brand new colony

Unbeknownst to her, the waitress at the Hong Kong Flower Lounge made a serious tactical error. Last week, during my first brunch there in over six months, she told us that a new Chinese restaurant had opened in Palo Alto in the same building that was once occupied by the PA branch of the Flower Lounge. She said that we should go and try it for her, because it was too expensive for her, and she had heard from others that it wasn't as good as the Flower Lounge. We could not understand why she would tell us this, although it was amusing that she told us about it because it meant that she knew that we come up from Palo Alto, which means that she remembers us from the glory days of the PA branch--and it closed eighteen months ago.

So, progress to today, when the four of us decided to try the new place in Palo Alto. It is significantly closer to us than Millbrae is, which is a huge bonus. It's obvious that the place hasn't achieved the Flower Lounge's popularity; if we had gotten there at almost noon on a Sunday, we would have had to wait an hour for a table, but this restaurant was half-empty (or half-full, if you prefer, which I don't). The decor was a huge upgrade from the old Flower Lounge, and the place just felt fancier and more upscale. This served to put a slight damper on our usual loud, obnoxious conversation. Another upside was that the Cokes were a) served in larger glasses and b) actually tasted like Coke, which is something that the Flower Lounge usually struggles with. The major downside, though, was that while all of the dishes were adequate, none of them approached the delectable tastes and textures of the Flower Lounge (or Opium Lounge, as we prefer to call it, because massive amounts of addictive drugs must be added to the food--it's the only way to explain why we've driven half an hour each way every week for over a year to eat there).

It was during this brunch, however, that the Flower Lounge lost us. Why, you may ask? The new place certainly didn't win us, and we may never eat there again. However, we realized that we could just as easily explore other types of brunches/lunches on the weekends, rather than always having dim sum--there's a world of options, especially in the Bay Area. We could just as easily have tapas, or steak and eggs, or crepes, or tasty Thai food, or Indian buffets (Shedletsky's idea, not mine)--these brunches are just as much about seeing each other as they are about eating delicious shrimp families. We will still go to the Flower Lounge, but we will start pursuing other options as well, in what is being billed as a new phase of our friendship.

After brunch, I cleaned my bathroom, then started to unpack (finally). Unfortunately, I lost interest in unpacking after I'd taken everything out of my suitcases, but before I had put anything away, which means that my room is a complete disaster. Instead of packing, I lured Claudia into a field trip to Crate and Barrel, where I bought a pie plate and a new set of canisters. The canisters have been coveted for over a year--I bought two v. cheap canisters at Ikea when I was first setting up my kitchen, and I've hated them ever since. Now I am happy. It also means that I can unpack the kilo of tea that I bought in Sri Lanka, and put part of it in a cool airtight container to preserve its delicate flavors. Yay.

After spending some time drooling in the store of my dreams, I came home and whipped up a Greek salad--yes, I have succumbed to eating vegetables. Shocking. Since these vegetables were drenched in olive oil and mixed with lots of feta cheese, I don't feel so traitorous about it. Claude and I also split an entire baguette, which we dipped in the leftover olive oil/vinegar/garlic dressing...mmmmmm. After all that domestic bliss, it was too late to call my parents, and so I watched TV instead. It's funny that the time difference between here and Iowa is almost harder to deal with than the time difference between India and Iowa. In India, I could call them anytime between around 5pm my time and whenever I went to bed; here, I can call them earlier in the day (when I'm not awake), or during dinnertime for them, or during dinnertime for me, and my window closes around eight pm. So sad! Rather than dwelling on all this guilt, though, I'm going to go to bed.