Restaurant Smells

I have been given the "gift" of a great sense of smell. That can be good, and it can be bad.


I think smelling great food sometimes triggers me to overeat. I can be completely satisfied after a meal and smell dessert cooking, and that immediately triggers a desire for the dessert. That desire usually does not go away until I taste that dessert.


If I cook, which is a very rare occurrence these days, I will usually close my bedroom door and light a candle in there, so that the lingering smell of the meal will not be noticeable. If it is still lingering, I will wake up in the middle of the night and smell it all night long.


Now for restaurant smells. When I go into a Mexican restaurant, I expect to have a strong smell of Mexican food. When I go to an Italian restaurant, I expect to have a strong smell of Italian food. If I don't, I am immediately suspicious about the restaurant. If it doesn't smell like the food they are cooking, it may not measure up to my standards.


On the contrary, I have to be really prepared to go to two of my favorite restaurants, because I know when I leave there, EVERY part of my clothing and hair will stink. That would be La Hacienda Ranch and Pappasito's. Like I said, they are my two favorites. When we are making a decision about whether to eat there, I have to decide, "is it worth the smell?" We don't wear coats in there, or a scarf, or anything that can't be laundered. Sometimes, we will leave our clothes in the garage so they don't smell up the house.


But . . . the WORST smell for me is industrial soap. I have a big aversion to public bathrooms, and it is partly because of the smell of the soap. We are very easy customers to please, never send food back, don't complain if we don't like it, but if I am seated close to the bathroom, I will ask to move. It was kind of comical, but there was a period of time that it seemed like every time we went out to eat, we were automatically seated by the bathroom. I finally got bold enough to start asking to be moved.


If Pops has used the soap and is sitting across from me in the car or restaurant, I can smell it. We will be in the car and he will lovingly stroke my cheek or run his fingers through my hair. My response should be, "I love you", but it is usually, "You used the industrial soap, get your hands away from me!!!"


Gotta love a great nose!

Favorites

When we go to restaurants, we usually order the same dish. We find the dish we like and don't change from that. For me personally, it seems like if I try something new, it is never as good as my favorite, and I am disappointed. I have thought about doing a "best of" for a while, but I think the list could go on. So, here are a few of our favorites:

Burrito – Chipotle
Fried Chicken – Babes
BBQ – Smokey’s and Salt Lick
Crab Dip – Hibiscus
Mole Enchiladas – Lupe’s
Pizza – Palio’s
Upscale Pizza – Fireside Pie’s
Cheesecake – Fireside Pie’s
Burgers – Simply Burgers, Clown Burger
Cranberry Chicken Salad – Celebrity Bakery
Vanilla Thumbprint Cookies – Celebrity Bakery
Fajita’s – Pappasito’s
Salad Bar – Jason’s
Crawfish Chicken – Water Street Seafood
Mexican Breakfast – Mi Tierra in San Antonio and Esparanza’s
Donuts – Krispy Kreme
Meatloaf – Dixie House
Cinnamon Roll – Dixie House
Steak – Nick and Sam’s and La Hacienda Ranch
Seafood – Pappadeaux
Deli – Jason’s
Sandwich Shop – Firehouse Subs – The Italian
Gourmet Mexican Food – Javiar’s
Favorite Seafood Pasta Dish – Chef Point – Blacked Catfish
Brunch – Blue Mesa
Italian – Maggiano’s
Bread – Logan’s or Texas Roadhouse


Have I missed anything?

Fun Valentine's Weekend - Way Too Much Food

Since we started our Valentine holiday on Thursday, it made for a long, but fun celebration weekend.

For my gift, I got some roses and a spa gift certificate. Can't wait to use it. I got Pops a shirt and a book. The shirt was a replacement shirt for one of his favorites that got ruined at the cleaners.

Sidebar here: A couple of weeks ago, he spoke at an annual meeting for a group in Austin. There were approximately 250 people in attendance. He had picked up his clothes from the cleaners and they went straight into his baggage. About an hour before he was to speak, he started getting dressed and realized that he had a 2 inch rip in the fabric just to the side of his collar. He only brought one dress shirt, and there was not enough time to go buy a new one. I think it bothered me way more than him. I reassured him that it "didn't look bad". I asked him if anyone mentioned it and he said no, and that he had forgotten about it completely. Lesson learned: always check your wardrobe before you pack, and take an extra shirt and pair of pants.

We started our celebration Thursday with lunch at Rise. All weekend long, when we have received the bill for our meals, the joke has been that each one was half the price as Rise. But Rise was definitely worth it and we will go again.

Thursday night we went to Lupe's for some Mexican food because it was so cold and snowy. Friday night we went to Saltgrass Steakhouse. Saturday we went to Mi Chula with Justin and Shannon and we finished off Sunday big. We went to Ft. Worth for breakfast at Esparanza's and then to Frisco to Maggiano's for dinner.

It was all so good, but I am getting ready to pay for it big time at the gym.

Unexpected Treat

Yesterday in Texas, we had a unbelievable snow storm. When it snows, everything comes to a halt. All of my plans for the day got cancelled. I am not one to let anything stop me, so I made alternative plans.

There is a really neat restaurant in Dallas, Rise No. 1, that I have been wanting Pops to try. I was a little reluctant to take him for two reasons. The number one reason is that they don't take reservations for parties under 5, and it is always extremely crowded. The second reason is that they serve souffles. That is not really a hearty man's meal.

With the snow day, I was trying to think of someplace unique to go. I thought it would be the perfect day to go to Rise. I figured everyone would stay home and we wouldn't have to wait. Wrong! It was just as crowded as it normally is. Our option was to wait at least 45 minutes, or sit on the patio. The patio was covered with an awning and plastic sides, but there were heaters outside. We opted for the patio and it was so cool. It was snowing so hard and it was so neat to just sit outside and watch the snow fall down.

Pops had a cup of onion soup and I had the Rise salad. He had the crawfish souffle and I had the ham and cheese souffle. For dessert we split a raspberry souffle. He loved it!!! The atmosphere is awesome. The only warning I have, is be sure and bring lots of $$$, or take out a bank loan. It is not priced like your typical lunch. It is pretty pricey.

We decided this meal would be the start of our Valentine holiday. Can't wait to see what else is to come!

I Made It Without My Hubby

I am joining the party at Shanty2Chic this month. I finally have something new to post.

About 2 1/2 years ago, when Jordan got her new office, she asked me to make a collage for her. I bought the paper and several bits of bling to go on it. At the time, I just didn't feel like doing it. I even pulled all the stuff out about 6 months ago to work on it, and just couldn't.

Finally, last week, I decided to do it no matter what. Now that it is finished, I can look at it and see so many things that I would have done differently, but it is all glued on with Gorilla Glue and there is no changing it now.

I started out with a 24 x 36 inch canvas. I attached torn paper that had been inked on all of the edges. Tearing the paper is rough on your fingers. I attached it with Mod Podge and then put Mod Podge all over it. When dry, I painted the edges and tried to give it a distressed look with some more paint. I then put more Mod Podge on it and let it dry. Then it was bling time. It doesn't show up very well in the picture, but it has crystal swirls on the canvas as well.

The "party" starts at 9:00 p.m. tonight. Go check it out at www.shanty2chic.blogspot.com. You will get some great ideas.