Best Damn Weekend Ever!

** warning**
Lengthy post ahead, not what you are used to from me...


Hey there. I had a wonderful time in Omaha, home of Warren Buffet. I even saw what area of the city he lives in. I arrived around 6:30 pm, but would have arrived sooner had it not been for the 30 minutes I spent on Highway 80 dead center in the middle of nowhere, with traffic at a complete standstill. I think I was about 35 miles outside of Lincoln. All of the construction caused the major delay. Those cars without full tanks of gas were nervous, I'm sure.

Anyway, I rolled into Omaha and checked in to the Residence Inn on Dodge. It was a nice room. I met up with my friends for dinner at Lo Sole Mio. It is a beautiful authentic Italian restaurant. This restaurant had unexpected large portions of food that looked so wonderful and mouthwatering. The service was impeccable. We started off with the Calamari Fritti and Beef Ravioli. We also had fresh sliced baguette bread with several offers for condiments and a house salad. I ordered the Orange Roughy with angel hair pasta. The Florentine cream sauce was rich and light at the same time and the lovely glazed carrots complimented the fish and pasta so well. I must say the portion was absolutely huge. I could only eat about three bites of fish and pasta and had to take the rest back to my hotel room. But, we also ordered dessert. I had the homemade bread pudding. Oh lord have mercy, it was simply divine!

We all decided at dinner we needed to quit our jobs and become world travelled authors and food critics. We talked of Anthony Bourdain and his dislike of Abba, Samantha Brown and her easy, easy job, and Andrew Zimmern's stomach-of-steel-lacking-compassion for the wonderful food he does try. Oh yes, if only the Travel Channel needed someone else. That job would be for me.

Saturday promised to be a fantastic day. It started off with a breakfast at the Hollywood diner in the Old Market. Not bad for diner food. The sausage was delicious. We then headed over to the Farmer's Market and found a true treasure. I purchased some jalapeno and cheese wieners and kraut stuffed sausage from Chlupacek's. I was told it was a 5th generation recipe. It was made fresh and put in casing the night before. I do love fresh sausage. I plan on cooking the kraut sausage tomorrow. We also purchased two pies, candy from the candy store, and looked around at several of the shops.

On our way back, we stopped at Whole Foods and the Cheesecake Factory for the rest of our groceries for the evening meal. You see, my friends were having a soul food dinner party. I bought some fresh baguette bread, manchego cheese, Fromage de Meaux, Boursin garlic and herb spread and some quince paste. I had to bring a little taste of Europe to the dinner party. I was quickly put to work on deveining the collard greens and giving them a two bath soak. My friends prepared BBQ pork steaks, collard greens with smoked turkey legs, homemade smothered sweet potatoes, and pan corn bread with a touch of vanilla.

sigh.......

It was so good. I can't even lie. Next to my mom's food, it was the best food I have ever tasted. After dinner, we sampled 5 different types of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory, a fresh strawberry pie and pecan pie from the Farmer's Market. We couldn't move from our seats.

Sunday morning we decided to have a late brunch at Le Peeps. This is my favorite place to go for breakfast. After brunch, I went to check out Hobbytown USA. I purchased about $100 worth of stuff for the kid and his train set. Money well spent. After that, I headed back to Wichita.

The weekend was much needed and I had such a wonderful time making memories with my friends. We had good food, good conversations, lots of laughs and relaxation. It was a damn near perfect weekend.