Shyne

Weekend drinkend

In an evening that was a throwback to times when I used to party hard, we really had a good time Saturday night.

Location: Coconut Grove
Venue: Crazy Pianos
Time: 9pm……

So, yeah, it would’ve been 9pm had they not screwed up the reservation, but after a brief (one hour) wait, they did get it together and we were able to get our party on. Upon our arrival, Lovey dropped me off and went to park the car. I went inside to check on our non-existant reservation. While checking out the scene, one of the bouncers was hitting on me…hard. Like, I have bruises hard. But hey, who doesn’t need an ego boost every now and again? And he was hawt.

There’s me and Lovey. I’m a few beers in at that point. This is also why I typically hide from the camera, particularly when I’ve been drinking. One eye gets all droopy and I forget to suck in my tummy and I’m never happy with the results. BUT, even if it doesn’t look like it here, I looked DAMN HOT Saturday night.

That second photo was a little earlier in the evening where I’m still looking like I have complete control over everything, lol. Good times had by all.

I must thank The Negotiators for getting a nice piece of change lopped off the bill along with fantastic chocolate cake with ice cream and a big ole sparkler!

While we certainly had fun, I am starting to realize that I can’t party hard like I used to. I think that with every sip of water on Sunday, I rehydrated some dried up alcohol particles and got drunk all over again. Yikes!

Know what though? I’m sure I’ll forget by next year and do it all over again! 😀

An Open Letter

Dear Mr. Rooney, Coach Tomlin, et al:

Hi. You don’t know me; we’ve never met. I am just another of the millions that are proud to be a part of the Steeler Nation…most of the time. You see, I came into the world a Steeler fan 36 years ago. I came up in a part of PA where Friday night was high school football, Saturday morning was pee-wee football, Saturday afternoon was college football and Sunday was the icing on the football cake with the Steelers. My father played, my brother played, and I played PowderPuff. In high school, it wasn’t enough for me to be the mascot and cheer on our football team. It wasn’t enough to be a cheerleader and cheer on our football team. I did both, but I didn’t find true happiness until in my senior year, I was the first (and last) female manager of our football team. So yes, I know from football.

I’ve followed the Steelers with a passion for over two decades. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet many of the players. I’ve been through the ups and downs right there with the rest of the Steeler Nation. I understand that no one is perfect and no one (in current times) is going to win all of their games (without the help of the NFL *AHEM*), but this season has been an extreme disappointment to all of us. I’m sure that I don’t need to point out that we’re in a downward spiral, losing three of four to the crappiest teams in the NFL. Now, the last time that I checked, not a single member of the organization was a cardiac surgeon, so if you’d kindly stop ripping out my heart, I would appreciate it.

Maybe I’m to blame. Maybe I jinxed the team. See, I don’t live in the viewing area so I only see the nationally televised games. But, the Steelers are my team and simply waiting on the updates on line wasn’t enough. Last year (and a few before that), I listened to our hometown guys doing the game on Sirius and that was great, getting to hear a little slice of home. This year, however, I decided that just hearing the game wasn’t enough. I wanted to see every game and not just the nationally televised one, so I got Sunday Ticket.

Let me explain a little something here. I love my team, no matter how well/badly they’re doing (on a Superbowl high when I made the purchase), but that doesn’t change the fact that the economy sucks and I overlooked that fact because I LOVE MY TEAM! I bought my daughter, the next generation of Steelers fans a #43 jersey to continue the tradition of love. I bought myself a new jersey because I LOVE MY TEAM. All this I do because I stand behind the black and gold. Always. That doesn’t mean I’m not pissed off about the poor showing this season.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this regard. I’m sure that there are plenty of “veteran” Steelers fans who put forth their hard earned money to show their support of Pittsburgh and the Steelers and its proud history. Plenty of other fans who will likely never make the league minimum for ROOKIE players but still show up for every game. Plenty of other fans who are heartbroken that we fell, er skyrocketed, from grace like Milli Vanilli or Elliot Spitzer. Let me clue you in on what you might need in the draft next year: a new 12th man because your current one might not make it until next season.

Am I fan? Yes. Do I love my team? Obviously. Have I ever been to a game? *looks down at the ground and toes the dirt* No. Nearly a month ago, Steelers, I asked you if you were just tossing out the rest of the season. You didn’t say yes, so I took that as a no. I guess that’s my mistake. Why did I ask in the first place? Well, you see, you’re coming to town (Miami) in January and I am finally in a position where I can attend a game. I wanted to know that, for the last game of the season, your hearts would still be in it. I wanted to know that I would love my first football game. I guess, that come Sunday, January 3, I’ll have to make my own fun, and don’t worry, I will. I’m sure that you guys will show up, in body if not in spirit.

I’ll still love you always, Steelers, when you’re riding high on top and no matter how many times you disappoint me. I’ll still be there on January 3 to cheer you on even though the game will be meaningless to you (but likely not to the Dolphins). So, if you’ve got an apology for me, or an explanation, or a refund for my Sunday Ticket for the games you’ve thrown away, I’ll be the black girl with dreds in the black Hines Ward jersey sitting in section 246. See you then.

With all that’s left of my heart,

Miamishyner

Weekend dinner!

Over the weekend, Lovey and I had the opportunity to go out to dinner as Kiddo was out doing Kiddo things. Our decisions always go a little something like this:

  • Should we order in or shower and go out?
  • Pasta? Sushi? Mexican? Chinese? What?
  • How far do we want to drive?

I really should make a flowchart for us to make these decisions easier.

We decided on go out, Mexican and not far which led us to Talavera in Coral Gables. As you may know, I LOVE Mexican food (Tex Mex also although it’s not Mexican) and basically 99% of everything about Mexico. (See also, wedding there in June and lived there for a couple of years.) I even learned to love tacos off the street that I would have previously turned my nose up at. I am plotting a trip to Chicago simply so that I can visit Frontera and XOCO.

It was still relatively early (for Miami) when we arrived at about 7:45pm. While there was no wait, the restaurant was still pulling in a good crowd. They didn’t reach a wait while we there, but the steady flow of business was maintained. We were warmly greeted and given our choice of several open tables.

Chips and salsa arrived promptly for us to munch on. Talavera provides two types of chips and two types of salsa. Right, I neglected to take a picture of the chips, but one looked like a flour tortilla that had been cut into smaller pieces and fried and the other was blue corn.

The salsa on the right had a slightly sweet taste to it with a kick. I honestly don’t know what was in it. The salsa on the left tasted like tomatillo and cilantro and had a mild spice. Both salsas tasted better with the blue corn tortilla although I’m not sure why.

The menu has plenty of choices and we refrained from gorging ourselves on the first visit. As appetizers, we both had a cup of soup. The cups are normal sized cups with just enough soup. Lovey had the black bean which looked fantastically hearty and tasted just as well. I had the tortilla soup. I will admit that at first glance, I was put off by my soup as it just didn’t look anything like I thought it should, but after the first taste, it didn’t matter what it looked like. Tomatillo was certainly utilized in the tortilla soup but it gave the soup a light and refreshing quality. Each of the soups had small strips of tortilla and a sprinkling of cheese in them.

Before moving on to the main course, of course we had margaritas!! Lovey had The Original and I had The Ambitious. While I didn’t try his, I had my hands full with my own. Let’s just say that the bartender makes a damn good drink.

After much indecision, I finally settled on Tacos de Chilorio and Lovey had the Mexico City Beef Tacos, left and right respectively.

Wow! Let me start with the rice. I love when Lovey’s mom makes rice. I don’t know what she does to it, but it’s fantastic. Talavera is giving her a run for her money. Each order of Tacos de Chilorio comes with a small side of guacamole which was also quite tasty. You would think that five tacos is an awfully large serving, but after you eat the first one, you know you’ll have no problem finishing the rest. The pork was soft and delicious.

The Mexico City Beef Tacos are just as delicious. Although you can’t see them, the tortillas are the same size as the ones you see on my plate and they’re hiding in that little silver basket. I don’t know if it’s the cut of meat or what they marinate it in, but the beef was just plain fantastic and I don’t really care for red meat. Lovey had no problem putting them all away.

I believe the dessert menu changes often as our server explained them to us rather than providing a menu. The only sadness of the trip was that they didn’t have the fantastic sounding churro dessert. We instead had a chocolate souffle with a scoop of ice cream. It surprised us with just a touch of spicy, just like it might in Mexico.

The bill came in at the regular price it does when we go out for a meal and have three courses and drinks, so I didn’t find it to be overpriced, or even expensive, especially considering that 40% of our bill was liquor. All in all, it was a lovely meal in a lovely environment and I can’t wait to try it out again.

Decoration End Game

Ok, so here’s last year’s real tree:

Not horrible but not great and certainly no Blue Room tree. Did you see the First Lady’s tree?!?! It’s so beautiful. Like *tear* beautiful. See it here.

Then here’s this year’s tree:

Hmmmm. I think I still liked the real tree better. I should try to take a picture in similar lighting for a better comparison, right?

The OCD Christmas Tree

When I was growing up, decorating the tree was like a sacred ritual. Although we never had a set day to set up the tree, when it eventually showed up in the yard, we knew it was close to time. Real trees were the route we always took, on several occasions even going out to the tree farm to pick our own.

We did a little decorating outside the house but left the major light displays to the folks across the street. They were a great landmark when giving directions to our place. Inside, the windows that faced the front got some spray snow and the banisters got some garland, but the crown jewel was the tree. I watched in awe as my mom would transform a plain old tree into a piece of art.

There were two key components to the tree: bubble lights and the chirping bird. Bubble lights are straight 70s and they rock so hard it should be illegal. Can you imagine that bubbly goodness on your tree?!?!

I wish that I could upload sound so you could hear what the product description calls “the joyous sound of a bird chirping”. It’s not joyous really. It’s pretty annoying after a while but that never stopped us from hiding it in the center of the tree like it was a little bird’s nest. People were always amazed by it too. We all just found that to be hysterical.

My mom would decorate and I would hand her the ornaments and as I got older, I was allowed to place some ornaments or add the final touch of icicles. I believe that I was about 14 or 15 when the honor of fully decorating the tree was bestowed upon me. No pressure!! Welcome in OCD.

With this great task upon me, I was so careful to place each ornament just perfectly to try to live up to the standard of trees before mine. I’m proud to say that my trees were all beautiful. My tree OCD, however, never left.

Fast forward 20(!) years to current day Christmas where I’m solely in charge of the tree. For the last three years, we’ve been buying a fresh cut tree because I love the scent of pine when I walk in the front door. I’m not so sheltered, though, as not to realize the importance of our natural resources. This year we bought our first fake tree.

Obviously, I didn’t immediately fall in love with this idea nor the looks of the tree when Kiddo and I first started putting it up. It came pre-lit with various colored lights. They’re bright. Really bright. While the family photo albums have already been handed down, the Christmas decorations have not yet. My tree is without bubble lights and chirping birds. Sadness. It is full of pretty red and silver ornaments with some splashes of other color here and there.

What I’ve learned this year is that fake trees are heaven for those with tree OCD. It’s taken me three days now to finish decorating the tree. Partially because there’s just so much life to take care of outside of the tree, but mostly because of the OCD. Every ornament must be hanging down perfectly straight. Yes, I’m off my rocker. But the fake tree is AWESOME for this!! If an ornament isn’t hanging properly, I can bend its branch or the ones around it to make room! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Also, I need to have the amounts of red and silver be in just the right balance. Icicles can’t be clumpy and have to be just the right amount and spray snow can’t be overdone. I need help.

I am hoping that I will be able to finish the tree tonight and put away my tendencies for one more year. If I do, I’ll post a photo. I know that I’ll never be fully satisfied with the tree’s appearance, but that’ll do pig, that’ll do.

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