Chinese Restaurants and Food for the Road

If you read this earlier today and it seems different, well, it is. I wrote it quickly when I was tired and it later seemed garbled to me so on with new revision.

We had a little family dinner at Shanghai Noble House in Portland. It was good company, good stories, and good memories of our Dad. Dad treated us all to dinner there often. The people who run it are cool, sometimes funny and entertaining as they were last night. Years ago we had a post-mortem dinner there for our father. Dad requested no service after he was gone so instead we had a sit down dinner at Noble House for friends and family. We fudged, it really was more of an Irish wake but I'm sure he wouldn't have been surprised. And we didn't bring him along, he stayed in his container at my sister Pam's with the cats. We saw people some of us hadn't seen in forever. People cried, laughed, and told stories about him. Oh Dad, you missed a fine party. And at the event and the next day in the car going home I swear to God I could smell his personal scent, part little old man and part shaving cream. Peculiar eh? Still, eating there now makes me happy not sad, and brings back those memories of many dinners there with him. Thanks Monte and Pam for treating us last night.

Now it's time to head home again. I am relieved to see the weather is mellowing some. Pouring rain is no fun to drive through. I will get fueled up and find something road worthy to eat at the grocery store. I must have been hungry in a former life as I am unable to travel without taking enough food to last for a week. Car, plane, train, it doesn't matter, and water. Maybe I am just neurotic. If I were to crash in a ditch I could live for a week on the granola bars, water, chocolate, nuts, chocolate, deli chicken legs, chocolate, more water, carrots, and apples I haul along. Did I mention chocolate? Oh yes, and Tom's of Maine's Silly Strawberry toothpaste if I got really desperate. Vitamin pills, chocolate.