It's Friday for me! Yay!
Jul. 1st, 2010 10:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
I love Tippr/Groupon. Today I bought a voucher for an hour-long massage for $35. I haven't had a proper Swedish massage in like 7 months. Plus because it reached its maximum value we all get a free neck pillow.
===
It turns out that I'm likely not going on the Portland trip over July 4 after all. K. isn't sure she wants to go anymore, and to be honest I wasn't super keen on it either. Maybe that's why I was so blase about booking Talis into his usual kennel, which apparently has a one-week cancelation policy during peak periods (May-Sept). It's actually probably a good thing that I didn't, given the uncertainty K.'s experienced now, otherwise I'd be out a deposit. I could still try to get him in, if they decide they want to go at the last minute, but there's no guarantee. I also wasn't looking forward to leaving Jaime home alone for ~4 days. I was going to travel by train, though, which would have been fun. Anyway, it's looking unlikely at this point, which I think is all for the best. I think I'm still going to take tomorrow off, because, why not? I have like 8 weeks' worth of vacation to use this year. O.o
===
More Jaime weirdness. Actually, I don't know if it's really weirdness, as I've never had a cat before. But it's weird to me because of things I've read and been told about cats!
Last night I was cleaning out Jaime's litterbox. He usually likes to watch me do this (I imagine him thinking, "That's right, clean my toilet, peon."), but he stays out of the bathroom where it's kept. He just watches me from outside, typically reclining on his side, like he's going to take a nap.
I have a cover on the litterbox, which I've read that some cats don't like, but Jaime doesn't seem to mind it and I like having it, because I don't want him to scratch kitty litter everywhere. Well yesterday I took it off to clean out the box, and Jaime came over to investigate and be a nuisance, getting super close while I was trying to work and trying to bat at my hand/the scooper, etc. Finally he just got in the box.
Like, I was STILL trying to clean it. I wasn't done. But he got in, and sat on the litter. I was like, is he just sitting there because he wants me to play with him and is trying to get my attention, or is he actually doing business? Finally he got up, and there was a wet spot -- he'd peed. Then he started to scratch all the litter around it, trying to bury it (it was pretty cute).
But... WTF?? I thought cats liked privacy! I never imagined that I would EVER get to see him do his business, even though I was kind of curious (since I see Talis all the time), but honestly that was just fine by me. And like, he couldn't wait until I was finished cleaning out the box/had left? He had to go right that second?
What a weirdo.
===
My dad's not a foodie like me. Mostly he just likes certain things and a certain way of preparing those things. While he was here we went to a number of places, but only two really stood out: Fatburger and Chandler's Crabhouse.
Fatburger: Thankfully when the Groupon deal came up for Fatburger I bought the max number allowed (2). My dad LOVED Fatburger so we ended up going twice! He got their mushroom burger both times (and even got one to go for his dinner on the plane, as the second time we went was the day he was flying out). The first time I got their cajun chicken burger and the second time I tried the mushroom burger since my dad likes it so much. But I actually preferred the cajun chicken, which was surprisingly good (I've never gotten chicken there before).
Chandler's Crabhouse: First, some background on why we even went here, since I probably would never have thought of it without prompting. Last year at some point, after some months of toiling, each member of my team received a $100 gift card to Schwartz Bros. restaurants. I did some research early on and discovered that three restaurants in the area fell under the Schwartz Bros. banner, but they were all pricey, upscale places. But it was more the bourgeois kind of upscale -- being expensive for the sake of being expensive, rather than the kind of upscale that includes a world-class chef and focus on fresh/local food, etc., so I wasn't super interested. I rarely feel like having overpriced steak or seafood.
However, since my dad was in town, I figured it would be a good opportunity to use the gift card. I found out that Chandler's Crabhouse, one of the Schwartz Bros.'s three restaurants, is also a Passport/Prime participant, which meant that if I used my card, I'd get a buy one entree, get another free deal. That plus my gift card, which is basically cash, would enable us to have a pretty nice meal (and not pay much out of pocket).
It was a nice restaurant, right on the water, very pretty and upscale inside, but not so snooty that they disdained our casual attire (to be fair, not many Seattle-area restaurants would). Service was efficient and friendly. The prices were about 10% more than other really nice places I've been with K. The food was, as I expected, very decent, but nothing special. I did remember why I don't like bringing my dad to nice places, though. He inevitably raises his expectations to astronomical levels, and of course the place cannot ever meet those expectations, so he's always disappointed. It's pretty annoying really. Plus there's the aforementioned tendency he has to assume that the way he likes his food prepared is the right way to prepare it. Meaning, he likes something one way and one way only, and it doesn't matter if the chef deliberately adds creative flair and does something different but equally delicious -- it's wrong.
Breakdown of what we had:
Fried calamari ($12): It was okay. Definitely not the best calamari I've had, but it wasn't awful. Yet my dad pronounced it "atrocious." So I called him on it, being like, "Really? ATROCIOUS?" and he backtracked and was like, "Well, you know, in a place like this, it should be better." Okay, I get that and I even agree. But I don't think it's fair to call something atrocious if it's simply mediocre. He does this at every expensive restaurant. Just because it's being served in an expensive restaurant, suddenly the food has to be stellar or it's awful. I agree that they should meet a higher bar -- but if they don't, it's not that the food is BAD, it's just overpriced.
Bowl of seafood chowder ($10): It wasn't thick, and therefore it wasn't good chowder, at least to my dad. He had me taste it, asking, "Is it kind of sour?" His implication (and it's happened before) is that this might mean the soup has turned. The last time, I was with my mom and she agreed with him, that chowder shouldn't be sour so it must be bad and should be returned. Both times I said that yes, it was sour but tasted fine. The sourness probably comes from the addition of lemons, or something else the chef chooses to make his chowder with! Not because it's TURNED for God's sake. Just because they don't LIKE thin chowder that has a slight sour flavor (which, by the way, tasted totally fine, though I agree that it wasn't my favorite chowder ever) doesn't mean it's been prepared WRONG or gone bad. Sheesh!
Bowl of whiskey crab soup ($10): I actually quite liked this. I had my dad try it, which he did, and pronounced that it was not hot enough (me and my whole family love our soups/hot liquids to be SEARING hot). I said that that was because he had taken a spoonful from the side of the bowl rather than the middle, because it was fine temperature wise for me (though granted, not SEARING hot). Basically he was determined to find something wrong with it.
Filet mignon and King crab ($59): Both items were perfectly cooked and perfectly delicious. I've never had King crab that way before, hot and fresh, and it was TO DIE FOR. *So* good. I wish there'd been more of it. I've wanted to try it ever since I read about Ruth Reichl's lunch with Adam Roberts of The Amateur Gourmet, and it was just as good as they raved about (though they were at a swanky NYC restaurant).
Filet mignon and lobster ($69): The filet mignon was great (we both asked for medium rare). The lobster was a disappointment. It had good flavor, but part of the texture was mushy. Lobster should never be mushy, it means it isn't fresh. We should have returned it and asked to replace it with the crab, which was excellent. I still don't know why we didn't, we really should have. It's bothered me so much that I've since submitted a comment to them about it on their website. I mean, at $69 that lobster should have been *fresh*. It wasn't particularly large, and the filet mignon was only a 6oz cut. The entree is outrageously priced, and we wouldn't have gotten it except for the fact that one of the entrees was going to be comp'ed due to my Prime card.
With my Prime card and the gift card, I ended up 'only' having to charge ~$50 ($36 of it was the tip) to my credit card, which is kind of crazy. If you think about it that way, our meals were worth the $25 we paid per person. However, if you think about the fact that the gift card was essentially cash, we actually paid $150, making it $75 per person, and the meal was DEFINITELY not worth that, especially if you take into account the less-than-fresh lobster. And if you took away the Prime card discount, paying full price for the meal would have been totally out of the question. It'd be like throwing money away.
Would I ever go back? Maybe, if I was able to use my Prime card. I'd just order a salad or soup, and just the King crab leg, and it would be perfect.
===
TV Show Meme: Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show
Since I used Glee as my favorite TV show for the last question, I'll stick with it for the sake of consistency. My least favorite episode by FAR was the finale. It sucked. It was rushed and incohesive, and a glaring wart on an otherwise blemish-free season (mostly). It was not worthy of such a brilliant and fun show.
===
Next Friday is K.'s eldest's 5th birthday party, and they're celebrating by renting Molly Moon's ice cream truck to serve ice cream to all of C.'s little friends. Now, this may sound like she's super spoiled, but that's not the case. K. and D. just seem to be able to find fun and original activities to make things special, rather than just going with the tried and true like everyone else in their parenting group does. The cost of the ice cream truck isn't actually that much, and they're not serving anything else at the party or renting bouncy houses, and they've asked that no gifts be brought. The kids are just going to play at the park and have ice cream. But not a lot of people would have investigated the option to do anything but the usual -- the parties all seem alike, with hot dogs/burgers, kids' fruit juice, and the ubiquitous mountain of Safeway cupcakes that is supposed to resemble one big cake, but is easier because you don't have to slice it, you can just pull cupcakes out (and they taste like crap, btw).
===
It turns out that I'm likely not going on the Portland trip over July 4 after all. K. isn't sure she wants to go anymore, and to be honest I wasn't super keen on it either. Maybe that's why I was so blase about booking Talis into his usual kennel, which apparently has a one-week cancelation policy during peak periods (May-Sept). It's actually probably a good thing that I didn't, given the uncertainty K.'s experienced now, otherwise I'd be out a deposit. I could still try to get him in, if they decide they want to go at the last minute, but there's no guarantee. I also wasn't looking forward to leaving Jaime home alone for ~4 days. I was going to travel by train, though, which would have been fun. Anyway, it's looking unlikely at this point, which I think is all for the best. I think I'm still going to take tomorrow off, because, why not? I have like 8 weeks' worth of vacation to use this year. O.o
===
More Jaime weirdness. Actually, I don't know if it's really weirdness, as I've never had a cat before. But it's weird to me because of things I've read and been told about cats!
Last night I was cleaning out Jaime's litterbox. He usually likes to watch me do this (I imagine him thinking, "That's right, clean my toilet, peon."), but he stays out of the bathroom where it's kept. He just watches me from outside, typically reclining on his side, like he's going to take a nap.
I have a cover on the litterbox, which I've read that some cats don't like, but Jaime doesn't seem to mind it and I like having it, because I don't want him to scratch kitty litter everywhere. Well yesterday I took it off to clean out the box, and Jaime came over to investigate and be a nuisance, getting super close while I was trying to work and trying to bat at my hand/the scooper, etc. Finally he just got in the box.
Like, I was STILL trying to clean it. I wasn't done. But he got in, and sat on the litter. I was like, is he just sitting there because he wants me to play with him and is trying to get my attention, or is he actually doing business? Finally he got up, and there was a wet spot -- he'd peed. Then he started to scratch all the litter around it, trying to bury it (it was pretty cute).
But... WTF?? I thought cats liked privacy! I never imagined that I would EVER get to see him do his business, even though I was kind of curious (since I see Talis all the time), but honestly that was just fine by me. And like, he couldn't wait until I was finished cleaning out the box/had left? He had to go right that second?
What a weirdo.
===
My dad's not a foodie like me. Mostly he just likes certain things and a certain way of preparing those things. While he was here we went to a number of places, but only two really stood out: Fatburger and Chandler's Crabhouse.
Fatburger: Thankfully when the Groupon deal came up for Fatburger I bought the max number allowed (2). My dad LOVED Fatburger so we ended up going twice! He got their mushroom burger both times (and even got one to go for his dinner on the plane, as the second time we went was the day he was flying out). The first time I got their cajun chicken burger and the second time I tried the mushroom burger since my dad likes it so much. But I actually preferred the cajun chicken, which was surprisingly good (I've never gotten chicken there before).
Chandler's Crabhouse: First, some background on why we even went here, since I probably would never have thought of it without prompting. Last year at some point, after some months of toiling, each member of my team received a $100 gift card to Schwartz Bros. restaurants. I did some research early on and discovered that three restaurants in the area fell under the Schwartz Bros. banner, but they were all pricey, upscale places. But it was more the bourgeois kind of upscale -- being expensive for the sake of being expensive, rather than the kind of upscale that includes a world-class chef and focus on fresh/local food, etc., so I wasn't super interested. I rarely feel like having overpriced steak or seafood.
However, since my dad was in town, I figured it would be a good opportunity to use the gift card. I found out that Chandler's Crabhouse, one of the Schwartz Bros.'s three restaurants, is also a Passport/Prime participant, which meant that if I used my card, I'd get a buy one entree, get another free deal. That plus my gift card, which is basically cash, would enable us to have a pretty nice meal (and not pay much out of pocket).
It was a nice restaurant, right on the water, very pretty and upscale inside, but not so snooty that they disdained our casual attire (to be fair, not many Seattle-area restaurants would). Service was efficient and friendly. The prices were about 10% more than other really nice places I've been with K. The food was, as I expected, very decent, but nothing special. I did remember why I don't like bringing my dad to nice places, though. He inevitably raises his expectations to astronomical levels, and of course the place cannot ever meet those expectations, so he's always disappointed. It's pretty annoying really. Plus there's the aforementioned tendency he has to assume that the way he likes his food prepared is the right way to prepare it. Meaning, he likes something one way and one way only, and it doesn't matter if the chef deliberately adds creative flair and does something different but equally delicious -- it's wrong.
Breakdown of what we had:
Fried calamari ($12): It was okay. Definitely not the best calamari I've had, but it wasn't awful. Yet my dad pronounced it "atrocious." So I called him on it, being like, "Really? ATROCIOUS?" and he backtracked and was like, "Well, you know, in a place like this, it should be better." Okay, I get that and I even agree. But I don't think it's fair to call something atrocious if it's simply mediocre. He does this at every expensive restaurant. Just because it's being served in an expensive restaurant, suddenly the food has to be stellar or it's awful. I agree that they should meet a higher bar -- but if they don't, it's not that the food is BAD, it's just overpriced.
Bowl of seafood chowder ($10): It wasn't thick, and therefore it wasn't good chowder, at least to my dad. He had me taste it, asking, "Is it kind of sour?" His implication (and it's happened before) is that this might mean the soup has turned. The last time, I was with my mom and she agreed with him, that chowder shouldn't be sour so it must be bad and should be returned. Both times I said that yes, it was sour but tasted fine. The sourness probably comes from the addition of lemons, or something else the chef chooses to make his chowder with! Not because it's TURNED for God's sake. Just because they don't LIKE thin chowder that has a slight sour flavor (which, by the way, tasted totally fine, though I agree that it wasn't my favorite chowder ever) doesn't mean it's been prepared WRONG or gone bad. Sheesh!
Bowl of whiskey crab soup ($10): I actually quite liked this. I had my dad try it, which he did, and pronounced that it was not hot enough (me and my whole family love our soups/hot liquids to be SEARING hot). I said that that was because he had taken a spoonful from the side of the bowl rather than the middle, because it was fine temperature wise for me (though granted, not SEARING hot). Basically he was determined to find something wrong with it.
Filet mignon and King crab ($59): Both items were perfectly cooked and perfectly delicious. I've never had King crab that way before, hot and fresh, and it was TO DIE FOR. *So* good. I wish there'd been more of it. I've wanted to try it ever since I read about Ruth Reichl's lunch with Adam Roberts of The Amateur Gourmet, and it was just as good as they raved about (though they were at a swanky NYC restaurant).
Filet mignon and lobster ($69): The filet mignon was great (we both asked for medium rare). The lobster was a disappointment. It had good flavor, but part of the texture was mushy. Lobster should never be mushy, it means it isn't fresh. We should have returned it and asked to replace it with the crab, which was excellent. I still don't know why we didn't, we really should have. It's bothered me so much that I've since submitted a comment to them about it on their website. I mean, at $69 that lobster should have been *fresh*. It wasn't particularly large, and the filet mignon was only a 6oz cut. The entree is outrageously priced, and we wouldn't have gotten it except for the fact that one of the entrees was going to be comp'ed due to my Prime card.
With my Prime card and the gift card, I ended up 'only' having to charge ~$50 ($36 of it was the tip) to my credit card, which is kind of crazy. If you think about it that way, our meals were worth the $25 we paid per person. However, if you think about the fact that the gift card was essentially cash, we actually paid $150, making it $75 per person, and the meal was DEFINITELY not worth that, especially if you take into account the less-than-fresh lobster. And if you took away the Prime card discount, paying full price for the meal would have been totally out of the question. It'd be like throwing money away.
Would I ever go back? Maybe, if I was able to use my Prime card. I'd just order a salad or soup, and just the King crab leg, and it would be perfect.
===
TV Show Meme: Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show
Since I used Glee as my favorite TV show for the last question, I'll stick with it for the sake of consistency. My least favorite episode by FAR was the finale. It sucked. It was rushed and incohesive, and a glaring wart on an otherwise blemish-free season (mostly). It was not worthy of such a brilliant and fun show.
===
Next Friday is K.'s eldest's 5th birthday party, and they're celebrating by renting Molly Moon's ice cream truck to serve ice cream to all of C.'s little friends. Now, this may sound like she's super spoiled, but that's not the case. K. and D. just seem to be able to find fun and original activities to make things special, rather than just going with the tried and true like everyone else in their parenting group does. The cost of the ice cream truck isn't actually that much, and they're not serving anything else at the party or renting bouncy houses, and they've asked that no gifts be brought. The kids are just going to play at the park and have ice cream. But not a lot of people would have investigated the option to do anything but the usual -- the parties all seem alike, with hot dogs/burgers, kids' fruit juice, and the ubiquitous mountain of Safeway cupcakes that is supposed to resemble one big cake, but is easier because you don't have to slice it, you can just pull cupcakes out (and they taste like crap, btw).
