I just spent 10 days in Texas with my 98-year old grandfather, Bubba. “Bubba?” you ask. Yes,that’s what we call him. It’s a nickname he got many years ago when his sister couldn’t say brother. I was in Texas because Bubba recently spent some time in the hospital and I needed to visit him and the rest of the family.
Since we were eating out a lot I got to have some pretty tasty Texas-style food. The Tex Mex Chile Rellenos and BBQ brisket were good, but by far my favourite–for culinary and sentimental reasons–was a nifty little corn tortilla sandwich called a “Chihuahua.”
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For Cinco de Mayo we ended up in Niagara Falls, New York at our favorite Mexican restaurant. There was a line out the door. We have been there many times before, but usually not for dinner, so we had never waited in line before. It took about 20 minutes to get a table. The only special was $2 Mexican beer. I had a Negro Modelo and Mel had a margarita. They have homemade chips and delicious salsa. The kids had fun daring each other to eat more salsa–it wasn’t too spicy. The kids ordered Beans and Rice with a Taco from the kids menu. I ordered Steak and Camarones (shrimp). It came with tortillas, guacamole, and lettuce and tomato. Mel ordered an Enchilada Special Plate with 3 enchiladas. This place has some of the best beans and rice I have had anywhere. They were absolutely delicious. My steak was fairly tough and not a great cut of meat but had pretty good flavor for $16.95. The guacamole had good flavor. The boys enjoyed their meals which they call “messy plate.” Mel enjoyed his enchiladas. This is a greasy spoon kind of place. They make their food from scratch and it is good. Food quality isn’t incredibly high but what they do, they do well. I send people here all the time. Mel loves this place more than I do, but then again, I get back to New Mexico a couple of times a year. I give this restaurant 3.5 Stars 8215 Niagara Falls Blvd, Niagara Falls, NY...
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About a month ago I got a quote from a professional organizer on helping us in our home. The quote was a whopping $2400. We were surprised and when we looked around, we realized she was right. Somehow in the last 8 years of having kids and moving out of our house and then back into our house (we were on sabbatical and traveled), things stopped having a place. In that time, I have had 10 people working in my house, have had babies grow up and turn 8, have changed the use of almost every room, have had multiple clients here, and have closed a storefront, ending up with the leftovers of that business stashed here as well. My office was probably the worst room in the house. Now, I am not really a hoarder by nature, but there have been some lean financial times in my past and I have been hanging onto things because I knew they had value and I had paid a lot of money for them. But having a quote of $2400 gave me the incentive I needed to pare down. I have been doing some serious editing. I have gotten rid of a garbage can full of stuff, a recycle bin full of stuff and several boxes of freecycle stuff. I have done a great job. I feel proud and now everything has a place. I have been through everything except a file cabinet and 3 drawers and I will get to them this week. I have instituted a “Work in Progress” file where my ongoing projects are. It has several projects in it but I am looking forward to clearing those, too. It is a new system I am looking forward to working with. But I am left with 3 postcards from Graceland that I don’t know what to do with. I bought them 2 years ago when we went to Graceland. I bought them–Mel says I always buy postcards and never send them–but these are...
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We decided on Friday to drive across the border to have dinner in Niagara Falls–the American Side. It is an hour drive and we wanted to pick up some mail at our post office box. We have been traveling and using Trip Advisor to pick restaurants and have found it to work fairly well. We wanted to try it out near home as well. We try to eat in a restaurant that is in the top 20 restaurants on Tripadvisor and although we are sometimes disappointed, our hit rate is much higher using this strategy than just looking around and picking a restaurant. I have a corn allergy which is making it harder to eat out, so I have to try to find restaurants that can help me get a meal that will work for me. On Friday we decided to try the Red Coach Inn. It had some good reviews and I looked at their menu online. It looked good and very reasonable in terms of price. We got there and it is lovely. The location is great. The waitress did an amazing job of taking care of us and of managing my corn allergy. She went to the kitchen to ask questions, looked at labels and generally was kind and helpful. We ordered a shrimp cocktail, a Caesar salad, and a house salad that comes with almonds, blue cheese, and strawberries. Our kids ordered a lobster trio and we each ordered the surf and turf. While the service was outstanding, our meal just wasn’t up to the standards we expect when we spend $180 for dinner with tip. We want something better than average. My frustration was with the amount of food the kitchen was serving that they don’t make on-site. They don’t make their salad dressings, they don’t make their wings, and they use cornstarch to “hold” their Bearnaise sauce. We had an opportunity to speak to the manager. He came to our table to apologize for a very small error with my meal (this error was really...
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I felt so incredibly free. I can’t tell you the last time I was on vacation by myself in a city other than my own. It was an explorer’s dream.
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Owl Cafe Green Chile Burger vs. Buckhorn Tavern Green Chile Burger I stopped in San Antonio, New Mexico for lunch the other day. I wanted to go to the Owl Cafe, which is famous for its green chile cheeseburger. Now, it is in the middle of nowhere on the way to nowhere (apologies to the 3 people who live there) but it has been a popular stopping point my whole life. As I got off the highway, I noticed a “newer” burger restaurant with signs proclaiming that it offers the #7 burger in the nation. I was intrigued. The Buckhorn Tavern (the “new” restaurant) had a full parking lot while the Owl Cafe was looking pretty lonely. I decided to do my own comparison. Step 1: I start at the Owl Cafe. I order their green chile burger without cheese because they only have nacho cheese and american cheese which both have corn in them and I am allergic. The waitress is probably in her late 50s to early 60s. She has worked there a long time. I am pretty sure she has waited on me before. She doesn’t seem to care whether I’m happy or not. See their very empty dining room in the photo below. As usual, the fries are brought by one server and the hamburger is delivered several minutes later by the waitress. This has been the way they have done their food for 20 years. On a scale of 1-10 the fries are a 3. The oil tastes old and they are nothing special. The green chile burger is delicious and I would give it a 9 on a scale of 1-10. I am only giving it a 9 because if I give it a 10 and the Buckhorn has a better burger I won’t be able to rate them properly. The burger comes with Green Chile, tomato, lettuce, onions, and mustard and the patty is clearly home-made. I discovered this restaurant in my college years and it is always...
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