Poll #2998 Poulet Frit Kentucky
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KFC

Kentucky Fried Chicken

Original Recipe or Extra Crispy?

KFC

The next KFC will open in:

Of the Yum! Brands places, I'd consider:

I hope to never again set foot in a:

Current Mood: curious

A few years ago Wendy's came to Fairmont. This weekend it closed. Unlike the Starbucks, I will miss Wendy's. There's no word as to what will become of the place. As far as I can tell the neighboring ex-Starbucks is just sitting vacant.

So far this year Starbucks, KFC, and Wendy's have closed. The Hardee's closed sometime last year, but that building is now an Arby's as of last December.

Another restaurant, The Goose, closed a few weeks ago. It will eventually re-open as "Kak's Lounge and Steakhouse" (with the 's' in Kak's reversed...) but not until January at the very earliest and perhaps as late as March. It will be interesting to see how it goes. The nice thing about the restaurant is that it's well withing walkin distance from home.

Current Mood: disappointed

The KFC in Fairmont has closed, and the property is to be auctioned off. Not too big a deal, as I hadn't gone there in a year or two and jmaynard doesn't care much for fried chicken. We do wonder what will happen to the building, but it's not any great concern.

Today Jay upgraded his iPhone and started at various applications and TripAdvisor suggested a restaurant in Northrop. That was the only one it came up with for Fairmont. We decided to give it a try, and when we found it we also found that the database was out of date as the place had a different name. It's now Sheri's. I suspect it's the only restaurant (and bar) in tiny Northrop. We both tried the Friday fish fry and I think they got it right. We'll be trying the place again sometime. If they do steak reasonably well they'll definitely be on the list.

Current Mood: full

Unlike last time today's trip to Sioux Falls didn't have any lengthy setbacks. Thus I was able to dine at Taste of India. I opted not to do the buffet thing though it was early enough and would have been cheaper. Instead I ordered off the menu and got exactly what I wanted rather than the luck of the buffet. I had a glass of mango juice along with the standard ice water, roti (flat bread), mint chutney, and chicken vindaloo. The waitress asked if the vindaloo was spicy enough and giving it some thought, it was perhaps a bit less spicy than I might have liked, but it was quite respectable and not worth complaining about. Dessert was gulab jamun.

I will go back again. The meal was quite good. To my surprise, they didn't charge me for the mint chutney as it was on the buffet. I wasn't about to argue. I think I will try the buffet next time since it'll be less expensive and will let me sample a few things I might not otherwise order.

At the cash register there is a bowl of seeds available as a "mouth freshener." I think it was all or mostly fennel seed, which was interesting, but I doubt jmaynard would like them as they have a very anise-like flavor which surprised me. I'd never had fennel before as far as I know and hadn't been expecting that flavor from it.

Oddity: LJ's spellchecker flags vindaloo yet the first thing it suggests instead is vindaloos.

Current Mood: satisfied

Friday: Cleaned up the dining room some. Various boxes and packing material are now taking up much less room and the boxes can be picked up on the next recycling day. The table is still strewn various bits of computers, but that's not likely to change until the office is sorted out - and that won't be for a while, mainly due to furniture requirements.

Saturday: De-cluttered, cleaned, and re-arranged the living room. jmaynard wired up the speakers he'd brought back from Houston this Summer. A clock, a mirror my grandmother had, and a picture that my grandmother had painted were also hung on the wall. Actually the mirror isn't quite in the living room, but in the front entryway. It fits well there. While the living room isn't anything likely to make Better Homes & Gardens, it now looks much more like a normal living room.

After all that was done, we relaxed and watched History of the World - Part I which I had not seen before. I recognized many bits that I'd seen in clips, but this was the first time I'd seen the whole thing.

Sunday: Jay and I went to Sioux Falls and, since Nap's had closed (a column [See: Surprise endings] in the Argus Leader mentioned they'd lost their lease and hadn't found a new location yet - we both hope they re-open soon) we went to Famous Dave's. Verdict: Acceptable, but not great. We want Nap's back! We also did a bit of Christmas shopping and have more of that out of the way. Yay! I'd like to be done with it before Thanksgiving and avoid the madd(en)ing crowds of December. I expect I can, with one probable exception.

As Jay mentioned we saw the aurora borealis Sunday night. From southern Minnesota it seemed not to change too fast and was rather monochrome. It was both intense and not intense. While it was intense enough to be seen here and be visible south of the zenith, it wasn't 'active' with fast shimmering or much color. It was, if anything, a dull reddish, looking rather like the glow from a large city - only there wasn't one. From my father's description, it seems that a couple degrees north there was a better show.

Current Mood: accomplished

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Current Mood: calm

I left work early, went home, did final packing and loading of the car, and headed to Blue Earth where I was to pick up the faire programs from the printer. I got there just as someone was about to close up and leave for the weekend. Had I been there much later I might still have gotten the papers, but would likely have had to wait around a bit for someone to show up. I was surprised to see only two large bundles of newsprint on the pallet. I was expecting to have to haul more and packed accordingly. Curiosity number one: the gal at the printers told me, "I was told a woman would be picking these up." Uhm...

The trip to Des Moines was nicely uneventful, and the directions I'd gotten from irpooh got me right where I needed to be at the Candlewood Suites. The place was very nice - I didn't take advantage of all the place offered, but I was only staying two nights.

Calling irpooh and foolscap001 to make supper arrangements, we agreed it might be easiest if they came to the hotel. Then after a couple exchanges, they'd navigate while I drove. I can still hear the comment as I opened the door to the hotel room to let them in. "We've been staying at the wrong places!" (I wound up at Candlewood via a Hotwire reservation Jay made. For what I was paying, I was expecting a Motel 6, really.) I showed them the picture I was giving to ginafae which amused them. Also, I had found some tamarind candy of sorts and bought it for James. I hope it's good. Billie gave me quite a stock of Licorice Altoids.

We made our way to a Thai place, The King and I, and had way too much good food. There was also much conversation, most of which I don't specifically recall. Something that was mentioned was that Billie had called JP and someone had told him the programs had arrived already. Really? What are those bundles in my car, then? Curiosity number two, that. And then James mentioned that while this faire was "NEW" and listed as such in Renaissance Magazine, it was also listed as having an attendance of 12,000. Not predicted or estimated, Just "12,000." Really? I picked up 2,000 programs. Call it curiosity number three if desired. Afterward, we drove back and I was a given a ticket to the faire that they were not going to use - figuring that somehow I'd not get compensated for hauling the programs. Billie and James drove home and I called JP.

JP came, and was also surprised that there were just two bundles. Ah well, only 2,000 copies and only a single sheet each, so not that much. I did get a couple tickets from him for hauling the programs down. We talked in the parking lot for some time, before he left and I went to bed.

Current Mood: calm

Saturday was spent at MNRF. This time I arrived a bit before opening gate and saw that the pre-gate show was about like last years, though I didn't see (or hear) much of it being well back from things. Once inside, I met Mistress Bawd and gave her prints of some photos I'd taken at Siouxland. All but one were pretty good, and one really turned out well. I had been snapping away, trying to take the picture when she wasn't singing. I was concentrating on her mouth, really. She leaned over (at about a 30 degree angle to me, not facing me head on) and *FLASH*. She paused to playfully scold me a bit about that - but later felt the need to tell me she was just playing the part. The resulting photo (no, I don't have it scanned - but she might get it scanned) turned out well. It's actually fairly tasteful compared to what it could so easily have been.

I watched and listened to Bawd again later when she performed at the Queen's Pub. All around, a good performance. She seems to have a knack, though, for catching me unprepared. I didn't have a verse ready for "Roll Your Leg Over" when she figured I did. Every time I think of one, someone uses it, and I haven't come up with one of my own. Perhaps I should give it a bit of thought. Chances are if I'm actually ready, I'll never be asked again. (This is not a solicitation for helpful suggestions - if I were to do that, this post be friends-locks and behind an LJ-cut with a warning before it.)

More time was spent chatting with rillaspins, though not so much in the morning. I stopped by mainly to let her know my folks would be at there and would stopping by. I went off to see if I could find the Zilch the Tory Steller or the Molly Hares, as I had a few more photos. I did catch up with Zilch (and I have yet to any of his acts at MNRF this year. That will be rectified, even if just on Signed Saturday)

When I got back to Rilla's grove, my folks were there chatting with here. Now Rilla has an idea of how I got this way... The folks and I wondered about a bit, and I did manage to drop off the remaining photos in the Molly Hares' wagon. Let's see. We saw Tuey's juggling act, some Morris dancing mainly since that's the best way to get a good seat for Vilification Tennis, which my mother hadn't really seen before. (She knew better than to admit it when they asked who hadn't seen it before.) There must have been more, I don't recall it.

Well, there was Bawd's act, but they decided they go do something else or maybe just leave to get home at a reasonable hour. As mentioned above, I stayed for her act. Afterward, I took a few pictures (no bending over this time) of her, standing in front of the flowers and water behind the Queen's Pub. It's a really nice background.

Sometime during the day I caught up with the part of Vagabond (normally a two man musical act, but one isn't available this season) and bought a CD to replace a stretched tape. Also found where a different soap vendor was located, but they didn't have the thing I was looking for. When I asked about it, they said they didn't carry with them as it wasn't a big seller, but if I called and reminded them Friday they'd pack up some for me to pick on Saturday.

Back at Rilla's grove I sat and chatted a bit more. Tom, who I'd seen (and had seen me) at Rosenthorne last year talked a bit. I jokingly mentioned Free Bird and got quite a scowl about that. I don't know what the attraction is with Free Bird that some people seem to have.

The only downsides to the day happened after I left the festival. I stopped for supper at a Hardee's in St. Peter. That wasn't bad, but I got a Sprite. When I was on the road again I noticed a sore throat starting, and the Sprite seemed to make it worse. What gives? Is this a reaction to carbonation? To sugar water? Or did the day's dust finally catch up with me? Or a long delayed reaction to that Guinness? The other downside was the bad news about Jay's father and United losing his luggage. I was under the impression that the gate-checked bag with the costume had been lost, but it was the normally checked bag. I should have known. Had it been the costume that was lost, there would likely have been enough heat for helium fusion.

Sunday was slow, overall, but ended with a trip to Minneapolis to pick up Jay's suitcase, the handling of which had been bungled yet more. To make the trip a bit more useful, we stopped at my sister's place and I retrieved the windbreaker I'd left behind a while ago. The three of us went out to Khan's Mongolian Barbecue and ate. And ate. I'm still feeling rather full. I overspiced my first bowl, and I was trying to follow the "mildly spicy" guide, too. I goofed, but in a good way. I think the spiciness just overwhelmed my sore throat and I'm feeling rather better, though still not as well as I'd like. Jay and I took my sister back to her house and then headed for home ourselves. Today might feel long - we got back just after midnight.

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Current Mood: full

When jmaynard and I went out for breakfast this morning there was a bus in the restaurant parking lot. We timed things about right and arrived as the group was paying and getting ready to depart. Everyone in the group wore an orange button with a pawprint on it. It identified them as being folks riding with JAG Tours (note the pawprints at the ends of the bus - the buttons pawprint wasn't slanted, however). The buttons reminded me of the_gneech's Proud to be a Furry logo. It was a bit surreal to see a tour group in this town wearing what looked something like Furry Pride buttons.

Current Mood: amused

Last night we went out for Chinese. It was nice and sparse in the restaurant, at first. Then a family showed up. One with a young kid who wound up in a special kid chair at their table. This table, however, was next to ours. I wondered how long before I'd need to get out my earplugs. Much to their credit, the parents actually were parents. Yes, the kid fussed a bit and made some noise. But this was corrected, usually quite quickly. We made it most of the way through the meal without significant trouble, though a later (short!) outburst or two did have me use an earplug in the ear facing the kid.

That was not bad. Not as good as them being more distant, but tolerable. Alas, things had to get worse. For a young couple (I don't think family describes them) showed up. Yes, with their even younger kid. Unlike the parents, these jokers did not correct anything. What was really irksome was when the alleged mother told the kid how cute he was during/after a particularly loud outburst. Yeeeg, don't encourage that! Fortunately we were able to leave not much after that.

From what I could see, the family is actually bringing up their kid. The second couple is merely growing a kidiot.

Current Mood: annoyed