NO RECIPE TODAY - SON'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

No new recipes made this week, just old standbys with lots of salads. That being the case, I thought I would share a little bit of our son's birthday celebration. We had a great time with him and our dear daughter-in-law. They are always fun to be with.

We went to the Longhorn Steakhouse. We all basically had steak of varying sizes, and salad. The appetizer and dessert were shared because by the time we finished the main meal, that was all we could manage. I didn't even try the dessert but they said it was delicious. The whole meal was first-class. That mushroom appetizer was the best, that I did try. Gregg and I said when we feel like coming here again, we would just order those white cheddar stuffed mushrooms - and a salad.  More than enough for the two of us. 

The photo above Gregg took while we were waiting for our daughter-in-law. (He is enjoying his black and white photos still.) Son arrived at our place a couple of hours earlier after his workday was finished, and our dear d-in-l arrived within minutes after that photo of the two of us was taken. We were inside by then, and we kept watch on the door to wave her over when she arrived soon after. I had my first cocktail in a long time. It was a Watermelon Margarita and was very good.  

The decor is southwestern as you can see. Not the best photo and I couldn't get a better one. The place was crowded, many of the tables were taken, and I took the photo higher up than usual. 

So, that's about it for our son's birthday celebration. We were very happy with the way the evening turned out. The young lady who took care of us, we could tell that she was very tired, but she couldn't have been nicer. All the dishes brought out were delicious and hot. We said goodnight to our son and d-in-law outside, after having a really enjoyable time together.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week.

MY BIRTHDAY MEAL - HOW WE STARTED AND HOW WE ENDED UP

Where do I start? The three of us - husband, son and I - set off at 2.30 p.m. We would have dearly loved our daughter-in-law to join us, but their working hours are different and d-in-l's day was overflowing until late evening.

We wanted to get to the restaurant early and we arrived at opening time, 3.00 p.m. We were all looking forward to a steak and loaded potato meal, having decided on this restaurant a week ago and already had checked out the menu.

As soon as we walked in, we were shown a large glass case of different cuts of steak that we could order, and it seemed we were expected to choose there and then. However, we said we would like to sit down and look at the menu first.

It all went downhill from there. We were shown our table, a booth, that was about four inches off the ground and the boys reminded me to make sure that I didn't climb down before they got there to help me. Yes, I promised, no problem and I was happy with the table but…

firstly, let me say we are not fussy, picky, snippety, customers, far from it and we have not had any kind of a problem with meal or staff at any of the special occasion restaurants, until now. Well, there was that one time 30 years ago, which came flooding back like a laser beam, but I won't go there, yet.

We all ordered the steak from this young man who firstly ignored the usual nicety of saying, “Hello I'm -----, welcome to -----, can I get you....."  I was closest to him, and he crowded me out by shoving his hair and his elbow into my face and asking the boys what their order was. I immediately started feeling anxious and claustrophobic. No exaggeration, the boys' eyes said it all and I never would make a good poker player. My expression spoke volumes. Lips pursed, eyes narrowing...

I was being totally shoved into a corner as they gave him their orders. Ignored me, no eye contact, with any of us actually. He presented a surly persona. Finally, still not looking up, he said brusquely, "And you?" Seeing my surprised look, Gregg jumped in and ordered for me. Surly guy left and the three of us looked at each other and looked in our waiter's direction, wondering what the heck was going on with him. Maybe he was having a bad day, but this was opening time and we were one of the first customers. Maybe something more than a bad day and you do wonder. Okay, we went on chatting and tried to enjoy ourselves but it was a strange start. 

He came back and put my coffee down in front of me without ceremony and left. I took one sip and it was like it had just come out of an icebox. I said to son take a sip of my coffee. He said it's ice cold and no, this was meant to be a hot cup of coffee, the heavy mug gave it away. 

The meal came and let's just say the thickness of the steaks were considerably a lot thinner and smaller in size than what we were shown in the display case. I've cooked steak, I know it doesn't cook down that small in size or as thin from the sizes we saw. I had ordered a small one and thought this was starting out to be a strange birthday meal. 

The potato with all the fixings that was so highly praised online, was cold. Son’s Mac and cheese that was cold too, not even luke warm. How's your potato I said to hubby. It's cold he said. 

Earlier we were presented with a tray of several pots of small side dishes to taste, so that we would have a better idea when choosing our side dishes. A good idea but all of it looked abysmal and tasted overcooked and mushy. Son also told us that our waiter came out with his thumb stuck in hubby's salad, something he remembered much later but in all the kerfuffle he forgot to tell his dad. Cue roll of eyes looking sideways when I heard that. 

We didn't say anything because we were still trying to figure things out. Totally puzzled by the waiter's continued surly attitude. He was being downright rude. I could feel my blood pressure rising. And that's unusual for me as I consider myself a person who is rarely ruffled. There have been times in my life when I have felt totally disrespected and those ruffles start to rise. Let's get to the cocktails. The Margarita I get once a year on my birthday gave me brain freeze and I was only taking a sip at a time. Birthday meal was definitely heading in a bad direction. 

I asked him to take the coffee away as it was cold and it was wasted space. I didn't say that last part, but literally there was no room on the table for wasted space. Did I want another he asked, which surprised me. No, thank you I said. I wasn't feeling very chatty.

Our son was looking at me really sympathetically because I had said 'I wouldn't mind so much but this is my birthday meal, and I've been looking forward to this for ages'. The bad poker-player face was out there for all to see. The bar was right next to our table, and I think the lady who was serving drinks may have heard my complaint because the next thing the manager came over and asked if everything was satisfactory. Did we complain? Of course not! By that time, I do what I usually do when I am upset, I clammed up and the boys thought it would be better just to get out of there, not bothering with a dessert. 

We all felt the service was atrocious, that this young man had a long way to go in his interactions with customers. I was watching him truly puzzled and noticed that when he went into the kitchen, which we were close enough to see, he had a big smile for a girl in there and was chatting to her for a bit. How sweet and yes, I may be a bit snarky! 

What we did do was get out of there as fast as we could. From start to finish the three of us agreed the service and food were awful. My two darlings thought that the guy was having a really bad day, but I told them it certainly didn't stop him from switching on the charm for that young girl, which I could see going on and they couldn't because their backs were to the kitchen. 

The check came and much later, son told us he actually gave him a decent tip. He said maybe he will think about that one. The boys laughed at me when I slid out of the booth in a "Get me out of here" sliding motion down to floor level. I couldn't wait to get out of the place. The whole experience was horrible! I kept hoping our waiter would get better, but he just gave us a steady does of worse and I was extremely disappointed.

Our son suggested we go over to Chateau de Chantilly which wasn't too far away. Bless him for suggesting that as it allowed us to decompress over a lovely cup of coffee and dessert and where, even though we don't interact with the staff that much as it is cafe-style, we can guarantee we will get a lovely smile and way better treatment. I personally was sick of the surly. 

I won't name the restaurant. Maybe we should have said something, but when all's said and done, we didn't want to be the catalyst for this young man losing his job. On reflection it felt like he needed a second chance from someone. 

I also don't understand how unappetizing, cold food can be served up when the place had just opened its doors and there was barely anyone in there. Maybe everyone behind the scenes was having a bad day, maybe something had happened. I'm giving them all the benefit of the doubt. 

With all that being said we ended up having a great pick-me-up-ending at our favorite little cafe, and enjoyed a coffee and dessert. Thank you son for suggesting it.

The boys teased me about the expression I had on my face when I left the first restaurant. They hadn't seen that expression in a long time. When I left the Chateau de Chantilly Cafe, frown had turned upside down and I was smiling. Different as night and day.   

Now, I do remember one other waiter who talked down his nose at me after I tried to order something that was way too gauche to be on the menu, literally scoffed at me, about 30 years ago! This incident brought it right back like a laser. We never went back to that restaurant and we're certainly not going back to this one. I have a long memory for people talking down their nose to me, where I feel totally disrespected. I avoid those people like the plague, and I have a memory like an elephant.

I took a few photos but will only share the ones from our bright, cheerful and sunny Chateau de Chantilly and to everyone there, I say a big thank you for being consistently good, from the staff to their pastries, to their coffee. I owe an even bigger thank you to our son for suggesting it. 

Let me just say, this was an unusual experience. We have never, in all these years, had a bad meal and terrible service like this one.

I passed this over to Gregg for a read and his response said, yes, that just about covers everything that happened, and we both actually had a bit of a chuckle. 

Onward and upward!

Thanks for listening to my moaning Minnie personality who thankfully rarely makes an appearance. Because I have always been a diary/journal writer since I was young, I want to remember everything, and I feel better for writing it all down. What would I have done differently? Not go out in the first place? Ha! 

How would you have handled it? I am really curious! We all handle awkward situations differently.

Have a great day everyone! 

Photos from Chateau de Chantilly Cafe on Wednesday, July 8th, 2026

Feeling better!

I like your Mickey Mouse shirt guy!

Gregg with his choice of coca cola, special design for 250 year celebration.

Here is a closer look with his choice of dessert, a sticky bun.

Son's choice of dessert, can't remember what this was called but it tasted good he said.

My choice, a brownie-like base with a big marshmallow on top, plus a sliver of chocolate and a little icing.

I found a quote just recently and I thought why not put it on here. Author unknown.

“Life can sometimes be like a bowl of soup and I am just the fork.”

And that's it for today's epistle!

THE HAPPY TART IN FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3RD, 2026

Last week our son treated us to a favorite restaurant of his and our daughter-in-law. They had visited the previous week. Gregg was over the bad cold and cough he had, and was eager to get out, as was I. We found The Happy Tart a very unassuming and very pleasant place, with excellent food. They ordered at the counter and they were brought to the table not so long afterwards.

I had my eye on this framed photo on the wall, overlooking a canal in Amsterdam. Totally black and white except for the bicycle which was red. You can’t tell from this photo but that red of the bicycle really popped. Come to think of it, so did the color of the wall.

The menu photo also shows part of the ceiling, which interested me. I was having difficulty taking a photo later but son obliged…

and took this for me. Thanks son! 

It is the first time I have been in a 100% gluten-free bakery. I didn’t know beforehand and I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was surprised at how delicious the pastry was on the quiche, and the same for Gregg’s chicken pot pie (top left). The crispy potatoes were delicious too. Also, the desserts later. On the right is my Quiche Lorraine and below is our son's Quiche Florentine, all individual sizes. Not shown is a small takeaway canister with a veggie salad.

Our desserts were a slice of opera cake for me, so delicious and chocolate-y. Son’s heart-shaped one was a New York cheesecake concoction and Gregg’s was a chocolate eclair, not shown. He and I took ours home which we enjoyed that evening.

More goodies below…

If you ever find yourself in the area I can highly recommend the place. It is on a busy road with on street parking, but there were also a couple of parking lots nearby, so son told me. He dropped us off and parked around the corner. He picked us up later after getting the car again. Each side of the street is filled with interesting little shops on the first floor. The Happy Tart is located on the ground floor of the Pearson Square apartments. The rest of the photos were taken outside or a couple of doors away.

These were taken in front of another shop.

I can see us going here again. It was a fun place and we had a very enjoyable lunch with our son. Here is a link to their menu if you would like to take a look here. 

Thanks for visiting and 

I hope you have a great day.

LAST SATURDAY WE MET UP WITH…

 one of our family whom we haven’t seen in over a year.  They were in town and called to see if we would like to meet up for lunch. We happily said yes and had a delightful time catching up. We met at this place, all looking for something informal where we could sit around talking for a few hours, without anyone kicking us out for wanting our table. We called on our expert (our son) who recommended Senor Ramon’s Taqueria in Reston (Virginia). It was the perfect place. 

Top, middle and bottom right were at the Mexican restaurant (we order at the counter and food is brought to us. It was perfect weather for sitting on their patio). Middle left was one of the Aztec designs on the wall of the restaurant. Top and bottom left is a different shopping area, the Reston Town Center which is very close just down the road. 

There are no photos of food this time and not sure what everyone ordered, but we enjoyed it. I do remember Gregg ordered tortilla chips and salsa for everyone to share. I had a sandwich (a bun loaded with roasted shredded vegetables - not too highly spiced - it came with excellent French Fries (they didn’t overload the plate and left you wanting more but I was very satisfied at the portion size.) There were also very tasty empanadas, again not too big or highly spiced, which I was happy about. We took those home and had them for supper. I don’t remember anything else, what their orders were. I guess we were too busy enjoying chatting.

  It really was a lovely time and we are looking forward to getting together at a half-way point next time, now that the weather is warming up.

That’s all for today. 

I hope your week is going well,

Thanks for stopping by.

SUNDAY-3/22/26 TO SATURDAY-4/28/26

Weather forecast for this week, from Tuesday, 3-31/26 to Saturday, 4/4/26.

Sunday, March 22nd, 2026: I have written a blog post about Gregg's second birthday celebration with our son and daughter-in-law, so don't have much to add on that. I will share a couple of photos of those beautifully frosted window partitions and the old-fashioned wall lamps.  I loved those!

On each side of the photo below you can see the horse brasses which seem to be a standard fixture in the old pubs. I was curious so looked them up online. I remembered some of it but not all. Originally, they were used to decorate the harnesses of heavy working horses, such as Shire and Clydesdale horses, during the 19th and early 20th centuries. I believe they may still do that for special events. Earlier than that, when these were introduced in the 18th century, they were believed to be amulets that protected horses from "evil spirits" and the "evil eye". Designs like stars, suns and crescents were common "lucky" symbols". Going back to the Romans, they also used similar amulets on their horses, but I don't think the two stories are related. A great read of their history can be seen at this link if curious.

This week has been one of those weeks for me and I didn't write anything down so all this is off the cuff.  

Monday, March 23rd, 2026: it sprinkled. I woke up shivering. It went down to 32 ° F. - 0 °C that night. We didn't have the heat on because the house had felt relatively warm that day. We didn't go out.

Tuesday, March 24th, 2026: we went over to Wegmans for a shingles shot for me and a tetanus shot for Gregg. Nice pharmacist again, we've had him before. No problem with the shingles shot except for a sore arm for a few days. Gregg had no problem. I didn't feel any flu-like symptoms we were told about, and he didn't either when he had his. He is all sorted out now as his was done last month, the last one being a couple of months ago. I still need a shingles booster in two months, and also need a tetanus shot which I will get next week sometime. These were recommended by my doctor on the last visit. After we were finished in the pharmacy, we walked around the store and bought a few items. 

We did go to Walney for a quick visit to see if the daffodils were blooming. I didn't want to miss them. There are little pink flags blooming also. They must be getting ready to replant or dig up old ones.

Wednesday, March 25th, 2026: Gregg and son went over to Annapolis today. I elected to stay home. They sent me photos and this is one of them. It depicts Alex Haley, a life-size bronze statue and a prominent landmark in Annapolis. The memorial honors the arrival of Alex Haley's ancestor Kunte Kinte at the Annapolis City Dock in the 1760s. The sculpture, designed by Ed Dwight, shows author Alex Haley reading to three children, symbolizing the passing of history to future generations. You can see it at the head of Annapolis Harbor if ever you are in the area and would like to take a look. I remember watching the miniseries Roots back in 1977.

Thursday, March 26th, 2026: today was a get up and go day when we took son to Baltimore/Washington International Thursgood Marshal Airport (BWI). We had a couple of hours sleep and set the alarm for 1.00 a.m. We picked son up and thankfully they don't live too far away. I took 4 soft pillows and two throw-rugs and settled down in the back for the one hour plus road trip. It would have taken a lot longer if it weren't for the time, hardly any traffic and thankfully it was easy going.

 

Son drove there. They were both bright and perky chatting away in the front, me not so much. I slept for 20 minutes. It was an enjoyable drive, and we always welcome something that gets us out of our routine.  

By-bye to son and off back home we went. We were almost home when Gregg said, I think our local McDonalds is 24 hours, I'm hungry, let's go have a breakfast. I looked at him and said something like you've got to be kidding right? No, he wasn't. Fortunately, not that far from home by this time. He said, take a picture. I took a picture. What can I say? I absolutely could not focus!

We rolled into the drivethru. Their main building was closed. I was still trying to offer him pancakes that I could make when we got home. No, the only place he wanted to go to when he walked through the door, was straight to bed. Okay, so there we were at 4.30 to 4.45 a.m., in the parking lot having a car picnic a little earlier than we normally do. There was a van in the other lane (in the drivethru) giving us a mildly curious look and I gave him an equally mildly curious look back. Didn't even offer my usual cheery smile as he looked away. He was tired too no doubt. And yes, when we got home, we went straight to bed and slept in a lot later than usual. Son called five hours later letting us know he had arrived and that he had had a good flight. 

Towards the end of the day we drove over to Walney Pond. This is where we saw that vehicle with the lovely southwestern art. I didn't take too many photos, but we spotted these two very large fish swimming nearby. There was a young man fishing on the other side and he was after these. 

Canny fish knew where he was though and kept well away and hidden under the wooden walkway that goes over one end of the pond. We watched this mini drama unfold, and as soon as the young man moved to the other end of the pond, these two came out and started swimming in plain view.  Fishing is allowed here, though I had no idea there were fish this big. They were at least three feet long.

It was a very pretty sky and we enjoyed our visit, even though it was shorter than normal.

Very quiet, there was the young man and a couple sitting on a bench on the other side. They yelled across to the young man, pointing to location of the fish, but no sooner he moved their way, they went where he had been a few minutes earlier. It certainly was interesting to watch. 

The turtles were sunning themselves on a new man-made island. We looked at them for a few minutes but decided it was time to leave.

Friday, March 27th, 2026: it was a grey day, we didn't do much and stayed home.

Saturday, March 28th, 2026: cauliflower and cabbage stir-fry. The only reason I remembered this is I asked Gregg what he had written in his end-of-the-day log, to give me a memory jog. This was all he wrote and my memory apparently is still asleep on its way to Baltimore.  

I hope to do a better job next week.

Thanks for looking and

have a great day. 

I hope your sun is shining.