Still, her absorption in her coloring book paled in comparison to her delight in her cousins once we arrived. And Mama was pretty delighted, too. Not only was it great to get to see everyone again, but Katherine made ceviche in honor of our arrival! (We'd fallen in love with ceviche when Katherine and Sarah came with us to Kauai.) So we got to enjoy great company and some fantastic ceviche (for which I now have a recipe I can use anytime I want -- hooray!).
Kathleen and Melissa were fast friends. To Kathleen's glee, she slept in the same room as "Mewissa," a true big-girl privilege. The two cousins clowned around together endlessly, as you can surely tell.
The next day we attended cousin Ethan's football game. Ethan made some great plays! We still find it a little hard to believe that he's grown up enough to play ball. Where does the time go?
Sarah and Melissa both looked after the girls, which meant that the grown-ups actually watched the game...
That evening Sarah headed up the household so the grown-ups could go out for a special surprise, orchestrated by Uncle Eric. (Thanks, Sarah!) We drove to Ron's Cajun Connection in Utica, Illinois, where we enjoyed an enormous and very tasty dinner. The restaurant's website calls it "an experience you won't forget," and that was certainly true for us!
For one, as we arrived, we were greeted by a overly friendly and truly ancient Elvis impersonator. The restaurant was busy, so we had to wait for a bit outdoors, near where the faux-Elvis was performing. He seemed to want to interact with Katherine (and possibly me) very badly, but we managed to avoid eye contact by hiding behind our husbands, once they returned from fetching us some cocktails. We escaped soon enough, though, and began our culinary adventure -- an adventure, it turned out, that was a belated celebration of Eric and Katherine's wedding anniversary. Aren't they a cute couple?
Although Eric and Katherine had eaten at Ron's before, I'd never tried much Cajun food. (I'm not sure that boxed red beans and rice really count.) That evening I was introduced to boudin balls, ettouffee, jambalaya, alligator, and creole. Here in our circus, we're pretty adventurous eaters, so it all sounded good to us! Only one item on the menu made me balk: frog legs. When Jim proposed ordering frog legs (we had agreed to share our entrees), I flat-out refused. "Look," I explained, "I love Kermit. Didn't you ever see the Muppet Movie? How's poor Kermit going to ride his bicycle if we take his legs? I'm just not going to do it."
Well, somehow I was distracted during the actual ordering process (I'm still not sure how that happened), and when my plate arrived, it included frog legs. Oh, no! I tried them, though, and endured Kermit jokes for the rest of the night. They weren't even tasty. Poor little frog gave up his legs and I didn't like them. Oh, and to make matters worse, the owner Ron stopped by our table later on and asked how I liked the frogs legs. Embarassed, I fibbed and said they were great. Eric sold me out, though. "You didn't even like them!" he exclaimed. Fortunately for me, Ron wasn't offended, since these frog legs were apparently from China. Chinese frog legs just don't have the same flavor as those from the bayou, Ron explained. I'm not really sure that was my problem, but I smiled and nodded. Already stuffed, we somehow managed some pecan pie for dessert. And let me tell you, that was some amazing pecan pie. We might insist that Eric and Katherine fly it out to our circus for Thanksgiving!
Anyway, all that's to say that if you ever find yourself in Utica, Ullinois, it's worth stopping by Ron's Cajun Connection. It is an experience you won't forget!
2 comments:
Oooh I am such a ceviche fan! The girls have grown so much since you have been on the Big Rock! Months make such a difference at this age!
I love your Muppet Movie reference :-)
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