SharivilleLife stories from Shari

One of the best parts of being best friends is that it is forever.  Time and distance doesn’t matter.  That’s the way it is with Liz and I.  We can be separated by time and distance and when we get together it’s like we just saw each other the other day, when in fact when she flew into Dallas on Fri it had been 4 plus mos. since we had been together. Liz has actually been at my house in Chico house sitting for us. We are so grateful for her.  Sooooooooo while she was here we visited at a furious rate. Is there ever enough time?  We had to schedule rest times just to keep going.  Tommy and Angie,  bless their hearts, planned some  fun stuff for us all while she was here.

Sat night they took us all to Medieval Times for dinner and tournament.  Liz has never been, so it was a new experience for her.  Liz is all into new experiences. Tommy must have been too, or he was really really thirsty. The food was wonderful, as usual, despite the fact that one must eat with fingers only.  What fun that was.  I looked over at Liz as roasted chicken juice dripped from her fingers, and the glass holding the soda became pretty slippery, all the  while flying spears and axes flew in the arena.  We rooted vigorously for our knight in shinning armour ( the Yellow Knight), but alas,  he was defeated by an even shinier Knight.

Sun afternoon Angie took Liz on a tour of Tommy’s shop, always an experience, since there is always such a diverse variety of characters  hanging out there. She learned how cars and trucks are wrapped, it just happened that this week end was a training weekend for Tommy, he had seven students in attendance, two guys there all the way from northern Canada.  Tommy teaches his craft once a month.  After the tour we all went to Pappadeaux Cajun restaurant for some awesome food.  We dropped by Felecia’s apartment, so Liz could see how cute she has it decorated.  Then we were off to what was suppose to be a video shoot that did not turn out.  The hotel where the shoot was suppose to take place refused to let them video shoot a Hip Hop Video there, they found this out at the last minute. , so Liz didn’t get to sit in on an MTV video shoot.  She did get to meet some of the major players tho. Money Militia and Cas-ualle was there.

Mon night Angie and Liz and I went to Texas de Brazil, my favorite place ever,  there we dined most finely on some sumptious presentations.  The salad bar is fab and the Gauchos stroll throughout the  restraunt with huge hunks of meat on skewers, to be sliced at request onto your plate.  Some of us had to have thirds on the house special, a wonderfully seasoned top sirloin roast.  I of course went for the lamb, both roast and chops. The desserts are to die for. And so we rolled out of there more than fully satisified.  Liz reported she was to full to sleep that night.

Tues. during the day Jerry, Liz and I went to old downtown Grapevine, a really special little town, restored, with wonderful little shops and quaint little restraunts, we ate lunch at the French Bakery, I was going to imprision Liz at the old jail, just to keep her here longer.

Tues night was girls night out at Angie’s spa, and it was held at The Melting Pot, I have never done fondue before and it was great fun.  We had wonderful tasting martini’s, like Gummy Bear and Lemon drop.  We had traditional fondue to start with chunks of french bread and veggies.  Then a truly tasty smoked duck, spring greens  salad, followed by the meat and veggie course.  Its a cook your own and it really was fun.  There was chicken, teriyaki beef , pork, shrimp and raviolis and lots of the most delightful sauces to accompany the meat and veggies, like broccoli, mushrooms and potatoes……But the piece de resistance of course was the chocolate fondue dessert, thick rich heath bar chocolate accompanied by strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, pound cake and cheese cake, just begging to be dipped into that chocolate and popped into my mouth.   A delightful ending to the time spent in Texas by Liz.  We did have a good visit, there’s never enough time to spend with best friends.

I just happened to be here at Angie and Tommy’s when my birthday rolled around.  If you believe, it just happened to happen, well don’t be naive.  I always, like a little kid, know good things happen to me when I’m here for my birthday. And true to form I was not disappointed. Angie and Tommy have taken us on many wonderful  dining experiences and this was an excellent choice. They  took us accompanied by my granddaughter Felecia and Tyler to the most amazing restaurant called Texas de Brazil. I must tell you about this fabulous fine dining experience, because unless you have been there it will amaze you, and if you have been there you are already tuned in to true pleasurable dining.  This is one of those places where prices are not included on the menu, where each table has their very own server, plus busboy and mat’ter de that circulates around to be sure all guests are happy and satisfied. And best of all the Gauchos.

We were all 6 seated upstairs, via elevator.  The salad bar in one of the main components here, was downstairs.  So it was necessary to take the elevator back down to partake in this fantastic array of delights.  There was every kind of specialty item available to man.  The salad bar is unlike any I have ever seen.  They have a seasonal gourmet  array of 50 to 60 items.  They had Lobster Bisque as the soup of the day.  At the salad bar was smoked salmon, heart of palm, many delightful imported cheeses. prosciutto, grilled portobello mushrooms, shrimp ceviche, imported Italian salamis, sauteed mushrooms, spicy surimisushi,  much much more, plus many side dishes life garlic mashed potatoes , sweet fried bananas, Brazilian cheese bread, house speciality meat sauces and much more. There were dishes of cooked plantains on the table, theory being to cleanse the palate between the different meat courses to really appreciate the different flavors.  Great idea.

 Let me tell you about the Gauchos.  The specialty of this Brazilian restaurant are slow roasted and perfectly seasoned cuts of  beef, pork, lamb, chicken and brazilian sausage,  bacon wrapped filet mignon, lamb chops, pork chops all cooked over open flames.  Gauchos or cowboys from southern Brazil prepared meals over open campfires, thus the theme for this great place.  The gauchos journey through the restraunt  with with the grilled meats  on sword-like skewers taken directly off the grill, stopping at each table to carve slices for diners.  This allows guests to experience a wide variety of offerings. I think most of us tried at least 5 different kinds of meats.  You definately want to go to this place hungry. We managed to drink 3 bottles of wine with dinner, Angie is very good at selecting a good wine.  She’s a California girl who likes to choose California wines.

Since it was my  birthday dinner we all had to have dessert and what a fab display that was.  I had Brazilian flan,  Angie and Felecia had Banana Foster pie, Jerry and Tyler had Chocolate Mousse cake and tommy had Brazilian cheesecake. Of course with wonderful coffee.  That finished off my birthday evening in down town Fort Worth. 

The next morning Tyler and Felecia took us to Joe’s for a great brunch, we had all the good home cooked items.  biscuits and gravy and ommlets , Bacon and eggs, chicken fried steak, wonderful breakfast.  And best of all a happy birthday song from my favorite  waitress, wearing the birthday hat.  It’s the only place I would let that happen.  It was actually a fun experience, and a great way to end my 67th birthday. I will be back!!!!

a