Dumplings, noodles, and ex-bosses; a birthday dinner for Robert; and Oh, the Humanity!

~Friday~  Once again I drove to the Food Lion Park & Ride and caught a Wolfline bus. At first I got on the #1 Avent Ferry bus, which was in front of the #9 Greek Village, but after a minute or so, the bus driver looked up from her clipboard and into the rear view mirror said to me, “I’m not leaving for another nine minutes. You might want to hop on the 9.”

I was grateful for that, because I boarded the #9 to a very nice driver, who gave a sincere “Hello,” or “Good morning,” to riders, left right away, and didn’t chit-chat with the riders between stops. “What your step and have a nice day,” he said at each stop.


I had lunch with my ex-boss at a new place on Hillsborough Street called “David’s Dumpling and Noodle Bar,” which is where one of my work holiday parties is next Friday. It’s in the place that hasn’t had good luck maintaining businesses—formerly Darryl’s (for years at least), and after that, Red, Hot, & Blue, and not for long. Let’s see how this one does.

The good news is that the food (mine at least) was absolutely delicious. Jude and I both had their Hot & Sour soup, which I loved, and I had Pad Thai Shrimp, which was just yummy. It came with a small spring roll, which was also delicious. Jude had their Lemongrass Chicken, which I might have when I go there next Friday.

It was good to catch up with Jude; she filled me in on the details of the trip she won to Paris, and I’m so happy for her. She seems to really, really be enjoying retirement, which is so great.


I met Robert at Fishmongers in Durham, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner. He had a dozen oysters on the half-shell and some clam chowder, and we split a half-dozen of steamed little-neck clams. I had a salad and their sea scallops sauteed in garlic, butter, and beer.

Since it was Robert’s birthday (which is Monday) dinner, we had to have dessert, and we split their most delicious banana pudding. Yum. Yum. Yum.


We saw the 8:15 performance of Manbites Dog Theater‘s current play, “Oh, the Humanity and other exclamations.” I just loved this collection of five vignettes, three of the descriptions provided by Manbites Dog, two by me, and put in the order that I enjoyed them, starting with the one I enjoyed the most:

  1. A corporate spokesperson tries to explain a catastrophe
  2. A man and woman encounter ontological dilemmas on their way to a christening (or is it a funeral?)
  3. A coach looks back on a losing season
  4. A lady and a gentleman in an interesting slant on The Dating Game
  5. An attempt to get “inside” of a missing photo of a long-ago war

As always, Manbites Dog presents compelling and thoughtful theater. I was practically in tears, laughing, through most of the first one, as well as through a lot of the second one.

I like how the first, third and fourth one somewhat explored “genre-bending,” in that to some extent or another you did not hear what you would expect to hear, or hear something the way you would expect to hear it, in the given situation, so a bit of a rhetoric play going on there, too.

As I said, loved, loved, loved it! If you’ve never been to Manbites Dog Theater, or it’s been a while, do yourself a favor and go see this show. It’s running through Saturday, December 18, 2011. More info and tickets at the Manbites Dog Theater website.

I thought about dropping by The Borough on the way home, but a quick review of my calorie intake for the day made me think, “Save the calories. Save the money,” and I drove straight home instead.


If you’re a technology geek, then you’ll love today’s holiday song entry. This isn’t my favorite song or anything. It’s interesting to me, though, as it’s holiday music done by a band playing nothing about iPads for instruments.

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