The Iron Bowl and Great Food

Today wasn't filled wasn't filled with anything extraordinary. I was very surprised, though, that Little Ernest and I slept in until about 9am. 9:30am for Little Ernest. We spent most of the day in our hotel room relaxing and watching TV. Actually, waiting for the Iron Bowl to come on. See in Alabama the Iron Bowl is one of the best college game rivalries. Here your either for Alabama Crimson Tide or your for Auburn Tigers. There are no in-betweens. Alabama is filled with lots of tailgating, home parties, bar celebrations, rivalry trash talk, etc. You would think it was the Super Bowl time.  Unfortunately, My Roll Tide didn't win the game. We lost it by 1 darn point. However, it was an excellent game. Both teams played hard til the very last seconds of the game. It could have went either way.  Not happy they didn't win, but at least we saw a great game. Of course I will be hearing Auburn fans brag about their win for another month or two. LOL.

After watching the game we decided to go out for a family meal at P.F. Chang's. I had heard so many great things about this place. I didn't know they had one in Birmingham, AL and in Destin, FL, but I wanted to go here for our first visit. Thought it would be great to go along with the Horse-Drawn Carriage ride that I had hoped we would take. Both are in a shopping center called Watters Creek. When we pulled up to the center we had no idea what to expect. Let me just say that we were all amazed. Christmas decorations already setting the scene and of course the boys loved it.

The atmosphere at P.F. Chang's was simply breath taking. Amazing how dim lighting and a great staff can make a wonderful impression on someone. The hostesses were very hospitable. We were expecting a 20-30 minute wait, but they had our table in 10-15 minutes. The moment we sat down the entire staff made sure we were comfortable and we had everything we needed. Our waiter's name was Alex and from the moment he introduced himself he provided superior service. He gave suggestions and answered any question we had. In fact, he helped me decided on my alcoholic beverage....P.F. Chang's Green Tea.

Now keep in mind that I have very picky children. They have never been into Chinese food at all, but this place achieved getting my boys out the box...LOL. Little Ernest had the Kid's Chicken Lo Mein and he loved it using the child chopsticks. Robert had Kid's Chicken Fried Rice and he also enjoyed his meal.

Ernest and I had the P.F. Chang's for Two and is was an excellent meal. We tried both their Hot & Sour Soup and Egg Drop soup. Both delicious, but we both voted the Egg Drop Soup as our favorite between the two. Seasonings and tastes for both, however, were just right. We also enjoyed the Chicken Lettuce Wrap and I know now why that it is the favorite of many of my friends. We loved it!!! Our entrees were Beef & Broccoli for my husband and I had Cantonese Shrimp. For dessert hubby had the Red Velvet Mini Desert and I had the Chocolate Mousse Mini Dessert. All of them were delicious.

To make our meal even better the manager even came by to make sure we had everything we needed. It was a great meal that my entire family enjoyed and were impressed with. What really amazed us both was that there was a group sitting behind us and as they were all leaving a lady walked over to our table and complimented us about how well behaved our boys were. She told us that she had never seen such well behaved children their age in a restaurant before and that it was refreshing. Ernest and I both looked at her like, "huh"? Cause in reality we didn't think that were that well behaved. I do remember repeating several times to them both, "Sit down!" "Eat", "Calm down", and the always famous "Shhhhh". LOL, but oh well. It was nice to hear that anyhow.

After having such a fantastic meal we decided to enjoy the scenery at Watters Creek. The place was just simply beautiful with all the decorated trees. It was packed with people everywhere going out to eat and wanting to take advantage of the Horse-Drawn Carriage ride. We didn't get the change to take advantage of that ride ourselves. It was actually a little late in the evening and a bit chilly. We figured it wasn't the best for the boys at this time. Just driving around and viewing the wonders it had was enough for all of us. Definitely lets you know Christmas is around the corner.

We ended our evening laughing, talking and getting to know my sister Renate's boyfriend. He was actually a very nice man and you could tell he is very happy to be with him. That's all that matters when looking out for family right. The boys stayed asleep the entire time, but it was a nice ending to a very interesting day and a great Thanksgiving vacation. I couldn't have been happier to spent this time with my sister. Meant so much to me and the boys.


A video of a tree in Watters Creek. Took it because the lights looked like snow was falling from the tree. Thought it was beautiful.