Day 18: Favorite Place to Eat

Sadly, my very favorite restaurant of all time, "The Italian Oven" went out of business years ago. And, not just my local franchise, either--the whole chain disappeared when I wasn't looking
(ie.--lived in the West). My second favorite is the BEST Mexican restaurant I have ever been too--(including my Spanish Speaking mission in Southern California!) which is located about 10 miles away, in a dinky little town (still bigger than MY town, but pretty dinky, nonetheless!). They have spoiled me for all other Mexican food (except homemade tortillas, which are a class by themselves).

Other than those--my favorite thing to eat is anything containing the magic ingredient "I-didn't-have-to-cook-it"!

But I have 3 pieces of food advice to make your life better:

If you have a chance to go to a Peruvian Restaurant--DO! And if, on their menu, they have "Papas la huancaina"--GET THEM! (Since Peru is where all potatoes--"papas" come from, they have A LOT of potato options. PlH has cooked, sliced potatoes, which are served cold, with a FABULOUS sauce.)

If you have a chance to go to an El Salvadoranean Restaurant, order the "Cheese Pupusas" or "Pupusas de Queso", WITH the Curtido ("which is a lightly fermented cabbage slaw with red chilies and vinegar"--technically correct, but not even CLOSE to doing it justice!)--JUST DO IT!

And, whenever life gives you a chance to travel with "foodies"--DO! In fact, traveling with "foodies" is so great, they are worth seeking out, cultivating, and making up excuses for road trips!

40th Birthday!

I had a great birthday! It wasn't a wildly exciting day--took LargeBoy to an Order of the Arrow Lodge Meeting, took SmallDaughter and the Wonderdog with us to Walmart, got to talk to all the dog lovers who need to tell the person who has their dog with them in the store all about their dog(s), and all about the amazing things they can train dogs to do now (which always happens when I go out with SD & the WD!).

We came home and I fixed a big pot of Corn and Bacon Chowder, and then a few friends came over for a cutthroat game of Michigan Bankroll. I think this is a game that has evolved within our family confines (it is similar to Skip-bo, with increasingly difficult rounds of sets and runs,but sneakier rules!). I had a stellar opening, and then lost, but not horribly!

My dear Aunt A made two pans of her amazing brownies (one with nuts, one without) and a batch of homemade caramel nut frosting (like you put on German Chocolate cake) for them. HEAVEN!

Fabbity Fab Fab Fab!

I had an awesome weekend! My sweet hubby surprised me with a "weekend away" for our anniversary. It was especially exciting since A)our anniversary is not until next week and B)because of the crazy busyness of our schedules, it is "traditionally" (ie, happening most years)celebrated in November--sometimes even December!

We had a great time together, and it was unbelievably lovely just to have a long stretch of hours just to reconnect. Bliss.

Also, after a really excellent Fast and Testimony meeting at church, and a rather weird seminary get together, he surprised us (after SmallDaughter was asleep in bed, due to the "absolutely no dairy" restrictions) with an awesome ice cream bar--which, as you may expect, went over really well!

Cheese!

Because we live with (and love) SmallDaughter, we have a mostly dairy free household. And no, it isn’t the lactose (thank you for asking), it’s the milk proteins, specifically casein, but some of the others, too, that cause problems. Apparently lots of non- and less- verbal people have problems with it. We just try not to have any in the house because she LOVES it, craves it, finds it and eats it with abandon (she can easily eat a pint of sour cream, a stick of butter AND a block of cream cheese in one sitting--not kidding).

Anyway, that being said, it explains my families unholy adoration of all things dairy—why LargeBoy stuns his scout leaders with his ability to chug chocolate milk, why BigGirl asked for a pint of cottage cheese for her birthday—and why I am sitting around with a Post Christmas, Brie-induced grin on my face!

I LOVE Brie. I am not certain whether I love the creamy, buttery inside best or the lovely, crusty outside. I just know my loving sister gave me Brie and Dark Chocolate in my Christmas gift, and I am a very happy girl. Albeit, getting fatter every second.