Painting Projects Done for 2011

Okay, finally got the painting projects done.  Back room done in a goldenrod I picked up at a garage sale.  I was surprised when Dan didn't want it mixed with a white base to lighten it.

When we got done it resembled a Chinese restaurant.  I had some gold paint, so decided to fix those big, empty closet doors.  Dan liked it so much, he had me do more on the blank walls with the north window.  Now it looks like a grove in here.  I was going to do small birds or doves, but we thought with the gold paint it was fancy enough.

It's just fast and freehand, but it is rather like reading in a grove before we turn out the lights.

Price Comes Home

Price in the bathtub, drinking soapy water from the bidet bowl.  Maybe he needs the soap to knock back the tumors.

Price purring on his cat bed.  He came home today.  The vet could only get him to eat tuna -- until he saw his own canned catfood.

Now he's lying in front of the woodstove, sucking up the heat.  He's still passing blood, but that's to be expected -- he had a lot of blood vessels cut.  The gut that was removed should have been the size of a man's little finger, but was two inches across, it was so crammed with the feces he couldn't pass.  The vet said he'd never operated on any animal so ill.

We hope we get to have the old guy a bit longer!

Silver Lining

Waiting for the Clallam Bay bus (or the bus that would GET me to the Clallam Bay bus) and wandering around downtown Port Angeles looking at decorations and browsing shiny shops, I picked up an irresistibly appetizing odor.

It led me to the Soho Asian Bistro, near the ferry terminal, across from the downtown bus terminal.

I just wanted something light and warming. So the very helpful waitress made some suggestions.

(Clockwise) shows what she brought: paper-skin rolls, a very smooth and nutty peanut sauce sprinkled with large peanut fragments, a rather fragrant tea and a rich, dark hot-and-sour soup.

The soup is homemade. It tastes as though they've roasted the bones, which is the right way to make the stock. I'd like it a bit hotter -- both ways -- but it was well-balanced, and very soothing on a cold winter's day.

I didn't know the paper-skin rolls were made with shrimp, and when I bit into one of the two big juicy prawns wrapped with the fresh lettuce and rice stick noodles, it was a very tasty surprise. The rolls were very filling, and I took one home to Dan.

The waitress -- who I think was one of the owners -- said that they had pho but they didn't have beef tendon. They sometimes ate it themselves in the kitchen, but the local restaurant clientele didn't seem open to it.

I love beef tendon; I told her it tasted like nomlish little dumplings (I didn't say "nomlish"). She said an -- ahem -- "American" friend found the texture "weird." They didn't think they could serve bubble tea, either. She agreed that the taro-root flavor was the best one.

I told them they should have Challenge Nights.

Next time I'm in town, I'm ordering pho and I'm asking them to add beef tendon if they have it.

The Soho Asian Bistro serves Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese dishes. It has a bar, which I didn't try. The prices are moderate, and the servings are large and handsome, like the rooms. It would stand up in Seattle or San Franciso.

We ended up finishing up the roll at the Clallam Bay Inn with Mac and Jack Stout. Perfect.