Yesterday began like any other lazy Saturday. We all sat around feeling too tired and too hungry to do anything about it. Finally, Aimee cracked and made us all oatmeal...well, instant oatmeal. But it's this new healthier instant oatmeal we got from Costo. It is actually quite good. But I digress. After a full belly of cooked rolled oats, with apple and cinnamon, with an added dolup of apple butter, I was feeling ambitious. We called the natives to a tribal council and decided that today, we would get some stuff done. (Yeah, very specific.) We went around the room and asked each person what they would like to accomplish. Both of the kids said they wanted to clean up their toy room; well, Big Boy said that and Little Girl parroted his response. Aimee said she wanted to prepare her lesson for Primary. I said I wanted to finally unpack most of my books. (Yup, we've been here for over two months and I still haven't unpacked my library.) In the end, we accomplished none of those things. But it was still a great day. And, we accomplished many other things on our list of "to do's."
The first order of business was a bit of yard work. Aimee and I raked up some leaves...yeah, in the middle of July. I need to read up more on magnolia trees because they lose some of their leaves in the summer. After the leaf raking, Aimee mowed the front lawn while I did some edging. Did I mention it was a hot and muggy day? Well, it was. We worked until about 11:30, showered, got dressed, and decided that Mexican food would be great for lunch. This continues a tradition established by Tom, my father-in-law. After doing yard work on Saturday, Tom would get lunch at Xochitl's on 8th North in Orem. We have continued this tradition on several occasions, usually going to El Rodeo, which is in a local strip mall. With tummies a grumblin' we headed out to the door. We made a quick stop by the post office to drop some birthday invitations in the mail. They should have gone out a week ago, but that's just not how Aimee operates. Since we needed to take our vacuum in to the repair shop, and since it was located on Nolensville Pike (i.e. Lil' Mexico), we decided to have lunch after dropping off the vacuum.
We made the 30 minute sojourn over to Nolensville Pike and visited the local Electrolux vacuum dealer / repair shop. In under ten minutes the proprietor / repairman confirmed that the switch and or entire handle needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, he did not have the parts and would need to order them. Double unfortunately, he would be in Dallas most of this next week and would not get to our vacuum until next Friday or Saturday. Fortunately, he had a loaner vacuum. Wonderful news. We were very impressed with the service and even more impressed with the air conditioning in the shop. See, it was a rather hot day and although we recently had our car's air conditioning serviced at the local Valvoline, apparently the idle valve needs some specialized attention, so we need to take it in to our mechanic on Monday. For whatever reason, our air conditioning stops cooling when the car is idling or in first gear. Weird.
Over a year ago I had a married student in one of my classes. He was a Marine, which is beside the point, but he was married to a lovely Mexican-American girl. They live just off Nolensville Pike and there are several Mexican restaurants, mercados latinos, international markets, and other shops with the ubiquitous "Se habla español" sign. I asked him, "When you go get Mexican food with your family, where do you go?" He mentioned a few places, most of which I forgot. However, the name "La Hacienda" stuck out in my mind, for whatever reason. Well, we found "La Hacienda" and it was closed. Plus, it didn't look like much. However, as we were searching for El Restaurante Dorado, we passed by "Los Arcos," which I had heard was good. We pulled into the parking lot and saw that it was still quite full at 1:30 in the afternoon. A good sign. An even better sign was that most of the patrons were Hispanic. Again, if you want great Mexican food, eat where the Mexicans eat.
I'm not going to turn this into a restaurant review - well, maybe I am - but I was rather impressed with the place. The tiled interior with a slight nautical theme and a fountain in the center was comfortable and inviting. (You can read a more detailed review here.) First, a brief word on the the food. Since we did not go for the seafood or grilled items, which is the specialty of the place, the food was pretty standard fair. However, the quality and presentation far exceeded anything I have seen in the other Mexican restaurants we have visited. We were, however, ecstatic to discover that they served horchata. If you don't know what horchata is, then you're simply missing out. The Mexican variety is usually rice milk with cinnamon, served ice cold. It wasn't the best horchata I've ever had, but it is the best I've had in Nashville. Well, it's the only horchata I've had in Nashville.
Second, the service was top-notch. We had the opportunity to test their service in several ways. After we ordered, but before the food came, both of the kids announced that they needed to go to the bathroom. This was not surprising since we had all sipped our way through most of our ice water and horchata. Aimee took Little Girl, to no avail. (She gets really anxious in public restrooms.) And I took Big Boy. By the time we came out, our food had arrived. Shortly after biting into my taco, Little Girl let lose all her water and made a nice puddle on the floor. Our waitress did not even bat an eye and simply got the mop and cleaned it up. Big Boy also dropped his fork, not once, but twice. Each time he was given a new one. I haven't even mentioned the fact that we didn't even get close to emptying the chips and salsa, since the basket and bowl were constantly filled. We will definitely return to Los Arcos as occasion permits.
We took the freeway back to Bellevue so that our air conditioning would work, which it did. A quick stop at Big Lots, which seemed like an interminable stop at the time, yielded very little. We then headed to Wal-Mart in pursuit of our next Moby Dick of the day...new towels. Aimee accidentally put a green floor rug in with our white towels, and...well, they came out with gacky grey splotches. But we didn't want to spend a lot of money since we're at the end of the summer and money is always tight before stipeds and student loans come rolling into the bank account. But, we also didn't just want to buy cheap towels, either. In the great compromise of the afternoon, we picked up some reasonably priced towels in hopes of getting nicer towels in the near future. There were a few other items we purchased, including a DVD of Labyrinth. We picked up some new Galactic Heroes, but when we got to the check out it said that the sale was not permitted. The cashier explained that it was probably because they had been recalled, but some sleuthing has revealed that the sets had been stocked too early. They probably won't be released for another week or two. Phew!
Our last stop was Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We picked up a nice electric griddle. We have been searching high and low for several months for a good one that wouldn't break the bank. Most of the griddles we have seen at Target, Walmart, etc. haven't been very good. We finally found a good one last night and we made French toast. What better way to watch David Bowie in his oh-so-tight stretch pants than with a pile of French toast smothered in butter, maple syrup, strawberries, and a scoop of ice cream? I submit that there is not better way.
...and now it's time to at least think about getting ready for church.
The first order of business was a bit of yard work. Aimee and I raked up some leaves...yeah, in the middle of July. I need to read up more on magnolia trees because they lose some of their leaves in the summer. After the leaf raking, Aimee mowed the front lawn while I did some edging. Did I mention it was a hot and muggy day? Well, it was. We worked until about 11:30, showered, got dressed, and decided that Mexican food would be great for lunch. This continues a tradition established by Tom, my father-in-law. After doing yard work on Saturday, Tom would get lunch at Xochitl's on 8th North in Orem. We have continued this tradition on several occasions, usually going to El Rodeo, which is in a local strip mall. With tummies a grumblin' we headed out to the door. We made a quick stop by the post office to drop some birthday invitations in the mail. They should have gone out a week ago, but that's just not how Aimee operates. Since we needed to take our vacuum in to the repair shop, and since it was located on Nolensville Pike (i.e. Lil' Mexico), we decided to have lunch after dropping off the vacuum.
We made the 30 minute sojourn over to Nolensville Pike and visited the local Electrolux vacuum dealer / repair shop. In under ten minutes the proprietor / repairman confirmed that the switch and or entire handle needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, he did not have the parts and would need to order them. Double unfortunately, he would be in Dallas most of this next week and would not get to our vacuum until next Friday or Saturday. Fortunately, he had a loaner vacuum. Wonderful news. We were very impressed with the service and even more impressed with the air conditioning in the shop. See, it was a rather hot day and although we recently had our car's air conditioning serviced at the local Valvoline, apparently the idle valve needs some specialized attention, so we need to take it in to our mechanic on Monday. For whatever reason, our air conditioning stops cooling when the car is idling or in first gear. Weird.
Over a year ago I had a married student in one of my classes. He was a Marine, which is beside the point, but he was married to a lovely Mexican-American girl. They live just off Nolensville Pike and there are several Mexican restaurants, mercados latinos, international markets, and other shops with the ubiquitous "Se habla español" sign. I asked him, "When you go get Mexican food with your family, where do you go?" He mentioned a few places, most of which I forgot. However, the name "La Hacienda" stuck out in my mind, for whatever reason. Well, we found "La Hacienda" and it was closed. Plus, it didn't look like much. However, as we were searching for El Restaurante Dorado, we passed by "Los Arcos," which I had heard was good. We pulled into the parking lot and saw that it was still quite full at 1:30 in the afternoon. A good sign. An even better sign was that most of the patrons were Hispanic. Again, if you want great Mexican food, eat where the Mexicans eat.
I'm not going to turn this into a restaurant review - well, maybe I am - but I was rather impressed with the place. The tiled interior with a slight nautical theme and a fountain in the center was comfortable and inviting. (You can read a more detailed review here.) First, a brief word on the the food. Since we did not go for the seafood or grilled items, which is the specialty of the place, the food was pretty standard fair. However, the quality and presentation far exceeded anything I have seen in the other Mexican restaurants we have visited. We were, however, ecstatic to discover that they served horchata. If you don't know what horchata is, then you're simply missing out. The Mexican variety is usually rice milk with cinnamon, served ice cold. It wasn't the best horchata I've ever had, but it is the best I've had in Nashville. Well, it's the only horchata I've had in Nashville.
Second, the service was top-notch. We had the opportunity to test their service in several ways. After we ordered, but before the food came, both of the kids announced that they needed to go to the bathroom. This was not surprising since we had all sipped our way through most of our ice water and horchata. Aimee took Little Girl, to no avail. (She gets really anxious in public restrooms.) And I took Big Boy. By the time we came out, our food had arrived. Shortly after biting into my taco, Little Girl let lose all her water and made a nice puddle on the floor. Our waitress did not even bat an eye and simply got the mop and cleaned it up. Big Boy also dropped his fork, not once, but twice. Each time he was given a new one. I haven't even mentioned the fact that we didn't even get close to emptying the chips and salsa, since the basket and bowl were constantly filled. We will definitely return to Los Arcos as occasion permits.
We took the freeway back to Bellevue so that our air conditioning would work, which it did. A quick stop at Big Lots, which seemed like an interminable stop at the time, yielded very little. We then headed to Wal-Mart in pursuit of our next Moby Dick of the day...new towels. Aimee accidentally put a green floor rug in with our white towels, and...well, they came out with gacky grey splotches. But we didn't want to spend a lot of money since we're at the end of the summer and money is always tight before stipeds and student loans come rolling into the bank account. But, we also didn't just want to buy cheap towels, either. In the great compromise of the afternoon, we picked up some reasonably priced towels in hopes of getting nicer towels in the near future. There were a few other items we purchased, including a DVD of Labyrinth. We picked up some new Galactic Heroes, but when we got to the check out it said that the sale was not permitted. The cashier explained that it was probably because they had been recalled, but some sleuthing has revealed that the sets had been stocked too early. They probably won't be released for another week or two. Phew!
Our last stop was Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We picked up a nice electric griddle. We have been searching high and low for several months for a good one that wouldn't break the bank. Most of the griddles we have seen at Target, Walmart, etc. haven't been very good. We finally found a good one last night and we made French toast. What better way to watch David Bowie in his oh-so-tight stretch pants than with a pile of French toast smothered in butter, maple syrup, strawberries, and a scoop of ice cream? I submit that there is not better way.
...and now it's time to at least think about getting ready for church.
2 comments:
Horchata sounds very tasty! I'll have to try that sometime. Also, French toast makes almost everything better, not that Labyrinth needs anything to make it better.
David Bowie makes everything better.
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