A lunchtime adventure...

with Tom & Al on the spur of the moment today - we visited Jose's Real Cuban Food, one of our local restaurants that was featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins & Dives.

We arrived at about 12:45 and the restaurant was busy with the lunch crowd.  After being greeted with a sample of the pulled pork (Lechon Asado), which is the house specialty, and menus to peruse - we waited about about ten minutes for a table.  The place is small - and with its cramped seating - even with stools at the counter, it certainly meets the criteria of a dive.  But in a good way.

Tom ordered the Ropa Vieja - shredded beef brisket in tomato sauce, black beans & rice and a side of plantanitos.  Al & I opted for the traditional Cuban sandwich; his with black beans & rice, mine with plantanitos.  The half-Cuban was pretty big - what most restaurants would consider a whole sandwich.  Al gave the beans & rice his nod of approval and the plantanitos were good - but I did find myself wishing they were tostones instead.  The Cubans were perfectly pressed and filled with shredded pork, ham, pickles and cheese.  Tom gave his meal and "eh" and while the plantanitos & rice were good, he was not as thrilled with his entree.  The meat had apparently not been trimmed at all, either before cooking or after and the effect was less than appetizing.  He got his caffeine fix for the day with a cup of cafe con leche - no complaints about that!  When we left, Tom & Al both said that they preferred the Cuban food at a little place in Cape Coral; I am a long-time fan of the Columbia in Ybor City - not just for their amazing salad, but they also make a mean Cuban sandwich.  All in all, lunch was good - but not amazing, as one might expect it to be for having been featured on a network food show.  If you have a hankering for paella and $165, you can take seven of your friends out for a nice meal - provided you give at least three hours notice.  Aggie was extremely happy with the leftover half of a very large half a sandwich and two plantanitos I brought home and she gives the pork two paws up.

Gotta love free books...

for the Kindle!  I've discovered a new author: Judy Christie and her Green series.  The first book is called Gone to Green and tells the story of big city reporter Lois Barker who moves to Green, Louisiana and takes over the local paper there.  She is a woman of dormant faith and many doubts.  I really liked the story and the writer's style, so when the next installment was available,

I downloaded it too - for free!

Goodness Gracious Green continues Lois' journey of the heart - not only in her faith, but in meeting a wonderful man and finally finding her place in her community.  One of the things I am really enjoying about this series is the cast of quirky Southern characters.  And the dogs.  Yes, Aggie, the dogs.

The third book, which I just finished, is called

and you guessed it, Lois and Chris get married - but the main focus of the book is about the tornado that all but wipes out the town of Green, its residents and their hopes for the future.  The next book in the series is called Rally Round Green and I am anxiously awaiting its arrival on the Kindle free e-book list.  Lois' next adventure, Downtown Green, comes out early next year.

Don't you just love it...

when people make a generalized statement that is completely erroneous?  One of my clients just tried to convince me that there are no good-looking men named George out there.  Has she never seen this guy?  I told her she must live under a rock because I could think of more than a couple hunky Georges just off the top of my head - no research required.

George Eads of CSI fame...

The perennially tan and preternaturally well-preserved George Hamilton...

George Peppard - hasn't she ever seen Breakfast at Tiffany's or even the A-Team?

George Strait...

A young, handsome George HW Bush.  He even aged into a handsome older gentleman.

And well, he may be slightly goofy, but he's another nice-looking George, too.  I'm just saying.

Oh, modem, where route thou?

This spot on my desk - this valuable real estate, considering my penchant for stuff - is finally empty.  For the past year and a half, it's been home to the cable modem and VOIP box for my phone and internet, much to my chagrin.  When I first moved my office home, Tom & Al did a great job of arranging the desks into a workable work station and hooked up my computer and all the peripherals.  A couple of days later, the cable phone guy came and messed it all up - leaving both big boxes on the desk and a mass of cable everywhere.  Well, today my client Dean (who just became the father of triplets, by the way) came to my rescue, tidied up the wire mess and installed my wireless modem so I could put my netbook to use.

Now everything is under the desk, on a wire shelf over the UPS, out of the way but close enough for me to reach if I have to reset anything.  I am beyond thrilled - you can see it doesn't take much to make me happy!  Of course, now I have to dust the desk and tidy my workspace up - but I am so pleased with the results.  Thank you, Dean, for getting rid of the cable eyesore that greeted clients when they sat down in front of my desk.  I really appreciate your help!

Life is too short...

to not do silly things that make you inexplicably happy.  Like decorating the tops of these lavender legal pads with Mary Engelbreit stickers.  Maybe that's what they were meant for, who knows?  I like the way they look and that's all that matters.  It really breit-ened my day.

Lack of planning...

or measuring, at least - is a recurring theme at my house.  I've been looking for a comfortable client chair for the area in front of my desk and I finally found one - a $50 craigslist bargain in perfect, like new condition.  The guys went and picked it up for me and well, it seems that I am not a very good judge of space.  When you live somewhere for a while, it starts to seem bigger than it really is, I guess - and as you can see, the chair is rather large for the space.

Time for the bakers rack to go - it was a hand-me-down from a friend of my husband's, so I am not that enamored of it anyway - it just made a nice place for my Longaberger May basket collection.  So after staring at the problem for a while and weighing the possible alternatives, I put my baskets in the hall closet and called to ask my friend Jonathan if he wanted the thing.  He came over a couple of hours later and hauled it off to his house.  In the meantime, I decided that floating shelves on the wall would be perfect for my baskets - and free up the space I need for the chair.

Apparently, the new chair has met with Aggie's approval.  I like it, too.  The only bad news, Tom & Al, is that we are going to have to move the desk back about six inches to provide a little more navigation room for the therapy patients clients who are going to sit in that chair.

I love it when a plan comes together.

The next installment...

of the London adventures of Freddie de la Hay is here!  We are off to see what's new in Freddie's little corner of the world.  Well, I am at least; Aggie will probably nap while Peter and I read.

Just in case...

you were considering ever eating a pastry with powdered sugar on it anywhere in the vicinity of your keyboard, it's not a great idea.  As you can see here.  But the raspberry filled doughnut holes from Publix were great.

And yes, Aggie, that's lunch.

While patience is a virtue...

it is not my strong suit.  Yesterday morning, I had the bright idea to clean out the refrigerator and get rid out outdated salad dressing, yogurt, tomatoes, spaghetti - you get the picture.  Well, somehow, somewhere amid all the yuck I put down the garbage disposal, something clogged up the sink drain.  I tried everything I knew - except for a plunger because I don't have one.  I couldn't leave the house because I had clients coming to see me, so I called the condo office and asked for maintenance to come and help me.  That was at one o'clock.  Today at one, I was still waiting.  Meanwhile, I couldn't even look at the sink without gagging - I hate that.  I'm an adult; I should be able to handle a nasty sink.  But I can't.  There you have it.  Of course, this messy, dirty, foul-smelling cesspool of a sink became the only thing I was able to think about for the past twenty-four hours.  Yes, I have a tendency to let my imagination run wild when it comes to things like this.  I should have just gone and bought a plunger at WalMart, but several things stopped me: A) I don't really know how to effectively use one, 2. the ground-up spaghetti and zucchini residue in the sink was really, really nasty and d. it was the principle of the thing.  I had asked for maintenance and they ought to come and unclog my sink.  After a fitful night's sleep, further consternation this morning and another call to the condo office, I am happy to report that I am no longer obsessed because at 1:38 pm today, a very nice man came and took care of the problem.  I have since put three pots of boiling water down each drain and sanitized the sink within an inch of its life, thrown away the contaminated scrubbing pad and started the dishwasher.  I feel much better now.

I'm sure the sink does, too.