But enough won't, so that slime is rewarded on
balance, especially in the short run. Harking
back to an earlier post, it's especially galling on
the social level, where someone's short-term gain
is someone else's long-term loss.

Indeed. Sometimes it all works out in the end... Admittedly, not as
often or as well as one might like....

One can take the tack that those who are fooled
deserve to be fooled, but to me that's sort of
arid as well as passing a buck that should be
addressed by culture as a whole.

So, not only was Pearl mediocre, it had billed itself as

wonderful...

that IS a comedown...

It was. But it wasn't far.

You mean, distance from where you were staying...?

As in downstairs.

Convenience ruled... but might not again...?

It was a strange hotel and a strange restaurant in
the strange hotel. Next time, probably not there.
After all, Xochi is in the Marriott Marquis a few
blocks away, and though the rooms there cost maybe
$50 more, it might be worth it.

By the way, the free drink coupon that the desk clerk
promised was good for two was in fact good for only one.

Sounds like he should have given you two coupons...

Correct, both by my lights and by the rules.

Young and inexperienced....? Or might it have been intentional...?

I asked the same question. If he was manager,
I could see him trying to pad his bottom line.

In which case perhaps it would have been reportable...?

To whom?

Corporate...?

Which might punish him by cutting him into the
profit-sharing scheme. Thinking corporate will be
on the side of the consumer is, well, unrealistic.

I guess one can't help what one's parents named one... ;) Did your
Irina at least show up...?

She never responded, and one of the original yeses
didn't show up for either dinner or the meeting. We
ended up not having a quorum, but we faked it.

Sounds like you either need new blood, or a lower quorum... ;)

It's a problem - the committee used to be populated
with working musicians, and now it's being taken over
by busy celebrity musicians (Marcus Thompson and
Irina Muresanu are the two I referenced in this
conversation), which adds to prestige value but
doesn't add to the effectiveness. It's not that they
are lazy or don't mean well, just that there are other
demands on their time.

pressure - just a kind of reluctance and queasiness.

Well within your capabilities, if not within your comfort zone or favorite thing to be doing....

Almost everything I did was well within my
theoretical capabilities, and the two or three
times they weren't, well, it was horrible if
only for a couple seconds at a time.

It helps when one can fake well.... ;)

The proliferation of tape recorders was a
terrible thing.

Capturing for posterity as they did, all the glitches....

I eventually learned to play it safe for the microphone,
but that seemed a little pointless.

Canoleo margerine... made only with canola oil... and does tend to act mostly like butter, if not tasting exactly like butter, but does taste

Oh, yeah, I've heard of that - maybe you or another
echo person brought it up.

like something good instead of something nasty.... And also didn't give
me the usual margarine side-effects... I was getting it at Wegmans,
though not all the stores carried it... mostly I was buying it for MJ,
as it was lactose-free which she needed, but did have it on hand here as well.... Haven't bought it now for quite a while, so not sure if it is still available or not....

Yeah, it was you who mentioned it.

Yup. :)

We didn't feel like venturing too far and decided to go back upstairs
to Piso 7. On our other visit I'd seen chamorro de cerdo en adobo on
the menu; the English subtitle said "garnished of pork with sauce," which sense none at all makes, and Lilli's phone translation program came up with something like "pig from Guam in chipotle," which was not much better.

Which explains the chamorro recipes attached to my messages... ;)

Yeah - the first time we went, they gave us just the
English menu, in which the word came out as "garnished,"
so the text read something like garnished of pork
with garnished of red onions and sauce sauce. That's
to say not really instructive.

What we got was a two-pound pork shank in a well-balanced not very hot ancho sauce, served with rice, beans, and sweet plantain slices. It
was as expected and beyond, pretty much the best dish I've ever had in Latin America, with the possible exception of a well-marbled rare

steak

in Buenos Aires. Lilli enjoyed the very tender and flavorful pork but really liked the rice and beans, which elated me. I got all the plantains, which were almost as sweet as regular bananas and served as
a needed accent to the pound plus of meat that I got. As a
well-trimmed serving should, this offered enough but not too much gristle and enough but not too much fat in addition. Thinking on

it, we

probably got a kilo or more all told.

Sounds lovely... :) Definitely plenty for the two of you to share... :)

Since the dish cost over $16, a fortune in Mexico, that
made sense.

For afters we had two offerings sourced from an esteemed local patisserie whose name I forget.
A chocolate mousse was surprisingly not very chocolaty though quite dark. The texture was a little on the gelatinized side. I'd grade it a pass to high pass; next time I'd give it a pass altogether.
A caramel cinnamon cheesecake was of fine, fluffy texture, bright flavor, and not too sweet. Magna cum laude.

Should you return, you'll know which to get... :)

There's plenty on the menu that would appeal to me; for
Lilli not so much. Often when I go out I order one Haxe
for two, which is generally understood. At the late
lamented Barfusser in Nuremberg, that got a smile and
an understanding nod from the otherwise poker-faced
waiter, who looked with dismay on our colleagues who
despite our cautioning them not to ordered the set
dinner for 6 for 4 people (and ended up leaving more
than half of it).

drink I'd never seen, Manzanita del Sol (bearberries of the sun), so I figured I'd try it, seldom encountering kinnikinnick berries, much
less a soda made out of them. The stuff tasted like a green Jolly Rancher but less interesting; it turns out that it's so named because
it contains a whopping 1% apple juice (manzanita also meaning little apple). It's a Pepsi product.

Something else to avoid... ;)

For various reasons.

... There is no feast that does not come to an end.

I might say that, but it's funny for you to say that.

Smoked pork chops
categories: CIA, main, sort of silly
servings: 6

6 Pork chops, 1" thick
2 c Wood chips
Cilantro, fresh chopped
Salt and pepper
1 oz Olive oil

Fabricate 1" thick pork chops and remove excess fat.
M's note - there's no such thing as excess fat.

Moisten the wood chips in cold water.

Marinate pork chops with spices, herbs and pepper
for 1 hr.

Pan-smoke the chops, for 3 to 5 min until they reach a
light yellow color. Grill the chops, finishing on a rack
in the oven at 375F if needed.

Source: CIA
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