Will the real Toyota please stand up?

Sorry, Social Butterfly but I have to tell this story! So, after Mad Greek, Social Butterfly said he would drive Mr. Moc and me to the film festival. We walked to the parking lot together and headed over to the burgundy Toyota. SB proceeded to open the passenger side door - correction: proceeded to try to open the passenger door. For some reason the door wouldn't open, so he kept yanking at the door handle. In the meantime, I was standing at the back of the car, looking at the license plate frame which said "Berkeley Engineering" thinking to myself, "hmmm, I didn't know SB went to Berkeley...and for engineering?!". At that same momemt, SB realizes that he's trying to break into someone else's burgundy Toyota. He was trying to get into a car that wasn't his...so he moves over to the burgundy Toyota parked next to the 1st Toyota.

SB tried to open the car's door - only to realize that this 2nd Toyota is not his car either! While Mr. Moc and I are laughing, SB starts to walk away - trying to figure out where he left his car. Eventually he found his car - parked on the other side of the lot with the windows wide open. All his MKSAP books are strewn all over the back seat and floor area even though his trunk is completely empty! Hmmm and he calls himself a doctor?! I guess it's true what the rest of the gang says. His job at CCF is to sit there and (try) to look pretty. Even though I may not want him as my doctor, I like having him as my friend - he makes for good entertainment and is always quick to make me laugh. :) --MM

Film Weekend

This weekend, we went to the Mad Greek with the gang. The Mad Greek serves greek and indian cuisine...interesting, right? I thought it would be a fusion of greek and indian but it's basically a menu that contains greek dishes along with indian dishes. Still, the food was rather good.

Afterwards, Shaggy wanted to check out the 1st annual Oscar Micheaux Independent Film Festival at the Musuem of Contemporary Art. The program included 2 shorts and one feature-length film about Afro Punk. We sat on the lawn of the musuem and watched the films outdoors. Although we didn't stay for the entire program, we at least gave it a shot. It was nice to do something different than the usual Friday night dinner and I'm glad we're out there experiencing some of the culture that Cleveland has to offer.

On Saturday, Mr. Moc and I went to Crocker Park about 45 minutes away. It's essentially an outdoor shopping center that reminds me a lot of the Grove (in Los Angeles) or Santana Row (in San Jose). People stroll around shopping and there are a lot of restaurants with outdoor seating. We grabbed some lunch and did some light shopping and then headed back to the city to meet Shaggy at the one and only independent movie theatre in town to watch Mad Hot Ballroom. Shaggy and I have been wanting to watch this movie for a while but no one else seemed too enthusiastic about it. I've tried to explain the movie to some friends and everyone assumes that paid actors and actresses are in the movie. However it's a documentary that follows the kids in NYC's 10 week ballroom dance class and the city-wide dance competition that follows. For those of you who haven't seen it, I highly recommend it as it's very heart-warming and inspirational. Now I want to go take ballroom dancing lessons with Mr. Moc. :)

After the movie, the 3 of us headed to downtown and went to Sushi Rock for dinner. The sushi was relatively fresh but everything was made with their red spicy sauce. A little too much spicy even for me, Tabasco girl. Our waitress was Korean so I asked her about Korean restaurants in the local area. She said there was only one - if she wants Korean food, she usually makes it at home. And then she went on to tell us how kim-chee gives her "stinky mouth" - you know, all that garlic & green onions gives me stinky mouth. The customers complain. Great - thanks, lady - we really didn't need to hear about your halitosis issue created by the eating of kimchee.
--MM

Bugs

I have the TV on in the background while I work from home. Most of the time, I don't pay attention to what's happening on the TV but today something caught my attention while The View was on. They were talking about the various summer bugs that are around right now. The bug expert says everyone eats about a pound of bugs a year! Especially nowadays with more and more natural, whole-grains and unprocessed food out there. Ewwwww! The government allows a certain amount of bug parts to processed foods such as pasta, breads, etc - which helps to increase the amount of protein we ingest. Again, ewwwww! I guess there's really nothing I can do about it.

And while we're on this subject, what's with the size of the ants and flies in Cleveland??!? They gi-normous! Can anyone explain the size discrepancy to me??

--MM

lightning scares me

The past few days in Charlotte have been about high 90s, 100 degrees. REALLY disgusting and it has been quite humid. Well, yesterday as I was leaving work it was like a gajillion degrees and so humid i thought i was had just shoved a hot wet towel up my nose. Anyways, as I was driving home I noticed huge bolts of lightning in front of me towards the direction of my house. Right when I got home and under the awning it started to POUR. It was the scariest storm I have ever been in my life! Lightning was coming down left and right. Our power went out, the floor was shaking, sirens were zipping down South Blvd, car alarms were going off. It last for like an hour and it really sounded like there was a war going on outside.

I was going to go the gym after work but because of the storm I delayed that for about an hour because I was too scared to go outside or even close to the windows. Well, I was watching the news channel and they were showing live shots of the city and while they were doing that their video feed went out. That video feed comes from above my gym. After a while I decided to go to the gym once that lightning gave up and came down in minute increments instead of seconds. Ususally when I go to the gym after work I have to circle the parking lot twice to find parking and I have to wait for a cardio machine. When I got to the gym the parking lot was unusually empty. When I got inside the gym, people were just standing around by the turnstiles and in the lobby. People could not get in or out. I guess when that video feed went out the power in the gym went out so they evacuated everyone (or at least tried to). So when they let people in, there was nobody left. The gym was so empty, it was eerie.

I can't wait to leave these storms.

--RD

cap grille part II

So yesterday for lunch I had capital grille again. I went there last week with a client. And the night before that I went to anther steakhouse - The Palm with the same client. I am steakhoused out.

That night I went to the Palm, I ordered a prime rib. The waiter told me "if you finish that I will buy you dessert". So i sad "NO PROBLEM!" Well, when the prime rib came out 30 oz of it came out! There was a live cow on my plate. That sucker was HUGE. Needless to say I only ate 1/3 of it. My coworker who eats like its her last meal every hour of the day, could only eat 1/3 of it as well, so we boxed up the last 1/3 so her dog could have it. But, I did get dessert regardless..tiramisu.

The following day I went to Capital Grille. I had the usual calamari to share with the table, 1/2 a wedge salad, and salmon with creamed spinach. Followed by Jasmine Tea and White Chocolate Mousse with berries (my new fav dessert). Yesterday I had the same thing except I just had cappucino, no dessert.

Everyone keeps asking me what I'm going to do when I move back to LA and don't have the Capital GRille anymore. Well, I will be eating every other yummy food out in LA. Can't wait! Oink oink.

--RD

Super Sub Tuesday!

So Tuesday lunchtime in Charlotte is a big deal. (At least in my office and in my world.) That's because it is Super Sub Tuesday's at Harris Teeter (or as Mr. Moc and I call it - "Hairy Teets" yeah real mature). Anyways, Super Sub Tuesday's mean you can go to the deli section at HT and get whatever 1/2 sub (about 7 inches) for 1.99 with your VIC card! Talk about a cheap lunch. I always get the same - Italian Sub with mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, oil and vinegar, pepper, and spices. yum. The best part of it is that it's in a super market so I can pick up some fruit or whatever for snacky poo!

Anyways, I started to do some packing/cleaning. In the span of an hour I have cleaned out two bags of trash and 1 bag of donation clothes! If I had boxes or large suitecases I could be so much more product and this could go a lot faster, so my next mission is to locate some of those. 2 1/2 more weeks of RD in Charlotte. How sad.

Listening to : Jack Johnson - Banana Pancakes (p.s. countdown to Jack 11 days!!!!)

--RD

Muffin Man

In honor of my favorite niece, I've started baking muffins. For those of you dear readers who know me, you'll know that I don't bake. I prefer to cook but for some reason, I've been on a muffin-baking craving. Yeah baking but not really eating. The first time I ever baked muffins, I made blueberry muffins but they didn't turn out so well. In Shaggy's words, they were "um, interesting". My second time, I made lemon poppyseed muffins and they were a hit! Shaggy ate one for breakfast and took one for his mid-morning snack.

I've learned that recipes for baked goods from Real Simple just aren't good. I've tried 3 of their baked goods' recipe and all 3 have sucked. I know, common conclusion is that I suck as a baker. BUT, I have baked several other things using non-Real Simple recipes and they have turned out good.

(FYI - Real Simple=magazine)

Anyway, next week, I'd like to bake banana muffins with mascarpone cream cheese frosting. Use the gang as guinea pigs again. I don't think they mind too much as long as I don't make the blueberry ones again. The muffins looked really yummy when Giada de Laurentiis made it on her TV show, Everyday Italian. I've made several of her recipes from her TV show and from her cookbook and all of them have been successful.

If you have a good recipe for muffins, please send them my way. Maybe one of these days, I'll also try making cupcakes, in honor of Mr. Apple's girlfriend (hey! you know who you are).

--MM

Same dragonfly...different view

Dragonfly

moxie

Friday night dinner with the gang at Moxie's. It's a cool, hip restaurant in a strip mall in the Cleveland suburbs. The food wasn't bad (it wasn't great) but it was a bit pricey for Cleveland standards. I had the Hudson Valley foie gras with the basil sorbet and peach chutney - I LOVE foie gras and the velvet-y texture that melts in my mouth. For my entree, I had the diver scallops with risotto cakes.

Besides the good food, I think the best part about Friday night dinners (sounds very Gilmore Girls) is the people and the laughter. These guys crack me up - they talk about the attendings and nurses they work with and all their little quirks. I can't wait to meet the actual attendings in person and say "oooohh, you're the one who looks like H.S.". Actually I may get the chance to do that at this afternoon's get-together at the home of Mr. Moc's program director. I've even been asked to get my gay-dar to use at the get-together.

Back to Friday night, after dinner we headed out of the 'burbs and over to the downtown area to D'Vine Wine Bar. Even though we all got a little tipsy and giggly, we were still able to figure out which celebrity Shaggy (see picture posted with this blog) resembles....Jim Caviezel except Shaggy's hair is lighter in color. What do you think? --MM

Sweeet set up 

Stella, Basher, and Gentle Giant - so confused 

Campfire courtesy of Basher 

the great outdoors

This past weekend, a few friends of mine and I decided to get in touch with mother nature. It first started out with "hey, (rd) what are you doing this weekend?" "thinking about going hiking" "ooh there is this place that (annoying boy) was talking about where you can go tubing! and they have a campsite too" "ooohhhh LETS GO CAMPING!"

So we went camping. Me, "Stella", "basher" and "gentle giant" drove 1 1/2 hours away to Boone in the mountains. When we got to the site, we were the only ones there. It was quite ghetto, no running water, just a porta poddy and some stream. We set up our tent, which the bag says "can be assembled in 10 minutes". YEAH...except we didn't have the instructions, so it took us ohh.. about 45 minutes. Only after we finished we found the directions hidden in another box. go figure.

Then we went tubing with what little day light we had left. For those of you who don't know (ah-hem, mr moc) tubing is when you get into an inflatable tube and just float. Of course we did it red neck style out here in NC and attached a spare tube with beer in it and we did it down a dirty river. When we went tubing, there is a part in the river where you have to stop at a "bridge" get out and get back in. Well, washed up on the bridge was a DEAD PIG (or so we though, later to find out it was a badger). GROSS! We were swimming/tubing with that thing!

Afterwards, we made ourselves some din din. Basher made a nice fire pit and we were able to cook some hot dogs! We put the hot dogs on sticks and held them out over fire. We topped them off with buns, ketchup, Dijon (all i had), and relish. Yum. We lost a couple dogs in the fire though. The dogs were accompanied by potato salad. and OF COURSE... we had Smores! I make the best smores! =)

Post dinner, we hit the sack. Since we didn't exactly get the cover for the tent from our friend, we had nothing to protect us from the rain, so we moved under the picnic shelter. However, the ground under the picnic shelter was slanted, so we all slept slanted and started to slide toward the bottom in the middle of the night. Well, as we were trying to sleep Stella freaked out cause a spider crawled on her. Then, as we were falling asleep we saw a light flickering (we were the only ones at the camp site). I gently poked Gentle Giant who got up and checked - it was the campfire that we thought we put out, but apparently came back to life. It was a rough night of sleep. I kept waking up, largely in part because Gentle Giant was snoring so loudly, but also because i got so hot in my sleeping bag because i didnt want my arms to hang out and have the bug bite me! Plus I was scared a bear, psycho killer, or alien might make a visit.

In the A.M. we went tubing again for 3 hours. It was so much fun and I got sunburnt! There were a couple of snakes that Basher and Gentle Giant saw, but luckily i didn't see them or I would have started crying right there. Afterwards, we packed up camp and hit up Jersey Mike's. YES! Real food! It was a great weekend, I wish I could do it more.

--RD

Mr. Moc Saves the Day!

I haven't mentioned this before but I thought it'd make for a good story. The builder is still finishing up things in our home - for example, the bathroom in our office is not complete yet. Mr. Moc and I have a running list of items that need to be completed or fixed by the builder.

Last week we were grilling turkey burgers outside on the balcony. While waiting for the burgers to cook, Mr. Moc leaned on the balcony railing and almost fell to the ground below us! Obviously the railing needs to be replaced and this fix-it item was added to our running list.

Just about an 1/2 hr ago, another thunderstorm rolled through Cleveland. This was a stronger storm than the other ones that have been rolling into town the past week - it may have been remnants of Hurricane Emily. The winds were blowing pretty hard and the rain was coming down in buckets. Mr. Moc says I hope the cover stays on the BBQ grill and doesn't fly out. As I look out to the balcony, I see the grill cover flopping around like it's about to fly off and then I see the whole BBQ grill move across the balcony from the strong winds. It was headed straight for the railing that needed fixing! In about 5 seconds, our brand new and very expensive BBQ grill was about to take a nose-dive down from the 2nd story balcony to the patio below! Luckily Mr. Moc got out there fast enough to lock the wheels and strap down the cover. Phew - tragedy averted!
--MM

the gang

I have a new gang that I've been rolling with since arriving in Cleveland. "The gang" consists of Mr. Moc (of course), Shaggy, Island Girl, SBD (Silent but Deadly) and Social Butterfly. We have dinner together on Friday nights. Our first Friday night dinner was at Fat Cats in Tremont. Someone suggested this restaurant to Shaggy so we decided to try it out for our first dinner together.

The restaurant was very homey - long and narrow in shape and reminded me of a San Francisco restaurant. You can walk past the kitchen and see the chef cooking up your dinner. It had a casual atmosphere with very attentive wait staff. The food was delicious. I had the flat-iron steak with a cherry tomato salad (sorry to all you foodies, it was 2 weeks ago so I can't remember all the details). After dinner, Mr. Moc and I shared a chocolate cake which was slightly undercooked on the inside so that it was very rich and moist. Shaggy wanted to take our dessert away from us because he loves chocolate.

Our second Friday night dinner was at Primo Vino in Little Italy. Social Butterfly was a bartender at this restaurant for 5 years before he went to Michigan for his residency. Thanks to SB, we got the hookup. We met SB at the restaurant and a huge appetizer plate was placed on the table. There was roasted red peppers, olives, caprese, fresh figs (very sweet) and prosciutto, fava beans, white beans with spinach, cheese and salami rolls, and garlic cheese toast. There was also a hot appetizer - stuffed banana peppers with marinara sauce (this was my favorite).

The cold appetizer plate was so filling that we ordered 3 entrees and a cheese fondue to share among the 6 of us. The entrees were decent but nothing spectacular so I'll skip over this section. However for dessert, we had this fresh figs in port reduction sauce with mascarpone cheese. Yum!

In addition to Friday night dinners, the Gang comes over to our place to hang out. We've had 2 such get-togethers at our place since the beginning of the month which I'll blog about another time. --MM

Have you ever...? Part 2

Have you ever seen a frozen foods section like this? I know it's a bit difficult to see in this picture. However, there are rows and rows of these freezers (none of the freezers have doors) and the frozen food products stacked on top of the freezers. See the freezer with the yellow items on top of it? I think those are bags and bags of tater tots. Yes I said tater tots. The whole area looks like a frozen foods graveyard. Got the picture? So, have you ever seen...?

Have you ever...?

Have you ever...?

Have you ever seen a tree wearing a knit sweater? Yes, this picture is for real. The sweater tree lives in the yard of the Cleveland Heights City Hall. Although the yard is full of trees, this one is the only that was wearing a sweater. Why the heck does a tree need a cozy knit sweater when it's 85 degrees outside with about the same amount of humidity? So, have you ever...?

capital grille

At work, one of my clients is the Capital Grille, which is a really nice steak house. So, since they are one of my accounts, I get to eat there a lot (for free). It's gotten to the point where I am kind of sick of their lunch menu. Ususally we start off with their calamari, which is served with hot peppers. It's so good I even eat the tentacle parts. I get a steak salad or a cheeseburger with creamed spinach. And then Jasmine Tea for dessert and sometimes with the berries with cream or creme brulee. The first time I ever ate there I had this one tenderloin salad, which was the special, and was served spicy, it was my favorite. Since then, they have stopped making that salad! Everytime I go for lunch I hope for it, but I think I am out of luck. It's gotten to the point that I go there so much, that the waiters know who I am and know what I like to order. haha.

The dinner menu is so good. I've gone there just a couple of times for dinner, but man, those steaks at dinner time are mean! And they have these crab cakes to die for. I've also had the oysters, which is the first time I've ever had raw oysters, and that says a lot! Plus dinner is usually served with several very nice bottles of wine and cocktails.

Today I had something different. Of course we started out with calamari. Then I began to order the steak salad but I had the waitress, whom I am buddies with (only because I knew her before she worked there), change my order to the chicken sandwich. It was good, it was just grilled chicken on a hamburger bun, roasted red pepper, spinach and some sort of mayonaise based sauce. Of course I had a side of creamed spinach. Yum. And for dessert today, I got White Chocolate Mousse with berries on top, SO GOOD! Of course, I had jasmine tea.

On a side note - I did not have coffee this morning and ended up with a headache for most of the afternoon. Here is my theory on coffee - anything you can be addicted to, can't be good for you. I am torn whether or not to scale back (not give up) my coffee intake. I have also been eating smaller meals and more often, I feel like i'm constantly eating but I know I eat less than I usually do which is good.

--RD

The Gas Company

Ding-ding-ding. The Gas Company arrived at 12:40PM - ugh after they left an automated voicemail at 12 noon saying they would be arriving in 15 minutes. They stayed for 20 minutes. And of course, the rat *astards had lunch - I went outside to meet them and saw them sucking on fast food drinks and putting trash into fast food bags. Rat *astards! Well, at least Shaggy has hot water and can use his gas stove to make some food.

Sharule - you know how I feel about pizza!

--MM

Mystery Machine

I'm currently at Shaggy's Bachelor Pad waiting for the gas company to turn on the gas. Poor Shaggy has been taking cold showers everyday since he arrived in Cleveland. Not only that but he can't even use his stove since it's a gas stove. So I volunteered to wait for the gas company since I work from home (brought my laptop) and Shaggy has to work. Very early this morning, Mr. Moc and I showed up at Shaggy's and then Shaggy and Mr. Moc took off for work.

The gas company is supposed to come between 8am and 12 noon - it's 11:42pm...think they're ever going to show? Any guesses as to what time they show up? I hope they show soon cause I'm hungry! The little tummy is growling.

Parade

This is what I see everyday outside the window of my home office. Yes, those are geese that you see. There is a pond about 50 yards from our new home where the geese live. According to our builder, the last count was 65 (!) geese.

1/2 of the neighbors are like me - dying to get rid of these geese because 1) they crap like crazy - all over the yard, sidewalks, driveways and street. Ugh, whenever you walk outside, you have to watch every step.
2) one bird eats about 3lbs. of grass per day! The grass in our neighborhood looks like crap (literally!)
3) it's expensive to keep the sidewalks/driveways/streets clean - they come by 3 x's a week to scrape and about once a month, they use the fire-hose to rinse everything. The city charges $500 per each use of the fire hydrant. Can you believe that?!
4) The momma birds hiss at you whenever you're even 15 feet away from them.
5) When they're crossing the street, they refuse to move for anyone - not even angry honking drivers. And they always travel in packs, waddling in single file...like some kind of military processional.

The other 1/2 of the neighbors love the geese (wtf?!) and don't want the builder/hoa to do anything to hurt the geese. You mean, I can't just run them over with my new SUV? Muahahaha. So the Director of Construction for our builder has been doing research on how to resolve the neigborhood geese problem. Apparently you can have the geese "relocated" but you can only do that during the month of June as ruled by the State of Ohio. So option #2 is to leave 2 dead geese at the pond so it "grosses" out the rest of the birds and they eventually leave to find a new home. Option #3 is to spray this ultra-violent chemical thing on the grass so it makes the grass an ultra-violent color when the geese see it. It aso gives the grass a very bitter taste. Apparently this is a super-expensive option so it's the last option. I guess there's always my option - muahahahaha - rat poison accidently sprinkled on the grass - muahahahaha. --MM

little buddha

MM is upset because the satellite just went out and she doesn't have TV. Now we are waiting for it to start back up.

Anyways, an update on my trip to Cleveland. Let's see, on Saturday we went to dim sum, surprisingly we didn't eat that much, but I had all of my favorites. Shrimp dumplings, sao mai, white radish cakes, "jook", veggies, egg tarts, you know the usual dim sum favs. YUM! MM and I dropped Mr Moc at home and went shopping at linens and things and marshalls. I almost bought a Tom Brady jersey for $25. I put it down and slowly walked away from it. *sigh. Then at night MM made spaghetti - sooo yum. She puts this truffle oil on it and it makes it even more yum! After that we went to Cain Park for a viewing of The Secret Garden put on by some local theater. It was a bit boring and the man next to me smelled. MM and I walked around at 1/2 time (i mean intermission) and saw a snack bar - we considered staying for the snack bar, but in the end decided to leave early. At home I made cookies - my famous Mexican wedding cakes and then I made oatmeal raisin (first time, turned out pretty well)

Sunday we had a cook-out with some of mr. moc's fellow fellows. We had steaks (which were a bit chewy....), grilled shrimp, salad with salmon, MM's famous potato salad, cheese dip, and lots of cookies and ice cream. MM and I went to go watch Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. (MM cried so did most people in the theater.)

Today we went to the Indians/Tigers game. We only saw the 7th inning and on. But it was dollar dog days. ooh and I got two! I had to cram them in before the end of the game! And we had nachos. One of the great things about ball games - the food! If we had more time I would had more for sure. That was followed by some shopping and then dinner... we had Risotto, Lemon Chicken and salad. YUMMY! Tomorrow it's off to Boston for more eating! YAY!

My little buddha is getting very big...... HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!

Ooh I gotta go MM is calling me to some oatmeal cookie and vanilla ice cream sandwiches! oink!

--RD

fatty fatty two by four

I'm in Cleveland right now visiting Mocmoc and Mr. Moc. I got here on Tuesday after a 3 hour layover in D.C and having to get up at 4 in the morning to get to the airport on time for my flight. Needless to say I kept dozing off the first day I was here. So far we have been doing a lot of eating. Tuesday we had leftovers for lunch, Caribou for snack and Irish food for dinner. I got shepard's pie for dinner and had plenty leftover. Wednesday we had indian buffet for lunch in downtown cleveland, it wasn't so good. They opened a 1/2 hour late and made everyone wait for the buffet to open because something happened with their cooks, AND they had no AC. Then we went to the Rock n Roll hall of fame, which wasn't so great, but at least we can say we've been there. For dinner we went to Little Italy and had yummy italian food, I had spaghetti and meatballs and we had yummy tiramisu for dessert. Yesterday we had Irish food leftovers for lunch and then we went to watch War of the Worlds. It was good! Afterwards when we came out of the theater and it was dark and cloudy just like the movie. scary! Then we went outlet shopping in Aurora. AFter that we went grocery shopping. They have a trader joe's here, so jealous, we don't have one in Charlotte. For dinner we had a cheese plate! it was yummy! EAT EAT EAT. that's all MM and RD like to do, and shopping! =) As my friend used to sing to me:

FATTY FATTY TWO BY FOUR
SWINGING ON THE KITCHEN DOOR
WHEN THE DOOR BEGAN TO SHAKE
FATTY GOT A BELLY ACHE

I will blog more about the rest of the week later.