Friday, January 29, 2010

Nose Doubt

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I went to my fallback option for dinner Tuesday night. This time, it was more planned than fallback. I had eaten a late lunch, so Oriental House was my best option for dinner.

I ordered it a little earlier than I originally planned. I decided to take advantage of the overlap in the schedule between when I arrived and when Hale, my co-worker, left. On the one hand, I didn't have to try to get a few quiet minutes to lock up long enough to go place my order. On the other hand, Hale needed to leave a little early, so I couldn't place my order near the end of the overlap as I was hoping to do.

I ordered the sesame chicken lunch special. From what Hale has said, this is one of his favorites, and it is one of the first things that he orders from a Chinese restaurant. He also mentioned that he didn't particularly like Oriental House's sesame chicken. But when my food was brought over, he said that my sesame chicken smelled better than the one he had ordered. Hale suspected that there must have been two different cooks involved, and I apparently got the better one.

Maybe I'm not being as critical, but I don't think I have ever had a bad meal from Oriental House. There might have been some unwanted bell peppers once or twice, but I can always remove those.

In any event, the food was great, once I was able to get to it. And of course, there was the fortune cookie, with this fortune:

"A mile walked with a friend contains only a hundred steps."

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

That's Absurd!

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Saturday night, I went over to Oriental House to get takeout. I really hadn't thought about what I wanted to eat, so Oriental House became my fallback choice.

Of course, there was a point where I wasn't certain that I would even be able to rely on my fallback. It was one of those nights. A constant stream of people that left me wondering if I would even be able to lock up just for the five minutes or so it would take for me to walk next door, place my order, and walk back. I mean, is it really that hard to be left alone for just five minutes?

Fortunately, I was able to get those five minutes, and someone walked my order over about 15 or 20 minutes after that. I ordered the chicken with garlic sauce lunch special. And while it was spicy, it wasn't fire-breathing spicy. Maybe they remembered my preferences.

And of course, there was the fortune cookie at the end, with this fortune:

"Ideas you believe are absurd ultimately lead to success!"

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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Two Ways To The Same Idea

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I was at work a couple of nights ago. As one customer opened her wallet to get the payment for her purchase, I noticed a fortune from a fortune cookie in the ID slot, right in front of her driver's license.

Obviously, I was just a little curious as to what the fortune said. Part of it, of course, is because I'm always collecting fortunes. I was also wondering what it said because it seemed clear that she took this fortune to heart. I asked her if I could see the fortune, and she said, "Sure," turning her wallet so that I could get a better look at the fortune:

"Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another."

I can see why she kept that fortune. The message is a good one to keep in mind. My friend Bill Levy, through his alter ego of the philosopher Weng Shu, expressed the same idea, but in a slightly different wording:

"Chop wood, fetch water. Achieve enlightenment. Chop wood, fetch water."

Personally, I think Bill's version sound more like it came out of a fortune cookie.

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Sunday, January 10, 2010

Quotable Fortune

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I had eaten a somewhat sizable lunch yesterday. I still thought I was going to need just a little something else to see me through the evening at work, though. And since I was cutting it a little closer than I had planned, I decided to get takeout from Oriental House.

I almost didn't get that. As soon as I walked in the door, Emma's first words were something along the lines of "Hurry up." Not a good sign, to say the least.

I managed to make it next door to Oriental House, and I ordered the subgum chicken chow mein lunch special. As I was paying for it, I asked the lady at the register if she could bring it over, "because Emma is about to chain me to the register." She was amused by my declaration.

When I got back, I discovered why Emma was in such a rush. When our manager had made the schedule, it had Emma leaving at 5:00 PM -- and me starting at 6:00 PM. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with this picture? For a number of reasons, Emma needed to clock out as quickly as possible. As in RIGHT NOW.

The food came a few minutes after Emma left as though the hounds of Hell were on her heels. Other than the especially rushed turnover, the evening wasn't too bad. The food was good. And here is what the fortune inside my fortune cookie said:

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."

The line seemed familiar, so I turned to Google. The quote is from Aesop -- the moral to his fable "The Lion And The Mouse."

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Monday, January 4, 2010

A Familiar Fortune

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I was weighing my lunch options while on my way to work late this morning. The decision came up Lemongrass Cafe, for at least a couple of reasons. For one thing, I hadn't had takeout from there in quite a while. For another, I decided that, even though I enjoy it, I really didn't want Burger King today.

As usual, I went with one of their lunch specials. This time, it was shrimp chow mein, because it was something I hadn't tried before. Even though I didn't make this a specific New Year's resolution, I am going to try a few new things this year. Eat at some new restaurants -- or even at a couple where I haven't eaten in some time.

The chow mein was delicious, as I expected it to be. Besides the shrimp, there were a variety of vegetables, including mushrooms, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and celery. The shrimp were succulent, and the remaining sauce blended well with my brown rice.

And of course, there was the fortune cookie. What surprised me was that I recognized the fortune:

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

I knew I had seen the quote before. At first, I thought it was something that either Benjamin Franklin or Robert A. Heinlein had said. But I just Googled the quote, and it turns out that it was Eleanor Roosevelt who said it.

Good advice, whether in a fortune cookie or wherever Eleanor Roosevelt first said it.

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Friday, January 1, 2010

Not A Hot Cookie, But Close

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More than a few months ago, I wrote about finding fortune cookie-ish messages on the packets of taco sauce that Taco Bell provides. When I first noticed them, I found five different messages. And as far as I can tell, those have been the only messages. I guess Taco Bell didn't see the potential in putting additional messages on the packets.

Yesterday, though, I was getting lunch at Taco Bell. As I was waiting for my order to arrive, I glanced at the taco sauce packets again, and I noticed two things. First, the hot sauce was now in a green packet, instead of the orange color previously used. And on the packet, there was a new message of sorts:

"drivethrudiet.com"

Yes, there is an actual website with that address. And it is Taco Bell related. If you want to know more, you'll have to go the website yourself. (Hey, what fun would it be if I gave you all the information?)

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