Charcoal Pit

After passing this restaurant a few times, we finally felt adventurous and decided to stop at the Charcoal Pit for supper. Apparently, "the pit" is a Delaware tradition... and we could see why. We had pretty good burgers, and ice cream for desert. The ice cream was a big of a melting mess, but it was still fun.

They have sundaes for all of the different high schools around the area. Very 1950s.



What I ordered:

What Brian wants to try for dessert:




Update:
The Bear location is closed!! (We found out the hard way.)
The Price's Corner location is a lot bigger-not quite as cute-I'd recommend putting in the extra couple miles to get to the Concord Pike location.

Craving Mexican-Influenced Foods

Lately, I have been craving Mexican foods. There really aren't a lot of places around here to eat authentic stuff. However, I'm really not too good at cooking this stuff.

Empanada

Tortilla soup with black beans and corn.

Homemade guacamole-very easy to make, just avocados and spices. Very good!

Market Street Grill

My grandparents traditionally take Brian and I out whenever we are home. A place I have come to prefer is Market Street Grill in Wabash, IN.  It is an excellent restaurant, with very hearty portions and tasty food. We tried the following this time:

FOOT OF RINGS
Put our foot in your mouth… a foot of our onion rings that is. They're big, they're crunchy, they're fantastic; served with cocktail sauce.

STUFFED MUSHROOM CAPS
Mushroom caps stuffed with Cheddar and Mozzarella cheeses and bacon - broiled to perfection and served with horseradish sauce.

PECAN CHICKEN
A large chicken breast, dusted with a chopped pecan, corn meal breading, fried and served with honey butter on the side.

All were excellent, especially the mushrooms and honey butter!

Cheeseshop Trip 2

We stopped in at the cheese shop again on our way home for Christmas. We wanted to add the mango ginger cheese to our grandparent's baskets. My grandma K especially liked this rich desert cheese, as she likes mango. I think it may have been Stilton cheese, but I'm not sure.

We also tried a Gaymer Cider cheese, it had a very distinct flavor, and was pretty tart after a couple days. Not my favorite cheese, but something different. Finally, we got a good Rembrandt Extra Aged Gouda. It is a Dutch cheese, and is very dry. Brian's sister especially liked it, and I definitely like it for shaving thin onto pasta dishes.

Holidays 2008

We were home for nine days this year, and were busy for each of them. I actually had all my shopping done early, and everything wrapped and ready to go before we went home. It made the holiday a lot easier. We were able to attend most all of the family get-togethers, and also see a couple of friends at home and in Indianapolis. The following are some "sights" of the season:

Our Christmas card photo:

I made two needlepoints this year: one for my mother and another for my mother-in-law. My mother thought that her's was a baby bib when she opened it (as if we were making an announcement). It was pretty funny-she is way too anxious for more grandchildren.



Toboggan Run at Pokagon State Park: Megan and Aaron Aaron hit the toboggan run with us this year. It was fun, and we got up to 37 mph on one of the runs.



Our New Year's Eve tradition is to visit the lights in Marion and those in Sunken Garden's in Huntington. The Huntington lights were off this year, but we still enjoyed the Marion ones. My favorite parts include the "Twelve Days of Christmas" lights.

3 Calling Birds

5 Golden Rings

10 Lords a Leaping

11 Pipers Piping

12 Drummers Drumming


On Jan. 1, we competed in my cousin Joel's 7th annual meatball contest. Brian made some mojo meatballs. Very good, but needed a little kick to go with the citrus flavor.
 


I love getting new Christmas ornaments based on new places or events in our lives. These were some of this years: