{{{{Suzi}}}}

IOdepressingmovingN, it looks like I may have to find a new place sooner than I planned (and sooner than I can afford). It seems my landlord may be moving back to SF in 6 months or so. So if anyone knows of a (relatively) cheap apt in SF, let me know.

Oh, Susan, that sounds fabulous. And it reminded me that I have cherries in the fridge. I have to wash some to snack on during my crappy Sunday night Lifetime TV.

Meara, I swear to God, if you do not get some hot monkey lovin' from this bloody woman at some point in the near future, I'm going to get my ass on a 'plane, fly across the bloody globe and smack her over the head repeatedly with a large parasol. There needs to be sex already, damn it!

See, my recommendation, Meara, is that no matter what happens, don't tell Fay because I think Fay visiting Seattle just has to happen. Again. Again & again.

BTW, I don't recommend emailing her about the conversation because I think you need to see her face when you say that. I think you need to judge that reaction and not give her time to compose a reply.

So, there keep being these loud bang noises outside. I'm sure it's fireworks, though, I'm not sure why. But, it's freaking me out...and Toto too. Craziness. I want some sleep!

Oh, and Teppy; regarding your gastric tension. I've had some similar problems over the years and I would recommend you try acupuncture not only for relaxation but to try and get some of the nerves in your gut to stop doing whatever the hell it is they're doing. I also recommending rolfing which is like restringing your muscles on your skeleton. Rolfing helped me with posture and a lot of long-term gut tension.

ION, what is wrong with people? I went out to lunch at an Indian restaurant with my parents and sister yesterday. There were only two other tables with people -- one guy sitting alone, and one group that looked like several married couples in their forties or fifties. One of the guys in the group ordered the South Indian thali. It got served, and he looked at it and said, "Is this all the rice that comes with it?" The waiter said yes, it comes with rice, and bread, and a bunch of vegetable dishes, and some pickles, and raita, and dessert. The guy said, "This is supposed to be South Indian thali. Do you know that rice is a staple food in South India? Where are you from? You cannot be from South India, or you would know that this is not an acceptable amount of rice. You will go back in the kitchen and fill this bowl to the top with rice."

The waiter repeated that that was the amount of rice that came with the dish, and again pointed out the bread and the zillion other things on the plate. The customer started shouting, "I only want what is fair! You are charging $14 for this plate, and I want a fair amount of rice. Have you ever been to South India? Rice is a staple food there. This is not a fair amount of rice."

And this went on for at least five full minutes. He finally sent the whole plate back and got the North Indian thali (which I've gotten before and has the exact same amount of rice.) And then, when the waiter came over to take our order, the customer got up and started berating him again.

Hey, Pete: what exactly do you look for in a Roly Poly Pudding?

Most of the recipes I have involve the miracle of suet, as I suspected.

Most of the recipes I have involve the miracle of suet, as I suspected.

Gah, really? See, I suspect that what I grew up with was just a jam-roll pudding and it just got called Roly-Poly. This shorthand mislabeling seems to have happened a lot in my parent's house.

that customer was insane but wtf is wrong with the waiter for not saying, "I'll be right back with more rice"?

Well on the one hand rice is cheap. On the other, not having that customer come back again is probably worth having him continue to make the fuss that one time. It is good business to lose certain customers.