I love D. to bits, but I cherish time to myself. Hey, I think it's healthy. He's working this Saturday and when I have time to myself, I do one thing: eat all the things he doesn't like. Hehe. My favorite is BBQ duck on rice from Sam Woo. Sam Woo is like the In-N-Out of Cantonese cuisine. It's cheap, it's basic, and it's very satisfying. The service at In-N-Out is much better, though.
So, I have my BBQ duck, the sweet plum dipping sauce, and a cup of boba milk tea. With that, I am spending the afternoon with Bear and this:
Yes... that's 7 seasons of both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. D. knows what I like. The TNG set was a Christmas gift from three Christmases ago and DS9 is an early birthday gift. Amazon had a sci-fi sale. I have Star Trek marathons when D.'s away working or traveling, because as much as he loves me and he likes Star Trek, he'd go nuts watching it for hours on end. I, on the other hand, love it.
I love it! What a great afternoon.
I'll be interspersing my adventures in food with a few posts on my adventures in wedding planning. Mostly, it'll still be about food, mixed with tongue-in-cheek commentary on the ridiculous (and ridiculously expensive!) comings and goings of planning what the industry calls "MYYYYY DAAAAYYY". Like it's a national holiday or something.
It's only been a week or so, but D. and I are wading tentatively into the chaos known as wedding planning. Here's what I've learned so far from wedding websites:
I know, I know, first Cheesecake Factory, now Outback Steakhouse? Sheesh, right? Well, Outback is a tradition for us. Back in the day, we realized our first anniversary (March 20) fell during finals week. Obviously, there was no time or energy to enjoy a fancy meal, yet we wanted something that was a little more than our usual fare. Outback, with its steak-dominant menu, was still reasonably-priced, but with a little more fanfare. Hey, we were college students on a budget!
Today, Outback is no longer "fancy," but as D. pointed out, "It's still a tad expensive." More like overpriced. We eat there once a year on our anniversary and, while we've bandied around the idea of changing venues, it's not the same without the Bloomin' Onion. Speaking of...
In the past year, they've revamped their menu to offer a variety of different portions. My usual prime rib now comes in three weights, so I opted for the 8-ounce. Perfect for me. I'm not eating a lot of meat nowadays, so excessive protein tends to sit like a brick in my gut.
Part of the meal was two choices of sides, instead of the old salad-or-soup-plus-one-side. I chose the Asian chopped salad, which must have originally been called the Wasabi chopped salad because our waitress called it that. Guess wasabi didn't appeal to their customers. It was a mayonnaise-y and slightly spicy mix of chopped iceberg lettuce and the occasional cucumber. It wasn't very good.
For dessert, I picked up some goodies from Sage French Cake. It's a great bakery in Kearny Mesa, but the two times I've been there, they've run out of pastries long before closing time. I find that to be excellent, actually. That means they don't make more than they need and the pastries are always fresh. The first time, the case was completely empty by 7:15pm. This time, we were down to a handful of cake slices, so I picked three: strawberry shortcake, chocolate raspberry mousse, and caramel mousse.
The strawberry shortcake was the classic Asian interpretation with eggy and moist sponge cake with fresh whipped cream and strawberries. It was fantastic.
D. loves raspberries, but the chocolate raspberry mousse cake wasn't quite what we'd hoped for. The flavors weren't balanced very well, so it was tart and bitter at the same time and not in a good way.
The caramel mousse cake was really good. It had a burnt sugar crust a la creme brulee.
One last thing... when we arrived home from dinner, we were greeted by Bear playing the St. Bernard stereotype. Interesting bit of useless trivia... the classic image of a St. Bernard isn't true, they never carried brandy around their necks. Well, Bear did have something around his neck.
It looks like D. is going to become Mr. Moo! It is 2008, after all. Hehe.
On this rainy Friday, I figured I'd take a moment to spout about the things that I find comforting. My current favorite things, if you will.
Here's the "I love my dog" post. I noticed that a lot of food bloggers who have dogs will write a post about them. Sounds good to me.
This is Bear, our sous chef, vacuum, guest greeter, inspector of all bags that crinkle (treats come in bags that crinkle), cheerleader, and kitchen rug. He's a big sweetie and a huge opportunist. Not one to beg for food or steal it off your plate, Bear considers all items that hit the ground to be fair game. Also, if we leave the house and choice food items are on the counter within reach, it's apparently our fault for leaving them out.
Bear is quite the chowhound, appreciating everything from organic peanut butter dog cookies to lemongrass to that canine delicacy: cat poop.
Bread and cheese are two of his favorites. Like many Aussies, he likes to supervise. Dropped bread or cheese would be icing on the cake.
He's a barrel of snuggly fun. I didn't have a dog growing up, so Bear's technically my first dog. Well, he's D.'s family dog, so he's like my step-doggie or adoptive-doggie. Doesn't keep me from loving him to bits.
