It's good to be back!!

What a weekend!!  I am so glad to be back home, and getting back to making good food!!  Most of my meals for this weekend consisted of convention center venues (you know, chicken in some kind of mystery sauce, over-done potatoes, etc).   You know you're jealous.

Saturday night was a different story.  My niece turned five (Happy Birthday Kailyn!  I love you!), and my sister-in-law wanted us to all go ice skating as a family at Crown Center.  We went, we skated (read:  they skated).  Chris and I had decided to make a weekend of the outing, and booked a hotel room (which we paid for with the money we saved eating at home last week!!  Score one for homecooking!).  Before we headed out of Crown Center, though, we took the kids to Fritz Railroad Restaurant.  My kids, along with my nieces and nephews, love this place because it's not a person that delivers the food, but a train.  Its standard hamburgers and fries fare.  There's nothing really special about it, except that it amazes the kids.  Our order took over 40 minutes to get to us...in fact, everyone on our side of the room got their order, even those that came in after us.  Chris went up and asked how much longer it would be, and evidently, they had forgotten our order.  The manager came over, and instead of apologizing, just said "Give me your ticket", and took off for the back.  Finally, a nice waitress came back and said they were going to send it out, and that she was really sorry.  Another five minutes or so passed, and finally, the train delivered our food to our table, and we ate our crappy hamburgers and left an hour and a half after we first got there.  UGH.  Just another example of why we are refocusing again this week.  That $30 meal was definitely NOT worth it!

Last night after we got home, I decided I would make a Chile Verde recipe I had been wanting to try for awhile (well, and I had a whole bag full of tomatillos that would go bad if I didn't make it, so there's that, too) that we could have for dinner tonight.  I cut up a pork butt,  seasoned it, and browned the sides, and then made the verde sauce.  Once the pork is browned, you add the sauce to the pan, and then simmer it for several hours until it's tender.  It's really easy to make, but it takes a lot of time (PS-this means don't start it at 8pm.  Trust me on that one), which is why Pork Chile Verde doesn't get made that often in our house!

However, it was worth EVERY SINGLE MINUTE of time that it took on the stove.  Chris again made the pinto beans (because they are SO delicious), and then a little Spanish rice concoction in our microwave rice cooker.  Easy peasy. 

Tomorrow goes back to all meals being brought from home.  I can't wait!  :)