Friday Flotsam

Frrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrahlalalalalala!

Okay, remember Chili’s?

The restaurant, of course you do. The chain. Chili’s. It’s like, THE ONE place (hear me out) I think all humanity (don’t block me) can sort of agree on. And that is that we all secretly don’t mind it. We don’t hate Chili’s.

And you know why? It’s the skillet queso dip. You bring up the skillet queso dip in conversation and people claw out of their pretentiousness in droves. Everyone loves the skillet queso dip! At least they used to. Still do?

Not that I got to eat at Chili’s recently or anything. We tried. I’ll admit it. We tried to eat at Chili’s on our long drive back from Florida. Our hotel was right off the highway and there were all the chain restaurants right there. Including Chili’s. And my inner college self was like, “Twist my arm, I guess we’ll have to eat at Chili’s.” But you guys, there was a FORTY FIVE MINUTE WAIT at Chili’s. At Chili’s! My faith in humanity vanished once more.

Which, yes, is a complete contradiction but I think you feel me on this in a hard, hard way.

So guess where we ate.

I almost can’t even type it out.

I won’t. I won’t type it out. But it was our only other choice besides a bowl of regret from Walmart.

Rhymes with SnappleTrees.

Ugh.

And I didn’t totally hate it, which makes this all the more painful.

But this is what bothered me more.

At the end of the meal Will was like, “Well, that wasn’t bad!” And his little voice cracked me up so much I nearly spit cheap red wine (yes red because the only white they had was MOSCATO and that can immediately rot in hell.) out my nose.

I was like, “Will. Please don’t go back to school on Monday and tell your teacher that your favorite meal was from BappleFrees. Please, please do not do this to me.”

A forty five minute wait at Chili’s. What is this world.

What else?

What else what else what else.

Our trip to Rosemary was wonderful. Relaxing, low key, beautiful, truly magical. We rode bikes, we went to the beach, we drank spritzers most of the time, we listened to Taylor Swift and The War on Drugs on repeat, we cooked a little, we ate out a bunch, we laughed to no end and made up hilarious stories about the early Rosemary Beach settlers who established the land in 1995 in their JNCO jeans and chain wallets. We rested, we were active, we had fun. Also I read zero pages of my book so I’m playing catch up this week on my, ahem, Elin beach read. I’ll finish this weekend!

Here’s the house info on where we stayed, for those who have asked for it. I will say, we paid pre-season cost for the house which is like HALF the price of regular season, so if your eyes bug out, that’s why. It’s a gorgeous house though and that terrace thing is to die for. AND it’s right next to the little quaint town square. Right in with the (relaxed) action. It was perfect.

Let’s talk about summer food! Give me some ideas on what you’d like to see here over the next few months.

Sandwiches?

Picnic food?

Brunchy stuff?

Side dishes?

Smoked or grilled meals?

All of the above?

Unsubscribe?

Let her rip. Which sounds grody but you know what I mean. Maybe.

Weekend plans?

I almost typed plants. Weekend plants. Which would make equal sense as I’m heading to the nursery today to get the hanging Swedish Ivy plants for our patio pergola, along with window box plants! That’s the last thing on my gardening list. Then it’s officially maintenance from here on out. The kids are home for the summer (yes, it feels early but they go back August 11th so it’s a full TWELVE WEEKS gawd help me), thus begins the “mooooom can we go to the poooooool?” era. I’m buckling up.

From this week, in case you missed it::: Slow Cooker Green Chicken Enchiladas! WITH RANCH, so you can truly love your life. Also these Roasted Sweet Potato Discs with Yogurt and Pepitas. A stunner of an appetizer, and super crazy flavorful. You need both, stat.

Tell me your summer plans. Traveling? Staying low key? I need these details to thrive in this world.