Text 1081, 77 rader
Skriven 2013-06-07 21:08:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip 675
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Next day.

I'd gotten more sleep than usual and less than I needed,
when Annie called up and said that Dan was picking me up
at noon and taking me to the Bullfrog for lunch.

Linda and JJ had been scheduled in the previous night, but
they were behind schedule, so Linda called and said she'd
leave at oh dark hundred and come over (it's 4 hours plus),
with JJ showing up in the evening maybe.

Originally Linda and Annie were supposed to take a course
at the Corning Glass Museum after dropping JJ and me at the
microbrew for an afternoon of tasting and/or tippling. With
JJ out of the picture, Dan from up the road was called into
service to provide alternate entertainment and edification.

I saw the ladies off on their adventure, and Dan showed up
promptly at noon. After a few errands we presented ourselves
at the Bullfrog, where we were seated at an odd table right
at the front, away from the real clientele. The only others
in the section were a cerebral palsied young gent and his
minder, who seemed to be having a grand old time. Interestingly,
and it may be because of the handicapped guy, service in this
almost empty section turned out to be prompt, frequent, and
cheerful. We started off with a couple beers - I tried his
Billtown blonde, which I generally find wanting on draft but
okay in bottle: it was wanting. I had a glass of stout, which
was respectable. For lunch: Dan got a reuben, which, though
light on the meat (we discovered this when he opened the
sandwich to put some of that pink dressing on) was okay and
came with a huge pile of fries. I knew that the best thing on
the menu was the burger, but an appetizer caught my eye -
fried eggplant logs sprinkled with Parmesan and served with
marinara dipping sauce. I asked the waitress if they could
put the cheese on the side, and she said she thought so. I was
not so hungry nor so piggy to get both, so that became my meal.
The things came hot and really brown, in one of those frites
cones that are fashionable nowadays as in addition to their
looking good, you can fool the public into thinking a smallish
serving is bigger than it is. The logs (ordinary eggplant sticks)
were nice and brown and crispish on the outside but were so done
that in some, the actual eggplant had shrunk to approximate
nothingness. For these, whose only substance and flavor came from
the light coating, the marinara was necessary; this was pretty
much the same thing as Franco's had been the night before. I
tasted the cheese and was glad that I'd asked for it on the side:
it was really Romano (which I detest). Another round of the same,
and we were out of there. We took our credit cards out, and I
told the waitress to split it. Dan fussed a bit and said that
mine was really cheaper, and we should pay for what we ate, so
that's what the waitress did. Then he quickly scooped up both
of the bills and paid them. Thanks, old man (two years younger
than I am).

Linda and Annie came back refreshed and amused and having bought
lots of glass things. As I hadn't eaten but a little thing of
eggplant and a couple brews, I agitated for a 6 pm dinner, but
they weren't that hungry and went for 7. Fine: I found a bag of
Cheetos (5 months out of date, but the things never change, and
in fact they hadn't) and sacrificed some pills and started chowing,
whereupon Linda decided she wanted some. Between us we did about
3/4 of the bag.

Dinner: I cut steaks from the leftover meat and gave them a
couple minutes in a hot pan: 6 oz for them, at medium-rare and
rare; 12 oz for me just seared. Pretty decent. Leftover potato
salad. Pineapple that I'd cut up for the other day but that
hadn't been used - it smelled a little off so I put in a couple
ounces of Gosling's and a smidge of sugar, and it was fine.

Early to bed: I'm finished doing the FIDO mail, and it's just
after midnight.

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