Tuesday, 24 June 2003

Been terribly busy. Was up until 11:00 PM last night writing the report of the day's testing. Today I'm done before 10:00 PM, so it's maybe early enough for me to do a journal entry.

Today was the "social event" of the UnPlugFest. There's one for each UnPlugFest--basically the sponsors book a bar or restaurant for food and drinks for everyone. I usually don't go--I'm usually tired and have already seen enough of these people. This time, though, the event was at a Viking-themed restaurant called Valhalla. Obviously, I couldn't miss it.

The chairs were covered with fur. The glasses at each place were shaped like a drinking horn (but included a stand so you could set it down, which is hardly in keeping with Viking tradition). Each horn had a generous portion of mead when we arrived. Once you drank your mead, they refilled the glasses with beer. Pretty good beer, too. And the mead was great. It's hard to get mead in the US, but I'll have to make an effort. I want more.

The serving wenches (well, waitresses, but serving wench was clearly the effect they were going for) set dishes down with an audible thump. Not your standard serving technique, but it enhanced the atmosphere.

The main course was a meter-long skewer with huge chunks of deer, veal, beef, and lamb thrust into (a stand in) the middle of the table and shared with everyone within reach. You just grabbed a big knife and hacked off as much as you wanted. And it was apparently all-you-can-eat, as they brought a lot of tables a second skewer full of meat.

I didn't eat the veal but had the venison, beef, and lamb. The venison was a bit dry but the beef and lamb were both great.

I wouldn't eat there often, but it would be a great place to take visitors too, or to eat at when you were in a certain mood.

So, that was today's highlight. Yesterday also included a food-related highlight. After working an hour past the nominal ending time for testing, my colleague and I went to an Indian restaurant within walking distance. There I had pheasant curry in golden sauce. Mmmm.

I'm going to go to bed. Maybe I'll wake up early enough to lift weights tomorrow.