Started playing the Sims again last week. As usual, I think I spend more time designing houses than messing around with the characters. I made my 2 families fabulously rich so no one would have to work.
This time, I actually had all 7 expansions. I'm gonna have to take some time exploring all the new options.
FUN!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Weekend Summary
Friday, after Kiwi came home from work, we went to eat at a chinese buffet. I can never remember chinese restaurant names, I just refer to it by location. This one was near Hudson and High, opposite Giant Eagle.
As usual, I loaded up on their coconut shrimp. YUM!
Then we went to CABS, and played 3 games with each other.
Carcasonne The City
Ticket to Ride
Ticket to Ride Switzerland.
*****
Saturday was a slow day for me. Kiwi had to go to work to do their annual inventory, whilst I fixed Bak Kut Teh at home with a rack of spare ribs.
We had that for dinner. He enjoyed it very much. Since it was done in the crockpot for several hours, the meat was fallling off the bone. And white cartilage(?) had turned translucent and could be eaten like jelly. Kiwi even bit up some of the bones and ate the marrow.
*****
Sunday, we went out and ran errands, did some shopping for house stuff and groceries. Had lunch at Gyro Express on Morse road. Yummy as usual, although the air conditioner there was not working.
Dinner was leftovers from fridge.
We also played Carcassonne Princess and Dragon online. We finally figured out (at the end of the game) how the new expansion worked. Although it seemed a little buggy, the game would always give me 1 point whenever Kiwi took his turn. Not sure what's going on.
As usual, I loaded up on their coconut shrimp. YUM!
Then we went to CABS, and played 3 games with each other.
Carcasonne The City
Ticket to Ride
Ticket to Ride Switzerland.
*****
Saturday was a slow day for me. Kiwi had to go to work to do their annual inventory, whilst I fixed Bak Kut Teh at home with a rack of spare ribs.
We had that for dinner. He enjoyed it very much. Since it was done in the crockpot for several hours, the meat was fallling off the bone. And white cartilage(?) had turned translucent and could be eaten like jelly. Kiwi even bit up some of the bones and ate the marrow.
*****
Sunday, we went out and ran errands, did some shopping for house stuff and groceries. Had lunch at Gyro Express on Morse road. Yummy as usual, although the air conditioner there was not working.
Dinner was leftovers from fridge.
We also played Carcassonne Princess and Dragon online. We finally figured out (at the end of the game) how the new expansion worked. Although it seemed a little buggy, the game would always give me 1 point whenever Kiwi took his turn. Not sure what's going on.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Honeycrisp Apples
I just bought my first honeycrisp apples of the year!!! WHEEEE!!!
I got them from Giant Eagle. I thought I'd have to make Kiwi get up some early Saturday morning to go the farmer's markets to see if I can get any this year. Or maybe Whole Foods Market. But imagine my surprise when I can find it at a regular grocery store.
Well, maybe Giant Eagle has it regularly. I wouldn't know, because we don't shop there often because the groceries are pricier than Kroger or Meijer. I was there to look for something specific. Lucky me!
I just ate my first Honeycrisp. It still had that great light crunch. But it's not as sweet as I remembered. It's less tart than a Granny Smith though. I think I shall have caramel dip with my next Honeycrisp.
:):):)
I got them from Giant Eagle. I thought I'd have to make Kiwi get up some early Saturday morning to go the farmer's markets to see if I can get any this year. Or maybe Whole Foods Market. But imagine my surprise when I can find it at a regular grocery store.
Well, maybe Giant Eagle has it regularly. I wouldn't know, because we don't shop there often because the groceries are pricier than Kroger or Meijer. I was there to look for something specific. Lucky me!
I just ate my first Honeycrisp. It still had that great light crunch. But it's not as sweet as I remembered. It's less tart than a Granny Smith though. I think I shall have caramel dip with my next Honeycrisp.
:):):)
Windstorm 2008
I woke up in the middle of the wind storm.
The power was going on and off and on and off.
The thing that actually got me out of bed was the awful beeping of the UPS in the computer room.
Then I walked around the house looking for Kiwi, but I couldn't find him. I got worried when I realised that his sleeping clothes were left on the floor, and his jeans were gone. Where could he have gone! Without telling me! In bad weather!!
I was pretty grumpy, until I found him outside, sitting on the porch swing. That was mildly dangerous, I thought, because of all the flying debris and et cetera.
We ended up being really really really lucky because we did not have any property damage. Thank goodness I had paid to get all the trees on our property cut down earlier this year. Our electricity was out for about 27 hours. We did not lose any food because we kept the freezers (top mount and chest) closed.
We had just gone out the previous day to buy batteries (for personal and his work) so we had plenty of batteries to power a fan (for white noise while sleeping) and the handcrank radio, and flashlights. Oh plus we had tons of candles. I had slept pretty soundly (for my standards anyway) and actually felt cold if I had a body part left outside the blanket. But poor Kiwi was complaining he was overheating and the only relief was a random breeze coming from the windows.
I spent all Monday morning sitting outside on the porch swing listening to the radio and watching all the neighbourhood activity. The neighbour on our left had a largish (10 inches in diameter) branch fall off his front tree. I had to listen to him tell me that about 4 times. The neighbours 2 doors on the right had their entire family (I'm guessing its the entire family) chopping up THEIR fallen branch..
The neighbour directly across from us had their porch swing broken when it got blown off 6 feet away. Interesting to watch all the neighbourhood kids help carry the broken parts into the backyard while the woman actually living in the house only moved the car so the kids could get past it. I thought that was pretty lazy, but I don't know her and she might have a back problem or something.
The back alley has some fallen branches as well. Luckily the exit closer to our garage is clear, although some inconsiderate shit decided to dump some branches just about right in front of our garage.
Poeple! You have fallen branches, you cut it up, sweep it, bag it. Toss it, or burn it. Something. Don't drag it into your backyard and dump it over the fence like you do your old tires and mattresses and furniture and television sets. Bah.
The power was going on and off and on and off.
The thing that actually got me out of bed was the awful beeping of the UPS in the computer room.
Then I walked around the house looking for Kiwi, but I couldn't find him. I got worried when I realised that his sleeping clothes were left on the floor, and his jeans were gone. Where could he have gone! Without telling me! In bad weather!!
I was pretty grumpy, until I found him outside, sitting on the porch swing. That was mildly dangerous, I thought, because of all the flying debris and et cetera.
We ended up being really really really lucky because we did not have any property damage. Thank goodness I had paid to get all the trees on our property cut down earlier this year. Our electricity was out for about 27 hours. We did not lose any food because we kept the freezers (top mount and chest) closed.
We had just gone out the previous day to buy batteries (for personal and his work) so we had plenty of batteries to power a fan (for white noise while sleeping) and the handcrank radio, and flashlights. Oh plus we had tons of candles. I had slept pretty soundly (for my standards anyway) and actually felt cold if I had a body part left outside the blanket. But poor Kiwi was complaining he was overheating and the only relief was a random breeze coming from the windows.
I spent all Monday morning sitting outside on the porch swing listening to the radio and watching all the neighbourhood activity. The neighbour on our left had a largish (10 inches in diameter) branch fall off his front tree. I had to listen to him tell me that about 4 times. The neighbours 2 doors on the right had their entire family (I'm guessing its the entire family) chopping up THEIR fallen branch..
The neighbour directly across from us had their porch swing broken when it got blown off 6 feet away. Interesting to watch all the neighbourhood kids help carry the broken parts into the backyard while the woman actually living in the house only moved the car so the kids could get past it. I thought that was pretty lazy, but I don't know her and she might have a back problem or something.
The back alley has some fallen branches as well. Luckily the exit closer to our garage is clear, although some inconsiderate shit decided to dump some branches just about right in front of our garage.
Poeple! You have fallen branches, you cut it up, sweep it, bag it. Toss it, or burn it. Something. Don't drag it into your backyard and dump it over the fence like you do your old tires and mattresses and furniture and television sets. Bah.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Cheesecake Factory
Kiwi and I went to the new Cheesecake Factory at Polaris on Saturday. It was around 5.20pm when we got there. Waited for about 10 minutes for a seat.
I ordered the Factory Appetizer Sampler, intending to share it with Kiwi, and no entree for myself. I made the specific request to not to include any/all cilantro in the dishes, because Kiwi was very sensitive to it. Kiwi ordered a chicken dish.
We waited, and waited and waited.
The table next to us (3 girls) got their appetizer plate. Then they got their entrees. Then they had their plates taken away to be boxed up. We were still waiting for our food. I made a comment to Kiwi that if I had to wait 10 more minutes, we'd just walk out.
5 minutes later, the food arrived. I pointed at the shrimp spring rolls and said, "that looks like cilantro." The server said, "Oh no, that's just scallions."
So I picked off a tiny cut up leave, handed it to Kiwi, and asked him to taste it. He put it in his mouth and spit it out immediately. It was cilantro. So the server took most of the appetizers off the table to bring it to the kitchen.
Kiwi was eating his meal, and I was cooling my heels and getting hungrier and crankier. Later the manager came, and said, "I'm going to comp you this dish. Most of it is pre-prepared, and there's no way to take the cilantro out. But I'm going to bring the calamari and other stuff that does not have cilantro for you."
We expressed to her that the sampler was for sharing. That I'd have no problem with cilantro, only Kiwi. And if it was pointed out to him which dishes have the herb, he'd simply leave that alone. But we'd like to have the meal.
So ok, we waited another 10 minutes for the appetizers to come out again. By then I was too hungry, I got nauseous and could not eat much anymore. So we had the server box up all the food after Kiwi was done with his meal.
He brings the boxes to us, plus the bill. It did not look right. We were charged for 1 entree, 2 appetizer samplers and had 1 sampler taken off. Is this the meaning of "we'll comp the appetizers?" I don't think this is the meaning of a complimentary dish.
I don't this so. If you were to take my appetizers from me in the first round, I'd surely expect not to pay for it then. So Kiwi went to speak to the manager about it, and got the other appetizer deducted off the bill. We'd only have to pay for the entree.
We discussed about how much of a tip we'd leave. Kiwi said if he were generous, only 10%. And we are normally generous tippers at full service restaurants. If it's good service, it's about 20%.
I had my wallet out, waiting for the server to take my credit card. Kiwi had already picked up all the bags of food, looking like he was ready to go.
I made a comment to Kiwi to be careful and not spill the sauces. So we open up all the boxes to check. No dipping sauces, no salsa, no guacamole, on sour cream, and worst of all, one of the appetizers were missing - the spinach/artichoke dip with chips.
We expressed this to the server. He said, "Oh, I had someone in the kitchen box this up for me. Let me fix this." He brings another bag of stuff after 5 minutes.
Okay, the sauces are there now. So what of the spinach dip?
By now, the credit card was already swiped. I was too aggravated and Kiwi didn't want to bother the manager anymore. We did not leave a monetary tip. However, we wrote on the back of the slip the reasons why he was not getting a tip.
1.Service too slow, example of table next to us.
2.Cilantro in dish
3.Trying to say cilantro is scallions.
4.No spinach/artichoke dip after 2 tries.
This place left me with a bad taste in my mouth. We went at a reasonable time, before rush hour. No reason to be kept waiting for so long for service/food. And just generally poor server skills/training.
I ordered the Factory Appetizer Sampler, intending to share it with Kiwi, and no entree for myself. I made the specific request to not to include any/all cilantro in the dishes, because Kiwi was very sensitive to it. Kiwi ordered a chicken dish.
We waited, and waited and waited.
The table next to us (3 girls) got their appetizer plate. Then they got their entrees. Then they had their plates taken away to be boxed up. We were still waiting for our food. I made a comment to Kiwi that if I had to wait 10 more minutes, we'd just walk out.
5 minutes later, the food arrived. I pointed at the shrimp spring rolls and said, "that looks like cilantro." The server said, "Oh no, that's just scallions."
So I picked off a tiny cut up leave, handed it to Kiwi, and asked him to taste it. He put it in his mouth and spit it out immediately. It was cilantro. So the server took most of the appetizers off the table to bring it to the kitchen.
Kiwi was eating his meal, and I was cooling my heels and getting hungrier and crankier. Later the manager came, and said, "I'm going to comp you this dish. Most of it is pre-prepared, and there's no way to take the cilantro out. But I'm going to bring the calamari and other stuff that does not have cilantro for you."
We expressed to her that the sampler was for sharing. That I'd have no problem with cilantro, only Kiwi. And if it was pointed out to him which dishes have the herb, he'd simply leave that alone. But we'd like to have the meal.
So ok, we waited another 10 minutes for the appetizers to come out again. By then I was too hungry, I got nauseous and could not eat much anymore. So we had the server box up all the food after Kiwi was done with his meal.
He brings the boxes to us, plus the bill. It did not look right. We were charged for 1 entree, 2 appetizer samplers and had 1 sampler taken off. Is this the meaning of "we'll comp the appetizers?" I don't think this is the meaning of a complimentary dish.
I don't this so. If you were to take my appetizers from me in the first round, I'd surely expect not to pay for it then. So Kiwi went to speak to the manager about it, and got the other appetizer deducted off the bill. We'd only have to pay for the entree.
We discussed about how much of a tip we'd leave. Kiwi said if he were generous, only 10%. And we are normally generous tippers at full service restaurants. If it's good service, it's about 20%.
I had my wallet out, waiting for the server to take my credit card. Kiwi had already picked up all the bags of food, looking like he was ready to go.
I made a comment to Kiwi to be careful and not spill the sauces. So we open up all the boxes to check. No dipping sauces, no salsa, no guacamole, on sour cream, and worst of all, one of the appetizers were missing - the spinach/artichoke dip with chips.
We expressed this to the server. He said, "Oh, I had someone in the kitchen box this up for me. Let me fix this." He brings another bag of stuff after 5 minutes.
Okay, the sauces are there now. So what of the spinach dip?
By now, the credit card was already swiped. I was too aggravated and Kiwi didn't want to bother the manager anymore. We did not leave a monetary tip. However, we wrote on the back of the slip the reasons why he was not getting a tip.
1.Service too slow, example of table next to us.
2.Cilantro in dish
3.Trying to say cilantro is scallions.
4.No spinach/artichoke dip after 2 tries.
This place left me with a bad taste in my mouth. We went at a reasonable time, before rush hour. No reason to be kept waiting for so long for service/food. And just generally poor server skills/training.
Monday, September 8, 2008
BBQ
Haven't had a BBQ in the backyard in several months. Been busy with CABS and whatnot, not enough time/energy to spend on prepping and cooking the food slowly.
However, last week during a weekday I had the car so I did get some grocery shopping done. I picked 2 cornish hens and 6 large portabellas at aldis and some chicken wings and johnsonville brats at kroger. Marinated the wings, defrosted the hens, and waited for sunday.
A simple mixture of salt, black pepper, and olive oil was smeared onto the mushrooms and the hens. Threw the wings onto the grill, plus mushrooms, and a big slab of beef (dry rub of citrus seasoning). That was dinner for us.
Whenever I did BBQ, I'd always feel that there should be something done with the rest of the charcoal that would be left greyish but still putting out alot of heat. Waste of energy and whatnot. So I wanted to try to make use of the dying coals.
New method of cooking (for me) was indirect heat. Did that for the hens and brats. The thermometer on the cover of our grill said it did reach a temp of 300F. Later on when I went to check on it, it had dropped down to about 250F.
But an hour's worth of grilling (using the residual heat of the coals) turned out great for the meats. No burning, just a crispiness.
YUMYUMYUM chicken skin!!
However, last week during a weekday I had the car so I did get some grocery shopping done. I picked 2 cornish hens and 6 large portabellas at aldis and some chicken wings and johnsonville brats at kroger. Marinated the wings, defrosted the hens, and waited for sunday.
A simple mixture of salt, black pepper, and olive oil was smeared onto the mushrooms and the hens. Threw the wings onto the grill, plus mushrooms, and a big slab of beef (dry rub of citrus seasoning). That was dinner for us.
Whenever I did BBQ, I'd always feel that there should be something done with the rest of the charcoal that would be left greyish but still putting out alot of heat. Waste of energy and whatnot. So I wanted to try to make use of the dying coals.
New method of cooking (for me) was indirect heat. Did that for the hens and brats. The thermometer on the cover of our grill said it did reach a temp of 300F. Later on when I went to check on it, it had dropped down to about 250F.
But an hour's worth of grilling (using the residual heat of the coals) turned out great for the meats. No burning, just a crispiness.
YUMYUMYUM chicken skin!!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Busy Friday - Dentist/CABS
Wokeup somewhat early, we had a morning AND afternoon appointment at OSU College of Dentistry.
I had a morning consult with a periodontist, Kiwi had a filling done in the afternoon, I had some deep cleaning done at the same time.
After that, we went to CABS.
Played:
Underground
Candamir
Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers
Settlers of Catan with Ryan, Carlo, and 2 other people (I forget their name)
Kiwi confessed that he felt rather cranky at certain points in the evening. When the games weren't going too well for it. And he felt rather disturbed by feeling that way, because it wasn't good gamesmanship.
HAH! I feel that way alot. Especially when the dice rolls are FUCKING LOUSY and I'm not getting what I need to progress. I think it's ok to feel cranky. As long as there's no yelling or throwing of tantrum.
We brought home two games to play. We'll see how that goes later.
I had a morning consult with a periodontist, Kiwi had a filling done in the afternoon, I had some deep cleaning done at the same time.
After that, we went to CABS.
Played:
Underground
Candamir
Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers
Settlers of Catan with Ryan, Carlo, and 2 other people (I forget their name)
Kiwi confessed that he felt rather cranky at certain points in the evening. When the games weren't going too well for it. And he felt rather disturbed by feeling that way, because it wasn't good gamesmanship.
HAH! I feel that way alot. Especially when the dice rolls are FUCKING LOUSY and I'm not getting what I need to progress. I think it's ok to feel cranky. As long as there's no yelling or throwing of tantrum.
We brought home two games to play. We'll see how that goes later.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Jacqueline Franks' Nightwalker Series
Finished all 5 current books in the series. I liked them. The storyline, and the drama, and the interaction between all the characters in the books. However, I am not so fond of the sex scenes. They're simply not that hot. Or have I become so jaded?
Hahaha, anyway, when sex scenes come along, I just kinda glaze over and skip a few pages.
I'll have to remember in a few more years to read the next books that the writer should have produced by then.
Hahaha, anyway, when sex scenes come along, I just kinda glaze over and skip a few pages.
I'll have to remember in a few more years to read the next books that the writer should have produced by then.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Gaming At Home
Just Kiwi and I today.
We played the 2 games we'd borrowed from CABS
Alhambra, and Elasund (catan).
I liked both games.
We played the 2 games we'd borrowed from CABS
Alhambra, and Elasund (catan).
I liked both games.
Saturday CABS
went there about 11am.
Played:
Carcassonne Hunters & Gatherers by ourselves.
Catan Settlers of the Stone Age by ourselves.
Went for food around 4pm.
Ticket to Ride with Eric and Ian
Container with Eric and Ian
Shadows over Camelot with Eric, Ian, Michael, and Bradley
Bohnanza with Regina, Tony and Alex.
Reached home before 2.30am Sunday.
Played:
Carcassonne Hunters & Gatherers by ourselves.
Catan Settlers of the Stone Age by ourselves.
Went for food around 4pm.
Ticket to Ride with Eric and Ian
Container with Eric and Ian
Shadows over Camelot with Eric, Ian, Michael, and Bradley
Bohnanza with Regina, Tony and Alex.
Reached home before 2.30am Sunday.
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