Happy Mother's Day!

Good grief, this day flew by.

...did I really just say "good grief?" Um, kill me.

Anyway.

Last night, I met some friends for dinner at Tequila's. Unfortunately, no pics -- I'm still coming to terms with being the food paparazzi and haven't told most of my friends about the lil' bloggy here. But...dinner was fantastic!

We started with a round of margaritas at the bar while we waited for our table to be put together. I had initially ordered a drink made with some type of jalepeno-infused liquor, but they were out -- moderately depressing, but I got over it quickly. By the time we had drained our margaritas, our table was ready, and we started off with a pitcher of red sangria while we looked over the menus.

Along with the complimentary chips and two kinds of salsa (a pico de gallo, chunky-style, and a tomatillo/green salsa), we started with an order of queso de mariscos (melted white cheese over crabmeat and peppers) and the night's special guacamole, with crumbled queso fresco and chipotle sauce. After some serious debate, I went with the chicken mole for dinner -- sealed by assurance from my friend that they have some of the best mole sauce in the city.

Verdict? Um, yes. The sauce was exceptionally smooth and I more or less wanted to bathe in it.

We left the restaurant around ten, and even though my friends were headed to a bar to continue the night, I headed home to let out the puppies and get some sleep...I needed to prepare for Mother's Day brunch!

Even though I love to entertain, for some reason, we rarely do it. We've been in our house since November 2008, and I think we've only had people over four or five times.

My menu was very Sabrina-inspired:

- Mini veggie frittattas (similar to Sabrina's - EggBeaters with a splash of milk, seasoned with parmesan cheese and Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute, with chopped broccoli, mushrooms, red pepper and spinach)
- Smoked salmon and bagels, sliced into quarters, with two kinds of cream cheese (plain and chive)
- Breakfast potatoes (white potatoes and sweet onions, sliced to 1/8" on the mandolin, seasoned with a bit of Season-All (I KNOW, I KNOW) and dotted with butter, baked in foil packets at 350 for about 45 minutes and then crisped up in a pan right before serving)
- Fruit salad (pineapple, honeydew, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries)

The star, though, was Heather and Sabrina's Soft Pretzel Bread Pudding. Sweet baby jebus. I ran out in the morning to pick up the pretzels, and, since they were fresh, tore them into pieces and dried them in the oven for about ten minutes at 250 degrees first.

This dessert was unreal. You need to make it, immediately. I'm not even kidding. At first, no one was particularly excited about dessert at 2pm (though, really, why wouldn't you be? dude, it's DESSERT at 2pm!)...and then they started tasting. And then everyone wanted the recipe. And then I felt like a complete success. WOOHOO!

The rest of the day flew by, between the cleanup and a quick trip out to Home Depot to replace our propane tank. (Do I know how to have a good weekend or what??) I hit the gym a while ago for a short run -- I did 30 minutes, including intervals for the first 20 minutes (90 seconds at an easy 6.5mph jog, 30 seconds at 8.0) and the last 10 minutes at a steady 6.5. I have to admit, it was a big battle for me mentally, since -- as always -- I'm used to going faster and was feeling frustrated, but by the end I was full of endorphins and happy sweat.

I've been settled into the couch for the past hour and 40 minutes, watching Titanic. I haven't seen this movie in AGES. It came out when I was a sophomore in high school, and, like most sixteen-year-olds, I was enthralled and obsessed with Jack and Kate's tragic love story. I saw it in theaters twice. The first time, my friend and I bawled our eyes out -- like, total ugly cry. We were still crying when my dad picked us up and we got into the car. The second time, I saw it with a guy -- I can't remember the timing of it, but I'm pretty sure we'd been dating and had broken up within a month before we saw the movie. I spent most of it trying to be really cool, and ended up choking back the tears at the end -- which, in retrospect, was probably just as ugly as the ugly cry.

Wonder if it'll still have that effect on me