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| How ironic...a country that originally commissioned Cristobal Colon ("why yes ... thank you" ... I'm just culturally sensitive enough to write his name in the Spanish language, even though he was origially Italian ... so maybe I should write Cristoforo Colombo?) to discover, explore and colonize the Americas would to this day claim such ignorance as to not know the implications of their actions. Dare I post the photo? I can't...but I'll post a link to the article. Gasol, Calderon question fuss over photo Are you to tell me to believe that two NBA players who live and work in Los Angles and Toronto, respectively, at least six months out of the year are that oblivious to the racial undertones of pulling back their eyelids? Bull Shit. Maybe the next time Gasol takes center court at the Staples Center, the crowd can chant "Quiero Taco Bell" or "Hablas ingles?" and he might get a clue. Am I watching the Olympics? Not sure how many more segments of Mary Carillo mocking China's Panda conservation program I can stomach. | | |
| I'm not being dramatic here. Last weekend, a friend visited from out of town. This being her second time to Boston, I decided to show her the lovely coastal town of Rockport. The scenary is truly beautiful in this part of the Mass shoreline....rocky coasts, small dinghies on the water, cool breeze, dark dark blue waters, contrasted against the vivid summer green foliage. So where did I fail? Sounds perfect, no? I've been up to Rockport several times, mostly to go for hikes, sit along the waters, chill. My friend is actually a pretty big lobster fan, and that was made known to me early on. Since she was going to be in town all week, I figured we had plenty of time to find a delish restaurant that served up steamed lobster with a classic butter sauce. By the time we finally arrived in Rockport, out stomachs were growling so much that we just walked into the first restaurant and had a seafood themed lunch, minus the lobster. After walking around we stumbled on the these amazing fried whole belly clams from a hot dog and clams stand. By the time we saw the open shack with live lobsters, our tummies were already more overflowing than the tanks holding the lobsters. How was I supposed to know that Rockport is the headquarters of lobster fishing in Massachusetts? I had no idea that people drove to Rockport for lobster. Perhaps the multiple displays of lobster traps along the pier should have indicated such. So I blame this all on my west coast butt growing up eating Dungeness crab, and not lobster. Strike one was my ignorance of Rockport traditions. Strike two was a two hour wait line at The Daily Catch on a Saturday night and strike three was Louie Alive & Kickin closing at 7 pm everyday of the week. And so my friend leaves Boston, without having had the full lobster eating experience that is so essential to the New England dining experience! The best I could do was Giacomo's half lobster pasta, which isn't bad, but it isn't the same. Utter failure .... | | |
| cuz summer is almost here! Perhaps the sun has finally inspired me to revisit this website a bit more.  Can't ask for a better sign of summer than a honking, juicy red slice of watermelon.
And those amazing Greek festivals with the smell of meat wafting through the air....hmmmm. You can see the american flag and the greek flag half unfurled in the background. It's pretty amazing how individual churches organize and manage to feed thousands of people over the course of three days. On Sunday night, after I had already eaten at a Thai restaurant, I went back to the Greek festival for one more gyro. The festival is just two block down from my street. It was about 8pm, but there were still a good number of people waiting in line. From my place in line, I could see the guys running back and forth speaking to each other enthusiastically. As I approached the front of the gyro line, I could see one of the guys frantically preparing pita bread, tsaziki, and cutting up some sausages, while the guys behind the assembly line slowly carved up the last bits of amazing lamb& beef skewers. Turns out....they were running out of gyro meat...and I managed to buy the second to last one for the whole event (I saw the last one...and you could tell it was a little skimpy on the meat :P). whews!! mission accomplished. 
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| No, not really. But I gave him a piece of my mind. We paid the bill, and I asked my mom to go on ahead to the car. When I saw her walking away I turned to the jerk, and talked to him like I was talking to a little boy.
I told that him that I was debating with myself as to whether I should say something, but in the end, the reason I felt the need to speak up was because he had simply spoiled the evening for me. His comments really ruined the wonderful dinner I was having with my mom on our last night together. He had the audacity to ask if my mom was "traveling to Korea". My sarcastic response was "In fact she lives here in Cupertino, but I will be traveling to Boston". ARRGH!! He prolly thought he was being all educated by not saying China. Puh-lease!
So I recounted both instances to him. He tried to make some excuse about how he was referring to his mom's homemade cioppino, and that our cioppino looked almost as good. He waved off the hat-on-the-ground gesture by saying that he didn't "remember saying anything". Then he asked me again ...what is your point? "My point is that you are rude, and lack common courtesy...if you're going to make comments about the person sitting next to you, please have the courtesy to be discrete and recognize that your words can have a profound effect on other people. Otherwise, don't say anything".
To be honest, my biggest motivation was a desire to ruin his dinner, the way he ruined mine. Vindication. In the back of my mind, I had an inkling of hope that I could save some future person from having their dinner spoiled. But I don't think this man will change...plain and simple, I just felt better afterwards ;P.
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