Tao Yuan (Pacifica Cafe), round 2

I think the one thing we can conclude right now is that food tastes better when you’re hanging out with your cousins.  last time we stopped by Tao Yuan in Kentlands was when Wendy and Laura were in town for the half marathon (here).  it took us longer than we hoped for the sequel to come out, but two weeks ago we finally managed to hit up Pacifica Cafe again, with my cousins in tow this time.

no mission this time, no hidden intent — not for me and Tina at least.  but for my mom it was a whole ‘nother ball game.  see, Tao Yuan has a few “Pre-Order Specials” on the menu.  and when they say “special”, they really know how to make it special.  you have to order these things at least 24 hours in advance.

stop for a moment and think about things that need to be ordered 24 hours in advance.  there’s not much, and that’s because a whole day is like forever in modern society.  if we can believe “24” (of course we can, Jack Bauer is for real), 24 hours is at least enough time to:

1. discover a terrorist plot
2. watch a cabinet-level official be abducted
3. get your job back (and renegotiate salary I would imagine)
4. abduct the leader of a sovereign african nation, save cabinet-level official, and save the world
5. shoot 15 people (all non-lethally)
6. topple said sovereign african nation
7. prevent the detonation of warheads in a metropolis and save the world
8. realize prevented detonation was just a decoy
9. break Usain Bolt’s record 200m time while capturing single remaining enemy sleeper agent
10. interrogate captured enemy sleeper agent
11. kneecap captured enemy sleeper agent
12. accidentally induce death of captured enemy sleeper agent
13. escape CTU
14. shoot 9 people (all non-lethally)
15. get arrested
16. have your old friend/enemy break you out of prison
17. discover your old friend/enemy is still your your friend/enemy
18. get betrayed by your friend/enemy
19. get interrogated by bad people
20. get kneecapped by bad people
21. manhandle bad people, grab weapon, shoot 33 bad people (all lethally)
22. discover real nuclear weapon stash
23. disengage nuclear weapons and save the world
24. get arrested by CTU and lose job again, develop raging methamphetamine addiction

that’s like a hat-trick of world-saving in just 24 hours.  meanwhile, our Eight-Treasure Duck and One Fish Three Ways just got out of the kitchen.

Andy is either unsure that Jack is going to find the last nuclear detonator in time, or unsure our Broiled Pork Leg is going to come out of the oven in time.  probably the latter.  we have absolute faith in Jack.

the Jack Bauer Award of Excellence for the night goes to the One Fish Three Ways.  this poor fish not only gets cooked, he gets cooked in three totally different dishes, subject to three totally different tortures.  and we love it.

the John Li Award of Excellence for the night goes to the Eight Treasure Duck.  this thing opens up and you want to stick a flag in it and lay claim to the champion’s portion right then and there.

and at the end of it all, sesame balls.

worth the 24 hour wait?

well that pretty much says it all