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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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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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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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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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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Hits And Misses

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I'm in the process of going through all of Oriental House's lunch specials. Since they're all the same price, I might as well try all of them and see which one is my favorite, right?

Well, make that almost all of the lunch specials. As I may have mentioned once or twice already, I don't like bell peppers. Make that I really don't bell peppers, so I think I'll give the pepper steak a pass. And before I try any of the hot and spicy selections (such as General Tso's chicken), I'm going to see if they can crank down the heat just a little.

In any case, last week I tried two more selections. First, there was the sweet and sour shrimp. I was both pleasantly surprised and slightly dismayed. Surprised, because they used some of the biggest shrimp I had ever seen. These would probably qualify for that oxymoronic description, "jumbo shrimp." Dismayed, because in spite of the fact that I distinctly specified "no bell peppers," . . . you guessed it, there were bell peppers in it. But they did remember the fortune cookie, with this fortune:

"When in doubt, just take the next small step."

The following day, I decided to try the lemon chicken. This time, I didn't have to worry about bell peppers. Just chicken, either batter-dipped or breaded (I don't remember which at the moment), then fried, on a bed of lettuce and topped with a lemon sauce.

I had a slightly different problem this time. They forgot to include a fork with my food. I tried using a couple of straws as improvised chopsticks, with somewhat mixed results. The straws just weren't sturdy enough to be used as chopsticks, unfortunately.

An hour or so later, the lady who had taken my order came by my store. I told her that the food had been delicious, but mentioned the shlight problem I had encountered. Her face immediately twisted into an expression of surprise that almost screamed, "How could that have happened?" She did promise that it wouldn't happen again.

At least they didn't forget the fortune cookie. This one said:

"Walk with a good heart and you will run with success."

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Double-Take

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I waited a few days before trying Oriental House again. I tried the sweet-and-sour crab again, and this time I knew to ask them to hold the bell peppers. They did, and quite frankly, it tasted much better.

I had a surprise when I opened my fortune cookie. For the first time I can ever remember, I got a fortune for the second time:

"Working together works."

This was the same fortune that I mentioned in Entry #0012, for the record.

I wonder how often that really happens. Somehow, I suspect that people get fortunes that they have had in previous fortune cookies. It's just that if they aren't keeping track the way I am, it isn't as noticeable.

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The Fortune Next Door

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Last time, I mentioned finding a fortune at work that more than likely came from Oriental House, the Chinese restaurant next door. I received a couple of glowing endorsements from some of my co-workers, so I decided to give them a try.

The first time, I tried their moo goo gai pan lunch special. The food was good, but I was disappointed by two things. First, all of their lunch specials are supposed to include an egg roll, but there wasn't one. Second, there wasn't any fortune cookie.

The second time I went to Oriental House, I tried another lunch special -- sweet & sour crab steak. (Well, that's what the menu called it.) This time, I specified both an egg roll and a fortune cookie, and I got both.

Again, the food is good. I learned the hard way that they included bell pepper, which I absolutely detest, and I spent quite a bit of time picking it out. I'll have to remember to specify no bell pepper next time.

And of course, there was the fortune:

"You are open-minded and quick to make new friends."

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Working Hard For The Fortune

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I was at work about a week or two ago, and I found a fortune from a fortune cookie on the floor. More than likely, one of my co-workers had ordered something from Oriental House, the Chinese restaurant next door. (That's the most likely explanation, anyway, and I tend to follow Occam's Razor in matters like this.)

Since the fortune was on the floor, I'm assuming that the co-worker had intended to discard the fortune after reading. In any case, it was now mine, and I share it with you:

"Your fortune is not something to find but to unfold."

A couple of my co-workers have told me good things about Oriental House, so they may be a source of future entries.

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The Jar Called To Me

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I was at Jefferson Mall yesterday, and as I walked by the food court, I decided to make a swing past Max Orient. The jar of fortune cookies on the counter was just a little too tempting, so I picked up a half dozen before going on my merry way.

As usual, I waited until I was home to open the cookies. It's less messier that way, and also less chance of losing any of the fortunes. And here are the fortunes that came with that batch of cookies:

"A four-wheeled adventure will soon bring you happiness."
"Now is a good time for a new collection or hobby."
"You shall soon make a long, overdue personal decision."
"You will be happily surprised by a long time friend."
"Your ability to love will help a child in need."
"Your sense of humor allows you to glide through these difficult times."


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Thanksgiving Fortune

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I haven't done the big family Thanksgiving get-together thing for a few years. With my parents at one end of the state, and my brother in another part, getting together for both Thanksgiving and Christmas is a little bit of a problem. So, we save the big get-together for Christmas.

As a result, Thanksgiving is something of a challenge for me. I'm not particularly interested in cooking a big meal just for myself, so for the past two or three years, I have been going to Golden Corral for Thanksgiving dinner. Their buffet is always good, and I rather liked the idea of steak for Thanksgiving. A little offbeat, but that's why I liked it.

This year, though, I was in the mood for something just a little different. I learned that 8 China Buffet was open for Thanksgiving, and I decided that sushi for Thanksgiving might be an even more offbeat choice.

As always, the food at 8 China was delicious. The restaurant was a little emptier than I thought it would be. In all honesty, I thought there would have been more people who didn't want to cook the big meal, and opted to eat out. Of course, they might have all been at Golden Corral.

The big-screen TVs were all tuned to football (thankfully, with the sound off), which gave me another reason to be thankful. As I watched the Detroit Lions get pounded yet again, I was thankful that I was not a Lions fan.

And of course, with the end of the meal came the fortune cookie. Here is my Thanksgiving fortune:

"To find ourselves, we must first lose ourselves."


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Archeological Find

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This is yet another fortune I discovered while cleaning my condo. It's not that my condo is a total mess . . . well, it is something of a mess, but that's another topic for discussion elsewhere. I keep discovering all of these fortunes because, let's face it, the little slips of paper are rather small, and it is easy for them to get lost in various nooks and crannies.

In any event, here is the most recent fortune I rediscovered:

"You have an unusually magnetic personality."


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The Mystery Cookies

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I found a bunch of unopened fortune cookies a little over a week ago. Another batch that I found while I was cleaning up my condo. The thing is, I'm not completely sure where I got them. They weren't from the bag of cookies I got from my friend Linda. Those are in a Ziploc bag, and it was definitely zipped shut. I'm guessing that these were some that I got from Max Orient, but I don't know for sure.

The cookies weren't stale, so I know that I must have acquired them not too long ago. Believe it or not, fortune cookies do eventually go stale. Of course, the fortunes never go stale. Once more, I present a random collection of fortunes for your amusement and enlightenment:

"A pleasant surprise is in store for you tonight."
"Keep in mind your most cherished dreams of the future."
"Now is a good time to try something new."
"With integrity and consistency, your credits are piling up."
"You are always welcome in any gathering."

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Fortune On The Run

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I was in St. Matthews yesterday, and I grabbed a quick lunch at China 1, a take-out place on Breckenridge Lane. I decided to go with my default selection for take-out at any Chinese restaurant -- shrimp lo mein. I use that as a comparison. If they don't have good shrimp lo mein, the rest of their food probably isn't that good, either. (By the way, the shrimp lo mein at China 1 is pretty good.)

Along with my lunch, they dropped a fortune cookie in the bag, and here is the fortune:

"You are soon going to change your present line of work."

Hmmm, that sounds promising. I hope it's right.

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Shattered Cookie, But Not Shattered Fortune

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This time, we have more fortunes found while I was cleaning my condo. In one case, the fortune was still in the fortune cookie, and the cookie in turn was still in the wrapper. The cookie, unfortunately, had been crushed, almost pulverized into dust. Sadly, the cookie wasn't salvageable, but of course, the fortune was.

The other fortune was simply lying in a stack of . . . well, something. A stack of papers, more than likely. In any case, here are the fortunes from this round of cleaning up:

"Any rough times are now behind you."
"You will be awarded some great honor."

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Linda Collection 1

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My friend Linda brought a surprise to a club meeting yesterday. It was a big Ziploc bag of fortune cookies. If I had heard her right, the place where she had been getting Chinese takeout was now giving her four (or more) fortune cookies with each order, instead of just one. She didn't need that many fortune cookies, so she brought them to the meeting for the rest of us.

I immediately grabbed a few cookies. A couple of the others did as well, but when I told them about what I was doing here, they let me have their fortunes after reading them. (I think they would have been thrown away if I hadn't said anything.)

With Linda’s blessing, I also grabbed the bag at the meeting's end. I haven't gone through all of the fortune cookies yet -- that was a one-gallon Ziploc bag, and it was stuffed with cookies. What I am presenting here is the first of what I am going to call the Linda Collections:

"A family reunion in the coming months will be a tremendous success!"
"A good time to start something new."
"A leader is a person you will follow to a place you wouldn't go by yourself."
"Nothing is impossible to a willing heart." (I think this was the fortune in the first cookie I opened.)
"The best prophet of the future is the past."
"The courage to be great lies deep within each of us."
"You are a bundle of energy, always on the go."
"You are ambitious."

There will be more to come, I promise. Hmmm, I need to ask Linda who is being so generous with the fortune cookies . . .


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Forgotten, But Not Gone

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I was doing a little housecleaning the other day, and I came across yet another fortune from a long-ago fortune cookie. I have no idea how many more I have stashed around my condo, but it's always interesting when I stumble upon one (or more) of these forgotten fortunes:

"You never show your vulnerability; you are always self assured and confident."


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Fannish Fortunes

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I found another batch of fortunes on one of my bookshelves a few days ago. This particular batch of fortunes is particularly special, though. I've been trying to think of a good description of these fortunes, and I think the best thing to call them is "fannish fortunes."

There are fortune cookie producers that do custom orders. I've never ordered any myself, but I suspect you give the company the messages you want in the fortunes, and they print them and insert the fortunes in the cookies, then ship the finished cookies to your door.

I've encountered fortune cookies with a science fiction theme on a couple of occasions. My first was at the 1992 World Science Fiction Convention, Magicon. The closing ceremonies were partly conducted by ConFrancisco, the 1993 Worldcon. During their part of the ceremonies, the people from ConFrancisco handed out custom-made fortune cookies. I remember that the fortune in my cookie said something about my amazing everyone with my hall costume at ConFrancisco. I'll have to dig out the issue of FOSFAX with my con report to get the precise wording of the fortune.

My next encounter with fannish fortune cookies was several years later. I'm trying to remember where I obtained these fortunes. I do know that it was at a science fiction convention, most likely at a Worldcon. It could have been at an event like the masquerade, Hugo Awards ceremony, or closing ceremonies. (I'm fairly certain that it wasn’t at an opening ceremonies.) It might also have been at a room party where I got them. In any case, besides the fortune in my own cookie, I managed to pick up a few others that people had discarded after reading them.

I do know that, wherever I found these fortunes, it was after the release of the movie Independence Day (for reasons that will soon become clear). There is also a strong probability that it was after the release of The Lion King. I can't give much more in the way of clues beyond that. Maybe someone reading this will remember who distributed these cookies, and will leave a comment.

These particular fortunes are geared toward members of SF fandom, and one or two of them may leave you scratching your head if you aren't a fan. If you don't understand, leave a comment, and I will try to elucidate.

"Dragons, unicorns, and penguins are out. Cows are in. Meerkats are next."
"Earn big bucks writing fortunes at home in your spare time!"
"Stephen King will write your biography."
"The next set of MAGIC cards will be based on your college years."
"William Shatner will ask for your recommendation when buying his new hairpiece."
"You will astonish the world by explaining coherently how 'Independence Day' abbreviates to 'ID4'."
"You will be offered a chance to chair the Minneapolis in 73 Worldcon bid."
"You will restore tradition to fandom: Your mimeo will break down and get ink on your hands."
"Your next short story will be selected for The Last Dangerous Visions."

As I said, if you don’t understand something, feel free to ask.

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Think Outside The Fortune Cookie

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No fortunes this time. Well, nothing that came out of a fortune cookie, in any case. But this is one of those things that occasionally comes close to the orbit of what I've dubbed fortune cookie philosophy.

Last night, I went to Taco Bell, and got a couple of burritos for dinner. While I was waiting for my order, I happened to glance at the packets of Border Sauce. As I took a closer look, I noticed that there was a space on the packets that had different messages printed.

I looked through the packets, and I found five different messages. I was expecting the messages to be phrases related to Taco Bell's advertising campaigns, or generic humor, or possibly even fortune-cookie style messages. They really weren't any of the above. They were more . . . non sequitur-ish than anything else. A bit on the curious side, but I'll let you be the judge of what they are:

"Ahhh . . . we meet again."
"Help! I can't tell where I am. It's dark and I can hear laughing."
"This space for rent. Inquire within."
"Will you marry me?"
"Will you scratch my back?"

I'll be keeping my eye out the next time I make a run for the border. I am quite certain that there must be more than just those five messages.

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Found On A Bookshelf

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As I think I've mentioned in at least one entry, I have more than a few fortunes scattered all over my condo. I found three more earlier this morning.

I was taking a book from one of my bookshelves. As I was moving some stuff out of the way, I noticed three little slips of paper. They were fortunes that I had forgotten about. And now, I present those fortunes for your enjoyment:

"The joyfulness of a man prolongeth his ways."
"Versatility is one of your outstanding traits."
"You have an active mind and a keen imagination."


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Another Buffet, Another Fortune

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Saturday, I went to another restaurant for lunch -- the aptly if unoriginally named Asian Buffet. They have a decent buffet. They usually have a fairly decent sushi selection, but it seemed to be somewhat limited the day I went there. I have seen them with a better sushi selection on previous visits. Maybe they were saving the sushi for the dinner crowd that night.

The other selections on the buffet were pretty good. They had a few items Saturday that I don't regularly see at any of the other Chinese restaurants.

And of course, the meal ended with a fortune cookie (even though I waited until I got home to eat it). The fortune from this cookie read as follows:

"Something nice is coming to you in the mail."

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No Wrong Way To Eat A Fortune Cookie?

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Do you have any particular pattern when it comes to eating a fortune cookie? Is there any particular ritual that you use for eating the cookie, and reading the fortune?

With me, it depends on the circumstances surrounding the meal. If I'm eating alone, I will usually stuff the fortune cookie (still wrapped) in my backpack or in my pocket. I tend to wait until I get home before I unwrap the cookie, break it open, eat the cookie, and read the fortune. I find this especially true since I started this particular online journal.

If I have bought a batch of cookies at the mall's food court, I get them in a bag. The bag definitely goes in the backpack, and I wait until I'm home. Then, it's a case of waiting until I have more than a few free moments, and I crack them open all at once. (It usually helps if I'm in the mood for a little snack.)

In both cases, it's a matter of keeping track of the fortunes. I don't want to lose them, or have them scattered to some distant corner of my condo, so I open the cookies where I can keep them at hand while I write an entry.

If I'm eating with friends . . . well, that's a different matter. If we're eating Chinese (or Korean, or at any other Asian restaurant that gives you a fortune cookie at the end of the meal), we share the fortunes with each other.

There is even a particular ritual one group of friends uses for sharing our fortunes. One person starts by picking one person in the group at random, and asks that person a question. The person being questioned replies by reading his or her fortune. He or she then asks another person a question. This continues until the first questioner is asked the last question, and replies with the fortune from his or her cookie.

Are there any other interesting fortune cookie rituals out there?

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Fortune For Lunch

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I went to 8China Buffet for lunch last week. No particular reason; I was just in the mood. As usual, the food was excellent. And of course, there was the fortune cookie at the end of the meal.

I actually misplaced the cookie for a day or two, which is why it took so long to write this entry. The fortune in my cookie said this:

"Don't be hasty, prosperity will knock on your door soon."

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What's In The Name?

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As you can clearly see from the top of the page, the subtitle of this site is “Fortune Cookie Philosophy.” Catchy title, don’t you think? I thought it was, in any case. But what exactly do I mean by “Fortune Cookie Philosophy”?

I’ll tell you what; I’ll let you know as soon as I figure it out myself.

A few decades ago, someone said that while he couldn’t define pornography, he knew what it was when he saw it. I hope that won’t be the case here.

I suppose one of the key things I noticed a long time ago about the fortunes in fortune cookies is that they try to impart some words of wisdom in just one brief sentence. Maybe that is also the key to defining fortune cookie philosophy.


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More From The Mall

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I was at Jefferson Mall last Friday, and I realized that it had been a while since I had indulged myself in some fortune cookies at Max Orient. (There are a couple of other Asian restaurants in the food court, but I haven't seen fortune cookies at either of those places.) So, I picked up a half dozen when I went by the food court.

As usual, I waited until I was home before opening the cookies. It's the best way to make sure that the fortunes aren’t scattered all over the place -- or worse, that I lose some of them. In any case, here are the words of wisdom imparted by this latest collection of fortunes:

"A great honor will be bestowed upon you with the coming year."
"Boats and water are in your future. Have fun!"
"Listen these next few days to your friends to get answers you seek."
"Now is the time to set your sights high and go for it."
"You deserve special treatment this month. Enjoy dessert."
"You will be happily surprised by a long time friend."

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