Best Cancellation By An Email Recipient Ever

Somehow, this accountant has become the internet marketing chief of Sevy's Grill.  Whatever, I hate it.  Almost as much as I hate filing and cleaning the toilet.  But we received a cancellation that made me laugh, and I thought I'd pass it along.

"In 2,753 days, when my last child goes to college, I will look forward to enjoying myself. Until then, please remove me from the constant reminders of what I am missing."

I'm sending this lady a certificate for a martini on me because she will need a break before then.

Has Anyone Been To Bill Smith Cafe?

McKinney, Texas?  Because it looks like they're serving up a healthy slice of humor.

Refilling The Cup

Dear Readers,

No, that last post (Getting the HTML out of here) was not another way of saying that I've stopped posting.   This blog was supposed to be a creative outlet that is also fun and informative.  Except after two years it was starting to feel like a job.  And I already have like 5 or 6 of those, only one of which pays a salary.

So I gave myself September off, to read books, to travel, and to try to get caught up with those unpaying (and paying) duties so I could go back to posting on TDCB on an (almost) daily basis.  And I'm looking forward to it, I hope you are too.

Back on October 1st with some new stuff.

Amy S.

Blogathon Friday

Time to clear off my list of things waiting to be written about, don't know how many I'll be able to get in today - the record is 10, so far.  But "other" work intrudes a little, treasurer duties for the school spirit team, financial duties for the restaurant.   Oh and around mid-day the Mom Job kicks in, that's when hubby and the Boy leave for a 9 hour caravan drive for College, Year 2.  Expect something either about alcohol or crying right about then.

And yes, this counts as post #1.

UPDATE:  Where'd she go?  You might wonder.  Took a shower to get my thoughts organized, and in the process thought of about 5 more things to write about.  So I'm making this a two-day Blogathon, overlapping into tomorrow (up until the boss gets home).

Summer Is Almost Over

It's time to get back to work.  Well, actually, work has been what has been keeping me from blogging.  But I have so many things to share, so, be ready, I'm callin' it:  Blogathon Friday this Friday.  Hubby and the Boy are headed out on a 9 hour caravan drive back to school, Sister's in drill team practice (and just got her drivers license), and the dogs, well, they love laying around while I type.

It's too damn hot to do anything else.

Bring It On Down To Restaurantville!

Why does visiting the Texas Restaurant Association website make me think of this?

I Don't Review Restaurants - Casinos, However, Are Fair Game

We just returned from a very brief staycation up in Oklahoma.  5 hours long at the WinStar World Casino, just over the border and about 1 hour 17 minutes from our front door.  We had the pleasure of the company of many a school district employee of North Texas at the various tables we played.  

Sevy and I love to play cards;  hearts, gin rummy, euchre, poker, Quiddler - we love to play whether or not money is on the line.  But let's face it, there's nothing so fun as winning a big gob of money on a blind hand in three card poker, now is there?   That having been said, we're truly bottom feeders, looking for the $5 limit tables and only making the trip on the occasional month, not occasional week or day.

Usually we spend an overnighter in Shreveport,  but with limited time we decided to check out the updates north - we'd last been there when the "5th largest casino in the world" was still under partial construction (as in the mile long people mover was not yet working).  The time trade-off is about 1 hour of driving each way, but the quality trade off is eons apart - in fact we've decided to cross WinStar off of our list completely.

Here's why the longer trip is worth the drive.  Competition.  While Shreveport has 4-5 large casinos reminiscent of what you would find in Las Vegas, WinStar is the only game in Okie-town - and they know it.  Tablemates (all teachers in Cedar Hill School District) at the Three Card Poker table groused that the night before they'd had to wait over 3 hours to get a seat, and the table limits had risen to a fairly high $15.  We felt fortunate to only wait 45 minutes for our seats, but still felt this was unnecessarily long as there were other tables that could have been opened  but weren't.  In Shreveport when this happens you just (take a cab if you've been drinking) go to one of the other large casinos on the river to try your luck.  

To add insult to injury, WinStar charges an ante on table games of $.50 per hand, I'd never seen this done in casinos in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Michigan, Missouri or Louisiana.   The game choices are very limited too, no Caribbean Stud, no Let It Ride, no Pai Gow Poker, they didn't even have Roulette that I could see, it was truly pathetic.  Here's the clincher - no free cocktails.  In fact, they charged Sevy $1.25 for a bottle of water - WHAT, WHAT?

Now if you're a penny slots player, WinStar may be your thing - they've got thousands of those machines, just push your way through the senior citizens on oxygen spending their Social Security stipends and pick your machine.  But you won't find me there - I want to win money, not get nickled and dimed.

The First Day of Fifty, the Last Day of Forty-Nine

Richard Chamberlain and I almost share a birthdate, it is only two days apart.  And this one is an extra special number, while some would call it middle-age, I'd say hell honey, I passed the middle at 30.  And I think we've aged well, umm, at least we haven't spoiled.   So tonight we're having dinner with a group of chef friends and I've pulled out pictures spanning 25 years to look back and laugh.

While I rarely post pictures of myself, I found the picture above, and decided this will one day be my obituary picture.  Because if you had it, flaunt it.

Ten Posts and Holding

Wow, I thought, I'm already at 10 posts.  Then I looked up and saw it was 5:22 pm and I'm still sitting in my pj's.  In my defense, I've also stopped to print about 70 extra New Years Eve menus for the restaurant since it turns out we've got a very busy evening ahead.  I've done all the easier posts on my list, the ones left may take more time to properly write than I have time left.  So I'm first going to shower and change, then see what I can do from there.  And I may post a few to kick off the New Year tomorrow as well.

Rear Window - that makes Hitchcock movie number 5 for today.

UPDATE:  No more time for more posts, but am posting an update to "Too Much Cheer?  Take A Cab".  Tomorrow look for chocolate bacon, Robin Haas, "C is for Capacity", and midlife crisis - not all at once.

Let's Get This Party Started

I started my New Years Eve Blog-A-Thon last year thinking I would be spending the evening at home while Sevy worked down at the restaurant.  There were so many New Years A-Thons going on, and I had a to-do list of posts that had been growing not shrinking - it seemed like a fun way to end the year.  I ended up being invited to my own restaurant by friends and spending the evening with those I love, but I still managed to get in 10 posts during the day.  

This year I thought the same, an evening as a work widow, but was invited to dine at the home of some friends later this evening so I'll be working with the same time period to complete my posts as last year.  While I have a list, I have not pre-written any of these, except in my head.  And because I am very bad about editing before posting (STOP, reread, post), several errors will have to be revisited and corrected.

Part of being married to a chef is not minding that he works nights.  And some of those nights are holidays.  It's never been a problem, we have many other nights that we can spend celebrating and to tell the truth, for an early bird like me midnight is not so attainable, nor desireable.  Because it is the busiest night of the year for most restaurants (Valentines comes in second) those who love the heat and the scurry of a busy, well-running kitchen love being at work on this evening.  That would be the man I married.

Welcome to my Blog-A-Thon, and yes this counts as post #1.

2nd Annual Blog-A-Thon New Years Eve

I'll have a few between now and then, but I think I'll try to beat last years 10 posts.

Yet Another Reason To Love Gene Street

His holiday decorating.

Why even try to outdo the decorations his neighbors put up?  They hire professionals and it takes about 3 weeks to decorate so he's found his own brand of holiday colorful cheer.

I'll take a neighbor with a multi-color sense of humor any day.

Been Traveling

Back to posting very soon.

Sevi's in Wichita Falls, Someone Is Googling You

I've had this menu for quite some time, keep moving it from pile to pile, I cannot remember who gave it to me. I know I didn't eat there.

So today in my counter statistics was the googled "Sevy's [sic] Wichita Falls" by someone in Wichita Falls looking for this restaurant. So for you, whoever you are, here is their menu.

For the person in Morocco googling "zootube woman", sorry I can't help you.

Foot Pillows

Four hours in heels at Terry Costa yesterday afternoon plus four hours in heels at the Zoo To Do last night, today my feet are reminding me why I chose a desk job. So until the first two ibuprofen of the day kick in, and needing some diet Dr. Pepper and a daily paper, I have a suffer free secret that helps me face the day.

I don't know what the name of these shoes are, but I call them Foot Pillows because the moment I put them on aching feet, my feet feel good. Croc-like, but with a mesh upper and better styling, they breath and aren't too clunky, and I have them in 4 different colors. Mine are a little grungy because I've worn them all over First Monday Trade Days and and out in the garden digging up weeds.

Unfortunately they're no longer for sale at Walmart, good thing I stocked up. I'm keeping an eye out in case they bring them back.

Too bad I can't wear them for the next shift at TC today.

UPDATE: And I meant to mention how the Zoo fundraiser went (besides serving over 800 plates of shrimp to hungry party-goers), the Chef's Dine-Around package (Abacus, Chamberlain's, Del Frisco's, Sevy's Grill and Suze) sold for $27,000 - TWICE helping raise $54,000 for the new African Savanna exhibit (which is really coming along from the looks of things).

From Our Sports Reporter

Money well spent. I hope.

No, he is not studying journalism.

This Looks Yummy

I will never be too old to go back to school.

AARRGH It's Friday, and $1.65 Gas

I have finally come to the breaking point, it's Friday afternoon, the last day of July and even though I'm on a deadline to finish June's financial statements, I'm giving in to the list of things waiting to be blogged about (sorry honey!).

So I'm tucking away the Quickbooks in favor of blogspot to do a quick blogathon for your Friday afternoon reading enjoyment.

And starting it off is my sharing of the $1.65 premium gas I pumped into hubby's SUV this week. What does this have to do with food? Well for years I've been shopping at the Tom Thumb on my corner, dutifully recording each transaction on my Rewards card, answering the checkout clerk "Uh, hunh", whenever they asked if I was aware of their gas special. But few Tom Thumbs in North Dallas have gas pumps, so I've never put it to the test.

Then this week I stopped by the Tom Thumb on Lovers, across from Central Market, and lo' and behold, I'd earned a discount of $.90 per gallon! I don't know if I blew out my discount in that one 20 gallon fill, but my car's getting low so I'm going to try it again pretty soon!

One Year Later - More

At least once a day I check my counter stats, and I can say pretty consistently the top six searched items for the last year fall under the following classifications (from lowest to highest search hits):

6. Chef Casey Thompson
5. Doozie sandwiches
4. Chef Richard Chamberlain
3. Nick and Sam's Grill
2. Golumpki soup
1. Chocolate Angel Too

If anyone has made my golumpki soup, feel free to leave feedback if you had any improvements to my recipe.

Why I Love Geeks

Thank you GeekSquad guys at Best Buy, you gave me my life back, my laptop. And all the records, at least the most important ones. I promise to backup faithfully every day and to not blow up my hard drive again with heated blog posts.

Back to posting, poolside.