I'm bound for the promised food

Day: Sunday, Oct. 15
Meal: Brunch
Place: Imperial Garden, Fresno
Ate: Multitudinous and varied dim sum
Best part: Shrimp pancakes with cilantro
Worst part: Unable to stop myself

Seriously, WHY have I never had dim sum before? This was almost worth the sabbath-breaking aspect of it. So great. I also hear Imperial Garden is open on Saturdays. So I am thinking I would like to combine my next visit with a temple trip to atone for my sabbath breaking. Are you listening, up there?

Day: Sunday. Oct. 15
Meal: Snack
Place: The Grove, DFW Airport
Ate: Mixed bag of fruit, nuts and candy
Best part: Chocolate covered almonds and dried apricots
Worst part: I should have gotten dinner instead

Day: Sunday, Oct. 15
Meal: Dinner, sort of
Place: The Westin Riverwalk, Room 1018, minibar
Ate: Trail mix, York Peppermint Patties
Best part: Didn't have to go out after flying all day
Worst part: I should have gotten dinner instead

Day: Monday, Oct. 16
Meal: Breakfast
Place: The Westin Riverwalk, Room 1018, room service
Ate: Omelet with ham, tomatoes and monterey jack cheese; hash browns; ketchup; orange juice
Best part: Room service rocks; I felt like a princess
Worst part: Room service costs ... but at least I was on the company dime

Day: Monday, Oct. 16
Meal: Lunch
Place: The Westin Riverwalk basement bakery/cafe (sorry, I forgot the name of it)
Ate: Turkey club wrap, jicama slaw, Diet Pepsi
Best part: That slaw! The cilantro! The lime! Baby!
Worst part: Rushing through lunch to be on time for the conference

Day: Monday, Oct. 16
Meal: Dinner
Place: Mi Tierra, Market Square, San Antonio
Ate: Orange-marinated carnitas, homemade tortillas, guacamole, beans and rice, lots and lots of chips and salsa; virgin strawberry daiquiri (yes that is a Shirley Temple. Envision me in curls.)
Best part: It's a tie between the strolling mariachi singing us "San Antonio Rose" (the song I was trying so hard to remember the words to) and the amazing ceiling which had reflective foil decorations interspersed with icicle lights to create the sparkliest darn expanse of ceiling I have ever seen. I want to do it for Christmas. It was gloriously Mexican. Also the carnitas were outstanding.
Worst part: Eating too much of the chips and (very spicy and yummy) salsa before dinner arrived

On our way to Mi Tierra, we ran into a group looking for the bar Coyote Ugly. We think they were really lost. One of the guys was American Indian. The other guy was teasing him about his lack of a sense of direction.

Day: Tuesday, Oct. 17
Meal: Breakfast
Place: Westin Riverwalk (included in the conference)
Ate: Nothing special, just muffins and grapefruit juice. This is not really worth writing about.

The conference got good this day, by the way. Excellent presentations and we ended up really enjoying the group we hung out with. We did stuff together the whole rest of the time.

Day: Tuesday, Oct. 17
Meal: Lunch
Place: Paesano's on the Riverwalkk
Ate: Fried Calimari, Special Salad, ice water
Best part: All the food. Was outstanding. I loved the artichoke hearts in the salad.
Worst part: The waitress was slow and clueless and we were late getting back to the conference.

Day: Tuesday, Oct, 17
Meal: Dinner
Place: Boudro's on the Riverwalk
Ate: Chili-seared prawns, apple slaw, yucca griddle cakes, another Shirley Temple
Best part: Everything. The service, the food, all absolutely impeccable. It was a little crowded but honestly, no biggie. A place like that is gonna be crowded. We were lucky to get a reservation!
Worst part: They can't make the prickly pear margarita virgin. But it was about the prettiest drink I have ever seen.

After dinner and before dessert we took the boat ride on the river which was only $6.50 and very peaceful and fun. I recommend it.

Day: Tuesday, Oct. 17
Meal: Dessert
Place: Mr. Ice Cream on the Riverwalk above Boudro's
Ate: Blue Bunny ice cream in a cup, Black Walnut and Chocolate.
Best part: Come on, it's ice cream. And we ate it overlooking the riverwalk. What could be bad? Oh wait ...
Worst part: Scary monkey machine that talked to me when I walked by it.

Day: Wednesday, Oct. 18
Meal: Breakfast
Place: Westin Riverwalk (included in the conference)
Ate: Bagel with strawberry cream cheese, teeny tiny egg burrito
Best part: Uh - ?
Worst part: Skipping the salsa and eating the egg burrito plain. Icky. Also, they did not have any water or juice out for us. Just soda. Whatevah.

At this meal I discovered I was sitting between two fellow Indigo Girls fans. I professed my fanhood. Other Fan asked me if I had their new CD that came out in September. Duh, I guess I am not as big a fan as I thought. Anyway I have listened to it now and it is pretty good. But there sure are a lot of F words. Why? Why?

Day: Wednesday, Oct. 18
Meal: Lunch
Place: Boone's in Market Square
Ate: Alamo City Sandwich, consisting of chicken, ham, cheese, black beans, tomato and avocado on a big, eggy bun. Grilled. Also a Diet Dr. Pepper and some corn chips, which I did not eat.
Best part: Eating some very homey, non-foofy food for the first time in days. Remembering how my mom used to make grilled cheese sandwiches with refried beans in them. Yummy.
Worst part: Choosing a caffeinated beverage and a salty sandwich when I was just about to get knocked over with really vengeful, evil menstrual cramps. Whine!

Market Square is way fun if you like Mexican stuff. Everything is Mexican, and I mean everything. How many shops full of pottery and silver jewelry and ponchos and embroidered blouses can one girl look at in an afternoon? If she has really wicked cramps, not near enough. I love that stuff. The Mexican stuff ... not the cramps.

Day: Wednesday, Oct. 18
Meal: Dinner
Place: Au Bon Pain, DFW Airport
Ate: Mediterranean Chicken Salad, Dasani bottled water
Best part: Kalamata olives and feta cheese
Worst part: Rushing again

Day: Wednesday, Oct. 19
Meal: Bedtime snack
Place: Home, sweet home
Ate: Two fresh chocolate chip cookies made by G, who is a way better mom than me
Best part: Goes without saying.