I'm In Love ... With a Restaurant

Well, OK. I'm in love with DH too. He took me to my favorite restaurant yesterday.

Let me back up. Last week was rough. It was hectic, frantic, and just about any other -ic words you can think of. TGIF nearly took on a religious meaning. I was so glad when Friday rolled around that I brought in Mary Lou Donuts for our department. By the way, Mary Lou makes the best donuts - ever. Better than Dunkin' Donuts. You can keep your Krispie Kremes. Give me Mary Lou Donuts any day of the week. OK, if you did, I'd look like donut, but you get the picture.

There is this Mexican restaurant chain over here called Hacienda. There was one fifteen minutes away from the house I grew up in. There used to be one here in Lafayette - heck that's the reason I agreed to move here - but now the closest one is in Kokomo. It's only a 40 minute drive or so.

I am in love with Hacienda.

As far as being "authentic" in terms of Mexican fare, I have no idea. Don Pablos once tried to kill me with heartburn, so no, it's not necessarily spicy-hot.

Most of my co-horts love it for their margaritas. I agree. They are good. They have a dreamsicle orange one that is absolutely divine, but I digress. I do go for the food.

I always order the same thing every time too. A shredded beef wet burrito with extra cheese. Please forgive me for drooling. The beef is like the tenderest pot roast ever marinated in subtle Mexican seasonings. It's wrapped with beans (not a lot), tomatoes, lettuce and burrito sauce inside a flour tortilla and a mound of cheese is melted over the whole thing.

So good.

Lately we've become fans of the chili con queso sauce with chips as an appetizer, as if the regular chips and salsa were not good enough on their own. I never eat chips and salsa anywhere else. And yesterday (due to fate, I believe) their mudslide dessert was half price. That would be a big chocolate chip cookie baked fresh, covered with three scoops of vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce. We ordered one with three spoons. *Sigh*

I waddled when I left the restaurant, but I was one happy camper.

So if you're ever in Michigan City, Mishawaka, Goshen, Elkhart, Warsaw, Kokomo, Evansville or South Bend and see a sign for Hacienda, be sure to wave. I'll wave back, I promise.

http://www.haciendafiesta.com/

Astounding! Decent weather on my Birthday!

Ok, folks. In my now thirty-seven years on this planet, I've had my birthday in every freak snowstorm imaginable, sub-zero temperatures, and even tornados. This year, IT WAS GORGEOUS. Temps in the mid-fifties, the sun was shining, birds were singing. For March, let alone my birthday, this was just short of miraculous. Of course, it was Sunday, and I did go to church, so maybe someone is trying to tell me He's noticed that I'm trying a bit harder of late.


And here is photographic proof that yes, the sun was shining. That's us: DSS, Sister #1, DH and me in the black jacket. Sister #2 is taking the picture. Hacienda is my favorite restaurant, and worth every second of the 40 minute drive to get there. Actually it is the only mexican restaurant I like, and has a shredded beef wet burrito that will melt in your mouth. That, and I think I ran them out of chips and salsa.

It's been a very good weekend. DH got me/us a new car stereo. My car on a daily basis, but ours on weekends and family trips. I LOVE my tunes. I am a complete diva in the car. Of course, reality is always a harsh blow. For example, the time I was singing along, waiting at a stop light with the windows down, and the @#%$! radio conked out. Let's just say I amused way more people than normal that day. So, yay to the new stereo!

I had a very good day, topped by the banana cake with buttercream frosting. Oh my Bob, is there any wonder I'm still full? Well, except for another slice of cake. There is always room for more cake...

Ho Ho ... (hack) *cough*

And so it begins.

I’ve been fighting this viral thing for a few weeks now and it can’t decide whether it wants to be bronchitis, a hacking chest cold or the sniffles. Last week it had the doctor thinking pneumonia, but thankfully it wasn’t that. All I know is that I’m tired all the time, so bear with me as I try to at least act like I’ve got it together over here.

DH and I went shopping last weekend to look for a new winter coat for me. My day job’s dress code is “business professional” so as much as I’d love to just wear my IU jacket all winter long, I probably shouldn’t. Plus I live in Purdue Boilermaker country, so that might make life just a little too interesting for me right now.

I used to love shopping. Now I’m in a stage where nothing fits and I get really frustrated with the whole experience. Let’s just say the coat shopping was a wash. 150 stores and only one coat fit. And it was too casual and probably not warm enough.

To the day’s credit, it was unseasonably warm and reached the 70s. This would normally be cause for great celebration, especially since it did not rain as forecasted. The bad thing was that all the stores had to fling the doors wide open because it was 100 degrees inside. Nothing like a little heat stroke while trying on winter coats.

And then there was the music. Christmas carols were played at full volume. I know they bring out the Christmas stuff earlier every year. I know it’s November and I really should not have been surprised. I mean, Thanksgiving is only a week and a half away. Still, nothing irks me more than Christmas music when I’m no where near being ready to even contemplate the holidays.

So we have Christmas music, unseasonably warm weather, sucky winter coat shopping, and furnaces going full blast in the stores. Grrrr. It was almost enough for me to start saying, “Bah. Humbug.”

What I probably should have done was gone to Cheeseburger in Paradise last. Cheeseburger in Paradise is a restaurant chain by none other than Jimmy Buffet himself. Kind of a family-friendly version of Margaritaville. For whatever reason, he decided Indianapolis needed one, and I won’t argue the point. Of course, there are a lot of Parrotheads in the area. Anyway, it’s fun and you actually feel like you’ve gotten away for a bit, or at least I do. And I hear the drinks are awesome (I’m still on my meds so no margaritas for me). Someday I will have a couple of those beach chairs they have in the lobby in my yard.

Livin’ on sponge cake …