Meatless tacos

Spring has Sprung, Liberty Man persists, and one fish, bad fish

Well, in case everyone wanted weather updates, Spring has returned to us, thankfully. It took a brief siesta there, went into hiding, hit us with last-minute cold snap & snow, but then returned, in full-standing to real honest Spring weather. It's such a relief and such an oddity, it's like you'd forgotten what grass looks like under those snow piles for the last 4 months and what it's like to go outside and not freeze.
In downtown, the Liberty Tax man still walks his beat. Up and down Main Street. I really have to wonder how effective this advertising campaign is. Is someone just meandering around downtown, perhaps on their lunch break, thinking, huh, I was going to do my taxes MYSELF but that Liberty Man makes a compelling argument for using a tax service. When I see him in his Statue of Liberty get-up, I want to go there and have someone do my taxes for me.

On to the fish... bought some cod at the local supermarket, which in previous experiences has been very tasty. And without opening it up and immediate refrigeration, it turned rank and spoiled, before eating/preparing it! What's up with that? Fortunately the store was eager to make amends and take it back and return the money spent. Maybe it swam up the Skunk River...

Lousy Smarch Weather

Well in the course of a day and a half, it's gone from 55 deg. to 22 and snowing!

So much for Spring thaw.

chicken

To add to the previous post, today I saw a chicken advertising for Jiffy Lube.

And all the SNOW has melted.

Yay Spring thaw.

randonmess

Maybe it's the country air or who knows what, but today a woman at the bus stop asked me if I was going to Ames High School. Um, what??!?? I had no idea I could still pass for 18 years old.
She seemed very surprised to find out I was headed to the university and was in fact, almost 35 years old. Who knows...maybe it's the hat, maybe it's the country air we've been breathing.

Also there are a lot of advertisements with people holding signs here. It's strange. Downtown there is a guy who advertises for an insurance company wearing a statue of Liberty costume- trust me, he looks like he pretty much hates his life. Oh right, it's for Liberty Mutual. Well sorry to rip on them but their advertising strategy is pretty bad, that guy looks like he wants to punch things. Granted a lot of the time he's been out there with his sign it's like 20 degrees out and stuff...Not really ideal conditions. Also there was a young guy advertising for little caeser's pizza...who knew they even still existed...

Okay I swear there was a point to all this. Um it's sort of spring here... not really but snow has actually melted and you can see grass again. You can now also see all the spots/layers where my lame neighbors let their dogs go and didn't pick up after them! Yay, good times...

swans gone wild...

Today I saw the two ISU swans, hanging out by the side of the Memorial Union! What were they doing there??? How did they get there? My internet sources led me to believe they were safe and warm for the winter, staying inside. But apparently not. They have been out on the lake all winter. Why they got out today and crossed the street is beyond me.
Maybe it is a sign of spring.

"Do these really look like the actions of a man whose had all he can eat?"

*Lionel Hutz, The Simpsons

What do you do after Plans A & B fail and you are looking for someplace to eat on a Friday night?
You've had to rule out the more sane & desirable options because apparently everyone is going out to eat at your favorite spots on Friday evening and everyplace, INCLUDING the King Buffet is mobbed.
King Buffet, for reference, is in the strip mall, in between Radio Shack and Subway. There's also a dilapidated looking Aldi's (although maybe it's just the poor lighting), a Staples, and *the* movie theater. Well the non-discount movie theater. So it's a happening spot.
Now, no joke this buffet is also MOBBED. There's a line the second you get inside the door and chaos inside. Apparently you also have to get a sticky little plastic card that has a number on it, which the people running/seating may or may not call.
I feel kind of mixed about buffets, because while the variety aspect of it appeals to me, the all you can eat/unlimited trips doesn't really do much for me, and generally winds up being a bit of a rip-off. But for many people, I'm guessing, the all-you can eat is definitely a big part of the appeal. Never mind if it's all you can eat of a pretty mediocre quality, it's the quantity that counts here.

But anyhow, I digress... I'm always up for trying something new and this is one place we had not been yet. So we get our table and go up to take a look at this buffet... I should mention this is allegedly a Chinese buffet. There are some nominally Chinese looking dishes and one entire salad bar thing that is filled with the following: macaroons, cookies, huge vats of 2 different colored Jellos, pudding, strawberries and whipped cream, giant bowls of canned fruit, potato salad, cheesecake, olives, and here the final odd pairing, next to each other, sushi rolls and tiramasu. I should add, as part of the "allure" of the King Buffet you get all you can eat of these delectables, a drink, and ice cream (there's a soft serve machine!).
I'm not sure about a Chinese buffet which also has toast and bacon bits, but okay.
The middle bar has some more standard fare, although I do relish that there are donuts in the middle of the General Tso chicken and lo mein. Very interesting.
Also of note, the "baccon with scallops', which actually appeared to contain crab legs. And the "musse" dish, which randomly had mussels. I was a little leery though of their seafood. I did try some rather bland & tasteless breaded fried shrimp.
The food was okay but nothing spectacular. What's more interesting is merely observing the scene at King Buffet. The place was absolutely packed, families, students, kids, your everyday Ames people. The servers/workers were efficiently seating and clearing tables, bringing over your check and fortune cookies when you appeared near done. My fortune read: "The nice thing about standards is, there are so many to choose from"
I don't know if that was somehow relevant to this experience...
As we left, I see the lucky cat, his front paw frantically swinging up and down... I think he's saying, Your luck's about to change...
Or maybe eat at your own peril...Hard to say.