It Would Be Nice If We Had Silverware

So.  Our daughter thinks that Linda and I could solve our employment issues by becoming restaurant critics.  Hmmmm… not a bad idea.  We’ve had a lot of practice here in Tennessee, that’s for sure.  When you spend six months living in a hotel suite that has no kitchen, you eat out.  A LOT.

It’s become routine for us to go to Mass on Sunday, followed by dinner at Cozymel’s, a very good Mexican restaurant that makes wonderful margaritas.  What makes it really nice is that our daughter and her kids and H2 have been there with us, so we have pleasant memories of family moments each time we go.  It helps that the food is really good, too!

Yesterday we went with two of my coworkers to the Cook Coliseum to see the Easyriders V-Twin Bike Show.   After the show we went a couple of blocks downtown to the Peabody Hotel (VERY nice!!) where we saw the famous Peabody ducks in the fountain in the lobby of the hotel.  Then we went into Peabody Place (a shopping mini-mall) for coffee at (where else?) Starbucks.

Then we went to a restaurant called Texas de Brazil which was a wonderful and unique dining experience.  It is a Brazilian steakhouse, where for one price you get a huge salad bar and “gauchos” bringing you delicious cuts of beef, pork, lamb, and chicken in many varieties, all served on sword-like skewers fresh from the kitchen.  There was sirloin, filet mignon, flank steak, parmesan pork, chicken wrapped in bacon, parmesan chicken, Brazilian sausage, rack of lamb, leg of lamb.  Each person had a disc, red on one side, green on the other.  When you put the green side up the gauchos come to you with the meat and they keep coming, like the energizer rabbit, until you turn your disc to red.  And everything was cooked to perfection!  (Assuming that you like your steak prepared rare to medium-rare).

As mentioned in previous posts, we have tried several Italian restaurants, Amerigo’s, Macaroni Grill, Carrabba’s, and Bol a Pasta.  Each restaurant has its own style, ambience, menu selections, and each was very good.

Of course, we go to the usual chain restaurants as well such as Applebee’s and Outback which, as luck would have it, are situated side by side so if one is too crowded we just pop over to the other.  Also, a couple of trips to Houston’s proved to be very nice, as well.

Breakfasts have been mainly at Blue Plate Café or IHOP, with an occasional Micky D’s thrown in.  (What can I say?  I love their deluxe big breakfast.  Their pancakes are actually very good!)

Then there’s BBQ.  Memphis is THE BBQ capital of the world, I think.  Corky’s is always good.  Then there’s a nice little place called Old Timer’s in Millington which serves good BBQ, and we finally just this past Friday tried the Pig and Whistle, a local BBQ chain that was also very good.  They had potato skins stuffed with BBQ pork, cheese and sour cream that were a tasty appetizer.

I thing that perhaps the most positive experience I can bring away from the past 5 months is being so close to Linda.  There are no distractions to take us away from one another, and we eat virtually all our meals together, including lunches.  It’s been really nice being close, talking, sharing feelings, thoughts, experiences.  The next several months being apart will be very difficult after being so close.

If I may, I ask for your prayers that our time apart will be minimal, and that Linda will return to New Orleans permanently very soon.  Thank you all for your love and support.  God bless you.