For R's Day, Dad brought a giant 20" meat lovers pizza; Mom cooked coconut chicken, mushroom "alfredo" pasta, & zucchini; I ordered fried dumplings (x2), General Tso's bean curd, & orange beef from Chinese take-out; and R brought a mocha cheesecake (kinda mousse-like & very yummy).
R said she liked the gifts we got her: a gold-tone, reversible picture frame by Rachel Joy/Rachel Taylor from Marshalls & an extra-large floral scarf/shawl from Aldi. ^^
Today we celebrated both R & Sara's birthdays together. R brought avocado sushi (x5!), veggie lo mein, & chicken curry; Sara gave her red velvet macaroons & hazelnut Turkish delight (mm). For dinner, Mom picked up Domino's pizza (2-topping large for $6): pineapple & onion w/ robust tomato sauce, roasted red pepper & onion w/ bbq sauce, & pineapple & mushroom w/ alfredo sauce (Sara's request which turned out to be pretty tasty). For dessert, we served Aldi's bundt cake sampler (w/ 1/4 vanilla, chocolate, cinnamon, & lemon cakes) & mint chocolate chip ice cream (R's fav).
In addition to the sweets, Sara also gave R a pretty, blue-green "crystal" bead bracelet, a large apple blossom & rose scented candle, & 2 lovely ceramic flower wall ornaments (w/ magnets) from Target's Opalhouse. R&J gave Sara an adorable glass "dire" penguin from Hobby Lobby (which she'll take to work), and I gave her an antique/Victorian-style picture frame from Marshalls (which she agreed matched her home aesthetic). ^^
Finally tried Chef Larry's, and it was delicious! Definitely lived up to all the hype we'd heard from many people. Started w/ an appetizer of roast duck & leg of lamb (omg so tender, flavorful, & yummy!) in a spiced pear glaze sauce (mopped it all up w/ the table biscuits ;). Then came soup: tomato soup & cream of broccoli & cheese (both tasted fresh & natural, though not particularly impressive). Then salad: mixed greens w/ house vinaigrette (like ginger dressing x raspberry vinaigrette). For entrees, Mom ordered salmon (cooked & seasoned well), while I ordered filet of beef (again, so tender, flavorful, & delish!) in a demi glaze sauce (similar to the appetizer's), w/ mashed potatoes (the best I've ever had, full of garlic/butter/cheese flavor) & seasoned vegetables (zucchini & green beans). The appetizer was $6 and the entrees $15 each, pretty reasonable for such a high-quality meal. We'll definitely come back again and recommend to others!
A few days ago, a local real estate agency called me and told me that I was the winner of their prize drawing, which I entered at the Sea Turtle Festival. I was surprised and happy, though I suspected that I was one of the winners because I indicated in my entry form that I was interested in their services.
Today, Dad and I picked up lunch at Sonny's ($5 special: sliced/pulled pork sandwich meal w/ drink & side) and shopped at Aldi. While out, I stopped by the real estate agency to pick up my prize and was shocked to learn that I really was the one winner of a really big gift basket worth $150! :O But first, I met with the realtor who had called me, and she asked about my interest in an agent. I had to tell her that I had already chosen another agent (from the same office), so I felt kinda bad that this promotional prize drawing was a bit of a waste for her (besides getting contact information from plenty of other potential customers). After that we took a photo together, which was posted on their FB. ^^;;
Here's the awesome gift basket:
Before opening...
...and after opening.
The "basket" is a canvas/cloth hamper/tray with wooden handles that fall out of their slots easily. (I dropped the whole thing the first time I lifted it. >_>;)
Contents:
1 bottle of Double Dog Dare merlot, 2 cans of Barefoot Wine Spritzers Red Sangria, 2 plastic turtle-design wine glasses, 2 plastic turtle-design cups w/ lids & straws.
1 Nantucket Bike Basket Co. bicycle basket, 1 plastic sunglasses, 1 plastic sports bottle, 2 orange foam stress balls, 4 unidentifiable items (we can't figure out what they are!), 1 mermaid tail keychain; 1 cheetah plushie, 1 solar-powered dancing sunflower toy (broke part of it when I dropped the basket -_-).
Perfect weather to walk around downtown Tville for the Sea Turtle Festival. Looked at various vendors, sponsors, and artists' tents, entered a couple of prize drawings, skipped the food trucks but stopped to try the new cafe Crescent Coffee Company...
Iced mocha was very good and refreshing. The cheddar bacon biscuit was exactly as it sounds, a bit underwhelming but good. The blueberry french toast was more like a bread pudding, but it was really good.
Stayed for the IBEX Puppetry Endangered Species Parade (created by Jim Henson's daughter). The puppets are beautiful and unique, similar to the ones used in The Lion King musical.
The Illusionists - Live from Broadway was a fantastic show!! Not only did it feature 6 magicians, each with their own style, it was also super funny. We had such a great time, and the (discount) tix were more than worth it.
The Deductionist Colin Cloud (Scottish) had an audience member multiply 3 random ppl's 3 random #s and came up w/ 13375219742 which was revealed to be 1337 ppl in the audience, on 5/2/19, at 7:42 PM. Whoa! Later, he had 3 ppl pick a big word from his copy of Sherlock Holmes and "deduced" each one (problem, practical, & birthday, i think?). Lastly, he observed ppl's faces/hands and deduced their occupation, the names of their friend/mother/pet in their head, & the name of the celebrity they picked (Oprah), whose picture was already inside the envelop on stage?? Mind-blowing.
The Trickster Paul Dabek (British) was hilarious, so quick & witty. He folded a US $50 bill & unfolded a MEX P100 bill, then revealed the $50 bill inside a whole banana, inside a paper bag, inside a box that an audience member held at the start of the set. Later, he did a funny skit with a kid, "teaching" him how to be a magician (tricking him), set to William Tell Overture.
The Sorceress Sabine van Diemen (Hollander) "walked" thru a steel wall w/ her hands cuffed thru 2 holes in the wall (briefly behind a sheet, of course). Later, she tore up a newspaper, folded it together, then unfolded it whole again. Lastly, she did "one of the fastest escapes in magic": she was tied up, put in a sack, & locked in a chest. After her assistants did a couple of fancy flips, one of them stood over the chest & lifted up a sheet for 1 sec, and when it came down, it was Sabine standing there instead! She opened the locks, chest, & sack to reveal the assistant. Pretty cool.
The Daredevil Jonathan Goodwin (Welsh) put a live scorpion in his mouth, taped it over, & had an audience member slap him until he got out of handcuffs, which he did in about 20 sec. Later, he was strapped into a strait jacket, hung upside down, & given 1 min to get out of the jacket before he would fall into a row of (apparently real) bear traps, which of course he did. Later, he demonstrated his skills w/ a crossbow, shooting smaller targets until he shot the thin edge of a newspaper (took him 2 tries). Then, he put on a blindfold & just w/ Sorceress ringing a bell, aimed to shoot a balloon over her head. He missed a couple of times then hit it. But then they removed the target & revealed that the female assistant had been inside the box the whole time & hadn't been hit by any of the arrows, even the "missed" ones. Lastly, they set up a series of crossbows aimed at each other to trigger a super-fast series of bolts, ending w/ one shot straight at Daredevil's chest. It was only a split second from Sorceress firing the 1st arrow to Daredevil catching the last arrow just before it hit his chest!
The Manipulator An Ha Lim (South Korean) was intro'd as a world champion at the "Olympics of Magic" & did a long routine of "conjuring" a seemingly endless supply of multi-colored playing cards into his hands (he had a long coat but short sleeves). It was seamless & very impressive. The final act of the show was him laying out a deck of cards on a table & turning them over to reveal that they had changed into cards of The Illusionists, their logo, the American flag, & finally "I ♥ Melbourne". Very cool & cute.
The Unusualist Raymond Crowe (Australian) was also really funny. He had 2 audience members on stage & used ventriloquism to give the big guy a high/squeaky/giggly/scared voice and the nice lady a low/gravelly/demonic/murderous voice. lol He had whole conversations w/ all 3 character voices & was fast, seamless, & hilarious. He had them mime opening an invisible deck of cards, picking a card out, then tossing it to him, where a large pack of cards just appeared in his hand(?!), and the selected card was facing the other direction. Later, he took an usher's jacket, put it on a hanger, made it "come to life", and "danced" w/ it around the stage. It really looked like the jacket was floating up/around, dancing w/ him, & even playing w/ him & pulling him around or slapping him. Really neat & amusing. Lastly, he did a shadow puppet show w/ his hands, choreographed to "It's a Wonderful World" & changing his hands to Louis Armstrong singing, various animals, & even a baby's hand grabbing onto their parent's hand. It was impressive & quite beautiful.
