Well, what a day. Woke up around...well....snoozed which I know is really bad for the brain, but when you deal drugs for a living, the more sleep the better. You don't want to be giving Mrs. Smith's vaginal suppository to Mr. Peterson's dog.

As this was a typical out-the-door morning, I had the shake listed in the previous blog. Now, I know they say for best results, use a blender. But for me, that's one more dish to clean. I'm such a bachelorette. Honestly though, if you stir it up well, you really don't need to use a blender in my opinion.

The A protein shake tastes very strange. Not a good strange, nor a bad strange, just strange. You can really taste the peas. I have a little sister who is thirteen going on five. She's very small for her age. 4'8" (maybe) and 70#. We're trying to get her to grow. My mom seems to think she's also a type A. I told my little sister over Christmas that I was going to buy her the protein shake and explained that it contains rice, soy, and pea protein. And she said, "PEE protein?" And I said "yeah, you know, from peas." And she was like, "Oh (whew)....OK." She was very concerned about drinking a shake made of urine. Like I said, 13 going on 5. Oh well...hey, I still have hundreds of patients on conjugated horse estrogen so it's really not so strange (how do you think Premarin got its name? PREgnant MARe UrINe).

So on a very fun note (and the real theme of this entry), my parents came up to the Twin Cities tonight since they are leaving for the caribbean tomorrow morning. First they came to visit me at my pharmacy, "We want to see where you work!" As our new and unimproved software version is making my job chaotic right now (usually a software update is a good thing, don't get me wrong), I didn't have much time to chat with them and told them I'd just see them when they pick my cousin (who is also my neighbor) and me up for dinner. Yet another day of working 10 hours with no break. Very unkosher for any type A lifestyle!

We went to the Seafood Palace which is a reasonably priced MPLS restaurant as the rest are so overpriced. But this place is an underrated gem, one of the city's best kept secrets. Seafood Palace serves AUTHENTIC Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. It's also one of the few places left in the city where you can eat a good quality meal without the pretentious fashion contests. My favorite dish hands down is the steamed Sea Bass basted in Black mushroom sauce and garnished with lemongrass. It's like buttah.......

We also had the one the specials, asparagus with chicken (also to die for), and this melody dish with duck, pork (which I won't eat), bok choy, shrimp (barf), and more black mushrooms (YUUUMMM). Funny thing is, even as a kid, I always thought shrimp tasted "dirty". If I would have known about ER4YT it would have all made sense. I also had a glass of the house merlot. And we all had oolong tea. Holy cow, I just LOVE this restaurant!

On the way back, we then went to the Wedge, a local co-op (I'm a member), because I wanted to pick up some lemons, Lily of the Desert Aloe Vera Juice, Holy Basil, and Tyrosine, so I dragged my parents and cousin in with me. It was so fun taking the folks in there because living in Mason City, they just don't get out much unless they come up here. They all concurred that this co-op is just so Erika. Don't get me wrong, they are wordly, well-rounded, well-traveled, cosmopolitian, Euro-minded people, but they are also a product of their corn-fed Iowa environment. My type O dad bought some Herbs de Provence for his meat, and my mom (by process of elimination folks, you'd hopefully deduct that mom's a type A) bought a loofah back brush, so it wasn't all in vain for them, lol. I got my mom Live Right for X-mas so I'm curious to see how much of the diet she incorporates into her day to day life. I got my dad the cook book, "How to Cook Meat" which he asked for for Christmas.

OK, now that this entry has become sickeningly tangential, that's a sign that it's time for me to get off the computer and get to bed. I have to work, ALL WEEKEND. But hey, at least I got a nice break for a few hours to spend time with the people I love. And with good food. You can't beat that.

Night and namaste,

-E