As I suspected, I have a horrible cold. I think I will cancel my more ambitious plans, like the ones that involved a lot of talking on the phone and going out and doing stuff, and just do some research, write an article I have due, pay my rent, and maybe venture out to Clementine to stock up on comfort food.

For more details on the pirate store, Ethiopian food, and that fabulous Chinese dinner, click here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/oyceter/354900.html

I will skip to drinks with telophase, oyceter, and greenapple2004 at Yaoi-Con. greenapple2004 showed us a new Tokyopop manga from their Blu (yaoi) line. (I suggested Pink, or perhaps Pinc, for a yuri (lesbian) line, which I reiterate, I would definitely buy as long as it was reasonably good. I flipped through the manga: kiss, kiss, angst, angst, Guy # 1: "You're soaking wet!" Guy # 2: "Of course I am! We're in the middle of a river!" Me: "Ha-ha-ha! This looks pretty good!" greenapple2004: "Also, they're ninjas." Me: "What, what?!"

Yes, gay kissing ninjas! Early on, one of the ninjas, who comes from a ninja village like Naruto's, goes out in search of the rival ninja village. He sees a bunch of schoolkids in black uniforms, decides that they're the rival ninjas, and, figuring a trophy would please his sensei and maybe get him laid, beats up one of them and steals his uniform. Let me tell you, this information bumped the manga from "check out" to "must buy."

Another Blu manga that sounded promising was Earthian, which greenapple2004 emphasized was not merely cracktastic, but actually good, about angels and androids. (oyceter was in the bathroom when the android part was being discussed, and was understandably confused when they were casually mentioned after she returned.) Plus one where a dog turns into a handsome man and has sex with his owner. "Now there's a perversion we don't even have a name for," I said. "Though I think it's in the same category as Meru Puri, where a seven-year-old boy is transformed into a handsome young man."

"It's actually very funny," said greenapple2004. "Also, there's a bonus story where a man rescues a goldfish from some boys who won it at a street fair, and it turns into a handsome young man."

She then proceeded to regale us with the story of a manga which is NOT distributed by Tokyopop, or by anyone else outside of Japan, which I am going to tell you so I won't be the only person traumatized by it. A handsome demon lives at the bottom of a pool, feeding upon the garbage that's dumped in. One day a handsome young man jumps into the pool, planning to commit suicide. The demon rescues him by turning him into a mer-boy. Because the demon can regenerate, he feeds the mer-boy upon his own flesh. They live happily for a while, then the mer boy decides to go back to the outside world. But he misses the demon, and returns, saying, "Now I will feast upon your flesh forever!"

When we got back, I told oyceter that if two handsome young men ever knocked on her door, and one was dressed all in black and one was in black and white, and her rats had mysteriously vanished, she should not have sex with the men, but just serve them lunch and send them on their way. "I know how I'd test them," she said. "I'd shake the box of Yogi-Drops. If they both ran up to it, they go back to their cages."

I will pass briefly over some of the other things we did (Korean food, Veronica Mars, Lilo and Stitch, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Serenity (again), romance pet peeves, why the Lymond Chronicles are so much more complicated if you think that people with more than one name or title are actually two or more different people for several books running and so the already unwieldy cast list is increased in your mind, farmer's market, vids, romance bookshop, other bookshops, bookspoils to be detailed later) to home in on something that should not be forgotten: fondue.

I should also note that oyceter is the first person I've ever met who is exactly as obsessed with food as I am, and so we spent many, many happy hours both eating it and obsessively discussing it. Now I want to go to Taiwan with her.

oyceter, fannishly, yuneicorn, two non-LJ friends and I went to a fondue restaurant, where we started with bread and fruit dipped in molten cheddar and Swiss-with-mushrooms. (Apples with melted cheddar are surprisingly good, so perhaps some day I will try apple pie with cheddar.) The restaurant, incidentally, has us in the "Oriental" nook, and the ne next to us had chairs shaped like jesters' hats. Then we went on to the good stuff: chocolate.

We had a pot of milk chocolate with Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur) and a pot of Decadent, which was basicallly molten fudge with Kahlua and espresso. Each set of two of us shared a plate of goodies, which could be replenished at will. In approximate ascending order of deliciousness, the dippables were bananas, pineapple slices, orange slices, marshmallows, pound cake, creamcheese balls, apple slices, grapes, strawberries, rice Krispy balls, Snickers bar slices, and rolled pirouette cookies. Everyone else had left-overs on their first plate. oyceter and I polished off most of a second plate. When we were contemplating our remaining items, a lone bit of pound cake and an apple slice or two, yuneicorn said what everyone else was probably thinking: "My God. You two have finally stopped eating."