Man Versus Food

Have you heard of "Man Versus Food"? That Travel Channel reality series hosted by Adam Richman where he goes to different American cities to take on the challenge - outrageously massive amount of food to be consumed within a specific time period?

Well out here in the wonderful foodie town of San Francisco, a Vietnamese restaurant has thrown down the challenge to anyone who can down a 4-lb pho (Vietnamese soup). It's called The PHO GARDEN CHALLENGE.

Click on the link of Pho Garden Challenge to make you understand this competetive eating.

So today, September 26, my wonderful husband and his daring co-workers set out to take on the challenge. Five of them signed up for the challenge. The object of the challenge is to finish all the noodles and the meat within one hour. Check the webside of Pho Garden to see how big the bowl is. Just the bowl size is pretty intimidating. However, the 4-lb pho hits about midway thru the bowl.

Almost every table has someone taking the challenge. I think our table has the most aspirants. Five. While they were gulping down massive amount of rice noodles, tripe, beef, etc. we (me and others who did not take the challenge) were eating and taking pictures. I ordered just an appetizer because I simply couldn't take in food while watching these guys stuff themselves.

Once the bowl is halfway gone, you can ask the waiters/waitress to transfer the left-over to a smaller bowl. What this accomplishes is it drains out the liquid. You dont really want the noodles to keep on soaking in the liquid because then the noodles get fatter and it's harder to eat, you get full too quickly. One of the guys on our table kept complaining that he got 3-lb of noodles instead of 2. No need to finish the soup.

And guess what? My dear husband finished his bowl. Yay! His mug will be gracing their wall of fame where photos of successful eaters are displayed. Another one finished on our table. The entire restaurant clapped when husband finished. No one else from the other tables finish. Not when we were there. It was a challenge just to see husband suffering from overeating. He did not have any thing to eat. If you finish the bowl, your $22-dollar pho is free; otherwise pony up the $22.

Hubs co-worker asked, "Aren't you so proud of your husband?" I didn't really know her enough to reply, "Proud of what? His stupidity or his gluttony?"

My dear husband said I should have replied that to her.

Anyway, I think that's the beginning and the end of his competetive eating career.

Fall Ramblings (the first of many?)

oh its fall
the calendar told me so
but it doesn't feel it yet
too soon i guess


the tv schedule
said its fall
they started
showing their
new fall lineup
this week


house opened on monday
its usual timeslot
i wonder if it will
continue to
show at 8 pm


i watched it
but not with
my usual focus
it was two hours
and it was all
house


i guess the
lure of the show
lies with the
dynamics of
the entire cast


it bored me to watch
just house with
strangers


and yesterday
tuesday's lineup
cant remember
what i used to
watch on tuesdays
last fall


at 10 pm i tuned in
to the good wife
with nurse hathaway
and mr big


i liked the show
even hubby liked it
hope the writing
gets stronger
and the plot line
doesn't veer too
much to the left
or to the right


tonight i have to tune in
to my summer fave
the top chef
which of the brothers
stay and which one goes
or would they fight till
the finish

I'm Not Ready To Make Nice

~To you Mr. Executive driving your luxury car yapping into your blue tooth and barging your way in my lane infront of me without any signal or even a wave of your well manicured fingers to say thanks. Grrr!

~To you Soccer Mom, you must have confused the roadway as your household. I know you have princess in the back in her tutu sucking a tootsie pop and the prince needed to be picked up from karate class, but you see the empty space between me and the front car is Prius-sized and no amount of "because I say so" from your part would make your Sienna fit into it. Okay? I said so. Next time, I am not letting you into my lane. Remember that.

~To you Hip Hop Boy, listen here, I want to listen to my playlist, not yours so please roll up your windows or else I'll roll down my windows and put the volume to the max while I listen to some Barry Manilow.

~To your Mr. 18-Wheeler, you have the nerve to go above 55. This aint Arizona dude. Please stay a ways off my butt, you're making me nervous. Really.

[Can you tell I've been commuting a long time to collect all these grievances on the road?]

A Few Things I Want To Say

It saddened me to hear of Patrick Swayze's death, but people in the know say he has gone longer than earlier predicted. May he rest in peace.

I also heard about Maura Tierney's breast cancer battle. I hope she beats it.

And on a personal weather note, here we go again. I have a little obsession with our weather. I know, it just fascinates me. Our microclimate here in the bay area is so different from the tropical weather I grew up in. The tropical weather was so predictable. Half of the year is hot, the other half is wet, and if it's not one of those two, then it's warm and nice with a little breeze. But out here it's like an adventure. Take for instance our weather last Friday, the 11th, we had 97 and hot. The next day was 61 and cloudy and rainy. That is a difference of 36 degrees in one day. The weather keeps me on my toes.

The rain was very welcome around these parts, but there were lightning storm in other parts of the bay. Thankfully I did not see it, I was told it happened in the early hours of the morning, while I was fast asleep.

That's all I want to say right now. Let me do some surfing.

Have You Heard?

Funny gal Ellen Degeneres is reported to take the spot vacated by Paula Abdul on the judges panel on American Idol. Is this good news?

I was going back and forth on writing about this all day yesterday after I learned of the news, but not until my husband reacted to the news that the decision had been made. I was going to blog about this :)

"OMG", barked hubby after logging online last night. I was already surfing by this time. He asked me if I heard. He didn't have to complete the sentence for me to know what he's alluding to. Of course I knew. My husband does not watch American Idol on purpose. He had seen more than enough shows in the past to make him some sort of an "expert" on the subject, like we all are. I am the one that's been addicted to the show for a number of years now. I have the remote on days that AI is on so regardless of whether hubs was watching or not, he was in the same room each night AI was on.

Therefore, his negative reaction to the naming of Ellen as Abdul replacement is worth noting. He, however, doesn't care much for Paula Abdul. I don't either. As a matter of fact, whenever she speaks, I change the channel. Really. I don't have any patience to listen to her senseless babbling.

So let me break down to you why my hubs is against Ellen judging AI:

• She is not a singer.
• She is not a composer.
• She is not in the music biz.
• She will make a comedy out of the judging table.
• Therefore, she is totally unqualified to assume the post.

And my reasons why I love to have Ellen sitting on the panel:

• She will make more sense than Paula.
• She knows AI ~ being a fan of her show I know how much she loves AI.
• She will bring comic relief when the show gets boring, especially if this is a year when there are no outstanding contestants -- remember the season when Jordin Sparks won?
• I simply love her.
• Therefore, she is more than qualified to judge a singing contest.

So now that you know where we both stand and what's behind our stance, do you think Ellen is good for AI or not?

Because it's 09/09/09

I thought I needed to post something today because of the triple 9 date. I don't really know why I wanted, er needed to post today when the date simply has no relevance to me. I am not a follower of Numerology. I don't even know much about it. But somehow, the fact that the date will not come again in 100 years made this a significant day. I learned today that because of the date, someone rushed to get married.

Do I put much stock in numbers? Nope. As a matter of fact, I do not want to tell people my age, and that's a number. I don't want to give out my phone number. I am not superstitious about any number. Although, on Friday the 13th, I can be a bit cautious (hehehe).

Except for birthdays and anniversaries of people I love, I don't really remember dates. But there are numbers/ dates that stuck to my brain.

100 - I got a card from my boyfriend (now husband) on our first 100 days of dating. Pretty unique, I thought, since we gals are more into monthsaries, etc. But when he surprised me with this thoughtful card wishing me a wonderful 100 days and more days of togetherness to come, I knew he was a keeper.

2/20/1993 - The day I left for the United States to live permanently. Okay, at that time the word permanently was not in my consciousness; although my family were all in US.

6/28/1998 - My first day @ work here in my present job. My how time flies.

See that's all I remember. I can't even remember the time I became a US citizen. I don't remember what year it was.

So, there, that's the post. Very pathetic eh?