Curious Notions

Seriously, I’ve been gulping down coffee like water the last week and I am FEENING for some today. I woke up late and had a patient at 7am. I’m upset because it’s now 8 and she hasn’t come yet; I could have gotten my fix.

Sunday I had dinner with Bing, Nino, Brother, Nisreen at Sea Dragon and had my first full glass of Vietnamese coffee at 8pm. Growing up, I only sipped from my dad’s glass. Dang, it’s like coffee on CRACK. I couldn’t sleep at all that night and at work didn’t need my morning expresso til 11am. Monday I had a double shot expresso at 11am, Tuesday morning had my Venti Green Tea Latte, Tuesday in the evening at around 10pm had my double shot expresso. I needed to work which is why I caffeinated myself so late. 7 hours later had my next Venti Green Tea Latte.

Can you see why I’m feening right now? I haven’t had caffeine since yesterday morning.

Here’s what Viet coffee looks like. It’s chicory coffee dripped over condensed milk. I mix it up afterwards and put it over ice. Delcious coffee on crack.

My best friend tonight was rereading some of her xanga entries from 4-5 years ago. Makes me wish I didn’t delete my sweetcynic xanga account which I did because of a bad breakup. I guess I still have my bravenewlinda account. Rereading old journal entries is the number 1 reason why everyone should keep a journal. For serious.

Anyway. I’m reading along with her and this snippet she posted in November of 2004 made me laugh and nod.

Why is it that when a guy tells a woman he loves her, often it’s accompanied in some fashion by, “I’ve only told x number of women that I love them.” The x is always a small number and usually includes their mother. It’s like they get points for loving very few people. I think it’s more to do with the fact that they realize being in love isn’t a joke, so by only having told a few people they can impress on the woman they are in love with that they take this seriously, but I usually have a negative reaction to reading or hearing this. It’s like, I’m so damn picky and think so highly of myself that I couldn’t find anything lovable in all the other women I’ve screwed, but you, you’re special. A mean little part of me always hopes that the woman they are opening themselves up to responds, “And you, you’re a jerk.” But that could be my hormones talking.

Yesterday, Brandi, Jessica and I wanted to celebrate Fridays which I’ve now newly dubbed FRYdays. Last week, on Friday, Jamie, Anna and I watched I Love You, Man at the Alamo and I initiated my first FRYday. I’m sucker for puns. So this Friday, Brandi and Jess wanted seafood. The toss up was between Quality Seafoods (a fantastic seafood market/restaurant on Airport) and Sam’s Boat. Jessica and I have tried and loved Quality Seafoods. When we told Brandi about it she was turned off by the fact that you have to order your food in a line first before sitting down (it’s part of the charm! Plus SO FRESH). So Brandi vetoed Quality Seafoods and we all ventured to Sam’s Boat, a place none of us have been to. You know I’m a fan of new places.

Upon entering the boat shaped restaurant just down the street from Jess and me, we find that it’s a happening sports bar with a laid back atmosphere. I honored Fryday by ordering the sampler basket. Fried shrimp, fish, crab balls, and french fries. Also ordered a half dozen of oysters. They were tiny at Sam’s and just kind of made me crave and look forward to more oysters somewhere else. McCormicks? Hard to screw up fried foods. I just like spending time with my girls, Jessica, my now current neighbor and Brandi my soon to be roomie.

He cracked me up.

Round 2

Alan calls oysters tasty slimey boogers. I hate to agree…

I like Frydays.

Brandi’s shrimp alfredo.

I partook in happy hour both Monday and Tuesday this week (We needed the drinks!) with some coworkers.

Monday, I went with Jamie and Anna and chatted up life over Kenobi lemonade and sushi. I’ve only been there once before and it was for my 25th birthday dinner closer to when the restaurant first opened. Jamie and Anna BOTH were suppose to come for that dinner as well but they both floated the river that day. I didn’t remember if I was impressed by their sushi but nah, I decided it was okay on Monday. I do really enjoyed their alcoholic lemonade and their ambiance. It’s a great place to escape to when you can’t leave the city.

My plate from Monday. It’s was a’ite. The drink was potent and delicious. The 2 dollar happy hour dumplings are tasty.

A handful of my coworkers and I went out to McCormicks for 2 dollar calamari and 3 dollar cheeseburgers last night. I love happy hour. I guess work has been tense for us so it was nice to just unwind over cheap food and drinks. Our ultimate treat though was to walk over to Viva Chocolate. Lily’s seen it at the Domain (I’ve never noticed it before) and wanted to try it. It’s been here a year and it’s next door to Macy’s.

I want to maybe try their pistachio carmel and ginger flavored gelato. Karah says ginger gelato is delicious? I didn’t try since it is a chocolate shop and I felt I needed to nibble on their chocolates first.

I was a little overwhelmed so I had some help from the staff. I went for the popular pieces from dark chocolate lovers.

Got this one. I ended up only having room for one piece and this one is still in a box waiting to be eaten. Only two of us got desserts, the other two just sat stuffed from the burgers.


And this one got eaten. I liked it. Rich. Bitter. Yum. One piece ended up being enough for me.


Comes in a cute box.

We’re going to San Fran.

I’m excited. Lots of food to be eaten!

I’m thinking about the sourdough bowl clam chowder and the crepes and the sushi in Japan Town which is apparently closing because “white people” are buying it. Lily’s words.

Courtesy Si Nae.

Miss Katherine and I eating pie at tonight’s Ink Spots meeting.

Yesterday, I woke up early after going to bed late to trek my way to Jamie’s so we could trek our way to a small town an hour away called Copperas Cove. I was to be her date to a wedding and then later she was to be my date to Selina’s birthday barbecue. We started our drive with a trip to McDonalds, their coffees are pretty good now and their market for their coffees are explosive since it’s so much cheaper than Starbucks. I’ll still hit up Starbucks for the green tea latte but I really am digging McD’s mocha.

So Copperas Cove is an hour away. We drove for an hour and were still kind of lost. Decided to keep driving and just miss the ceremony but after another hour we gave up. At this time we’ve driven through Copperas Cove and Killeen about twice. So we gave up and Jamie asked me if I’ve ever been shopping in Salado. No, I’ve never even been to Salado. She swore to me that it’s the cutest town with the cutest boutiques. I immediately thought, hmmm.. cuter than Fredericksburg, Texas (another cute quaint town with lots of shoppes)? Can’t be.

Salado is cuter! I can’t wait to go back to either shop for home decor or for Christmas gifts. There’s a fantastic store of home decor called Horsefeathers. Jamie said her sister decorated her whole place from this store and I can completely see why? Charming stuff. I usually admire things from Crate&Barrel, and Pottery Barn and the likes but they’ve never made me lust after planters and paintings like Horsefeathers did. I actually longed to have an entry table so I could buy a few of their things to display. Also made me want my own house. I tend to be lazy to decorate since I end up moving every year.

We saw this frame and declared it our motto for the day.

We both liked this painting.

What Horsefeathers looked like from the outside.

So we were dolled up for our wedding and both wore stilettos. There was a lot of gravel and cobblestone and stepping rocks to walk on. We looked out of place. The owner of Horsefeathers actually mentioned to me, “You look very nice.” Cracked me up, we looked so out of place. So we walked the street of boutiques and shops. Here’s another lovely store.

For lunch, Jamie took me to the Ambrosia Tea Room. Ambrosia Tea Room is inspired by Audrey Hepburn. Her beauty tips are on the menu and framed in the bathroom.

See? Framed in the bathroom.

Also on their bathroom wall.

The whole tea house is decorated with clothes, hats, and shoes, hanging on the walls and ceilings.

My lovely date.

We shared a lot of life stories yesterday . It’s crazy when you get to know someone and are blown away by all the threads of which they’re made. Resilience is an awesome thing.

Then we drove back to Austin, did a few errands together and then I took her as my plus one to Selina’s bbq. I haven’t seen a lot of the people there in a long long time so it was a nice reunion. I used to see some of the guys out every weekend. They called me out on that but what can I say? It was fun times with good food, good company, good dogs.

One of my favorite part was Ryan telling me, “Linda…..I don’t know where she keeps the candles….”

I laughed and we poked around all the cabinets. We found some candles but it was a 2 and a 6. She’s 25 now. So we tried to fashion a 5 out of the 6.

I’m laughing as I type this. At one point the 6/5 cracked so he had to melt the pieces back together.

But we did it!

This is part of the group before the cake came out.

Cake! I adore this picture. Very tender and sweet. Sigh.

Cutting the cake.

Selina and some of her bridal party.

I’m about done reading The Art of Loving, a philosophy/psych book recommended by Dave last week over bubble tea and tofu. Quick read. Erich Fromme. The one thing that intrigued me was his idea that our parents are our models for conditional and unconditional love. I’ve always subscribed to the idea that parents are our models in life and love. I know in love, I have a horrible atrocious habit of being over-accommodating and I know this is from years of programming from my momma. This is how she shows her love, catering to people hand and foot. Course this made her an easy target for Takers. Luckily, I recognize this in her now and in myself so I get to work on it. But Fromme takes it somewhere I’ve never thought.

He said our moms are our models for unconditional love. Mothers love us just for being. Just for breathing. Just for existing. Dads are our models for conditional love. They are the ones who discipline, set codes of behaviors and so forth. He said if we develop healthily, we learn to be our own “moms” and our own “dads”. We learn to love ourselves just for being ourselves and we learn to set conditions for ourselves to help guides us through life. I just found that SO interesting.

I shared this with Mary Ellen and she said she liked the idea but pointed out it was a bit dated with the gender specific roles. Nowadays it could be 2 dads, or a grandma, etc who serve as our model of conditional and unconditional love. She also pointed out that she can imagine girls getting the unconditional model from their dads and vice versa.

Neat right? I don’t really know how I feel about it, but it struck me. Mary Ellen said it was probably the universe trying to tell me something. Me reading that, my talking to Mary Ellen’s mom last night and how she ended the conversation telling me to “love yourself.” Finally, talking to my daddy yesterday and how we’re keeping a secret from mom right now. She almost inadvertently tricked me into outing myself.

Speaking of mom and love. A couple of weeks ago I was in Houston for Dad’s birthday. Mom made me bánh cuốn. It’s so fricking good, especially in the summer. It’s basically a rice flour thin crepe filled with minced pork and various other ingredients. Usually served with bean sprouts, cucumbers, and a dipping sauce that’s made out of lime, fish sauce, sugar and water. Just trust me, it’s good. I’m craving it. Here’s a picture of my momma’s….

The brown things are caramelized onions. Mmmm.

I leave you with some quotations from Art of Loving.

“Love is the active concern for the life and the growth of that which we love.”

“One loves that for which one labors, and one labors for that which one loves.”

“One neglects to see an important factor in erotic love, that of will. To love somebody is not just a strong feeling. It is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise. If love were only a feeling, there would be no basis for the promise to love each other forever. A feeling comes and it may go. How can I judge that it will stay forever, when my act does not involve judgment and decision?”

My work life keeps getting more hectic. Every time I think it’ll have to get better, it gets worse. This is precisely why I haven’t been my regular self in terms of blogging. Actually, I don’t think I’ve been my regular self in life. I’ve been preoccupied.

So my temporary solution for keeping my mind safe, is to enjoy life a bit more.

Monday, I had Madam Mams. I haven’t been to Mams in months and haven’t seen my company in even longer. I’m looking forward to seeing her again soon.

Tuesday, I worked out for the first time in weeks with Nisreen and had Mikados with Alan. I think Alan helps keep them in business. We broke up with the White Tuxedo roll at Mikados. Used to order that every time but funnily, BOTH of us are done with it. I think it’s the raw onion that kills it for me.

Last night I had dinner with Alan at Saba and we caught a little bit of the Spazmatics. I’m charging up my camera so I can upload the couple of pictures I snuck from our window. My camera died so I couldn’t get a better up close picture. Spazmatics are fricking adorable. They remind me of muppets dancing. It kills me that they are a corporate band. I like watching singles mingle. We did a lot of people watching the last two nights of the dating scene. Reminds me of the watering hole scene in Mean Girls. Last night was our last night for a little bit. Boy went to NYC aka Foodie/Fashion heaven today and isn’t coming back til Monday. I told him I’ll try not to miss him. (but I kinda do.)

Spazmatics from our window at Saba. Camera died right after.

Tomorrow is finally Friday. I have food, birthday party, wedding, drinking, Ink Spots meeting planned out for the weekend so far. Also, I’ve decided to take a vacation. Mexico? Either with Alan or with a group of friends or both? I had input on facebook and my blog comments and email and the San Fran got a lot of votes and Mexico got a LOT of votes. Anna did scare me about getting kidnapped though she wholeheartedly thinks I should go. She advised me to not take any cabs as they may just keep driving! Hmmm.

Kay I’m going to try to quiet my mind down and shower. Or shower and then quiet my mind down.

P.S. I’ve been eating lots of chocolate. Chocolate really soothes the soul. Had chocolate milk with my dinner tonight.

P.P.S. I have another blog entry idea that just formulated in my brain.

P.P.P.S. It’s Selina’s birthday :) She’s now in my club. The quarter century club. I wanna stay in this club forever.