Of Ramen Bowls and Detours

 Welcome My Friends,

Well we've come to the last post of the year, possibly, actually may finish with a Thrifty Geek Library New Years Eve Wrap-Up post, but don't hold me to it! We had a good holiday this year, except a minor issue of our truck battery dying and making us all late, but it was still good. I hope everyone's holiday was well.

I'm going to back up to five days before Christmas, due to  my therapy appointment, Amber and I decided to go and hang out in Asheville that day afterwards. This was my first official in person visit since the start of the pandemic. It was okay, not bad, not stellar, and the usual getting a little annoyed with my therapist.  After my session we headed out in search of lunch and ways to wash off therapy.

Itto Ramen Bar and Tapas

Fangirl has been wanting to go to this Ramen Bar on Haywood Street for a while, well Tuesday was the day we finally went. It was a lovely restaurant, the waiter was good about coming to check on us, and I like there was a window where you could see the food being prepared. I guess it's because of the book I've been writing about a restaurant, but I've been finding being able to see into the kitchen a cool thing. The menu was on the place mats, and filled with a nice selection of ramen and tapas. We started with appetizers of Takoyaki balls, which we were happy to see offered. 

 

For the uninitiated we also call them octopus balls. They are these deep fried balls that have chopped octopus in it, and these also contain seaweed powder and brown rice flour, their capped off with bonito flakes. These came out nice and hot. These large balls had some great flavors to savor, I  savored them so much I was eating the left over bonito flakes because it was so good. I will say those flakes are hard to pick up with chopsticks, to think I use to pick up M&M's with ease with chopsticks.

For our main course we each got a ramen bowl Fangirl went tithe the Itto Seafood Ramen:

This dish contains their original broth, fresh ramen, grilled shrimp, fish cakes, crab stick, scallions, and a seasoned boiled egg. 

I went with the Itto Deluxe Ramen, because I'm so deluxe. *laughs*

This delectable bowl has the same broth, noodles, scallions and egg like the previous dish, but this one contains black garlic oil in the broth, chashu pork, and bamboo shoots. This was so delicious, best ramen I've had. You have to keep in mind the only ramen I've had before this was the little packets you find in grocery stores, which is good, but this was epic. This was also my first time having bamboo shoost, they were so good, they really absorb those glorious flavors.

Now they do offer forks for the chopstick challenged, but I wanted to give eating noodles a go despite being given a fork. I managed to splatter my shirt, which had the upside of me smelling like my awesome lunch, downside I was hungry all day. Luckily this broth makes two servings, and we had some take out for later, this still tasted great reheated for my supper, I just got to remember next time to leave some pork and some more bamboo shoots so I can have a fuller experience with my second meal.

Retail Therapy and Detours

Down the road from Itto's was Morgan's Comics, which you know we love them here. So I made a few purchases here. One was the Wonder Woman: Come Back to Me Comic. 

I've yet to read it since I was caught up in the holiday and all. My second find is one I've been trying to find for a few months since I noticed they had a stack of Magic the Gathering single cards for sale. 

Now I don't know much about what are good cards or rare, except maybe Black Lotus, is that even right, but the reason I searched months through this stack wasn't for the rarity, it was the artist. This card was done by Pete Venters, who is the husband of the Lady of the Manners of the Gothic Charm School. I love this blog and follow her on Tumblr and Instagram.  I'm not Goth, but I have Gothy Tendencies. I don't know if there's a title for what I am in the Goth community, but some of my interests align with Goth interests. I've been looking through these cards a little at the time searching for it and I have been victorious!

So from there we decided to hit up Comic Envy, though the journey wasn't so smooth getting there. Fangirl missed the exit and then thought she was on the right street to get to Merrimon Avenue, this lead us to a lot of side streets and neighborhoods in and around Downtown Asheville. Upside I saw some sides of Asheville I don't often see, like one person's yard that had an archway filled with wind chimes, I also discovered the location of Chicken Alley.

It's a haunted alley with amazing murals including this chicken one by artist Molly Musk. I'd always been drawn to it's art that I'd see online, but on the local news one Halloween they had a segment about the ghost, which you can read about in the above link. This made it even more interesting.

We eventually made it to Comic Envy and perused the store. I didn't find any comic offerings to tempt me, but I did internally squee over the Grogu figures and this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Gift Box with apron and cookbook inside.

We then invaded the Asheville Mall where we ogled the the fandom things at Hot Topic and Box Lunch while their scanners went wonky. Fangirl had a blow to her wallet. She's been really getting into One Piece an she saw a large Luffy plushie at Hot Topic that she bought, then a grab bag themed around the show. Upon opening the bag she found a smaller plushie that was practically like the bigger one, if she'd only known. 

After that we hit up one of the local Asian Markets, so Fangirl could stock up on her snack food. I think I need to save a little money to get me some snacks, I love Pocky and Red Bean Moochi, it'd be nice to have in addition to my regular snacks. We then went to the big Goodwill in Asheville. I made a couple holiday purchases there.

I heard from some customers there was the possibilty of snow that night, I had planned on getting the rest of my Christmas when I was going out shopping with my Granny the next day, but if it snowed, a bunch of Christmas wouldn't happen. So I had Fangirl take me to Dollar Tree and I finished my holiday shopping. 

After a slight traffic issue, I enjoyed looking at what Holiday lights I could since we didn't get to go looking this year, I even had her drive through one of my favorite areas. 

All in all it was a fun preChristmas outing. Sadly it was the first domino that killed my sleep which made the next few days rough mental health wise, but I got through the crazy moments.  

Well there's another venture posted. I hope this final week of 2022 treats you well, it's been a rough year for me, but it's had it's good moments. I hopefully will see you all back here New Years Eve! Have fun, eat much, God bless.

*Thrifty Geek*

Of Sonic Screwdrivers and Doctor Who Comics

Hello Geeky Friends,

Fangirl and I ventured out to Asheville again, yes we were armed with our masks, hand sanitizer, and social distancing skills. We learned a night or so before that our favorite Chinese restaurant in Asheville, Shogun's. So we graced it with our presence once more. Yes they were taking safety measures. It's been nice to have one of my favorite foods again the last couple months.

Fortune cookie wisdom for today...

The Asheville Mall  

We paid a visit to the mall. I visited Gamestop, and then the two of us went to Boxlunch and Hot Topic. At the latter I purchased the 13th Doctor's Sonic like I wanted to this month. It made me so happy. It has two buttons one gives you the regular sound of the sonic, the other button has a different sound and makes the crystal in the end turn. I love it! I also did some Christmas shopping while I was there. I'm actually gonna have everything ordered and bought before December maybe. Yay me!

 

The random walking stick, what's it's story? Is it waiting for it's owner, or been abandoned. What adventures has it been on?

 

Comic Envy

We paid a visit to Comic Envy. Fangirl probably wanted to slap me. She got a My Hero Academia blind grab bag thing again and last time she wasn't happy with what she got, so she said she was gonna try again, and I said I was gonna laugh if she got someone she didn't like again. She got another she didn't like, I had to laugh, cause I said I would. I purchased Captain Marvel: The War of the Realms Issue #7. I was rather amused by this comic. First you have a body swapping situation and one of best scenes where in the foreground something serious is going on, but in the background something hilarious is going on. I got a good laugh out of it. I also purchased a Lego Catwoman:

 

 Isn't she purrrfect?

Morgan's Comics

We made a stop at Morgan's comics. We chatted Supernatural with the shop's owner. She's so cool. I love just browsing the shelves comic, games, and just geek stuff. I ended up purchasing two Doctor Who comics, Thirteenth Doctor: Issue #9 and the Tenth Doctor/13th Doctor Team Up Issue #2. Love me some Who! The Owner was trying to keep up with the election news. This was the day after the election, so the counting was still going on, actually in some places isn't it still going on?

 

Goodwill

 We hit up a couple Goodwills that seem to be providing signs that day:

 

So yes it was a nice day. Got some retail therapy in, hung out with one of my best friends, and had good food. 

 

Election

 

What about that election? Like this year hasn't been crazy enough. I don't really talk politics here cause it's confusing and I don't understand it most the time, that's why I hadn't registered to vote before. This year though I felt a need to exercise a right women of old fought for me to have. I did register as unaffiliated, despite being raised in a Democrat house I feel I don't fully support any party. Another reason I don't talk politics is my family. While the people in my house are Democrat, I got a bunch of Trump supporters in my family. We had a Trump supporter living with us when he won. He was a very loud supporter. Since the election has been decided I'm lucky I've only had to put one family member on a thirty day snooze on Facebook cause every post it seemed they made was bashing the decision and I love them so I decided to just temporarily mute them till around Christmas time and then they'll be moved on to the holidays hopefully. I'm just glad I don't have to see anymore political commercials.

 

 Well I'm gonna continue to binge classic Who and just chill out a while. I hope your Hump day is good, stay weird, and God bless!

*Thrifty Geek*

It All Started With a Snapping Turtle

 Happy Weekend friends,

Well today I'll be talking about well last Saturday. It was Fangirl and mine's monthly outing that we've only been able to pick up again as we're able to venture out again. It was a rainy day, that was a crappy thing. So we get started driving back toward civilization and we'd had one out of towner in front of us who had to finally pull over cause I assume they have no clue where they were or were freaking out on our curvy roads, I don't know and I really shouldn't assume. Anyways we get right past a produce stand and there's a vehicle stopped in the middle of the road and we're like "What the heck?", and there was a huge butt snapping, or mud, turtle. The vehicle that was in front of us pulled over to block it from getting ran over. We went on not because we where heartless, but cause hello it's a snapping turtle, and I like all my fingers.
 

After some errands we went to spend the day in Asheville. Out first stop was lunch at Tao's which has opened their dining room (please keep in mind we are wearing masks, social distancing, and using hand sanitizer during this day). I was so happy I haven't had Chinese food since March. It was amazing.

Morgan's Comics

Well we've been going to the comic book stores more than once a year now, which makes me happy. Our first stop was Morgan's Comics. We actually were there when I think Morgan was there. I love this shop especially since we're not being crushed by Free Comic Book Day crowds. It allows me to browse a bit. Saw the first comic in the Doctor Who 10 and 13 crossover. Wanting to save some money I decided against getting it this time. If they have it the next time I go I may grab it.
The only thing I ended up getting was a pin from a Dungeons and Dragons box. I bought a Chaotic Good alignment pin cause that's gonna be my first D & D character's alignment. I also feels like this describes me in real life as well, but probably not in the same sense as the game.
Because of the pin one of of the workers was telling us about the games they hosted online, which once I have experience with the game with friends who can teach us how the game goes, I'll feel more comfortable.

Asheville Mall

We took our first foray into the mall in months. Saw how Covid was effecting it. Due to lines and not wanting to walk far for no good reason we just ended up going to Hot Topic. The had Beetlejuice stuff out. I grinned over some of the books that had the cover of the book from the movie. The also had the 13th Doctor's Sonic Screw driver. If they have any next time we go for that price, I gotta get one for my collection. Yeah purchasing Doctor Who things is gonna be a theme I see.

JoAnn's

We stopped by Joann's to look mainly at the Halloween items. This year the stores haven't really impressed with Halloween items. See every year I'm prepared to make two lists for Halloween items stuff to buy to decorate for Halloween and the stuff to decorate my space for year round. Yeah I'm a color loving geek, but I got some Addams Family crap going on too. I saw a couple things I liked like a gold skeleton with wings, but I don't know it's cause it was done picked over or Covid it seemed lacking this year. There really hasn't been a lot this year in what I consider year round decor, or other wise, to catch my interest at stores.

Comic Envy
 

We stopped at Comic Envy as we started to make our way back. I love this store too. I ended up purchasing a Captain Marvel comic. As I was waiting to pay the guy paying in front of me was getting his haul and ya'll he was a serious collector. This was my first time seeing one in the wild that I know of. He was like wanting the receipt to keep for his records he was that hardcore.

Goodwills

We hit up a couple Goodwills while we were out. I found some books to give to family members as gifts, and some more CDs for me, yes I still get CDs we still exist. I found from the special edition box that come out for The Phantom Menace some time ago one of the movie strip cells they had for it. If I ever have a place of my own definitely add some geek chic to the place.

Ammon's

For Supper we stopped off in Waynesville to eat supper at Ammon's. I've eaten there often over the years. They just opened their dining room as well. Across the street on a pawn shop's sign it said to vote for Thanos in 2020. This frightens me, when Thanos is considered a better choice for president.

Due to the rain it was a misty drive home. The leaves were changing and falling. I'm just sad there will be no Pumpkinfest, but hopefully at some point we'll be able to return to our events without fear. I'll just have to save my dandelion costume idea till then.

That ends another post. I hope all is well with you my friends. Hope your weekend is good, be safe, and God bless you!

*Thrifty Geek*

A Little Update and Shopping

Happy Friday friends,

Well last weekend Fangirl and I traveled out to Asheville. It was a day just to chill out after my doctors appointments. We partook of our usual Chinese food. After filling our bellies Fangirl decided to "get lost" being bored with our usual routine. We wound up in the River Arts District. I love seeing the art on the buildings, even the abandoned have an artistic vibe even if it's just graffiti

.
After our wandering and a wrong turn we ended up at the mall. We only visit generally two stores. Hot Topic and Boxlunch. That day we found a surprise at the Hot Topic, a lot of there Funko POPs were on sale for three dollars. Fangirl and I jumped at the chance to get at least one. I've purchased some as gifts for family and friends, but I never got one for me. I was hoping to find a Doctor Who one, no luck, but I did locate a Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That was my show back in high school just ask my friends. He's now guarding the nightstand.

We ended our day with some fun at some Goodwills and Dollar Tree.

So that's a little update not much but a little one. I hope your weekend's good, may you find adventure, and God bless you.

AARC 2019

Hello my geeky friends,

Saturday my peeps and I attended the Asheville Anime Regional Convention (AARC), it was a world of anime, video games, and just plain geekiness. But before we get to the fun of the day let's look at our players:

Fangirl is rocking her own design of Steven Universe's Rose Quartz, a dark Rose Quartz. She painted the shield herself.

Econut and we'll call this friend Audette went as Bowser and a Evil Peach.

Econut is proud of the Chomp she painted on her vest and the shoes she painted:

Yours truly went as the Doctor. Geronimo! I went with a bow tie Fangirl found for me. I'm gonna use the homemade one for Pumpkinfest this year. Despite it being warm I surprisingly didn't get too hot in my layers.

Ok now you know your characters, lets get on with the tale of our day.  Fangirl and I both left things at our houses my sonic and her shield, luckily we were not far from my house when we had to turn back, but Fangirl's place was halfway across the county. After gathering all our forgotten goods we finally met up with the other two members of our party halfway back the other side of the county, only to be separated again cause their car was unable to move as fast as Fangirl's. It all finally come together when we all met up in the parking lot, and late our Marshmallow Rainbow Maids Cafe reservation, never fear we managed to get another slot.

There was a good crowd at the con...

...and lots of costumes. I saw Deodorant Man at one point (see last years post).

After making a reservation we watched a little of the lip synch battle which Audette had wanted to see. After our brief respite we did a walk through of the Artist Alley. We ran into Amanda Churi the indie Author we've ran into the last few cons we've been to. I purchased the third and final book in her book series The Twisted Trilogy: In Eden's Shadow. Check out her work the trilogy has made for an interesting read.

The best line heard at the con was a girl in a corset who'd said "Goodbye organs, Hello beauty." I got three "Fezzes are cool", and 2 people saying Eccleston was an underrated Doctor, very true.

We went to the Plus Size Cosplay panel were the host we'll call her Velma told us of her struggles of being a plus size cosplayer. I applaud her for telling her story and trying to make plus sized cosplayers the social norm. As a plus size cosplayer myself I'd like to see this. 
After this panel we headed to the Marshmallow Rainbow Maids Cafe room. As we waited we saw the profiles of each maid on the wall. Econut said it'd be funny if we got Maid Gaki, the Sukeban (Gangsta Type). Guess who we got?

When we went in we were given sticks with streamers and bells on them, cat toys as one maid called them, so we could cheer on the maids performance. Which we happily did. after the performance the maids took our order and served us all while we engaged in a game with Maid Gaki called What Do You Meme? We shared a table with a woman dressed as a cat and a  red Power Ranger, who told me David Tennant was going to be at a nearby con, and I'm like put a knife in my heart why don't ya!

Trinkets from the Rainbow Maids

After we got a pic with our maid and returned the cat toys,  we went back to the stage area to watch some of the Asheville Kendo Club demonstrations. After watching some audience members whacking club members with sticks we cruised the dealers area. I got me some more dice and a couple Yugioh cards to add to my collection.

Worn out from our wanderings we sat and watched a bit of A Taste of Asia Dance Fitness while waiting for the Cosplay Contest, only at a con will you see a fitness group with a Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service, and Link, Bob Ross, and Dinosaur dancing to the side, did I mention Bob Ross was doing the floss? Again only at a con.

Fangirl bid us adieu as she went to get ready for the contest, then Econut and Audette went to find a place Econut could smoke. So I was the lone picture taker for the group. Fangirl was in the beginners section and I think she did her poses perfectly:

Sadly she didn't place, but she did get a nice applause. I didn't enter cause I figured my Doctor costume would place. The big story was during the journeyman level. A Spiderman Noir had just gone up and he was followed by a Spider Gwen, this also happened in the beginners. As this Spider Gwen was doing her poses Noir gets back on stage and proposes to her:

And if you couldn't tell she said yes. Like I've said only at a con.

We did one more spin through Artist Alley and then we parted ways with Econut and Audette. I have to say a con is more fun when you're in a group of peeps.

Fangirl and I decided to go to this Japanese eatery called Waku Waku, they were offering a discount for AARC cosplayers, and we weren't the only ones. It was like a mini AARC after party. Unfortunately the sudden flux of customers had the small staff swamped trying to keep up orders, so there was a wait for food. We ordered some Takoyaki: Japanese Octopus balls, for our appetizer, not only were these my first octopus balls this was also my first time tasting their Waku Waku sauce. They were good. If I go back may have to get some more. Fangirl and I got the Katsu-Don, she got the pork , I got chicken. It was okay just didn't realize it'd be smothered with onions. I just scrapped it off and added some Waku Waku sauce to the rice so it wasn't just plain rice.

So it was a fun time at the con, looking forward to next year's. I hope you guys have a good week, for those who celebrate Happy Independence Day, and may God bless you!

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer

Great Strides and Free Comic Book Day 2018

Hello this rainy night my friends,

I hope and pray all is well with you guys. Before this rain shut down on us I've been taking advantage of the outdoors and my mindscape. I have not been able to sit still as of late. But here I am ready to regal you with the month's fun. Sit back this maybe a long one. These particular events took place during a course of two days.

Great Strides
Since 2007 my peeps and me have off and on participated in this great cause. Great Strides is an amazing event that raises money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. There are walks all over every year to collect the money you've raised thus far and just celebrate your efforts. Why do I walk you may ask? Well this is why I walk:

You'd know her as the Captain. I've watched her battle this beast and it's minions, she's a strong little warrior, she may not look it, but she is.
 This is the first time in a few years we've all got to get together to do the walk as one big group. Since they changed were we use to walk and most our walk team is out in Franklin, we decided to walk out there.
The walk took place on May the Fourth be with you. Yes they put up some Star Wars decorations for the occasion. They even had a magician on hand, which Fangirl called it on his profession before he announced it.
While it wasn't Carrier Park, it was still a spectacular walk. There was a river to one side with people fishing on boats:

There was even a beaver pond:

I found my first painted rock hanging out in a tree:

The back said to post it Franklin NC Post, Fangirl said the tag should be #WNCrocks so there's both of them which ever it is. These rocks special made for the event was all over the trail. This one was my favorite:

They told us what was collected at this walk total over $14,000. I hope all these takes us closer to a cure.

It was great seeing all my best friends together in one place again. We had laughs, goofed off, talked Supernatural, and asked the important questions like "Could the Doctor lift Thor's hammer?"

Free Comic Book Day 2018
 

So the next day was my favorite Geeky Holiday: Free Comic Book Day!!! It was a rainy day off and on, but it did not dampen Fangirl's nor my spirits as we jammed to some Geeky tunes, well at least my spirits weren't,  Fangirl may have had a weather induced headache.
We had a new stop to make this year in the town of Canton at a shop called Not So Old Toys and Comics:

Usually when we've gone it's when his Mom is running the place, but today Mr. Rogers was there himself. Now since this store doesn't get in brand spakin new comics, they didn't have the free comics that were to be offered , but they did have special sales and maybe their own free selection. For the first 30 peeps in the store you got a free goodie bag. It was a Transformers Prime bag and the swag was 3 issues of Street Sharks, that was a trip down memory lane. I never read the comics or saw the show, but I remember the commercials for the toy line. Plus the ads found in these books take me back, they were the same ones that could be found in other magazines of my childhood. I purchased a unicorn for my Mom for Mother's day, while Fangirl gave into her Transformers fandom and bought a figure to add to her collection. I couldn't tell you the name of the character it's beyond the basics I think.

Their always watching...

Our next stop was Hero Hunter Comics, the origin store of our Free Comic Book Day hijinxs all that time ago. I'm happy to announce that after all these years they're going to be heading to what I hope a bigger local. I'm excited for them. So next year maybe we'll have a new shiny shop to raise havoc in. I purchased a Wonder Woman Bombshells Pin, because she's my favorite superhero. I also purchased a Princess Leia Pin, this was mainly cause I was thinking on the things I'd been telling Fangirl about her on the drive over there her prayer candle, warning bad gesture, and her glitter habits.

As we partook of the monthly Chinese feast,  Econut called to inform me of her comic haul, which included three rare Pirates of Dark Water comics.... *pouts* Do you guys remember that cartoon, if you do you rock!

The next location was suppose to be Haywood Comics, but in trying to find parking we ended up on one of our "adventures", code word for getting lost.  We went from West Asheville, to Carrier Park, through the River Arts District, and into Downtown. This surprised us when we ended up in downtown, yeah we decided not to back track.

But sometimes the unexpected journeys can be even better than what you planned. West Asheville is one of my favorite sections of Asheville, like many places in the city it has some amazing art on it's buildings:

Plus, I've always wanted to go to the River Arts District of Asheville which was a fun place to explore, and of course boasted it's own building art:

Or the building themselves seemed to catch my interest:

This is what I love about Asheville and the unexpected trips you never know what gems your gonna find.

As we headed on to Comic Envy we heard this street musician singing about going away in his time machine, my inner Whovian got giddy and pretty appropriate for the day I thought (one of the free comics was Doctor Who, yes I remembered to get it this year).

We got to Comic Envy only to learn they had moved and were on Merrimon avenue now. So another back track venture and we found it's new home. Captain Jack Sparrow was at his usual post directing traffic and getting his goof on.

It was a busy FCBD as usual. I decided to purchase another Doctor Who comic The Twelfth Doctor: Ghost Stories.

While out that way I suggested we go to The Wyvern's Tale, a gaming store I'd been wanting to go into for a bit. It just so happened to be down the road, so once Fangirl slapped her latest bumper stickers on her vehicle, we were off.

The Wyvern's Tale was a gamers wonderland. I added to my dice collection, amongst the purchases was a weather dice, and a blue transparent 6 sided die with a tiny white 6 sided die within.  I was eyeing some mini's and other wondrous treasures, but had to remind myself gotta save some dough for your Mother's Day gifts. The guy who run me up was nice and helpful, so that made my day.

As we headed to see Infinity Wars we saw more of the city's quirk that I've come to love. There was this mural I was really drawn to I guess cause I still love making dandelion wishes and I think one of my favorite flowers, the daisy, is in that bouquet.

As we got to the obelisk we found a man making huge bubbles:

I think a piece of me would have enjoyed just taking a moment to be out there enjoying the show.

So what were my thoughts of Infinity Wars? Like Marvel stuck a knife in my chest twisted it a bit yanked it out with my my heart still on the blade and stomped on it, yet I still found myself laughing and now quoting bits of the movie, that's a marvel movie for you I guess.

After the feels fest we dined upon Applebee's where apparently my constant energetic state as of late, well prior to being sick and the rain, made me actually have an appetite. Then a meal pick up for the folks and then we slogged home to the sounds of geek.

What were my favorite comics of my haul? Well Doctor Who of course, especially the 11th's story and maybe Lady Mechanika even though the 1st part was a recap from a past FCBD comic.

How has you May been my friends? Did you guys do anything for FCBD what were your favorite comments? Let me know in the comments. I hope you guys have a great week and may God bless you all, and hope it's sunny where your at.

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer