More dining adventures

So the dining magazine said that there was a local favorite Mexican restaurant and a local favorite Indian restaurant nearby. Last week, we decided to try both for reasons that will soon become clear.

We first tried the Mexican. Blech. I had a standard enchilada plate, which was supposed to have a cheese and a beef enchilada. I asked for shredded beef and got it in both, which I guess was my fault for not being clear in my order. The shredded beef was tasteless and stringy, and large clumps of it stuck together which made it very hard to eat. The enchilada sauce reminded me of the red sauce that comes with Spaghetti-Os. Not that I don't like Spaghetti-Os, I just want a little flavor in my enchilada sauce. D was not happy with his choice either, a chile relleno and a burrito. Completely bland. We are willing to give it one more chance and order from the more specialty items on the menu--maybe they are better? I was disappointed--you would think in a place where English is obviously the second language of the staff, you would get better Mexican food. Not so much here. We noticed the same problem in CR with several of the Mexican restaurants that people thought were good--no flavor whatsoever. I can only think of one exception in CR that was not a chain restaurant (!). I don't know if the dishes have been toned down for Midwestern palates, or if my expectations of Mexican food are colored by what I grew up with in Colorado, but either way, I have been soundly disappointed with the local Mexican restaurants here and in Iowa. At least it was cheap.

So because one night was so disappointing, we decided to spring for Indian the following night. We were also celebrating the closing on our condo in CR. What a difference! My tandoori chicken was exploding with flavor, tender, and juicy. I was looking to get some extra veggies without ordering a whole dish, and after explaining this to the waiter, I found that the chefs put extra veg with my chicken (normally it only comes with onions and peppers). I was very impressed. The garlic naan was tasty, though I wish the garlic had been a little more roasted and a little less raw. We had an Indian Shiraz with the meal and D was very happy with his lamb curry. All in all, we were very impressed and will certainly be returning. They even put our napkins on our laps and gave us hot washcloths to use when dinner was over. Classy! Apparently they also have a lunch buffet that is scrumptious. I am very much looking forward to trying that as well.

So one dud and one thumbs-up, not too bad for trying out the local places.

Heh.

D's sister W is storing her stuff in our garage for a couple weeks while she is in between apartments. The following humorous exchange happened last night:

W calls D.
D: What do you want?
W: Nothing. (hangs up)

D calls W back and leaves a message: "When are you coming to get your crap?"

W texts: I'm never getting it just to spite you. Haha.
D texts back: Garage sale tonight.

Crazy busy

So it's been pretty nuts around here. The last 4 weekends have been the following:

1. My mom was here
2. I was gone
3. We were in Chicago
4. D has time on the machine and is working 12-hour days (that's this weekend).

We haven't had a normal weekend here in 5 weeks. And it continues, as we will be back in CR next weekend for a wedding reception for some friends of ours. No wonder why I'm having some trouble feeling normal around here. Of course, my weekends are somewhat like my weeks, since both consist of doing things around the house and working on curriculum. I'm currently finding the latter difficult (vis. the blogging instead of working) and I'm trying to focus on doing as much as possible before the school year starts.

I am enjoying having a yard and flower beds, although they were somewhat neglected and consequently need some serious work. I'm trying to get in about a half-hour a day, usually in the mornings when it's cool and quiet. I've succeeded in beating back the sage that was drowning out some other plants and I'm working on containing the mint...great for Mojitos, I know, but I have way too much of it. I also have a veggie garden that the previous owner said she didn't plant this year, but apparently tomatoes, parsley, and green onions came up on their own. I have rows of little green tomatoes clinging to a couple of the stems, so we'll see how those mature. I have some trouble distinguishing weeds from plants that are supposed to be there, but I'm doing my best. I've been using some of the garden herbs and the onions in my cooking (I also have thyme in the back) and it's awesome to have fresh herbs whenever I want them. I'm intending on making and freezing some herb butters to use over the winter when the garden is covered with snow.