Emperor's Kitchen and "our" garage

The kitchen/basement sorting is a seriously contagious disease. Today it spread to the garage. The Frugal Man saved some of the old kitchen cabinets for slightly more organized storage in the basement and in the garage. The Man Who Never Leaves Till Tomorrow What He Could Do Today has already installed the basement ones under a hunk of old countertop in my storage, giftwrap and Christmas decoration dump. This weekend he installed three wall cabinets in the garage – which he immediately started to fill with car wash equipment (he hasn’t washed a car in 15 years, I’d guess) and open cans of driveway sealer (he’s hired someone to seal the driveway for probably the last 20 years). This would not do. I need the best, most convenient storage space for MY gardening supplies, which I actually do use almost daily during our extensive gardening season here in Wisconsin. There was a bit of a tiff in the garage. I always win. The Man Who Was An Only Child was raised to treat his mother with respect (thank you, Isabel Gennrich) and is a wuss.

The Man Who Makes Neat Piles doesn’t throw stuff out (he would dispute that claim, but he is not writing this). I love to throw things away. So as The Pile-Maker would stack stuff on a shelf in the garage and turn his back, I would grab the stuff he stacked and say, “We don’t need this, you haven’t used this for years, I hate this sprinkler, etc. etc.” and pitch it all in the garbage cans. I really must have pruners, plant stakes, gloves and a trowel in a convenient spot. That’s all I insisted on – and – of course – I got that. After all, HE has two lawn mowers (he says he needs a spare in case one needs repair), a generator, a power washer, four gas cans, a chain saw and many other tools that I can’t even name. (This is in addition to the Milwaukee Tool Company that is his basement workshop.) Never mind. The garage looks spectacular. I hope the garbage men will not be TOO picky about what they’ll take.

Last night's dinner was an al fresco, stand-up affair in Madison before the Badger football game. Beer and brats and barbequed pork chop sandwiches do not need reviewing. You all know that’s The Best. Besides, the Badgers won, and the company was a blast.

So my most recent dinner on Bluemound was at the Emperor’s Kitchen. Good food, not expensive for what you get, but nothing to speak of in the way of ambiance -- Just one big room with simple tables and paper placemats. That seems to be the common decor of Chinese restaurants in this country. But the Emperor’s Kitchen is located on the second floor with lots of windows, so even though the room is bare and the view is not of the snow-capped Himalayas, it is not unpleasant.

Next time I eat at the Emperor’s Kitchen, I will try to remember that the portions are ridiculously enormous. Even if The Man and I had been agreeable enough to share one order of food, we could not have eaten it all. I probably ate no more than 1/4 of my Cantonese chow mein, which is served with delicious fried noodles, lots of medium-sized shrimp, bamboo shoots, those tiny corn cobs, water chestnuts, pea pods and whole mushrooms in a bland sauce that improved with a sprinkle of soy sauce. The Man Who Has Still Not Had His Fill Of Fried Food ordered Orange Chicken, and I must admit it was yummy. Again, it is a mountainous portion of small, deep fried chicken pieces in a sweet sauce, served with orange slices and rice enough for the Vietnamese army. For an extra dollar, our meals came with really tasty, vegetable-laden egg rolls (deep fried, of course), tea and dessert of an almond cookie. Our total bill was $23.12, for enough food to last for three days. But don't despair; we ate the leftovers for weekend lunches, so we wouldn’t have to delay tonight’s meal at McDonald’s. Oh, goody...

Kitchenless in Brookfield