Lunch Outing

We held the infamous yard sale today, but didn't do too well. When we closed up shop at 12:30 we had $83 to show for our efforts. I suppose this is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but it is not what we had hoped. The boy, on the other hand, had a good day – ending up with $30+ by selling old toys for a buck or two apiece. All the little things sold, but not many of the larger furniture pieces, which is disappointing because we thought they'd be the first to go. Still, $83 richer meant we could splurge on lunch out, and my son (who loves Pei Wei almost as much as I do but wanted to be frugal) chose Panda Express in an effort to get something more interesting than a burger without breaking the bank. The kicker is I think it cost nearly as much to eat there as it would have to go to Pei Wei.

The two-entree plate seems to be the best deal, so I had orange chicken (Panda Express's signature dish) and the new honey sweet shrimp, which was quite good. While it was not rolled in coconut, the batter had a distinct sweetness that tasted like coconut milk. The orange chicken, too, was good but lacked the fire and interest of Pei Wei's orange peel dishes. Jade had orange chicken and mandarin chicken, which comes with a dark savory sauce that complements the tender bits of meat. I think he likes mandarin chicken even better than the citrus dish because it is so tender it practically falls apart when you touch it. While the entrees were actually better than normal for Panda Express, the fried rice was barely warm and the bill totaled $16 bucks and change for two of us. The two-entree plate runs $5.75, but tack on another dollar if you have shrimp. In addition, the "regular" drink is a medium and runs about a buck and a half, so add another $3 for sodas with lunch. By the time we were finished, we weren't sure it was worth the cash, especially when you consider that most of the plate was filled with the not-so-fabulous rice.

But, value or not, we had a good time because we took our plates outside and enjoyed the beautiful 75-degree spring day. Several kinds of birds were flitting through the nearby bushes and we took turns tossing them small amounts of rice. They approached cautiously, grabbing a grain or two in their beaks before retreating to the safety of the shrubbery. Some of the larger birds were bolder, but did not bully or rob from the smaller ones, much to our surprise. Another surprise was watching them deal with the two green peas I tossed over with a little rice. At first they ignored them completely, but when the rice was gone a couple hopped over to investigate. They looked at the peas suspiciously, hopped around them in a circle and went back to the bushes. Finally, another bird hopped out and inspected the peas for several moments before eating one. Once he had picked it up in his beak, another shot out and grabbed the remaining one. Guess the king was waiting for his taste tester!

We ended our lunch outing with a trip to the discount bookstore, one of the best places we know to while away some time. We were careful not to spend too much of our profit, but it was good to have money in our pockets, full stomachs, and volumes of books to peruse.