Saturday, September 13, 2003
Patrick was looking for a recipe in 50 Ways to Feed Your Lover (Sarlin and Saltiel) and he laughed and laughed when he came across the "recipe" on page 50: Coffee Ice Cream with Meringues: "For a simple way to end the evening, purchase meringues or meringue kisses from your local bakery and serve them with premium coffee ice cream topped with Chocolate Sauce (page 17)." That's the entire "recipe!" Shopping at Stanford Shopping Center. Got dress shoes and a new fitted bed sheet at Macy's. Our fitted sheet had grown so worn that we discovered recently one morning a large tear. Patrick had found it. He lifted the bedcovers and asked me to look over. When I saw the tear, I just let it out: "Holey sheet!" Lunch at P.F. Chang's (650-330-1782, 900 Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto). Patrick was very excited to take me there because he was familiar with this chain restaurant in New Orleans. "*Everyone* gets the lettuce wraps!" The decor was very comfortable: modern but with old Asian elements in a dining room with zillion-foot ceilings. They needed a zillion-foot ladder, however, to clean the gobs of dust that had collected on the hanging lamp cords. I made fun of the service ("Let me mix a special sauce for you...") but will admit that the food was very good. 4 small, steamed, pork and vegetable dumplings for US$4.95. (Expensive!) shrimp chow mein, honey chicken, steamed rice. Grand total: $24.63 before tip. (I can't remember how much we left.) My fortune: It is proper to speak the truth. Patrick's fortune: Promise only what you can deliver. Went to Bill and Kevin's double birthday party and met quite a few, friendly people. There was tons of home-cooked food—all of it spicy. Some of the people we met include: Lee, a web developer; Travis, a lawyer; Larry, who plays piano; Kenny, a software engineer; and Roger, who is very interested in humanitarianism.