Friday, December 29, 2006

Happy and Fat

Or fat and happy?

I took DH out to lunch today to Friscos, an eatery that I found out about on the internet. The people who ate there all raved about it, especially mentioning the exploded potatoes. I decided it would be worth a visit to see what the food was like.

We drove into an industrial park to find the place well marked. It was about 2 in the afternoon, and the place did have a few customers. They had outdoor tables, and since it was a nice day out, DH mentioned it was almost nice enough to eat outside, but I said, "not quite". It was in the 50's, and I had not brought a jacket, just because I don't like having to take it off and carry it around if I'm shopping.

We stood and surveyed the menu for a while before ordering, because there were so many choices. There were lots of giant sandwiches, some of them on sub rolls, and some on various breads. I chose the North Beach, which was a chicken salad sandwich with lettuce and tomato on a whole grain bread. It was a stuffed sandwich, and I took half of it home to DD, who was home because of her cough. She's been sick most of the week. I also brought home 1/2 of my exploded potatoes, which was a small cup of baked potato, with skin included mixed with bacon and served warm. It was pretty tasty, and so was the sandwich. I thought the bread was homemade fresh. DH ordered a cup of minestrone, which was not all that great, more like a tomato sauce with pasta and some spinach thrown into it, and a grilled chicken caesar salad, which was very large. He had to take most of it home. It included a tomato mixture that is one of their specialties, romaine lettuce, romano cheese, homemade croutons, and topped off with a packet of Ken's Caesar salad dressing. I'm wondering why they don't make their own dressings, but he seemed to enjoy the salad.

The other day, I had him take me to the diner for a treat, as he said he owed me one for helping him visit a family from church. I had him take me to the Mountain View diner, here on Frederick's Golden Mile, a place I relish, and he doesn't really care for, but he always eats the food without too many complaints. I think they make great soup, and they are basically an old fashioned diner, specializing in Greek food, which I have come to like a lot. I had a gyro with an accompanying salad with olives, feta cheese (which I have discovered I really like, but DH doesn't), onions (another of my likes and his dislikes), lettuce, cucumber, green pepper (which I did not eat raw, because it gives me indigestion), and tomato. I had fries on the side, and they were the typical wonderful diner fries, hot and crisp. He had split pea soup with ham, and a garden salad. He forced himself to take a handful of my fries (yeah, right!). It was a good meal, and I had to take more than half of it home with me, but I love having leftovers for the next day.

I would have loved to go to the movies today, but both DD and DH are ill with cold and a sore throat. DH went to the doctors today and got an antibiotic. I hope it clears up soon. DD doesn't want to take cough syrup, as it's yucky to her. I think I will fix up some hot honey and lemon for her.

I hope I don't come down with something. I had my flu shot 9 days ago, and I hope it does not affect me like it did last year. A week after I got it, I was extremely ill. I am keeping my spirits up, though.

I finally put some things in perspective. This past fall I volunteered to take some kids to Seminary class in the AM. This involved me getting up extra early and leaving 20 minutes early to pick up a child who does not live near me, and drive up to another child's home, who does live near me to pick her up. Each child, or I should say teenager, had my DD calling them up before we left the house, then getting out of the van to go knock on their doors to get them. It took longer than I thought it should, especially the second teen, who half the time, made us late for Seminary. I hated that, because when I took DD by herself last year, we were very seldom late. Well, one mother had been indisposed with knee surgery when I started this. I thought it was a short term thing, so when she offered me money for gas, I said no. What are friends for, right?

Well, after I drove up to her house and her truck was not there, I found out she had gone back to work. I called the person who had asked me to do this in the first place. After she talked to the mother, she found out that the mother was leaving at 5 am to beat traffic, and this is why she was not taking her own kid to that early morning class. I was fuming, but did not say anything for a few weeks, until I posted something on a message board, and the advice I got was to stop being a patsy. I decided to pull the plug on the rides because I was overwhelmed with stress, my blood sugar was up, and I was not about to have a heart attack because I was being taken advantage of. Well, the mother of the second teen is quite angry with me, but she can just stew in her own juices, as far as I'm concerned. I was upset at first, because I did bend over backward for this woman's daughter for more than 3 months, which I think is long enough, especially since she had made a nasty (unrelated to the ride situation) comment to me, and she never, ever offered to pay me for gas. The only thing I heard was a weak thank you when I brought up the topic, and a complaint that I didn't pick her kid up one morning. Well, that was because my kid misunderstood the girl over the phone, and thought she had said she wasn't coming.

This woman is a taker and not a nice person. I know for a fact she would not do the same things for me, if the shoe was one the other foot. Live and learn, though. I won't have to be doing her any favors anymore, and I have done a lot for her in the past. I'm better off without a friend who is needy and demanding.