Menu Selections

Do you remember how I laid out my plan for this week? Well, transcribing yesterday’s interview took much longer than expected, and the USDA report continues to make a slow & tedious reading assignment. The gin book is really interesting, but there is no way I’ll be finished with it by the end of this week.

So, instead of those regularly scheduled posts, today I have to bring you something on the fly. And since I don’t find travel logs all that interesting, I’m going to try and take some of my recent California experiences and attempt to find a common theme.

Ordering.

Sometimes it’s easy. Other times it’s hard. But making choices can be challenging. Do you go for a standard dish, or do you try something unusual? Do you get something that’s recommended, or find something that looks appealing? Or do you just sit back, relax and let other people worry about it? There isn’t one answer, but I do have some examples of successes and failures from the past few days.

This trip I totally caved in to fear at one of my old favorite Bay Area coffee chains, Peet’s. Back in the day, they made a mean traditional cappuccino. But last year when I ordered one from the shop in Alameda, it was woefully inadequate. You could tell just by looking at it, as it was topped with some stiff foam made from unsightly large bubbles.

So this time I avoided one of my favorite espresso treats in favor of a brewed cup of coffee.

Well my companion for this outing ordered a latte and I could tell by just looking at her cup, that the textured milk looked lovely, and was filled with nothing but tiny bubbles. All the same, I enjoyed my brewed coffee, but I’ve been here since Friday and still haven’t had a cappuccino.

Coffee was hard, but cupcakes were much easier. The cupcake truck only sold five flavors, and after waiting in line for twenty minutes, they ran out of the tiramisu cupcake. Since I was buying for seven adults, the math was easy: three of each flavor. And that worked out quite well. You know, except for the fact that the highly touted Red Velvet cupcake wasn’t anything to wait in line for, and it cost me a sunburn on my unprotected scalp.

Chinese was easy too. Because the place we selected had a sign out front showing a chef hand pulling noodles. Ordering hand pulled noodles is a no brainer.

One night we went to a Vietnamese restaurant, to pick up food for takeout. It was there that I noticed the menu offered something I had never seen before: Cold sliced lemon beef. I would like to say we ordered that, but were advised it would take an extra long time. This was curious since it presumably doesn’t need more time to cook. But apparently it’s sliced to order, and it takes some extra care and attention. I do hope to get back there and try it before I leave for New York.

Beyond choosing food for myself, I was able to guess what Mrs. Fussy had for dinner just by knowing the type of restaurant and its price point. She went to a fancy Greek restaurant. So naturally I presumed she ordered a fresh grilled fish with lemon and olive oil.

She did.

Actually, I get to see Mrs. Fussy for the first time in several days later today. For dinner tonight we’ll be joining up with a host of friends to celebrate old times, new circumstances, and vestiges of the past.

You may have noticed the last few posts have been riddled with typos and gramatical lapses. That’s how you know I’m on my own. But don’t get your hopes up. Mrs. Fussy is only going to be here for a short time and I will meet back up with her in New York.

Thank you for your patience. And if you see something wrong, please let me know so I can fix it.