Like my Roman ancestors, I tend to put a fair amount of stock in omens. It's not like I open pigeons and examine their entrails to see what they augur; but after a year of predominantly crap-tastic events, I figure I can either give in to the darkness, or look for signs of light anywhere I can find 'em. And despite a fairly debilitating hangover from a marvelous New Year's Eve, my first day of 2008 was far better than I would have expected it to be.
Not only did Carole and I make some some serious packing progress for our impending move — packing up all our tiki mugs without dropping a single one — but we also managed to spend two hours at Ikea without losing our sanity and/or punching out fellow shoppers, despite having my ankles bloodied repeatedly by stroller wheels. We even found a kitchen island that will fit perfectly in our new pad...
We celebrated our survival with a late lunch/early dinner at Dumpling Master (423 N. Atlantic Blvd. in Monterey Park). My blog pic in the right-hand column was taken at this very establishment, and trust me when I tell you that the smile on my face is genuine — Dumpling Master makes me a happy man, indeed. Our meal started with cold cucumber salad and scallion pancakes (the latter of which turned out to be the only mediocre things we ordered), followed by pork and shrimp pan-fried dumplings, vegetable turnovers (pictured above) and pork and vegetable soup with homemade noodles. "You really know how to order!" our server praised on two different occasions — though actually we just got lucky on the soup, which we'd never ordered before. The homemade noodles were insanely good; as long and thick as bacon strips, they had a great "chew" to them, yet (as with homemade Italian pasta) you never really got filled up from eating them. The whole meal was immensely satisfying and restorative — and cost a grand total of $27.
(And speaking of bacon, one of the restaurant's listed specials was Chinese Bacon Shabu-Shabu, the very idea of which sent shudders down my spine. Cooking raw bacon in hot water sounds like some SERIOUS intestinal roulette.)
After driving home under a glorious pink and purple sunset, we got back to find that Michigan finally won a bowl game for the first time in years, upsetting Florida 41-35 in the (yecch) Capitol One Bowl. Now the original Rollerball — one of the great slices of 70s-style cinematic futurism, right up there with 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange and Sleeper — is on the tube, I've got a glass of Chimay in my hand, and a fluffy black cat is sleeping nearby. Life, for the moment, is good; and if today is any kind of omen for what the next 365 days have in store, I'll gladly take it. Happy New Year, everyone...
mmm. vegetable turnovers and belgian beer.
Posted by: stu | January 03, 2008 at 01:47 PM