Food Frenzy

Personal journal entry. Skippable. ^^


On Wednesday, Maggie and I went to Ruby Tuesdays again. This was the third time in three months.  It's not a regular place for us, but we were compelled by the $10 off, 20% off, and another $10 off coupons we got in the mail.  That, and we had enjoyed their salad bar before.
But the first time, the salad bar was the only good part, as my zucchini cake "burgers" were surprisingly awful.  XP  I had never been so disappointed in a restaurant, much less a well-established chain. Unimpressed maybe, but never that dissatisfied.
But I chalked it up to it being a new menu item and decided to give RT another chance. Second time, no salad bar, just chicken florentine with spinach-artichoke sauce, which is usually delicious, but was underwhelming. =/
Third time, I wanted the salad bar but couldn't due to the recent problems in produce. -_-; So I ordered the only thing left on the menu that I thought might be good: chicken parmesan pasta, which is breaded chicken over penne pasta with cheese and both marinara and alfredo sauce. Tasty? Yes. Overkill? Probably. So yeah, I was satisfied with it, but it's more because I love any pasta dish and, really, it's hard to go wrong with that combo.
Maggie had better luck with her burger, steak, and fish, but we still concluded that RT is pretty mediocre (and sometimes too oily and just not good), so we're not going back, no matter what coupon they send. Salad bar aside, Ruby Tuesdays is just...meh.

Friday night, we ate at Toojay's.  Maggie had the rainbow trout, while I decided to skip the entree (nothing really stood out to me) and ordered the "loaded latkes" appetizer (except that).  It was called a "starter", but it was actually big enough for a meal (maybe it's supposed to be shared with four people?).  It was basically like a plate of mixed up loaded baked potato with chives, cheese, bacon, and sour cream, except they were fried potato pancakes, but it was so good. Very satisfying (unlike Ruby Tuesdays).
I ate a little less than half of it, along with some of the complimentary rye bread, then we split a slice of Toojay's signature "Banana Dream" cake (free from my eclub sign-up ;). Omg, they have the best bananas foster cake ever! Soft, moist banana cake, creamy but light banana custard/filling, walnuts, topped with chocolate and whipped cream. Amazingly, not too sweet like most American desserts, but just right. Perfect. *drool*

Saturday morning, we finished my left-over loaded latkes (still yum).  Later, we went to Moe's and shared a "Homewrecker" burrito with rice, black beans, chicken, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and salsa, with a side of chips and salsa, plus queso (freebie cup for sign-up ;).  The burrito wasn't as awesome as I remember, but the cheese dip was a novel guilty pleasure. XD;
After shopping around at Tuesday Morning, we went for BOGO (Buy One Get One) Coldstone "Creation" (another eclub coupon ;).  Maggie had "Berry Berry Good" (sweet cream ice cream with berries), while I had my favorite combo "Cheesecake Fantasy" (cheesecake ice cream with graham cracker crust bits and strawberries and blueberries ♥!). Kinda pricey, so I normally wouldn't go for Coldstone, but BOGO, it's so good, it's worth it. Mmm...
And then, shockingly, was Auntie Anne's.  Maggie had to return something, so we had to go to the mall again (but at least there were tables of artisans to look at this weekend), and since we wouldn't be visiting the mall again before it expired in a week, I thought I might as well just use my BOGO Auntie Anne's coupon (Pretzel Perk ;). But we were both still full, so we had the Garlic and Original soft pretzels for dinner hours later. ^^;

Yeah, even I'm a bit disgusted after writing all that. :P  I don't know what we were thinking.  Can't ignore cravings? Or can't ignore savings?  lol. Probably both. XD;