Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
We were up at 6:00 am and headed to the office after getting our morning coffee. The first part of the attack was battling blood pressure machines! We have two BP machines now! They hum and make terrible noises when they inflate their cuffs. We have races to see who will be the first to report their blood pressure.
What Mary does not know is that I go to the garage and substitute low batteries in her machine with freshly charged ones in mine.
Today’s plan is easy! A beard trimming at 10:45, Mary’s watercolor class at 1:00 pm, and then we are off to the theater to see “Life OF Pi”.
The beard trimming went well, and I had a female barber who did a great job! We returned home and got Precious ready to go. Yes, Precious gets to get out of the garage!
While Mary was painting, I straightened the workbench and hung up some clothes, then did a bit of housework, attending to odds and ends.
Mary drove herself, and when she returned, I was taking a nap (well deserved, I might add). Her masterpiece was outstanding. I named it “Blossoms In The Desert”.
We then got ready for the dinner at the Silver Trumpet and a play.
Dinner was, as expected, outstanding. The management of The Silver Trumpet now recognizes us as frequent flyers, so they come over and visit, and we exchange giggles. He did NOT giggle tonight; take a careful look at the pricing!
We will take six bottles of your finest!
Tonight, we went for a small meal, but couldn’t help ourselves. We opted for the low-cal side of the menu, but it was still a generous portion. The poached pear in a beet compote was outstanding.
Poached pears!
Since we weren’t in a hurry, the cheese board allowed us to pass the time. Everything was perfect and we especially enjoyed the honeycomb on our toasted bread!
The cheese board was terrific; the grapes were perfect.
Mary went for arugula. Even the pronunciation of arugula reminds me of eating a rug.
Arugula, also known as rocket (because it grows so fast), is a leafy green vegetable in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). It’s native to the Mediterranean region and has been cultivated for centuries. Arugula is known for its peppery, nutty flavor and is a good source of vitamins A, C, and K, as well as calcium and folate.
Arugula is commonly used in salads, as a topping for pizza, and in pesto. It is also used as a coating for slippery roads, as a bug spray, and as an insect repellent in elephant bedding. It can also be used in soups and other dishes.
What is an arugula salad?
Ah, my favorite is the lamb lollipops! Lamb lollipops are a delicious and easy-to-cook dish made from individual lamb chops, typically from a rack of lamb, that have been “Frenched” to expose the rib bone. This preparation makes them resemble a lollipop, hence the name, and allows them to be easily eaten by holding the bone.
Mary warned me ahead of time not to yell, “I have a boner” when the lollipops are served. I tried my best! I must have been successful, as my water glass was still full after the pops arrived.
Lamb lollipops!
After dinner, we walked to the theater and attempted to watch the play. Well, at halftime, we exited our rather nice seats in row four and made a beeline for our car. We are incredibly fortunate to have each other, and our tastes in everything are entirely in sync.
On the way to the car, I asked Mary what happened (as I was busy checking for light leaks on my eyelids) and she replied, “I have no idea! Animals on lifeboats, tigers eating things, and….” We both laughed and headed right for home!
According to the Internet, “Life of Pi” is a novel by Yann Martel that tells the story of a young Indian boy named Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel who survives a shipwreck and finds himself stranded in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The novel explores themes of faith, survival, and the power of storytelling, ultimately questioning the nature of truth and the role of imagination in human experience.
We did not even stop at Aces on the way home, we went right to bed and watched almost all of “Mondo Cane”, a recommendation by Bib Capps.
Oh my… Never watch this right before going to bed!
Mondo Cane (a somewhat coarse Italian expletive, literally ‘dog world’) is a 1962 Italian mondo documentary film directed by the trio of Gualtiero Jacopetti, Paolo Cavara, and Franco E. Prosperi, with narration by Stefano Sibaldi. The film consists of a series of travelogue scenes that provide glimpses into cultural practices around the world, with the intention of shocking Western film audiences. These scenes are presented with little continuity, as they are intended as a kaleidoscopic display of shocking content rather than presenting a structured argument.
As an example of what we watched (just a few of the scenes):
- For foie gras, geese in Strasbourg are force-fed using funnels.
- On a farm 200 miles from Tokyo, Wagyu cattle are treated with care, receiving massages and being fed beer, so that their meat can eventually be served at luxury restaurants in Tokyo and New York.
- On the New Guinean island of Tabar, the most beautiful women are locked up in small wooden cages and fed tapioca until they reach 120 kilos (264 pounds) to be offered as wives to the village dictator.
- In a Vic Tanny health club in Los Angeles, overweight women work on losing weight to recover from a previous marriage.
- At a Hong Kong market, exotic animals are sold for food.
- At the New York restaurant The Colony, exotic animals are served in cans to wealthy Americans.
- At a Singapore snake store, a snake is chosen and butchered for consumption.
At 11:00 pm, I declared victory and reminded myself to call Bill Capps and check his sanity!
