Archive for the year 2012
Lunch at Cheddar’s
Posted on October 9, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Brian was in Memphis and Atlanta last week and didn’t come home until Thursday night. He was scheduled to leave again on Sunday and would be gone for a while so I took a day of vacation from work to spend time with him on Friday. I had to take him to the airport first thing on Sunday morning so we only had Friday and Saturday together. We made the most of our limited time together, though.
We decided to take grandma and mom out to lunch on Friday. Mom because her 58th birthday fell on Saturday, and grandma because Brian’s parents were out of town and we just wanted to do something nice for her.
Brian suggested Cheddar’s. I hadn’t been there in a long, long time so I was actually glad he suggested it.
One of the best things about Cheddar’s is that you get lots of food at a really low price. Brian and I can usually eat there for $15-20 when we split a chicken tenders meal.
Here are some of the food photos we took at lunch on Friday.
Cheddar’s will add meat to their queso at no charge. All you have to do is ask.
We told grandma she could get anything she wanted, but all she wanted was corn dogs. They were nice and let her order from the kids’ menu.
Brian predictably got the chicken tenders, which is what we normally get when it’s just the two of us. They give you enough for two people. Brian actually couldn’t finish it so he ended up taking the rest home.
I got the beef roast and mom got the tilapia and shrimp dinner.
The four of us shared the cookie and ice cream dessert. It was just the right size. Though the cookie part wasn’t as good as the cookies that Brian baked the previous weekend. I’m really glad that we had the opportunity to spend some time with grandma and mom. We had a wonderful lunch.
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Our Dinner with Darcy at Taste & See
Posted on October 7, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Finally got around to trying dinner at Taste & See. Chef Jason has been serving dinner at his restaurant for a while now, but Brian and I have been too busy to stop by. Darcy wanted to go there for dinner on Wednesday night, but I wouldn’t get out of Gina Ann’s Zumba class until almost 8 PM. I told her that was too late for me to eat dinner, but I did counter with Thursday night. I would finish with my Zumba class at Evergreen Recreation Center at 7 PM and could meet her. I didn’t mind eating later that night because I would be picking up Brian at the airport at 10 PM and I put in for a vacation day on Friday so we could spend some time together so I anticipated being up late. I’m weird and have to eat dinner at least 3 to 4 hours before going to bed. Gotta make sure that I allow for enough time to digest the food, otherwise I have weird dreams (some people call them nightmares). LOL.
Initially dinner just involved Darcy and me. However, Brian was able to get on an earlier flight from ATL to ICT so his arrival time changed. Darcy ended up picking up Brian from the airport (she lives on the West side so it was on the way) on her way to meet me for dinner. I guess I could have gone to pick up Brian after Zumba, but that would entail driving from the North part of town all the way out West to the airport and then back out East for Taste & See. This would also mean dinner would start a little later, which I don’t really like. When it comes to eating dinner, the earlier the better. Anyway, Brian and I were both really grateful to Darcy for agreeing to pick him up from the airport.
Darcy and Brian were already there when I showed up. I was only going to have water (they have yummy fruit-infused water at Taste & See), but Darcy decided she wanted a glass of sangria so I decided to have one also.
The three of us shared an order of platanutres, but I wasn’t quick enough to take a photo of it. We were all hungry so we started munching as soon as it came out. Anyway, I have several pictures of platanutres already. You can see some platanutres in the next photo, but when you just order it by itself then they serve it in a cone-shaped wire thing.
Darcy decided to get an appetizer also. She picked the queso fondue which is pictured above. I can’t believe I’d never had it before because it was so yummy. It is the tastiest cheese concoction ever. The fried veggie and plantain chips and artisan flatbread that they serve with it are absolutely perfect for bringing out the favors in the queso. BTW, I don’t think it’s on the lunch menu; otherwise I’m pretty sure I would have tried it already.
Boeing ol’ Brian ordered the real Cubano, which is his usual. Darcy was picking on me because I took another picture of it, though I have several in my collection of food pictures already.
Darcy had the oceanic mac & cheese, which is probably the most delicious mac & cheese dish I’ve ever tasted. It’s oceanic because it has lump crab meat, shrimps, and scallops. I think they used the same cheeses as in the queso fondue because it tasted very similar.
I had the ultimate paella, which was more watery than I like, but was full of wonderful flavor. I’m craving it again just thinking about it.
Chef Jason was super busy that night because Thursday nights are the nights he hosts Chef’s Table — an exclusive, five course dining experience. He managed to find time to stop by our table and visit at the end of the evening though, which I thought was really nice of him. I particularly appreciated it because it gave me the opportunity to introduce him to Darcy.
The funny thing is that he kissed everyone on the head, including Darcy (Darcy’s head smelled good though, unlike mine). Brian explained that it’s a Latin American thing because his Latin American coworkers do the same thing. It felt awkward for me because I had just come from Zumba and was visibly a sweaty mess. I told Brian that I felt sure that my head was stinky so I had him smell it. He agreed. I’m thinking that Chef Jason will probably think twice about kissing random heads in the future. LOL.
Anyway, I’ve thrown out one previous birthday gift idea… Here’s another one for anyone who might be reading this. I really, really, really want to experience Chef’s Table. Granted, I have to wait until I get a break from teaching Zumba (since I don’t finish until 7 PM and Chef’s Table starts at 6 PM and, more importantly, I don’t want to show up a stinky, sweaty mess), but I really, really, really want to go (hint, hint). Other than that, a gift certificate to Taste & See would be a good alternative also.
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BJ’s Brewhouse
Posted on October 5, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Brian has enjoyed some really fabulous food this week. He had the opportunity to dine at Folks Folly, which is a premier steakhouse in Memphis. I’ll let him tell you guys about that, though.
In the meantime I’m stuck in Wichita eating Lean Cuisine microwaveable lunches. Blech. I finally had the chance to try BJ’s Brewhouse, though. Three of my coworkers and I decided to go there for lunch after our training class on Wednesday. I’d heard some good things, some bad things, and a lot of hype. Plus, they’re always busy so I figured it must be good. Otherwise people wouldn’t go there, right?
We started out with the fried calamari appetizer. It had good flavor, but some of the pieces were chewy. That’s typical of seafood in the Midwest, though. Unless you’re eating at Bonefish, the seafood isn’t always so fresh. Despite the texture, I thought it was good calamari.
I got the flatbread pizza and salad lunch combo. The flatbread was okay. It’s not as good as the flatbread at Granite City. The salad was okay too. They brought me out the wrong salad though, so she had to come back and bring the correct one.
Anyway, speaking of flatbread, Mel was somewhat perturbed by the fact that they couldn’t make her bacon flatbread. I can understand where Mel is coming from, though. If you have all of the ingredients required to make what is requested, why not just make it? She ended up having to order something else instead.
This is a photo of the correct salad that I requested to go with my meal.
Faith got the teriyaki chicken with rice. It looked yummy. She said it was delicious. I wished that I had ordered it after seeing her meal next to mine. You can never go wrong with chicken and rice.
I didn’t get a picture of Gwen and Mel’s lunches. Overall I think the food wasn’t bad. The items on the lunch specials are a pretty good value. I think BJ’s is a good alternative to some of the chains we have around town.
However, they do have a long way to go in terms of service. Our server was not particularly attentive. Despite how loudly Mel slurped on her empty water glass, no one noticed. The restaurant was not packed. One would expect that water glasses would be refilled automatically throughout the meal.
Anyway, I would probably go back because Brian hasn’t tried the restaurant yet. Though my first impression wasn’t stellar, I would give them another chance.
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Random Food Pics
Posted on October 5, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink.
This was Brian’s dinner on Monday night. I didn’t get to go because it was a work function.
Now I know this doesn’t look like much because it’s hard to get good food photos at Luca due to the dim lighting, but it’s so good. Anyway, the lighting at Luca is supposed to be that way. That’s the ambience they’re going for at the restaurant.
I know that the chicken is good because Brian saved one of the pieces for me. It was so delicious (even as a leftover) and really made me want to go back to Luca for a dinner date or something. Thank you, baby!
This next one is Brian’s lunch on Tuesday. It was his first meal in Memphis after landing. He said the restaurant was three blocks away from his hotel. Would you walk three blocks for some Chick-Fil-A?
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O, Crazy Days
Posted on October 5, 2012 by Ching under Babies.
I managed to make it to work on Monday with my tires looking like this. I say tires because all four tires were low. They weren’t all as bad as this one, but none of them had the right amount of pressure. Isaac used his digital tire gauge and got 6, 13, 17, and 24 or something like that. He said he would guess that the proper pressure for my tires should have been 32 psi. He told me that I couldn’t even drive it to get air because it wouldn’t be safe to do so with all four tires being low and one being almost completely flat. I listen to Isaac because his dad is an authority when it comes to cars and so he is an authority by association. Anyway, he asked around to see if anyone had an air pump but no one did. I told him not to worry as the car shop that we take our cars to, which also happens to be where I bought my tires, is just a couple of blocks over. I told him that I would call them instead and see if they can put enough air in my tires for me to drive the car over to the shop.
Isaac was like, “Could you not tell that there was something wrong?” I admitted that I did notice the car was pulling to the left when I was driving on Kellogg this morning, but I thought it was just really windy. I promptly got made fun of. In my defense, I get to work before 7 AM and it’s still really dark. When I hopped out of the car, I got my bags and went inside. I didn’t look at the tires. I would have noticed it for sure when I walked back to the car at the end of the day, but I was glad that someone told me before hand so I could call the shop right away.
Tracy’s Automotive was really awesome. When Brian got done with his training, I told him what happened. Tracy’s was going to send someone to our parking lot to put air in my tires but Brian said that, since he was done with training early, he would just drive over there and find out what the plan was. He ended up bringing Doug from Tracy’s over in his truck. Doug put air in my two front tires (not the back ones) so I could safely drive my car to the shop where they inspected all four tires and found no holes. The only conclusion they came to was that someone was messing with my valve stems, which is not really a comforting thought, but I’m glad that my tires are fine and I didn’t have to buy new ones. Tires are expensive.
The folks at Tracy’s were really nice. I talked to Frank and Rob so I want to thank them also. Doug did the work so I owe a debt of gratitude to him. They checked my tires, filled them with Nitrogen (that’s the kind of air that it had), and even rotated them at no charge. Then again, the free air and free tire rotation came with buying the tires from them so those would have been free anyway, but I’m really grateful that they were able to send someone to my work parking lot to put air in my tires. Thank you to Tracy’s Automotive for coming to my rescue.
I posted this next picture because I want to end this blog on a positive note. I finally met Maryland’s new baby Maela and even got to hold her for a while. She is super tiny and super cute! And super sweet. She didn’t cry at all when I was holding her. Congratulations to the Fergusons on the newest addition to their growing family!
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