April 20 to 22, 2011

FINALLY, Vicki arrived on Wednesday, April 20th.  She'd not been here in two years and Texas was very happy to have her here.  Of course, we didn't do much but have dinner and play catch-up with Jay.  It was an early evening as most travel days are.

On Thursday, we went to the Strasburger Collin County office as I'd been asked to take photographs of the staff.  Wendy, Manager/MotherHen, came up with a fun idea - Hat Day in honor of Easter or The Royal Wedding.  Staff could wear their own big floppy hat or select one from nearly 30 hats that Wendy borrowed from a friend.  Only two staff members didn't take part in the fun, and even two lady lawyers joined in.  After I'd taken the photos of the Staff, Vicki and I played around with all the hats and took photos of each other.  Here's Vicki:

Vicki at Strasburger Hat Day

And I felt rather ooh la la:

After the individual photos were taken, Wendy took us to lunch at Fish Express for some of my favorite salmon.  Then, we went back to the office and I shot a group photograph out on one of the patios of the building:

Then, it was off to the old homestead as Vicki was feeling weary.  We had an early dinner and Vicki hit the sack by 7:45pm and slept nearly 12 hours.  She needed the rest.

After our daily morning walk, we got ready and headed out to do a little shopping - nothing big at all but things I needed for the kitchen.

We picked up Steve after 12:00 and headed to Chef Point Cafe in Watauga - you know, in the Conoco Gas Station.  Chef Franzen remembered me from my last two visits and visited with us on two occasions - such a nice man.  I LOVE eating with Steve as he's so adventuresome.  We had appetizers:  sliced duck in spicy plum sauce:

and artichoke bottoms filled with crab swimming [maybe too much] in a yummy cream sauce:

Both were so very good.  We couldn't come up with a favorite as they were so different.  I'll definitely get them again.

Okay, so today was my third visit and my entree was NOT good - lamb chops with a brown mint sauce.  While Chef Franzen said they were the best lamb chops ever in a gas station, he wasn't wrong - however, they weren't good.  I love lamb and Sevy's in Dallas still remains in first place for lamb chops.  Vicki had the grilled chicken breast that I love and she really liked it.  Steve had a stuffed strip steak - stuffed with Canadian bacon and smoked cheese.  It was cooked perfectly and was HUGE - and VERY good.  The waitress got our side orders completely confused but another waiter corrected it.  It was definitely not my best visit to Chef Point Cafe, but I'll give it another chance on May 21 when My Ladies Who Lunch travel over for a late lunch.

Since we had such a huge lunch, Jay fended for himself and Vicki and I MAY have some fruit or something in a bit, but right now, this lovely glass of RED will suffice.

On Saturday, we'll walk, do laundry, one of us will iron and perhaps watch a movie or two.  Then on Sunday, Easter, Steve will come and we're cooking up a storm.  I probably won't post before Sunday night and maybe not even until Monday, depending on events and stamina.