Queenkv’s Brainpickings

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We went to San Francisco for dinner. Had drinks at Vesuvio….next to the best bookstore in Cali - “City Lights.” I remember my bro asked me about ordering drinks, on one trip to Vesuvio. He just turned 21. I told him to make eye contact with the bartender and to know what he wanted - before he opened his mouth. I also told him to get rid of any drink straws and do his best to avoid drinks served in a stemmed glass. I didn’t want him to look wussy.

We had dinner at Calzones. In North Beach - it’s all about the Italian food.

I ordered the chicken and mushroom orzo dish. It’s a hearty Italian rice entree, but not as creamy as risotto. I typically order a mushroom risotto. Orzo is just as filling as pasta. The chicken gave it a nice woody flavor and the sauteed mushrooms were perfect.

It’s tough to screw-up Italian food.

But it’s easy to fuck-up atmosphere. One bus boy scooped Mark’s plate and silverware before I got through half of my dish. Grrr….that put him in a foul mood.

And another thing about the wine….a pretty picture of Chianti, no? The house Chianti was by Placido. It’s the worst wine I’ve ever tasted. It tasted like it came from a rotten wood casket and it left a bad medicine taste in my mouth.

Before we left Berkeley and the Bay Area - we stopped by the Homemade Cafe at Ashby and Sacramento. They have scrubbed up this little dinner, since our last visit. No more grease-stained counter tops and windows. Bright pastel colors are now the order of the day.

Like most diners in Cali - there were healthy options (egg whites, etc.) I had the spinich and feta cheese omelete. I think it was healthy. The feta cheese had a fine creamy flavor and complimented the spinich.

This place is also quite affordable. The check came out to about $15.00 for the both of us.

On our way back to LA - we stopped in Big Sur for lunch/dinner. It’s off of Highway 1. The Inn had a mega-pricey menu. This Highway1 Pub had pub food in our price range. I enjoyed a juicy philly cheesesteak sandwich. The menu also had veggie options - like a veggie burger. It was something like “Cheers” - where neighbors dropped in and said what’s up. Big Sur is nestled among pine trees and nature-stuff. Very peaceful.

We got tired at our meandering pace on highway 1. So we switched over to the 101 - when we hit San Luis Obispo….we got back to LA before midnight.

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It’s difficult to believe people live here…but they do. The homes by the dock probably run in the multi-million dollar range. Some of the homes had rental signs.

I told my honey - someday I’d get him a house out here. Yeah, I want to take care of my “doll-face”.

We walked on the sidewalk between the dock and the houses. It’s a heavenly lifestyle - with sunshine and ocean-breeze. Idyllic and un-real. Maybe inside - parents bitch about the bills and the insane amount of money to keep up apperances. Maybe senior citzens crab about the noise from rude and noisy tourists who like to walk by their Balboa homes.

The main drag had your expected cute and expensive boutiques, Starbuck’s and health shake joint.
We stopped inside “Art and Soul.” A map of the USA hanged behind the cash register. It was made out of license plates - cut into the states shapes.

There were also found chess sets - you can battle health food vs. junk food or city people vs. country people.

I bought Mark the book: “Darkside Zodiac” by Stella Hyde. In addition to the typical advice on relationships and work - this book also shows you how to “blame your sign and planet.” Mark’s a Taurus. He rates a C+ for Bitch Rating: “Others think this is because you are naturally kind and charitable, but they’re wrong: it’s not that you don’t want to bitch, you’re really too slow-witted to really make an impact.”

Mark bought me “Today I will Nourish My Inner Martyr,” by Ann Thornhill and Sarah Wells. He told this book was “totally you!” It has affirmations like: “Today I will lie in bed and wallow in self-pity,” and “Today I will remind myself that my friends and family are waiting for me to fail.” Yup - I’ll probably quote this book in my blog - every now and then. Just to keep things in perspective.

We got lost - trying to find the Newport Beach Pier…found it eventually. We thought about watching a movie - but opted to read on the beach. It was close to sunset and darn close to freezing. I finished a few more sports columns by Hunter S. Thompson. Crazy man. We warmed up in a sports bar, nearby, Sharkeez. Free chips and salsa. Angels game playing on several screens. We sat next to a birthday party and too many asses got in the way of the game. You order food and drinks at the bar. When I got up to get a round - I had to squeeze between plastic and jeans. Some ass stuck his ugly face…I meant butt, out. Enough to make it a pain to squeeze by. I made sure to let some Corona drizzle down his jeans.

My bad.

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Here’s David with Autumn, our waitress…the servers are quite friendly at Hooters. She felt comfortable enough to sit down between my bro and my fiancee and take our orders.

She wore fake eyelashes.

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A thing about prices…yeah - you can’t get Hooters for free…

“GOURMET CHICKEN WING DINNER” — $149.99
(20 wings and abottle of dom perignon)

HOOTERS CALENDAR
(”The only way you’ll get a date in this place”)

The Hooters hostess said I could take one of the menu’s home. Like I said, people are nice here.

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As for the food - the wings were tasty. Mark raved about them a few years ago. Not as spicy as I expected.

They served melted butter with the oysters. I found it weird. Mark said some people could probably barely taste the flavor of oysters…or something like that. Sometime’s it’s hard to hear Mark speak….he mumbles so…

We paid a few cents more for extra blue cheese and veggies.

Pretty much your standard pub grub.

The flat screen TV’s made for nice baseball viewing….go Angels!

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Funny, I expected to be the only female customer in this joint. Thankfully, we had two other girls. One of them was a mother with her family. Her kid’s face was pretty much at eye-level with one server’s Hooters - as he bent over to color his place mat.

Go figure.

“Mark, I hope you enjoyed your last meal at Hooters,” I smiled.

“It’s really no big deal,” he said.

“Exactly,” I replied.

David and Mark wouldn’t let me take a picture with one of the Hooter girls. Something about being embarassed.

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