nothing edifying

We went to Claim Jumpers tonight for dinner with Al and Julie. It’s only my second time there. Omg, so much food. I’d forgotten how much food it was. This whole weekend we’ve eaten soooo much. At Claim Jumpers, they serve everything on a huge platter filled with food. We got their appetizer combo which was piled high with onion rings, breaded zucchini, mozzarella sticks, artichoke, potato skins, etcetcetc soooo much food. Then for entree, Julie got the half rack of baby back ribs, Al got meatloaf, Yut got a full rack of St. Louis spareribs, and I got chicken pot pie. Whatever you’re imagining, imagine it bigger:p Then after dinner, I had to get the Motherlode which is a slice of a 6 layer chocolate cake with chocolate icing for dessert because it’s chocolate death:) Well also cos a co-worker of mine raves about it. It’s good, but by the end of the meal, we were all so full that between the four of us, we only managed to eat two layers on the slice. The amount of food we took home was probably about equal to everything we ate.

Also, the drive on the 24 towards Concord had sections that were tree-lined. Made me think of the DC metro area a little, but with smaller forests/trees and more shrubby sections. But still, trees! Along the freeway! :)

My stomach hurts. For the second time this year, we went to House of Prime Rib. The first time was with Julie and Al, this time was with Jaynry and Cliff. Omg, so much food. Last time, I drank a lot (they have a long wait, especially if you don’t have reservations, but even if you do:p) at the bar and the the table. This time, I took advantage of their whole “free seconds” (if you finish the first) thing. The second piece is much much smaller, but still. For a steak place, it’s a good value because of the amount of food you get (all sides come with the meal).

When you sit down, you get bread right away. After ordering which cut you want (City — the smallest with no seconds (I think); House — a fat slice of prime rib; English — thinner cuts than House, but still same amount of meat it seems; and maybe something else — King or something?), they bring out house salad with some yummy dressing and really crispy lettuce, then the prime rib cut au jus with creamed spinach, yorkshire pudding, and your choice of mashed or baked potato. Seriously, I don’t know if a mere listing even does justice to the amount of food it was. I couldn’t have eaten more at a buffet (which those of you who’ve seen me at buffet know is quite impressive when I put my mind to it, unless you’re my dad, in which case you think I’m weak sauce: “Never take a daughter to a buffet! What a waste!” — but I’m much better nowadays:D). Actually speaking of my dad, maybe I should take him some day. Anyhows, okay, so after eating all that food (except the potato), everyone got seconds and it was still really good — juicy and flavorful — even though we were really full. Like I-wish-I-could-unbutton-my-pants full. Then Cliff and Yut were talking about dessert but Jaynry and I were both like you guys go ahead if you really want to, but they didn’t:p The first time with Julie and Al, Julie and I didn’t get seconds, so we got dessert. Before we went, Julie had said that the strawberries in Grand Marnier sauce was really good, so I had to try it. It was delicious, but seriously it’s a choice: desserts or seconds. And sometimes maybe the choice has to be neither, cos now I’m home and my pants are off and I am sitting v. straight because I am oh so v. full.

I realized today that it’s Earth Day. So happy Earth Day:)
(and for once, thanks Google for helping remind me.)

I read this article about the “Death of Environmentalism” on SFGate.com. I’ve been kind of thinking about this a lot… I mean, George W. Bush is the first elected official ever (I think) to get an ‘F’ from the League of Conservation Voters; he weakened the Clean Air Act (or he wants to if he hasn’t); he wants to drill for oil in our Arctic preserves; and NONE of this matters. Lots of people still seem to think that global warming isn’t really happening, it’s just a natural cyclical thing and the crazy environmentalists need to calm down. But you know what? Churchill, North America’s only sub-arctic industrial port had its port rights (something like that) bought up by some American business company cos they’re counting on global warming to warm up the waters around it enough to do shipping year round (the Canadian government was happy to get something for the rights because traditionally arctic shipping is a money loser cos the water’s ice for too many months of the year). Churchill’s starting to make more money (not quite in the black yet, but getting there). Some company is out there betting money on global warming! So yeah, if science, with its talk about the green house effect and global warming isn’t proof enough, how about big business investing in sub-arctic sea ports? Gah.

It’s getting towards the end of the work day on Friday and the CLOUDS! They just blew in! The formerly lovely sunny day is gone. Barbecue weather? Gone!

I obviously fucked up before when I said, “I’m ready for summer” and “I love this weather” etcetc. <sigh>

There’s been almost a week of perfectly lovely weather, so we decided we were ready for summer, and it was time to break out the barbecue! (ooooh yes!) We even bought beer called Summerfest to go with our theme:)

Our chimney starter

Doesn’t that look perfectly lovely? :) We cooked up some ribs, chicken, corn, portobella mushroom, pineapple (over two days, not all at once:p). Deeee-lish, if I do say so myself! Barbecue is so yummy.

I want this weather to continue! It’s not too hot and not too cold, just perfect.

I went to the dentist last week. I’m not really a big fan of dental procedures cos I associate it with pain, but I really like my dentist (Dr. Barry Kami) and dental hygienist (Danielle). He said that it was about time to replace my silver fillings (which I’ve had forever:p) so I had to make an appointment for this week, too. That’s two dental appointments in one month! He redid my fillings on my right side yesterday.

My bottom filling before (scary, ain’t it);
filling after, still scary, but I like it much better.

The worst part wasn’t even the actual procedure — he shot me up with some anesthetic that made the whole thing painless. The worst part was after the whole thing was done, but my mouth was still all numb and I tried to rinse out my mouth and I realized I wasn’t really closing the right side of my mouth properly so every time I swished I’d leak water like a bad fountain:p For once I did something intelligent and I called in the rest of the afternoon sick cos I didn’t wanna seem stupid (wouldn’t be the first time, but I’d rather minimize:p). I went to sit at the library for a little and as I was reading, I started drooling. And I didn’t even know I was drooling til this HUGE drop of drool fell on my pants!!! I quickly looked up to make sure no one had seen me, then tried to wipe the drool away and LEFT.

Edit: I put up smaller versions of the picts:)

After dinner, we decided to have canned peaches for dessert (I know, I know, they are sugar-laden, I’m going to die a slow death from diabetes yadaydada). Anyhows, as I went to pop open the can, I started singing “…millions of peaches, peaches for me!” Yut didn’t recognize the song, so he was all, what the heck!? I tried to explain, how it just all of a sudden reminded me of that song “Peaches” by the Presidents of the United States, but he didn’t recognize it. I tried to sing more of it, but I couldn’t remember much. Well also, I should probably say “sing,” not sing — explanatory story: one time we were karaoke-ing and my cousin Mike refused to sing, even though I assured him I was truly horrible, had been likened to a dying cow BY MY OWN (least favorite) SISTER, so there was nothing to be embarassed about. But after I (with Yut’s help) butchered “Baby I Love Your Way,” he said, “Ok, hand me the remote,” and sang after all. So my attempts at singing the parts I remembered probably weren’t all that helpful.

Later on, we played it and dooooood, it was more apt than I realized!

… I’m moving to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches
I’m moving to the country, gonna eat me a lot of peaches…
Peaches come from a can
They were put there by a man
In a factory downtown
If I had my little way
I’d eat them everyday…

etcetc. V. silly:)

I can’t stop talking about TV, especially Idol, on Tuesdays. Oh well:p

Today’s American Idol started out slow — the first two singers (Nadia who I like and Bo the “Vincent from Beauty and the Beast” look-alike) were both boooooring. Anwar was good — he’s soooo cute, and I think he has one of the best voices left.

Then came Anthony. Well you already know what I think of him. He’s maybe somewhat pretty (maybe… if you’re 10) but I don’t think he can sing:p Although he did one good thing — he made me break out the Sound of Music:D So I can for sure confirm that the nuns sing much better than Anthony:p Anyhows, it’s a cute movie, one of my faves:p

Vonzell was good this week, lots of fun. Scott and Carrie sucked. Carrie forgot some of her lyrics. They pointed it out, but considering it’s the second time in a row, I’m surprised they didn’t excoriate her more:p

Last was Constantine, who was really brave or crazy! He sang Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which when we realized that’s what he was singing, we were like, “oh man, this could be really good or a train wreck!” But he pulled it out. It was great, the best of the night.

But ok, on the topic of train wreck, tomorrow, Stacked (starring Pamela Anderson) premieres. All the ads have been terrible, but it’s set in a bookstore, so I will watch the first episode, if only to watch the horror. But seriously, if this show does well, and Arrested Development gets cancelled, it will be an indictment of our collective taste:p Well I probably shouldn’t jump to conclusions before I’ve even seen the show, but I can’t help it.

The last train wreck of the day is… Chris from the Apprentice who proved Trump totally right when he called Chris a “mess,” “train wreck,” and “loser” with “anger management problems.” Dooood, so there’s a cover charge for the bar…you go or you don’t go, there’s no point throwing a hissy fit, especially when THE WHOLE COUNTRY already thinks you have anger issues. Although I found him freakiest when he calmly said that if the Best Buy employees didn’t find his credit card, he would “find an aluminum bat and break somebody’s kneecaps,” not when he was having a cow. :O

PS – I hate sunny weather. (Hope this works:p)