Saturday, October 23, 2010

Deno's Fried Pies - Denison, TX 10/22/1010

Oooooh.  Apricot fried pie.   indescribable.   sooo gooood!   These are supposed to be brought down from the original store in Ok.  We got ours in the late afternoon.  and I took mine home so I didn't eat it until around 7pm.  So if a day old fried pie can be this good, I wonder how good one from the original store is?  

After taking Mom to lunch and then the dr, I wanted to get her filthy car washed.  Only the car wash was closed due to the weather.  So we went to Sonic for a quick shake.  As we left and I was trying to get in WalMart's parking lot to turn so we could get back on the highway, I spotted Deno's.  And so I turned right instead of left.  Now, in spite of Mom's version of the story, I only turned across 1 lane and with no one coming, I still had to angle.... IT WAS NOT A PURE RIGHT TURN ACROSS THE FREEWAY as has been reported to my brother.

But ohhhh was it ever worth the detour!  I'll beeeee baaaackkk....

Monday, October 18, 2010

Sweetie Pie's Ribeyes - Sun 10/17/2010

Wow.  We all got stuck in Denton traffic.  Who knew Denton could have so much traffic on 360 on a Sunday afternoon?   2 cars and 1 motorcycle (a big motorcycle, Texas size).  Three groups of friends, ex-coworkers and new friends made the trip separately.  We ended up meeting about 45 minutes late but we didn't care.  The weather was nice and 2 of the antique stores were open!  I guess I should explain that we had 3 native Texans, 1 transplant from the far northeast that behaves like a Texan, 2 Yankees (they still require brown gravy and won't touch biscuits and cream/milk gravy - weird huh?) and 1 Californian (yes she's a carnivore too).  LOL the gravy discussion reared it's funny little head during the meal too - I can't help but feel sorry for people that miss the wonderful flavor of cream gravy  period!  But not to like gravy and biscuits - HORROR!

The service was not quite as good and friendly as usual.  They even forgot the story about the potatoes.... boiled in rosin sap so don't eat the potato peel or the paper wrapper, and they certainly didn't tell us about the potato butter... these are important parts of the experience and a good thing to know anyway.

The menu changed from the last time we were here.  The veggies weren't being served family style anymore.  And since we were early for Sunday evening, we had to pay extra for the potato - not that anyone minded ... I hadn't driven so darn far that I was going without having eaten a potato!  I don't know why I like them so much but I do.  I love them.

My filet (medium) was very good.  Everyone else's must have been good as the plates were all empty - there were other filet's, ribeye's and the lone chicken fried ribeye!  Several got (and really enjoyed) the mac and cheese.  It must have been good as the noise level disappeared after all the oohs and aaahs when the food appeared.  And it didn't really pick back up until dessert!

Oh yes dessert was ordered.  I got the apricot fried pie to go and others had a sample of everything else - pecan pie (served warm and then licked off the plate - where was my camera?), red velvet cake (really red but it disappeared off the plate too and an apricot fried pie.  I was disappointed to see the fried pie so thin however, after getting home and waiting a while so my stomach had some room, I heated mine in the oven and then devoured it.  It was really good - it had whole apricot and not just little bits of apricot in the filling.  Superb!

Afterwards, all 5 of the girls rambled through the 2 antique shops that were open while the guys 'talked shop' on one of the courthouse benches (shop talk my foot!).  We had a great time.   And the drive home went by much quicker than the drive up!

So the great moral of the story?  Everyone bonds over food - even those Yankees and a Cal-i-forn-i-a chick can behave themselves (well, you know we Texans always behave).  LOL we joke about it, recognize our differences (ok well yes we do give the Yankees a hard time) and have a great time.  And it's that kind of character that always allows us to do the best job with what we have as a team!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

New sport - Handguns - Intro to Shooting class - The Bullet Trap 10/14/10

Wahoo!  Took a beginners class for hand guns tonight.  There were 10 people in the class (7 women, 2 grown men + 1 boy).  We had fun.  The class was partially classroom training to cover safety, law, different types of ammunition etc.  And then the fun part - we got to shoot 16 different guns (a few revolvers mixed in). There were 5 .22RF, 5 .39 Specials, 5 9mm, and 1 .45 ACP.   The Bullet Trap is an indoor range for hand guns and rifles.  It's about 9 minutes from my house.

I didn't particularly care for the revolvers although I did shoot well with a few and they felt comfortable.  The 9mm were harder to load and much harder to slide the barrel and then there were the few that I just couldn't eject the magazine with my left hand - remember that my left arm is messed up and weak from all the motorscooter accidents - well, yes I do remember there were really only 2.... but they sure messed up that arm.

I fell in love with the Wlson Combat CQB 1911.  Of course it was the $2400.00 custom gun.  But they loaded the magazine, slid the barrel and unloaded the barrel for us.   Left dang big holes in the target.  It was heavy too but I'm not sure how much of that is because it was the last gun of the evening and my arms were getting tired.

Here's the Smith and Wesson M41 target.  Not shabby at all 4 in or on the X circle and 1 just outside the X circle.  This gun was nice.

And saving the best for last - the Beretta U22 NEOS.  All 5 in the X circle!!!!!   I have no idea where the good aim came from either.  I didn't hold my breath or take forever - just stepped up, loaded the ammo, aimed and tried to make sure the 3 sites all lined up.

Overall, I shot many in or near the X circle.  The small hand guns (the ones most of us think of as girl guns) were really hard to aim and the kickback made it seem as though you were losing control of the aim.  I didn't like any of the small guns.  I liked the heavier ones because the recoil - although fairly strong - didn't seem to feel like I was loosing control.  But there were a few that were too heavy.

In Texas, the 'castle' law passed in 2007 allows us to carry our guns hidden from site in our cars.  But the instructor stated - and my policeman nephew confirmed - it is a really good idea to tell an officer up front that there is a loaded gun with you in the vehicle and tell them where it is located.  Oh, and that would be in case you are stopped by an officer.  The same holds true if you have the CHL.