Text 22852, 94 rader
Skriven 2015-01-12 08:25:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: ost 64
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Back to Municipal Stadium, where we saw the Cubs challenge
the Athletics but not nearly enough, as the home team
whupped them 12-6.

Singularly poor alcohol choices here (almost makes me glad
the stadium has been ceded to ASU, and the Athletics have
moved into Hohokam) - Mike's Hard Black Cherry Lemonade
was about the best offering.

Swisher had to go on back to Havasu, so he dropped me off with
my friends Carl and Ellen; after a couple toasts at home,
we went to Royal Thai, one of our favorites in the area.
Chuckie the owner is a hoot, and his wife in the kitchen is
quite the artist. Plus they have an enormous gas burner that
cooks your wok hei infused food in a matter of seconds.

We started with a duck soup with wide rice noodles that had
essentially no duck but quite a few shreds of duck skin,
which is fine with me. The broth was delicate and required a
bit of fixing up with hot pepper and soy.

Chuckie was deputed to choose the rest of our meal based on
what he knows Carl and Ellen like (they are regulars).

A beef salad with cabbage was sort of larblike but cooked
strips instead of raw mince; also, it was lacking the ox
bile that often seasons larb and that Carl hates. It was
only moderately spicy, but our next course made up for it.

Som tum is shredded green papaya salad in a dressing that
is hot, sour, and sweet in that order. I enjoy hotter food
than most of my friends do, but this like to take my head
off; as Anthony Bourdain would say, in a good way.

Issan-style pork jerky, sweet-salty and lots of coriander,
came with a green hot pepper and fish sauce dip. This was
quite chewy and might put people off a bit if their teeth
are subpar, but the tenderized meat that some places fob off
on you is inauthentic.

We ended with my choice, moo pah, appropriately gamy and
fatty, with lots of black pepper and basil; Carl and I
really enjoyed this, but Ellen couldn't stand it, so Chuckie
brought out a dish of mixed vegetables in a sort of Chinese
treatment for her, for which she was thankful.

We made up for our food gluttony with modesty in the booze
department: a Singha each was deemed to be enough.

The prices are reasonable. With beers, I don't think we
spent more than 40 for the three of us.

We went back to the house, chatted for a while, watched some
amusing YouTube videos, and then I crashed there for an
unconscionably long time, not waking until the sunbeams
flooded into the room and hit me in the eyes.

--

Swisher being gone, and Carl and Ellen not being early people,
there was no breakfast to endure; around 11 or maybe closer
to noon we had a lunch of leftovers. We had been thinking
off seeing the Athletics again, this time playing Seattle,
following which I was to tag along with Carl to a bluegrass
jam and get dropped off at the airport afterward, but he was
feeling lousy and slept most of the day, so I sat around
doin' nothin' (rereading Sherlock Holmes stories, actually),
and at some point after a dinner of more old Thai food (we
really had gotten too much) Ellen drove me to the airport,
where security was fast, so I ended up staring at the
ceiling for an hour before my flight.

UA 953 PHX EWR 2210 0538 752 3E

The snack was an odd deconstructed Greek salad thing; I
said no, to which the flight attendant nodded knowingly.
A couple Courvoisiers and I was out for the count.

Three hours at the airport with nothing to do but drink.
I understand that as of 2015 there is no alcohol served at
the club before 8 am, which would have made this layover
pretty unendurable. Luckily that rule did not obtain then.

UA 367 EWR BOS 0838 0937 320 3B

And slept through this flight as well, a waste of the
ubersweet United first class experience. When I woke I
found a Biscoff cookie on my armrest.

We landed on time.

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