Back to Work

The first day back to work after a long weekend or a vacation always proves brutal. You wake up in the morning, glance at your evil alarm clock, and groan. At least, this is what I did this morning. Actually, I do this almost every morning, but I definitely groaned more loudly today. More like a growl. Like an angry lion.

As I often do, I stopped by Famima!! this morning on my way to work. While I do love Famima!!, it doesn't really excite me quite as much as the exclamation points may indicate. Those are just part of the name. Tee hee! For the Famima!!-unitiated, it's basically an awesome Asian-influenced, higher quality 7-Eleven with a great modern design sense. Famima!! sells hot dogs. They just happen to be Nathan's Famous hot dogs.

I love the iced coffee at Famima!! because (1) it's good, (2) it's cheap, and (3) the Torani syrup is free. Plus, for the month of August, it was only $1! Since the Famima!! girl knows me, though, she gave it to me today for $1 anyway. Shh!

Aside from iced coffee, one of my fave things to get at Famima!! is brown rice sushi. Famima!! also has a huge selection of American and Japanese frozen treats (everything from Snickers ice cream bars to mochi ice cream), perfect for this sweltering heat...if you're not dieting, of course.

Speaking of not dieting, this sign made me drool.

I might have to splurge tomorrow and have a cream puff for lunch. Just a cream puff. Nothing else. That'll be the only way to keep the calories down. Oof.

When I got to the office, I saw one of my least favorite things:

Few things are a bigger downer than having voicemail staring you down when you first walk into your office. Big boo on this. Major boo. Ginormous boo. Seriously, if you are my friend and you need to reach me in the morning, don't leave me a voicemail. Send me an e-mail. Seeing the red light on my phone makes my anxiety level skyrocket. There's just no need for voicemail before 11 a.m.

After I put out some fires and regained my composure, I realized that today was going to be a yummy lunch day, so I worked with a smile and cranked out some nasty cease-and-desist letters until noonish, when 10 co-workers and I headed to Adoro Mexican Grille to celebrate BPLJ's birthday (again).

If you're a downtown worker bee, you might be familiar with Tacomole, a Mexican fast food place that used to reside in the food court at the 7th+Fig. All of a sudden, Tacomole went poof! And we were left Mexican food-less. Well, it's time to cheer because it's back...only in a more expensive, more upscale form. The owners of Tacomole shuttered most or all of their multiple fast food locations to launch Adoro, a "real" restaurant that still continues to live at 7th+Fig, just on a different level from the food court.

Two platters of nachos were ordered for the table. (I ate a paltry three chips.) I had the Ensalada Catalina, which featured a fresh grilled mahi mahi fillet on a bed of mixed greens, pears, caramelized nuts, and balsamic dressing. Talksa ordered the Enchiladas Suizas, while another co-worker to my left opted for the flautas.

The three chips I had were tasty but really only a slight notch above good homemade nachos. My grilled mahi mahi was fantastic, though -- crispy on top, well-seasoned, and tender, flaky, and mild, as mahi mahi should be. The greens, while nothing outstanding, complemented the fish decently.

Our meal ended with some birthday flan with Patron whipped cream and strawberries for BPLJ.

Happy birthday (again), BPLJ!