A post in which two sets of great expectations are dashed

I went to get my teeth cleaned today. I had called them first because of all the blood thinners I'm on, but they said come anyway, and they would just be careful. Joanne, the woman who cleans my teeth, is a sweetheart. She treats me like a little bit of a pet. She was just as sweet as ever today. I gave her the bare bones of what chemo was like, and she clucked and fussed over me and generally made me feel cared for. She cleaned my teeth and complimented me on how well I'd been able to maintain my oral hygiene during treatment. It really wasn't anything particularly heroic on my part, I just have this compulsion about not being able to go to bed until I have brushed my teeth.

I was home in plenty of time for a quick tidy-up before Justin got to the house. It was good to see him. I had ordered a platter to go with BB's china, and he oo'd and ah'd appreciatively. I did get a super deal on it, and it's in great shape. Justin is the only person I know who can talk about dishes as much as I can and enjoy it.

After some discussion, we headed to Rosalinda's for supper. Now I had heard about this place recently from Eve, who had heard that it got rave reviews. It's a little tiny restaurant tucked just off the beaten path. I'd probably driven by it a thousand times since I lived here, but had never eaten there. After hearing how wonderful the food was, my expectations were high.

The place was scrupulously clean, and smelled good, although the decor was pretty much early Salvation Army. The woman who came out to wait on us was one of the co-owners, and she was very nice. She answered all my questions knowledgeably and cheerfully. They had a whole page of vegetarian selections, so I was pretty stoked. They also had a dish called Mexican Curry! Now these days I am all about all things curry, and had never heard of Mexican curry. I was optimistic, but cautious. After a consultation with out waitress, though, I was sold. I ordered it. Justin ordered a pollo fundido and a cheese dip. I was further encouraged when my tea came out. It had a hint of cinnamon in it, and was delicious, as was the cheese dip. They had made the chips there.

Then our food came out. It was some of the oddest Mexican food I have ever eaten. There were a lot of vegetables (which I was expecting, hello, it was vegetable curry), but hardly any sauce, not a lot of cheese, and almost no curry. I had maybe two bites of the meal in which I could taste curry. Justin's food looked almost identical to mine, except of course there was chicken in his. The food wasn't bad, it just didn't seem much like Mexican food. It was more like an under-spiced stir-fry. There was white rice with it, beautifully cooked, but unseasoned, and some re-fried black beans which were quite good. Nothing was bad. It was just. Odd. We compared notes, and really couldn't decide whether or not we were disappointed.

After the meal, I asked Justin if he had been to Yogurt Mountain. I've been hearing about the place for weeks. I had passed it a couple of times and just thought it was a frozen yogurt place, but dana (who is not given to exaggeration or drama) had talked about the place as if it was the end-product of civilization. I was intrigued. It turned out Justin hadn't been there either, so off we went.

Now I knew from dana that you basically just got a bowl, served yourself, and then paid for your dessert by weight. They did give us a couple of tasting cups each so we could try a flavor before we committed. I tasted a couple, and really at that point had had what I wanted, but I would have felt guilty just tasting and not getting anything. I opted for a small serving of 'original tart', the flavor that dana had been really over the moon about. I was pretty much underwhelmed. The sweet flavors that I had tried tasted very strongly of artificial flavor, to the point that I thought they tasted like room-deodorizing candles. Justin tried several flavors and seemed happy enough with his. He got too much (the smallest cup was really pretty big) and I ate some of his, but was pretty much unimpressed with all of it.

As we were leaving, I thought of my friend Billy. A group of four teen-age boys had come in, and I hadn't paid that much attention really, teen-age boys not being my particular predilection. As we walked out though, I walked through a positive cloud of pheromones that whacked me in the head like a 2x4. After locating the source, I thought wow, if Billy had been here he would have been pulled into that like a bug-zapper. That was really the most memorable thing about the trip to YM, although I did notice a guy I presumed was a veteran with a prosthetic leg eating some by himself. He was cute. I wanted to talk to him, but of course had no idea if he was gay, or why he was by himself. It just made me vaguely sad. I hope he was just stopping off on his way back to a home full of folks who love him.