Cheesy-ology

So, we went for a walk Sunday evening just to get out of the house. J.D., Jonathan, and I went to a fairly new place on the Loop called... wait for it... Cheese-ology. They serve "fancy" mac and cheese. Now, we both were a little hesitant. We pretty much do not order anything we could make at home, but we both thought, "Maybe it will be amazing mac and cheese." I ordered the "Philly," while J.D. went with the "Black and Bleu." With two drinks it came to $19.85! Holy cheese, this better be great! In fact, this better be the best damn mac and cheese ever. Fifteen minutes later, they bring out a tiny hot pan of mac and cheese with slightly burned top pieces. J.D. was instantly put off by the tiny portion size. Come on people, it's macaroni noodles... you couldn't spring for a full portion size? They also tasted completely bland.

We won't go back to cheese land; good luck to them, but with prices and food like that, they will not be around long.

P.S. They are in the old "Pizza Hause" building, the place that tried to sell pizza without cheese. Ironic.

P.S. For Catherine, they offered the "The Hill," a dish described as "building on the STL favorite, Provel cheese and Salssicia are balanced by a top layer of Marinara."

Celebrating

Tonight we had a nice little celebratory dinner at Trattoria Branica, an Italian restaurant we discovered on my birthday. J.D. explained to the waiter why I would not be drinking any wine. (So funny. He enjoys telling everyone).

After dinner we went to a movie with people from J.D.'s work. They organized a movie night, so we joined them at Plaza Frontenac to see Slumdog Millionaire. It was a fast-paced movie, and both J.D. and I thought it was entertaining overall. Although it does have disturbing elements, they are not lingered upon or elaborated. And honestly, it's not very Bollywood. They only have one dance number at the end. And they show an actual kiss (but only one). In short, it's Americanized. Still it's worth seeing, even though the end in my opinion is rather weak. When we left the theater, walking to our car in the dark, I started dancing. J.D. said, "Uh oh, your taste for Bollywood is back." --Maybe.

But I was proud of myself for knowing the first answer in the movie's Millionaire game.

Question: "Who starred in the 1973 film Zanjeer?"

Answer: Amitabh Bachchan. :)

But like they say, "You don't have to be a genius to know that!"

No reason

Sunday we lazed around the apartment pretty much all day watching episodes of Dexter, season 2. Toward the end of the series, Dexter decides to cook some steak. So, inspired by a serial killer, we impulsively went out to dinner. We ended up going to Morton's Steakhouse in Clayton -- it was closest. It's a nice place. The woman asked us if we were out to dinner for any particular reason; we just said "no." It was easier than explaining a serial killer inspired us to eat steak. She said, "I'll take your picture anyway." So, now we can always cherish our 8/24/08 steak-run to Morton's. It even struck me at the time as linguistically appropriate that the place was called "Mor"ton's. Although, I'm sure most normal people don't think about Latin roots and such morbid things.

Anyway, while there we enjoyed nearly the whole place to ourselves. The warm bread and flavored butter were fantastic. But I wasn't such a fan of seeing the lobster you could order crawling around on a silver platter. Poor guy. I am a carnivore, but I wish I wasn't. Anyway, after seeing him, there was no way I was going to order him.

To drink, I did try a Bailey's and coffee with cinnamon sprinkled on the glass. After the waitress was gone, J.D. leaned over and asked me, "Was it the cinnamon that did it?" I smiled and thought, it's wonderful to be known so well by someone. "Yes, it was exactly the cinnamon that did it."

Overall, it was a fun, impulsive way to spend our evening. Who knows what we'll be inspired by next. Maybe we should just stop watching t.v.

How many Thai restaurants are on your block?

We have FOUR. Why we need four, I have no idea.

Thai Cafe Upscale Thai restaurant.
6170 Delmar

Thai Country Cafe Old-fashioned Thai country food.
6221 Delmar

Thai Gai Yang Cafe Thai food, specializing in roasted chicken.
6250 Delmar

Thai Pizza Company Thai pizza, noodles & rice.
608 Eastgate (intersects with Delmar)

Ok, so they're not all on the same block, but come on, seriously, why do you need four very similar restaurants (owned by the same family may I say) within a very close walking distance of each other? Does Mom cook at one, Dad cook at another, and the kids each have their own? Was it a family contest or something?

We actually ate at Thai Pizza tonight. So, I guess I shouldn't complain. It was ok. Still, having them next door to each other boggles my mind. Then again, I'm from a town where there weren't any Thai restaurants, so maybe I'm just sensitive.