We are every true to Zrown...

Notable events from my 5th year reunion.

1. Steve was kind enough to give me a ride to [and from] our reunion. On our way across campus to pick up his dorm room key, we passed through the mail center where Steve demonstrated his Bourne like muscle memory. He successfully opened the combination lock on his old student mailbox. He's not sure how he does it, but I did witness the amazing feat. I should also note that Steve did not tamper with the mail. On the otherhand, the mailbox was empty so there was nothing to tamper with.

2. Corinna and I shared a Spike's Texas Ranger hotdog before heading over to Kellie's bridal shower...it was delicious.

3. Here's a shout out to my buddy Kellie who's getting married in two weeks. Turns out she still reads this blog every so often so "ahoy there matey."

4. I stopped by the coed fraternity I was a part of in college on Saturday night. Why was this ever a cool place to hang out? It's a basement with rooms and it smells funky. Maybe I have matured or maybe I've become high maintenance.

5. Providence now has it's own Cold Stone Creamery...Thayer Street is much improved.

6. Saturday night was "Ragin' at the Ratty." The Ratty [our cafeteria] has new tables and chairs and the juice machine look new too. Unfortunately the "rager" wasn't much of a culinary feast, university food services did not provide chicken fingers, frost your own cupcakes and all of our old favorites.

Feeding Schedule

With the weather being miserable, I have no incentive to leave my house. In fact, I made it my goal today not to leave my house. I was so dedicated to my goal, I didn't even get my morning paper. When I did finally venture out my front door, it was just to the inner alcove for the pizza I ordered for "linner." That's the main problem I'm up against with my unemployed state, my eating schedule is way off. There's no Steve stopping by around noon to ask whether I need to get lunch so I end up eating pizza at 3pm and skipping dinner because I'm not hungry and waking up in the middle of the night...hungry. Not to worry, I have lunch plans with Wheezy tomorrow so I'll be up, showered and dressed like a normal person.

Unemployed Woman Attacked by Pestilent Styrofoam Packing Peanuts

On my first day of de facto unemployment, I spent two hours unpacking dishes from our Macy's registry. Styrofoam packing peanuts are the bane of my bridal existance and frankly, I find them enraging. What I despise more than packing peanuts are the lower quality packing peanuts Macy's uses, the ones that chip and splinter into infinately smaller styrofoam pieces. Possessing a strong will and empowered by static cling, these peanuts not only squirrel their way into all crevices, but they refuse to budge from any surface. Unable to efficiently contain the styrofoam peanut hades my living room had become, I had to methodically pick up each styrofoam chip from 2mm in size on up and forcefully fling it into my trash bag. I also had to periodically de-static my hands using a dusting cloth so the chips would not cling to my person. I'm thinking about writing a "Dear Macy's" missive detailing all my issues with their styrofoam packing peanuts. Other than that...love the dishes!

Don't use Hot Water

I was hanging out with plasticfamily the other night when I started to wash egg residue off some dishes. plasticmom hollers, "don't use hot water because it'll cook the egg right onto the dishes." plasticaunt breaks out in hysterics and says, "like the time plasticmom put egg in her hair..."

plasticaunt: plasticmom was a freshman in college and she washed her hair with an egg. Unfortunately, she used hot water and it cooked the egg right into her hair.
plasticmom: I don't remember this?
plasticaunt: I remember, it took a really long time to get all the cooked egg out of your hair.
plasticann: How old were you? If plasticmom was in college, you must have been 14 or so. I bet you thought it was soooo hilarious. Did you just point and laugh and laugh and laugh?
plasticaunt: Of course...I still laugh whenever I think about it.
plasticmom: I really don't remember this.

In & Out...that's what a hamburger's all about

Ain't that the truth. g'ma and I both enjoyed a delicious lunch of cheeseburgers and french fries from In & Out. I even splurged and got a strawberry shake. In & Out is the only fast food chain Eric Schlosser recommends in Fast Food Nation. I just love how In & Out kicks it "old school" with a simple "official" menu of just eight items, evenly bifurcated between solids and liquids: the double double, cheeseburger, hamburger, fries, milkshakes, sodas, coffee and milk. At $1.85 for a cheeseburger and $1.09 for some freshly cut french fries, the prices are fabulous and the old timey circa fifties uniforms are splendid. plasticmom covets the massive safety pins used to pin the aprons for all In & Out "associates." For those in the know, they also have a "secret" menu of special "burgers" that include the "4 x 4" and the "protein style."

Hangin' out in La La Land

I got in yesterday and I've been very productive food wise. Last night we enjoyed delicious Korean food and today I insisted we stop by "Won-Tin" after church for their super crispy chicken chow mein noodes and their fresh wonton soup. I hit the mall this afternoon and had a refreshing lemonade from Hot Dog on a Stick and a Auntie Anne's pretzel. I would have ordered a corn dog to go with my lemonade, but I'd just eaten lunch. Walking home from the mall, I bought a slice of Marie Callender's fresh strawberry pie. Heck, it's not even dinnertime...the possibilities are endless.

Last Day

Well, after five years, tomorrow is my last day here at ZEI--Zexecon--ZMA. My coworkers surprised me with Thai and sorbet for lunch and they even got me a parting gift, a Kate Spade crystal bowl and some Godiva chocolates for my bowl. The bowl is very lovely, quite heavy and truly unexpected, but I seriously doubt the chocolates will actually make it into the bowl. Rachel suggested green apples and I'm feel compelled to buy a bag even though I'm not a fan of green apples. Finally, a classic Steve move, he signed my card, "Happy Birthday." I'm going to cut out his greeting and save it for October when my real birthday rolls around. I spent most of yesterday cleaning out my office. Chalk it up to having been privileged enough to have had my own office, but I had an obscene amount of personal stuff. Steve graciously helped me haul six plus boxes home from work, including a long forgotten sleeping bag. Everyone asked, "why do you have a sleeping bag at work?" I really don't have a good answer. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but then again I was probably sleep deprived.

"Distressed Rustic" [Free] Chairs

I stopped by Harvest Market in Central last night to pick up some old school CutRite Wax Paper Sandwich Bags when I noticed a sign that read, "Free Chairs & Tables Ask the Manager on Duty." There were stacks of small tables with heavy metal legs, schoolhouse style straight back chairs and these black wooden dining chairs with a curved back. I was incredulous, but the manager confirmed that the furniture was actually free and I could take whatever I wanted. They had just replaced all their chairs and tables in the cafe area and they were trashing the old stuff. Adam and I secured a ride with my roommate Carin, who has a station wagon, and headed back to Harvest to claim our seven black dining chairs. They're a bit dusty and some are a little rickety. Hopefully, they'll work out once we clean them up and tighten some screws. I tried to describe the paint job on our chairs as a "distressed rustic look," but Adam says my assessment is too generous.

Rustic Kitchen

Adam and I celebrated Mother's Day yesterday with plasticmom in absentia. The only caveat...we had to eat something plasticmom would enjoy. Fortunately, plasticmom enjoys everything. Feeling famished, I insisted on eating MEAT for dinner last night so we wound up at Rustic Kitchen. Here's the lowdown:

Field Greens: Take it or leave it. Pile of greens lightly dressed with "too small" croutons.
Flank Steak with truffled fries and tomatoes: Hit the spot. Crunchy fries garnished with a head of roasted garlic. Steak was flavorful and delicious.
Macaroni & Cheese: Adam was disappointed that there was not crunchy topping on his Mac&Cheese. I enjoyed it, but it felt more appropriate as a side dish rather than a main course.

Overall Verdict: Tasty, but slightly overpriced. Pizzas looked good and the restaurant is nicely decorated. Fresh bread came with a delicious white bean/garlic/olive oil dip.

Got A Cake

Took the day off
Went to a taping of the Phantom Gourmet
Got a cake...a whole one
Score!

Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper

Adam's been hankering to try the new Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper so I picked up a bottle for him last week. I left it in the office fridge to chill and forgot about it until a certain Prof. Z, my boss who teaches a class every so often at a local business school I like to call BIT, reminded me. The following is a reconstructed conversation.

Prof. Z: Is that your Diet Dr. Pepper in the fridge? I've been in court all day and let's say I'll do you any favor, within reason, if I can have your Diet Dr. Pepper. Like a good grade in my class.
plasticann: Sure you can have it, but I thought you said last week that you would flunk Steve and me if we took your class.
Prof. Z: Not you...just Steve. How did I know it was your Diet Dr. Pepper?
plasticann: I was wondering the same thing.

[later that afternoon]

plasticann: Hey Steve, Prof. Z says he's not going to flunk me...just you. Ha Ha! I think he was just kidding about the whole flunking thing. Note to self...I've gotta get Adam another Diet Dr. Pepper.

A 99 kinda day

Adam's roommate, Zaron went out to lunch with their friend Zayne to the 99 restaurant over by Alewife. Zaron had never been to the 99, but it turns out Zayne is a frequent customer since the waitress cheerfully greeted him "Good to see you again." Adam was slated to join Zayne for dinner that very evening and they hadn't decided where to go. I really wanted Adam to say to Zayne, "you know...I've never been to the 99...I've always wanted to go there," but Adam refused to play along.

Later that night, my Carin, Katie and I hopped into Nicole's Prius for our jaunt out to the Friendly's in Charlestown. Unfortunately, Friendly's had just closed for the night when we pulled in a little past nine. We didn't have a lot of snack options...Dunkin Donuts, Papa Ginos and a dismal looking Foodmasters. Lo and behold, like a beacon, across the strip mall parking lot stood a 99 restaurant. We were all hungry for dessert and I was looking forward to some greasy munchies so we hopped into the Prius and drove 200 yards across the parking lot and parked in front of the 99.

We ventured into the 99 and the unenergetic hostess lethargically led us to our table. Granted it was nine at night, but this place was empty...there were three people seated. We were greeted by a peppy server with an accent I could not place [Irish?/Scottish?/British?]. It was all very disorienting, but our tap waters were garnished with wedges of lemon. We perused the menu and debated what to order. Nicole had just walked 20 miles for the Walk for Hunger and was thus, very hungry. She wanted to order everything on the menu, but settled on the fried seafood dinner. I wanted to order the side of gravy for 29 cents just to see what it would be like, but ended up with a bowl of cream of broccoli soup since they were all out of iceberg wedge salads. We shared an order of potato skins and some massive desserts. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised and pleased with my first ever 99 experience. Sure the place was initially odd and disconcerting, but the deliciously crispy potato skins won me over. My soup was quite nice and the mile high ice cream pie was... well heavenly. What's not to love about butterfinger and chocolate ice cream layered into a chocolate cookie pie crust?

Here's to Zayne and the 99. Zayne's boundless enthusiasm for and expertise in the subject of savory potato concoctions is truely impressive. Afterall, it was Zayne who taught us how to substitute our ho-hum side orders for those transcendent potato bakes at Pizzaria Unos. With a side of gravy for only 29 cents, anyone can afford to eat out at the 99 in Charlestown.