Thursday, September 30, 2010

Singing in the Rain

Goodness, I'm so behind on keeping you, fair readers, up to my comings and goings! I'm sorry. Let's see about getting you all catched up.

I've been seeing someone for about a month. I'm going to call him Jack. We went to an Indian place in Annapolis on the 5th. We went out again four days later to a nice little place that served American, coastal-type food in Tyson's Corner. I went to his place the following week and he cooked pasta for dinner. He came to mine a week later (and let me tell you about the Wednesday preceding that in a bit) and I grilled fish for dinner. Yesterday, we went to one of his favorite places, a Burmese restaurant in Silver Spring.

I had never had Burmese cuisine before! I got the impression that the owners know him, or at least recognize him as a regular. He was laughing at me (though I'm sure it was a delighted kind of laugh) as I hung over my plate just smelling the dish. It was a chicken with bamboo and onions sautéed in some yummy brown sauce (KyetThar Hmyit Gyaw). It smelled so good, I couldn't help it! I get leftovers for lunch today! I went with mild spice because I wasn't sure what to expect. His dish was pork with pickled mango and medium spice (WetThar ThaYetThee Hin). It was really good. Pickled mango was nothing like what I expected, but really very tasty.

Myanmar is between India and Thailand with China to the north and their cuisine seemed to have elements of all of those (and, of course, things I've never encountered before). There were many noodle and rice dishes, many curry-type dishes, and quite a few vegetarian choices (probably a Buddhist influence). I can see why it's one of his favorite places. OH!! The place has a website! Mandalay Restaurant and Cafe Go nuts; they have the menu online. Drool a little. It's ok. Is it lunch time yet?

On Sunday, we're going to a local street festival. One of Jack's favorite bands is playing there. Saturday is my now annual Halloween Haunt outing with Pat at King's Dominion. We had talked about making this a group trip, but decided since we had cancelled so many get-togethers over the summer it was a good idea to get some quality friend time in. They have a new roller coaster this year that I'm a little intimidate by (somewhat ironic) but I know Pat won't let me out of this one.

This is one of my rare, actually-not-working-at-the-faire weekends, and it's booked!

Oh yes, about last Wednesday- it ended with a serious disagreement between me and the dishwasher that resulted in it spewing water into the cabinet under the sink. Needless to say, my massive pre-date to-do list did not get completed and it looked like my kitchen exploded. Thankfully, I got to finish cleaning up before he arrived on Thursday, and he was perfectly understanding of the mess that was my kitchen. I made sure that mess was no where near getting in the way of my dinner.

The problem was that the output tube that drains the dishwasher into the garbage disposal is a good five inches too short. I can't figure out how the guy got it to fit at all! I can't get it to line up. The rubber hose that connects the two devices was bent at a funky angle and I guess the water pressure was finally too much for it. Unfortunately, since the tube is too short, that might be beyond my do-it-myself capabilities. Fae said she'd help me. No dishwasher or garbage disposal until I get that fixed, though.

I think that's the catch-up for now!

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

Sorry about your dishwasher, that sucks. But total yay! about the new guy in your life! It sounds like he is pretty cool, and the food sounds amazing. Very happy for you!


Zillah