Lunch and a Little Girlie Fun

It was beautiful today, and I was in the mood for ice cream! So, I drove to Suffolk and as soon as mom finished her PT, I scooped her up for lunch. Then, maybe if I was lucky, we’d  get ice cream too!

We drove to the downtown area of Suffolk and stopped in at Amici’s Restaurant. They specialize in Pastas, Hand Tossed Pizzas (baked in a New York Style Brick Oven), sandwiches and meals. It is a quaint restaurant with amazing food! Today we elected to eat outside on their patio.

I was starving- so I ordered their Philly Cheese Steak with Onions and Peppers, served with their house cut potato chips!

Mom was more reserved…she ordered a salad and an order of bread sticks. When I commented on the bread sticks, she chuckled…”Oh, just wait to you see them!” Then after a short wait, the waitress brought our meals. Then….the platter of bread sticks arrived. Oh my gosh! Those things were HUGE! And so delish!

I opted to take my homemade chips home, and pigged out on mom’s bread stick order!

Mom recently has been feeling down. Losing a close friend always hurts. So today, I decided she needed some pampering! After our lunch, I drove her to Remedies Salon, to get pedicures!

She was really excited! Once in, I opted on a manicure instead. Our stations were just around the corner from each other and I could hear those two talking. Then I heard my mom laugh, then laugh again. It made my heart happy to hear her like that again! She needed this outing. She chose sassy peach for her toes.

 I had gel polish in light pink, we were feeling very girlie when we left!

Wait, we hadn’t had our ice cream treat yet! We racked out brains trying to think of a good place to go to get dessert (NO, I wasn’t quite full of bread sticks, still had room for ice cream!). And since I needed to go to Chesapeake to the dry cleaner, mom suggested we grab dessert (with ice cream) at a nearby Cracker Barrel. So off we went!  We ran a few errands (mom bought a piece for her GPS, and I dropped off our winter coats to be cleaned) Then, we were on our way again.

As we pulled into the parking lot of Cracker Barrel, I realized it was THURSDAY! Thursdays special is moms all-time favorite here, Turkey and Dressing. We laughed. We had come for dessert, not dressing. A new plan quickly materialized…order dessert with ice cream and a takeout order of dressing! Perfect.

But, as we sat there, looking at each other, smelling the aromas of home cooked food both started laughing! I KNEW exactly what was on her mind, because I was thinking the same thing! DRESSING it was! Yep, we ordered two plates! It was delish! And she even had a little bit to take home.

As we left, we realized, we never got any ice cream. Happy, and full, we headed home.

Our Ice Cream Adventure would have to wait until another day! 

Egg Bistro Adventure

I decided today’s ‘Lunch Adventure’ would take us to northern Suffolk, (aka Harbor View) so I asked mom to meet me along the route. As she stepped from her car I noticed that she was wearing…an orange top and white pants! Oh My Gosh, we did it AGAIN!!! I had on almost the same ensemble!  This is getting crazy! It was certainly going to be a ‘peachy’ day today!

We met earlier than usual today and I was craving ‘brunch’! The Egg Bistro at Harbor View offers a great one! So, she jumped into my car and the two of us headed in that direction!

The Bistro offers breakfast items as well as lunch and dinner fare. Today, I was interested in one thing, breakfast! Oh… make that two things…breakfast AND a mimosa! So naughty! But when you treat yourself out, shouldn’t you have fun? (And, mimosas are so fun!) Mom had ‘fun’ too, hers was strawberry!  I ordered the mango one! So good!

Scanning over the menu, I spied  ‘cronuts’ , and being a baker (and never having one before) I decided I would try them along with a hearty breakfast. Oh My God! They are amazing.  They remind me of French toast, flaky light interior, with a crunchy exterior, dusted in cinnamon and drizzled with honey. 

Along with my cronuts, I ordered traditional eggs, bacon, and hash browns! Mom tried a creative omelet of Havarti cheese, peppers and onions with a side of hash browns. She couldn’t finish it all! But, she DID manage to finish her mimosa! 

One of my mother’s many hobbies is Quilting, and she is amazing at it! She has dozens and dozens of them completed. But lately, it is proving more difficult for her to sit at her sewing machine for hours at a time, and even to just hand sew them. So she stopped quilting. Way back in the 70s, she created one by piecing together the history of hers and dads life story on to a quilt. Each square depicted their journey through marriage, each place they had lived, and where each child was born.  

Mom felt sure that with four children, there might be a scuffle to claim that quilt after she was gone! (I felt certain I could get my hands on it faster than the other three kids so I never worried about it!) But, she decided she would replicate that quilt so each of us could have one. Today’s side stop would be a cute quilt shop called Bellas. I helped her select the fabric to use on her project. The store has a sea of specialized fabrics and rows of thread! I can see why quilters love this store! There is even an adjoining room with machines stitching away!   

Fabric in hand we headed back to her car. Our journey continued, and we laughed and talked about sewing, and projects. Then… I realized that we were near a cute donut shop called O’Doodle Doo’s.

Now, we definitely DID NOT need any more to eat, but this stop wasn’t for us. This stop was for our fellas that we left at home today! I picked out a few for my husband. But when I turned around, mom had selected a dozen! I asked her WHY she needed a full dozen and she told me she “was going to make the men at the apartment complex happy”. Uh mom, you might want to re-word that!  She laughed and said, “ Oh dear, I meant…I want to visit the guys, and give them one.” She tried ‘rewording’ her sentence over and over, but it simply got worse! The clerk and I were in stitches! 
 There simply was NO WAY she was going to be able to fix this!

So we bought the donuts and I told her “Under NO circumstance, do I want to know what you do with those donuts!” 

It is great to laugh! It is even better, when you get to do it over and over again!

I love being silly with you, mom!