First things first.  We heard from the "cruise connection" yesterday.  We are on the boat.  I repeat, we are on the boat.  So we are going on the cruise.  It was a weird feeling when I found out.  I really liked the idea of Shannon, Daryl, Leo and I driving around Ireland.  Or another plan we had was to take a credit on the tickets (we didn't yet know that was impossible) and Leo and I would drive around Napa during the harvest.  We even thought that maybe we could use the tickets for our honeymoon.  Oh well.

I'm also a little hesitant to get myself all excited about the cruise again.  Plus, there are other people who thought they were going and can't.  So, I almost feel guilty about having a spot.  But let's face it.  They knew how many cabins existed at the beginning.  The company certainly could have handled it better.  But it's their first time out.  Plus, I keep having to remind myself that it is free.

Note to Schwest:  here's the food I want at my bridal shower:

The size of each wedding participant denotes their importance, and does not in any way reflect their actual size.	Who wants a cookie that looks just like processed meat? Me! (Jeremy, this one is for you)(and maybe also for Regan)(you two will have to share)
Bridal Cake	Hot Dog Cookies

My father, who is - right now - half a mile from me, was supposed to pick up the air conditioners for the knuckle dragger last night (he didn't).  To avoid seeing him, I said that I had an "appointment". So I went downtown to meet Leo for dinner. We wanted to go to Canada, but both the bridge and the tunnel were so backed up that we ended up staying in Detroit.  We ended up going to Sweet Georgia Brown's.  I had never been there before.  And I loved it. 

I think the best part was how they took perfectly respectable vegetables like fresh spinach and asparagus, and they deep fried them.  I have often said that the only way to improve on some really great things, is to deep fry it.  Their house specialty is two tempura battered lobster tails, deep fried.  They also have deep fried crab legs.  Keep in mind that this is a fairly upscale restaurant.  They even gave Leo a special black napkin as not to get white fuzz on his suit. 

I wanted to get the lobster, of course, but I decided that I shouldn't.  I'm so glad I decided this, because Leo ordered two appetizers: sweet potato fries and a game sausage plate (ostrich and alligator) that came with fried onions.  I got the crab cakes (which were fried) and they came with fried spinach.  Leo had a pork chop (which didn't appear to have been fried) but it came with fried asparagus. 

All of this fried food made me feel patriotic in a way that no "crisp tender" California steamed veggie ever could.