On Saturday, we went to The Melting Pot for an early dinner. Mariko and I both like fondue, and she has been wanting to go to the restaurant for a while. We sometimes make cheese fondue at home, and this was my first time to eat it at a restaurant, so I was excited to see what it was going to be like.

We arrived at the restaurant and I was expecting it to be a casual atmosphere, but it was much more fancy than that. I guess I thought that dipping food into a pot of hot liquid would be a “fun” The hostess/seating persons were dressed in the standard black clothing, and the lighting was dim, with candles on every table. I thought that it might be too nice for kids, especially our energetic one-and-a-half year old and our four year old who was cranky because he didn’t have his nap. The dinner started out on a bad note, with Koa punching a hold in his styrofoam water cup, and soaking himself with ice water. It then got even better after Bay stuck his finger in the candle and started to cry… oh boy, what a dinner this is going to be…

Surprisingly, the kids were pretty good after that! Mariko and I ordered the Pacific Rim special, and got the classic Swiss style cheese fondue to start. The server prepared it at the table, and we enjoyed dipping the bread, veggies, and apple chunks. The cheese fondue was excellent! I loved it, and so did Mariko. After we finished that, salads were brought out, which were good. I am not a salad fan, but these were very fresh. After the salads were eaten, the main course was presented. First, the fondue was a broth filled with wine and spices. A plate of uncooked meats, shrimp, and gyoza was brought out, as well as several different sauces and dips. These were put into the broth to cook, and it was delicious at first, but after a few minutes, the taste got a little boring. I think that it suffered from “crock pot syndrome” where everything had the same taste, in this case, a beef bourgignon taste. The meat was pretty tender, though, and the sauces were yummy. After eating the meats and seafood, we were too full to order chocolate fondue for dessert.

I think next time, we will get a sitter for the kids, then just get the cheese fondue, then split an entree, and finish with a chocolate fondue. It was good to try out the “other” kind of fondue, but I doubt we will be ordering it again.

My friend Ryan showed me a story about some dude who recreated the Thanksgiving feast from the old Peanuts Thanksgiving special. It’s great! I especially like the insights on Jiffy Pop popcorn, which I used to love to make/eat when I was a kid. Here’s an excerpt from the story:

Let me tell you — Jiffy Pop is worth trying out. Yeah, it’s a little extra work, but think about it. With the microwave cooking time so frequently incorrect on those bags of pre-buttered kernels, most of us just stand around staring at the microwave anyway, either making sure the damn things pop or prohibiting the black-burn primarily caused by inattentiveness. YOU’RE GOING TO STAND THERE ANYWAY, SO BUY JIFFY POP INSTEAD.

I was looking at the US Vespa site, and noticed this image on the opening page. I thought, “That looks very familiar.” Then I remembered seeing an old 1960 Supercub ad, which used a similar concept. Kinda neat…