Text 35632, 88 rader
Skriven 2013-04-04 01:03:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip 362
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We'd been scheduled to go visit Boalsburg and the Christopher
Columbus Chapel, but at Annie's doctor appointment the doctor
invited herself over for dinner in a way that with our genius
scheduling made a conflict. The doctor won out.

Annie, being antsy and wanting to get out of the house,
suggested we lunch again at Donna's, despite my having just
had a snack of leftover beef. I countersuggested the Crippled
Bear, a dive bar a bit outside of town that has decent food
and, more importantly, decent prices on beer. This last swung
the pendulum, and westward we went. 

One of Annie's and Billy's favorite things at Donna's was the
cheesesteak omelet, but here has a cheesesteak pizza,
available in 4 sizes from scanty to giant. Annie asked the
waitress how it was, and she replied quite candidly that she
had never had it. We decided to go for one anyhow. Only the two
big ones, 12" and 16", were under consideration at $10 and
$12 respectively. I forwent the interesting-sounding special
of goulash at $5, and we ordered the big one, which took a
long time to come, but when it did, it was daunting but
actually quite tasty. The crust was, though unsalted and thus
kind of sweet-tasting, very nicely done; on this were layered
tomato sauce (out of a can labeled tomato sauce, none of those
sissy herbs and spices), greasy shaved chuck meat (nice), and
cheese - mozz, Cheddar, and what the menu promises as provolone
but which I suspect is Provel (better, as far as I am concerned,
though I doubt that it is made with any natural ingredients
whatever). The hot pepper and garlic shakers were welcome. I
admit to having overdone it on the pizza and on the pills - I
had three slices and the topping peeled off a fourth. When asked
if we wanted to pack the last slice to go, we told the waitress
that this was her chance to finally taste it.

Along with this a pitcher of Yuengling, $7.50 for a short half
gallon. Question: ice cream and pitchers of beer used to be
64 fl oz. Now, they're generally 59 fl oz. Where did the 5 oz
go, and why 5 oz?

--

Lola the cat was sick, and Annie accused me of poisoning her
(I don't much like Lola). The vet took them at 3:15, and it is
an indication of my distate that I chose to watch a rerun of
Gordon Ramsay making an ass of himself and everyone else in
sight rather than accompanying them to the hospital, which I
generally do for the cats. The diagnosis - an RTI (fancy
abbreviation for a cold); prescription - fluids and bed rest.

To be reasonably fair to me, I did most of the prep work in
the afternoon. I found that the lotus root that we'd gotten on
a lark on the latest trip to Weggie's was quite suboptimal and
pretty unsuited for stir-fry. I rescued it by peeling, slicing,
and giving it a long soak in salty vinegar water, which made the
formerly grayish ugly thing into a semi-nice white thing. Drain,
towel dry, and fry in a kettle of peanut oil. So the appetizer
was deep-fried lotus root - decent but with that curious deadness
of flavor that one encounters in other tuber chips.

Ingrid and Bob are a pleasant couple. They showed up a little after
6 (they were working - both are physicians, he in OB/GYN practice,
she helping run a federally funded clinic for the indigent and
also doing two days a week in an office). They brought a bottle
of Rodney Strong Merlot 09, I think a decent choice, though we
didn't open it, relying instead on the last of that bottle of
Sodaro and one of Annie's mystery whites. Bob had never seen
the house, so they got the grand tour, fortified with my lotus
chips, while I slaved in front of a hot stove.

The meal was pretty standard, consisting of beef with scallions
and oyster sauce; shrimp with mushrooms and snow peas; spicy
pork stir-fry with orange bell peppers; baby bok choy in white
sauce; and red-cooked tofu. All were decent in a non-boat-
rocking way, but our guests seemed impressed.

Dessert: almond float made with Silk lite chocolate soymilk,
leftover strawberries in Grand Marnier on the side, followed
by Wegmans pineapple chunks (very sweet and flavorful).

Assorted cookies from the butcher shop, plus those oatmeal
raisin things found yesterday at the store. Further observation
shows that on average the Archway ones have more and moister
raisins, a cause perhaps of their oversweetness, and not making
up for the superior spice of the Wegmans brand.

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