I had a fabulous birthday. Perfect fall weather, sun shining, leaves changing, cider and donuts... what more can a girl ask for? We went for a walk in the woods. I made pasta arrabiata just the way I like it for dinner that night.
Saturday, the 23rd, we headed down to Indy to "really celebrate". Paul wanted to get me a rocking chair for my birthday and I was feeling a desperate need for pants that fit, so we went to the big city to shop around and check out Babies R Us.
On a tip from my mother-in-law, that we would want something that rocks both upstairs and downstairs, we started our search at the store where we bought our dining room set. They had a very nice glider in the same cherry wood with upholstered seat and back that I found very comfortable, and which we ultimately ended up buying.
For lunch, we drove across town to find El Morocco restaurant only to discover that they are closed for lunch on Saturdays. The Russian deli next door was more of a grocery store than a restaurant. The Thai place next to that was ALSO closed for lunch. Despite having recently had Chinese buffet, we ended up back where we started the day and checked out Forbidden City, a Chinese buffet that was recommended by one of Paul's Chinese students.
It was, without a doubt, the very best Chinese food/buffet we've ever had. It looked like Chinatown in there. They had a dim sum buffet; line-order cooks where we special-ordered pho (Vietnamese soup); a vast assortment of noodle salads and sauces in addition to the cold salad bar; three tables of authentic-looking desserts (as opposed to the pudding selection at more mainstream buffets); and three lines of hot dishes. We tried just about everything, vowed never to do King Buffet again, and left feeling more like napping than like comparison shopping at Babies R Us, but to Babies R Us we went!
We didn't last very long at the baby superstore. The dozens of gliders were disappointingly uncomfortable, though we were loathe to get out of them on that particular afternoon. Very few cribs had drop-sides. We manhandled some of their stroller selection but quickly tired of critical thinking. We strolled through the highchair aisle and decided that was about all the pastel power we could handle for one day.
We killed some time at the mall, hoping to find a maternity store -- without luck. Paul stocked up on miscellaneous Asian candies at Asia Mart, and we scouted out a place for dinner. First, we tried to go to The Melting Pot, a fabulous fondue restaurant that I had gone to in Florida for my friend's bachelorette dinner. At 6:30pm, the earliest opening they had was at 10:45pm!! It is suggested one make reservations one to two weeks in advance. Maybe next time.... Our second choice was Mediterrano Cafe, a Mideastern restaurant recommended to us by a Persian woman we met at the CS Dept. Chair's house. I took a chance on the Fesenjoon, a chicken-in-pomegranate/walnut sauce, that was fantastic. It was sweet, almost like dessert, and exceedingly rich. Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs after our earlier Chinese feast, so we packed up our leftovers, ordered baklava to go, and started for home.
Along the way, we paid Fry's Electronics our first visit. Wow. It's hard to describe a place so large, and with so much stuff going on. The store is very nicely furnished with a cafe in the center. One quadrant seemed devoted to computer parts and accessories. A whole wall was covered with mounted motherboards, so you could check out their configurations. Another section had software and books. There were stereos, home appliances, handheld devices... and I think there were whole departments in the store that we never go to. We wandered around until they closed at 9pm (though they're pretty lax about shooing people out), and were very grateful to find that the Kohls across the street was open until 10pm! And had a one-day sale going on! And had maternity pants in stock in my size! Hooray! It took nearly 12 hours, but Mission Accomplished!
I've been living in those elastic-banded jeans every since. :o)
Saturday, the 23rd, we headed down to Indy to "really celebrate". Paul wanted to get me a rocking chair for my birthday and I was feeling a desperate need for pants that fit, so we went to the big city to shop around and check out Babies R Us.
On a tip from my mother-in-law, that we would want something that rocks both upstairs and downstairs, we started our search at the store where we bought our dining room set. They had a very nice glider in the same cherry wood with upholstered seat and back that I found very comfortable, and which we ultimately ended up buying.
For lunch, we drove across town to find El Morocco restaurant only to discover that they are closed for lunch on Saturdays. The Russian deli next door was more of a grocery store than a restaurant. The Thai place next to that was ALSO closed for lunch. Despite having recently had Chinese buffet, we ended up back where we started the day and checked out Forbidden City, a Chinese buffet that was recommended by one of Paul's Chinese students.
It was, without a doubt, the very best Chinese food/buffet we've ever had. It looked like Chinatown in there. They had a dim sum buffet; line-order cooks where we special-ordered pho (Vietnamese soup); a vast assortment of noodle salads and sauces in addition to the cold salad bar; three tables of authentic-looking desserts (as opposed to the pudding selection at more mainstream buffets); and three lines of hot dishes. We tried just about everything, vowed never to do King Buffet again, and left feeling more like napping than like comparison shopping at Babies R Us, but to Babies R Us we went!
We didn't last very long at the baby superstore. The dozens of gliders were disappointingly uncomfortable, though we were loathe to get out of them on that particular afternoon. Very few cribs had drop-sides. We manhandled some of their stroller selection but quickly tired of critical thinking. We strolled through the highchair aisle and decided that was about all the pastel power we could handle for one day.
We killed some time at the mall, hoping to find a maternity store -- without luck. Paul stocked up on miscellaneous Asian candies at Asia Mart, and we scouted out a place for dinner. First, we tried to go to The Melting Pot, a fabulous fondue restaurant that I had gone to in Florida for my friend's bachelorette dinner. At 6:30pm, the earliest opening they had was at 10:45pm!! It is suggested one make reservations one to two weeks in advance. Maybe next time.... Our second choice was Mediterrano Cafe, a Mideastern restaurant recommended to us by a Persian woman we met at the CS Dept. Chair's house. I took a chance on the Fesenjoon, a chicken-in-pomegranate/walnut sauce, that was fantastic. It was sweet, almost like dessert, and exceedingly rich. Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs after our earlier Chinese feast, so we packed up our leftovers, ordered baklava to go, and started for home.
Along the way, we paid Fry's Electronics our first visit. Wow. It's hard to describe a place so large, and with so much stuff going on. The store is very nicely furnished with a cafe in the center. One quadrant seemed devoted to computer parts and accessories. A whole wall was covered with mounted motherboards, so you could check out their configurations. Another section had software and books. There were stereos, home appliances, handheld devices... and I think there were whole departments in the store that we never go to. We wandered around until they closed at 9pm (though they're pretty lax about shooing people out), and were very grateful to find that the Kohls across the street was open until 10pm! And had a one-day sale going on! And had maternity pants in stock in my size! Hooray! It took nearly 12 hours, but Mission Accomplished!
I've been living in those elastic-banded jeans every since. :o)
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