What a busy day it was yesterday, my dears!
We started out by running some quick errands in the early morning (i.e., going to the bank for funds and to the vet for supplements for Teddy-chan).
We then went to the semi-annual
doll, toy and teddy bear show that they are now holding at a local hotel ballroom in Holyoke. F-Chan (my spouse) found a few Barbies that he liked at a good price (he collects Barbies, by the way). And while I didn't find any
affordable Steiff Tigers (one of my primary collections), I did find a cute Steiff polar bear and puppy from their less expensive "plush line" to include in my niece and nephew's Easter baskets!
But the shopping is just the half of it when you go to these things! The "people watching" sometimes is almost better!
And what a cast of characters we saw this time!
If I could have taken photos I would have! It looked like half of those in attendance had just rolled out of bed and driven straight over! Never mind bathing or changing clothes or running a comb through your hair! Those dolls are priced to move and they won't last long so get here NOW!
F-Chan and I were the most normal looking people there.
After that, it was a quick jaunt to the
Holyoke Mall (conveniently located across from the hotel) where we stocked up on
hair pomade and Clif bars necessities.
At this point it was Noonish, and after a hard morning of shopping we were famished!
We decided to try a chain restaurant called
Carrabba's Italian Grill, as we had received some gift cards there for F-Chan's birthday a year or so ago. I had not heard very favorable reviews from some acquaintances, but, since it wasn't our dime, we figured that we might as well try them.
Thank goodness it wasn't on our dime! It was mediocre at best.
First of all, they open at Noon on the weekends, but, they don't offer a lunch menu! (Huh?)
So, we decided that this would be our big meal of the day, and we would have a light supper.
We split an appetizer of the Grilled Bruschette, which was tasty enough, but, it didn't seem that the toppings were all that "fresh" as the menu would have you believe. The topping was more of a ragut of olive oil and vegetables. We've been to other restaurants that had much "fresher" toppings.
F-Chan order Chicken Marsala while I ordered Spiedino Di Mare (which was just a fancy way of saying shrimp and scallops baked with butter and breadcrumbs). Each dish was also served with a choice of vegetable, garlic mashed potatoes or pasta. Pick one! (Which, for what they were charging for these dishes, I felt was a bit stingy on their part.)
In fact, when our meals arrived, the plates that they were served on had these huge spaces where a third item should have been! It was pathetic! My meal had four shrimp and four scallops, and we aren't talking "jumbo" here either! They were accompanied by a loose scoop of the previously metioned potatoes and a third of the plate was empty!
F-Chan didn't fare much better. He was served a single breast of Chicken Marsala with the same potatoes and blank dish space. And while the chicken was moist, it was pretty bland.
The service was okay, but, nothing to write home about. Needless to say, we won't be back.
At that point we went home, where I did some chores, and F-Chan went to check on "Tiamat", his darling mother!
We had a light supper and watched a
Pawn Stars marathon on our cable's "On Demand" feature.
And that was our day!
Today is more chores and getting ready for work again tomorrow.
And what did you all do this weekend?!
