Bonding

I'm all but certain I've spoken about this before, but if I haven't, here it is:  when people get together, the expectation is to eat out.  People only gather together to eat homemade foods when specifically designated; otherwise, they expect to eat in a restaurant or other establishment in which they don't cook the food (shabu shabu restaurants excepted).  Tonight involved two such instances for me.

For dinner, I went with old friends to KangNam Pho House in Oakland.  The pho here was excellent, unlike that of Pho K & K closer to campus.  The beef was perfectly tender and thinly sliced, the noodles had the perfect al dente texture, and the broth was flavorful.  A handful of bean sprouts, a few slices of jalapeno, and some lime juice later, and this bowl was an amazing meal.  I know I eat a lot of sandwiches, but I could just as easily eat a lot of bowls of noodles in soup.  The opportunity just doesn't present itself to me as often.  We had a fabulous time talking about awkward cultural differences and science fiction.

 Later on in the evening, the news department had a party that was a little too successful.  Suffice to say that the party transcended success since we ended up at Late Night at Crossroads around 12:45 a.m.

Chicken strips and fries will cure most ailments - I'm 99 percent sure.  The fries were supposed to be garlic fries, but I had waited a ridiculously long time for the entire meal anyway, so I decided just to accept my fate.  It wasn't a bad decision since I was able to throw Tapatio on them and make them extraordinary.  The strips were nicely breaded - probably the most consistent thing I've had at the dining commons.  To be fair, all they have to do is take them out of some bag (presumably) and toss them in a fryer.  Still, I found them delicious, though other factors may have affected my tastes at that moment.  Mary, Sarah and Sybil were especially excellent company for this meal since they appreciate food just as much as I do.

The short of this post is that I ate out.  Twice.  I'm counting it as once, though, because I can't tag this post ATE OUT more than once.  Like I've continually said:  If you're eating out with friends, it's almost always going to be worthwhile.