Eating Out

Cross Country

EllenOur neighbor’s kid (well she’s no longer a kid, she’s in college) has been horsing around for for quite a while and we have been to see her do a few events in the area over the years. Today Ellen was competing in the cross-country portion of the 3 day event at Jumping Branch Farm in Montmorenci, where we had seen her show jump before a few years ago. Ellen’s mom invited us this morning to watch with her and she made an excellent guide, filling us equine novices in on the intricacies of 3-day eventing.

All that spectating made us hungry, so we stopped at Maria’s Mexican Restaurant on the way home. Carrnitas for me and two tacos for her. We both had agua helada to drink. Even though I list what we ordered separate, today, like last night, we pretty much divvy up each dish between us 60% what the person orders and 40% of the other’s item.

Meal Cost: $12.65
Tip: $2.35
Spent Today: $15.00
Year to Date: $616.99

I gave the Emperor a proper bath this afternoon. It was already needing it and after driving a mile or so of dirt road to see Ellen jump fences, it was really time. While washing, I noticed that I have a nice scrape on the lower portion of the front chin spoiler. Wonder how long it has been there? It is on the driver’s side, so I would see it each day as we walked back to the car after work, but… The only reason I probably haven’t noticed it before now is that the primer showing through is white and the parking lot lines are white and it must look like their reflection in the spoiler. Because I am forever parking in the farthest out spot and as close to the curb as possible to avoid door dings, I bet I scraped it ever so gently on one of those curbs. I think I have a bit of that spray can of car color left that I can use to touch it up.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 76

55,000 Calories

Although she wanted it yesterday, she got it today. Breakfast at Hardee’s. Biscuit and Gravy for Donna and I had a Sausage and Egg Biscuit. We split a small Hashrounds while I had OJ and she drank a water.

Meal Cost: $5.28
Tip: None
This Meal: $5.28
Year to Date: $563.99

To Dibble RoadThis week was our LDSW, so we were off this afternoon. Since we had breakfast out and knew we were eating dinner out, we opted to eat lunch at home. We were then going to go for a hike in Hitchcock Woods because we were unsure of this weekend’s weather and wanted to get in a little exercise to counter our huge caloric intake for this week. The immense gravitational force of our couch almost prevented the hike, she had a book, I had a book… In the end we did manage to reach escape velocity and get outside for our hike. Glad we did, as it was near perfect weather for it. A lot of other people thought it was a nice day to enjoy the woods too, we saw five folks on horseback, about twice that on foot and one red-tailed hawk gliding on thermals looking for an afternoon snack.

This evening we dined with a couple other couples at Rae’s Coastal Cafe in Augusta. Donna had the Coconut Shrimp and I had the Jerk Chicken. The food was great (as always) and may explain this place’s popularity. We got there a little after it opened and 5:30 and before we even got our salads the place was nearly full. By the time we were done eating the waiting patrons were packed two deep at the bar with spill over clogging the exit aisle.

Meal Cost: $32.28
Tip: $5.72
This Meal: $38.00
Year to Date: $601.99

On the way home from the “big city” the Emperor past through the 55k mile mark and not a single one was traveled through a food court at a mall. When they ask for a login, user billydwilliams with a password of thatsright.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 74

Looking For Rachel Wallace

Looking For Rachel WallaceResponding to some primal urge buried deep in her DNA to eat protein to help awaken from winter’s hibernation and prepare for the arrival of spring, Donna decided she wanted beef for dinner. We didn’t have any in house, so off we went to Moe’s. She ordered a John Coctostan with beef and pinto beans. I opted for a Joey Bag of Doughnuts with chicken and black beans. We split a bottled water. Because we had a buy one, get one free coupon dinner was major cheap.

Meal Cost: $6.97
Tip: Zip
Spent Today: $6.97
Year to Date: $558.71

After my last Spenser book quote I realized that it might be better if you had a little background first, so here’s the setup for today’s excerpt. Spenser is hired to protect radical feminist and lesbian author Rachel Wallace. Linda Smith is the publisher’s media rep and Shirley is the morning news talk host. This takes place partway through the interview where Shirley is busy trying to goad Rachel into a sensational quote about her sexual inclination instead of actually discussing her latest book:

The guy crouching below the camera lens made a gesture with his hand, and Shirley said, “We’ll be right back with more interesting revelations from Rachel Wallace after this message.”

I whispered to Linda Smith, who stood in neat tweeds beside me, “Shirley doesn’t listen to the answers.”

A lot of them don’t,” Linda said. “They are busy looking ahead to the next question.”

“And she hasn’t read the book.”

Linda smiled and shook her head, “Almost none of them ever do. You can’t blame them. Sometimes you get several authors a week plus all the other stuff.”

“The pressure must be fearful,” I said. “To spend your working life never knowing what you are talking about.”

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 72

Ischial Tuberosites

After work today I went out into the garage and removed the cobwebs from the tandem, aired up the tires and rolled it into the sunshine. That’s right, for the first time this year, we went for a bike ride. Just cruised around a bit before ending up at the Municipal Building where we paid our water bill.

At about seven miles there came a call from the back seat to start heading home because the ischial tuberosites were starting to bother her. Mine had been letting me know I hadn’t been on a bike in a while for a few minutes already, but being a man I didn’t complain, verbally anyway.

As a reward for burning a couple hundred calories cycling, we went out to Outback and promptly consumed 4 or 5 times that many for dinner. Twin lobster tails with mashed potatoes and a salad, water to drink was what Donna had. I opted for the grilled salmon with broccoli and a salad, which I washed down with iced tea.

Meal Cost: $41.62
Tip: $6.38
Spent Today: $48.00
Year to Date: $551.74

Winter’s Last Gasp

Are You Looking At Me?We went to a local book fair yesterday and picked up some used books. I snagged a couple of Spenser hardcovers for $4 a piece and a couple of early paperbacks with some retro cool cover artwork. The quote below is from one of the hardcovers, School Days, and sometimes I feel just like Spenser does.

“Why would the parents want to discourage an attempt to find their son innocent of multiple murder charges?”

Don’t know,” I said.

“You don’t know shit,” Rita said, “do you?”

“No,” I said. “But it’s okay, I’m used to it.”

When I get into the paperbacks I’ll scan the cover of one. I’ve compared the Spenser books to potato chips here before, but with this week’s eating pleasure, maybe I should compare them to a box of Girl Scout Cookies: They are extremely tasty with no redeeming nutritional value and once you start eating a box you just can’t stop until they are gone. Which is exactly what happened to a box of Samoas today.

I’ve uploaded yesterday’ post Office pictures to the gallery. Look for Barnwell, Fairfax, Olar, Sycamore, Ulmer and Williston.

This morning we hit our favorite downtown breakfast spot for a veggie quesadilla, a breakfast parfait (granola on the bottom, vanilla yogurt in the middle and hot blueberries in syrup on top) with a low fat raspberry bran muffin for a kicker washed down with a bottled water.

Meal Cost: $8.75
Tip: 1.25
Spent Today: $10.00
Year to Date: $503.74

Today’s high didn’t make it into the 60’s and tonight’s low will be around 30, but I’ thinking this is the last of the “cold” weather around here for this winter. Next week we will be in the low 70’s almost every day. Some of the Bradford Pears are starting to bloom and the dogwood next to our house has buds. Even though we tried hard to talk ourselves out of it because of the chilly temps, we still ended up spending an hour or so walking in Hitchcock Woods. The weather didn’t scare a lot of people off either, we probably spotted more folks enjoying the woods this afternoon than we have in the past 6 or 7 times total.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 64

The One That Was Suposed To Be, Wasn’t And The One That Wasn’t Supposed To Be, Was

Spanish MossMy longest post title yet?

We went on another Post Office Photo Safari today. We started with a longish dip in Georgia for lunch. Ever since last November’s visit to the Blue Moon in Statesboro, GA we have wanted a return trip, today was it. The small iceberg salad & crab cake were for her and the roast beef sando was for him, but we mostly shared everything between us. Donna drank water and I had sweet tea to drink. This place is now 2 for 2 in excellent meals.

Meal Cost: $22.25
Tip: $3.75
Spent Today: $26.00
Year to Date: $493.74

We hunted and hunted all over the little, and I mean little, downtown of Hilda, SC for the Post Office that the USPS web site was located at 125 Broughton Ave. We drove up and down that street several times, any further cruising and I’m sure a resident would have called the sheriff on us if we did it one more time, but it just wasn’t there. The only thing we could think of was that it was located inside the one little convenience store located at about where 125 should have been, but there weren’t any outward signs of a PO. No flag, no blue mailbox outside and no sign. For the heck of it, on Monday I may call the phone number listed and see what happens.

Hilda was our last official Post Office destination of the day, but I was lobbying for a brief stop in Windsor to retake the picture there. They used to have a rundown trailer for a Post Office, but now they have a new building. Donna doesn’t want this to turn into a project like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, i.e. once you’ve finished one end, it has been so long that you need to start all over again at the beginning. I am arguing that it won’t be like that, as I won’t actively seek out newer structures, but if I happen to pass by one during the normal course of life it should be OK to retake the image. While we were spiritedly discussing the matter, we came across something that both of us felt solidified our argument.

Back when I first started this foolishness, I mapped out a couple dozen Post Offices that were close enough to us to make nice short half day outings. Some of the bitty towns strung out along eastbound US78 made for one. Between the SMALL towns of Windsor and Elko, both with Post Offices, sat the decent sized town of Williston without one. I didn’t see the logic in that. As we drove through Williston today, what should we spy on a parallel street to our route, that’s right, a Post Office. We stopped and took a picture.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 62

Another One Bites the Dust

TagalongsTonight’s dessert was a fesh out of the freezer, very chilly box of Tagalongs.

Donna was having a bad morning so at noon she called me and asked if I had heated up my TV dinner yet. I said no and immediately asked, “Where are we going for lunch?” Evergreen Chinese Buffet of course. Two lunch buffets and two waters.

Meal Cost: $11.98
Tip: 2.02
Spent Today: $14.00
Year to Date: $467.74

As much as I was prepared to hate “Failure to Launch“, it wasn’t all bad. Worth the hour and a half of my time.

Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates were great as the parents, Mathew McConaughey’s two friends were good, Zooey Deschanel as SJP’s roommate was fantastic and even though the story line was predictable, you actually wanted it to turn out the way it did.

Because we did care enough for these two characters, they could have chopped off the last ten minutes, as soon as they made up while locked in the friends apartment, she unties him, they kiss, roll credits. We really didn’t need to know that both MM’s buddies found relationships too. And we most certainly didn’t need the dolphin making nice with McConaughey at the very end, to show that he was in harmony with nature and everything was just wonderful now that he and Sarah Jessica Parker were together.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 62