return of the shrimp or feet game

I still adore the Olympics, and I of course am amazed, in awe of, in love with, etc., the sheer athleticism, competitive drive, and amazing overall performance of Michael Phelps. But I have to say that NBC's focus on him is a bit overwhelming; it was completely understandable when he was actively competing, but they ended with another replay of several of his races to cap out tonight's coverage...and he's completely done with swimming for this Olympics. They also ended w/some shots of Nastia Liukin's all-around final, even though Shawn Johnson beat her in the floor exercise tonight.

Granted, I'm just a little bit annoyed because I love Shawn Johnson and it was too bad that she had to go first on the floor, but it was also sad to watch Alicia Sacramone come in fourth after Cheng Fei fell on her vault and still scored higher. Watching Bela Karolyi say 'this ripoff was inadmissable' while almost crying made me feel better, though.

So despite that, today was a great day. Tammy, Shedletsky, Joanna and I had dim sum at the Hong Kong Opium Den (note: not the real name, but similarly addictive) before Tammy took off for LA. We played the Shrimp or Feet; for those not familiar with the rules, it involves someone in the dining party choosing a spatial location and an amount of time to countdown, and then eating whatever ridiculous thing happens to occupy that location when the countdown is finished. Since we're not going often enough to do a tournament, we chose today's player by drawing lots; Tammy won/lost and so had to play. She got lucky with some kind of pancake filled with green onions. She got very very lucky when you consider the other things that passed us by right before the timer went off, including some sort of stew with a plethora of feet, and the infamous Cart of Sadness which, with the addition of some serious tentacles and some questionable-looking puddings, has been tentatively redubbed the Cart of Horrors.

We ended up getting many of our old favorites -- both deep-fried and steamed shrimp in bean curd, shrimp egg rolls, shrimp dumplings aka shrimp families aka har gar, siu mai, bbq pork buns, steamed egg custard buns, rice noodle with shrimp, and deep fried shrimp dumpling w/mayonnaise, although we did not order any awesomely flat Cokes. We also got to sit in one of the best tables, on the second floor overlooking Millbrae, which is bad in terms of frequency of carts but nice in terms of view. And we had a ridiculous conversation, as usual, so that was quite entertaining.

After saying goodbye to Tammy, I came home, rubbed my tummy, took a nap, and then cleaned my apartment. Then I made shortcakes in honor of Katrina's birthday on Tuesday; she and Adit came over to watch Olympics, do laundry, and generally take advantage of my resources, and Adit had suggested that we get a cake for her. Since I had the ingredients for shortcake and a lot of leftover berries, I cooked instead, and they turned out perfectly. So we enjoyed some substantial family time, and they just left around midnight, when gymnastics and the women's 100m dash were finished. Now I desperately need to sleep -- this whole getting up and going to work thing is really cramping my style! Oh, well, I'm sure I'll forgive it once I actually get a paycheck again.