Extending my pseudo-vacation in honor of Columbus Day, I spent yesterday afternoon exactly the way I like it – sitting in the window of the Flying Saucer, drinking Dos Equis Special Lager with friends. We were watching traffic on Second Street, and before long we were wondering… which would we see more of, cars turning the wrong way onto one-way Second Street, or bums? As it turned out it wasn’t even a close contest. We counted 4 wrong-way cars and 11 bums during our stay there.
At 7:30 several of us closed our tab. “Where are you going?” asked the waitress.
“EP’s,” I told her. “They have a free food buffet for Monday Night Football. Free hot wings, meatballs, and chili dogs. Beer specials too.”
“Oh really?” she said with excitement in her eyes. “Will you bring me a to-go plate?” Yeah, restaurants that put out free appetizer buffets just love it when you ask for a to-go plate. And they really love it when you ask for a to-go plate for someone who isn’t even there, and therefore not paying for drinks or anything.
“Yeah! I’ll bring you one!” I said, trying to match her level of excitement and putting on my best lying voice.
So we headed down to EP’s. Food buffet was once again excellent. They took my suggestion of not putting the hot dog buns in the warmer – they had them off to the side in a basket. The chili they make to go on the chili dogs was again some of the best I’ve ever had. We grabbed a table close to the TV. People were sprawled out at the tables and couches between the bar and the TV. Everyone looked like they were watching football in their living room. It was great.
Earlier in the day it looked like my favorite blogger/MILF might meet me up there, but right before I left the Saucer I checked my e-mail on my phone and there was a message from her, saying she doubted she’d be able to make it. Oh well, that may be a good thing… our tastes in pro football teams are polar opposites. We’d probably end up wrestling on the floor of EP’s, fighting about whose team is better. Then again, if we did maybe I’d get to cop a feel.
Wonder if my favorite blogger/MILF will make it to EP’s in two weeks, when the Colts play Monday Night Football. She has Peyton Manning wallpaper on her MySpace page. I’d like to see Peyton’s face on toilet paper.
Chef Michael Patrick saw me and stopped by to say hello. “Hey Paul, I see you posted the Majestic’s wine dinner on your blog, would you mind posting ours too?” I said sure and he handed me a sheet of paper. Here are the details:
Montaudon Champagne
Poached salmon wrapped in egg with smoked green tomato butter
Au Bon Clumon o5
Braised veal loin apple emulsion, and goat cheese
Qupe Los Olivos Cuvee 04
Seared lamb loin, onion fennel compote, cherry glaze
B R Cohn SryCab 04
Grilled venison, blackberry molasses reduction
Peter Brum Eiswein
Apricot Caramel Nut tarte
$50.00 per person
At halftime I decided I was ready to go back to the Saucer. I bought my first beer at the Saucer’s bar, then a few minutes later my favorite window seats opened up. I went back to the Second Street window and got the same waitress.
“Where’s my to-go plate?” she asked.
“Well,” I started, “by the time I left it was halftime and the food was picked-over and had been sitting out for a long time. So I didn’t get you a plate from the buffet.”
“Oh,” she said, disappointed.
“But,” I followed, “When the chef found out that the to-go plate was for _____ from the Saucer, he said, ‘Paul, I’ll make her an extra special plate. A duck quesadilla and a lobster pronto pup, and the first three food items for the upcoming wine tasting.'” I pulled the menu out of my pocket and showed it to her, so it all looked legit. “I told him I thought you’d be done working about 10:30, 11:00 or so, and he said he’d have it ready for you, just come by EP’s and say you’re _____ from the Saucer and he’ll give it to you, free of charge.”
“REALLY?” she said, lit up like a Christmas tree.
“Reeeeaaaaalllly,” I said with a smile that was TOO big, so that even she would be able to figure out I had been lying.
Finally she got it. “You’re mean,” she said. “You always disappoint me. Besides, I don’t think I’d like the food on that menu. So many big words that I don’t understand.” Yeah, that menu was just loaded with big, confusing words. Like “salmon,” for example. How does EP’s expect to get anyone to come to their wine dinner when they use obscure language like that?
I told her next time I’d just drive through McDonald’s and pick up a hamburger for her instead. “THAT’D BE GREAT!” she said. Mmmmkay then.
In the news this morning – Memphis Police pieced together evidence in the murder of football player Taylor Bradford, and their work eventually led to four people confessing. Great work by MPD. As a former teacher there, that murder got to me a little – if I were still there, he could have been one of my students.
Also in the news – you can own a piece of history! The former home of state senator/convicted felon John Ford and his ex-wife Tamara Mitchell Ford goes on the auction block today at 11, due to foreclosure.
All right… time to bring my self-imposed vacation to an end. That means the Saucer won’t see me until about 6 PM today. Gonna work on a few projects between now and then, maybe at a coffee shop in Midtown. The company that has been giving me consulting projects is not giving me anywhere near full-time work these days, and I’m starting to accept the sad fact that I may have to return to the rat race. So I’ll be updating my resume too and putting together a list of recruiters/headhunters in the area. The good news is, my programming/web dev skills are in high demand, so if I decide to return to the world of work I should be able to do so relatively quickly. Hopefully not TOO quickly though… Halloween is approaching and it’d be nice to have November 1 as a recovery day.
Happy Tuesday everyone. As always, if you don’t have anything to do this evening, drop by the Saucer and allow my team to kick your ass at trivia.