Monday, February 23, 2009

Spicing Things Up A Bit

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After trying the chicken with garlic sauce last week, I decided to push the envelope a little this week, and go for a medium level of spiciness. So, just before going to work Friday night, I went to Oriental House and ordered just that.

I forgot one little thing, though. I forgot that the chicken with garlic sauce has bell peppers in it, and since I forgot that, I didn't ask them to leave them out. You guessed it -- my food came with bell peppers. Not too many, but I still had to pick them out. The food was good, although I couldn't tell if there was much of a difference from what I had the previous week.

And of course, there was the fortune cookie. The is the fortune I had with Friday's dinner:

"Toil awhile . . . endure awhile . . . believe always . . . and never turn back."

Saturday, I ordered the same thing, only this time, I remember to ask them to hold the bell peppers. Definite improvement. Even when I pick out the peppers, you can occasionally catch the faintest taste of them in the food.

I think this week, I may throw caution to the wind, and try this with the normal level of spiciness. I haven't had problems yet. (That's always a Famous Last Word, isn't it?)

And here is what Saturday's fortune cookie had to say:

"Temptation resistant is the true measure of character."

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Saturday, February 21, 2009

No Miss This Time

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Around this time last year, I mentioned an opportunity I had missed with the Valentine's Day version of Hershey's Special Dark Kisses. This year, I got it right.

Quick recap: Hershey does something a little different with the Valentine bags of the Special Dark Kisses. Instead of the usual flags (which simply say "Dark"), Hershey uses flags with Valentine messages. They only do this with the Special Dark Kisses (and don't ask me why).

These messages aren't precisely fortunes, but I thought they were close enough to include here. But as I said last year, I waited just a little too long after Valentine's Day. The Special Dark Kisses disappeared from the shelves much quicker than I thought they would.

This year, things were a little different. I grabbed a couple of bags several weeks ago just to be certain that I wouldn't miss them two years in a row. And as I went through the first bag, I very carefully kept the flags. Hershey used six different messages, and I made certain that I had all of them:

"A Kiss For You"
"A Valentine Kiss"
"Be My Valentine"
"I Love You"
"Kiss Me Quick"
"Love And Kisses"

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Thursday, February 19, 2009

The Weekend Fortunes

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I usually work Friday and Saturday evenings. And it's becoming more and more the case that I get dinner at Oriental House, usually just before I clock in. I'm still working my way through the lunch specials, although I think I have a few that are starting to shape up as favorites.

Last Friday, I tried the bourbon chicken. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, this seems to be a locally inspired dish. It's grilled chicken in a bourbon-flavored sauce. Oriental House's sauce is one of the sweeter versions of the sauce that I've tried. Maybe a little sweeter than I prefer, but it's still good. And the fortune with Friday's fortune cookie said this:

"Happy event will take place shortly in your home."

Saturday, I tried the chicken with garlic sauce. This is one of their dishes listed as "hot and spicy," but I asked them to make it on the mild side for me. It wasn't that bad in the mild version, and I might even try it with the medium spiciness next time. The chicken and vegetables were in a wonderfully garlicky sauce -- and I love garlic. Saturday's fortune was this:

"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."

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Monday, February 9, 2009

Another Saturday Night

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Another Saturday night at work, and another reason to get takeout from Oriental House. At the most fundamental level, that's what it is. It's next door to where I work, it's the most convenient place to get something to eat, and the food is pretty good. And that's how I spent my Saturday night.

Another selection from the lunch specials as well. this time, it was Hong Kong Chicken. A batter-dipped chicken breast, fried, covered in some sort of gravy along with plenty of stir-fried vegetables -- mushrooms, broccoli, snow pea pods, baby corn, and carrots. As always, the food is good, but then again, I don't think I have had anything bad from them.

And capping the meal was the fortune cookie, with this fortune:

"Drastic means are not as necessary as you think."

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Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Double Your Fortune

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I tried another lunch special at Oriental House last week. This time, it was the Chicken Subgum Chow Mein. Before ordering, I asked what the difference between subgum chow mein and plain old chow mein was. The lady at the register told me, but at the moment, I'm drawing a blank on what it was. I also asked if it had bell peppers in it (it did), and remembered to ask them not to put any in my order.

The food was good, as I have come to expect from Oriental House. Nice-sized chunks of chicken and plenty of vegetables, with cashews sprinkled on top nof it all.

I was a little surprised when I saw my fortune cookie. Due to some packaging error at whatever plant made these fortune cookies, I had two cookies in one package. And with two cookies, you get two fortunes:

"Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important."
"Someone will invite you to a Karaoke party."

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