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June 29, 2005
Restaurant Review: China Chef
Today's restaurant review is for China Chef, a local restaurant in Bothell, Washington. I've never actually eaten in China Chef, but I do walk by it every single day, and let me tell you, it's disgusting. Seriously, every day I walk by the kitchen, and it's gross in there. I have no idea why they leave their door open so everybody can look in. Any old person could come in and poison the food. My only guess is they're hoping some stray cats will walk in. The health department gives them a pretty good rating, but obviously they've never stopped by when there is cooking equipment lying on the sidewalk.
Technically, I should point out, I have never actually seen ANYBODY eating inside of China Chef. After dark, it converts into a bar which sometimes has one, two, maybe three people in it drinking, playing pool, and playing loud music. Often times there is some suspicious guy loitering about in front of the restaurant.
The restaurant itself suffers from a lack of windows, and the decor can only be described as the love child of a 1972 Impala and the basement den your neighbors had when you were 12.
When it comes to restaurants of Finn Hill, you could do a lot better than China Chef. But not much better. Because there's only like two other restaurants on Finn Hill, and one serves pizza, and the other serves Mexican. And the pizza one lets you cook your pizza at home.
Overall, I'd give China Chef FIVE STARS! Five stars out of a hundred that is. Perhaps if I actually ate there, my opinion would change. However, that will not likely happen, for three very good reasons.
1) I am too poor to afford anything at China Chef.
2) I do not like Chinese food
3) I would have to be crazy to eat anything after seeing their kitchen. None of the other 15,000 residents of Finn Hill eat there, so why should I?
So to recap:
PROS: Reasonable prices, TONS of parking
CONS: It's gross.
If you want Chinese, and you're on Finn Hill, I can recommend you stop by China Chef, but only because your other options are to drive all the way down the hill to Tai-Ho in Kenmore, or go to the Chinese place by KFC in Totem Lake, and the people there were rude to me when I brought in tacos from Taco Bell. I mean, there was no way I was going to eat Chinese there, especially after I called them jerks, and then they tried to seat us. Yeah, right.
Posted by March at 02:11 AM
June 25, 2005
The Real Deadwood
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/opinion/25tierney.html?ex=1277352000&en=19e027adfffc2dab&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
Historians have often accused HBO's Deadwood of playing loose with the truth, especially where language is concerned.
Now it turns out that the whole notion of the violent West is pretty contrived as well. (I imagine much of it comes from Hollywood.)
"It was a rather polite and civil society enforced by armed men," Dr. McGrath said. "The rate of burglary and robbery was lower than in American cities today. Claim-jumping was rare. Rape was extraordinarily rare - you can argue it wasn't being reported, but I've never seen evidence hinting at that....""There wasn't an awful lot of violence in Deadwood except for the crooks and drunks killing each other. When everybody has a gun on his hip, they tend to avoid confrontation."
Another Deadwood historian, Bob Lee, said that the best account of the two peak years of the gold rush, 1876 and 1877, lists only 77 violent deaths in all the Black Hills, most outside Deadwood, and most attributed to Indians, who were understandably angry at the invasion of their lands by both miners and troops under George Armstrong Custer.
Posted by March at 02:59 PM
Kitten in a Bag
Get yours today... Kitten in a Bag! Collect them all! Your kitten will arrive, twelve weeks old, and ready to play! WARNING! Do not take your kitten OUT of the bag! He has not developed immunities to anything, as he has lived his entire life in a bag.
Posted by March at 01:55 AM
June 17, 2005
Things I Love About My Wife: #1
In the summer of 2002, a few days after Jennifer and I started dating (and before most people even knew) I found myself paralyzed as I woke up. Sleep paralysis is not uncommon for me, though it occurs far less than it used to. But it can be very scary, and often once I actually wake up I'll react very abruptly. It was no different on this particular morning. When I finally was able to move I grabbed the nearest object and pulled myself up. That's when I realized where I was... I turned and looked at Jennifer, whose face was now level with mine. And there she was, looking at me. How embarrassing. I began to explain, but there was no response. She just stared at me. I waved my hand around, I moved from side to side, and I even recreated my jolting reaction, just to see if there was any response whatsoever.
No, Jennifer didn't respond at all. She was fast asleep... asleep, but her eyes were open. Could she have gotten any cuter? Well, yes, but that's all right. The #1 (not in any particular order I should mention) thing I love about my wife is that sometimes she sleeps with her eyes open.
Posted by March at 12:23 PM
June 12, 2005
Seattle Times Storytelling
From today's Seattle Times:
It was wet and blustery for the University of Washington commencement ceremonies yesterday at Husky Stadium, but the students were not the slightest bit interested in wrapping things up early. After the commencement address by former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, UW President Mark Emmert took a voice vote: Stay to hear their names called and to walk across the dais, or head for shelter? The result wasn't even close. Cheers called for continuing.
Uh... that's a lovely story, but what was this reporter smoking? As a graduating student, I can quite confidently say that we were pretty much ALL interesting wrapping things up early. In fact, when asked, we screamed and shouted and made our wishes very clear. But the audience was the one screaming to continue, and so they did. Furthermore, the result seemed pretty close to me, but if there was a winner, it was the students. They continued anyway.
The result? The students simply started leaving. I stuck around to walk on stage, but I was in the second row of the B.A. candidates. There were a LOT more behind me, and as I walked off the stage, I headed for the exit. No way was I sticking around any further. My hat was ruined, by clothes soaked. My parents bought an Alumni shirt for me while they were waiting to meet me, so at least I could be partially dry. It was crazy, and once it started raining, absolutely nobody was paying any attention to what was going on. We just wanted out of there. Oh, but we weren't the SLIGHTEST bit interested in wrapping things up early.
What happens when the UW graduation doesn't fit the story the Times wants to tell? They tell it anyway.
Posted by March at 04:03 AM
June 11, 2005
Hartz Hurtz: Update
Hartz is going to pull their product from the market, according to news sources. Here's an article from King 5 News, thanks to March's mom.
The other night, Michael and I were in the store looking for a product for the cats. They only had Hartz. I refuse to buy any of their products now. I don't care if they change their formula. They're not getting my money ever again.
A quote from the article:
"...these are effective products," Dr. Albert Ahn of Hartz said in 2002. - Yeah, when your cat is dead, you certainly won't have a flea and tick problem any longer! Geesh. They obviously care only about money. They've known these products are harmful for years, with tens of thousands of people sending in complaints. They've even paid vet bills for people whose cats experienced severe problems. Yet they still refuse to admit their product is dangerous. Ridiculous. I'm glad something is being done about it now, though.
Posted by December at 12:42 AM