Anniversary dinner

For our 10th anniversary, DH thought it'd be nice to go back to the restaurant that we went to after we got married. Le Meridien is now Sutton Place Hotel, but we figured the food would still be as excellent as ever, since it is a 5 star hotel. The menu looked incredible and I was looking forward to it.

When we finally found a parking spot (some bastard stole the parking spot we wanted) and almost had to run back to the restaurant, we found that it had changed. For one, the restaurant used to be in the back, but that room is now changed to a lounge, and the formal dining room area is out where the chocolate buffet resides, so it wasn't as quiet and intimate as we hoped. We had dressed up for the occasion, and was disappointed to see that it wasnt' a dressy place anymore. (As an aside, always try sitting in your outfit to see how it sits. I didn't realize my coat dress would open up in the front like it did and spent a good part of the evening trying to keep it more closed).

They started us with a complimentary sampler of halibut tartare, and that was delicious. DH started with the trio of lobster, and he said the chowder was excellent, so much so that he tried to lick the cappucino cup that it came in. I had the trio of tuna and the tartare was brilliant, but I was a little disappointed in the tuna roll. Next, he had the quail breast and I had the sablefish. I have a bad feeling that sablefish is on the endangered list, so to all the sablefish out there, I apologize for eating your bretheren. It was quite nice, but my scallop was a little overcooked, so a bit tougher than it should be. In hindsight, I should've gone with the table d'ote, which would've been 4 courses, for about the same amount of money for the 3 courses we ended up having. Although I wasn't considering having dessert, the chocolate buffet was too tempting to resist, so we went for it. I loved the bread pudding made with croissants partly because it wasn't overly sweet, but really I couldn't eat my money's worth from that buffet. Even DH couldn't do it.

We went home a little poorer, but full and sleepy, and we can now say that we managed to stay together for 10 years plus!

Wasn't that a party

Actually, it wasn't. When it's almost all JW's and/or wankers (some people fall into both categories, unfortunately) the party tends to be fairly boring. However, we managed through it; I did it by taking 4 Midols and 2 margaritas, don't know what DH did. But then again, it was his parent's 50th anniversary party, so it was not so bad for him.

We did our part by making 4 crockpots of chili, guacamole , spanish rice and buying chips and ice cream. I did get to try out my new handy dandy food processor for this, and it works like a dream, so in that way, I really didn't mind helping out with the food. A friend at work taught me a trick with the guacamole, which really made it nice. She said to soak the sliced onion in apple cider vinegar for 15 minutes to take out the sharpness of the onions. I found it also added a very nice flavour to the guacamole, even without adding more vinegar to the avocadoes.

My s-i-l, who planned the party did all the decorating, inviting, hiring of the mariachi band, and the rest of the food. The b-i-l, well his contribution was ice. Hope that didn't put too big of a dent in his time and money.

To give my s-i-l credit, she put in a lot of time and money into making this a special occasion for their parents. I personally wouldn't host a party for 60 people and try and make all the food for it. That's what caterers are for in my opinion. Guess that's why our parents always just go out for big meals, that way there's no prep, no clean up and no more than 3 hours with people. That's what I like.

The best part is that it's all over.

The more people I meet

the more I like my dog, the bumper sticker says. Well I can see that, at least the dog is doing what comes naturally and not being pretentious.

I find alot of people are like dogs, they seem to feel the need to mark the territory with their scent, or in this case, their own way of doing things. For example, our exiting president has turned this from a campus into an elitist neighbourhood. A more recent reaffirmation of my theory tho, is a woman at work who is trying to change the way things have been done here for at least 15 - 20 years. Not that it's right or wrong, but it was never seen to be broken in the first place, so why fix it? It doesn't affect anyone, it has no relevance to her little world, so why make a big deal of it?

The more people I meet, the more I like my imaginary dog.

Stupid is as stupid does

You try and help someone out, and what do you get in return? Ignored for a full day.

Our friend is going through (or was at least) a breakup, and so we tried to support him by keeping him occupied on weekends. He got an email from his (hopefully soon to be ex) girlfriend and nex thing we know, he went AWOL for a day. I joked to DH that it's too bad we aren't better computer hackers; we could've sent an email back to her, from the law firm of such and such on behalf of our client Mr. X, and that she should cease and desist all communications at this point. Ah, to be smart enough to do such things.

Wonder if those people who help with removing people from cults work with people in destructive relationships?

Snakes and Ladders

Remember that game you used to play as a child (or for those of you who're parents, that you played yesterday with your kids)? Well that's how my life is feeling right now, at least work wise. I've been climbing up the ladders for the last 12 years I've been here, short ladders mind you, and now I've hit a snake. Actually it's more like a pit of them and theyr'e all venomous.

Guess that's the way things are these days, it's a dog eat dog world and everyone's out for their own asses. There's no longer a sense of comradaerie, and doing things for each other. Despite what they teach nowadays about corporations flattening out and having no managers, it doesn't seem to work that way in practice. Kinda like communism really. Maybe it is happening with all these newer companies that are run by younger people, but when you work at a place that has done things the same way for a long time, it takes someone with energy and a high rank to change things, and it's so much easier to just pay lip service.