I purchased the entertainment center on Wednesday, 11/28. The folks at The Salvation Army had given me a phone number of a guy named John who is not associated with The Salvation Army, but who delivers furniture for people who have no other way to get it home. I called him immediately on Wednesday and we made plans to do it that afternoon. He called me later and said he couldn’t do it that day and would do it on Thursday. Then, he called me on Thursday to say he couldn’t do it that day, but would do it Friday. I already told the story of how he called Friday to cancel, because it was raining. So, I called him this morning to see when he could do it today. He never called back.
Eric had the genius idea that we could get it into the RV. I knew it wouldn’t fit, but there’s no use arguing with him, so we drove the RV down to Pacific Beach. First, we stopped at BRUEGGER’S BAGELS to get a bite of lunch. While we were standing on line, our friends – Susan and Andrew – called to let us know they were at one of our favorite restaurants – HOUSTON’S – having one of our favorite meals – their veggie burger. It was so good to hear from them and it made me so nostalgic for New York!
We ate our bagels which, while not nearly as delicious as a veggie burger at Houston’s, was really, really good. I like to get a muenster cheese bagel (toasted) with bacon scallion cream cheese. There's really no bacon in there, but more like a bacon flavoring, which is a smoked flavor. Eric likes the jalapeno cheddar bagels with plain cream cheese (he's a purist!). Then we headed over to THE SALVATION ARMY THRIFT STORE to pick up the entertainment center. There was a young man who got it onto a hand cart and tried to help Eric load it into the back of the RV. Another guy, who was actually picking up a piece of furniture himself, came to assist us. It only took about 2 minutes to see it wasn’t going to work – no way, no how.
So, I went inside and told them that we couldn’t fit it in our RV and the guy who they had recommended to us was not returning our calls. They gave me another number of a father/son team (Chuck and Quinn). I called and spoke to Chuck, and he was at the store 20 minutes later with his power-lifting son, Quinn. He was a very muscular guy (the kind of guy you know works out at the gym 2 hours each day). He was also wearing a t-shirt that said something about "Power Lifting" on the back, so I knew that he and his father would be able to do it with little or no assistance from Eric (which made me happy, since I didn’t want him to hurt his back).
They got that thing on their tiny pick-up truck in no time and followed us in the RV back to our apartment. They got it out of the truck on their hand truck and got it upstairs in no time at all. As soon as it was in the apartment, I left to run some errands and Eric got busy. By the time I got back, about a half hour later, he had transferred the TV, DVD player and cable box onto the wall unit, moved it into place and took away the boxes that previously held the TV. I was impressed! It really looks good and it has a shelf for the DVD player, the cable box and then three shelves on the side with a glass door, for stereo equipment.
We didn’t have much time after that, so we both took a quick shower and got dressed to go to dinner with our new friends, Bonnie, Michael and their 9-year-old daughter, Nicole. Bonnie is our realtor, and helped us out a lot in finding an apartment. She is also one of my cousin Audrey’s best friends, which is how we made the connection.
Bonnie and I have been emailing and talking on the phone since May or June, but we finally met tonight. We met them at 5:30pm at THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY in the FASHION VALLEY MALL.
The place was packed when we got there. Eric dropped me off and went to get a spot, while I went inside to look for them and to put our names in. They gave me one of those things that lights up and flickers when your table is ready and I went outside to wait for Eric. When Eric arrived, we went to stand inside.
We were looking at everyone who came in, and I was wondering if I would recognize Bonnie from her picture, which is in her emails, since she is a realtor. We saw a man, woman and young girl come in and Eric said, “I think that’s them.” They went right up to the hostess and put their names in. We went right up behind them and looked right at them and then I said to Eric that I didn’t think they were looking for anyone. The woman took her cell phone out of her pocketbook and Eric said, “Let’s see if your phone rings!” Then, the man turned to Eric and said, “Are you Eric?” Eric was right! I don’t know how he knew, but he said he recognized Bonnie from meeting her Mom (at the NYPD (New York Pizza Department) restaurant). There’s definitely a resemblance!
We soon sat down and we ordered a sampling of appetizers to start, which was four huge plates filled with eight different things. These are the eight appetizers we had a sampling of:
1. CHICKEN POT STICKERS -- Oriental Dumplings Pan-Fried in the Classic Tradition. Served with Our Soy Dipping Sauce;
2. BUFFALO BLASTS® -- Chicken Breast, Cheese and Our Spicy Buffalo Sauce all Stuffed in a Spiced Wrapper and Fried until Crisp. Served with Celery Sticks and Blue Cheese Dressing;
3. AVOCADO EGGROLLS -- Chunks of Fresh Avocado, Sun-Dried Tomato, Red Onion and Cilantro Deep Fried in a Crisp Chinese Wrapper. Served with a Tamarind-Cashew Dipping Sauce.
4. FRIED CALAMARI -- Served with Garlic Dip and Cocktail Sauce;
5. TEX MEX EGGROLLS -- Spicy Chicken, Corn, Black Beans, Peppers, Onions and Melted Cheese. Served with Avocado Cream and Salsa;
6. HOT SPINACH AND CHEESE DIP -- Spinach, Artichoke Hearts, Shallots, Garlic and a Mixture of Cheeses Served Bubbly Hot with Tortilla Chips and Salsa;
7. VIETNAMESE SHRIMP SUMMER ROLLS -- Delicate Rice Paper Rolled Around Asparagus, Shiitake Mushrooms, Carrots, Rice Noodles, Green Onion, Cilantro and Shrimp. Served Chilled and not Fried; and
8. QUESADILLA -- Grilled Flour Tortilla Filled with Melted Cheese, Green Onions and Chiles. Garnished with Guacamole, Salsa and Sour Cream.
Eric and Michael have a lot in common, since they were both Steamfitters in New York. They both also have a great love of classic rock. There was no lull in the conversation as we they discussed music, work, and the fact that we both moved from New York to San Diego!
Bonnie and Michael told us the story of how they came from New York to San Diego, ten years ago. They traveled across the country, too, but went in a car and camped out a lot. They traveled for seven weeks and also saw a lot of the United States, including white water rafting on the Colorado River! It’s really the only way to go from one coast to another. You get to see the country while accomplishing a move! We highly recommend it!
After all those appetizers, you can imagine that we were hardly hungry for our entrees, but we had ordered them, so we ate what we could and all took home leftovers! I had the HERB CRUSTED FILET OF SALMON (Fresh Salmon with a Delicious Lemon Sauce, Asparagus and Mashed Potatoes). Eric had the SPICY CASHEW CHICKEN (A Very Spicy Mandarin-Style Dish with Green Onions and Roasted Cashews, served over Rice).
Bonnie had SEARED TUNA TATAKI SALAD (Pacific Albacore Tuna Lightly Seared and Served Rare with Avocado, Tomato and Mixed Greens Tossed with Wasabi Vinaigrette). Michael had PASTA BOLOGNESE (A Rich Meat Sauce Slowly Simmered with Porcini Mushrooms, Wine, Garlic and Herbs) and Nicole had a hamburger with French fries.
Everything was really good. I loved my salmon, it was cooked perfectly and the asparagus and mashed potatoes were perfect, but I wanted to leave room for dessert! We decided to share two pieces of their fabulous cheesecake -- ADAM'S PEANUT BUTTER CUP FUDGE RIPPLE (Creamy Cheesecake Swirled with Caramel, Peanut Butter, Butterfingers® and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups®) and DUTCH APPLE CARAMEL STREUSEL (Our Original Cheesecake, Baked Apples, Caramel and Brown Sugar Cinnamon Walnut Streusel). WOW! They were both unbelievably rich and delicious. We left stuffed, but happy!
We will be seeing Bonnie, Michael and Nicole again soon, because Audrey is visiting from Vegas during the holidays and they are going to bring her over to the apartment, so they can all see our new place! We’re really looking forward to seeing them all again. It was a fun night.
When we got home we just relaxed and watched TV – in our new entertainment center. It really fits the wall perfectly and we’re very happy with how it looks. I will take pictures as soon as we get it all set up!
Because it took us so long to get the entertainment center home, I never had a chance to go to PIER 1 IMPORTS, so I may go tomorrow or Monday. There’s not much more we need, except a TV for the master bedroom (I already have the TV stand) and a dinette set for the dining room. I would like to find another chair for the living room, so I can’t wait to check out Pier 1 IMPORTS!