Not too many stories from this Wednesday. Still waiting on
some for their bios, which was technically our first assignment (. . .)
Anthony came bearing ingredients to make mini key-lime pies, ate the chicken noodle soup I had made from scratch for him and his ailing tummy, and he whipped the desserts up quickly and stuck ’em in the basement fridge to set.
Shannon showed up and we talked about the benefits of gluten-free and pondered
whether it really does affect people’s weight. (I suppose we’ll find out, as
I’m supposed to look through a book one losing wheat to lose weight.)
After considering every quick restaurant in the vicinity of
Sweet Tomatoes (Pinched, Jimmy John’s), we settled on Potbelly, where Charlie’s
enthusiastic and loquacious coworker/underling at their location in Elmhurst chatted
us up about the Green Street Potbelly at U of I.
I ordered the vegetarian for the first time ever, and
Anthony the Italian (surprise!). We ended up swapping halves. :P
I avoided the amazing looking cookie at the register, only
to see it stare me in the face at the table — alas, Shannon had purchased one.
The three of us exchanged work woes, and soon thereafter, Charlie showed up.
And then it was time for . . .
And I was very, very happy with both the “Legolas” line and
the Incredible Hulk. My favorite. :D And not just because I love Mark Ruffalo.
It was then time to reconvene at home to enjoy delicious
mini key-lime pies! Nom.
Last Wednesday, 2 May, was rain-checked until Saturday so we
could celebrate Cinco de Mayo together. The group finally got vague plans
settled by the early-ish (eh . . .) evening on Saturday, but the fates had
slightly different ideas in mind.
“Let’s go to Uncle Julio’s,” said Anthony. “It’s close and I
liked the food when we went [another] time.”
“I’ll call and see if we’re allowed to make reservations,” I
said. I did, and got a busy signal. That was a great sign.
“Thanks for calling Uncle Julio’s Hh-acienda,” said the hostess once I finally got through. “How can
I help you?”
(I hate “Hh-acienda”!
It’s hacienda . . . like horchata . . . and hola . . .)
The wait time was TWO AND A HALF HOURS TO THREE HOURS.
Well, Fat Rosie’s was closed. As in, forever. (Because why
would you discontinue your phone number in time for Cinco de Mayo?)
Casa Margarita had a wait time of only ten minutes, and
Cozymel with a half hour.
Since Charlie was the one who had suggested all of the
above, I consulted him for a preference. “Cozy. The food’s better and it’s
closer.”
Cozymel’s it was. (But when I called back, they refused to
let us put down our name.) I canceled our name from Uncle Julio’s, and since
Anthony and I still had a random guinea pig errand to run, we arranged for
whoever (of us and Charlie) arrived first to hold the table for the rest of us:
Sarah and Ezra were still in the city finishing up another philosophy assignment
before they could join us, and there had been no word from Tony.
After the phone debacle, I returned to the family room to
find Anthony sitting on the hardwood floor with Ernie on his lap. (Ernie is one
of our guineas, in case you got the wrong idea.)
Ernie booboo!
“Do you want to go to Hobby Lobby?” I asked Ernie, and put
him in his little travel pouch.
Off we went, and we returned with two yards of green fleece
for the boys’ “waste pads” (which we have yet to make, of course), and a pooped
out guinea who had not enjoyed the heat inside his fleece-lined pouch.
Anthony changed into party-time attire, and we took off for
Cozymel — when Charlie announced both that his girlfriend Sam was meeting us
later and that he was getting “Ritas” delivered to him while he waited.
. . . Ritas? It being a text, I didn’t know if he meant
Rita’s, as in food from a bar he loathes (but Sam loves), or what.
He meant margaritas.
Upon arrival, we spotted Charlie through the window and
Anthony flashed him his nipples.
The place was packed. I tried to order a virgin piƱa colada
(to Charlie’s dismay), but he peer pressured me into getting it with some
Malibu (seriously, regular rum ruins the cocktail for me), and Anthony got a
Mexican beer (Dos Equis?).
We heartily enjoyed tortilla chips and medium salsa before
Cha-lie ordered a guac “a tu mesa,”
which a waiter threw together with some amazing fresh ingredients (serrano
pepper, tomato, red onion, an orange, limes, astonishingly perfect avocado slices). Nom nom nom.
Totally want more.
Sarah and Ezra arrived at long last, which meant it was time
for Sarah to create a blended masterpiece out of the blue and yellow crayons
she got from the host.
Impressive for having only two colors, innit? Well, actually, we managed to steal a few shades of brown for her later ;)
And it was also time for me to order burritos! Charlie and
Sam ordered some grub, as well, and more noms were had by all.
Anthony and I took turns with each other’s mojitos (mine
mango, his raspberry).
mango mojito
Apparently both Charlie and Sam were popular enough to get
invites to different parties, so after the restaurant, Sarah, Ezra, Anthony,
and I headed back to mine (with Tony finally on the way).
. . . and we discovered yet another amazing mystery show on Netflix kudos to Sarah:
I’ve been bugging Anthony ever since to watch the second
episode with me.
Oh, and we got to introduce everyone to our new African
dwarf frogs, Bilbo and Frodo!