Staycation 2012 - Kinda Wild Wednesday

My Mom happened to be in Nebraska over Mother's Day, so we chose today to celebrate motherhood. Nicole joined us and we all went out for a fancy lunch. Mom's always up for trying something new, so she chose a restaurant that she and I had not yet visited. It's a downtown restaurant that features a Mongolian grill/cuisine and fresh, locally produced (when available) ingredients. Kind of like Flat Top Grill. Only way classier.

I've been to Flat Top Grill ... all of about two times, I think. I have mixed feelings about places like this.

On one hand, I like that there are so many healthy and fresh options. I like that I can customize my entree. But when I get to the sauces, I get a little nervous. I'm not so good at figuring out how to blend the sauces. My perfectionism starts to creep in and I worry I won't like what I concocted. At Flat Top, the result was always ... meh.

But this time, whatever I splashed on my bowl of stuff tasted pretty darn good! So good I wish I would have taken notes. I'm thinking it was a mix of something orangey, and something lemony, and something with a spicy zip.

I've given some thought as to what may have contributed to the success of this experience:

• Unlike Flat Top, this place offered unlimited trips to the grill for their lunch rate. If I screwed up, I could try again (though I would feel bad about wasting the food).
• I'm pretty sure there were more fresh veggie, protein, and noodle options at this place than what Flat Top offers. I think there were just more options in general.
• The wine was half price. Doesn't that make everything better?

And, yes. We were drinking wine at 1PM on a weekday afternoon. But that's okay. It was good food and fellowship with two groovy gals.

I think this might be one of my new favorite places to eat.

I started taking Tango lessons earlier this summer, so I decided to check out Tango Night at an eclectic downtown bar. I didn't expect to dance, and I thought it would just be fun to go and watch how the "real dancers" do it. It ended up being WAY more fun than I expected. I did end up dancing, despite the fact that I warned each dancer I've only had four lessons. Thanks to some very good (and gracious) Tango leads, I felt like a Tango Dancing Queen! I'm sure I was doing 90% of it wrong, but thanks to them, I never knew. Somehow, it just worked. And that was pretty dang groovy.

Tango is elegant but can also be one of the more sensual
dance forms. This was especially evident when the
 last Tango lead I danced with pulled me chest bone to
chest bone. This was very awkward at first. But once
I relaxed, it became much easier to follow his lead.

Tango Night is followed by Salsa Night, so I also stuck around to watch the Salsa dancers. The two forms tend to attract many of the same people. The result is a really fun, energetic, and supportive community. After tonight, I'm pretty sure Salsa is on my list of dance forms to learn in the near future. Bonus: I enjoyed meeting and visiting with a very diverse group of fun and groovy new people.

Cheri

P.S. What's your take on restaurants like the one described above? How about ballroom dancing? Do some forms of ballroom seem more appealing to you than others? If so, why?