Q: What's for dinner, dear? A: Reservations.

Actually, it was more like, "Where are you taking me for dinner, you big lug?"  Ummm....OK, I'm up for a nice meal out, too, but with this caveat:  I want to try some place different.  I'm tired of chain restaurants.

We had tried this place in downtown Frisco for Saturday brunch once, but it was so packed I don't think I got the full ambiance.  I was hoping a weekday evening would be more relaxed, and it was.

I had "Reina's Shrimp Tostadas"....lots of grilled shrimp, onions, avocado, pico de gallo, sour cream, and rice, served with a tangy sauce on the side, and it was fantastic!  K had fish tacos and liked them, but after a taste of mine she said that's what she would have if when we come back.

Dallas has lots of restaurants, advertised to be 4-times as many per capita as New York City.  The down side to this statistic is that almost all of them are part of one or another chain.  On the Border, Bone Daddy's, Landry's, Carrabba's, Cheesecake Factory, etc....I enjoy them all, but they seem to be too institutional and predictable.  

We need more of the mom and pop cafes and diners.  I don't know why we don't have more of them as the few we've been to seemed popular.  I suspect they're all located in the farther-out small towns.

For an encore I've found Jorg's Cafe Vienna in old downtown Plano and it had rave reviews.  K is less than enthusiastic about that type cuisine, probably because Austrian/German food is not at all common around here.  I think we should go for it.  Worst case, we don't go back.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

S

Tornado update...with photos

Whew!  That was really close.  Many parts of the DFW Metroplex, mainly south and southwest of me, were slammed pretty hard.  My brother called to tell me to turn on my TV as Frisco where I live was in the path.  TV showed live footage of a tornado as it hit a truck terminal south of downtown Dallas, throwing trailers weighing 6+ tons a good 300 feet into the air. It was amazing!


The news reported a second tornado near the North Dallas Tollway and SH190, just 3 or 4 miles to my south.  Then they mentioned our minor league baseball park was directly in line.  Ummm...that's just 2 blocks from me.  Time to head for our concrete parking garage.


Curiosity got the best of me and I went to the opening of our garage where it meets the street in order to see what things looked like.  Sure enough I saw two twisters pass right by me, not 300 feet to my west:

First it was just noticeably darker^

As it got closer I saw this very discernible funnel^

It made it close to the ground, but stopped short of actual touchdown.

A little later a second line moved through and I saw another trying to form^

In between the two lines it hailed like crazy.  A guy I was standing next to ran out and picked up one for me to photograph^

Meanwhile my daughter (the teacher) was at her school in south Garland where they herded everyone into the hallways and bathrooms. Eventually we established text contact, and it turns out she is fine.  Not too far east, however, in Forney an elementary school there was hit and damaged, but thankfully there have been no reports of injury.

My power is back on now after being knocked out for over an hour, so I'm just now catching up with the news.  Just heard that over 100 planes at DFW Int'l Airport were damaged, I presume by hail.

That's all to report for now.  Please pray they don't find any casualties as they dig into the damage.

S