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This That the Other

(May already? Sheesh)

So the last several months have been very very busy and it looks like it will finally let up mid-June! Then, I’ve booked a trip to San Antonio for my birthday to see my Texas peeps.  Julie and I are both headed to the great SA in July… and I must say, aside from seeing my friends, I am REALLY looking forward to all the delicious Mexican food I plan on stuffing down my gullet. Oh Jacala! Not gonna lie, my birthday dinner is going to consist of a #4B, which I am pretty sure is the only thing I have ordered at Jacala the last several times I’ve been there over the years. Also, that is the restaurant where this happened.

A couple of weeks ago I went with Malvina and her friend Katie to high tea for Malv’s bachelorette weekend. We are not exactly the type of people who think strippers are a fun time so our wild and crazy weekend was definitely fun, but not really wild and crazy (thank goodness! hah). So we decided to have a bridesmaids bachelorette outing to Lovejoy’s in San Francisco.

I’d been to high tea once before. In 1995, my dad won a trip to Hawaii, and while we were there, my mom wanted to go for high tea that was offered at one of the fancy beach hotels. I think it was in Honolulu rather than Waikiki but anyway, it was on the outdoor veranda that opened up to the beach and was all very fancy pantsy. That was the first time I’d ever had Darjeeling, which still holds a central place in my coffee-loving heart. I drank Darjeeling for years after that (until I had my first Starbucks drink in 1999… and that was that, haha).

Lovejoy’s is in the Noe Valley neighborhood (I think?) and pretty easy to get to off the freeway. if there is one thing that I really dislike, it’s driving in San Francisco. I drive a stick shift (now and forever! love it) and since it’s pretty hilly in SF, that can be nervewracking. But really, I just dislike driving there in general, the stick shift is just kind of an excuse. BUT as I recall, there is only one hill between the freeway and Lovejoy’s, so sometime I might be able to make it work. Yikes.

Anyway, the tea shop is full of tea frippery and very British. Lots of tea sets set out and lace and mismatched tea pots, it’s all borderline twee, but FUN. We dressed up and that was fun – other people had jeans and stuff on, but that just didn’t seem right.

I ordered a black tea with lavender, Malvina ordered a chestnut tea, and Katie ordered a lemon meringue tea. Our tower of goodies consisted of fresh fruit, delicious scones (I think cranberry?), and tea sandwiches. We chose a bunch of delicious sandwiches: classic cucumber, pear & stilton, green apple & cream cheese, mandarin orange & cream cheese, egg & onion, roast beef & horseradish, and turkey & mustard. So delicious! My choices were the mandarin orange & cream cheese and egg & onion. So tasty! I really liked the mandarin orange in particular – who knew that would make a good sandwich??! Fancy British people, that’s who.

Malvina’s tea choice was actually the best one. I really liked mine, but there was a depth to hers that was unexpected! Actually all three teas were good.

There were also crumpets, which I was surprised to find out are pretty similar to English Muffins. Since I love English Muffins, crumpets were a nice surprise.

OH and the revelation of the whole afternoon was CLOTTED CREAM. You guys, where has clotted cream been all my life? I do not know but wowza, amazing.

We made a pact to have tea on hopefully a quarterly basis. There are several tea houses around the Bay Area that sound like they would be simply delightful to try! Next time, we are wearing hats. Fancy old lady hats.

Tomorrow is Malvina’s bridal shower which I have worked hard on planning so hopefully that goes smoothly. Once that is over, I just need to get my bridesmaid dress altered a little bit (straps, hem MAYBE, I kind of like the tea length, it’s this dress in black with a pink sash). I also need to finish the bridesmaid jewelry, no lie I’m kind of procrastinating on that.

My office is currently going through some crazy times right now, so I have been super busy with work and I’ve developed some sort of allergy to everything related to lettuce and cabbage – at least, it gives me one hell of a stomachache – the last one lasted two days and I’m not super stoked about this. My newfound reaction to these types of food also includes my beloved Brussell Sprouts. SAD FACE. 🙁

I really could use a day to just sleep in until 11 but I think that will have to wait until a week from now.

And finally:

May the 4th be with you.

_________

p.s. CLOTTED CREAM

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Twist & Shout

I was at the dentist yesterday getting my tenth or eleventh filling (what does it say about my ongoing dental adventures of the last two-three years that I have actually lost track of A. how many times I've been to the dentist lately and B. how many fillings I've had over the same time period.) and while I was waiting for the drugs to kick in on my back upper jaw, I turned on the television in the exam room and watched coverage on the terrible tornadoes that have been ripping across the Midwest.

The CNN weatherperson had ordered his crews in the Joplin Area to leave the area – to literally not be around the area when last night's latest batch of tornadoes hit because the debris that had been left in the wake of the first F-5 would likely be caught up in the weather and turned into dangerous projectiles. I never even thought of that.

This seems so scary to me. I remember back when I lived in San Antonio when Katrina hit the Gulf states in 2005. About a month after Katrina hit (maybe only three weeks or so) Rita had formed over the Gulf and its cone of landfall was directed straight over San Antonio. I didn't think we'd get much rain – by the time that hurricane would be that far inland, it would only be a category 1 storm, which isn't that big a deal compared. I decided I should get a few supplies in case anything happened (extra toilet paper, some water, and matches/candles). When I got to the Walmart down the street from where I lived, it was a total MADHOUSE. Everyone else had had the same idea as me, and the place was mobbed.

What made that so stupid was that everyone panicked over Rita's potential landfall and San Antonio never got any rain from Rita, and didn't have rain for weeks surrounding her existence either. I at least had toilet paper.

The recent spate of horrendous tornadoes dislodged a long-buried tornado memory. The only summer I returned home from college was 2002 – there were numerous graduations to attend (my sister from high school and several friends from college – unlike me they didn't change their major three times and transfer out of state, hah). That summer was the summer that I stayed with Sarah and Bill in Westchester for Rhoda's UCLA grad, Sam, Malvina, and I (and Felicia) went to Disneyland together for the first time, Sarah got married, among other things large, small, tragic. It was also the summer that I learned to drive a stick-shift.

At the time, I was learning to drive the truck (a turquoise Ford Ranger that I loved, but drove me nuts over the years until I totalled it in 2005 -another story). My dad had taught me how to drive it out at the old Price Club parking lot, and I was still having problems getting it out of first gear and stalling it all over the place. I would take myself on adventures around the block, and I remember the first time I made it to the Long's Drugs a mile away without stalling, I was so thrilled I bought myself a Crunchy Bar.

So in August of that year my dad and I packed up the truck and headed out to Texas so I could start the first of three senior years. (Which is what happens when  you change your majuor 3 times and transfer out of state.)

It was somewhere along I-10 East in New Mexico when we ran into the storm. To our right, I noticed a white funnel cloud touching down. It wasn't a big one – maybe 10-20 feet in diameter at the ground, but I'd never seen one in real life before, so I was kind of thrilled. My dad was asleep in the passenger seat, and I was driving the truck that I had just learned how to drive only a month or so before.

I looked over to my left, and there were three funnel clouds touching down over the fields. The farmland was stark with brown grass and the sky was black with lightning and rain. My dad woke up and I pointed out the funnel clouds to him. The one on the right had inched closer to the road and another had formed behind it. Five funnel clouds, surrounding us.

Not gonna lie, this was scary, especially with the wind whipping the lightweight truck around and the rain coming down in sheets.

Now, I know that these little twisters were nothing compared to what has happened to the Midwest this spring, but if I thought that these five twisters were scary, I can hardly imagine what it must be like to experience a real tornado – and let me tell you, it's so much more relaxing to deal with living in earthquake country. My heart goes out to our friends in the Midwest.

How to help Joplin and the surrounding area.

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Adventures of a Stupid Nature

I pull into the Chevron across from the Big Target in Walnut Creek. I fish out my debit card from my purse and hop out of the car. 

The door shuts with a decisive snap. 

And then it hits me. 

"Aw, shit!" I say, reaching for the handle.  Locked. "Where are my keys!"

I have my debit card, so I start the pump on the car. 

I head into the gas station mini mart, where there is a nice Asian gal behind the counter. She lends me the phone so I can call a locksmith. But it's 5:05 and my dumb guy at my locksmith that I use all the time has closed up shop for the day. 

Another guy walks into the mini mart. Half joking I say to him, "Know how to break into a car?"

"No, why?" he asks. 

Sheepishly, I explain my problem. 

"How about Triple A?" he asks. "You could call them."

DUH. I had forgotten all about AAA in my freaking out. I have had AAA for just a couple of months, too. But of course – my card is in my purse, which is in the locked car. 

I call my dad, who has a card. He laughs at me. 

But he gives me the AAA number and the member number. 

AAA dispatches North Main Tow to my aid. "Are you in a safe place?" the lady asks while I'm still on the line. 

I look at the friendly face of the girl behind the counter, and the yuppie workers filling up their tanks as rush hour starts to hit. "Yeah," I tell her. I feel bad that I'm hogging a space in the gas station, so I buy a soda and M&Ms to tide myself over. Hey, if you're stranded with your debit card, you may as well use it, right?

I didn't have to wait long for the guy to show up in his yellow truck. 

He has several tools to try to open the door. One is a long, bendable piece of metal that after wedging open the car door a bit, he is able to stick into the car. 

"Where are your keys?" he asks as he fiddles with the lock. The lock is designed in such a way that it's not conducive to opening with his tools – not the bendy wire thing, or the slim jim. 

I actually have no idea. I thought I had left them in the ignition, but they are definitely not there. I don't see them on the seat or the floor either. "I think they're in my purse," I finally decide. It's the only place they could be – I certainly didn't have them right after I turned off the car and locked myself out, now did I? But I had been messing around in my purse when I got my debit card out of my wallet, so that was where it had to be.

The guy messes around with the car for some time before giving up. Piker.

He calls another guy from the tow company and then that guy shows up as the first guy is leaving. Lu is a big burly Samoan and gets down to business. I say to him, "That's the window we'll break when this doesn't work."

He grins. "Well, look around for a rock!"

The first guy had started to try to roll down the window to get to the lock.  Lu manages to get his bendy tool to get the window starting to roll down, and within a couple of minutes he was able to reach in and unlock the car. 

Lu, you are my hero, man. 

I grab my purse and fish around in it for a terrifying five seconds before I find my keys nestled nicely at the bottom. "SWEET BABY JESUS!" I bellow, ladylike. 

Lu needs me to sign off on the AAA paperwork, and tells me that it would have been around $75 if I didn't have AAA. 

"I would have paid it!" I tell him, not caring at that moment how much money it would have taken to get back into my car. 

So, to recap: it took two knowledgable tow truck/car guys/AAA dudes, eight different tools (between the two guys) and an hour to get into my car. 

If there is any doubt that I plan on ditching this car – but getting a new one without autolocks and such (I don't think that they would have been able to get into a similar car without manual windows), I certainly made up my mind tonight.

Car, we're through.