Don't read this if you are hungry

Before we begin today's blog journey, let me remind everyone this is NOT a food blog, but an art blog. Of course, you wouldn't know it based on this post!


Last week my friend Sally returned from Jamaica and I picked her up at the airport. To thank me for a week of caring for her sick cat (she has two cats, but only one needed personal attention), she wanted to take me to dinner. You can see the sun is low in the horizon as we started to leave for the restaurant. What struck me when I saw this photo were all the different colored trash cans, showing how many different cartage (trash hauling) companies operate in my neighborhood.


As a thank you, my friend took me to a neighborhood bar and restaurant. This particular evening was especially busy, but the green (and mostly leafy) salad looked decent.


Because this was a steak house, I settled for french fries and corn, in my opinion, a decent, but definitely not heart healthy meal.


The next day was Friday, and we chose it as our day to go to lunch. We headed out along the still green tree lined streets and headed for a place near home.


I have noticed that many of the places we visit are in strip malls. Although some are stand alone buildings, many are a part of a larger venue. This day we made our way to Byblos, a restaurant and deli that specializes in


Lebanese food, as is witnessed by the


menu.


I nearly forgot to take photos of the meal, which Sally and I divided between us. Sally's preference, which you see on her plate (and on the right plate on mine), are the Gyros with cucumber sauce, which I learned are actually pronounced YE ros. All this time and I was pronouncing it incorrectly. I enjoyed the vegetarian Falafel (on my left plate) that came with a lemon yoghurt sauce. We also had stuffed grape leaves and stuffed cabbage rolls.

Speaking of Gyros, Sally tried to explain how the meat was prepared, but I couldn't envision it until



I saw the actual process.


We also were tempted with baklava, but decided to pass, since we were quite full after eating the entire meal. Not a crumb, a sprig of parsley, or a drop of sauce was left when we finished.


In addition to the restaurant, Byblos also carries traditional Lebanese food.


Of course, my favorite are the olives, which I failed to capture in this photo.


Saturday I took off to visit a new museum that I will start showing photos of soon. I think I'm about finished with the Train Museum. I learned after the debacle at the State Fair (see here if you are a new or recent visitor to my blog), I don't take people with me when I visit museums or places where I want to set my own pace or schedule.

I had to laugh at a comment that Dianne wrote one recent Sunday about how lonely the trains looked and she knew I tried to keep people out of my snap shots. Well, this next museum, which I will show soon had a ton of people visiting the day I went (Oct. 29). But the train museum I've been showing the past few Sundays was different. For the first hour I was there, I was the only person at the train museum, other than the people who worked there. And since it was a self-guided tour, I truly was alone. Just me and the trains.


On Sunday, Sally and I headed out to another restaurant, only to find it was no longer there. No fixtures, no signage, no nothing except the building address! That is the problem with restaurants in Wichita. They are there one day and gone the next.


So we settled for an Italian restaurant, where the food is always good. Our first course was a lovely salad that included olives, hot peppers, and their famous pickled eggplant that is made on the premises.


Our main courses were spaghetti and meatballs for Sally with a side of mushrooms, and cannelloni for me. This restaurant claims that both manicotti and cannelloni are made using tubes, although some Italians claim the cannelloni is made from flat dough, that is then rolled and baked. Either way, it was delicious, but again not a very heart healthy meal. At this point, I may have to take up exercising (grin). And that was especially true after Sally treated me to an Italian puff pastry which we both took home.


The next day, Halloween, was our normal day for eating out. I'm not sure why we went on both Sunday and Monday, but here we were at Sit @ Thai Bistro.


The lunch menu looked delicious, the prices did not. Now I don't often complain about prices, because as a rule, Sally and I share the bill and the tip. But this place was simply too much, especially for the midwest.


We began with Spring Rolls, one of my favorites.


The meal came before we could barely bite into the appetizers. It wasn't as if there was anyone else there waiting to take our seat, because we were the only people in the place, except for the wait staff. I had sweet and sour veggies with tofu and Sally had a pan-something-or-other, with the flat Thai noodles. To make matters worse, these were the lunch prices and our bill was nearly $40.00 before the tip, and neither of us had anything to drink except water. No wonder we were all alone in that place.


So on our way home, I asked Sally to stop at a cookie place I had heard of. The dozen cookies I bought for myself was $10.00 and the cookies I bought for Sally (she picked them out) were $12.00. It was my treat to Sally for driving us to all those restaurants. I laughed when I got home because it was a rather expensive day trip and all I got was a few photos.


Looks like I had a potion used on me


and like the sign, I turned into a "scaredy cat." You have to admit though: it was a good week for eating out. Of course just looking at all that food we consumed has added several more pounds to my waist. Looks like I am off to jog three times around the block! Have a great Saturday and enjoy your food, whatever you will be eating.