Catholic church and the Chinese buffet

I went to mass with the rest of my family, and I'm a little surprised I didn't spontaneously combust as I stepped through the doors. Apparently, unfulfilled Catholic obligations are just between you and Him.

I got an ab workout towards the end of the service. If you are familiar at all with Catholic mass you know what comedian Larry the Cable Guy complains about: that you've got to be pretty fit to be Catholic, what with all the standing and sitting and kneeling going on. Anyway. I got back from communion and, while still standing, tried to hook the kneeling pad with my foot to set it down, as I'd been doing throughout the service. I was encountering resistance but couldn't seem to snag the part above my feet. My brother sitting to my left looked at me askance. As it turns out, the guy in the pew in front of me was knelt in prayer and he'd been ignoring the fact that I'd been kicking his feet. Mortified, I set the pad down by hand, knelt, covered my face with my hands, and tried to stifle my laughter. My shoulders were shaking and my abs hurting from the effort. My mom, who was sitting next to me, thought I was crying. She began rubbing my back and asked, "Are you okay?"

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Dinner was at King's Wok, a family- and pocket-friendly Chinese buffet in Silverdale. Ten bucks and change gets you all you can eat: their lauded egg drop soup, wontons, a limp sushi bar, the usual Chinese sweet/sour-friedrice-lomein fare sans fortune cookies. The seafood is satisfying: crab legs, fried shrimp, shrimp with pineapple, steamed mussels, Pacific salmon and even strange creations like crispy (breaded) oysters and a casserole of imitation crab meat baked with cheese. Fountain drinks, coffee and tea are included in the price.

I particularly liked their dessert offerings: notably the buchi (a sticky doughball filled with sweet bean paste, then rolled in sesame seeds); an interesting cookie made with crispy rice; fresh fruit, including not only pineapples and oranges, but more uncommon lychees and loquats; and even soft-serve ice cream (!!!). Both chocolate dispensers were out of order though, and I had to settle for vanilla. I thought their fruit salad was weird -- it had citrus fruit. There were also sweet rolls which seemed like siopao minus the filling.

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Caffeine kick of the day:
Seattle's Best 16 oz. creme brulee latte

Satisfying, but so sweet my mouth stayed puckered for an hour. Did you know that Starbucks bought out Seattle's Best in 2003?

Firsts of the day:
Going to Catholic mass for the first time since Benedict became pope. It was...odd, not hearing "John Paul, our pope..."
My first carob bar, 38 cents for three morsels at Fred Meyer