A day in Detroit

Yesterday, I spent the day in Detroit with Pimpa.  She called me the night before and asked me if I would drive with her to her doctor's appointment.  Her husband, who normally makes the monthly trip with her, was sick and she didn't want to make the trip alone.

Pimpa looked tired and stressed and in fact, this turned out to be the case because once she finally got in to see her doctor, she was told her blood pressure was dangerously high and there was talk about sending her to the hospital.  But a couple of hours later, after medicating her and writing her several prescriptions, she was allowed to leave.

Pimpa, looking tired and stressed

Once we left the doctor's office, we started on our "big" adventure.  The first stop was to a pawn shop where Pimpa had some jewelery she needed to get out of hock.  It had been sitting there for over a year and after working 14 hour days for days on end, she'd finally saved up enough to reclaim her items.

leaving the pawn shop

From there, we went to lunch at a little Vietnamese restaurant.  By now, it was 3:00 and about four hours past my lunch time!  I had become very narrow in my focus over the last couple of hours, not caring about Pimpa's jewelery or anything else in my desire to satisfy my growling stomach.  I can't remember a time I've ever been happier to arrive at a restaurant!

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This is the third time I've eaten in a restaurant with Pimpa.  She has a habit of ordering way more food than she intends to eat!  As she was ordering item after item on the menu, I found myself thinking, "Yes, I can eat that!"

making selections off the menu

But, once the food began arriving, I realized there was going to be trouble.  Big trouble!

I have this theory that the hungrier you are, the less you can eat.  I had barely begun eating when my stomach felt like it was about to burst!  By the time we were done eating, there was still enough food left on the table to feed a family of four!

what we couldn't eat

After leaving the restaurant, Pimpa took me to a Chinese BBQ where she ordered BBQ ducks to take back home.

Pimpa at the counter, placing her order

This was an interesting place and, to be quite honest, the ducks were probably the ONLY thing I would have eaten from this shop.  Everything else looked a bit, well............ scary!!

tripe

ummm.... not sure

a whole bunch of stuff I'm not sure about

The lady who cut up our duck was amazingly quick and accurate with her cleaver!!

From the Chinese BBQ shop, we went to the farmer's market to buy fruits and vegetables.  This was a cool place with aisle after aisle of fresh-looking, low-priced produce.

We also went to a couple of Asian markets where I was able to buy an entire case of Shin Ramyun spicy noodle soup.  This should make Lucas very happy!

By the time we pulled into my driveway, it was going on 11:30 ( a good three and a half hours past my normal bedtime.)  As I got out of the truck, Pimpa thanked me for going along with her and said, "Next month, we go spend night in hotel."

Next month??  Really?????