Second Challenge Ornament Done

A second ornament of three done on the Winter in July challenge.  Yay!  This one was fairly quick to stitch.  I won't get the third done - it's only about halfway, but it's very big for an ornament.

Do You Fondue?

 As a splurge, our penultimate evening in Fort Worth was spent at The Melting Pot, a fondue place downtown.  It was definitely worth the price.  They have a prix fixe menu for three courses - cheese fondue, oil fondue, and chocolate dessert.  It also comes with a salad.  If you get a chance to go, do so!  Thank you, Mom, for taking us.


Each of the three of us had a different salad.  All were fresh and well presented.  I had a mango martini; that's the drink picture.  I''d definitely get it again.  It had mango bits in it.  Mom had a flight of wines to accompany her dinner, too.

Our cheese fondue came with an assortment of breads and veggies.  There was a choice of five or different kinds of cheese to dip them into.  You pick one for the table.  The cheese was great - it had some beer and garlic in the cheddar - and dipping things in was fun.

For the main course, you order three kinds of meat and each person gets his or her own plate, although I recommend mixing and matching between plates.  I had two kinds of steak (the bacon wrapped was best) and a chicken.  Andreas's special thing was gator meat, and Mom got coconut shrimp on hers.  They also come with dipping sauce and a breading sauce for the mushrooms.  It took about two to three minutes to cook each bit of food, allowing plenty of time for conversation and digestion.  Even then, none of us could finish our plates.

For dessert, we chose the Bailey's chocolate dip.  It was fabulous.  We got an assortment of fruit and pastries to put into it, an even got to toast marshmallows as the fondue was initially set alight.  Definitely a place I would go to again.

Spindles And Wraps

 Here's the finished teaching temari I made last month.  Andreas thought it came out well enough he wants to keep it.  That's rather unusual because it's in colors neither of us normally are attracted to.  On the other hand, it looks very good all put together.

Caught Up Again

Except for the beads, which I put on last, this piece is all caught up again.  This last part was easy and quick!

My Favorite Breakfast Place

 I love Ol' South Pancake House in Fort Worth.  It's got the best breakfasts, all southern style, every day all day.  The do good dinner food, too.  On Andreas' parents' last morning in Texas, we went to Ol' South with them and my mother.  Breakfast, as you can see from the pictures, was huge.  Crispy bacon, fluffy biscuits and pancakes, and awesome Dutch babies.  Next time we're in Fort Worth, we'll be back.  We'll even know how to get there, since they've been in the same location for fifty years.

Texas Land & Cattle Co.

 After a hot day at the ball game back in May with Andreas' parents, we ate at Texas Land & Cattle Co in Arlington at my mother's suggestion.  It's a steak chain, and evidently their signature preparation of steak is to load it with pepper.  We didn't know that walking in.  Had fried pickles, of course, and they had been soaked in jalapeno juice.  While I like hot food, I've got a pretty low pepper tolerance.  So I ordered the only steak on the menu that did not have the word "pepper" in its description.  Nevertheless, it tasted like it was coated in pepper.  It was also overcooked, but the lighting made that hard to see when the server insisted I immediately cut into the steak to check as she was there.  No pressure, or anything, right?


Andreas had a hamburger.  I think he was consciously trying to satisfy that craving during our trip.  His parents had turf and surf type plates, and said the shrimp was wonderful.  The French onion soup I had was also good, and didn't have too much pepper.


I just wish that a steakhouse would let the quality of their meat shine through instead of drowning it in pepper.  In doing the latter, they're bringing into question the source of their steaks.

Bluing Out The Sky

I've begun stitching the treetop at the back top of the house, and I added more dark blue to the sky.  Other than that, the house is still taking shape.  Slowly, I'm edging to the end of this set of two pages.  I've been on the same ones since I took this back up.  Lots of stitching to do!