios and rose water syrup) and baklava w/ pistachio and cashews. It was a goddamn delicious meal. Afterward we had a drink at Chez Nous, and a little more wine back at ours before retiring laaaaaaaate in the evening.

The next morning we got up, rather earlier than we probably should have, for brunch at Bonjour Brioche followed by coffee at Boxcar Social. After that we relaxed for a bit, then went out to do a little shopping. Unsuccessful on Queen Street, we walked north to Gerrard; we used that as the excuse to finally try Double D’s Chicago-style pizza. That pizza was delicious as shit, by the way. I will walk to that pizza many, many times this summer. After that we walked back down to Queen and sampled a few things at Radical Road Brewing. We all crashed that afternoon before finally going to dinner at AFT (after a brief stop at KT Sports Bar) and stuffing ourselves with BBQ platters. God, we were full.

But not so full we couldn’t eat brunch the next day at Lil’ Baci. We all got Baci Balls: classic for me, spicy pork for the brother, turducken for the ladies. Three of us: Caesars. One of us: mimosa. Finchy: lager. Unfortunately, somewhere in the course of the morning I did something to royally fuck up my back. Like, to the point that I thought I had kidney stones again, and spent Monday at St. Mike’s. Anyway, after sister-in-law #1 left, we crashed (again) for a bit, then went to Eastbound Brewing for dinner and languished, pained, on the couch watching Game Of Thrones. Lindsay’s becoming a fan, you see.

It was a short visit — barely 48 hours — but a fun one. Come back anytime, kids.