Recently in Restaurant Category

When the lights dimmed, she looked at me from across the room.  When I approached her, a single spotlight from heaven filled our hearts.  We were in love.  The Oar House, Pensacola, FL.

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• P'cola or Bust (timtyson.us)

We just returned from a very short visit to my hometown of Pensacola.  My FC, favorite cousin, Susan, came down for the visit as well.  We had a wonderful time filled with laughter, good seafood, and great political talk (the FC and I are on the same side of the political coin).  I don't know, it seems the dispersants used in the Gulf, made all of the seafood especially flavorful.  Actually, we made sure none of the seafood we ate came from the Gulf.  This picture, click to enlarge, was taken by the HU at the Oar House, one of my favorite Pensacola establishments.

I eat out a lot, no r-e-a-l-l-y a lot. And one the things that really frustrates me with today's restaurants is portion size and cost. Frequently a dessert will cost about $7 and be of an obscene size, large enough for two people. This actually disgusts me as it promotes eating too much and is wasteful. I've shared my thoughts about this before as I almost always am boxing up lunch for the next day from a full portion size of leftovers.

Last weekend I ate at the Macaroni Grill. I've eaten here before, but this visit was different. The menu had changed. The food was exceptionally tasty, of reasonable portion size, and reasonable price. Dessert was under $3 and also a reasonable portion size.

I was delighted. I shared my enthusiasm with the manager who was glad to hear it, fearing that the new menu would receive a poor response.

This is something I wish all restaurants would do. Congratulations to Macaroni Grill for being the first to do the right thing!

Tonight I ate at one of the regular restaurants in my rotation. It was chilly (and extremely windy) eating out on the patio, but nonetheless, many of the tables were taken. Being Mother's Day, they were unusually busy.

After having ordered, across the restaurant I heard a patron complaining rather loudly and angrily that he and his party had been waiting to order for over 20 minutes. Well, I knew the 20 minutes claim was a bit of an exaggeration as I had seen them come in and be seated—maybe 10 minutes. But certainly, to be fair to the man, they should have had their order taken by this now.

The table cleaner to whom they complained had a waiter come and immediately taker their order. But here's what was so ridiculous: the grumpy old man who had raised such hell about not having his order taken for so long still had no idea yet what he was ordering. He took forever to look over the menu and decide.

So what was he really complaining about? What expectation did he have that was not being met by the restaurant staff?

Rather makes me think of the idiots that drive so recklessly dodging in and out of congested traffic during rush hour in very congested areas. They never get anywhere any faster than anyone else. They just place themselves and others at risk of accidents. But why?

Pity that our society promotes this type of ridiculous behavior by rewarding the Alpha Male Type in so many ways.

In Town
Well, I'll be home all week this week.  Wonderful!  I have so much catching up to do.

Eating Out
We went out to eat in Culver City tonight, a place called Eat Your Greens.  I've been there before and really like their food.  Afterward I splurged and had a chocolate ice cream from Cold Stone.  While sitting outside eating the ice cream in the totally perfect late afternoon weather, some group was shooting a movie--directly in front of us!  If I had talked loudly, I would be in their audio!

Chiropractor
My regular doctor said I have severe arthritis in my shoulder, a tear, two muscles significantly inflamed, and fluid buildup.  She wants me to go get a shot of steroids in my shoulder.  O god!  She also prescribed physical therapy.

I called the rhuematologist and got voicemail.  I was glad to leave a message and haven't heard back from the doctor yet.  I also returned to my chiropractor who I used over a year ago.

Now, I'll be the first to say that I don't believe in a lot of the chiropractic mumbo jumbo the chiropractors of America blather on about.  However, after 4 visits (every day but today as they are closed on Sundays) I am absolutely noticeably, significantly better!  The range of motion has improved significantly and both the sharp and constant pains have been significantly reduced.  I can assure everyone, this is not imagined.  My shoulder issue had grown to be an increasing problem that has even significantly affected my ability to get dressed and shower.

According to the chiropractor, my neck is not to a point that the degeneration is irreversible.  My head is constantly held forward, which is probably the result of my continuous use of the computer.  As a result, my upper back and neck alignment is a train wreck.  In the past I've even had some serious tingling and partial numbness in my arm as a result of pinching nerves in my neck.

My shoulder still has some very significant issues, and I'm not sure if it will ever return to "normal," but it is improving a lot.  I hope this continues.

Weather
I still profess to living in paradise!  The weather today was flawless.

I've never been much of a coffee drinker.  I don't like the aftertaste.  However, I love the smell of coffee.  I'll go to Starbucks and order an Earl Grey Tazo Tea just to savor the smell of the coffee while drinking my tea!  I'm crazy, I know.

But, after reading this CNN article, I will no longer give my business to Starbucks.  I don't know if California is one of the 43 states that allow people to tote guns around with them.  But the last thing I want is to be in a Starbucks, which allows their patrons to bring their guns into their stores if state law permits it, with patrons drinking their new 31 ounce coffee!

Now some hair-trigger, gun-toting, chip-on-his-shoulder nitwit with the caffein jitters can pretend he's back in the wild, wild west when he gets in an argument with the barista over the temperature of his grande mocha latte.  No thanks.

If people feel the need to have guns in their homes to protect them, that's their business.  If people feel the need to have guns for the sport of hunting, that's their business.  But I've worked with the public too long to trust most people's spur of the moment judgement.  Put a gun in their hands at the Starbucks?! No, I won't be around to see how this turns out.

Starbucks, you just lost a customer.

Good grief!

[Image via Wikipedia]

Yes, I've ranted about my AppleTVs world without end!  Well, apparently, one of them was just completely messed up:  the hardware was bad.  Naturally, it wasn't under warranty.  (I think Apple only has a 90 day warranty unless you spend the extra money on AppleCare.  I always do for computers but hadn't for the AppleTV.)

So, I bought a new AppleTV.  My god!  The thing actually works!  After having been plagued with sooo many issues for sooo long with the other device, I was fully expecting this one not to function properly either.  But it works well!  And I purchased AppleCare for this one.

The only thing that greatly annoys me with the AppleTV:  the largest hard drive you can get is 160GB.  That's ridiculous.  I frankly don't give a rip what Apple thinks, Tim thinks he should be able to store his entire media library on the AppleTV hard drive and not have to clutter up the home LAN with streaming audio/video!  This would also give me another backup for the media files!

I do love being able to stream nearly 10,000 photos and music on the large flat panel TV downstairs for parties—like the one held here at the house last Saturday night.  (BTW:  Bristol Farms does a great job catering!!)  My photos just look awesome on the big screen, if I say so myself!  :)

A couple of nights ago, a ferocious wind storm came through (a weather front without rain). I was walking along the sidewalk in Culver City, heading to meet friends for dinner at Fraiche, one of the many delightful little restaurants in downtown Culver City.

The wind was so fierce, debris was blowing into my hair and into my eyes. I've never experienced anything quite so irritating.

The weather became much cooler--dropping maybe as much as 20º. During the night the wind from the ocean was so strong I closed up the house. But too late.

As it so seldom rains, the pollens and dust permeated the air, filled the house, and have sent my sinuses into a belligerent rage. My allergies have been out of control ever since--nose bleeds, burning eyes, burning sinuses, et. al.

Deliver me!

You can not imagine my delight:  the new Crème de La Crêpe restaurant has now opened in Manhattan Beach. Their food is authentic French cuisine and utterly divine.

Toward the end of a perfect meal: a crepe with white wine sauce (an elixir from the gods) and a Nutella, banana, strawberries, creme crepe dessert, the person sitting across the table from me made the most jarring, unexpected, loud sound combination of a mouth-wide-open burp and a hiccup.

The entire restaurant paused for a moment of stunned, jaw-dropped bewilderment at what had just been unleashed on humanity. Personally, I lay prostrate on the floor, arm extended straight up with a single condemnatory finger pointing across the table.

Now I can not be seen in town for weeks!