You want to hurt me for the ear worm that is my title, don’t you?
A few nights ago, The Brides, Tom, and I went to one of my favorite-memory restaurants, the Ambassador. I first went there with my friend John and some of his friends back in the mid nineties, and ever since, I always order the soup he introduced me to. It’s called “sizzling rice” soup. The server combines the crispy rice table-side with a bowl of steaming soup, and the resulting crackle is as fun to hear as the soup is comforting to eat.
Bad me, for letting the shadow of my camera strap fall on my bowl.
I didn’t want to reshoot it because Lindsey pointed out that the waitstaff was
lined up watching and laughing at me.
But the soup–it’s so good!
On the way to the restaurant, we passed some office buildings in Greenway Plaza that had the most alluring lights twinkling in their massive windows. Lindsey and I talked about going out night-shooting sometime. The next night, I was awake and bored. Since it was the middle of the night, I didn’t think Lindsey would appreciate a call. So I took a solitary drive around. That late, the lights were off in the Greenway Plaza building, but I got a lot of shots downtown. Word: Even if one possesses minimal photography skills, with a good camera and a tripod, great photos are possible UNLESS you are a woman alone in the middle of the night. Then you think, Am I INSANE? and get your not-so-great shots on the fly. Still, I’m pleased with several of them and will probably share them over time. This is not my most favorite, but ranks right up there because I love that I was able to capture the movement of the only two people visible in a radius of several blocks.
Since Tim’s stocking is not yet hung by the chimney with care (my fault, not his–I haven’t asked for it), I’ll delay tree photos. Plus I keep finding more ornaments to hang. However, you know it’s Christmas at The Compound when the sleighbells appear. Since I didn’t decorate last year, I didn’t realize that the 2007 and 2008 additions, which upped my total to eighteen, would be two too many for my little tree. I placed those two randomly next to others. Next year, I’ll have to find another way to display them. (There is a precedent: In 2006 they looked like this.) This year, they look like this:
I added the tiny ornaments to give them some color, because I remember 2005, too.
nice, Becky. We think alike because I went out and took some pics of downtown Louisville last night but haven’t uploaded them yet.
(And who’s the Star Trek geek in your 2006 pic? I noticed the Enterprise ornaments hanging beneath the others. Sorry for the parentheses!)
Tom is the “Star Trek” geek. We haven’t put that garland up yet; when we do, I’ll post photos. His Trek garland–my Barbie garland. =)
I’m not anti-parentheses; no apology needed. I look forward to your photos!
That soup was awesome… only just a little bit more awesome than the music they play as you dine. I can forsee some future cravings, especially now that Ming’s is gone. I think you may have introduced me to my new “crack.”
Heh heh, it’s all part of my evil plan. I’m not sure what the plan is exactly, but it’ll come to me.
I love your ornament tree. 🙂
Have I seen your user pic with Margot and Guinness, the one Lisa commented on in your 2005 post? Since I didn’t join the show until the 2006 season (remember the cliffhanger ending that year??!!) I don’t think I have.
But that 2006 cliffhanger was nothing like the spring season finale in 2008, which rivaled “Dynasty”‘s Moldavian masscre bodycount.
Ah, they don’t write ’em like that anymore!
That soup looks marvelous…
Your pictures are always so neat to see.
Your sleighbells pictures bring a question from me.
Ever since I saw The Polar Express a couple of years ago… I have looked for sleighbells. I wanted to give a gift of sleighbells to each of the boys and start a collection for myself, too.
However (and this may shock you…!) one cannot find sleighbells in Las Vegas! So… where did you find your sleighbells…? Yours look to be engraved and are so pretty!
And they ring…
(Are you listenin’?)
;^)
I started my tradition when the company I worked for gave us sleighbells at Christmas. A few years after I was laid off, I decided to start ordering them for myself. I had to search to find the years I was missing (a friend gave me hers from the last year she worked for the same company), and from then on, I’ve ordered them each year. Mine are Wallace silverplated, but other companies do silver, silverplated, and gold sleighbells, too–Reed & Barton and Lenox, I think both have them.
Check amazon, barrons catalog, and ebay, and you should be able to get good deals on them.
My favorite thing about a glass of Coke over ice is the audio-track: Popping the can’s lid, hearing it gush over the cubes, and the fabulous fizz. So, that rice must rule.
Going through your old links was fun, and that “people moving” picture is something to be proud of. I wouldn’t mind having one of those on my Flickr. : )
mmmm, Coke fizz….
Years ago in the pre-Watergate Nixon era the best Chinese restaurant in Saint Louis was The Lantern House and we often got a group of 15 or more together for their Chinese Banquet that started with the hissing rice soup. Delicious, and a great memory. The Sweet and Sour Whole Baked Red Snapper was to die for, too.
“Hissing rice soup” is a great name.
Sounds even better when it’s pronounced by someone with a real Chinese accent