Casa del Matador

My parents came to visit for Labor Day weekend and I spent Saturday with my mom. Despite being wounded from my klutzy fall, and stressed about my IT Band, Saturday was a good day. They arrived from Seattle early enough to see me get transformed for my photo shoot. I’m working on a post about that but here’s a little teaser:

I’m going to skip the photo shoot for now. After the photo shoot, my mom and I went out to lunch while Michael golfed with my dad. We went to Chez Machin on SE Hawthorne. Michael and I had been there a few months ago for a romantic dinner. This time, my mom and I sat on the back patio for lunch. It was really nice! I ordered a cup of the amazing French Onion Soup and half a salad. The salad was amazing. It came with chevrie cheese, candied walnuts and sliced pears. I LOVED lunch. It was so good.

None of the pictures from lunch turned out, which is a bummer. Trust me when I say it was amazing. 😉

After lunch we walked around SE Hawthorne and did some window shopping and some real shopping. I got some new earrings and a new ring. I usually don’t spend money on stuff like that, but I felt like treating myself for a change. Not only that–none of my rings have fit since I lost my weight. One of the downsides to losing weight–which may seem trivial but I had  a lot of gorgeous rings (some of them heirlooms) that I cannot wear anymore. 🙁

The ring I got looks similar to that round purple necklace in the above photo. After shopping we went met the boys at the Matador restaurant for dinner. It’s on NW 23rd (Nob Hill neighborhood) and one of our favorite restaurants in Portland. They have the best fajitas in town. Ironically, I did not order the fajitas for dinner!

The restaurant itself is really cool. I love the atmosphere and every time we go, I tell Michael we need to decorate our kitchen in their style. 🙂

Casa del Matador isn’t just in Portland either. They have them in Seattle and I think Idaho too. The boys were starving so we got an order of nachos since it was still Happy Hour.

Nachos

I got the Enchilada Roja. It came with rice, tomato salsa/salad and black beans. My enchilada had shredded pork in it. It was good and the meat was very tender. But I tasted a lot of nutmeg in it. It was kind of strange–not bad–just different. The nutmeg was VERY evident in the dish. I was pretty proud of myself for being able to identify the nutmeg so easily.

QUESTION: Can you taste and identify spices pretty easily?

I was stuffed after dinner! We went back to the house and I showed my parents the photos from Hood to Coast and then crashed into bed. 🙂