week in review:

g-ma had a birthday...
she's like 62!

then we played with these cuties all week because they were temporarily orphaned...

(k. this one wasn't, but we played anyway...)
no, baby mac, you are not a thug.

family dinner...

i told her you could hear the ocean in it...
not true.

future ref: bubbles = tears

what the? yeah, that's just arizona for ya...

cc took me to a brazilian place in honor of getting the job.
it was absolutely fantastic!
could give tucanos a run for its money!

(the green means "keep bringing me more grilled meat and pineapple because my skin has a few more inches of stretching capacity")

the dessert that they bring out on wheels and serve right there...

cc: holy cow, this stuff is from heaven.
mm: no dear. that would be hell. it is a satan creation:
naughty.

the classic: "someone-else-took-this-so-that's-why-we-both-look-stoned" picture.
or, maybe we just ate WAY too much...

what i found with my lunch yesterday:
and yes, you may read into it.
i always do.

my indian friend, usha, that i train with said,
"jew should dake a bicture of dat and sen it to chris."
ha!

mongolian BBQ

yesterday, my cute lunch date took me to this serious yummy mongolian place.
i am a sucker for all things ethnic and new. YC's BBQ, you satiated both needs.

you buy lunch by the bowl, shove it full of uncooked/frozenish meat, veggies, and noodles. the best part though: the array of sauces. they have maybe 20 or so that you can mix and match according to recipes visibly hanging on the wall. they make curries, or thai-ish, or more chinese-ish or spicy-ish type things. i was salivating at the thought alone...

then the dude (of some ethnic background) takes my bowl of packed uncookedness and throws it right on this wheel that cooks it. like a mongolian tepanyaki (the jap's way). he moves it around with huge pool ques and then just drops it back into a clean bowl.

naughty. that's all i have to say about that.

and though i didn't pay, i would say it was also reasonably priced, and incredibly tasty. and, as my date noted, quite repeatable. we could go 100 times before repeating the same meal, unless of course you died eating what you got the first time... then repeat away.

i might be needing to try that again sometime in the near future.
the date, and the food, that is...

(pictures not my own.)

the point is, if you haven't already,
find one of these hoohah places and try it immediately.
i'm sure you've got one too,
and i am sure it is awesome.

another reason to love asians

event: karoke & spa
"type" of asian: Koreans

my friends chose to break me into the east coast thing easy.
ok- lets be honest, they already had this planned and i happened to get in town on the perfect night to party.
but i digress...

what these new easterners called "krazy korean night" was a trip:

first, we went to this korean restaurant. i will give you the short version of korean food as i see it:

• naughty
• spicy
• ricy
• somewhat rubbery (octopus... ew.)

good stuff though.... just exnay the swimming things and it is a perfect meal for me.

then, we went into a little room in the restaurant (no, i am not about to tell you this was a korean brothel or anything) where we sang karoke. it is awesome! the room goes krazy (ok, that is the last time i will spell crazy with a k...) with the lights every time a new song comes on. 1/2 of the people spoke korean and so they sang some korean songs (neckties on their heads and all), but there were a few english types in there too...

the white chicks and i wailed to a one certain "rainin men" and laughed the whole time. karoke = serious good times/workout for the abdominals. speaking of- who has the pictures from said event? i need— i need.

and then, we went to spa world.
here is where korea starts to look more awesome than its neighbors.

so, when you go to a korean spa, you first check in your shoes. i am told this is standard. they give you a little locker and an itty key and you put your shoes in there till you leave. i guess asians revere their footwear like we do our IDs... cause it seemed to be a collateral hold more than a welcome gesture. nonetheless...

then you get into these little outfits here. -->
like scrubs but not. and they all wear their towels in this Princess Leia style too... none of us could figure out how to do it... i guess we coulda asked but we didn't think it polite. then you enter one of these few sauna rooms and just chill there till you are sweating unbearably. the first one was only 135° or so and it took a while for this arizonan to sweat in there, but eventually we did and then we ventured through the rest. they all have a theme. there is a "rock" room, with little balls of rock. they are warm though so you just lay in em and it pretty much feels amazing until your air passageway is blocked by the steam that builds up in the chestal region.

koreans get their heat from their heated flooring. this is the floor that they will just put a mat on and sleep on (a very thin non-padded mat. hey- maybe this is why they don't have butts... hmm...). between sauna trips and bathing you can just chill here and eat (you buy food with your little key on your wrist) or watch olympics on a huge screen. side note: we were the only ones that really watched the olympics, maybe it isn't their thing. or maybe they are only into the asian male gymnasts- for which i would not blame them. Yang Wei* anyone?

this is the best part. the part that makes it authentically korean: the bathhouse.
in some of these spas in america, they will have a similar bathing room/pool/hot tub room, but you might be co-ed... or at least clothed. not at this one. at first, i was sort of terrified at the thought of baring all to at least a dozen other nude strangers, but it took watching my friend (who served in korea and has no fear of such a place) just rip off her clothes and walk in, for me to see it was no big deal. i dropped em and went in.

the bathhouse has a little area that you wash up in first before you get into the pools. you sit on a little plastic stool hoo-ha with a mirror in front of you (coulda done without the mirror, thanks) and there is a hand-held shower thinger and soap, wash cloth...etc. you just bathe! so after i "bathed" (or "splashed some water on myself for a few minutes") i went and found the hot tubs. no one was in them. one was "aloe" and it was green. and one was marked "rose" and it was pink. they were yummy and made your skin feel like butta. then there is a main pool which is basically like swimming in your bath water or like the 97° temperature of an outdoor swimming pool in the AZ. there were waterfalls and little places where you can sit that jet water into your flabby thighs, and even one that shoots water straight up so you can basically float there on top of the water pressure**.

there is a little area down in the corner where asians are getting greasy naked rub-downs, and you can pay extra for any of those normal spa-type services. they put it on your key along with any food you purchase and then you pay for it as you leave.

after the yummy wash down there are showers with shampoo/conditioner and things so you can re-wash off, and then you go get back into your scrubs and do it all over again. (only, we didn't.) we played some mexican train (how fitting, right?) and then we were going to sleep over, cause we could, but we didn't. they have segregated (men/women) rooms for sleeping that are like the open room with mats—only dark. my ride had to be up early so we just went home.

long story short,
asians = yum.
i will be returning to the spa shortly. i thank you.


* thanks- i know he's not korean. but go with me here.
** i call this the colon blow

reviews for you....

in no particular order or from any particular thought process...
do not attempt to decipher:

Amelie is one of the most beautiful films i have seen in years...

and come to think of it- i haven't seen it in years.

but it is one of those you do not easily forget.

she asks you to do something and to think

and play and smile about life.

the movie is so colorful too- i love bright colors,

and i think it is how all pictures should be.

Waiting for Guffman, another flick i can never get enough of. perhaps it is because of the chillingly accurate depiction of life as i know it... being about awful community theatre and way intense performing types... but also just the nature of a mockumentary. kills me. the way it is made makes it seem so white trash- but it is one of those niche films that with the right crowd... will make you sauce your pants.

Tucanos. where tonight, with a great crowd of awesome people, i consumed copious amounts of brazilian meat and pasta and loved life... until now at the very moment that i need to sleep and cannot due to reoccurring unsatisfying burpage...nasty. but the garlic beef and the tenderloin....naughty. very naughty. the grilled pineapple...also naughty.

the phoenix suns. a valiant effort and a big boy get you fouled uselessly because of a handful of sissy boys from San Antonio. i don't know if i could teach that kind of acting. sad to say that i think next year will be the year for the boys from the hot town. this year the suns are a teenage boy going through puberty. just give em time.

foto by meg

oh- and another random thought. today was my brother's birthday! Mac's. it is his golden birthday, when you turn the age on the actual date or your age ya know... i was six when that happened and i don't recall it being that awesome.
so yeah- he's 29. he's a dad. he loves basketball and his wife and a-freakin-dorable daughter...
and apparently takes far more trips to the DQ than i had ever imagined. also awesome.
we graduated together the last time i did that... and when jake was on his mish, we bonded and shared college friends for a while. he loves to laugh and make people laugh and is one of the best examples of service i have seen.

anyway, after i talked to him, it made me think of how funny it is that we call each other on birthdays and rarely talk to each other like the inter-communicators that we used to be in the olden days- ya know... like with phones or the good ole' "lets do lunch". back when phones were mustard green and hung in all of their cord glory on the wall.
i wish it didn't take birthdays to call people we love. not that i don't talk to my brother, cause we do... occasionally. but not enough for my taste. in fact, there are far too many people that i don't talk to that i used to. and should. but don't.

SO, here is my challenge to you: call someone that you would normally only check their blog, or facebook, or email, or whatever it is that we do now instead of talk like real humans... but do it for no reason.
i am going to try to get 3 in this week.
calling people i love that i should talk to more often....
like a normal person!

and, for the record, i have started my "healthy track" today,
and so far things are looking good...
a full 24 hours without ddp... and going strong.

I am a spoiled brat... envying begins......now.

I don't get out often- this is true. But when I do, I always hope it will be a good "get-out".

I understand that I do not roll like my high rolling uncle, in fact, I can't remember the last time I have even had a steak.

Last night I went to the hottest Steak joint in SLC...
Ruth's Chris. (Open that in another window so you can get the sizzle noise in the background as you read the rest...)

Get this:
* After a ride in a heat seated vehicle, we arrived at said steak joint.
* The car is valeted.
* The nice hot chicks in the front take out coats and walk us to our seats.
* Table looks normal enough.... wine glasses included...

It's a la carte- pick whatever and it all goes together... fine. Break my arm.

* We get appetizers (or intense salads- the house salad could be the best thing I have decided to digest- $7.50 a piece)
* He said to get whatever and that he was goin for the filet.... so I followed suit. (A $35 choice).
* We both get potatoes: I get the skinny shoestring fries- apparently a pound and a half; he goes for the au gratin. Both fine choices. (about $8 a piece.)
* As we eat our bottomless amounts of warm and amazing bread, the nice Asian waiter, describes to us what they do to get the fine meat, how they age it, and how they bring it to you sizzling on 500 degree plates...etc.

Neither of us finished our steak and there was a huge stack of fries that got left as well.

Done? No. Dessert was a banana creme pie naughtyness in it's own little crust. The top was soft, caramelized, thinly sliced bananas.... WOW. (about $12)

Waiter gets points for being Asian, for bringing me a new Diet Coke- without having to say a word, and for telling me to eat that satanically amazing salad and dessert... I love him.

Long story short- I love food.