It's Mexican and Baubles Today

Its Mother-Daughter Lunch Out today! Shirley has been sick with bronchitis, and we haven't gone out to lunch for the past few weeks. She is well now, and we are headed out for our next adventure!! We both were so excited. Come along with us on our fun outing.

I love surprises and Shirley was filled with them. We headed to Hampton (across the James River) from where we live and ended up at Peninsula Town Center. Just the greatest shopping experience ever and we walked down the street to Abuelo's Mexican Restaurant to have our lunch.

Here is Shirley's review of our lunch experience....


Today I was in the mood for Mexican Cuisine, so I decided to surprise Mom and take her to Abuelo's Mexican Restaurant. 

I just love the atmosphere of this place, certainly not your average Mexican Restaurant! After looking over the menu -which requires reading the description of each entrée- Mom ordered the Pasta Moho De Aho. (Careful trying to pronounce that correctly!) And, Dang, she nailed it when she placed her order! I ordered the Beef Fajita Chimichanga (not as challenging, but, yes, I pronounced mine correctly as well! )

Mom's meal looked amazing! The Angel hair pasta was topped with grilled chicken and shrimp with long strips of steamed zucchini, yellow squash and fresh tomatoes, all of which was sauteed in a Mexican-style garlic sauce. She made the 'yummy sound' as she took her first bite! 

My meal was delivered incorrectly and I chose to stick with the plate (not wanting mom to have to wait on me). My 'Steak Fajita Chimichanga' was non-other than a standard ground beef one, and mushy. So, I picked at it politely and ate a lot of chips. Mom (being a mom) graciously offered bites of her meal to me, and it was delicious! That's what I will order next time!

All in all, we had a great time visiting, catching up, and enjoying the views out the windows. It is always good to take the time to really sit, and talk. And, I am thankful every day, that I get the chance to steal away moments like this with my mother.

After our lunch, we walked down the street and turned into a little shop called Charming Charlie.

 Let me tell you...That place was a woman's dream. I loved it.
Shirley knew I would.

Most of my jewelry is as "old as the hills". Shirley suggested that I take pictures of some of my outfits that were in need of some matching pieces.

We wandered all over the store, with photos in hand, looking at first this piece, then that one. I could have gone WILD in there! But, I will have you know, I was a good girl. Well, sort of. I did find some pieces I could would not live without. And, that little clutch... oh my. It came home with me, too!!

Emerald green and hammered gold necklace and Gold bracelet

Black and filigree silver necklace and Matching bracelet

Olive green and off-white on a silver chain necklace

Sapphire blue necklace and Matching bracelet

The store features jewelry, purses, some shoes, some tops, scarves, hats etc. It's reasonably priced and all displayed by color! That makes it so much easier to shop.....and shop we did! We spied a rack of fun hats and decided to 'try some on', giggling and being silly.

We couldn't stay in there FOREVER, so we headed to a quaint candy store called (of course) Candyland. While Shirley shopped around for candies to go on a birthday platter, I headed straight over to the bins of Jelly Bellys! Buttered popcorn is my favorite, but Dr Pepper caught my attention! It quickly became one of my favorites too!

By now the sky was dark and very threatening. We didn't want to be like Dorothy in the "Wizard Of Oz" (although, I could image that Charming Charlie's was Oz for us, the Emerald City!!) so we scurried toward home. 

                                                  Just look at what we drove through. 

Well, it was worth it. We girls had so much fun and I felt like a princess with all the goodies that I had bought. 

Okay, Shirley, let's see what you come up with for our next outing! ... great food (well, it was for me, anyway), great company, fun shopping for jewelry, candy to eat and even a storm. I bet you can't top that!! 

The Smithfield Inn Restaurant

I was so excited when daughter Shirley called me. "Get all dressed up, Mom", she said. "We are going out to lunch."

"Where are we going", I ask.

"It's a surpise,"  she says. Well, someone must know where we are going for we soon arrive at the Smithfield Inn Restaurant 

and were seated at a table in the garden area. We were surrounded by tall white columns and southern charm. Flowers were blooming and their sweet scent filled the air. The atmosphere just screamed for sweet ice tea, you all. 

We both were so happy with what we had ordered. After we had finished, we were offered the dessert menu. We were thinking, 'no, better not' and then something just took hold of me and out of my mouth came "I think I will have the lemon sorbet". Oh how refreshing. 

I was surprised when Shirley turned down dessert and had a cup of hot tea instead. Our waiter, John, brought out this wooden box filled with an assortment of tea bags. So, the conversation turns to 'what do you call a 'box filled with tea bags'? You should have heard all the things we were calling that innocent little box. We googled it, not much there. Finally we decided it was just a tea chest, you know, like a treasure chest, only filled with tea, not gold and trinkets. 

Shirley is an excellent cook so naturally she critiqued our food... 

Fried Green Tomatoes are difficult to get right, but The Smithfield Inn certainly has the correct recipe! Their BLT is brimming with crunchy Smithfield bacon, lettuce and a fried green tomato. Then, as if this was not scrumptious enough, they top it all off with pimento cheese, all on a soft roll. If you were not talking with a Southern accent at your first bite, you certainly will be by the time you finish!

Oh, and be sure to order the Sweet Potato Fries. If you are going Southern, do it right! These fries are crunchy on the exterior and light on the inside and served with Caramel Aioli.  (What kind of chef decides that Caramel and Mayo- with a few secret spices- would go together well?) But, it's amazing and is perfect with the fries. Our only problem was trying to make sure we had enough aioli in the dish as we grabbed up our last fry!

This had been so much fun. Just a spur of the moment thing, not planned or anything. Shirley says, 'Let's do this more often and I think we ought to blog about it but I don't know how'.

'Well, honey', I tell her, 'just give me a minute. I may be 82 years old but I am not dumb. We'll have our blog. You just wait and see what Mama comes up with'. 

Shirley is sitting there with her mouth agape... and I laugh and laugh at her. Don't ever underestimate what your Mama can do, Girl!! 

To learn more about the restaurants, be sure to click on the RESTAURANT tab at the top of the page

posted by Shirley Barton Dietz and Willie Latane Barton