What Happened This Weekend

I thought I would be all better by Monday.  I was really looking forward to it.  I haven't been this sick in years.  It's come down to just a cough (a wracking cough) and a little stuffy.  I was coughing so much at work that I put my neighbor off her sandwich.  I'm sorry.

And I lost my wallet on Friday night.  Did not discover it until Saturday morning.  I watched my bank account while cleaning out everything: coat pockets, my purse, the car.  Nothing was happening on the account so I figured it had to be somewhere in the house, somewhere I wasn't looking in the car.  Found lots of interesting things under the seats, but no wallet.  I crawled around the floor in the house thinking it might have flown out of something I was carrying but no luck.  I finally canceled the cards today and tomorrow I am going for a new driver's license. 

The process did not prove entirely useless.  Car is somewhat clean (at least the gross stuff from under the seats is gone, weird what you'll find) and I discovered my favorite Two Faced lip gloss had leaked and it was incredibly sticky in the bottom of my purse.  That's taken care of now.

On Saturday I ended up in St. Paul three times playing chauffeur.  The first trip was made all the more enjoyable by a side trip to Trung Nam for a cinnamon croissant and iced coffee.   I am not necessarily a fan of the bahn mi, Saigon is far superior.  On the way back from my second trip, I stopped at 88 Oriental Foods (291 University Avenue West, St Paul, MN 55103-2089.)  I used to go there quite frequently when I lived in St. Paul.  I ordered the chicken curry with sticky rice and a stick of the bbq pork.  I have to say that I was disappointed.  The curry didn't have the savory deliciousness that I remembered and the pork was greasy and fatty.  I expect some grease and some fat, but I was picking the (tiny) pieces of meat out of the fat, instead of the other way around.

I keep hoping that one day that 88 Oriental Foods will have these um, chewy balls that I have had a few times.  I think they might be an acquired taste as they are a bit odd.  One time that I bought them, I was with someone once they refused to look at them, let alone taste them.  I would love it if someone could clue me in to what they are.  I'll describe. I thought perhaps they were made tapioca or glutinous rice (I can't find any pictures on the net that look like them) because they were clear-ish, but cloudy.  They were rather bouncy and chewy in the mouth (bit of a bizarre description) and had a bbq'd pork filling.  They had the fried garlic bits and cilantro on top of them.  Does anyone know what they are?

I won't give up on 88 Oriental entirely.  I want to find those balls again!  I'm hoping that the Laab is good, provided they could make it up for me without tripe.  Not a fan.  It's priced well and the portions are large.  Maybe I was in on an off day.  I'll give it another chance.

In the evening I watched My Life in Ruins with Morgan.  Even she, bad movie aficionado that she is, agreed that this movie is awful.  And then back to St. Paul again.

Book club was on Sunday.  We didn't discuss the book much, or at least I didn't.  I read it months ago before the club took a bit of a hiatus.  We did have an interesting trip to United Noodles.  I always get a bit overwhelmed in there.  I want so much to try cooking with so much I see.  It's time for a couple more cookbooks I think.  I walked out of United Noodles with Hello Kitty fruit candy and some dumpling sauce.  We had dinner at Quang.  Had the Bun Thit, Nem Nuong- grilled meatballs and beef salad.  I still prefer the other restaurant (see list of favorite places), but Quang is good too.  Lovely iced coffee too.  Rather amusing end to the evening.  I thought my friend got the movie from Netflix; she thought I owned it.  We broke up early.

It's leftovers for dinner.