I took a half day yesterday, and Taryn and I met up to celebrate her birthday. She came to town so we could hit up some Rochester food/shopping. I hadn't been to Black & Blue yet, but I had heard good things, so I suggested we go to lunch there. There were so many tasty-looking items on the menu that I had trouble deciding, and so I did what I sometimes do when I'm being indecisive: I ordered the cheapest thing on the menu. I figure, why not? If it all looks good, why not go with the cheapest? It was their signature burger. It cost what an average burger costs at Fridays/Applebees/RubyTuesdays/Chilis/Whatevers (it was actually less than $8), but it was perfection on a perfect bun. It had bacon and blue cheese, and it was seasoned and cooked perfectly. Did I mention it was perfect? Oh, and it came with shoestring French fries. Perfect. Taryn and I also both got desserts. They were not perfect because they were too big. I ate so much I actually had a cramp for half an hour (and I wasn't even swimming after the meal).
After lunch we did some shopping at Eastview. As I mentioned previously, we recently got an Anthropologie. Taryn and I both came to the conclusion that it's nice to look, but it's too expensive to buy. Even their sale stuff is really expensive. Also, their clothes look like how I would *like* to dress, but it's just not how I dress. I feel like I would buy a dress and then covet it in my closet and then never actually wear it. And that would be sad. I'm glad we have an Anthropologie, and I plan to stop by their sale section and visually enjoy the regularly priced eye candy when I can, but I don't think I will be getting a new wardrobe there anytime soon. I did get two sweaters at Banana Republic for a combined grand total under $35 and a magical pair of boots on super-sale at Macy's. And Taryn found some good stuff too. It was a great afternoon - one that I totally needed. I felt like it was my birthday!
So, amigos, my friend Alex IM'd me the other day to tell me that our former home-away-from-home Mex is celebrating its 10th anniversary this weekend. Can you believe it has been 10 years?? Alex said, "It's been almost 10 years since you kicked someone out of a bar." It has actually been 7 and a half years since I kicked someone out of a bar, but who's counting? 10 years...time flies. I might need to have a gin and tonic this weekend (at New Mex = my living room) to celebrate.
I'm reading a crazy book for book club right now. It's Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, and it's kicking my @ss! It has 6 different sections, and I have gotten into each one eventually, but it takes time. I really need to think about what I'm reading as I read and sort of translate the meaning as I go. If I don't, I sometimes have to go back 10 or 20 pages and reread a section. I have NEVER had to do that - ever. I feel like a pansy because other reviews I've read of the book were all so positive and people claim they loved it from page 1, but I'm struggling. I blame both my job and modern technology for giving me adult-onset ADD. Having a kid who craves constant attention doesn't help much either. It also doesn't help that there are some crazy dilects. I read a paragraph of one of the sections out loud to Pat, and I think his response was, "Oh, f*** that." I like the book, but I'll be sort of glad when it's done.
Phil and Becky came to town for see our (not-so) new house and have lunch. We always have a great time when we get together with them, and we always eat and drink well. The highlights were a warm goat cheese salad (basically this one, but I use fresh cherries because I love the combination of the savory goat cheese, tangy Dijon dressing, and tart cherries) and a nice bottle of wine we busted open (courtesy of Dave McCarthy) that went perfectly with the salad and pasta dish. The lowlight was the hazelnut torte with chocolate glaze I made for dessert. It sounded good in theory but was just not very tasty. Shocking, right?
Sadly, I forgot to take many pictures. I got one of the salad, but the only goat cheese round I had left by the time I thought to take a picture was the one that was the least toasty. It was still delish.
And now I'm going to drink the last bit of wine that's left and call it a night.
One of the moms at Greta's day care organized a cookbook for all families interested in participating. Unfortunately, not many people participated, but Greta and I submitted a couple recipes. Check it. In related news, I can't hear "sweet spiced nuts" without giggling. Sometimes I think I share a brain with a twelve-year-old boy. Anyway, since my mom is well known as "Grandma Norma" at the day care, I was sure to include a recipe from her in there.
So we always like to have some kind of healthy cereal (or a cereal that at least appears healthy, I'm honestly not that great at understanding nutritional information) around the house. I'm a big fan of almost all of the Kashi products, and we saw their cereal Mighty Bites, marketed toward kids, and thought we should try it. When I glanced at the box I thought, "Those cereal pieces look like little people, but no one in their right mind would make a food that looks like people, right???" We open it and sure enough they're shaped like little people. Does this seem strange to anyone else?
Every time I give them to Greta I think of the movie Soylent Green and the quote, "Soylent Green is made out of people. They're making our food out of people!"
As an additional note, Mighty Bites are delicious.
