Sure it’s sat in the back of the fridge for a while. I don’t exactly know how long but I do remember that Mrs. Bloggerman bought it a while ago. It’s sat on the bottom shelf, just above the produce drawers and just below the milk and juices. It was part of a six-pack, several of some have already been eaten.
With no yogurt, my preferred afternoon snack, on hand I decided to take a chance on the cup of sugar-free cherry. It was a risk that didn’t pay off.
I opened the cup this afternoon and noticed that 1) it was very sweet, like overly sweet and 2) that it was a little watery. Wait a minute. Jello is supposed to be springy and bouncy but not watery.
That’s when it hit me. Much like Chinese Food and Yogurt, Jello can also go bad. Yikes. Well how bad was it. June 10 was the date so we’re looking at 30+ days beyond the recommended deadline.
What now? Do I just sit hear waiting for my body to turn to jelly likeKareem did in Airplane? Do I go home and sit there for my body to turn to jelly? Or do I risk everything and get on with my life. Sigh, too many decisions for one day. I think I’m going to take a nap.
It occurs to me as I get older that there are constantly signs that we as a society are on the fast track down to the never ending inferno (great if you have lots of marshmallows and some sticks) of Hades. I’m not particularly worried as I don’t believe in Hell and will only be forced to spend eternity listening to people complain to me. Seeing as how that’s not much different then my daily existence, I’m not all that worried.
But back to the topic of signs. Today while walking past McDonald’s I noticed a sign advertising their latest McCafe offering, the McFrappe (otherwise known as the “Hamburgler”). But the sign wasn’t only expressing the wonderfully, refreshing quality of the drink in English. It also told of its creamy, chocolaty-ness in Spanish. Yet next to that poster was one promoting the newest line of Angus Beef (or horse meat) burgers, in English only. So what is my takeaway here? Is McDonalds only interested in offering their coffee items to La Raza, and not any of their cholesterol-laden top of the line burgers? Are we “English Speakers” the only ones good enough to enjoy the 1/3 lb goodness of Bacon and Swiss? And what about people that speak other languages? What menu options do they have? Is there a Korean menu that only has the Filet O’ Fish and a side of hash browns? And when I go to Germany are my menu options limited to McFlurries and Orange Juice (ugh bad combo there!)?
Also on my mind is the expiration date on my labels of yogurt. My brand of choice is Yoplait light (love the vanilla) but I’m having some issues around trying to figure out what the expiration date is. We’ve debated in this space before about Chinese food and it’s built in expiration dates which are understood to vary slightly. But this is dairy and dairy always has a date (see US V. Bessie the Cow, 1945). Why is it I can’t find it on this damn cup of yogurt? Oh there it is on top, stamped into the foil, in silver, perfectly legible as long as I hold it at exactly a 43.5 degree angle. Lovely.
So Mr. and Mrs. Bloggerman took a trip up to NYC to see our beloved Metropolitans play their final season in the open-air toilet bowl otherwise known as Shea Stadium. I’ll spare you most of the minutia to include the entire playlist on the radio on the drive up from DC (although I will say that we did get to hear the Schmoozer, Steve Somers, on WFAN when we crossed in to Jersey)
The Sign The trip up was good and relatively traffic free (save the BQE) and we made it up to meet with some friends in Queens a little after 1230. After a really good Eggplant parm sandwich with all the orthodoxy walking back from shul we crossed the street to one of the best signs I’ve ever seen.
This is in response to a spate of pedestrian accidents in the crosswalk.Talk about signage that “tells it like it is”.Now all we need is the sign to sit next to the red light that says, “Hey Dumbass…you in the car…the red light means STOP and is not optional!”
The Rain Delay We headed to Shea at 530p on Saturday for a 710p game in order to catch batting practice and tour around the stadium. It had just begun to rain but we were told that the storm would just be a summer thunderstorm and pass quickly. Not so fast.Come 645p the tarp was still on the infield and the rains hadn’t let up yet. About that time we took the time to appreciate the finer points of Shea that we might have overlooked in the past. This includes some of the area around the stadium including the old World’s Fair grounds.We also took interest in finding the “Most Obscure Player’s Jersey” that a fan was wearing. Plenty of folks have David Wright, Jose Reyes, Johan Santana jerseys but what about the Alan Zinter, Tony Clark, or Tim Tuffel’s of the world? Well we didn’t any of those but did actually find someone with a Danny Heep. What’s even better then that?She had it signed! BTW: This guy wearing the Dave Kingman was a close second place on our list! Around 715p the rains lightened up and we checked out our seats. Upper Deck but right over home plate….near perfect!The only problem was that the rain started to kick up again and we had lighting to boot. Instead of retreating back into the now crowding concourses we decided to hoof it up some 20 rows to the top of the upper deck that is protected by overhead awning. While up there we managed to pass the time by:
A: Taking in the car fire out in the parking lots in right field.
B: Hanging out with Cowbell Man
C: Watching the visiting Texas Rangers use the infield for the worlds largest slip and slide
Finally the team canceled the game around 830pm. We trudged down through the rain and out of the stadium stopping to pick up some additional free swag commemorating the final season of this dump.
Chinese and a Cookie Since we were soaked we headed back to the hotel, changed, grabbed the car and headed to downtown Flushing where we heard there was a meca of Chinese food. We weren’t disappointed and were referred to a very modern looking place called Sunway Café. As somebody on a food board said (I read today) it looks like a Chinese Howard Johnsons.
They weren’t wrong but the food was really good and a huge variety of mostly good and greasy Cantonese fare (the kind of food I’d equate to a really good greasy spoon/diner when you’re up at midnight). We split a few dishes (Rice w/ omelets and raisins, baked chicken with black pepper, and then something I don’t remember the name of but is described by one critic as ”…an order of crispy noodles, said material wrapped in squishy rice noodle, served with a dollop of syrupy Hoisin sauce. Mellow greasy vibe.”
Finishing off the meal, a watermelon juice and bubble tea for the misses. Now to find a good cookie to finish off the night.
Not as simple as it sounds! You see evidently the rain has forced the shut down of some roads (with 5 ft of water!!) and the rerouting of others. After driving around and sitting in traffic we end up at a Pathmark over by our hotel. They have a wonderful looking bakery case but not a single fresh baked (today) cookie to be found as midnight rolls around. Bloggerman was starting to get huffy and the Misses was doing her best (G-d bless her) to calm me down. Alas, we found a diner nearby and dug into a very soft and pillow-y (thus good) chocolate chipper and dozed off for the night.
Tune in later today for Part II and updated pics here.
For Sale: 1 Chinese “Style” Calendar, Year 2007Price: Negotiable
I have a very common Chinese “style” calendar for sale. It is a vertical style calendar breaking the year down into twelve months.There are three columns and the months go across and then down. The days of the week are all there too.You also get a drawing of some cute panda “style” bears on the top.
This calendar is great for all sorts of buyers.Time travelers for example could use it to locate the exact day they want to travel back to (providing it falls during 2007). People in comas or with memory problems can use it to track time since they probably don’t remember what year they’re in now.
Also this is a great present for those of you who are really lazy and don’t want to show a lot of effort in your presents. Just tell the recipient that although it says “2007” it is also good in 2018. This could also be good for that time traveler mentioned earlier!
I am a motivated seller and want this calendar to do some good so come and make me an offer!
The first is a comment I received the other day from "Anonymous" on my thoughts involving Chinese food freshness. This reader thought so much of the entry that they had to respond and share their thoughts.
"fvck u"
I always welcome your comment as readers and I never erase any comments and will continue that stance here. This idiot's comment will stand for the whole world to read. Yes, not only is he a dope, but he can't spell either (I know I have several spelling errors on the site but at least I try to go back and correct them and I've never spelled an F-bomb incorrectly!) So kudos to you my friend and I hope all your Chinese leftovers go bad!
The second item on my agenda today is sleeping in on weekends and holidays and how things change as we get older and more responsibilities pile up. Have you ever noticed that when we were younger (especially in and around the collegiate years) you could sleep in on a weekend until 10am, 11am, or even 12 noon with not a care in the world? Now as you age you're getting up earlier and earlier with errands to run, places to be, etc? This morning, while not a day off (I worked from home), I got to sleep in well past my usual alarm time of 530am but even so I was up every 10 minutes worrying that I was going to over sleep. What's that about? I would love to have a morning where I just sleep in and in and in. Maybe I'll get up at 12noon or even 1pm on a Sunday, just in time for the football games. Oh what the hell, maybe I'll just sleep the entire day away and have breakfast for dinner. Yep, that's the ticket.
