Red Dirt

We spent last weekend in Oklahoma with Tony's mom. One warm afternoon, we took the kids to Twin Lakes in Shawnee to explore and burn off some energy.

My mother-in-law watched the kids one evening so we could meet friends in Norman for drinks. After tossing around some options, we chose The Mont on the basis of their patio and their swirls. What is a swirl, you may ask?

And, as always, we got our Pepe Delgados fix on the way out of town. Yum.

Oklahoma Love

We paid another visit to my mother-in-law, Lillie, in Oklahoma recently. Our first day in town, we took her to lunch at the always-awesome Pepe Delgado's.

They changed their salsas! Pepe's has had the same trio of salsas for as long as I can remember. But now, two are different. Of course I'm biased toward the old salsas, so I will have to give it time to see if these grow on me. The veggie plate, aside from being a little heavy on the cheese, was tasty as usual.

That night, we heard that tornadoes were moving in. Since the terrible tornado in Moore had happened just one week before, this put us on alert. We set up the kids in the spare room with popcorn and a movie, and we turned on the local weather to see if we needed to take cover.

Bad things were happening west of OKC. The tornado was moving right along I-40, hitting cars that were stuck on the highway. Several people lost their lives. We knew we always had the option to take cover in my uncle's storm shelter, but it was hard to hear about the ones who had nowhere to take shelter. Luckily for us, the tornado lost its power before reaching Shawnee. All we got was a thunderstorm and heavy winds. Here is the damage to a tree in Lillie's backyard.

The next day, it was almost eerie how nice the weather was. My mother-in-law suggested that Tony and I have a date night in the city.

On our way to our destination, we passed one of my favorite buildings in OKC. Yes, that's a giant milk bottle. 

We had a cozy dinner-for-two at Sushi Neko, where we celebrated many a birthday and anniversary before we moved to Texas. Nothing's changed, and that includes the warm hand towels they serve along with the edamame.

Asahi goes perfectly with sushi.

I love their ginger-miso dressing. I need to learn to make this stuff.

Avocado rolls, always.

How classy is Sushi Neko? Here is the entire bowlful of Andes mints we received along with our check.

Thank you, Lillie!

Also thanks to Aunt Emma and cousin Karen, who always come visit us when we're in town and help Lillie watch Jackson and Olivia.

On our way out of town, we stopped at Alfredo's for Tex-Mex, Oklahoma style...which means bowl after bowl of free salsa, queso, and hot pickled veggies.

I had an avocado enchilada with mashed potatoes and spicy creamed corn on the side. My enchi was a little soggy, so I ended up scraping the filling out and wrapping it up in a fresh tortilla.

Free sopapillas for dessert, mmm.

Jackson approves.

Mexican Food Worth Driving Six Hours For

Last weekend we traveled to Oklahoma to celebrate Olivia's second birthday with family.

 

She loved being the center of attention, even if she didn't really understand why.

This little purse from her Aunt Janet was her favorite. She carried it around all weekend.

Of course, there was also birthday cake. Look at her eyeing it. "Do I have to share this?"

Jackson was all too eager to help her blow out the candle.

Several of her cousins came over to celebrate with us. It was a loud, rowdy house full of kids. Just the way I like it. Feel free to call me crazy.

I couldn't help think back to her first birthday, which we spent in New York, just the four of us. We still had a good time, but I'm really grateful that this year was different because we live so much closer to our family.

This two-year-old loves her grandma. They crack each other up.

One thing that me, Tony, and his mom all have in common is that we could eat Mexican food pretty much every day. In fact, we did eat it three days in a row on this visit.

I didn't have my camera the first day, when we went to Abuelita's. It was decent, but the least awesome of the three.

Next day, we went to Pepe Delgado's, which in my opinion is the best Mexican restaurant on the planet. It's not an exaggeration to say I've eaten there hundreds of times in my life and yet I still want to catch a meal there every time I am in Oklahoma.

We started with chips and salsa. You get three kinds of salsa -- a fresh salsa, a spicier cooked salsa, and an avocado salsa.

I ordered the Plato Vegetariano, which is a pile of potatoes, green peppers, and onions, covered in tomatillo salsa, guacamole, sour cream and cilantro. I can never finish it, but I always try. This is my favorite meal of all meals, ever, seriously. I've tried to duplicate it at home but I don't know the magical spell to make it as good as Pepe's.

The next day we hit Ted's Cafe Escondido. The story with Ted's is that there used to be just one location, in Oklahoma City, and you would have to wait for at least an hour to get a table because it was so popular. But now there are a couple of other locations, so the crowds have dispersed somewhat. We went for lunch at the Norman location, and didn't have to wait at all.

So, here is something that Tex-Mex restaurants here in Austin don't do, but almost all the ones in Oklahoma do. When you sit down, they immediately bring to your table a setup of chips, salsas, queso, hot pickled vegetables, and fresh tortillas. And it is all free (as long as you order an entree and don't try to just fill up on the free stuff!)

It's pretty awesome. In Austin, you might get chips and salsa, but some places even charge for those.

I ordered the spinach enchiladas, which were covered in a sour cream-lime sauce. On the side, corn studded with jalapenos, and papas (Mexican mashed potatoes). The enchilada sauce looks heavy, but it was actually very light. These were some fantastic enchiladas.

The other thing that differentiates Oklahoma Mexican (Okla-Mex?) restaurants from the ones in Austin, is that you get free sopapillas at the end of your meal. Yes, if you still have any room in your stomach, they will bring you a little puffy cloud of fried dough, liberally sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and drizzled with honey.

The perfect end to a perfect meal for our birthday girl.