After- Party Dinner

So, me and the fams left the alligator farm and were in need of sustenance. Now here's where it always gets tricky with my family. Where do we all want to eat? Jimmy suggested pizza, but we all nixed that. Now what to do, what to do. Where shall we go? Mom suggested the Colombia House, which is a really lovely restaurant right in the heart of St. George St., downtown St. Augustine. Mom says that we can eat there affordably by getting their Cuban sandwich/1905 salad combo, so that's what we (meaning the girls, completely ignoring the men's protests) decided.

Of course once we got there and saw that there is no sandwich/salad combo on the dinner menu, Jimmy the men were pissed and feeling superior and us ladies felt horrible and ordered the cheapest things we could find. Ooh butter! Butter is cheap, right?

Okay, so the butter, plus their delicious homemade bread was free, but I bet you savvy bloggers already knew that, didn't you? Smarty pants one and all! The problem with this restaurant is that their service absolutely sucks eggs. A slower wait staff you will never find. Sure, our waitress brought out the butter, but it was another 20 minutes before she brought out the frickin' bread! And what's that? You need a refill on your drink? You may as well go back to the kitchen and get it yourself because keeping you hydrated obviously isn't a big priority here either. Jill asked for water and didn't get it until a good 40 minutes later. I shit you not.

So, I ordered an appetizer of empanadas and a side of yuca. Yuca has a similar consistency to a potato but a little smoother. I've had yuca on several different "Cuban" occasions and have always enjoyed it. But ewwwwwwwww... one taste of this and I was rinsing my mouth out with unsweetened iced tea! It tasted like aspirin! So all of us are chowing down on our various budget-friendly food when we realized that Alexa still hadn't gotten her french fries and Jill's empanadas still hadn't come either. No sign of the waitress, so we can't even ask about it. When her food finally did come, it was presented with red onion, which Jill explicitly said she cannot eat and is allergic to. And by this time we were all done with our dinner. I swear, steam was coming out of my ears. I challenged Jill to go speak to the manager, but as this tends to be one of her fortes, it didn't take much convincing. Up she went to find someone of authority.

When she came back to the table she said that our waitress only had two tables to tend so there was no excuse for the horrible service. We waited patiently as the manager made his way over to our table. Jill stated her complaints and I thought that was it, but Mom piped up with (pointing at me), "She didn't like her yuca!" Okay now, we're in a packed restaurant and the manager is standing at the opposite side of the table from me. How do I tell him what it tasted like to me without the whole restaurant overhearing? I've got it! This calls for whispering with exaggerated mouth movement so he could read my lips. So slowly I whispered, "It tastes like aspirin!" The manager looked blank and said, "Excuse me?" So I repeated, "It tastes like ASPIRIN!" The manger's eyes popped wide open and he said, "The yuca tastes like ASS?" Oh my goodness bloggers, the whole family just cracked right up and kept on laughing until Jill, who was nearest to him corrected his mistake. Then he was laughing too. And for the trouble we'd been through and the less than stellar food, we each got 50% off our bill and free dessert for all! Yippeeeee!

Now I'm not supposed to eat dessert, as I've got hypoglycemia, but I always feel that if I choose the cheesecake it's a lesser of evils because along with all that sweet goodness, there's lots of protein packed into it too. Hey, it's how I justify having my cheesecake and eating it too! And here it is, a most delicious piece of guava cheesecake.


Mikayla got their Godiva dark chocolate cake, and yes, I tasted it, and yes, it was incredible! She's a happy camper!


Jill ordered some weird strawberry shortcake soaked in sherry thing that they lit on fire. I didn't taste it, but it sure does look good!


Too bad I don't have a picture of it. The girls got churros with three dipping sauces. Alexa didn't like it, but Madison was in cinnamon heaven! Here's the girls during dinner.


Jill and Mom. Isn't Jill's purse adorable?


Dad laughing at something Mikayla had said.


Poopy Pants being her adorable little self.


It had been a long day and it was time to part ways. Mikayla was just happy that she was going home with aunt Jill and could escape the clutches of mom and dad for a few days. Here she is leading the pack. She's not a little girl anymore, is she? She's a TWEEN, God help me.


















HA! I told you to be prepared at any time for a picture of hairy, growing-out sperm-brows!

Until next time, Justine :o )