Dinner and the Market
The plan for today was to head to a restaurant called Salvador Molly's and try out their Habanero Fritter challenge. Chris and I have been talking about this since he saw it on the show "Man vs Food" on the Food Network. Naturally Tyler came along to try the challenge too.
I got directions to the place and printed up the menu as well so I could know what I was going to order ahead of time. Chris suggested that we go for dinner so the plan was to head out around 4pm. Well I overslept and had an errand to run before we left so we didn't get to heading out of town until around 5pm.
Tyler and I headed over to pick up Chris and Tristin. After everyone was situated I handed Chris the directions and the menu and we were on our way. Since I had been sleeping all day and not eaten until way before that I brought along some Veggie Chips and a Fruit bar for a snack. This turned out to be a VERY good thing later on as I will explain.
We talked a little on the way down but most of the time was spent by Chris and I singing to the songs that played from the iPod. Tristin fell asleep not long into the journey and Tyler was busy playing FF Disydia.
Finding the restaurant was really easy. I hadn't been on Capital Hwy before but I had been in the general area so it wasn't too much trouble. What we didn't count on was the trouble it was going to be to find a parking spot. First I tried the restaurant parking lot but I could tell quickly that this was going to be trouble. So we went down the street and eventually I decided just to park in the lot across the street. Well not long after we got out of the car I was chased down by the guy from the liquor store in the area and yelled at for parking in his lot (which doesn't say anything about not parking there. -_-
I sent Chris and the boys off to put our names in to get a table. Then got back into the car to find another parking spot. I think I circled the block three times before finding a spot in front of the Hillsdale Library up the hill. I parallel parked the car and headed down the street to where the others were waiting.
Chris told me when I got there that the wait was going to be 45 minutes to an hour. I wasn't worried about that but he was hungry. So Chris suggested that we eat at the McMennamins next door instead. I had pointed out this restaurant on our way in but didn't know it was a McMennamins. I was up for that even though Tyler (and Chris too) were disappointed about not being able to do the Habanero challenge. :(
We walked down to the McMennamins and I saw that there was plenty of parking there. I contemplated moving the car but Chris said the walk would be good. I left it at that and headed inside.
I asked where everyone wanted to sit an on one had a preference so I choose to sit on the deck. It's a nice covered deck much like the on at Fultano's but enclosed with plastic curtains instead of roll down windows. The evening weather was perfect so it was nice out. We found a good table and sat down to order.
I got the hummus plate as always and found that they had the Gyros on the menu so got that. I was going to get a drink but ultimately decided on diet rite instead. Tyler opted for the hot chicken wings since he wasn't going to get the habanero fritters.
Our drinks seemed to come out pretty quickly but it then took forever to get just about everything else. Chris pointed out hat he shouldn't finish his beer before the meal arrives! We did get the hummus plate and wings within a half hour and even though they weren't going to Chris and Tristin helped me eat the tomatoes, onions and olives off the plate. It was because of this delay in our food that I was happy I had eaten the snacks before we left. -_-
The food finally arrive around the one hour mark and we were content then to eat. Chris' burger came with only a little blue cheese on it so Tyler offered up the blue cheese from his chicken wings for Chris to use on the burger. That worked out really well for both. :) Tristin really liked his burger so much so that he ate all of it! The thing was nearly as big as his face (and I jokingly told him so. Then he showed me. :D). Tristin told me later that it was so good that he just kept eating it. It was better than Stuffy's. :D
During dinner I called my mom to wish her a happy birthday and had Tyler talk with her as well. She apparently was in Leavenworth having a weekend with friends. :) She thanked me for the flowers and told me about her time so far. She ended the call when a deer walked by though and I was more than happy to let her get back to her weekend. :)
After dinner everyone used the restroom before we left. I was the one left at the table at first waiting for the others to return. Trisitn came back first and I saw Chris outside heading our way. I told Tristin that his dad was on his way back. Trisitin didn't know how I knew this so he was impressed when he saw him walk around the corner. :D I then headed in to use the restroom myself before we headed back up to the car.
I was worried about getting a ticket for the car being parked in a 2 hr zone but having dinner take nearly 3 hours or more. I resolved earlier that I would just deal with that if it happened. I figured there might be a higher chance of getting one since it looks like parking for Salvador Molly's is an ongoing problem. :( What I didn't count no though was that when I parked I left my headlights on. :( So I returned to the car to find the headlights dimmed and the battery dead. -_-
Thankfully I have a set of jumper cables in my trunk for just this reason. But I still needed another car to help. I didn't know quite what to do. Chris said something about walking around which I took from him to mean that it might charge itself. Well I thought that would be a fruitless effort and decided to try calling people I knew in the area. I called Dustin first and got no answer. Then I called Tom and got no answer. I was going to call Alan but decided that at that point it was useless to call anyone in town. Thankfully about that time Chris had flagged down someone who was just parking their car. The guy pulled up next to my vehicle. He had a Honda civic and I was surprised to find that the battery was in the trunk! This is true for mom's car but I didn't think it would be so for the Hondas. *shrug*
I had jumpstarted a car before and so had Chris. Thankfully this was the case because this guy didn't even know how to do that. O_o Chris still felt the need to instruct me, even though I told him I had done this before. 9_9 Still we got the car started in no time. The battery hadn't been so dead as to change the clock so the car started up fairly quickly. With that we unhooked the Honda, put the jumper cables away and were on our way in no time. We both thanked the guy for helping out. That was very nice of him to potentially give up his parking spot to help us. :)
Once we were on our way I asked Chris if he still wanted to try to go to John's Market. Chris was up for that and got a hold of Ben after we got on Barbur Blvd to find out where we needed to go. Chris wasn't very fast about relaying the information because he was busy talking with Ben and we had gone a LONG way past the road we needed to be on before he mentioned it. 9_9 I figured as much once we were closed to getting into Tigard and turned around almost before Chris said we had gone too far.
We got turned around and I headed back to the Safeway we had passed a while back. Turns out the entrance to Multnomah Street was right there. We got on the right street and headed down to Johns Market. Once that was in sight Chris got off the phone with Ben.
We parked in front of the market and all headed in. Tyler was not happy when he found that the market was 90% beer and wine. He hung around with me for a while but then ultimately hung out in the soda and candy section. Chris and I looked over the market for quite a while. I tried to get Chris to help me pick something out but he was only half interested. He pointed out some kinds I might like and I went off looking for them on my own. Of course I found a few things to try that he hadn't suggested too. I kind of wish I knew more about beer to choose better but don't know that I really want to know all that much.
While I was walking around Trisitn amused himself by running through the isles and jumping out at me. I acted scared each time he did and that made him giggle. :D I eventually moved out of the beer section and went looking for the ciders. I had picked up a couple of Raspberry ales and 3 belgian ales now I wanted some Raspberry cider. To my dismay I didn't find any. :( That was ok though, I did find a bottle of Bawls and boysenberry spritzer that I picked up instead. I also picked up a drink for Tyler.
Tristin asked Chris for some candy of some sort and Chris was adamant that he not have it. I briefly considered buying it for Tristin anyway but figured I would be going against his dad's wishes if I had. I did point out, though, that Chris had a basket of his own "candy". Chris acknowledged the irony and pointed out that he didn't have any "candy" at home though. I still didn't think that was too fair but let it go.
After we each paid for our stuff we headed out to the car. From there it was an easy straight trip back onto the freeway and soon we were headed home. Again Chris and I sang to the songs on the iPod on the trip home. Tyler and Tristin play fought most of the trip home and it seemed like both were having fun. :)
We arrived in town around 11pm and stopped first at Chris' place to drop them off. I got out and helped Chris by brining in his box of beers. He had told me at the market that last time he was there he went with his mom and it took him twice as long to pick out two beers. XD At any rate they both had a good evening and enjoyed the time out.
Before I left Tristin showed me something he had made at Earth Day earlier and then I heard him fart. I thought this was funny because without hesitation he blamed it on Chris. I told him that he was definitely Chris' son. XD Chris thanked us for the day out and I told him that we would plan to go back to Salvador Mollys in about 5 weeks or so on a Tuesday when it might not be so busy. That way Lost would be over and it would be a weeknight. Chris liked this idea.
I gave him a hug and headed out the door back to the car. Then we headed home. Tyler was also happy and had a good time despite not getting to try the habanero challenge. :)
All in all it was a really good day. Even the car problems didn't set us back much. I enjoyed being out of town at the very least. I also felt really peaceful on the deck at McMennamins. I forget sometimes how nice it is eat there. The atmosphere is very relaxing! Even the trip to the market was nice. :) I am glad we got to get out for a while. :)
I got directions to the place and printed up the menu as well so I could know what I was going to order ahead of time. Chris suggested that we go for dinner so the plan was to head out around 4pm. Well I overslept and had an errand to run before we left so we didn't get to heading out of town until around 5pm.
Tyler and I headed over to pick up Chris and Tristin. After everyone was situated I handed Chris the directions and the menu and we were on our way. Since I had been sleeping all day and not eaten until way before that I brought along some Veggie Chips and a Fruit bar for a snack. This turned out to be a VERY good thing later on as I will explain.
We talked a little on the way down but most of the time was spent by Chris and I singing to the songs that played from the iPod. Tristin fell asleep not long into the journey and Tyler was busy playing FF Disydia.
Finding the restaurant was really easy. I hadn't been on Capital Hwy before but I had been in the general area so it wasn't too much trouble. What we didn't count on was the trouble it was going to be to find a parking spot. First I tried the restaurant parking lot but I could tell quickly that this was going to be trouble. So we went down the street and eventually I decided just to park in the lot across the street. Well not long after we got out of the car I was chased down by the guy from the liquor store in the area and yelled at for parking in his lot (which doesn't say anything about not parking there. -_-
I sent Chris and the boys off to put our names in to get a table. Then got back into the car to find another parking spot. I think I circled the block three times before finding a spot in front of the Hillsdale Library up the hill. I parallel parked the car and headed down the street to where the others were waiting.
Chris told me when I got there that the wait was going to be 45 minutes to an hour. I wasn't worried about that but he was hungry. So Chris suggested that we eat at the McMennamins next door instead. I had pointed out this restaurant on our way in but didn't know it was a McMennamins. I was up for that even though Tyler (and Chris too) were disappointed about not being able to do the Habanero challenge. :(
We walked down to the McMennamins and I saw that there was plenty of parking there. I contemplated moving the car but Chris said the walk would be good. I left it at that and headed inside.
I asked where everyone wanted to sit an on one had a preference so I choose to sit on the deck. It's a nice covered deck much like the on at Fultano's but enclosed with plastic curtains instead of roll down windows. The evening weather was perfect so it was nice out. We found a good table and sat down to order.
I got the hummus plate as always and found that they had the Gyros on the menu so got that. I was going to get a drink but ultimately decided on diet rite instead. Tyler opted for the hot chicken wings since he wasn't going to get the habanero fritters.
Our drinks seemed to come out pretty quickly but it then took forever to get just about everything else. Chris pointed out hat he shouldn't finish his beer before the meal arrives! We did get the hummus plate and wings within a half hour and even though they weren't going to Chris and Tristin helped me eat the tomatoes, onions and olives off the plate. It was because of this delay in our food that I was happy I had eaten the snacks before we left. -_-
The food finally arrive around the one hour mark and we were content then to eat. Chris' burger came with only a little blue cheese on it so Tyler offered up the blue cheese from his chicken wings for Chris to use on the burger. That worked out really well for both. :) Tristin really liked his burger so much so that he ate all of it! The thing was nearly as big as his face (and I jokingly told him so. Then he showed me. :D). Tristin told me later that it was so good that he just kept eating it. It was better than Stuffy's. :D
During dinner I called my mom to wish her a happy birthday and had Tyler talk with her as well. She apparently was in Leavenworth having a weekend with friends. :) She thanked me for the flowers and told me about her time so far. She ended the call when a deer walked by though and I was more than happy to let her get back to her weekend. :)
After dinner everyone used the restroom before we left. I was the one left at the table at first waiting for the others to return. Trisitn came back first and I saw Chris outside heading our way. I told Tristin that his dad was on his way back. Trisitin didn't know how I knew this so he was impressed when he saw him walk around the corner. :D I then headed in to use the restroom myself before we headed back up to the car.
I was worried about getting a ticket for the car being parked in a 2 hr zone but having dinner take nearly 3 hours or more. I resolved earlier that I would just deal with that if it happened. I figured there might be a higher chance of getting one since it looks like parking for Salvador Molly's is an ongoing problem. :( What I didn't count no though was that when I parked I left my headlights on. :( So I returned to the car to find the headlights dimmed and the battery dead. -_-
Thankfully I have a set of jumper cables in my trunk for just this reason. But I still needed another car to help. I didn't know quite what to do. Chris said something about walking around which I took from him to mean that it might charge itself. Well I thought that would be a fruitless effort and decided to try calling people I knew in the area. I called Dustin first and got no answer. Then I called Tom and got no answer. I was going to call Alan but decided that at that point it was useless to call anyone in town. Thankfully about that time Chris had flagged down someone who was just parking their car. The guy pulled up next to my vehicle. He had a Honda civic and I was surprised to find that the battery was in the trunk! This is true for mom's car but I didn't think it would be so for the Hondas. *shrug*
I had jumpstarted a car before and so had Chris. Thankfully this was the case because this guy didn't even know how to do that. O_o Chris still felt the need to instruct me, even though I told him I had done this before. 9_9 Still we got the car started in no time. The battery hadn't been so dead as to change the clock so the car started up fairly quickly. With that we unhooked the Honda, put the jumper cables away and were on our way in no time. We both thanked the guy for helping out. That was very nice of him to potentially give up his parking spot to help us. :)
Once we were on our way I asked Chris if he still wanted to try to go to John's Market. Chris was up for that and got a hold of Ben after we got on Barbur Blvd to find out where we needed to go. Chris wasn't very fast about relaying the information because he was busy talking with Ben and we had gone a LONG way past the road we needed to be on before he mentioned it. 9_9 I figured as much once we were closed to getting into Tigard and turned around almost before Chris said we had gone too far.
We got turned around and I headed back to the Safeway we had passed a while back. Turns out the entrance to Multnomah Street was right there. We got on the right street and headed down to Johns Market. Once that was in sight Chris got off the phone with Ben.
We parked in front of the market and all headed in. Tyler was not happy when he found that the market was 90% beer and wine. He hung around with me for a while but then ultimately hung out in the soda and candy section. Chris and I looked over the market for quite a while. I tried to get Chris to help me pick something out but he was only half interested. He pointed out some kinds I might like and I went off looking for them on my own. Of course I found a few things to try that he hadn't suggested too. I kind of wish I knew more about beer to choose better but don't know that I really want to know all that much.
While I was walking around Trisitn amused himself by running through the isles and jumping out at me. I acted scared each time he did and that made him giggle. :D I eventually moved out of the beer section and went looking for the ciders. I had picked up a couple of Raspberry ales and 3 belgian ales now I wanted some Raspberry cider. To my dismay I didn't find any. :( That was ok though, I did find a bottle of Bawls and boysenberry spritzer that I picked up instead. I also picked up a drink for Tyler.
Tristin asked Chris for some candy of some sort and Chris was adamant that he not have it. I briefly considered buying it for Tristin anyway but figured I would be going against his dad's wishes if I had. I did point out, though, that Chris had a basket of his own "candy". Chris acknowledged the irony and pointed out that he didn't have any "candy" at home though. I still didn't think that was too fair but let it go.
After we each paid for our stuff we headed out to the car. From there it was an easy straight trip back onto the freeway and soon we were headed home. Again Chris and I sang to the songs on the iPod on the trip home. Tyler and Tristin play fought most of the trip home and it seemed like both were having fun. :)
We arrived in town around 11pm and stopped first at Chris' place to drop them off. I got out and helped Chris by brining in his box of beers. He had told me at the market that last time he was there he went with his mom and it took him twice as long to pick out two beers. XD At any rate they both had a good evening and enjoyed the time out.
Before I left Tristin showed me something he had made at Earth Day earlier and then I heard him fart. I thought this was funny because without hesitation he blamed it on Chris. I told him that he was definitely Chris' son. XD Chris thanked us for the day out and I told him that we would plan to go back to Salvador Mollys in about 5 weeks or so on a Tuesday when it might not be so busy. That way Lost would be over and it would be a weeknight. Chris liked this idea.
I gave him a hug and headed out the door back to the car. Then we headed home. Tyler was also happy and had a good time despite not getting to try the habanero challenge. :)
All in all it was a really good day. Even the car problems didn't set us back much. I enjoyed being out of town at the very least. I also felt really peaceful on the deck at McMennamins. I forget sometimes how nice it is eat there. The atmosphere is very relaxing! Even the trip to the market was nice. :) I am glad we got to get out for a while. :)