Happy Wednesday, ya'll!

Each one of us had an "out-of-house" adventure today. Molly Ann got to go shopping with Grandma, Trey accompanied Daddy-O to a teachers' inservice, during which time my child attempted to rappel (ya'll, I am only a librarian, and I don't know how to spell that word. All I know is that my seven year old baby was strapped into a harness today, and did something called "The Slingshot." Furthermore, I know he wasn't hurt, and that's a good thing for his Daddy).

I went and met my two friends at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. We ate lunch at the Apple Pie Bakery and Cafe, and discussed all the goings-on with our library at school. We were scheduled to have a wall knocked down, and all brand-new furniture ordered and in place for the beginning of school in two weeks. We have since learned some disappointing news that I won't get into here, but, hopefully, my coordinator will have it taken care of before we get into December of this year!

Anywho, onto my lunch date. Since all of the chefs, wait staff (I didn't want to be "gender-biased" here, so there ya go)cashiers, people in chef coats, etcetera, are actual students of the CIA, and because they are graded upon their performance in the restaurant, you kind of have to "go with the flow" while you are dining there. Overall, though, I enjoyed myself. I had the Salad Sampler, which included three choices of their cold salads, and a freshly baked roll with butter. My friends had sandwiches; one had a turkey, and one had a reuben panini. Myself, not a fan of the sauerkraut, much less of corned beef, so I knew better than to go there.

Dessert, however, was another story! We each chose a different thing, and then shared them all around the table. My one friend had what the APBC termed "Mocha." That's it. Not cake, pie, cookie, donut, nothing. Just Mocha. I had a bite of it, and it was pretty good. My other friend had a Chocolate Pot de Creme. Now, ya'll, the only reason that it was chosen was one reason: the thing was presented in an actual eggshell. I think that cinched it for us. I mean, if somebody takes their sweet time preparing CHOCOLATE PUDDING, then putting it into an eggshell that they have meticulously cleaned, then written a calligraphic "A" on the side of, you want you some of that. Finally, me, I chose a tiramisu. I am a fan of tiramisu, but ya'll, this one was rather a disappointment for me. Not enough cake pieces in there, and WAY too much mousse. I guess I'm a snob.

I asked Trey where he went for lunch, and he told me that he and his daddy went to "the pizza joint." Seven years old, and my child is already referring to places as "joints." I don't know if anybody picked up on this or not, but this family is gourmet ALL THE WAY.

As a bring-home treat, because ya'll know if I hadn't brought goodies home for Daddy-O and the kidlets, then there would be some major trouble afoot, I got a (yawn) Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, a Monkey Danish (ya'll, I tasted this thing, and I detected NO monkey (thank the good Lord for that!) or any banana, and I didn't think to ask WHY they named it this, so don't comment me on that one, I don't know...), a pearl sugar brioche (see picture), a Mudslide cookie for the kids to split (think a chocolate chocolate chip cookie with walnuts), and for me and Daddy-O to share, a Pistachio Creme Brulee. I'm a sucker for ANY kind of creme brulee, so there ya go.

It was a really nice meal, but I enjoyed getting to see my girls more than anything. Here we are. In all of our glory in our library. This will probably be the only picture that gets posted of us, so ENJOY, my internetty peeps!