Week of Culinary Indulgence and Cuteness Overload
It's a good thing I'm not giving up anything for Lent this year, because I would have fallen off the wagon this week for sure. On Tuesday, we were both tired for work, so we got take-out from Smoky Jon's (mmm, BBQ beef brisquet sammich). It's dangerous living just around the corner from a fabulous BBQ joint.
On Wednesday, we got invited to a birthday dinner at Samba. Mmmm, plentiful stream of rodizio meats flowing by our table. Also, Moodles was there, being adorable stuffing her face with grilled pineapple then walking all around the private dining room while carrying her shoes.
Friday night, we tried to go to the Villa Tap for their fish fry, but it was standing room only, so we went to Smoky Jon's instead. We did, however, get fish fry (they have a beer-battered cod dinner, and we both picked french fries and coleslaw for our sides). It was not all-you-can eat, but I couldn't finish mine, and Chris had no room for my untouched last piece of fish. Best of all, it was uncrowded (imagine, not a lot of people going for BBQ on a Friday night in Lent).
Today, we went to visit my mother-in-law. We stopped at the Kalahari for breakfast at their buffet. It's a pretty decent breakfast spread. Plus, on the way out, we got to see a Jaguar cub that they brought in for photo ops. It was romping in an enclosure full of stuffed animals while its cohort was being photographed. We watched it tear into one stuffed toy for a while, then it spotted us and came up to the plexiglass to check us out. Cute! Just a bit smaller than our chubby housecat, but with bigger paws.
On the way home, we again stopped in the Dells to eat. It was a little before 4 p.m., so many of the restaurants were not yet open for dinner (or, in some cases, for the season). We stumbled on a new place downtown called Taste of New Orleans. The decor was kind of kitschy -- it made me think of a community theater production of A Streetcar Named Desire. But we enjoy kitsch, and the food was really yummy and rich. Also, the waitress (who looked a bit older than my mom), kept calling me "Baby" so it really felt a bit like being in New Orleans. The platters are served with garlic bread rather than corn bread on the side, which is a little weird, though. The only corn bread I had was in the order of "Cajun Swamp Balls" I ordered (like I said, I enjoy kitsch). They are kind of like a cross between hush puppies and crab cakes. Not bad. We'll definitely be back when we are in the Dells.
On Wednesday, we got invited to a birthday dinner at Samba. Mmmm, plentiful stream of rodizio meats flowing by our table. Also, Moodles was there, being adorable stuffing her face with grilled pineapple then walking all around the private dining room while carrying her shoes.
Friday night, we tried to go to the Villa Tap for their fish fry, but it was standing room only, so we went to Smoky Jon's instead. We did, however, get fish fry (they have a beer-battered cod dinner, and we both picked french fries and coleslaw for our sides). It was not all-you-can eat, but I couldn't finish mine, and Chris had no room for my untouched last piece of fish. Best of all, it was uncrowded (imagine, not a lot of people going for BBQ on a Friday night in Lent).
Today, we went to visit my mother-in-law. We stopped at the Kalahari for breakfast at their buffet. It's a pretty decent breakfast spread. Plus, on the way out, we got to see a Jaguar cub that they brought in for photo ops. It was romping in an enclosure full of stuffed animals while its cohort was being photographed. We watched it tear into one stuffed toy for a while, then it spotted us and came up to the plexiglass to check us out. Cute! Just a bit smaller than our chubby housecat, but with bigger paws.
On the way home, we again stopped in the Dells to eat. It was a little before 4 p.m., so many of the restaurants were not yet open for dinner (or, in some cases, for the season). We stumbled on a new place downtown called Taste of New Orleans. The decor was kind of kitschy -- it made me think of a community theater production of A Streetcar Named Desire. But we enjoy kitsch, and the food was really yummy and rich. Also, the waitress (who looked a bit older than my mom), kept calling me "Baby" so it really felt a bit like being in New Orleans. The platters are served with garlic bread rather than corn bread on the side, which is a little weird, though. The only corn bread I had was in the order of "Cajun Swamp Balls" I ordered (like I said, I enjoy kitsch). They are kind of like a cross between hush puppies and crab cakes. Not bad. We'll definitely be back when we are in the Dells.