Home Again and Restaurants

Yeehaw! I'm home again with my husband for a few days.  He's pleased because I sometimes sound more intelligent than the cats; I'm pleased because he always sounds more intelligent than my parents. It's quite wonderful to not have to be someone's caretaker for a few days. I slept late, guilt-free, and have watched videos on the internet.

We were going to go to Red Lobster for supper since their Lobster Fest is on, and their commercials always make me drool. We left the house at 5:00 p.m. to beat the supper crowd. Or so we thought. Just as we were topping the stairs of the entry someone sighed heavily, held up their restaurant beeper, and said, "An hour!" Max did an immediate about face and said, "Nope, not tonight. We'll do lunch tomorrow." Ah, well.

Since there was nothing in the house for supper, we went cheap and went to a Bob Evans. He got what he always gets after reading the full menu - chicken fried steak and gravy.  I decided to try the Stroganoff Pot Roast Stew - slow cooked pot roast in a creamy stroganoff stew with mushrooms and onions, and egg noodles with creamy sour cream. He was delighted with his meal, and I so disappointed in mine.

I think it was my fault for misinterpreting the description. I'm one of those totally tasteless people who like their noodles well cooked, not the accepted al dente norm. But, ah ha, I thought. Those noodles will be cooked in the pan with the roast and sauce and will be nice and soft. Wrongo.

Nice, clean al dente pasta put in a bowl, topped with a spoonful of brown gravy sauce, which was topped with chopped roast beef, a dollop of sour cream and a sparse sprinkling of bread crumbs. Sigh. The meat was roast beef, not pot roast but was delicious and  tender. The sauce was perhaps more than just brown gravy, but certainly not the creamy gravy of stroganoff. They tried to go gourmet with the mushrooms I think. I couldn't tell exactly what kind they were, but they weren't your innocuous button mushrooms. Much too earthy for me.

To add insult to injury, although not listed on the ingredients, the butter spread tasted like it had sugar in it, and the yeast rolls were sweet, too.  Argh! If I want a sweet roll, I'll order a sweet roll - for desert. Please give me nice pure butter and a savory yeast roll with my meal, which is not desert.

I do have to give BIG KUDOS to Bob Evans for their savor-size (I think that's what it was called) option on the  dish.  First time I have ever seen an option to downsize something. That's impressive in my book. I still couldn't have eaten it all, even if it had been exactly what I was expecting and delicious.

Oh, well, Red Lobster for lunch tomorrow and Lobster Fest.  I won't complain.