"I'm Tired"

This was inspired by my friend Tyler as he was helping me with my workout in early April 2013. (As of April 9 of that year, it was "last week.") They had big tires in the gym, and we were doing squats and other exercises on them. It occurred to me that I was tired out, and then I was amused by the irony of being tired next to tires...and I thought of a monster truck. Those trucks have huge tires (about the size of the ones they use in the gym), and they work them so hard. If they were alive, I'm sure they'd get tired on their tires. I guess, as they say, Tyler, see you in the funny pages!

Illustration
Steven Sauke
April 9, 2013

With Tyler, later in 2013
Photo by Ton Sridi

Days of Yore: Chores

"In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and SNAP! The job's a game!" 

- Mary Poppins

Growing up, I had a list of chores that I had to check off every week. It was covered in clear plastic and I used a dry erase marker to check each one off as I did it. Once we had squared everything away, I could wipe it off and start a new week on the same sheet. How many chores I had done made a difference in how much allowance I got. Chores have never been my favorite thing, but they are a fact of life, and I have learned it's best at least to try to make them somewhat fun. How we do them has changed over the years, for some chores more than others.

Photo by Tomasz on Adobe Stock

Trash

Sorry for the trash talk. (couldn't resist) In the Philippines, I took the trash out to the back and burned it. It was interesting watching it burn, but I was not a fan of smelling like smoke when I was done. After we moved to another house, a garbage truck came around, so we didn't burn as much. We hadn't had that at previous houses. This garbage truck played the same tune loudly every time, so we knew it was coming and to bring the trash out. (I could still sing the tune for you, though I don't know what it's called.) Back in the US, we have taken the trash out and set it in front of the house for the garbage truck to pick up. Toward the end of his life, that was my dad's job. I wasn't a fan when I helped out, but I was surprised after losing him that I no longer mind it so much. Funny how losing someone you love and miss terribly changes your perspective on things. Prior to that, the only time I really enjoyed it was when I was in college and we took our trash out to the big dumpster that sat open. It was huge, and there was a platform with steps leading up to it. My roommate introduced me to cool garbage bags that had a plastic drawstring to close them. The drawstring was a new concept for me. Between the cool bags and just tossing the bag over the railing of the platform into the dumpster, suddenly it was fun! (What can I say? I'm easily entertained.)

Dusting

No, I don't mean a dusting of snow. We didn't get those in the Philippines. (We did occasionally get a dusting of puns, though.) We have used a variety of items to dust. Featherdusters, fancy dusters that they sold at the fair, rags, water, Lysol, Clorox wipes, and others. I have mixed feelings about dusting. Not always the most fun thing to do, but there's something satisfying about dust just wiping away and something shiny (to varying degrees of shiny) being revealed underneath. When I get into it, sometimes it's almost exciting.

Photo by Wayhome Studio on Adobe Stock

Sweeping

Some of the most amazing brooms I have encountered were in the Philippines. They have two main kinds. One kind looks more traditional, with a handle and soft bristles. They're softer than the bristles on the average American broom, but they often work better. The other kind is much more stiff. It's like a bunch of long and thin sticks bound together. They are also very useful, as they can get things that the softer broom can't. The stiffer ones are especially helpful on cement. Like dusting, it's satisfying to see things get swept away. Probably best not to make sweeping generalities, though.

Vacuuming

Vacuuming is similarly satisfying to sweeping skillfully and safely. The biggest difference being that it's a lot louder and it sucks! But in this case it's a good thing that it sucks! As my dad's ears got more sensitive as he got older, we had to do the vacuuming when he was out, although it helps that our current vacuum is quieter than previous ones. He wore earplugs when he did the vacuuming. Some things just can't be done in a vacuum. Some people have a Roomba that they don't even need to push.

Cleaning the Bathroom

[Note to self. Let's avoid the puns here. Some things just don't need that kind of potty humor - AHHH! I had one job!] Anyway, not a lot has changed as I recall in the area of cleaning the bathroom. I have used spray in cleaning the sink, counter and tub (often using rags or toilet paper), swept the floor, scrubbed the toilet with spray and toilet bowl cleaner and a special brush... I also once cleaned a colony of angry fire ants out of our showerhead just by turning it on. That was a painful experience. Cleaning the bathroom is not my favorite job, and I think I'll leave it at that. [Don't say it.] Sometimes I just get that [Steven, I'm warning you] sinking feeling talking about it. [sigh...]

Washing Dishes

I hope I didn't dish out too many details in that last section. We washed our dishes by hand in the Philippines. One thing I liked about returning to the US was that we could use a dishwasher, which saved a lot of time. Having grown up washing dishes by hand, my dad tried to conserve as many dishes as possible. He often commented that there was no sense dirtying another plate. When we had a dishwasher, we sometimes liked pointing out sarcastically that there was no space in the dishwasher for yet another plate! Of course, not all dishes can be washed in the dishwasher, so we still have to wash pots and pans and other things by hand. Also, some things can't wait until the dishwasher is filled up. So I guess it's a wash. On the rare occasion our dishwasher is out of order, we sometimes use paper plates that we can just throw away.

Photo by dglimages on Adobe Stock

Washing the Dog

This was my brother Tim's job in the Philippines. As we haven't had a dog since moving back to the US, I'm not sure if things have changed, but when we were in the Philippines, we had special dog shampoo that Tim used. After spreading it over the dog, we had to let it set and do its thing for 15 minutes. Sadly, our dog Butch was not known for his stellar obedience skills, but he was a big fan of digging holes in the dirt, which he wasn't allowed to do—but he didn't always see the point of letting that stop him. I do not envy Tim having to re-wash the dog after he (Butch, not Tim) decided to dig up dirt while covered in shampoo! I sincerely hope dog shampoo has made improvements since then so it is no longer necessary to let it set! Otherwise, that has got to take a lot of dogged determination! Thankfully, Butch's successor was a good deal more obedient, though he also had his interesting quirks.

Walking the Dog

Though I did not generally wash the dog, I did often walk him. It was an interesting challenge keeping Butch away from cats (he was a very gentle dog, except with cats...pity the poor kitty that got in his way!) and keeping his successor Killer away from other dogs (he came with the name, and it was too late to rename him when we got him...his name was perhaps the biggest misnomer I have ever encountered, as he was a very kind dog—though pro tip: If your dog's name is Killer, it's best not to yell  his name loud enough to wake the dead when he is snarling at a cute little dog that a neighbor is walking). At times the dog walked me. I loved our dogs, but they were interesting.

Feeding the Dog

In the Philippines, we generally fed our dogs rice, and sometimes we put other stuff in it to make it more interesting. When we had to give them medicine, we had to get creative in hiding it in their food, as they tended to eat around it. We sometimes ended up opening capsules and spreading the powder on bread. After Butch contracted heartworm, my dad ended up having to force him to take the pills because he refused otherwise. Butch wouldn't hurt a fly (though cats were another matter), but his reflexes didn't agree with my dad's hand, and let's just say my dad ended up having to get rabies shots just in case. Butch eventually had to be put to sleep...but that's another (heartbreaking) story. In feeding the dog, we would set the dish in front of him and tell him, "Wait....wait...wait...OK!" He had to sit nicely while we told him to wait, and as soon as we said OK, he could start eating, which he did with gusto.

Washing Clothes

In the Philippines, most of our houses had washing machines, but not all of them had dryers. We sometimes washed clothes by hand, but usually we were able to wash them in the machine. (Pro tips: wash light and dark colors separately, and remember to take pens out of your pockets before putting them in the wash!) We usually had to hang clothes out to dry, so we had a clothesline in the backyard. Now we usually dry things in the dryer, though I do still have a few things, such as socks and masks, that I hang to dry. Personally, I preferred hanging out with friends to hanging clothes out to dry. I have a dream that someday, we'll have a third machine where we can throw all our dried clothes in, and they will come out all folded and neatly stacked. (Come to think of it, we were promised in the '80s that we would all have robots to do that by now! I want my money back!) When the washing machine has been unavailable, we've occasionally used a laundromat, but that's very rare. (I also find that the Cleaners is a bad place to take someone on a date. Not that I've ever dated. Maybe that's why?)

Photo by Kyle Arcilla on Unsplash

Mowing the Lawn

Most of our houses in the Philippines didn't have a lawn, and if they did, it was pretty small. Cutting the grass wasn't my job in the Philippines, but the person who did it often used garden shears. In the US we have used a lawn mower. I'm not a huge fan of pushing a lawn mower around, but like with sweeping and dusting, it is satisfying to watch the tops of the grass disappear as rows of fresh-cut grass are revealed. The smell of grass was refreshing as a child. I have mixed feelings about it now. I could elaborate further, but perhaps it's best to cut this section short.

Cleaning My Room

When I was little, I had this lovely idea that it was impossible to have a messy room if you didn't have toys to mess it up, so you were always having to put them away. Sadly, I proved myself wrong as I grew older. I enjoyed toying with that notion while it lasted.

I have had other chores as well over the years, but those are the ones that come to mind. What are your favorite and least favorite chores? Do you like to try making them fun? 

Self Portrait

In one of my art classes in 2011, we received two related assignments. Our professor told us up front there was a second part of the assignment, but she purposely wouldn't explain part 2 until after we were finished with part 1. Probably just as well, as these would look very different had she explained both parts up front!

For part 1, we were to cut bits out of magazines, newspapers, or anything we found online and printed, and make a self portrait collage. We could get as creative as we wanted—in fact, the more creative, the better—and we needed to pay attention to shapes, shading, and other aspects. Having grown up in the Philippines and loving their coral reefs, I decided to go with that theme. I was very happy with the result:

Self Portrait Collage
Steven Sauke
2011

Had I known the next step, I would not have made it anywhere near as intricate and exciting.

For part 2, we were given the three primary colors of paint (red, blue, yellow) and a canvas. Now we were to paint the collage! Using only those three colors, we had to mix colors and get it as close to the collage as possible. Though it turned out to be fairly complicated, I was proud of the result:

Self Portrait
Steven Sauke
Acrylic on Canvas
2011

Days of Yore: What the Cool Kids Wore

Pro tip: When moving from the Philippines to the US, don't do it for 8th grade. Having been away from American fashion (and never having been much for being stylish anyway), I was the height of uncool. One of my fellow middle schoolers thoughtfully (read: rudely) advised that I stop wearing my parents' clothes. I quickly found out that stripes were "out", as were most other things I wore...but for some reason everyone was jealous of my Adidas shoes. At least something about me was cool!

Image by ink drop on Adobe Stock

Let's rewind a bit. In the '70s when I was born, people wore bellbottoms—that is, pants that were wider at the bottom than the top, somewhat reminiscent of a bell on each leg. I don't believe those have been popular since the '70s, but they are interesting. A lot of people had long straight hair, and headbands were fairly common. Many also liked wearing beads and necklaces. Peace signs were common.

As the '80s went on, people went for loud colors. Not just pink, but HOT pink. Not just green, but BRIGHT green. The brighter and louder, the better. Many people had bangs over their foreheads, and women in particular (though some men as well) liked to curl their hair. Many men (and some women) had their hair in mullets, or as they say, "business in front, party in the back." They were cut short on the front and sides, but allowed to grow long in the back. In my opinion, it looked a bit odd, but hey, whatever floats their boat! Mohawks also happened - the sides shaved, and a strip of hair going from front to back in the middle. They often put stuff in them so that the mohawks stuck straight up and back, often spiked, and also sometimes dyed in multiple colors. I also thought these looked odd (and they were banned at my school in the Philippines), but again, whatever floats their boats! Hairspray, gel and mousse were fairly common to fashion the hair in the directions people wanted it to go. Personally, my biggest change in hairstyle was when I stopped combing my hair to the side and started combing it forward. Now I generally keep it short enough so I don't have to comb it. I go for low maintenance on that kind of stuff. As my dad was watching his hairline move farther and farther back, he got this bright idea to let a strip on the side grow long, and he combed that over the top. He kept the rest short. I think it was an effort to make it look like he had hair on top, but it didn't fool anyone. I think it also may have been to keep as much sun as possible off the top of his head in the tropical heat. It was a bit of a relief when he decided to cut it. :-)

The bright colors of the '80s also extended into photography. It was fairly common to have bright, multicolored, neon laser-looking lines going every which way in the background in portraits. They also had an interesting technique in which they combined two portraits into one, with the person looking forward, and then to the right or left, and usually higher, another picture of their profile.

Glasses also tended to be larger, on the whole, in the '80s. I wore aviator glasses from my first ones in 1984 to approximately when I started college. They were made of different materials. My first pair had metal frames, but as I was fairly active and it doesn't take much in the tropical heat to start sweating, they soon rusted. (I've never seen glasses rust since then, so I'm not sure if that was a fluke with that pair.) After that, I wore plastic frames that wouldn't rust. I also preferred the aviator style because with two bridges, if one bridge broke, they could still hold together with the other bridge. Like many active and bespectacled kids, I tended to go through glasses as a kid. After returning to the US in 1991, I went back to metal frames, but still aviator. Later in high school, I got half-rimmed aviators. I eventually transitioned to ones with one bridge as my tastes changed, though I've always preferred the rectangular shape over the round ones. At one point I had rimless glasses, and several pairs have been half-rim. Currently, they have thicker black rims. I am not sure my particular tastes were always indicative of the styles around me, but they were acceptable by society. I got teased as a kid for wearing them, which is normal, though that didn't make it OK. I didn't actually start enjoying them until I was maybe in my late teens. Now I'm proud to wear glasses, and I want to help remove the odd stigma many still have about them. I have a theory that if people think they don't look good in glasses, they just haven't found the right pair. They are very cool, and a great way of helping people see without having to put something in their eyes. That unfair stigma has also kept many from addressing issues with their vision.

Our family in the mid-'80s
(I forget the exact year)

I have always enjoyed wearing fun t-shirts with puns, jokes, or celebrating shows, movies and musicals that I like. When COVID hit, though I hate everything about the disease, as well as a lot of the controversy and recklessness it brought out in society, I did find a new exciting way of expressing myself: I got some fun masks! I had to do a bunch of research to figure out how to wear a mask without fogging my glasses, but I found some good options. The best is certain masks that are made to be worn with glasses. 

These days, colors are not generally as loud as in the '80s, but I feel whatever floats people's boat is generally fine. Of course, nobody needs my permission or approval. :-)

Since I know you're wondering, no, I do not get dressed using my cell phone. But I have ordered clothes and researched glasses (and ordered a few pair) on my phone. I still buy clothes at the store on occasion.

"Further Up and Further In!"

The Last Battle is the final book in CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. As I mentioned here, it involves the end of the Narnia that everyone has known, as they get to know the new and grander Narnia. Jill and Eustace were in Aslan's Country, as it is also called, in The Silver Chair (the penultimate book in chronological order), and at that time, Aslan had told them next time they came it would be to stay.

In The Last Battle, the Friends of Narnia have watched everything go down (quite literally) in the old Narnia through a door, and at Aslan's command, Peter locked it. After that, Aslan told them to "Come further up! Come further in!" They all began running faster than they knew they could.

This painting is inspired by their joyous run (and swim) through the new Narnia, as they came to Caldron Pool, jumped in, and much to everyone's surprise, found themselves swimming up the waterfall!

"Further Up and Further In!"
Steven Sauke
Acrylic on canvas
2012

If one could run without getting tired, I don't think one would often want to do anything else. But there might be special reasons for stopping, and it was a special reason which made Eustace presently shout:

"I say! Steady! Look what we're coming to!"

And well he might. For now they saw before them Caldron Pool and beyond the Pool the high unclimbable cliffs and, pouring down the cliffs, thousands of tons of water every second, flashing like diamonds in some places and dark, glassy green in others, the Great Waterfall; and already the thunder of it was in their ears.

"Don't stop! Further up and further in," called Farsight, tilting his flight a little upward.

"It's all very well for him," said Eustace, but Jewel also cried out:

"Don't stop. Further up and further in! Take it in your stride."

His voice could only just be heard above the roar of the water but next moment everyone saw that he had plunged into the Pool. And helter-skelter behind him, with splash after splash, all the others did the same. The water was not bitingly cold as all of them (and especially Puzzle) expected, but of a delicious foamy coolness. They all found they were swimming straight for the Waterfall itself.

"This is absolutely crazy," said Eustace to Edmund.

"I know. And yet --" said Edmund.

"Isn't it wonderful?" said Lucy. "Have you noticed one can't feel afraid, even if one wants to? Try it."

"By Jove, neither one can," said Eustace after he had tried.

Jewel reached the foot of the waterfall first, but Tirian was only just behind him. Jill was last, so she could see the whole thing better than the others. She saw something white moving steadily up the face of the Waterfall. That white thing was the Unicorn. You couldn't tell whether he was swimming or climbing, but he moved on, higher and higher. The point of his horn divided the water just above his head, and it cascaded out in two rainbow-colored streams all round his shoulders. Just behind him came King Tirian. He moved his legs and arms as if he were swimming, but he moved straight upward: as if one could swim up the wall of a house.

What looked funniest was the Dogs. During the gallop they had not been at all out of breath, but now, as they swarmed and wriggled upwards, there was plenty of spluttering and sneezing among them; that was because they would keep on barking, and every time they barked they got their mouths and noses full of water. But before Jill had time to notice all these things fully, she was going up the Waterfall herself. It was the sort of thing that would have been quite impossible in our world. Even if you hadn't drowned, you would have been smashed to pieces by the terrible weight of water against the countless jags of rock. But in that world you could do it. You went on, up and up, with all kinds of reflected lights flashing at you from the water and all manner of colored stones flashing through it, till it seemed as if you were climbing up light itself--and always higher and higher till the sense of height would have terrified you if you could be terrified, but later it was only gloriously exciting. And then at last one came to the lovely, smooth green curve in which the water poured over the top and found that one was on the level river above the Waterfall. The current was racing away behind you, but you were such a wonderful swimmer that you could make headway against it. Soon they were all on the bank, dripping but happy.

I based the waterfall on a picture I took of Snoqualmie Falls:

I also had points of reference for Jewel the Unicorn (in the water at the top), Farsight the Eagle (in the sky) and Puzzle the Donkey (in the water in the pool at the bottom). I used a sponge to paint the spray. I thought it was a interesting that I was using something inspired by a sea creature to paint water. This painting was also larger than the others, as it was my final painting in that class in 2012. In the painting, King Tirian is at the top with Jewel and Farsight. From top to bottom on the waterfall are King Peter, Emeth Tarkaan, King Edmund, Digory Kirke (left, wearing red), Polly Plummer (right, wearing green), and talking Dogs. In the pool are (left to right) a talking Dog, Poggin the Dwarf, another talking Dog, Eustace Scrubb, Queen Lucy and Puzzle, and Jill Pole in the back watching the whole thing as she swims. (I don't think Lewis specifies what kind of Eagle Farsight is, but I have a feeling he was probably a Brown Eagle. I thought a Bald Eagle would be a bit more majestic, and it would be easier for the head and tail to be noticeable.) 

Days of Yore: Restaurants

Restaurants have changed a lot during my lifetime. Different kinds of restaurants have come and gone and changed with the times. How you order has also changed. On the whole, there are more options now, though some have gone by the wayside.

While drive-in restaurants were not as popular by the time I came around as they were in the '50s and '60s, there still were some. In the Seattle area, Burgermaster is the only one that comes to mind that still exists as such. Sonic is another example, which is in this state, but not very close to me. Some of them may have had places inside to sit, but they were mainly known for providing a place to park and eat in your car. You would pull into a parking spot, which had an electronic menu with a speaker. Similar to a drive-thru, they would take your order through the machine. The obvious difference to a drive-thru would be that you were parked before ordering, as opposed to pulling up to the window and moving on before eating. When the food was ready, the servers would bring it out to your car. It generally came on special trays. You would roll your window partway down, and the tray had a notch that attached to the car window.

Photo by Kevin Sarduy on Unsplash

A variation on this was restaurants like Dick's Drive-In, a burger chain in the Seattle area (and a must-visit when you're in the area), which is still very popular and growing. Most branches don't have tables or seating, but you walk up to the window, place your order, and pay. Up until a few years ago, they only took cash. Once your food is ready, they hand it through the window, and you go back to your car and eat. Unlike the other kind of drive-in, you actually have to get out of your car to order.

Drive-in restaurants (both varieties mentioned above) generally serve(d) burgers, fries, milkshakes and the like.

Fast food restaurants like McDonald's, Burger King and others have been popular for years, and continue to be popular. Though some of them have automated, they are generally similar to how they used to be. They often have a drive-thru, where you stay in your car, order through the speaker, drive up to the window to pay and get your food, and then go park and eat. Fast food generally has the food already prepared (or nearly prepared), and they can bring it right out to you. Other kinds of restaurants, you generally have to wait for it to be prepared. In the Philippines when we were there, McDonald's' biggest competitor was Jollibee. They have been gaining in popularity in the US in recent years, but they were all over the place in the Philippines when we were there. We have one just south of Seattle (and I hear there's a new one opening in Tacoma). I went to one in Manhattan last September.

Fast food restaurants generally serve burgers, fries, milkshakes and more, but some specialize in other things as well. KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) and Popeyes (along with others), for example, specialize in fried chicken. If you're in the Seattle area, I highly recommend Ezell's for your fried chicken needs. (Since we don't have Cracker Barrel in this area, Ezell's is just about my only option when I have a hankering for fried okra!)

Then there was the classic diner. The biggest example I can think of is Denny's, which, though not as popular as it once was, is still pretty big around the US. Many diners were independent and not chains like Denny's (and in my experience, the independent ones are better than Denny's...but don't tell Denny's that). They often had booths along the edges of the restaurant with padded benches on either side next to a window. Next to those were standing tables with chairs or stools. (This depended on the size of the diner, as some were too small to have the free-standing tables.) Past the tables was the bar, which had taller stools for people to sit. Of course, layouts varied, but that was the general pattern in most diners I've been to. Diners also had a variety of formats for the building. Some were a fairly traditional-looking restaurant from the outside. Some looked like train cars that were placed on a foundation and converted into a restaurant (such as the one in the picture below). I think some of them actually were converted train cars.

Diners also serve burgers and fries (generally bigger and fancier than their fast food counterparts), along with milkshakes and other regular lunch items, but also fancier meals, such as fish, spaghetti, and more. They also often serve breakfast food. (Some fast food restaurants do as well, but not on plates like diners, not as fancy, and not as big portions.) Diners were often a great place to get pancakes, omelets, biscuits and gravy, and more. Some have amazing desserts.

Photo by spiritofamerica on Adobe Stock

Malt shops, though much more popular before I was born, have still endured somewhat. They often had a similar setup to diners, but specialized in cold desserts, particularly malts and milkshakes. Ice cream parlors were similar, but had vats of ice cream, and you could tell them what flavors you want, and they would scoop them out into a cone or cup. (They are still around, though I haven't heard them called parlors in years.)

Diners and malt shops often had jukeboxes in the past. Some still do, but not as many. Some had small jukeboxes on every table.

Pizza restaurants often have a similar setup to diners, but specialize in pizza (obviously). They tend to have more variety in how they are set up, as some do and some don't have places for seating. Over the years, seating has generally decreased, I've noticed. Some have no seating and only do their pizza to go. However, in the past, they almost all had tables to eat in the restaurant. Some of them also have salad bars.

All-you-can-eat buffets are considerably less popular than they used to be. They were fun, and oh so delicious, but I'm not complaining too much about the recent paucity of them because my eyes were always bigger than my stomach, and I'm probably still shedding pounds from all-you-can-eat feasts 20 or more years ago! They had plates at one end of the buffet, and you could load your plate(s) and eat at your table. We generally paid at the front of the restaurant.

Sit-down restaurants were (still are) generally more formal. Some of the above have been sit-down restaurants on occasion. I'm not sure if there's a more "proper" name for them, but that's what I call them. Diners fit in that category. Some require you to wait at the front until a server seats you. At others, you can find an empty table. The server then hands you a menu, and you can look at it and place your order. You generally pay when you're done eating, after the server brings you the check. Many of these have either closed or changed formats in recent years. For example, Pizza Hut in this area has generally removed their tables and only does take-out and delivery now. But there are still a bunch of sit-down restaurants around!

Steak restaurants, such as Outback Steakhouse, are much more formal (and usually expensive) restaurants. They are delicious, and always sit-down restaurants. Due to the price, we generally only go for very special occasions. They also seem to have decreased in number in this area.

Restaurants featuring food from different cultures vary by culture. Most of these have not changed much in my observation, but I will point out any changes I've noticed.

• Chinese restaurants generally serve food family style, so your group orders several dishes, and they put them on the turntable in the middle of the table, and then you dish up into your bowl and eat it with chopsticks. Some serve dim sum at certain times of the day: dumplings and other small foods that servers take around the dining room in a cart. When they come to your table, you tell them which ones you want, and they take the steaming basket of deliciousness off the cart and put it on your table. My dad was the best person to take with us to Chinese restaurants, as, having lived in Hong Kong, he ordered in Cantonese. We often got more authentic food that way, as many Chinese restaurants in the US have made adjustments to the recipes to cater to American tastes.
• To celebrate my graduation, we went to a Japanese restaurant, which had tables set in square recesses in the floor, so we sat on the floor and could still dangle our legs below the table without sitting cross-legged. Some of the dishes, they brought a portable stove out to the table and cooked it there.
• Many sushi restaurants have dishes on a conveyer belt that circulates around the room. If you see a plate that you like, you take it off the belt as it goes by. When you are done eating, you take your stack of plates, which are color coded by price, to the front and they total up the price based on how many and what color the plates are. (I generally get my sushi from the grocery store, usually found in the deli area.)
• Teriyaki restaurants are generally fairly small, and you can either call in your order or order at the front counter, and pay there too. Some of them offer free soup. They also sometimes have bubble tea. They are often closed on Sundays. They usually have tables to sit down, but it's also more common than other kinds of restaurants to get it to go.
• In Mongolian grills (which appear to have originated in Taiwan, not Mongolia), customers go to the front where they have a buffet-style bar. You take a bowl, and put rice, noodles, bean sprouts, meat, vegetables, sauces, and whatever else you might want in the bowl until it's full. You then hand the bowl to the server, who dumps it onto a flat round cooker and cooks it up, then serves it to you fully cooked. In my observation, these have declined in number in recent years, but they are a special treat when we get to one of the few remaining ones in our area. I also like it because I can usually put half of it in a box to go and get a second meal out of it.
• Vietnamese Phở restaurants serve Phở (pronounced "fuh"), which is a kind of soup with noodles, sprouts, other vegetables and meat in a broth. You can add peanuts, fresh basil, crispy shallots, and/or Sriracha sauce if you like. These restaurants also usually serve Banh mi, or Vietnamese sandwiches in a baguette containing, among other things, meat, sprouts, basil and jalapeños. (I tried ordering it without the jalapeños once, and though still good, it just wasn't the same.) In these restaurants, you generally order at the front and take the food to your table. While I haven't seen many changes in the format of these, I have noticed they have gotten a lot more popular in recent years. I also love how the owners often tend to have "phở" naming their restaurants with puns.
• Mexican restaurants such as Azteca tend to be more sit-down restaurants where you sit down at the table and a server comes to take your order. Before even ordering, they typically put baskets of fresh hot tortilla chips on the table with a couple different kinds of salsa. They refresh them until the food comes. The dishes generally consist of Spanish rice and refried beans, along with what you ordered: meat, burrito, enchilada, quesadilla, molé, or other entrées.
• Thai restaurants tend to be sit-down restaurants as well, though sometimes they are laid out similarly to Phở restaurants. They have a five-star rating system for how spicy you want your food. I like to order mine ไม่เผ็ด, or zero star/not spicy. I've only had to translate that into English for a server in the US once, and it's fun surprising the servers by practicing my very limited Thai knowledge. Meals generally consist of rice or noodles with meat and sauce. They also tend to be more peanut-based than other cultures. They also often do family style like Chinese restaurants.
• In recent years, I have noticed a trend in several of these, particularly Chinese and Mexican restaurants, of serving buffet style, and you build your meal at the front counter. For example, at Panda Express, you select either rice or chow mein, and then can add entrees, such as orange chicken, beef and broccoli, or a number of other options. Chipotle and Qdoba have a similar setup where you can build your own burrito (or quesadilla or other option), selecting which rice, which meat, which cheese, which other toppings you would like, and then they wrap it in a tortilla and put it in a foil wrapping (or you can order it in a bowl without the tortilla, or order the tortilla on the side). MOD Pizza has also joined in the fun with a large selection of pizza toppings and several size options for the crust. You tell them what toppings you want, they load it on the crust, and then put it in the oven. Subway and other sub sandwich restaurants have a similar setup.
• Mexican restaurants such as Taco Bell and Taco Time go for the fast food format (detailed above), but with tacos, chalupas and other Mexican options. Where most fast food restaurants offer French fries, they often go for Mexican-style tater tots (which Taco Time calls Mexi-Fries). I've noticed a decline in the number of these restaurants in recent years, but they're still around. (My brother Aaron likes to hang out with friends at Taco Bell. He calls it Talk-o Bell when he does that because he talks with them. I admire how he really makes an effort to get to know people and make them feel loved and heard. If he didn't live in Texas, I would join him sometimes!)
• Greek and Mediterranean restaurants also tend to be ones where you order at the front, pay, and go back to your table. They make the food and bring it to you. They often have gyros (meat and vegetables with pita bread), shawarma (delicious roasted meat with rice) and other dishes. I like ordering the beef and lamb mixture. They often come with hummus, olives, salad and pita bread. Greek fries are also a special treat...French fries smothered in Feta cheese and spices, sometimes also including tzatziki sauce. These restaurants seem to have gotten a bit more popular in recent years, though I haven't seen a lot...just enough so there's usually one nearby.

When I started at Wireless Advocates, I learned about the wonders of food trucks. They've been around for longer than that, but that's when I started going to them more. They park on the side of the street, usually in the same spot every day (or every other day, or specific days of the week), and you can form a line beside the truck. They take your payment and cook your food right there. When it's ready they call your name and you come up to the window to get it. There were all kinds of restaurants...Greek, Filipino, Chinese, Thai, Italian, fried chicken, Mexican, Mediterranean, you name it and there's probably a food truck for it. There are also phone apps that can tell you where the local food trucks are.

Food courts have been another great idea. They're typically in malls. As malls have declined in number in recent years, we have less food courts now. But they generally have all kinds of restaurants arranged in more or less of a circle or oval. You order your food at the restaurant of your choice and take it to any of the tables in the food court. All kinds of restaurants are represented...food from multiple cultures, diners, buffets, ice cream, dessert, fast food, hamburgers... again, you name it and it's probably in a food court somewhere (or used to be).

If you have been reading my "Days of Yore" posts, I imagine you have an idea of what's coming... Though I do sometimes go through a drive-thru, I don't often go physically to restaurants these days, opting instead to order though DoorDash or other apps on my phone. When I worked downtown, I also ordered through Peach, which delivered to the front desk at our business. Ritual offered the option to order a meal, and you could piggyback on a coworker's order. You could pay for your food in the app and one person could go to the restaurant nearby to pick up the food for everyone who ordered that day. In the past, we could call ahead to order, and either go pick up the food or have them deliver, but only certain restaurants (mainly pizza and certain fast food restaurants) had a delivery option, and the delivery people were employed by the individual restaurant. These days, especially since the pandemic, almost all restaurants have a delivery option, and they use apps such as DoorDash and Uber Eats, so a delivery person would be employed by DoorDash or other app company and go to whichever restaurant the person ordered from, then pick it up and deliver it. These apps also offer an option to tip the delivery person. Some restaurants do still employ their own delivery people, though they usually also participate in the apps. Many restaurants also let you order on their website and their own app, either for pickup or delivery.

What is your favorite restaurant?

"I Was the Lion"

The Horse and His Boy is a fascinating book by CS Lewis. Released in 1954, it was the fifth book in The Chronicles of Narnia, but is third in chronological order. 

The novel tells the story of a boy named Shasta who was raised a slave in the southern kingdom (Tisrocdom?) of Calormen, but he does not feel he belongs, and his master has not treated him well. One day a Calormene official visits his master, and while the adults are in the house talking, Shasta gets to know the official's horse, who it turns out is a talking Horse from Narnia named Bree. Neither Shasta nor Bree is happy with their respective masters, and they escape together. Sometime later, they are driven by lions to join with a runaway high-born Calormene girl named Aravis, and Hwin, also a talking Horse from Narnia who has been exiled in Calormen. The four of them journey together to the capital city of Tashbaan, and on through the desert and into the kingdom of Archenland. In the process, they go through many complications and adventures, and Shasta learns a lot about himself and his heritage. In Tashbaan and as they journey north, they learn of a clandestine plot by Prince Rabadash of Calormen to lay siege to Anvard and Cair Paravel, the capitals of Archenland and Narnia respectively. In an effort to save lives and prevent a violent conquest, Shasta must get to Anvard in time to warn the Archenlanders.

Through it all, they are plagued (so they believe) by lions, a cat, jackals, and more. This painting is inspired by one of my favorite passages in all of literature, when Shasta has met King Lune of Archenland and has fallen behind their entourage. As he is wandering through the mountain pass on the border of Archenland and Narnia, he feels lonely and dejected, and only has an Archenlander horse he hardly knows for company in the thick fog...until he senses another presence and hears a voice. Shasta recounts his adventures to the new arrival and is shocked to learn...

"I Was the Lion"
Steven Sauke
Acrylic on canvas
2012

"I was the lion." And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued. "I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so you could reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you."

...

He turned and saw, pacing beside him, taller than the horse, a Lion. The horse did not seem to be afraid of it or else could not see it. It was from the Lion that the light came. No one ever saw anything more terrible or beautiful.

Luckily Shasta had lived all his life too far south in Calormen to have heard the tales that were whispered in Tashbaan about a dreadful Narnian demon that appeared in the form of a lion. And of course he knew none of the true stories about Aslan, the great Lion, the son of the Emperor-over-the-sea, the King above all High Kings in Narnia. But after one glance at the Lion's face he slipped out of the saddle and fell at its feet. He couldn't say anything but then he didn't want to say anything, and he knew he needn't say anything.

The High King above all kings stooped toward him. Its mane, and some strange and solemn perfume that hung about the mane, was all around him. It touched his forehead with its tongue. He lifted his face and their eyes met. Then instantly the pale brightness of the mist and the fiery brightness of the Lion rolled themselves together into a swirling glory and gathered themselves up and disappeared. He was alone with a horse on a grassy hillside under a blue sky. And there were birds singing.

Throughout The Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan is a Christ-like figure, in many cases mirroring the actions of Christ in the Bible. This passage has been a comfort to me over the years. Whenever I am going through hard times, I need to be reminded that Jesus is right there, as Aslan was for Shasta and his companions. Even when all seemed hopeless, Christ was there. His faithfulness to me is astounding, and I don't deserve it, but looking back on my life, I can see so many times when things seemed hopeless, but God always provided, protected, and allowed me to grow through it.