Food-Oriented Vacations

I’m wondering how normal it is to plan a vacation with your destination based on what restaurants and food are in the area. Who’s with me on this? DH and I just did this —we discussed optional destinations and pretty much chose one because it has all kinds of restaurants that we want to visit. Types of food that we’ve enjoyed on past trips but are not in our local area and places that we’ve seen on Food Network and want to experience. Yes, of course we planned other events to do in the area because we can’t exactly eat all day long. (Could we do that?!) Shopping venues were taken into consideration, as were gourmet/specialty grocery stores (Trader Joe’s PLEASE, PLEASE come to my cit!) and then maybe a few special events like a local farmer’s market or a wine festival (yes, food again). But mostly, we are excited about the food.

I guess we tend to be less like tourists and more like semi-locals. I’d rather get lost in a (foreign-to-me) mall, take in a movie, and eat at a localized non-chain restaurant than to don a camera (might as well stamp TOURIST on my forehead) and trudge through the museum of whateverthecityisbestknownfor. No, I’m not against learning about history and culture. It’s just that many of these places are so damned boring. I’d rather learn about the culture by experiencing it with the people. Okay, so shopping at Saks may not exactly teach me much about the area, but friendly chat with someone in line at the farmer’s market will. And if I ask nicely, they may tell me the best places to go to experience more local culture (and hopefully a good restaurant).

Manga!

IT’S FRICKEN FA’REAL FRIDAY!

Today is Friday –otherwise known (in my department) as "Fricken Fa'Real Friday." FF’F, for short, is a variation of TGIF, but in a real world kind of way. I don’t know about you, but by the time I reach Friday morning and have had that first cup of coffee, I am beyond sweet sentiments like TGIF. What I usually am is ready to laser-eye burn the next, unsuspecting candidate that walks into my office and asks for help on something that doesn’t even remotely relate to my job or asks me for something that has to be completed today, but that they knew about two weeks ago! Breathe easy. To both requests (and many others that may come your way throughout the day), you can simply say:

ARE YOU FRICKEN FA'REAL!

Example: "I need that report completed by noon"; the correct response would be, "ARE YOU FRICKEN FA'REAL"!

Depending on the tone you use, the unsuspecting victim will either duck and retreat or stand there in shock, silently staring at you while trying to discern what to do next. Usually, it’s the latter –which is quite funny in itself, but makes it hard for me to keep a straight face.

I must give credit where credit is due –thanks D for making me aware of this (and four others, yet to be revealed) very special day!