them ribs! them ribs! love them ribs!

This is my free birthday gift from
Texas Roadhouse:
a Sidekick (Half Order) of
Fall-Off-The-Bone Ribs,
brushed with their very own barbeque sauce.

This is those same ribs,
after a light stroke across the top with a knife to break them up.
Seriously, the meat
fell off the bones.
Just like they said it would.

And this is all that was left of those tasty ribs.
Bones, bones, bones!
I even nibbled the marrow at the end of each one!
You see, I am a flat-out fool for good ribs.
And these were superb!

I'm glad I selected the Country Veg Plate as my entree.
I got a bowl which was slap full of steamed carrots and broccoli,
another bowl with Southern-style green beans,
and a baked sweet potato sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon.
I regarded that as dessert!

Oh, and let's not forget about the House Salad!
Nice hearts of romaine, fresh greens, chopped egg - heck, it could stand in as a lunch on a summer day!
And that was even with me omitting the cheese and croutons, y'all.


Was it enough food?
Oh, yes. I even brought half of the sweet potato home with me.
How about the atmosphere?
Definitely a party, but family style fun. There were a few songs that a group of the waitresses would two-steo to and my waitress, Samantha, was friendly and chatty as I neared the end of the meal.
She knew to leave me be while I was attacking the ribs!!!
(smile!)

Before the meal, I went to "The Other Woman", the latest Cameron Diaz movie, with Don Johnson as her dad. What a hoot! I had put off going, concerned that it might be more ridiculous than fun.
That was definitely a mistake on my part. I was in such a good mood after so much laughter!
It was the perfect prelude to my meal, after a nice walk around the mall.

After the meal, gorged on rib meat and veggies, I partook of "The Railway Man", the post-World War II film with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman.
Excellent.
Truly it was.
Even though it made me cry.
I think I cried mostly because it was a true story of two men and forgiveness.

And it occured to me that I had actually seen the movies in the right order.
Not the order in which I wanted to see them, mind.
I had thought seeing the war film first and the funny movie second would be the way to go.
No.
If the showtimes had allowed me to do that, I would not have been in the elated mood I was for my dinner.
I would have been sad and maybe even a little weepy.
That would have made for a totaly different dining experience for my birthday meal.

I am thankful for the coincidences which came into play for my benefit.
I am truly blessed!!!
i thank You, God.

rollercoaster... ooh hoo hoo hoo!

Today, I woke up in a mood and vowed to do "something" about it.
I checked fb and found some of my travelmates had posted pictures, so I spent several hours going through them. I tagged those I had taken, when I was given a camera to make merry with. I tagged those featuring my new buttefly tote bag, my old pastel-rainbow windbreaker, my yellow poppy umbrella. I especially tagged those in which I wore my fuchsia henley-style top, or my purple shirt with the mid-length sleeves; those are shirts which never left Italy, making room in my suitcase, and my closet, for new blouses and tops.
And I found myself feeling blue. I missed my travelmates.
So I sent out a request in three directions: whatcha doin'? I was hoping for an invite to a barbeque somewhere, some grilled hotdogs, some ribs, some corn on the cob. Right?
Nothing doing. Not one of my parties responded with a "hey, Faustina, we were wondering why you weren't here yet!" or "hey, Faustina, come on and bring some pictures over!" Not one.
So, I told them I was having a pasta taste test. And then I did so. I carefully cooked the same amount of each dry rotina/fusilla pasta from the three different companies in its own pot, with its own spoon for stirring, to make sure there would be no cross-contamination of the flavors. I cooked each for the same amount of time, then drained each separately, again being careful to maintain individual flavor. Then I tasted sevral pieces from each plate, rinsing my mouth after each taste. And you know what I found? For these three imported pastas, there wasn't much difference in taste, but there was some difference in texture. Alma's had the closest texture to the fresh pasta we had made in Siena; Da Vinci was close, but not quite as good. Both were better that Barilla, which was billed as the "#1 pasta in Italy", but had an internal doughiness which was offputting.
By the time I was done with my experiments, my first niece had called to say they were going to a barbeque joint, would I like to come along? I did, as a matter of fact. I wanted ribs - but the guy in front of me in line got the last order. From a place that calls itself a "rib shack". Hmmffph.
After we ate, they headed to their baby girl at the hospital and I headed home to pout. Yeah, pout, that's right.
Trying to clear my mood, I returned to fb, mining the newly-posted pictures for more to tag. One of the great things about traveling with a group is this: they all took photos. With cell phones, with cameras, with iMachines. I used my phone sparingly to take photos, relying on others to document my holidays and, I must say, they certainly did a fabulous job of it. Through their eyes, I saw things I had missed, images at day AND at night, sights both common to the world and specific to Italy. Very nice!
Then an old Brit prof called to see if I was coming to philosophize tonight. Or, if not, perhaps to an old favorite locale for some friendly libations afterward? I thought about it and thought about it and finally threw myself out of my house to go be around people.
Good decision! I saw not one but two of my old profs, as well as a fellow Earthling, and NONE OF THEM KNEW OF MY TRIP. And i didn't bring it up. And that gave me a nice break and a healthy shot of my usual life.
I also dined on some juicy, finger-lickin', fallin'-off-the-bone ribs, Memphis dry rub slathered on. So good! And a right fine ear of corn to go along with those lip-smackin' ribs! I think I may have used at least five napkins, but it topped my night off quite nicely.
Thanks to the Brit!