Just put the rest on the card, ma'am...

Wow! Two posts in two days! You must be beside yourselves with excitement?! I know I am. This post is in celebration of C. Her bday is in a couple of days but we pre-celebrated last night at Rococo on Penn. A merry time was had by all, at least at my end of the table, and the food and drink was delish indeed. Pics to follow!

Rococo is sort of an Italian restaurant off N. Penn between 30th and 23rd. I say sort of because while they do have some traditional Italian dishes, like spaghetti bolognese and fettucine alfredo, they also have lots of seemingly random dishes, like roasted duck breast and Asian-inspired fish entrees. They also have a section of the menu called "cookies" which aren't really cookies in the dessert sense but I don't know what they really are because we never asked. I suppose we'll have to go back for the cookies. B-Ri and I both ordered the linguine with jumbo shrimp scampi and wild mushrooms in a white wine beurre blanc sauce. $27. Delish. M ordered the "lean spin" as the waiter put it when he delivered it (he was a little odd, more on that later). $25. Delish but with a little too much spin water. Needed to be drained a little more, imo. M2 (M's sister Mollie who is in town for the weekend) ordered Pasta Pomodoro. $22. I assume it was delish. C ordered the fancy mac and cheese which was cavatappi pasta with smoked gouda and bleu cheeses (I think) with a big ass lobster tail and pancetta drizzled with black truffle oil. $48. It was pretty good but I'm glad I didn't get it. I think I'd be in the hospital right now in need of a bypass. I don't know what T ordered. She was all the way at the other end of the table. That's the thing about having a big group. They almost always seat you at a long row of tables pushed together so you really only end up talking to the group at your end. Whenever I finish this veterinary thing I've decided I'm doing the cooking thing. And when I do the cooking thing I will open a restaurant that will only have round tables. No squares. I find that not enough places have round tables. I think every place should have round tables. It's more conducive to conversation. And by every place I mean every place. Like even a baseball stadium because we all went to the Redhawks opener about a week ago and I found the stadium seating to be very disruptive and un-intimate. It made it very difficult to carry on a conversation when squished together in a row. I know you agree with me. I shall locate the suggestion box at the Bricktown Ballpark and put in my round row/table suggestion. I bet you'll see some big changes at that stadium and others across the country real soon.

I digress. The food really was good albeit a tad bit pricey. But, as you may recall, so was Musashi's when we went for T's bday back in February. We, as a group, tend to have expensive tastes and I for one quite like it. I think a birthday is a special occasion and should be celebrated in fine fashion. Plus, if the food is good I'm willing to pay a bit more for it anyway. I did, however, set a dollar limit for myself seeing as I how I spent well over $100 at Musashi's. This time my limit was $50. Because that's what I had on me in cash. The problem with that is that I was in the mood for a few drinks last night and that's what always kills the budget! I had 3 glasses of wine. Even with that and my entree I managed to ring it in at $53.14! Amazing! So I put my 50 dolla bill on the tab and my debit card and told the waiter to just put the rest on the card. Ma'am. Ballllla!

So the waiter was in fact a man. We took to calling him ma'am or good woman because we're pretty sure he called us dude and sir. We kept thinking surely he's not calling us dude and sir because we're obviously women. I mean most of us had our boobs on display proudly and our hair done up all cute. And we smelled amazing. What dude or sir does that?! Then we thought maybe there was some Italian equivalent for lady or girl that when said in a mumbly fashion comes out sounding like sir or dude. But no. At least, not according to A who is Italian. So, awesome, he just thinks we're sirs.

Yes, there is a picture of the dessert menu and, yes, it all sounds amazing but we were so full by the time lady-man waiter brought the menu that we didn't end up ordering anything. I guess we'll now also be going back for dessert in addition to the savory cookies.

All-in-all I'd say it was a successful evening. I think C had a good time. I know I did. They all went to Dollhouse downtown after din din but I did not partake. I had worked all day and was quite tired. Plus, I had to ready myself for brunchy poo today. Yay brunchy poo! And a solid thumbs up for Rococo. We will be back.

Kitchen-side Table for Three (and a half)...

Man oh man has it been too long! It took me like 15 minutes just to think of that title...and it isn't even very good! Shoot. I'm all rusty because I got all busy and what not and forgot to blog. It's not like we have very many followers but I'd like to think that we were gaining some notoriety and momentum only to be struck down in the prime of our blog life. Never fear, we have returned and with much fanfare and gusto. Or with very little fanfare and gusto just a lot of telling ourselves that so we feel better. Happy face.

A View from Inside

A couple of days ago, A, K2 and I met up for what was supposed to be brunchy poo at Kitchen No. 324. One of the hottest new eateries in downtown Okc. However, when we arrived we realized they stopped serving breakfast/brunch-related items at approx. 1030a. Sad face. Sooo brunchy poo became lunchy poo with a side of coffee - an ode to brunchy poo, if you will. Kitchen No. 324 is in an old building off Dean McGee and Robinson Ave downtown (can't remember the name at the mo) that has a lot of the old architectural details with updated fixtures and a fresh coat of paint. It serves american cafe/bistroey food with a lunch counter kind of feel. You order directly from the counter but then sit down and have a full-service waiter. Water is served chilled in giant, old milk bottle-looking bottles. They have a deliciously tempting array of apple fritters, brownies, danishes and muffins sparkling behind a glass window as you walk to your seat screaming out to be eaten while you wait for the real food to arrive. All three (and a half) of us ordered sandwiches...K2 got a grilled cheese with a homemade potato chip side. A and 1/2 got the BLT, which came with an avocado mayo in addition to a mountain of perfectly cooked bacon. I got the chicken salad sandwich, which was delightfully sweet and crunchy with a side salad of Israeli cous cous w/ feta and wild mushrooms. I know mine was delicious. I tried A's and it was delicious. A and 1/2 tried mine and agreed that it was delicious...although she almost didn't get to try it on account of her left-arm/hand super-human strength. I thought she had taken care of her mismatched arm sizes/strength after the Green & Grilled "closeted ambidextrian" post but as she went to bite into the piece I gave her it was as if she squeezed so hard it exploded! It like spewed chicken salad across the table and part of the bread flew to the other side of her plate! Luckily, no one was injured in this sandwich mishap and she was still able to cobble together enough of the pieces of the whole to deliver a verdict of tasty. Phew! K2 said his was delicious. And reasonably priced @ $38 for 3 sandwiches, a giant brownie, 2 sides and a coffee. And we'll definitely be going back for breakfast asap!

We left Kitchen No. 324 (with 7 minutes to spare on A's parking meter no less!) and headed to Penn Square Mall. A was in need of a dress(es), shoes, a bag, jewelry, makeup, perfume, mani/pedi...oh wait that's just me wishing and trying to convince her that she needs all of these things. It worked on me at least...I later bought a new bag from Aldo I didn't need and new hair products from Lush I did need. But A shows great reserve when shopping. Much better than I. I mean, yes, she does manage to grab approximately 8 to 175 different things to try on as she walks through a given section of whatever store we're in (this time it was Dillard's) but, in the end, she only ended up purchasing 3 of said 175 possible dresses. I applaud her for her frugality. Bravo! All three were soooo cute and made cheaper by the fact that she was harboring a gift card. As of this moment, I have decided that in the year 2048 I shall blog about A's use of coupons and gift cards. I mean it's as if she already has her own coupon and gift-card printing factory now I can only imagine what she'll be like when she's 70! I tell her all the time she's gonna be the greatest little old lady. This sentiment was confirmed when I later saw her wearing reading glasses (that are cute and young, but still) on her nose and occasionally interjecting some comment directed at her step-son and his friend like, "Hey, can you turn that down?" while flipping through Southern Living.

Anyway, she later caved and agreed that she might possibly need some shoes but kept lamenting about how she couldn't afford them...so K2 stepped in. He took the shoes she was eyeing right up to the counter, asked for her size and then when she tried them on and they were freaking perfect he bought them for her. Is that how easy it is?! "I love these shoes. They'd be perfect with ALL of these outfits and they're just so cute! Oh but I can't afford them." Enter: Husband with money. I tried the same tactic on him but he just laughed at me. WTH?! I really wasn't kidding. There were some super cute shoes that really would look cute with ALL of my outfits and I really couldn't afford them. I gots to get me a husband asap! While he was paying I was lamenting about this with A and expressing my jealousy over her new-found pair of free shoes. All the while she was putting her old, existing shoes on the wrong feet. She didn't realize it until they were both on the wrong feet. Not just one. Both of them. I told her I wouldn't tell anyone but that was a lie. I immediately told K2 and the sales lady and anyone else in the vicinity who could hear me. We all got a good laugh out of it, even A.

All-in-all, I'd say it was another successful Thursdate. Great food, good laughs, good friends, cute clothes and accessories and free shoes. Get yourself to Kitchen No. 324 like yesterday. You'll be glad you did!