had a pretty busy (and spontaneous) weekend. on friday night andy and i saw dubravka tomsic at symphony hall (thanks, bess!). beforehand we went to one of the worst indian places i've ever been. shanti (huntington ave near mass ave) had food that looked like it would be okay, but despite its appearance of being seasoned and herbed was just about the blandest indian food i've ever had. they also had a penchant for big balls. the aloo tikki came as two huge balls whose exteriors were strongly reminescent of hush puppies. (at least it wasn't cold like the last time we'd gone.) the malai kofta also consisted of two gorilla-sized balls, rather than the customary chimpanzee-sized. needless to say, that is another one to avoid. is there any decent eatery around symphony?? recently andy and i also went to the franklin cafe. i started with the mashed potatoes, which were nice and creamy although rather too oily. i had the cannelloni which was good but not incredible, but andy and i agree that tomato-based pastas tend to be same-y. (well, in america anyway. the tomatoes seem to dominate the dish so that it's hard to add much subtlety.) andy had the rigatoni with italian sausage and escarole in fennel cream, which he quite enjoyed. saturday morning i found out that pj harvey was playing at avalon that night. needless to say i was psyched. i got a pretty decent view, and the show was about what i expected: thoroughly enjoyable but no huge surprises (although she did a song by the fall and a song off of dance hall at louise point which was a bit on the obscure side). apparently it was her birthday, which may explain her unusually short set. today andy and i went to the franklin park zoo. i don't know why people speak so disparagingly of it; we thought it was actually pretty decent (although the giraffes and the koala bears weren't out). we'll have to check out NY's zoo (and london's). speaking of london ... someone send me some recommendations of sights and eats to check out for when andy and i go over thanksgiving weekend. please?