The weather was so nice out tonight, there was a line for outdoor tables so we were the only ones sitting inside and got pretty good service. It was kind of hard for me to judge on the food tonight because I was HONGRY!! Too hungry to pause for any pictures. We ordered the Lamb Porterhouse (“Char-broiled & served with curried ratatouille, Jasmine rice & mint yogurt sauce” and Divers and Crab (“Pan seared Diver scallops, broiled crab cake, Mango Salsa, wild rice, citrus champagne sauce”). I didn’t notice any mint yogurt sauce in the lamb and the wild rice was replaced with white rice. I’m not usually a fan of sweet and rice but the mango salsa went well with the seafood. The only beef I have with this place is that I came out of it still hungry, even after practically licking the plate clean. For a $20+ entree, I wasn’t expecting that to happen, no matter how hungry I was to begin with. I really needed more food. Usually, after eating, if I just wait a while for it to settle, I feel full, but this time, I just felt like I could eat another entree.
Hot day in winter
What in the world!? It was close to 80 degrees today! In the midst of winter!! Everyone was complaining about lack of A/C and the metro cars were kinda’ hot and stuffy. I had the luck of sitting next to a rather pungent armpit on the way home. It’s as if we skipped winter this year, had spring instead, and now we’re headed into summer.
Aquariums
This past weekend, we went to salvage all the old dusty fish stuff I accumulated years ago when I dabbled in fish-keeping. I picked up a 2.5 gallon bowl and tank, and a 10 gallon tank. I also grabbed 2 air pumps, 3 heaters, a hang-on-back filter, and some old coconut shells my dad sawed into little betta hideouts. These things have been out of commission for at least 6 or 7 years so everything was dusty and groady and filled with bug carcasses and cobwebs.
I brought them back and stuck them in the shower and gave them a good scrubdown and even boiled some water to sanitize things.
See? Good as new!
All that’s missing is the fish.
Out of Order and Back in Business
Our toilet was broken this week – Again! I kept having to go downstairs to use the bathroom which was inconvenient to say the least. Every time our toilet is out of commission, I start looking at homes for sale. I want to move somewhere with at least 1.5 baths. Anyway, the plumber came today to fix it. He took one look at the flushing contraption and said it was a piece of junk. Last year, when our toilet broke, we got a newfangled water saving flushing contraption where you could pull the lever up for a small flush and push down for a standard flush. The plumber replaced it with a standard simple flusher and it’s as good as new. After he left, I even noticed, he’d scrubbed our throne for us. I’m a bit embarrassed about that. Oh well, it’s as good as new and I couldn’t be happier with a regular flushing toilet! For saving water, we’ll just stick to the simple mantra, “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down.” No more fancy get ups. The plumber said, toilets are meant to be simple! I’m convinced.
Oasis
My mom loves collecting houseplants and my dad has a green thumb. Even though Dad protests whenever Mom comes home with yet another plant, I know he enjoys growing whatever it is. The two of them basically feed off each other. They have plants come from everywhere and nowhere – purchased, gifted, abandoned by friends, sickly charity cases, random seeds that fly and land in his pots when he takes them outside during the summer. This borderline plant-hoarding I’ve observed makes me extra vigilant about not over-packing our place with plants because I’ve seen the results. There comes a point when a house becomes overtaken by too many orchids and you know you’ve reached it when the bathtub with an east-facing window is converted into a greenhouse. Despite how careful I am, we’ve still managed to end up with a jungle by our sunniest window. I swear I only meant to grow a little spider plant and a mini-orchid (which is a replacement of another one I had done in last year). The rest of the plants just seemed to come out of nowhere! Two came from our neighbors who are in the midst of redecorating and refurnishing, the aloe and chili pepper plant came from a coworker who appealed to my practical side, insisting I can eat these things, and the zz plant was purchased with the intent of going to a lovely spacious office that needed some greenery. It never made it into said office, outgrew it’s pot, and now has a permanent spot by the window. I love this oasis in the house though. It’s so calming and lush and watching them spilling out of their pots gives me a bigger sense of accomplishment than anything I do at work.
The last year of Girl Scout Cookies
It’s not the last year Girl Scouts are ever selling cookies. It’s just the last year we have an actual Girl Scout in the family, thereby making it that much easier and enticing to get them. Alas, our dear cousin is moving on to bigger and better things. So we splurged on 5 boxes this year. Lemon cookies called Savannah Smiles, Thank U Berry Munch, and Samoas. The Samoas used to be my favorite and they’re still very good, but much sweeter than I remembered them. They are great with coffee though. The Savannah Smiles are my replacements for what were my new favorites, Lemon Chalet Cremes. They still would be my favorites but this year, they stopped selling them. Overall, I don’t think Girl Scout Cookies are that good. I get them for the novelty that they come but once a year and you have to order them and then wait for their arrival. The ritual is part of the draw. For some reason though, they still disappear quickly whenever we open up a box.
Betta News
Last weekend, our neighbors got new bookcases and offered us their old one. I’d been eyeing their space saving corner hugging bookshelf for years. And it’s even better than I hoped for. In fact, it’s so space saving that we have room for a little fishbowl. And what better fish to keep in said bowl than a betta?
Gosh it’s been how many years since I’ve kept bettas? Maybe it was 8 or 9 years ago. At the peak of my obsession, I had somewhere around 11 or 12. I even bred them once upon a time. This time around, I’m not trying to breed them or get a dozen fish in separate tanks. I want one. Or two, maybe. Let’s not get carried away again, and besides we haven’t the space.
In honor of Leap Day!
Well, okay, I’m not really doing anything special to recognize Leap Day. Really, the only difference is, it’s extended my month to do the dishes by 1 day. Basically, a negligible impact to how Leap Day has affected me.
This week, I’ve been in training, which is boring-ish, but still better than being at the office! I love walking about during lunch or just chatting with peers about how crazy our coworkers are. We compare psychological battle scars and it makes us feel better that we’re not the only ones having to contend with the nut-jobs and such. To be fair though, work issues are everywhere, our situations are no different. I’m not sure how many more jobs I have to flip through before I give up.
Channeling Patti Stanger
I went to our rec room this Sunday and happened to see a neighbor there shooting pool by himself. It was one of those walk-bys where I wanted to go in the rec room only if it was empty cuz I’m antisocial that way. Since he saw me looking in, it was too late to back out because it would’ve appeared rude to just turn around upon seeing him there. When I went in, I reminded myself that sometimes, people just want to be alone and do their own thing, y’know? So even though I knew I was probably being an annoyance, I thought it would be again, rude, if I didn’t acknowledge his presence by making small pleasantries. So I made nice and chatted a bit and he was friendly and for some reason I thought he was married but when I asked about his wife, he said he wasn’t. So then I got it into my brain that he’d be perfect for my coworker so I was all, hey are you interested in dating or looking? I can throw a party and introduce you to someone I know. And he was like, nah. And I was all bummed but then I think I might have made him uncomfortable cuz he left shortly thereafter. Anyway, in hindsight I don’t think they’re a good fit, but why did I do that?! I am such a doof sometimes!! FILTER!! It was one of those moments I could hear myself talking but couldn’t stop my mouth!
R&R Taqueria
For such an obscure little taco shop in a suburban/rural gas station, this place sure does get steady business. Of course, getting on Seitsema’s 2011 Fall Dining Guide as well as the Best Cheap Eats list in Washingtonian Magazine didn’t hurt. We went and got one each of pork belly, al pastor, chorizo, and lamb tacos as well as their lamb soup. It was good sure, but it wasn’t that good that I’d go out of my way for it. The tacos and soup were way too greasy and pork belly was not pork belly but rather, stomach. If I lived in the area, I’d come back. I mean, the food was good, flavors strong. We fought over the last bits of the soup. It’s just not an hour’s worth of driving good.
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