An afternoon with Mom

For Christmas this year, we decided we were going to try and go for experiences, rather than material things. It started with Mike/Terri, who suggested we all take a trip to Vegas together instead of doing gifts. We agreed, but still gave them a membership to a Wine of the Month club- that's an experience too!

We told Dad/Connie that we didn't want anything except a plane ticket to Canada. When we get that taken care of, we have some other ideas of how to expand their Christmas gift into more of an experience but I won't post that since it hasn't happened.

For Mom, I booked a cooking class at Central Market in Houston and expanded it out by booking us a mini-spa day and lunch. We started off the day with lunch at Ouisie's Table, that was in the same area as the spa and Central Market.

Mom had a pasta special and I had the shrimp and grits. Both were very good and we had a nice time chatting. We decided we were a little under dressed because that was a place for 'ladies who lunch'. We also had an odd situation when we left because we just parked in the first spot we saw, little did we know, we were supposed to valet. The parking lot was tiny, and it would be awkward to stand by the front door and watch the valet run to get our car, so I'm glad we didn't know. Traffic held us up a little bit and I was worried we would be late to the spa, but we made it just in time. I was sweating, but Mom was calm.

She had a massage that was much-needed because the lady had her do some strange stretches to loosen up her muscles. I had my first facial, which I was really nervous about. A couple of observations- she put about 15 products on my face, tried to sell me a Vitamin E serum, and used what felt like a razor blade to cut open the one zit I had! The extractions didn't hurt as bad as I thought, and I had a mini-nap while the mask was on. I'd do it again, but probably only a 30-minute one.

Then we had Manicures, which we didn't get to chat during because the chairs were far apart. For our Pedicures, we got to sit in massaging chairs (mine was broken), and they used scrubs and hot stones on our legs. It was pretty nice.

After that, we had about an hour to kill before our class, so we parked at Central Market and walked through a couple of shops. We passed by the cutest baby boutique (expensive) and they had a ruffly binkini for girls! So cute! We went back and walked through the aisles at Central Market before heading up to our class.

It was about seafood, and the lady in charge made it way less fun for me. She was not happy to be there, not friendly, and made me wish we were at the Plano Central Market, where the head guy is really fun. The food was excellent though! We made grilled shrimp with a salad- super easy, and something I'd make at home.

Then we worked on some crab cake sandwiches. Here's a sideways picture:
It tasted better without all of the bread, and I even ate the tartar sauce which we also made! Mom loves tartar sauce so I was glad we had that.

The lady was very specific about the wine. "We will only pour you one sample- less than 4 oz- of each type of wine. No, you may not choose a different white or red. No, you may not bring something up here from downstairs. No, you may not bring a flask." It felt like a drill sergent instead of a fun cooking class.

We also made a coconut-lemongrass salmon. It was so easy, you just make the sauce, pour it over the salmon, and bake. Didn't think I would like that one, but I did.

And the biggest surprise of all was how awesome these baked mussels were!

Every time I've had mussels I didn't like them. I didn't even want to touch them, since part of the class involved us shucking them. Mom was a pro and jumped right in on that. I tried to get a picture of her but she was already done. These just had butter/seasonings on them. I'd be willing to get some mussels, shuck them, and cook them they were so good!
We went back home, and I told Mom we were going to stay up all night and have girl talk, but I fell asleep within an hour! I did wake up the next morning and we talked about babies and pregnancy, all things we talk about every time I see her because I have a lot of things I need to figure out and she knows everything about it. It was a great (but way too short) afternoon, evening, and morning with Mom.
I didn't want to leave, but it was the morning of Liz's Bridal Shower, so I had to go set up. I'll post on that soon!