Text 25948, 95 rader
Skriven 2015-04-12 01:02:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: spring training 502 end
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Breakfast in the lounge was not so nice as evening snacks -
the usual unripe fruit, hard hard scrambled eggs, cereal,
breads. I made my meal of oatmeal and a chocolate muffin.

COL@OAK Hohokam 1

Back to Hohokam, where Colorado spotted the Athletics eleven
runs before roaring back ... okay, they mewled and puked back
pathetically, and the final was 11-2. Brett Lawrie was
impressive with two homers; various of us thought he was Jed
Lowrie, the former Red Sock. 

Then off to my friends Carl and Ellen's (actually closer to
Sloan Stadium, where the Cubs moved from Hohokam this year,
but we couldn't get tickets to any of the games there),
where Swisher did his IV antibiotics in the dining room and
I had some equally life-giving Modelo. I far prefer Negro,
but that's hard to come by, where as you can get the
amarillo version at any gas station for pretty cheap.

Carl is renovating a half-size bass that he found, and also
repairing his regular instrument, which got damaged in an
accident; meanwhile, he has an electric to mess with so is
doing a bunch of jazz and bluegrass with the occasional
rock'n'roll gig thrown in.

As we were a bit peckish, Royal Thai Grill was our obvious
next destination: most authentic stuff in town, served up by
a crazy Issan guy and his talented wife who is seldom seen,
as the kitchen is her domain.

The meal started off with chicken larb (cooked, no bile),
Chuckie the proprietor's suggestion to balance the meal
after he heard what we were going to order. It was tart and
awakening, reasonably but not too spicy unless you ate the
peppers (I ate all the peppers), quite wonderful with rice.

Beef and vegetables in Penang curry was fine, though Carl
and I thought the abundance of vegetables diluted the
fineness of the dish (Ellen disagreed). The vegetables were
also Chuckie's idea; normally we'd see just some bamboo
shoots and onions and a few perfunctory green beans in with
the beef and gravy, and I prefer the dish done that way. In
this version we also got mushrooms, carrots, squash of two
varieties, and maybe a couple other things that I carefully
pushed to the side.

Carl's favorite dish here is catfish with basil. I find this
interpretation a tad salty, but the spicing is right, and it
goes well with rice. I'd prefer moo pah, pretty much the
same thing but made with (ideally wild) pig.

There was also an odd pork and green bean dish with tomatoes
and without any of the standard Thai flavors. Chuckie called
it "curry without coconut milk," but it tasted to me more
like something I might get as the special of the day in a
trattoria in Boston or New York.

Singhas were welcome.

After a while it was time for Swisher to start back on his
3+-hr journey home, so we said goodbye and repaired to the
house, where much beer-fueled hilarity ensued when Carl
tried to fix his ancient turntable with an almost as ancient
belt. We listened to some hits from the '70s at half speed
before calling it an evening. It's a quick ride back to Sky
Harbor, where security was nearly deserted and took no time
at all, despite there being no PreCheck.

0330 US2020 PHX CLT 2310 0609 321 3A

Our cabin supervisor Lisa seemed nice and promised me a
glass of orange juice. I fell asleep and didn't ever see
that juice - not a big deal. It is a blessing to be able
to sleep on the plane. We landed a few minutes early.

US1980 CLT BOS 0755 1009 320 11A

This was a 321 route but swapped out to a 320, and the loss
of four seats up front put paid to my chance for an upgrade.
Also, the incorporation of American flyers into the system
has increased the demand for seats up front while the supply
has clearly gone down. Ah, well. I got a fairly comfy exit
row seat with nobody next to me and so got enough room to
relax. It is one of the more padded schedules, owing to the
always allowed-for east coast congestion, but this time
everything went smoothly, so we got in half an hour early.
What happens when one gets in early? One waits until almost
scheduled arrival time for rampers to come and marshal us to
the gate. Meanwhile, the plane is running and using gas, and
in what way is this a fiscally sensible procedure?

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