Sorry guys! BUT I GOT TO MEET ARUN!

Sorry about the delayed post. Even though swim season is over and this lack of torturous exercise is making me feel incomplete, I don't actually have much time to talk about this, since I also have to blog today. So, yesterday:
Breakfast-- felt like cold cereal for a change. This bowl was OVERFLOWING:
Combination of Puffins, GoLean Crunch, grapenuts, and Mighty Bites (don't really love these, although the shape is awesome... trying to get rid of them).
1 banana, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries
soy milk
wheat germ
sprinkle of almonds
On the side: applesauce with a little Greek yogurt.
This was probably a little overkill: all the fiber was pretty much sitting in my stomach. We were supposed to leave for Arun's Michigan house at around 11:30, but I figured it would take us a while to get there and I didn't know how long it would be till I ate. I figured I was safer with a snack:
A sliced pear, a few walnuts and some cottage cheese.
I WAS SO EXCITED TO MEET ARUN! It also felt great to get out of the city, although being in the car gave me a killer sinus ache. We ended up being later than expected, but I still got lots of buffet photos. Arun was really friendly-- in his 60's, wearing a kind of Asian-looking silk jacket, and he shook my hand and kept addressing me by name and everything! It would have seemed like almost a family gathering (lots of Chicago's Thai community) if it weren't for the camera people from the CANADIAN FOOD NETWORK circling around us with those tubular microphones. It was actually pretty funny, because a ton of people started gambling in the other room, and the TV people said, "we won't film that."
There were people there working for the mayor (there was a big Thai Fest in 2005 to fundraise for the tsunami, and my neighbor Marion wrote the book). There was free Thai massage, and there were photographers and the like. Basically, it felt like a really friendly gathering, except, once again, for the cameras.
As for the food, it was excellent! Not exactly "home cooking style," and judging by the size of the kitchen in this vacation house, I'm guessing they brought it over from the restaurant. But still, it was delicious. Of course, as Marion put it, "this is only a picnic for him." Can't wait to see what his restaurant is like! Oh! Forgot to mention that there were framed restaurant reviews all over the walls, including the JAMES BEARD AWARD.









That roasted pig reminded me of Lord of the Flies... other than that, there were great coconut noodles with shrimp, tofu and peanut sauce, vegetarian rolls, fish cakes, pickled eggplant, stir-fried cabbage, eggs boiled in soy sauce, and many more delicacies.
And dessert: Asian cookies and cakes, which I didn't have. I did have this amazing tapioca soup-ish dish... I don't know how to describe it except that it's one of those extremely sweet, condensed milk Asian desserts that I'm usually not a fan of. This, on the other hand, was probably the best thing I ate there! It was called "floating" something (not floating island), but I don't remember. Either way, the "soup" had coconut, taro, and was really sweet, and the tapioca balls floating in it were lichee, taro, and KABOCHA SQUASH. Sold.
Actually, it was Marion's birthday on the 6th (wish she'd told me), and because she's basically Arun's best friend, about 4 or 5 different cakes were brought out! But I was stuffed and stuck to the Thai stuff.
Anything else of note? Just as I suspected, Arun didn't really eat anything, but I did catch him nibbling on a piece of honeydew that somebody else had left out. Poor chefs!
The photographer there told me I should be a model! Not even kidding! I was kind of shocked. She asked if I was part Asian and I said yes. She said she was looking for more Asian models, and that she doesn't have any upcoming projects, but she took down my contact info and said she would let me know. And if that weren't strange enough, the two masseuses also came up to me and said I should be a model! They said "you have a certain grace to your posture. You hold yourself very well and you have an interesting look." I don't think I've ever felt so flattered!!
I had a headache after all the food, so we walked around the house, where there was a beautiful stream. It even started snowing a little! Sadly, we had to drive back.
ARUN HUGGED ME!
By the time I got home, it was almost dinnertime, and I didn't even want to think about food! But eventually, I did start getting a little hungry, and I basically had a "lunch for dinner" kind of thing:
A whole wheat bagel with a Laughing Cow and 2 kinds of smoked salmon (one was gravlax) and pickles
Some leftover pumpkin lentil stew
and later, an apple.
I brought my parents Arun's food.
I am so excited for Friday... Arun's Arun's Arun's...
By the way, the show that they were filming, which I don't think is usually aired on the American Food Network is called "At the Table With," if anyone's heard of it.