It Was A Good Day...

Thanks! - I want to thank all my friends for all of their birthday wishes. All day today my e-mail, cell phone (both with calls and texts), my instant messenger and my facebook page were blowing up with birthday greetings. I'm not trying to sound extra or popular. I owe it all to technology and the facebook birthday reminder feature. Even though I have no friends around here, I think that if I had a wedding or I died, lots of people would come and that's nice to know. It warms the heart, especially when it pours rain all day long. Thanks God.

Fez - I'm all for trying new things and the Moroccan (located in Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, between Algeria and Western Sahara) restaurant we went to was really cool. I loved the food and the atmosphere of the place. It was small and dark and moody. There were rugs/sheets covering the walls, ceiling, and floor. We sat on low couches with tons of pillows and ate off of a large golden tray with our hands. Let me walk you through the courses of the 'Fez Feast,' which I devoured.

1. Harira (Traditional hearty soup flavored with tomato and lentils) - It was yummy. We ate with huge wooden spoons. Good times.
2. Salads (CARROT SALAD...Carrots, garlic, onion, white vinegar, oil and special spices. EGGPLANT SALAD...Eggplant slowly simmered in oil, special spices, tomato, garlic and onion. Served cold. GREEN SALAD...Tomato, cucumber, sweet pepper, garlic, onion, vinegar, oil and special spice) - We had all three with traditional Moroccan bread. You use your hands so it got messy real quick. I wasn't a fan of the Eggplant.
3. Bastilla (Sweet, seasoned pie in the best Moroccan tradition. Baked layers of thin pastry sheets (ouarqa). Stuffed with minced chicken, almonds and saffron. Sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar. - As weird a combination as this sounds it was really really good. My favorite food of the evening.
4. Lemon & Olive Chicken It was your basic chicken with lemon and olive seasoning, nothing new here. It was really tender and fell off the bone.
5. Lamb with Honey & Almonds So yummy, plain and simple. Pretty messy/sticky, oh well, that's why my napkin was a small towel.
6. Vegetable Couscous I'm not a huge fan of any couscous, so I left most of this dish to my parents.
7. Hot Herbal Mint Tea Best tea I've ever had, hands down.
8. Moroccan Pastries I don't know what the hell these were, but mine had a candle on it!

The highlights of the evening were the Fez-wearing waiter and the group washing of hands performed before the meal. It would be a great place for a small group of friends to go or a fun date. For you smokers, they have hookahs too!

Gifts - I got some money from friends and relatives. I got a paycheck from Time Inc. and SchoolSports in the mail today too! Shannon got me a clock. It's so fucking money, you have no idea!

Annually - Bad things happen on this date throughout history. Some eerie examples...1979 - 3-mile Island nuclear accident...1982 - First NCAA Women's Basketball Championship (eventually gives way to WNBA, worst league ever!)...1964 - 9.2 earthquake strikes Alaska, the strongest ever to hit North America...1766 - Mt. Vesuvius erupts, again...1969 - Eisenhower dies...2005 - aftershocks frighten Indonesia...I think other volcanoes have erupted on this day too, but I can't find them right now. Also annually my dad takes a picture of me. I sit in the same wooden rocking chair, in the same corner of my room. I know have 23 pictures like this. It's fun to look at. I got from little tiny Steve to huge Steve that is bigger than the chair!

the bottom line: Don't be anywhere near a fault line or volcano on March 28, just be near me!