Monthly Archive for June, 2005

…and I’m finally finished!

Good to know that 137 swedish meatballs takes approxmately 1 week to eat.

:)

…turning off the international calling plan was a bad idea.

…a 23 minute phone call to Taiwan cost me a smidge over $100 (not including taxes).

Doh!

My newest favorite soda is being relaunched!

Now everyone knows I love my Diet Coke, but in recent months I’ve switched to Fresca… how did I not know it was sugar-free?!?! I’ve always loved the slightly grapefruity taste of Fresca, but I always thought it was fully-leaded… until I actually LOOKED at the nutrition label one day & the switch was made!

In the 5/30/05 issue of BrandWeek, I noticed this lovely little snippet on p. 14:

Coke Getting Frisky for Fresca Relaunch
Coca-Cola is relaunching its zero-calorie Fresca soda with a new logo, flavors, packaging and ads, via Campbell Mithun, Minneapolis. Ads position the drink as “ideal for moments of perfectly relaxed pleasure.” Sparkling Peach Citrus Fresca and Sparkling Black Cherry Citrus Fresca hit shelves in September. A minor player in the beverage giant’s portfolio, 39-year-old Fresca is getting the boost as Coke beefs up its diet drink marketing.

That’s a pretty lame positioning slogan (the old one, “A Refreshingly Crisp Citrus Taste,” was not much better), but I’ll forgive them if the new Fresca flavors are as yummy as the original.

… and no sign of slowing!

Thanks to Yoshi for packing me lunch today so I could spend my lunch hour taking a nap instead of preparing/eating food.

UPDATE: Evidently J-X doesn’t like the idea of smeatballs (but they are not TREETballs! Look! There’s a LITE TREET!):

[15:44] J-X: Smeatballs?
[15:46] jozjozjoz: Smeatballs.
[15:46] jozjozjoz: Short for Swedish Meatballs
[15:47] J-X: My mom once bought Treet, the $.99 store’s answer to Spam
[15:48] jozjozjoz: I’ve seen that
[15:48] J-X: It stunk like rotten flesh and tasted worse.
[15:48] jozjozjoz: Ew
[15:48] J-X: It could be the only food my mom ever threw away
[15:49] J-X: Smeat sounds like Treet to me
[15:49] jozjozjoz: It’s not
[15:51] J-X: I imagine gray spheres, a cross between goat meat and lint sweating on a plate
[15:51] jozjozjoz: Yuck
[15:52] jozjozjoz: smeatballs are just like regular swedish meatballs
[15:52] jozjozjoz: The only problem is that i have a speech impediment
[15:53] J-X: Well, time for me to go to my smeatless home. See you tomorrow.
[15:53] jozjozjoz: See you!

Anyone want to venture any guesses as to:

A) How many days I can stand eating them in a row?
B) How many days my 137 meatballs will last until I eat them all?
C) How long it will be until I make them again?

I’ve got errands to run and stuff to do this evening. But before I get on the road, I must report that this morning has been “Swedish Meatball Day” in the home of jozjozjoz and yoshi.

After buying 5 pounds of extra lean ground beef at Costco yesterday (I only used about half of it, the other half is in the freezer), I decided I had to DO something with it.

Yoshi had mentioned a great liking of swedish meatballs the last time we went to IKEA, so I went online and downloaded a few recipes to try.

137 swedish meatballs later, we have enough smeatballs (yes, smeatballs… this is what I ended up calling them when I started talking too fast) for… well, who knows how long!

Yoshi said that the smeatballs were a success.

And I only set off the smoke detector once in the whole shebang.

A rare Saturday “off” from work and this is how I spent it…

First, I woke up and played a game of Zuma:
6/4/05
Total Time: 32:58
Combos: 133
Coins: 17
Gaps: 51
Max Chain: 28
Max Combo: 5
TOTAL SCORE: 131840

I didn’t have to clean the house (Thank you, Yoshi!!!) but I needed to go to Costco to purchase a bunch of stuff for my parents, who are in Taiwan. My Mom and Dad have been calling me every other day to add things to my Costco shopping list, in anticipation of my Brother’s upcoming trip to Taiwan (where he can bring them everything they want).

My friend from up north (she is trying to move to L.A. and looking for a job and a place to live) arrived earlier this week but I haven’t had a chance to see her until today. She somehow agreed to go to Costco with me. She patiently waited as we rolled into the Costco in Burbank and I could fill my empty gas tank (the light was on!) @ $2.24/gallon.

We decided to go and have lunch next and ended up nearby at Olive Garden. We had a great meal and decided to head back to Costco to brave the crowds; giant shopping list in hand. She had thought that she wanted to buy stuff at Costco, but decided she didn’t need 50 granola bars or 35 bottles of water at once. Meanwhile, I filled up the cart with $600+ stuff (mostly for my parents, but also some stuff for me).

We headed back to the house (which Yoshi was nice enough to clean and vacuum), put the food that needed refrigeration away, and headed back out to the Target at West Hollywood Gateway. My friend was able to buy what she needed at Target (in quantities decidedly smaller than those at Costco) and I was able to purchase the last few items on my parents’ list (things I couldn’t find at Costco). Oh and I got one thing my Bro had asked for, too.

We left Target and came back to my place. As my friend sat down in front of the TV, I went into the kitchen to get a Diet Coke for her to drink. All of a sudden I heard a young female voice from the outside saying “Excuse me! Excuse me!” I looked out the back door and saw a young (teenaged) Latina girl crying on the backsteps. She asked if she could use the bathroom. I was hesitant, but she didn’t look like she was trying to cause trouble. And she was crying. I let her into the bathroom and I heard the water running, as if she was washing something. When she came out, I saw her still crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said something about being in a car with a friend who thought she was joking and pushing her out of a car. She turned around and pulled down the waistband of her pants where she had a huge, bleeding gash on her lower back. She said she was in a lot of pain and I went to get the first aid kit to try and cleanse the wound and bandage it.

I got the largest band-aid I could find but when I got near her wound to disinfect it, she screamed and begged me not to put anything on the gash except the bandage. So I did. I asked her if I could give her a ride anywhere and she, “Could you? Please?” She said she lived close-by and I asked if there was anyone I could call. She looked panicked and asked if I had called the paramedics. I said I hadn’t and she asked that I wouldn’t. I said, “OK, let me take you home then.”

As we got in the car, I asked her name and how old she was (16, she said) and I asked what happened to her. She said she was with some guy (she didn’t know his real name, she just knew that he had some trouble with the law and couldn’t get picked up by the cops) and they were in the car together and they started arguing and he wouldn’t let her out. So she opened the car door as they were driving and jumped out. I asked if he knew where she lived (she didn’t answer that question, so yes) and then I asked if he was going to come back for her. She said she was pretty sure that he wouldn’t come back. I told her to stay inside and if he came looking that she should just call 911 and let the cops deal with the guy. He obviously didn’t care about her if he was ok with her jumping out of a moving vehicle and didn’t slow to see if she was ok. She said she would (I doubt it, but what can you do?) and said thanks as she walked into her apartment building.

I came back home and hung out with my friend for a few more minutes, but after that bizarre incident, I was tired. She said she was ready to head home, so I got her things together for her and told her thanks for going to Costco with me and that I’d talk to her soon.

15 minutes later, she called me back and said, “Can I come back over? I am locked out of my place and I can’t get my roommate on the phone.” (She is staying at one of my friend’s place.) I said, “Sure. Come on over.” She got to my place and as soon as she walked in she told me that she HAD gotten in touch with her roommate and that her roommate was in OC and was not coming back until tomorrow. “Can I stay at your place?” she asked. It was at this point I couldn’t help her. I offered to call a locksmith for her. She was concerned about the cost (she is currently jobless), but I said I’d cover it. I called a locksmith who quoted a price of $50 and I sent him over there. I wrote a check for $50 and handed it to my friend who said she’d pay me back (which was sooo at the bottom of my list of worries at the moment). And she walked out the door. 30 minutes later, she called me and asked for the locksmith’s # because he hadn’t shown up yet. I got her the number and I haven’t yet heard if she made it indoors. I hope so.

UPDATE @ 8:44pm: My friend just called. She’s in and she’s fine, but the stupid locksmith took over an hour to get there. I also told her not to worry about the $50. Since I paid for lunch, she’s going to take me out for a nice meal after she gets a job.

Anyway, it was also “Crazy People Talking to Joz Day” and I cite two examples of where crazy people (all strangers) started talking to Joz (and I SWEAR I did not do ANYTHING to provoke these incidents):
-Crazy woman in the bathroom at the Olive Garden in Burbank. We had seen her when she walked in… carrying two giants bags (luggage) wearing a light green tank top, a short green skirt and a knee-high black and white stockings, asking to sit at the bar. I was coming out of a stall and walked up to the sink (next to her, where she was applying make-up). She was talking, I assumed to someone else, when I realized I was the only other person in the bathroom. Then I realized she was looking right and me and saying, “…let me tell you that if you are ever in a predicament where you meet a hot guy and go out with him just because he’s good-looking… don’t! Bad idea! Don’t do it! Don’t learn the hard way like I did!” I was like, “Ok, thanks for the tip and backed out of the restroom.” I noticed she was all bruised on her upper arm. Even though she was crazy, I hope that she wasn’t beaten up by above-mentioned “hot guy.”

-I was looking at bottled water at the end of an aisle at Target. I may have been making a comment about the price of water to my friend who was standing nearby me when a guy with long hair, sunglasses, and dressed in dark clothing walked between and said, “Don’t flatter yourself!” Um. Yeah. Huh?!

This is one thing I will NOT be trying if I should have the luck of going back to Taiwan again. Maybe I can convince my Bro to go there and take pictures, though. The picture on the right shows ice cream in a “squat toilet.” Ewww… I’m grossing out at the thought of eating out of a little squat toilet.

Marton
(07) 7522-471
36, LinChiuan St., LingYa, Kaohsiung City
Hours: 11-30 am-10 pm

Tucked away in an alley near Kaohsiung’s Cultural Center is a novel version of the traditional ice cream parlor. Marton is a setting for the young and hip, especially the young and hip who like eccentric surroundings. Housed in bright neon lights, this establishment features seating made up of trendily-decorated toilet seats and tables composed of glass-top sinks. And the appropriate place for napkins and their holders? Rolls of toilet paper on TP holders on the backs of the toilet seats. As odd as it may seem, the place is cheerful and, of course, sanitary. And cheap–nothing on the menu is over NT$80, and for prices even lower than that, there is sufficient amount of ice cream presented to fill many mouths. Served in custom-made “soap dishes,” there are many choices such as gigantic sundae-like combos (NT$50 to NT$80) and single-serving whirlwinds (NT$35). There are also special set meals, which are also no more than NT$80. Various beverages are available, priced NT$40 to NT$70.

::etaiwannews:: ::japundit:: ::times of india:: ::simonworld:: ::bookofjoe::

Restaurant Offers Toilet Bowl Servings
By WALLY SANTANA, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jun 3, 8:39 AM ET

Taiwanese restaurateur Eric Wang has given new meaning to the traditional revelers’ cry of bottoms up. His eatery in the southern city of Kaohsiung delivers its food not on conventional plates and dishes, but in miniaturized Western and Asian style toilets, both the flush and non-flush variety.

For anyone missing the point, diners are encouraged to stir up mushy, earth-colored offerings like curry chicken rice and chocolate ice cream to conjure up — well, the real thing.

Located in a downtown area with a variety of competing eateries, Marton — the name means toilet in Chinese — attracts its customers through its dazzling bathroom decor.

Walking in through an arched door, diners are greeted with a giant toilet bowl sitting between two urinals. White ceramic toilet seats comfortably accommodate their bottoms, and urinals grace the walls.

Giggling helplessly, high school student Chen Yi-lin gulps down a chocolate ice-cream sundae served in a miniature Asian-style squat toilet, and admits that she is smitten.

“This is fun,” she says.

Wang, 26, opened the Marton last year after a roadside prototype — a stand offering toilet-shaped ice cream cones — achieved runaway success.

Now, he says, he has moved decisively upmarket.

“Diners come and walk away with the special experience,” he said. “Many try to create more fun, stirring up curry and rice so it looks exactly like when you forget to flush the toilet. Then they gulp it down.”

For all its scatological excess, the Marton is following in the noblest tradition of Taiwanese novelty restaurants.

Other successful ventures have purposely confined scores of contented diners to coffins or jail cells, or exposed them to full-scale pictures of Chinese dictator Mao Zedong, Taiwan’s political nemesis until his death in 1976.

If the fire across the street yesterday wasn’t enough excitement, today we were greeted with a bomb scare just a few blocks north on Vine…

Bomb Squad Removes ‘Suspicious Object’ Near Hollywood Building

A Los Angeles police bomb squad was sent to remove a “suspicious object” found near a building in Hollywood Wednesday, and traffic was kept away from the area as a precaution, police said.

The object was discovered about 6:35 a.m. in the 1800 block of Vine Street, said Los Angeles Police Officer Kristi Sandoval of the Media Relations office.

The Vine Street offramp from the southbound Hollywood (101) Freeway was closed to keep vehicles from entering the area, Sandoval said. A section of Vine Street was blocked off while the investigation was conducted.