Best 18 Hours EVER!!!

So yesterday I went with Karen and Ellen to The Sitar, because I had a gift certificate. We arrived about 6:30ish. We received our food promptly at 8:00. The Taj Mahal was a bit too hoppy for me, but at least it committed to a taste. The vegetable samosas were the best I've had, and the sambar soup (a thick lentil soup with mixed vegetables from Southern India) was pretty good and a nice change up from what would have been a too salty mulligatawny (ask the ladies 'bout that). I was very pleased with my lamb koorma too. The kheer was probably the worst I've had. It was like cottage cheese in sweet cream, not a rice pudding with cardamom accents like it should be.

Then we hit the "boats" in Council Bluffs, Horseshoe Casino ("Where It's Always Been About the Gambler") to be exact. But before we rushed into the casino to give them our money, I locked my keys in the car, with it running. Yes, yes, I know I'm a genius. An hour later, thanks to Ellen's AAA, a pert fellow ope'd (ln 14) the car for us. With this magnificent stroke of luck, I hit the slots, or should I say they hit me. Oh well, what is ten dollars on a memorable evening such as that.

So that is just the first six hours. There were four signs, two on each side of the street in front of our apartment, that said there was no parking allowed at 6 am Saturday by order of the Lincoln City Roads Department (or something like that). Do you see where this is going?

So when I went outside at 10:40 there were no cars on the section of the street where I'd parked. D'oh. I wish the signs had been more explicit about the entire side of the street or that they had put more signs up for each spot.

Now we wait for Karen and her lasagna; Ellen has already made a beautiful strawberry-rhubarb pie, and I have made some mashed potatoes and am ready to put Alton Brown's Chocolate Ice Cream recipe to the test, adding some melted peanut butter for the flavor. There's also a watermelon, that Mother Nature brought to the table.

Then tonight Wendy and I partake of the "Sodium Pups."