Stuff

Nothing too noteworthy going on over here. We've been busting our humps trying to get done by next week. That's about it. If we only work 12 hours in a day, it's a short day! Hey, it beats extending this trip by another week or two.

So, I'll just write about a few miscellaneous things that happened this week.

I wrote in recent post how another branch manager was in the area auditing. He drove here to meet with us last week and the three of us hooked up for a nice dinner. This week, we thought it would be the neighborly thing for us to drive to them! So, Tuesday night, we left a little early (6:00 p.m.) and headed to Wisconsin to see the guys. We met up with the other branch manager and his auditor. I hate to admit it, but I really had a good time. Like I said, it's nice to commiserate with other people in the same boat; working long hours, and away from home, fighting similar politics in the company etc. Plus, it's nice to see new faces across the dinner table for a change! I've been eating two meals a day, five days a week with my boss. We both need something new to look at! We hit a Mexican restaurant that we all like (we all worked on that audit they are on a couple of years ago). We stayed until they shut the TV off and turned on the lights! That's a good hint that we've worn out our welcome.

Last night, we were looking for something new. When you eat out two meals a day, trust me, it gets really difficult to try to decide what you want to eat each meal. Last night we both decided we wanted to try someplace we'd never been before. Boy did we find a great place! I think it was called The Flatiron Grill.

They show you to your table, where in the middle of your place setting is a little wooden paddle with your table number on it. You are handed a pencil and asked to write your name on the paddle. After a few instructions from our waitress, I grabbed a recipe card sitting on the table and headed to the line.

You start by grabbing your bowl. It had a name, but I'll be darned if I remember what it was. After you grab a bowl, you start with white rice, brown rice, or Chinese noodles. After you've filled your bowl with as much of the aforementioned as you want, you move to the next station, veggies. A plethora of items are now before you. To name a few, onions, mushrooms, bean sprouts, pea pods, white and green asparagus, and probably 15 or 20 more items. From the veggies you move to sauces. There have to be at least 20 bowls of sauces. They suggest a full bowl of food needs at least four to five ladles of sauce. The recipe card gave ideas of some mixtures of one ladle of this, two of that, one of this, etc. I thought I'd start with something tried and true. From the sauce, you move on to the protein. You grab a small bowl for your raw meat. There is chicken, pork, beef and mussels sitting there. From there you move to the end with spices and sticks.

Spices were dried and powdered assortments, too many to mention. Probably everything but salt and pepper! A lot of curry concoctions for sure. The colored sticks each signify something as well. Food allergies (like me) you add a white stick. Then, they will grill your food in a wok instead of on the main flat iron grill they do everything else on. Another color means that you want your meal turned into a soup, another into a wrap. Still others mean that you want shrimp, scallops or mahi mahi added to the top. It was awesome!

After all items are in your bowls and you are satisfied with your spices, sauces and sticks, you put your protein bowl on top of your other bowl, add your wooden paddle and hand it to the chef. When it's done, someone will bring it to you at your table.

I ended up having two bowls of stuff, the second of which I did without benefit of a recipe card! I just winged it. I'm telling you, if I could have fit another bowl into me, I would have! It was really good. And, dining was a fun experience to boot. I could so see having a large party there. When the waitress asked how us "rookies" were doing, I told her I didn't know I could cook so well! Now, if only I could get over my naivete and actually work the chop sticks so I don't have to be the idiot that asks for a fork, I'd be ok!

The only bad thing I can add here to my stories is that lately we've been working so late, we aren't getting back to the hotel in time to enjoy a nice, warm, delicious, gooey cookie that are available in the lobby! mmmm No warm, soft peanut butter. No awesome white chocolate macadamia nut. Oh my goodness, no chocolate chunk! AARGH the inhumanity!

Luckily, my boss once again headed back to Cleveland early. So, I'm on my own tonight. Just to ensure I get a cookie, I may have to head to the hotel as soon as I get out of here and order a pizza to be delivered! I know, not too imaginative. But, I could sure use an early night. And a night of eating pizza in my jammies is sounding pretty exciting to me.