The husband and I went out for a booze filled leisurely lunch the other day at a place I’ve been wanting to try for a while. It’s the sister restaurant to one of our favorites so I had high expectations.
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Right across the street from LL Beans in the busy village of Freeport…the Tuscan Brick Oven Bistro is always packed with a long wait to be seated. We thought showing up at 2:00 in the afternoon would afford us some elbow room, but no. There was a 45 minute wait for a table which made my husband take a direct route to the bar.
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My husband does not wait well. Or at all to be honest.
No matter, I started with a lovely cranberry sage margarita which though tasty, was served in a disappointingly small old fashioned glass.
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And if I ever wondered why I was having a hard time finding vintage beer, wine or whisky crates… one look behind this bar provided the answer.
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A spiced pear margarita was round two…. and was served alongside my crab “cake” appetizer. I ask you – how can a tiny round lump of crab ever be considered a cake? These balls were delicious, but at $23 were a bit of a pricey nibble.
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Lunch was a wonderful 4 mushroom funghi pizza for me and a shrimp scampi for the husband. His lunch portion contained 4 shrimp for $29. I’d hate to see the dinner.
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For me the best part was cocktail #3.
APPLE OF MY EYE apple infused captain morgan white rum lime juice * cinnamon simple * white cranberry juice
Ooh la la! It might sound like a weird combination but it was alcoholic apple pie in a glass. Be still my heart!
For the husband this was the kicker –
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I don’t care for cheesecake, but it did sound divine.
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He said it was literally the best cheesecake he’s ever had… and that’s saying something because he loves the stuff.
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With tip, a $218 lunch.
Christ. That’s what I used to pay for two weeks worth of groceries when we got married. How times change..
As you know…. Stephen King is from, and still lives in Maine. His home in Bangor is a veritable tourist attraction and people drive from far and wide just to take selfies in front of it.
But now?
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You could save time and gas by purchasing a house in his neighborhood.
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Imagine knocking on Stephen’s door the next time you run out of sugar while baking. Surely that’s worth 900k.
Have all computers and/or cash registers run amok?
Is there a new Y2K bug of which I’m unaware?
Because for the second time in less than a month I’ve received a strange receipt/check. First they wanted to give me $2,000 change from a twenty dollar bill…. and now?
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We grabbed a quick sandwich the other day and while I was going to leave a ten dollar tip…. I had to do a double take at the establishment’s gratuity recommendations.
My math has 20% of $39.19 equaling $7.83… so yeah. This new math can bite me.
Our wallets are all feeling the sting of inflation, be it at the grocery store or the gas pump… but after receiving the monthly newsletter from our little rural town the other day? I had a serious WTF moment.
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A bill that jumps from $50,000 a year to $65,000 a month is the very definition of insane. Increase aside, how is it even legal to break the existing contract and give the town no time to find alternative service?
Since I hadn’t heavily decorated the inside of our house for the holidays in a few years… I’d forgotten what a time sucking nightmare it was to put everything away.
Three days after I started…
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With help from Lord Dudley Mountcatten…. I was done.
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And after buying a fresh cut ( I use that term loosely) tree from a roadside stand instead of cutting our own as we usually do, I’m seriously cursing needle drop again.
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While I do love a real Christmas tree…
( Note the lack of snow and abundance of green grass in our yard. In Maine. In January! 😠 )
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I do not love clogging up my vacuum with 20lbs of dry needle droppings. Though I have to admit, it does smell wonderful.
I often wonder how Lord Dudley Mountcatten manages to looks pudgy when the silly cat actually eats very little. Maybe half a Fancy Feast tin in the morning and another half at night… on a good day. Sometimes he just turns his nose up and walks away.
He won’t eat fish, or treats, or any human food. He won’t eat anything sliced, diced or shredded. The husband laughs at my attempts to stimulate his Royal highness’s appetite… and it’s not uncommon to see me following the little bugger around the house at mealtime with a bowl of food and a spoon. ( the cat, not the husband )
So when Lord Dudley recently expressed an interest in being fed on the laundry room windowsill?
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His loyal minion obeyed and fed him on the laundry room windowsill.
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Dinner with a view, you can’t blame him. And I’d already covered the dryer with a soft towel for his comfort… so why not?
Went to a craft show where I didn’t buy anything but did have a few laughs.
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Lunch?
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It came with a flight of margaritas. Blood orange cranberry, traditional and passion fruit.
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It’s $500 more for the W.
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I’m not sure how I rated $2,035 change from a twenty dollar bill,… must be that new math. Sadly I was unsuccessful in procuring the change, no matter how many times I argued computers are never wrong.
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Where there's only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.