Saturday was gray and rainy, so we went to Bahama Breeze for a shot of fake sunshine. This place is very pricey, but I do like to go there for a treat about once every two years.  I didn’t even order what I really wanted because they don’t have a lunch portion, and I didn’t feel like spending 17 bucks on my entree.  Dean ordered it instead, the jerk.

Settling in for my meal

We started with Fire Roasted Jerk Shrimp.  You can never go wrong with shrimp!

This was very tasty – the shrimp were served in a buttery mess of roasted garlic, tomatoes, and the bane of my existence, onions.  It was accompanied with a loaf of warm, crusty bread that was perfect for sopping up the glop in the skillet.

Dean’s Paella – this is what I wanted, but the price held me back

My lunch, salmon pasta, lunch portion.  It was little disappointing.

Despite having many of my favorite green things, basil and spinach, the mango cream sauce was bland and tasteless.  Some pepper flakes should zip up the leftovers.

Look!  The sugar packets have their logo printed on them

Dean’s banana supreme.  This was a large serving of spice-nut bread, ice cream, and bananas.  I ate the mint leaves!

My dessert – chocolate island – this was divine. 

The mousse was light and fluffy, and the sliced almonds gave it a nice texture. The brownie was disappointing, though, and had the consistency of a hockey puck.

Lunch with tip what a whopping 65 bucks.  I don’t think it was worth it this trip, and it will be a while before we go again.  The service has certainly improved, and we were approached by several servers to inquire about whether we needed anything. However,  I am still suffering from sticker shock.  They need to seriously tweak their pricing scheme.

Sunday was a super busy day.  First, I headed off to the barn to visit my ponies.  I rode Nyk in a full bridle and then took a very brief spin on Blondie.  Neither horse was worked for very long, but they worked well, so that was all good. 

Then I stopped at home and changed out of my riding clothes.  The awards banquet was at Baker’s and I had to be there around 2.  I hate these social functions, because I’m not a very social person.  I forced myself to go, anyway.  I packed up the camera and off I went.

Getting all ready to head into the festivities

This is the only reason I went.  So I could feast on bland catered food.

The mac and cheese was awesome!  The mashed potatoes were good, too, but the gravy was very salty.  The chicken was, well, kind of tasteless, but most chicken is.  The beans weren’t hot sellers, and I kinda realized why after I ate a few.

This is Audie – she had too much sugar and was a little out of control.  We are used to her and her weird behavior, though, so hardly anyone stared at her as she wiggled around on the bench.

Yay!  The high point winners were given a bag with a horse embroidered on it.  I got one!  And I also was given a red, gold, and white reserve ribbon.  Yay, Nyk!  He really did all of the work, but I don’t think he would want either the bag or the ribbon.

Another happy bag winner!

So happy to have won a reserve championship ribbon!  Oh, yay, she got herself a bag, too, so almost everyone from the barn will be sporting the spiffy bits of luggage around this summer.

Overall, this was a fun afternoon.  What wasn’t so fun was driving home in the rain – which turned into snow halfway there.  Ugh!!  It was like a blizzard when I got home!  So much for spring.  Now I have a sore throat from the weather change.

After the craptastic meal at TW Amigos, I have to admit that I was a little hesitant to try another new restaurant.  My fears were happily unfounded, and Blue Fin turned out to be a wonderful meal.  Great service, nice surroundings, and very tasty food.

Things got rolling with a bowl of miso.  It was saltier than normal, but there were many chunks of tofu floating around it the murky depths of the bowl.

Getting ready for a sushi binge

 

The salad was better than the typical pale lettuce served at most sushi places.  The dressing was an unappetizing color, but there was a nice variety of lettuce and no onions!

Is that foundation or dressing? 

Tea!  I had many, many cups of this.  The waiter made us feel special with all the attention he gave us, refilling our cups as soon as they were empty.

We ordered a few rolls to get in the mood for raw fish.

The eel and tuna is Jen’s. We weren’t allowed to touch them.  For some reason, Kim and I had to share the eel rolls and the shrimp tempura rolls.

What delicious treasure is hiding in this box?

It’s Kim’s eel bowl.  She was greedy and didn’t offer any to the rest of us.

Oh!  Here is my chirashi.  The only thing missing was tamago.  I had to order them afterward.

Feast your eyes on all of those succulent pieces of raw fish!

I wish there had been a few more veggies sprinkled in, otherwise, this was the best chirashi I’ve had in a while.

My tamago!

I used to hate these things.  Who in their right mind puts sugar in their egg??  I must have gotten used to them, because now I can’t get enough.

I went all out and even ordered dessert!  Green tea ice cream, anyone?  Too bad, I wasn’t about to share.

Yum!  Not too filling and hopefully not too full of calories.

Here is Jen’s dessert.  Flaming ice cream. 

This got extra points because the waiter set it on fire.  Flames always deserve extra attention!

We all attacked this with gusto.  So much for not so many calories.

I knew this place would be great when they sat us near a horse!

This was a fun, relaxing meal. The service was phenomenal, and the food was superb.  The three of us ate like little fiends, adding to the tab when we realized how good everything was.  Total came to 81 bucks, but we pounded down the sushi!  And the ice cream! 

I highly recommend Blue Fin if you’re passing through Howell.

Saturday was rainy and gloomy, and it turns out, my eagerly anticipated lunch at La Fuente ended up being a major disappointment.  Let me share with you the Tale of Too Many Onions.

Things started off great.  We were given a basket of chips and a beaker of salsa, which was very tasty.  It had a rich tomato flavor, hardly any onions, and some diced garlic and cilantro. 

The disappointment arrived shortly after. I ordered shrimp simmered in a hot sauce. I get this at El Patio a lot, and wanted to compare. When the waiter put the plate in front of me, I felt like someone had kicked my puppy. It was basically a platter of sautéed onions, with a few shrimp on top. I freaking hate onions!!! The thought of paying 15 bucks for a plate of freaking onions still has me upset! There was no mention of onions on the menu.

Yup, here it is - ten pounds of onions and 12 dinky little shrimp. Oh, and a small scoop of beans and rice, too. Can you even see the shrimp?! What a major bummer.

Here is Dean's lunch. It had shrimp, scallops, fish, and assorted vegetables. And NO freaking onions! Even though the menu claimed that it had them! WTF?! Order onions, don't get them, don't order onions, get them. Grrrr.

Dean, being the weasel he is, couldn't stop telling me how wonderful his lunch was.  Yeah, just keep rubbing it in, why don’t you.

This was one of the worst lunches I’ve had in a while.  The service wasn’t bad, but my food was misrepresented.  Plus, it was very expensive, compared to El Patio.  51$ with tip!!  WTF!! 

Saturday, we headed over to Red Lobster to sample the Lobster Fest.  Even though I am a huge fan of seafood, I have only eaten here twice before.  My idea of a wonderful seafood meal is Mitchell’s or McCormick and Schmick's.  The nearest sushi bar will also do in a pinch.  Red Lobster is kind of like Olive Garden to me.  It’s all right, but I’m not going to out of my way to eat there.  Unless it’s all you can eat shrimp or the lobster fest, that is.

Here I am, all cozy and ready for my meal.  I can lounge on the salt and pepper shakers because I don’t usually have to make use of them.  The sugar is another matter entirely.

We started off with a bang, going all out and ordering lobster nachos. 

I thought these were a little lame.  Not enough toppings, and you could hardly taste the lobster.  They needed more nacho-y goodness, like some lettuce or beans.  Lobster makes a disappointing topping for salty chips.  Maybe the Lobster Pizza would have been better?

These little bits of greasiness are the cheese biscuits.  They are very salty but I liked them a lot.  They were great for soaking up the butter in the shrimp scampi. 

A close-up of some of the fat grams I consumed.

 

The meal came with a salad or cole slaw.  Both are rather boring choices.  I would much rather have had a cup of soup, but that was 3 bucks extra.

Sad, unimaginative salad.  The lettuce was so pale and tasteless!

Dean’s Ultimate Feast.  It came with lots of crab legs and fried shrimp, in addition to two lobster tails.  He even let me have a crab leg!  It was so yummy!

Here is my dinner, the Seaport Lobster and Shrimp.  It came with two lobster tails, shrimp scampi, and a skewer of shrimp.  And a few pathetic flowerets of broccoli.  I think there was some rice tucked into a nook and cranny, as well.

 

I liked my meal, but I was a little disappointed with the side dishes.  The rice was flavorless.  The scampi didn’t have enough garlic, either, but I still managed to eat it all.

This was an expensive meal – it was $75, including tip.  No dessert.  This was a splurge, since we have been eating cheaply on Saturday the last few weeks.  We’ll be doing it again next weekend to make up for this one.  The service was very good, and the restaurant was packed by the time we left.  Given the state of the economy, that was a little surprising, but maybe everyone else wanted some relatively inexpensive lobster.  Not the best meal, by far, but it was pleasant none the less.

Woke up today expecting a bunch of snow.  The storm from hell has been forecast and we were living in dread at the thought of more snow.  Especially when the last bunch of the crap had almost all melted.  But this morning -no snow!  Yay!  The time of the storm had been moved to 10am from 7am.  I was hoping to get our errands out of the way before it started, but we didn’t make it.  It started snowing just before we left for Target so I could purchase a new crockpot.  The lid for the old one broke, and I use it all the time, so I wanted another one. 

Then we tried to go to Circuit City so I could buy another cable for my modem, but it’s already closed.  I’ll have to wait until Monday now and get one from work.  The price is better at work, anyway.  I just wanted another one this weekend because both of the ones that I have are having issues. 

Then it was on to lunch.  We wanted to try the new Mexican place in Novi, but alas, after fighting snow and stupid drivers to get there, it was closed.  They don’t open until noon, even though the door was open at 11:40.  The snow was coming down fast and fierce at that point, Dean decided he wanted breakfast instead of lunch, and I just wanted to be much closer to home, so it was off to the Honey Tree in Walled Lake. 

The Honey Tree is a variation on a coney island.  I like it because they have lemon rice soup and a fairly tasty Greek combo platter.  It’s also cheap.  Dean isn’t so fond of it, but it’s hard to mess up breakfast unless you are the Ram’s Horn, so he didn’t care if we went there.  There were only a few brave souls there, and by the time we left, it was pretty empty.

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Nice Valentine’s Day table decorations.  Hey, wait, that was last weekend!

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Bread!  Always a winner when I’m at the table

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My soup.  I like the Egg Lemon Rice here because there is no chicken. And it has a zingy lemony flavor

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I asked for a cup.  I got a bowl.  I didn’t complain

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Dean’s breakfast.  Who cares that it was lunchtime.  Look at all of that greasy goodness.  Also included was a side of 3 pancakes.

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Greek combo platter. 

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Yes, those are dreaded canned green beans.  The carrots were fresh, the spinach pie was not so good, but the fattening pastitsio and the mousaka were quite good.  I love the eggy gooey stuff!

The service was very good today, and the wait staff was pleasant.  I think it’s because of snow shell shock.  Or maybe they realize that it’s going to be a long, boring day with all of that snow raging outside, and they better get some tips now, while there are customers willing to venture out into the crappy weather.  The meal was $24, including a generous tip.  My coffee mug was never half-full, let alone empty.  That earns a good tip from me every time!

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Our backyard during the Great Storm of ‘09

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Yuck! Just STOP snowing!

Because I had a coupon for a free dessert at Bravo!, we decided to go there for a late lunch.  We haven’t been there in a while, and I wanted to see what their seasonal offerings were.  The pork roast looked good, but I decided not to get it, because it didn’t come in a lunch size.  With soup, entree, and dessert, oh, and don’t forget the bread, a dinner size plate is too much for me, even keeping leftovers in mind.

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The lunch menu offers a satisfying number of options.  I was a little torn between the shrimp in the spicy sauce and the spinach and cheese filled tortellini, just to mention a few.

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Dean’s Lobster Bisque – this is one of the seasonal offerings.

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Italian wedding soup!  A little salty, but still good.

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Here’s a close up – it’s nothing like Grandma used to make, but I guess it will have to do.  Even Dad’s is better, but don’t tell him I admitted that.

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Piping hot bread fresh from the oven!  And weird orange olive oil to dip it in.

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There are two different kinds of bread – one with basil and other spices, and one with a nice, firm crust.

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Dean’s lunch – Diavolo Shrimp.  I would have gotten it if it didn’t have a cream sauce.

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Mediterranean Penne, add shrimp, delete feta.  Yum!

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This was a great dish.  The pasta was pleasantly firm, and the sun dried tomatoes gave it a nice zip. 

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Dean’s Apple Crostada.  I was too full to even try to steal a taste.

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My dessert – it had tiramisu, chocolate chip bread pudding, and a chocolate cake.  Oh, and lots of ice cream.

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I liked this a lot, but I could not finish it.  The bread pudding was my favorite.  The cake was my least favorite.  Next time I will try to get Dean to split it with me, mainly because he hates bread pudding.

Dinner was $52 with the tip.  Not too bad, considering I was so full I felt a little sick.  The restaurant was extremely busy today, so the service wasn’t up to snuff, but the manager did come over to check on us.  He also got to get me a refill on my coffee, as he was the third person I asked.  There was a long lag between getting the bill and the waiter coming back to pick it up, which didn’t make any sense since there were about five couples waiting for a table.  Overall, it was a good, not great, Valentine’s meal.

Today, we braved the cold, wind, and snow and traveled down the street to Sawasdee for lunch.  Actually, to be brutally honest, if we hadn’t needed to pick up a bag of dog food, we probably would have stayed home and just ordered out.  I wouldn’t even have cared where, as long as I didn’t have to go out.  It was dreadful outside! 

First, we took Buu to have his stitches removed.  He was a little (ok, big) trooper.  I was concerned about the incision on his chest, because it felt hot and swollen to me.  Dean thought I was making a mountain out of a molehill.  The vet remarked that it is a hematoma, and that we could treat it with either an ice pack or a heating pad.  Or we can do nothing.  It will eventually go away.  I was all for buying a few instant ice packs on the way home, but Dean was all for leaving it alone.  I will just keep an eye on it and see how it goes.

After picking up some dog food and a special can of moist food – Duck, Turkey, and Pasta -  because Buu was so good, we headed to a restaurant that was on the way home.  We decided on Sawasdee.  I thought spicy food would taste really good on such a cold day, and Dean, honestly, didn’t care where we went.  So Sawasdee it was.  This was our first time eating there. 

About two seconds after we were seated, bowls of soup were placed in front of use.  It was a cabbage soup with green onions and a little bit of spice. I liked it.  In fact, I ended up eating most of Dean’s, too.  He wasn’t so thrilled with the cabbage.

Ignore the shadow. I guess my head is bigger than I thought.

Next up, tea!  Look!  I was given a whole pot just for me!  It was very mellow and piping hot.  I think I drank the entire pot.  By myself.

This is a big bowl of rice.  It was just for Dean.  I ordered noodles, so my lunch didn’t come with rice.  There was a lot left over, and we brought it home for the dog.

/p>

Dean’s potato curry.  It had many, many slivers of water chestnuts.  And onions.  I might try this in the future.

Here is my lunch.  Pad Thai Curry.  It had shrimp, tofu, green onion, and bean sprouts.  And not enough ground peanuts.  I ordered it with medium spice – I probably could have gone up that extra notch to hot.

Overall, this was a satisfying, inexpensive meal.  The portions were very generous, and we both had leftovers to take home.  The service was brisk and efficient, and our food was quickly delivered to our table.  Lunch was $20 with tip.  Will certainly eat here again.

We took advantage of having the day off and went to Shiro for lunch today.  They don’t serve lunch during the weekend, so we don’t get to eat there all that often.  They are also expensive, so again, we don’t get to eat there that often.  Lunch is more reasonably priced, but the menu is more limited.

Soy sauce containers make excellent chairs!  The waitress didn’t know what to make of the doll, and when she brought our sushi, she told us that the soy sauce was in the doll chair.

Here is a spicy tuna roll and a spicy California roll.  Loved them both.  Hardly any wasabi, though.

Look at that miserly dollop of wasabi!  That’s barely enough for two pieces!

I like the soup containers.  They have lids, so the soup is actually hot.

Yum!  Why were there only two pieces of tofu??

Salad time.  Ugh.  I am not a huge salad fan.

The onions ended up in the little soy sauce bowl.  I always forget to ask for no onions.

Dean’s wasabi ribeye.  He didn’t seem too thrilled with it.  The veggies under the meat were very flavorful, but he is a carnivore, so he wasn’t as impressed as I was.

My chirashi!  Shiro has the best chirashi in town!  At lunchtime, it’s 12.95, and I ate almost every bit of it.  The fish was so good!

My favorite part is now the tamago.  I used to hate tamago – who in their right mind puts sugar in their omelets??  I must have gotten used to it, because now it’s one of my favorite parts of the chirashi.  So is the shrimp, crab, eel, tuna……

I had a better dining experience than Dean, but I stuck with the tried and true today.  Lunch was 40 bucks before tip.  I thought it was worth it.

New Year’s Day was spent hanging around the house, resting up to tackle the new year.  I actually have four days to rest up, because I don’t go back to work again until Monday.  I met up with Rich for a late breakfast at Unique Deli.

Lookie!  A convenient seat next to the jelly stack!

Here is my grub, roast turkey hash with a scrambled egg.  It was missing something – turkey.  There were maybe three little slivers of meat mixed in with the potatoes.  There was also an overabundance of two things I hate – onions and green peppers.

Here is a close up of the roast turkeyless hash.  The egg could have used some cheese to give it some life, too.

I was not impressed with my meal at Unique Deli.  The English muffin was yummy, but I think that’s because it was swimming in butter.  Nothing else was.  I like my breakfast to glisten with grease, and to include the ingredients included in the dish’s name.  Turkey would would have been a wonder addition to the roast turkey hash!