Are you serious?!?!?

We were sitting at a stoplight about a mile from my in-law's house today when I burst out laughing.  It was because I saw this restaurant:

Why we do what we do...

Yesterday the Hubs let me tag along on an "Old School" reunion he had with 2 of his former students.  He had these students their freshmen year (his first year of teaching) and then again their senior year (his last year at that school).  This group has always had a special place in his heart and he has kept in contact with quite a few of them over the years.  (In fact, one of them is now a teacher at our school!)  This is an incredibly talented bunch.  Many of them have successfully pursued professions in the art world.  More about them in a minute...


 Since we were heading in to town to meet them later in the afternoon for coffee we decided to make a day of it and visist Niko Niko's for lunch.  Yum.  We ate out on the patio and had a really nice time.  Tried to visit the CAMH after lunch, but since it was Monday it (along with the MFAH) was closed.  Good thing the Cullen Sculpture Garden is (almost) always open!  The weather was perfect for just walking around, being silly and getting a stern warning from the 80+ yr old 'security' guard while killing an hour. 

Fabulous, Fun Weekend #2

This weekend I was off to College Station to reunite with some fun, crazy ladies.  I took a much needed day off of work on Friday and after sleeping in I hit the road and got in to town by lunchtime.

You know how some couples have 'their' restaurant?  Well, my girlies and I had 'our' favorite spot on Northgate - Fitzwilly's.  Not as famous as The Dixie Chicken, but we loved it and ate there several times a week.  (It helped that our dorm was right across the street.)  

Two things you must do at Fitzwilly's:

1. Order a 'Fitz Favorite' - hamburger, fries and a beer
2. Play shuffleboard 

I love shuffleboard.  I don't know that I have played much since college, but it all came back.  Made me want to find some places around here with shuffleboard tables... and people who also like to play shuffleboard. 

Summer and Jennie needed to take a break from the game for a few minutes.

Wahhhhndah was our chariot for the weekend. She is a big ol' diesel Excursion who almost gurgles as she gets going, hence the name Wahhhhhndah. Jess was a great chauffeur and parked the large vehicle with ease.

Later on that evening after dinner we headed back to Northgate to a rooftop bar called The Corner.  Although we had to climb 3 killer flights of stairs, the view and breeze were well worth it. 

When we first arrived The Corner was almost empty and it was very easy to hold a conversation, but as it got later and later the place became packed with college students. 

College students who seemed very young... and had no crow's feet, cellulite or varicose veins. 

We soon began to feel old.

So we left.

Since we were so close we drove over to our old dorm, Davis Gary.  Davis Gary was not a glamorous dorm.  In fact, it was probably the most basic of all of the female dorms on campus.  A very small room for two students, community bathrooms and it was surrounded by male dorms. 

We lovingly referred to it as Dirty Ghetto instead of Davis Gary. 

We had some great times there.

My room was on the first floor and just outside the frame of the photo.  Room 114.  And since the window was right next to the door, anyone who forgot their ID (which was needed to enter the dorm) knocked on the window for us to come open it for them.  If I had a dollar for every drunk student that knocked on our window in the middle of the night...

The next morning before I headed out of town I hit one of my favorite 'hole in the wall' joints, Layne's. 

Their chicken fingers are to die for, even better than Raising Caine's, in my opinion. Not health food by any stretch of the imagination, but absolutely declious. 

I had such a great weekend with my girls!  It was fun to reminisce and revist all of the old favorite spots.  However, I am not as young as I used to be and 24 hours of 'college life' wore this 30-something out.

I was sad when the trip was over and I had to head back home.  Maybe with a nap and a longer night's sleep I could have gone another 24 hours...

I'm hoping that it isn't 7 more years before the next reunion.  This was way too much fun to have to wait that long to do it again.   

Captain Tom's

My parents are really good eaters. 

Nobody in my immediate family is picky.  I think we all had maybe 1 food item we did not like and that was about it.  Sweet Potatoes for my dad, lima beans for me, mushrooms for my mom and shrimp for my sister.  Other than that, we are some goooood eaters! 

I have been blessed with a husband who is a really good eater too. 

All of that is to say that I have no problem eating at little "hole-in-the-wall" places because growing up I learned that was where the best food can be found.  And that rule holds true in every country, not just the US. 

One of my favorite little dumpy looking places, that my parents turned me on to, is Captain Tom's.  Now, this place is shaped like a boat, seats maybe 45 people and they only serve seafood.  And it's almost all fried.  (It's the only restaurant where I order fried food.)  And it's all incredibly tasty!

We, R and I, only sit at the inner ring - the seats around the bar / prep area.  We do this for two reasons:

1) It's a lot easier to order from this location (and the wait/bar staff is amazing)
2) That's where the serious Captain Tom's customers / regulars sit.  We have waited over 20 minutes and let countless other customers take other "outer" seats, just waiting for those sacred inner seats.  It's so worth it!

We visited Captain Tom's this past Sunday evening.  I had been craving it for several weeks and we were out running errands, so it was super convenient. 

It was also packed. 

And that's another thing about this place - it's always packed.  And with a wide variety of people - every SES group and ethnicity are always respresented.  It's the strangest thing. 

But I guess that's what tells you a place serves really good food. 

They have some wonderful Oysters on the Half Shell... and here's the best part: you order either 6 or 12, but you always get extras!

Notice the ugly plates and paper red sauce cups.

Strangely though, that's part of the charm.

One character trait I inherited / learned from my dad is that I like to talk to everyone.  Doesn't matter if I know you or not, I'm going to start up a conversation with you. 

Grocery store, DMV, airplanes, Doctor's office, restaurants... it doesn't matter.

R thinks it's weird.

I think I embarrass him sometimes, but I meet a heck of a lot of really interesting people.   

Like the guy sitting next to me at Captain Tom's.  I can't remember how the conversation started, but I learned two really interesting pieces of info:

1) He taught me the real name of what R and I affectionately call "Spicy Beer" - turns out it's called Michelada.   More importantly, he told me what was in the mix and where I could buy some!!!  He also showed me that you could ask for raw oysters to be put in it for that extra zing!!! Yum!!!

This is the "mix" before the beer is added. 

It's hot sauce, worcestershire sauce, a dash of tabasco and lime juice. 

It's like heartburn in a glass.  But so worth it.

We got raw oysters in our "round 2" drinks.

2) Turns out he is a US Marshall.  Talk about an exciting / interesting job... wow.  He told us about the Mexican Drug Cartels, some of the creative ways they catch fugitives here in the US and then also about all of the training that it takes to become a US Marshall.  (I would never make it)

Great food, cold beer and interesting people.  What more could anyone want from a night out?