Leaving town early tomorrow and returning on Tuesday, the fifth.
Be good.
I had a fabulous weekend but for some reason I'm sort of blah today. Maybe it's let-down. Having a really great weekend doesn't make it easier to come back to work on Monday.
Of course, I'm only in for three days this week, but that's being offset by my low-grade anxiety about the future of my job. It's starting to look less and less likely that the Major Client, the one funding the Hell's Own Software project, is going to decide to stick with it. The DarkGlass study really isn't whizzing along, so it's not going to support me.
Sigh. I'm getting kind of sick of working for really small companies. I mean, I love the flexibility, but this being unemployed every third year thing is getting very old.
I'm getting very old myself and I was just setting up an automatic deduction savings plan to start putting away bigger chunks of my income toward my retirement. Now I need to squirrel away whatever I can in the next month or two against a potentially long stretch of unemployment.
Didn't write this weekend. It was a gorgeous sunny weekend, so I went out and enjoyed it.
In retrospect, I probably didn't actually need another new pair of shoes. Or those two painted boxes that I thought would be pretty in my bedroom and perfect for storing...something in. Today will be another expensive one. I have a hair appointment this afternoon, which means about $85.
I spend too much money. I'm going to experiment with a 30-day Fiscal Austerity program.
I mean, I cannot believe I bought another pair of shoes this weekend, after I stood there and counted up that I already owned five pair of black shoes. I've been brooding over that. (I'm wearing my new shoes, and they're lovely, but that's not the point.)
Resolutions:
No more books until I've read what I have.
No more DVDs (except for the two I have pre-ordered).
No more buying movies on the off-chance they might entertain me.
No more underwear until what I have needs replaced.
No more shoes until some of these wear out.
No more shirts until ditto.
No more make-up until I wear some of what I already have.
At this moment, it's just ridiculous to say that I need to buy anything but food to eat.
So, for July, I'm going to try not to buy anything but food and bathroom/paper products (a necessity, as I'm sure you'll agree). It's an experiment. I think I might write down every time I don't buy something, just to see where the money would have gone, you know? (Note: This new program will begin after I return from the Familial Visit.)
Because I really do make plenty of money, so it's a mystery to me why I don't have any in savings.
Everyone needs a hobby. I shop.
I spent about $150 this weekend. The only thing I bought that I actually needed was the eyebrow pencil and I accidentally threw it away in the plastic bag, so now I have to buy another one.
It's Sunday, and that's usually Writing Day in the World O'Anne, but today it's gloriously sunny and warm.
I'm going to leave Fraser and Dief to their own devices for a while and go out and enjoy the weather. For a change. (No way am I repeating last year's fiasco, when I wasted half the summer and all of the fall working on the stupid SEN.)
Have a nice day.
Posted by AnneZook at 10:31 AM | Comments (2)It's very sad to be me today. I wore shorts, again, but it's not climbing to 95 outdoors (for a change) and they got the a/c fixed here in the office. I'm...not cold, exactly, but I don't think there's much danger of me having Flashes today.
I also switched, for the summer (or the duration of the diet, whichever ends first) from my delicious hot latte in the morning to an iced Americano. No milk. 20 calories, versus 200.
Sigh. When I'm bored, I'm boring.
So...what else is new?
I found the files I'd lost. (It wasn't me...someone had actually carried them off.)
Then I lost my shoe. I bought new sandals last weekend. $90! I wore them home that day, kicked them off, and promptly lost one of them. After three days of searching I finally realized I'd bundled them up into the laundry bag when I'd sorted (but never actually done) my laundry.
Also, last night I dreamt that Prince...I don't remember which one, William or Harry, one of them shoved a reporter off the gables of the building outside his room at school. I don't often remember my dreams, but I'm pretty certain that dreams about the U.K. Royal Family aren't regular with me.
At a friend's urging, I finally got around to trying Lost Wednesday evening. I have to say, until the Mysterious Disappearing Man (dis)appeared, and what may turn out to be a Giant Lizard rustled the bushes, I was finding it pretty slow. If I don't forget, I'm going to give it another shot next Wednesday, but I didn't feel any instant affinity with it.
I don't object to a show that takes a bit more time to warm up to, many of the more intelligent shows do, but this was nothing but a nighttime soap opera before the Giant Lizard, and I'm not a big fan of soap operas.
Ho-hum The office is pretty much deserted today. Buehler was in for about an hour, to do a conference call, but he had Tatiana, one of his daughters, with him, so they left to run errands and have lunch.
Slim Pickens, of course, was released from servitude at this institution a couple of weeks ago. They don't seem to be replacing him, they're hiring an outside IT company. Moe is the only Stooge who seems to show up here any more. He's actually here today, but he's cranky. Curly hasn't been around in ages and Frogmorton, the guy who replaced Larry, is "working from home" today.
I miss DiamondGirl sometimes. She was the most fun person they ever hired. She still appears from time to time, to help them out with various problems, but I rarely get to do more than say, 'hi' in passing.
Lemme see...what else?
I'm off to the Wilds Of the Midwest again next week. Kansas and Missouri for yet another Familial Visit. This time the Mother-Unit and I are rendezvousing at my Lives-In-Kansas-Sister's place. I'm looking forward to seeing them again and I think being in KC will be more fun than at the Mother-Unit's place. At least there are places to go in KC, you know? Things to do. And we'll get to see Rapunzel and Pippi, which is naturally a major bonus. There was some picture-taking the last time I was in there area. I need to get off my procrastinating log and get that film developed.
Writing...not so much this week. I've pondered the DS piece a few times, working out some Issues of Scene Changing. Thinking about writing is much easier than writing.
I could politiblog some more, but I've been doing a lot of that the last couple of weeks as my workflow has slowed to a trickle. And, oddly enough, I feel more guilty about blogging when I'm not busy at work. Like there's something else I could be doing, but I'm not.
Actually, Buehler assumes I'm sitting here shopping. Which reminds me, there's something I want to order from Amazon.
After I've spent all my money, I can always go back to reading novels.
On a normal day, when I have twice as much work as I can get through, I can hardly stop blogging long enough to do any of it. For the last two weeks, most of my office projects have been on "hold" and I can't think of a thing to blog about.
Reading around on-line, I ran into one of those "book memes" where someone said she had "a lot" of books, probably almost 200. As someone in a constant battle to keep my own library (part of which lives in storage) under 2,000 volumes, I was snickering.
It's rather a pity I quit keeping "in process" story files on my work computer. I could work on the DS story. But...no. I've reformed. I don't do that no more.
The temperature in my office climbed to 82 yesterday. I just sat here and melted.
I really can't wear less than I had on yesterday...not without getting fired, anyhow. Today, I have two fans going and I'm drinking ice water. Only one little "episode" so far, but it's only 10:30.
It's the I.C., you know. I can sit here at 82 degrees and be sweltering...and then two minutes later I'm shivering and reaching to turn the fans off...but if I turn them off, then 30 seconds later, I'm hot again.
Also, I lost a filing cabinet. I mean, I distinctly remember when we bought the two new filing cabinets and I triumphantly found that empty space to put them in...but I can't remember where the filing cabinet that used to be in that empty space went, you know? I'm sure I knew at the time, but that was over a year ago.
There was a four-drawer lateral filing cabinet with all of the survey contracts and correspondence in it. Where are all those files? I found an empty lateral cabinet that is probably the one the files were in...but it's empty.
Yesterday, I forgot half my lunch. Today I remembered my lunch, but forgot my breakfast.
Fortunately I did remember to gas my car up last night. I was driving on fumes, but I made it.
I was going to say something else...but I forgot what.
A Dedicated Reader searches for Tan-lightenment.
Anne, you said in your blog that you fake-tanned. What product do you use? Is it difficult to apply without streaking? Etc.
No, Gentle Reader, it isn't really difficult to apply the crème without streaking. It does, however, take a certain amount of practice.
In our hurly-burly lives today, we all-too often approach our grooming rituals with a hurry-up, slap-dash attitude. (This, you may recall, was the cause of the Great Eyebrow Debacle reported by Barefaced In Buffalo.) (See: archives, 2004).
One cannot simply take a handful of crème (or, brow, as the case may be), and slap it around carelessly.
Treat your body as a soufflé, not as sandstone.
Begin by creating your palette. Exfoliate, my dears! Exfoliate! Buff those heels, and tidy those toes! You must create a satin-smooth surface!
(AskAnne recommends toenail polish. Not only does it give you that giggly, girly feeling, but it protects those vulnerable nails from the dyes in the tanning cream. Try a pale pink, or beige, according to your preferences and skin tone. A lighter color on the nail will make the surrounding skin appear darker.)
Next, choose your product wisely. There are crèmes that work well but that have a distinct aroma. Some of us find this unpleasant. YMMV
There are sprays that are equally effective and have a more pleasant aroma but are more difficult to work with.
(Always,, my dears, always read the labels and follow any allergy-testing recommendations.)
Last year, AskAnne relied upon a (Coppertone?) cream, liking the forgiving nature of the mixture. A superficial color began to appear in about an hour and any little errors of blending could be repaired with a bit of damp tissue. However, the aroma was rather distinct.
This year, experimentation with a similar cream from Neutrogena provided a similarly forgiving compound but with noticeably less odor. Still an odor, but less odor.
Most recently, AskAnne experimented with a "micro-mist spray" from Sally Hansen. The fragrance was light, almost perfume-like and the spray was, indeed, a "micro-mist." Unfortunately, AskAnne found the light mist more difficult to blend properly, nor did it offer the "forgive and fix" feature of the cream. She will have to make a second attempt this evening.
(AskAnne's previous experience with cream relied upon being able to see the thickness as one smoothed it into the skin. The spray relied much more upon paying attention to how much you'd sprayed where and, well, AskAnne isn't actually famed for paying attention to what she's doing, is she?)
To begin: Take off your shorts. If you want to tan your legs so that you can wear the shorts out in public, you need to be bronzed to above the hem of the shorts. Also remove your shirt, unless it's "cropped" above your thighs. This protects the fabric from "transference" or, as some say, smearing the stuff everywhere.
Start with clean, smooth, very slightly damp skin. (The moisture on your skin helps you achieve even coverage with the cream.
Begin with one leg. Pour an ample amount of cream into your hand and smooth it from ankle to knee of one leg. (AskAnne recommends using only one hand. This allows you to pay more attention to how much crème you've spread in each spot.) Work your way around the calf, covering the ankle and knee only lightly. Don't neglect your feet or your toes. Spread a light coat all around the calf (this helps eliminate skippage), and then rub the liquid in, the way you would rub in lotion.
Now you have a choice. You can either move to the other calf, making a mental note of where you "stopped" on the first leg, or you can go ahead and do the rest of the first leg. AskAnne mentions this because, once you've done that first thigh, leaning over to reach the foot, ankle, and calf of the second leg, without smearing off the cream from the first thigh, is rather difficult.
Either way, make certain you spread a nice, smooth layer around your entire thigh. Don't neglect the back.
Once you've finished both legs, waddle over to the sink, making certain not to touch anything with your legs or to brush them together, and wash your hands thoroughly with soap and hot water.
This first drying stage is critical. Most products recommend waiting "until dry" or fifteen minutes." In AskAnne's experience, a minimum of 30 minutes is required in Colorado's dry climate. Those of you living in more humid climates should resign yourselves to waddling about the house, upright (you can't sit down or you'll wind up with white splotches on the backs of your thigh and knees) and naked for 1-1/2 hour. Minimum.
Beauty is not for the faint of heart.
AskAnne also recommends doing this when you're home alone. The waddling part of the process leaves you open to mockery by unsympathetic householders.
Additional notes:
Before beginning, make certain you have books or magazines, and the remote for the television laid on some surface you can reach without kneeling. AskAnne also recommends a cold drink and some snacks. Nothing relieves tedium like snacks.
In summer, a fan can facilitate drying.
Once the required first stage of drying is complete, remember to spread a towel on your favorite chair before sitting down (carefully). Don't wriggle about, my dears. It isn't ladylike and, in spite of your drying cycle, it will wipe off the lotion. AskAnne recommends a "kitchen" or wooden chair, instead of an overstuffed sofa.
Eventually you will be thrilled to see yourself becoming darker. (You must check your legs every 30 minutes in a lot of light. AskAnne recommends standing by a sliding glass door, if you're not able to actually walk outside. Direct sunlight is best but as much natural light as you can get will have to do. Errors in application are unlikely to show up in natural light in time to correct them.)
Before you become too excited with your newly bronzed flesh, note that 75% of this color will wash off in the first shower. It requires, AskAnne estimates, a minimum of three consecutive days of application before a significant amount of color survives the bathing process. And daily reapplications to maintain the color.
___________________
Seriously. Owing to a Significant Dispute between my company and the Major Client I normally spend my time working with, a "hold" has been placed on 95% of the stuff I used to do at work in a day. That was okay for the first week, I can goof off with the best of them, but this week it's getting old. I have, as you can tell, far too much time on my hands.
And I wonder...should I be worried that my boss today made a joke about me going on a job interview?
Because I was told it's polite, allow me to mention that I've posted a minor sort of Sentinel story today.
Before you click, I urge you to keep your expectations low.
Posted by AnneZook at 04:05 PM | Comments (2)So, what's new?
It's a scorcher here in Denver. Supposed to be in the 90s today, and I think it's close to that already. Summer sure is a delight when you're already experiencing hot flashes and inexplicable episodes of sweating.
Finished the next draft of the Sentinel story. The Resident Consultant is casting an eye over it at the moment. She has Issues with my comma use. Me, I love a comma. I generally toss a heaping handful into any story and just sort of hope that some of them will land close to their proper places. This approach seems to disturb the R.C. to some extent.
Whatever.
Also, it's Sunday. That means cleaning house. I did the bathroom floor and the counter. I still have to vacuum, dust, and do the kitchen.
And bake muffins. I'm...not exactly taking a break from the diet, but I'm taking a breather. Five days to break this mad cycle of pretending to diet while I eat everything I can get my hands on. Beginning Friday, I'm going to start up again and Do It Right this time. Sigh. I've put far too much weight back on. I have to take it off again.
The next story is already teed up and started. It's another Due South piece. (I'm working on the Literary and Erudite Short Stories right now. I'm sure we all remembered when I decided I wanted to write L.E.S.S., right? War and Peace went up already. Don Quixote is the one in the hands of the R.C. Taming of the Shrew is next in line. It's going to take a bit longer to write, though. It's not quite as short as the first two. The R.C. owns the pro Due South books, at least one of which, she tells me, has action from Dief's point of view. I need to read it before I try this story.)
Hmmm, what else?
Went on a mad shopping spree yesterday. Bought shorts, three shirts, four movies, and four bags full of "house stuff" of the kind that's boring but necessary. Paper towels, Kleenex, soap, stuff like that.
I've been on a rabid bad movie kick recently, as I believe I've mentioned. Mostly cheesy SF stuff from the 50s and 60s, but some really bad newer movies, too. I bought four yesterday.
Last night I watched The Abyss, which was three hours long and felt like six.
I'm looking forward to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. I'm told it's really ghastly. I bought it mostly for McSwain! It has Angelina Jolie in it. It also has Jude Law, so I assume I'll be able to enjoy looking at him, even if I can't enjoy the rest of it.
Well, before I can get to that, or the housecleaning, I have to fake-tan my legs, so I can wear my new shorts to work tomorrow. I'd better get started.
Even if you don't have a dime to spare, you can click through, today and every day.
Posted by AnneZook at 12:47 PM | Comments (0)In our parking lot, there's a truck that has Abracadabra stenciled on the door. Inexplicably, I've decided that it's a sign and today will be magic.
This morning's latte tastes magic, but that may just be because I'm thinking of giving them up for the summer. (Have to lose weight, and even a "nonfat" latte has 200 calories. If I switch to an Americano, that only has 17 calories.)
Pursuant (pursuant!) to my resolution to blog more frequently from now on...I'm back!
But it's Thursday, I've been at work all week (and even working most of the time), so I don't really have anything fun to share with you.
Hmmm...lemme see. What's new?
I taped 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and watched it. I'd never seen it before and I'm on a kick for cheesy, old SF movies. I don't understand why they gave it that title. It all happened on land and the "creature" didn't come from under the sea, either, it came from Venus. Still. I enjoyed it.
I tried Attack Of the Killer Tomatoes but gave up after ten minutes. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood?
I also watched The Land That Time Forgot, Deep Impact (not old, but satisfyingly cheesy), The Day After Tomorrow (ditto), The Time Machine, and...something else. I forgot. I ordered three or four more, but that's all. I'm not buying any more of these.
And I've been politiblogging, of course. I spend far too much time at that. Partly, it's entertaining for someone as opinionated as I am to always have something new to have an opinion about, but it's all a little...I don't know...real for me.
(Unlike fandom, where I can always step back and say, "it's just a hobby, I might add. These are Serious People, having Serious Thoughts and Serious Discussions. I have no head for figures, I always forget dates, and I have ADD even about the "issues" that interest me. It's a pity that television has sucked so rabidly from my point of view the last couple of years. I'd really like a new fandom.)
I spent a fair amount of time writing last weekend. Posted the scene-length Due South thing. Finished the first draft of a (short, maybe 15 pages or so) Sentinel story. Needs a little work but I'm okay with that. To one who fought the tsunami of crap that overwhelmed the late and unlamented SEN, the idea of doing a bit of rewriting to six or seven pages of a Sentinel story holds no fears.)
While the Sentinel piece is "resting," I'm working on the next Due South story. I've got most of it done. Another short one, though. No more than 20 pages, I'd guess. After that, maybe another short-short Sentinel piece, and then another slightly longer Due South piece.
I know...I sound like I'm a writing fool, but I'm not. Not really. For the first three of these, I wrote the dialogue months ago. They've just been languishing, waiting for me to wrap a spoonful of story around them. (So, you know, keep your expectations low.)
The last Due South story is one I wrote down the idea for months ago, along with some chunks of dialogue and stuff, but it has to wait until last because it's going to be the longest. With luck it won't turn into a SEN-style monster, though.
Oh well. It wasn't interesting, but I blogged.
This weekend's Dining Adventure was the elegant Rodizio Grill.
We showed up on Saturday afternoon, around 1:00. The restaurant never got busy while we were there, possibly the $10 - $15 range for meals is a bit steep for Denver Diners during the lunch hour. The restaurant had been recommended to us by a coworker of my Dining Companion, and we were prepared for an adventure.
I wasn't sure what to expect from a "Brazilian Steakhouse" restaurant but since I'm back on The Diet and since I was told I'd be served a lot of protein in nifty, sample-sized portions, I was game.
To begin with, the location was delightful. The lower end of LoDo, with Union Station footnoting the north end of the 16th Street Mall promenade, is rapidly becoming a favorite area of mine. Not only is Tattered Cover's LoDo location part of the neighborhood, but it's dotted with restaurants and coffee shops in abundance and home to some of downtown's most interesting (if unsung) buildings.
We picked a perfect day for it, as well. Warm, but not too warm. A hint of a breeze. Mostly blue skies with a rare, high drift of clouds to help keep the heat down. If I hadn't been so hungry by the time we reached the restaurant, I might have wanted to walk around the block a couple of times just to enjoy the summer air.
Since I was hungry and my Dining Companion was starving, we elected to eat.
Once inside, we were shown promptly to an immaculately set table, glistening with white cloth and spread with the usual utensils and, my first hurdle, some kind of tongs. I foresaw Social Embarrassment in my immediate future.
There were no menus. Our waitperson recited the three dining options available to us.
There was the "Full Rodizio," an all-you-can-eat salad bar and unlimited meats. Then the "Limited Rodizio" with full salad bar and a sampler of any two meats. Last, but certainly not least, the Salad Bar option.
We immediately realized that the Full Rodizio was the only way to go.
We placed our drink orders (tea and water, we're not boozers, especially at lunch) and took off to examine the salad bar.
I saw the Feijoada and the Arroz Branco (Black bean stew and Brazilian white rice) but was unable to identify them, so I passed. In hindsite, I do regret that.
I dove in with enthusiasm on some of the other dishes, though. I was mindful of warnings about pacing myself, and took only a couple of bites of each dish:
Couve (collard greens and bacon, sautéed)
Salada de Frango (chicken salad)
Salada Rodizio (Rodizio salad)
Pastrami de Peru e Azeitonas (turkey pastrami and olives)
Caesar salad
Salada de Siri (crab salad)
Mixed fruits
They were all good and certainly at least a touch above the general "salad bar" offerings in Denver restaurants. Everything was very fresh and the presentation was worthy of praise in itself. (There were four times as many dishes as I've described here. For instance, quail's eggs were on the buffet. I eyed them for a moment, then decided that that was more adventure than I was prepared to undertake.)
The Rodizio salad had a lovely crunch with caramelized walnuts in a smooth, light dressing over mixed greens. It was a touch less flavorful than I hoped, the Caesar was more to my taste, but I'd certainly make a point of having both of them again when I return. Both salads were at a lovely temperature, not warm, but not so cold the greens seemed to be frozen.
Couve is a dish known to the USofA southern states but probably not their northern neighbors. It's a nice dish. The collard greens have a slightly bitter flavor, but the bacon comes across with a smooth, smoky taste that complements them nicely. It's not a dish I can eat a lot of, but the three of four bites I had were very good.
The Salada de Siri was merely...uneventful. I'm not a major fan of seafood salad, though, so that may be my failing.
The mixed fruits were noteworthy in that all of the fruit had been ripe before being cut for the table. Too often I find the fruit offerings in restaurants to be hard, bitter, and green. I didn't have that problem this time. If I hadn't been saving space for the rest of the experience, I could easily have gone back for seconds or thirds.
By the time I'd sampled only two or three of the above-mentioned items, the waitperson was back with the appetizers I hadn't realized were included with our meal. (All three options are accompanied by the Rodizio appetizers.)
The appetizers, like everything else we ate that day (except the salad bar) had been cooked fresh when we sat down to order.
We were served:
Bolinho de Arroz (spiced rice, rolled into a ball and fried)
Pastel (flakey pastry with a meat filling)
Mandioca Frita (Fried yuka root)
Polenta (fried in sticks with dipping sauce)
Banana Frita (sugar/cinnamon covered fried banana)
Sadly, the fried items were simply...fried items. Not many foods can stand up to being fried without developing a sort of bland taste and texture. Once I got past the fried layer, the rice was lovely. The Mandioca Frita was delicious, but I've never had yuka before and I'd no idea what to expect.
And...speaking of the unexpected...I certainly didn't expect a sweet, that early in the meal. The banana was a big surprise. It wasn't overcooked, it had been fried just long enough to give the coating a dark color (to which the cinnamon contributed) and to soften the fruit itself without turning it into paste. My Dining Companion, who has a sweet tooth and is very fond of bananas, surprised me by rejecting this dish. I'm not a huge banana fan, but I had a couple of bites. The flavor was interesting. Cooking the banana intensified its flavor without losing complexity.
The service was leisurely. We never felt ignored, but we didn't feel rushed either. We had plenty of time to visit the salad bar two or three times, if we'd wanted to, but two seconds after we signaled that we were ready to move on, the first meat course arrived.
Signaling was part of the fun. You were given three blocks, green, yellow, and then red, glued together in a stack. When you wanted the Grill Servers to stop by your table, you put the green block uppermost. Whenever a server brought a new course from the kitchen he (or, "they" in our case, since we had a trainee server being monitored by a more experienced employee) stopped by your table, explained what he was carrying, and asked you if you wanted it. (When you had enough for the moment, you turned the red block uppermost and they didn't stop. And then, when you were done, you laid the stack on its side.
We signaled, a server stopped by.
Coracao. Grilled chicken hearts.
We passed.
Next up, Assado, Brazilian pot roast. We both tried it. This was my Dining Companion's favorite dish of the day. My opinion was initially not so positive; by accident my first serving was all fat. I agreed that the chunk of potato was beautifully cooked and very flavorful but it wasn't until we got a second chance at the Assado later in the meal that I was able to taste the fork-tender meat. It had to have been slow-cooked for hours, judging by the way it wrapped itself gently around my fork. Lightly flavored, the strongest was the delicate taste of garlic, and beautifully moist, I could easily have made a meal off of that alone. It was lovely.
Of course, I felt that way about almost everything I tried.
Next up was Picanha, top sirloin. This is where the tongs came in. The meat server makes a slice in the steak, you grab the edge with your tongs, and then he finishes cutting off your slice. I got it wrong at first, naturally (the prophesied embarrassment), but I soon got the hang of it.
The menu on-line describes the Picanha as "sophisticated" and that's the perfect word. My mental notes got as far as Oh. My God. Seconds later I was calculating just how big of a glutton I was willing to be. I contemplated tripping the Grill Servers the next time they passed my table, but, as my Dining Companion said repeatedly, "you have to pace yourself," so I held back.
The presentation of the meat was as balanced as everything else. The Picanha, which I would have thought impossible to surpass, was followed by Peru Com Bacon, tender lumps of turkey, wrapped in bacon, and roasted over a slow fire.
I haven't been able to bear turkey since I ate it daily for six months when I was dieting, but I ate this. I ate it again when they brought it around a second time, and I'd have eaten a third helping, if it had been offered. It probably helps that the strongest flavor was that of bacon, but it was a gorgeous mouthful any way you looked at it.
The next offering was Lombo, a marinated pork loin. Mild, not at all salty, and as tender as the other meats we'd tried.
Then we were treated to Linguica, a pork sausage. It was moist without being greasy, flavorful without being so spicy that it overwhelmed the rest of the meal, and very tender. Definitely a '10'. When the chance for seconds came around later, I happily accepted.
At this point, my Dining Companion complained of getting full and returned to the salad bar for more fruit. I accepted the Grill Servers' fruit offering instead, warm, sweet Abacaxi, roasted pineapple. It was sweet beyond sweet with some kind of glaze, but the tartness of the pineapple (even the ripest pineapple has that tangy flavor) kept it from being cloying.
My only regret was that it hadn't been served when I still had some of the Lombo on my plate. Ordinarily, pork and pineapple make a great combination. It would have been interesting to see how Rodizio's pork and glazed pineapple complemented each other.
Next were chicken thighs, redolent with rosemary. Do I have to repeat that the meat was tender and moist?
The last fresh meat offering was Fraldinha, beef tenderloin. Mmmm. My favorite cut of meat and they did it justice.
There was a grilled veggie course, as well,Legumes Com Parmesao, grilled green peppers, onion, and two kinds of squash, all with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.
It was after this vegetable course that the second meat courses came by. While my Dining Companion toyed with a few pieces of fresh fruit, I went through most of the meat menu for the second time. My Dining Companion accepted a second serving of the Assado. I accepted seconds on everything.
I could have gone on...there are few limits to my gluttony, but at the last moment, common sense held me back. We tipped the serving blocks on their side, leaned back, and sighed happily.
Moments later, our waitperson was at the table, asking if we'd like dessert.
If you're going to pig out, then pig out, I always say.
"What have you got?" we asked.
She wheeled up a trolley and started naming the dishes. My Dining Companion and I knew which one we wanted the moment we heard the description.
I've forgotten the name, but it was a warm cinnamon pastry with a cream/egg custard filling. On the side, a scoop of cold, vanilla ice cream, and the entire concoction was drizzled with caramel. An additional decorative border of chocolate finished the plate.
We waited a few minutes for this to arrive (the pastries, like everything else, were cooked when we ordered them) and gently digested the first part of our meal.
About the time we were looking around for it, the dish arrived. Two forks.
My sweet tooth is not large. I contented myself with one spoonful of ice cream and three or four bites of the unusual (but delicious) pastry.
We lingered over our so-swanky beverages of iced tea and water for a couple more minutes, then made our way back out into the Denver sunshine.
Two very happy hours, we'd spent in the restaurant, and I promise it seemed less than half that long. (I did, however, decide to skip dinner that evening.)
It's a leisurely dining experience, but I enjoyed it enormously. Now, all I need to do is to find someone willing to go back with me. (My Dining Companion claims she won't be ready to revisit the scene for at least a year, but I'd love to go back soon.)
Posted by AnneZook at 07:02 PM | Comments (7)It's been almost two weeks since I've posted.
I wish I had some good reason for the silence. It's been hectic at work, of course. So much so that my boss decided we'd just bail out and go home at 3:00 yesterday.
In the evenings...I really haven't been doing a lot in the evenings after work. Denver's in "sunny mornings, big rainstorm afternoon commute" mode.
A lot of politiblogging. (I get into these modes where I really care about the disasters happening around the world and in this country.)
Watching some cheesy old movies. I love cheesy old SF movies. I've watched Journey to the Center of the Earth, Them, At the Earth's Core, Destination Moon, the Blob, and H. G. Wells' First Men in the Moon.
But I do feel badly that I've neglected you for so long. I don't have any good reason. To make up for it in some meager way, I wrote you a short-short G-rated story wherein precisely nothing happens except some conversation.
It hardly seems adequate, now that I think about it. Anyhow, I'll post it up shortly.