Jeffrey's Thoughts

Oh!K-Dog review

I watched 2 seasons of the Hospital Playlist kdrama and there were a bunch of scenes where people ate egg toast. So, I had to try it out when I saw that it was closeby.

This was the second time I ate a Korean corn dog and I thought this time was not as tasty. The previous time had really good seasoning and this one I put the seasoning on. I also should’ve chosen an option with mozzarella cheese because that would’ve added more flavor. I did not expect the teriyaki toast to have beef in it. Like I thought it was going to just be teriyaki sauce with egg and other ingredients. The beef was tasty and the bread was oily and buttery. The eggs on the top were not enough, I think if it was half egg half beef, I would’ve liked it better. The toast also seemed to have cheese in the bread or something that gave a more savory bite at the end. The cardboard that holds the toast should’ve also had perforations so then you can rip it apart and eat the remaining parts of the toast in a more convenient manner.

Maine restaurants review

I went to Maine with my family for the July 4th weekend and was able to try out a bunch of restaurants. I’d been to Maine before, but it was a while ago, so my memory of it was faint.

Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound

This lobster pound is my dad’s favorite and it did not disappoint. The lobster was big and the price was more affordable than other restaurants. They cooked the lobster in sea water, so it was more flavorful than using regular water. I started eating the legs first, then the claws, then the head, and then the tail. By the time I got to the tail, the meat was a bit tough and cold, so perhaps I needed to change the order of operations.

Stewman’s Lobster Pound

The next restaurant we tried was in Bar Harbor. We initially came for drinks but stayed for the food. The prices were definitely higher than the other lobster pound and the shrimp and mussels were not very large. The crab roll was tastier than I expected though and the fries that we got were solid.

Jordan Pond Restaurant

We had a small meal after hiking in Arcadia National Park. This restaurant is famous for their popovers. The popover is really airy. Pretty tasty for a piece of bread. My mom compared it to a croissant, but I think that this may have less butter and is made a bit different. The smoked salmon was good and I liked eating it with all the toppings.

La Bella Vita

The calamari was tasty, but the breading kept falling apart when we dipped it into the marinara sauce. The crab and lobster dip was really good. Lots of seafood. I was really disappointed with the number of ravioli I received. Like I’m trying to get full and I get four pieces. Damn. But the sauce was good, a bit spicy and fresh. The ravioli had some cheese inside. The sausage was more filling than expected. I hoped that it would’ve been more ravioli and less sausage, but turned out to be the opposite.

Luke’s Lobster

There was a good number of oysters and I wanted more afterwards. I didn’t have any of the rolls, but my family said that the mala roll tasted pretty good, not very spicy though. The lobster BLT was ok. The lobster taste was subtle and the bacon taste overpowered it. I don’t think that the lobster was seasoned very much.

Doodling

When I was in elementary school, I liked to doodle. One day, I picked up a doodling style where I would randomly scribble on a piece of paper and then attempt to make something out of it. I’m not sure if this type of drawing has a name, but recently I’ve felt the urge to do it. So, here are some pictures of those doodles.

Doodle #1

Doodle #2

Doodle #3

Doodle #4

The thing I like about this drawing style is that it is similar to a Rorschach Test in that I may find something out of the random scribbles that someone else may not find and vice versa.

Something I learned about myself about drinking

I learned that if I want to get really drunk, I should take 6 to 8 shots within an hour. I was feeling good while drinking at the pregame, but after the Uber ride, the alcohol hit me hard. The night was pretty wild and my headache is outrageous.

Enjera Restaurant Review

I ate at Enjera recently and I thought that it was good. This was the second Ethiopian restaurant that I ate at and the type of food was pretty similar to the previous one. This time we got a meat lovers platter and some sambusas as appetizers. Sambusas are relatively similar to samosas. We got a lentil and potato sambusa and a meat sambusa. The vegetarian one tasted better.

There was a lot of food. We had 4 people and we were not able to finish it all. I liked the taste of the meat at the 4 o’clock and 6 o’clock positions the most. They were the most tender and flavorful pieces. The salad was also good, a bit salty though. The chicken leg and egg were nice additions to the platter. This time around, I was perfectly fine eating with my hands. I think that eating with my hands causes me to eat faster, which I would prefer not to do. It would’ve been nice to get some more vegetables, but oh well.

Best restaurants for leftovers

I was walking around with some friends and I was thinking that restaurants often tout that they are the best restaurant in the area for a particular cuisine.

However, I haven’t seen a list of restaurants that say that their food is the best for eating as leftovers. After a quick Bing search, I saw a list of types of food that hold up well and don’t hold up well as leftovers, but no specific restaurants.

I would say that Olive Garden is a good restaurant for leftovers. You can order an entree and get full on the soup and salad so then you basically get 2 meals for the price of 1. They also offer deals that can make it even less expensive if you dine with another person. Usually I get pasta when eating at Olive Garden and I think that pasta is still pretty good reheated.

So, if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to comment below and we can build the list together.

[solidcore] Review

I recently won a 1 month membership to a specific [solidcore] location through a raffle from work. I went to a couple sessions so far and it was an overall great experience. I haven’t taken any classes such as Soulcycle before, but the classes offered here seem similar to what I’d imagine a Soulcycle class is like. The classes are advertised as a Pilates Core Workout. There’s a machine, fellow classmates, and an instructor letting you know what the next exercise is and the intensity, while offering words of encouragement.

The sessions are about 50 minutes long and they ask the attendees to take off their shoes and socks and optionally bring a towel, to wipe sweat of yourself or the machine while you are using it. They have lockers you can use to store your personal belongings and they lock the doors of the building during the duration of the session to reduce the possibility of theft or unwanted visitors. During the sessions, relatively loud music is played and the instructor guides you through how each exercise is done and how long the exercises should be held and how much resistance should be put. One nice aspect is that the instructor suggests different resistances based on the experience level of each attendee. Also, they mention tips on how to challenge yourself with the workout. The machine looks similar to a bench at a gym, but the width is wider and there is a moving platform in the middle that is used for most of the exercises.

Image of the solidcore machines

https://quidwell.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/solidcore_3_1119.jpg

The 2 classes I attended were filled with young professionals for the most part. It looked like people were in their 20s to 40s. In my experience, there are more females than males – I’d imagine the same usually goes for other similar types of workout classes.

The first class really kicked my butt. I exercised all these muscles that I rarely use and I felt sore for 2 to 3 days. I don’t think I adequately stretched before the session. The second class did not make me as sore. Still a challenging workout, but I think I am more used to it and I stretched a bit more beforehand.

I am definitely going back in the future, since I haven’t finished my 1 month membership yet. I don’t think that the class is worth it at the single class non-discounted price of $39, but with some of the deals they offer, it seems a lot more accessible assuming you are committed to going to the sessions.

Hospital Playlist Season 1 Review

This post contains spoilers. Please do not read any further if you plan to watch the show.

I first started watching Hospital Playlist because a stranger recommended the show to me. I watched the first episode and I didn’t really get the appeal. There wasn’t really a plot and the doctor stuff was the same as a lot of the American hospital shows that are out there like Grey’s Anatomy, House, etc.

A couple years later, a coworker recommended this show to me. So, I gave it another shot and watched the second episode. I still didn’t think that this show was anything special. But, I wanted to talk about the show with them, so I continued watching. After watching about six episodes, I finally found the appeal of the show. The friendships between the five main characters and their peers are what make the show worth watching. The hospital is not the focus of the show – it is simply the main setting.

I think there was an unrealistic amount of characters liking other characters. Each main character was involved with at least one love interest scenario and even multiple minor characters had love interest scenarios. Perhaps this happens in real life, but I thought it was unrealistic. At least in my working career, there has not been that many inter-office romances.

I was completely unconvinced with the romance between the priest-to-be and the young doctor. The young doctor obviously liked the priest-to-be, but there was basically no indication that he liked her at all until the last episode. Her monologue at the end was pretty wild and selfish – please stay with me and not with God. Like damn, the doctor was super bold.

I am not even sure why the relationship between the two residents was even in the show. They are such minor characters and the girl didn’t even seem interested.

I feel like the show wants to cheer on all of the love interests. I’m glad they had love interests that didn’t pan out because that makes sense in general, but I’m not sure why some of the love interests were repeated emphasized especially when one of the parties were clearly uncomfortable or did not want the love interest to continue any further. Perhaps it is because it is hard to stop loving someone, especially when you spend all day around the person.

I think that the main reason why the woman main character left to a different hospital was because she was uncomfortable with her subordinate and her best friend being in love with her. It seemed like she generally didn’t want to be in a relationship and just wanted to keep the friendships and had to leave this environment in order to do so. Even the multiple moms of the main characters were trying to ship the woman main character and their sons together.

I enjoyed the various songs that were played by the band. The music was great and the main characters seemed to be really good musicians.

There were a lot of touching scenes with the doctors and the patients. The main characters clearly wanted the best for their patients and cared for them without regard for their own personal health.

Would I recommend this show to someone else? It depends. If the person enjoys shows about relationships, then sure. If the person wants to learn more about hospitals, then sure. I would not say that this is in my top five Korean dramas, but I can see why this show has multiple seasons though.

What do you mean by “Nice”?

There can be many definitions of a word depending on the context. In one context, a word can be positive and in another, a word can be neutral or negative.

Today, a coworker asked me what I meant when I described someone as nice. I didn’t have a good response to describe what I meant besides saying “Nice” with a thumbs up 👍. In this scenario, I was being intentionally vague to allow them to use their imagination.

But I was thinking that with the right inflection, describing someone as “Nice” could mean that they are kind, attractive, or unsuitable, etc.

Part of participating in our society is being able to discern subtleties in language and behavior and acting accordingly.

Breaking the Ice with … Yourself – The Art of Showing Up

I started reading a book called The Art of Showing Up and there was an exercise about breaking the ice with yourself where you answer some questions to help get to know yourself better.

What was the last thing that pleasantly surprised you?

When was the last time you really wanted to scream?

What is the exact level of famous you’d want to be?

What was a trip or vacation you took that lasted too long?

What’s something about yourself that you hope will never change?

What is the best compliment you’ve ever received?

What is your favorite birthday memory?

What are you a natural at?
The Art of Showing Up, page 41

I’ll have to think of the answers to these on my own, but the list of questions from the book were a pretty good list that I thought was worth sharing.

Amazon Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/49s3gi7