February 9th, Including a review of “Yummy House.”

I’m counting this as my February 9 Blog, because damn it!  I’m still up, so I feel like it’s still Monday.

It’s been a 36 hour kind of day anyway… I worked 12 hour shifts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and I had a four hour shift Monday because I have to pick up four hours on the “short week” (the week that would otherwise be 3 days on to balance against the 48 hour alternate week.  We have really confusing schedules…  I won’t get into it now, though.)

BEFORE work I had a parent teacher conference with my youngest kid’s writing teacher, because the latest and greatest is that he made some sort of vow not to do any of the writing, including the in-class work.  I thought he was just giving me a hard time at home…  Nope.  Anyway, that was fun.

At work, there really wasn’t anything to do because it was slow, and there was already another dispatcher.  So, at my supervisor’s suggestion, I took the golf cart around campus to see things like “where the emergency phones are located.”  They are exactly where the map says they are.  I managed to pick the cart that didn’t have a full charge, answering my question of “how much warning do you get when the battery is starting to give out?”  The answer: not enough to get from one corner of the campus to the other.  Someone had to help me push the dying cart to an electrical outlet, where I left it plugged in for a few minutes until it was charged enough to get the rest of the way there.  Remind me not to buy a Smart Car…

I blame this guy, who has been stealing stuff from the Police golf carts…

After all that excitement, I came home, planned but failed to take a nap, went with Adam (my significant other…) to pick up the replacement wi fi modem from the cable store, (ours crapped out Saturday night…) brought it home only to find out that it was not the right kind, picked up my oldest kid from orchestra rehearsal, (woo hoo!) and went back to the cable store.  Then I took all three kids for much-needed hair cuts, did some grocery shopping, and went home, did dishes, helped my daughter make hamburgers, (she wanted to make dinner tonight) before going out with Adam for dinner, because he’s a vegetarian, and he couldn’t stomach the Morning Star Farms burgers tonight… (He was back from donating plasma, and it took a lot out of him.)

We went to Yummy House, which lived up to its name.  We used to live down the road from this little restaurant.  I’ll go ahead and start with the negatives to get them out of the way:  1. The parking lot is tiny, which is often a problem, but wasn’t tonight.  2. It’s usually crowded.  We usually drive by the packed restaurant and say, “Nope.  Can’t deal with that many people!” and 3. The view kind of sucks… from my seat I could see a Waffle House.

Now, onto the good.

The staff was very nice, very quick, and were there every time we needed anything.  The last two times we’ve gone to restaurants, I’ve felt as though we were invisible for all the attention we’ve received.  (“Oh, wow!  Didn’t realize you were sitting here… How long have you been there?”  “About five minutes…” – really, it was more like 10…)  It’s kind of funny, because neither of us are tiny people, so you’d think we’d be kind of hard to miss… especially when we bring a three ring circus of teens.  But tonight?  We felt cared for.

This is the first time I’ve ever had “Hong Kong” style Chinese food.  Amazing stuff…  The spring rolls were crispy and melty all at the same time.  Every bite was a treat.  We also ordered egg drop soup, which was full of textures.  The crunchy vegetables, tender mushrooms, and smooth egg balanced nicely.

I ordered hot tea, which was made using loose tea leaves.

For the main course, I chose garlic chicken, and Adam had Vegetable Lo Mein noodles.

Those are actually platters.  We scooped food from those platters onto plates.

Adam really enjoyed his lo mein.  The garlic chicken had tender pieces of chicken, fresh tasting vegetables, and it was all mixed in a mild sauce.  I added a bowl of white rice, which was an extra dollar.  That was a little unusual to me, as I’m used to the rice being included in the price.  Overall, however, it worked.  I think their setup would work for the family in that one meal would feed two people, and you could just get everyone their own bowl of rice.

As we were eating the egg drop soup, I looked around and noticed “milk tea” on the specials board.  I had heard of it a while back, but wasn’t really sure what it was.  I normally put milk in my hot tea, but not in Chinese restaurants.  Most of the Chinese restaurants we’ve frequented don’t even list milk on their menus.  Naturally, I had to have it.

The waitress asked if I wanted it right away, or at the end of the meal.  I opted for sooner rather than later, and realized after ordering it that it was probably going to be a dessert item.

It was hot, (they also serve it iced, but I like my tea hot) and it was sweet. It had a light undertone of mint.  I would have LOVED this sweet manna as a child.  These days I generally prefer my tea unsweetened, with just some milk, but this was still a lovely treat.

We had to have a good-sized portion of our meals wrapped to take home, and I wound up bringing about half of the milk tea with me in a disposable cup.

I don’t know if milk tea is on the menu often, but I do recommend it.

The bill was actually more affordable than I thought it would be.

I would definitely go back, and bring the kids, as long as they promise to behave and not bicker, as they always seem to do when we enter a restaurant.

Tomorrow (or really today, but “after sleep”) I will post about the after dinner adventures, which included a trip to the book store, dying my hair not-quite-purple, and wandering through Walmart after midnight.  (Is there any better time?!)  But now I’m very tired.  Pleasant dreams!