Happy Birthday to my sister Andria. I marked the occasion by phoning her up and singing Happy Birthday, complete with a stunning sixty second long final note that sent my dogs into full panic – after which I was informed she was going to lunch with a bunch of friends and had me on speaker phone the whole time.
After my morning workout, I showered, shaved, dressed, and then it was off to lunch – or, in this case, brunch. We happened to find parking right in front of DB Bistro, a sure sign from the food gods that we were fated to eat there. They started us off with a tasty, complimentary little fruit parfait before we moved on to the heavy hitters: a very delicious terrine, one of the best Quiche Lorraine’s I’ve ever tasted (for her), and phenomenal smoked salmon club for yours truly…
As much as I would have loved some dessert (I was eyeing that flourless chocolate cake), I was so stuffed I felt I’d regret ordering. On the other hand, I knew I’d probably regret NOT ordering as well. Fortunately, General Manager Chris Gonzalez was on hand to offer up a compromise solution in the form of some home made lemon Madeleines…
Chris boxed up the leftovers and had them waiting for us as we headed out.
From there, we headed out to the Japanese Street Festival going on down in Oppenheimer Park. After driving aimlessly around for some twenty minutes looking for parking, winding my way through drug addicts and drunks, it was decided we’d made the most of our outing and we headed home.
But, on the way, I decided to stop off at…
Like it says on the sign in the picture: Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France. And what were we there for?
With the untimely demise of Chocoatl, this has now become my go-to place for my chocolate fix. Owner Anne-Geneviève Poitras puts much love into her delectable little creations – well, love and cacao – and has, over time, built a discerning and loyal customer base. On this day, while I was waiting for the dark chocolate and sea salt tablettes to cool, about a half-dozen regulars came through, each one picking up “their usual” indulgences be they the delicate house truffles or the home made dark chocolate. Speaking of the truffles, Akemi had the Earl Grey and was mightily impressed by its elegance and flavor.
Today’s was a much more successful lunch outing than yesterday when we checked out local ramen-ya Benkei.
The ramen here was just alright, surprisingly lacking in the fuller flavor of many of its competitors (and, in this neighborhood, there are quite a few of them). The side order of chashu (pork) was rather dry and had me yearning for rival Santouka’s simmered pork jowl toroniku.
Since we were in the neighborhood and Akemi was in the market for a new English language manga to tackle, we stopped by Sakura Media – the place for all your anime and manga needs. For a brief instant, I thought I’d been transported to Comic Con –
Is Akemi a ‘foodie’?
Oh my, the chocolates would have been my ultimate downfall…not to mention the lemon Madeleines.
Every time I read about your culinary adventures I end up really hungry. LOL
Hahaha we do that every time we hafta sing happy birthday to a family member! And then we have two more verses to the birthday song too! Lol the entire thing lasts a good six minutes for us! 😀
Ice cream for breakfast, eh? Making good choices! I think Akemi and I would get along perfectly, picky eater though I may be! 😀
Happy birthday Sis!
Hi Joe,
Sounds like you and Akemi had a wonderfully relaxed and fun weekend. Happy Birthday to your sis, Andria!
I said my final farewell to my Saturn yesterday 🙁 , but I’m grateful to my Mom for the gift of her Corolla until I can save enough for a new car. SHE, however, just picked up her brand new, candy-apple-speeding-ticket red, bells-and-whistles complete, Ford Fusion and has been touring around calling people from her dashboard and being generally giddy and gleeful – and she deserves it! She’s so excited; it tickles me. XD
I’m spending my weekend nostalgically watching the entire Robotech series (I’m on ep 38).
Smiles, Julie
the day you go to DB is the day I had off. Hopefully next time, I’ll be making your clubhouse
Damn it!
I must remember never to check your blog on an empty stomach.
*grumble, grumble*
So, was I the only one who tried to sing Happy Birthday and attempt a minute-long final note like Joe did? I think I would’ve made it too if my mom didn’t call me to get dinner.
Happy Birthday Andria!!
Hey Joe…
1. Have you ever watched any fan movie about stargate? I know, you aren’t allowed to copy the stories 😉 , but have you ever seen one? And if so…which one? What’s your opinon about such projects?
2. Do you have any plans to appear yourself as a cameo in SGU? Or have you been in there before and we only didn’t see you? 😛
3. Asuming, SG-1 movie will be green-lighted in winter 2010/2011. How long from that moment on would it be, until the movie get’s finished? The first both movies were close to the end of SG-1. I think, now it takes more time?!
@pg15 I would try to hold the note, but I’d wake up Patrick (it’s 2:20 a.m. here).
@Joe: Happy Birthday to your sister.
@Julie: That made me giggle about your mom.
@JYS If I ever get back to Van, would you make a smoked salmon club salad or wrap for me? Can’t tolerate yeast so must avoid most breads. Too bad, as yours looks VERY yummy. Sourdough?
Tonight, I cooled off with a pecan pie Blizzard from Dairy Queen in Karnes City. You know you’re in rural Texas when the only nighttime takeout is one DQ and two Tex-Mex restaurants.
Birthday! Happy? A year closer to death I presume. Only when you are young you await birthdays. As you grow older they just fade away.
Mmmmm…chocolate. (Said in my best Homer Simpson ‘donut’ voice)
Yay! Sis! I though she had disowned you, or something, Joe.
Yay! Akemi doing something other than chores!
Okay – you know what the side effect of eating a heavy Tex-Mex meal (chips, bean dip, pork tamales, beef enchiladas, chile rellenos, guac, and rice…and more beans 😛 ), with a little wine, and topping it all off with Godiva dark chocolate is?
You fall into a coma about 10 pm, only to wake up in the middle of the night (with a bit of heartburn 😛 ), just in time to watch Captain Blood with Errol Flynn!!! YAY! Certainly not the first time I’ve seen it, but always a great sea romp!
Next up? Tales of Horror with Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone, and my personal favorite, the o so sexy (yes, I said it, so sue me!) Peter Lorre! 😀 Love Peter so much I even named a little grey kitty I had after him – Lorre – a little girl cat with a round little face who used to live in our office many years ago. When you held her ears down her eyes would bug out and she looked just like Peter. 😀 If you doubt Mr. Lorre’s sexiness, just watch Arsenic and Old Lace, and see if you don’t fall in love with him. 🙂 (Hey, what do you expect from me??! I think the Wraith are hawt, too! At least Peter is human!)
Okay – it’s now 4:30 and I’m wide awake. 😛 This is gonna be a looooong night, or a miserable morning, or a really bad Monday. Gonna try to get back to sleep…by watching Tales of Horror. Think it’ll work?? 😛
das
PS: NO. Watching Tales of Horror does NOT help one get to sleep. 😮 😯
😛
Woo! My last post was a virtual smiley-fest! 😀
Aaaand…I’m still awake.
😛
Oh, crap – The Black Cat is the next tale of horror. 😮 I am sooo screwed now. (I think I better watch The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes again…it’s a bit more soothing. 😛 )
Nites…well, more like ‘dawns’, but oh well… 🙄
das
“3.Any chance of finding out what happened to the ori followers and there ships in the milkyway following there defeat, in the future?”
Answer: Alas, no plans to revisit the Ori storyline in SGU.
This reminded me of something. The treaty of Versailles and the armistace of Compiegne(1918). Humans or Tok’ra or the Jaffa or ??? have not signed neither peace with the Ori nation or even armistace. I at least have not heard from such a thing.
* The Milky Way Galaxy is still oficcially at war with the Ori nation.
* Me as a greedy human would want some of those shiny Ori motherships for compensation for damages. I also would belive the Jaffa especially would want them, since they lost so many ships. Tok’ra-what are they going to do with them. And the Lucian Alliance. I think they are going to try to hijack one while the fleet is still puzzled and confused with what they found out in the Ark of Truth.
There was an article in our local newspaper about the characteristics of pets. According to them pugs are anxious to please their owner.
Are you under the impression this is true? 😉
Ugh. It’s after 5 am, and I’m still awake. I’ve decided to watch Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt, a great little doppelganger tale and what I consider Hitch’s best work, if just for its subtlety alone.
I know this one so well I can recite the lines in my sleep, which is what I’ma gonna try to do right now. But first, I leave you with this picture of a young, handsome Mr. Peter Lorre, just so folks don’t think I’m crazy:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/peterlorre1.jpg
Though, I must admit to liking his more disheveled look:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/peterlorre5.jpg
Yum.
😀
das
Every day that I read your blog, my local town looks more and more depressingly rubbish!
.. and I’m hungry again!
1 Is destiny looks like the ships before oris and ancients part
2 Shall have we the opportunity to see one of them
3 Is it possible the database of atlantis Could contain the solution of return to earth for the destiny (we have translated everything yet)?
4 Will you do a movie a movie about the fourth alliance?
You two know how to live! The food looks incredible!!!! If Akemi can eat ice cream sandwiches for breakfast, she must have a cast iron stomach as well. I’m jealous!
Das: I’m glad you are feeling better. My late best friend had the depressive side of bipolar. I don’t remember seeing her in a manic phase, paranoid but never manic. I spent many an hour listening to her talk through it. She had a lung embolism about six years ago and I really miss her. Her hubby married another woman with the same first name just weeks after she passed. Weird, huh? It freaks me out when I receive a Christmas card every year. Almost as if she is still alive.
Sorry to babble. Headache today. Must be the three digit temps we having here in Mississippi. My youngest brother is in Boston and keeps bragging about the 70F weather there.
Son’s bday today. Gotta go work on the cake.
Happy birthday to your sister!
*waves* from DMV hell
DD
Happy Birthday, Andria. *waves*
Elminster
Now I want lunch.
Dad’s cats are here, one is a cuddle bug. Now I have to get the boys and the girls to quit the hissy fits. Sigh, cats.
Happy Birthday Sis!!!! All the best to you
You work out in the morning. UGh. I have to do it at night or in the afternoon. Im too tired to have an affective work out in the morning. I take forever to fully wake up. 😉
As always those choclates look good. You must spend a lot of money on food. lol
Couple questions.
1. When do you resume filming of season 2?
2. I remember you talking about VFX shots in SGU. What counts as a VFX shot. When theres VFX in a live action shot, or just pure VFX shots? How many VFX shots are usually in an episode of SGU? When I listened to the commentary for faith I watched for VFX shots and counted 30, but I didn’t know if I was counting them correctly.
Thanks so much,
Major D. Davis
And Happy Birthday Andria!
I discovered this blog a couple of week ago and have been playing catch-up. Up to September last year I think. Anyhow, thought I’d say hello and ask if you’d ever thought of putting a warning at the start of your posts, something along the lines of “The following post contains images that may cause uncontrollable hunger and severe drooling”.
Happy Birthday to Andria!
Ditto what Das said….yay, Akemi enjoying stuff and not doing chores.
Akemi’s breakfast choice – excellent!
Although a bit small. I’ll have a “regular” size please.
DB Bistro…another to add to the list of fooderies to try.
The sandwich looks yummy.
and the never fail choice….chocolates!
Hi Mr M!
Happy Birthday to Andria!
Hope all good with you and all the gang.
S’n’T
News about TJ backstory episode (“The Hunt”, is it?) made my week. Thanks for that. 🙂 (Sorry if I’m a little behind, work’s been crazy.)
Happy Birthday, Joe’s sister!
Hi Mr. Mallozzi,
I have a couple of questions for you regarding “Stargate”. You said that we have not heard everything about “Goa’uld-Kinsey”. Will we hear something in “Stargate: Revolution” or in “Stargate Universe” or not?
Thanks.
Gabriele
Joe – just a quick question…
How does Akemi pronounce her name? Like A-chem-ee or Ac-eh-me? Or something else. Thankies!!
das