After School Snack

Spending time with my son is always a real treat, especially now that he is a Freshman in high school and has a social life that usually does not include his mom. All while he was growing up, I made our dining experiences around the Wichita area as frequent as possible. I wanted him to grow up comfortable in those settings. He's been ordering his own food since he started reading and is quite particular about his food. Certainly, he doesn't get that from me, right? lol....

Anyway, after school the other day, we decided to grab a light snack at Panera. I opted for the cinnamon chip scone and a low-fat mango smoothie. They were delicious. The cinnamon chip scone reminds me of the little cinnamon rolls my mother used to make when I was a kid. My teenager decided on not one, but two brownies and a cinnamon roll for a "snack" later. He usually does not eat a lot of sugary foods, but that day, he went all out.

Times like these are the best. We sat, drank, ate, and talked about school and friends. Times like these will be more scarce as he gets older, so I am taking advantage of it now.







 

Birthday Favorites - Old and New

Yesterday was perfect! My boyfriend finally turned 30! Yay! We decided to head over to our all-time favorite breakfast place, the Copper Oven. Yumm! I love this place! The coffee here is fantastic and the service is wonderful. The management team are all familiar faces and every Saturday, there is a line going out of the door to get a seat. It has truly become a gem to the Wichita area.

I decided on the mushroom and fresh spinach omelet ($6.82). The omelet is made with three eggs, sliced button mushrooms, a handful of fresh spinach, and topped with cheddar cheese. The omelet comes with their signature salsa, ranch potatoes, and your choice of bread side. I opted for the biscuit
and a side of cream gravy ($1.00). The biscuit is flaky and beckons you to dip each bite into the seasoned gravy. Ah! So tasty!

After we waddled to our car, we decided to drive down to the Farmer's Market located at 21st and Ridge. Big mistake! We drove right past. There was a line to get into the parking lot! Looks like we will have to arrive much earlier in order to walk around and browse the local hearty fare.


For dinner we decided to try a new place. We chose the Cactus Cantina and Grill. It is located on 2802 S. Hydraulic in Wichita. It's right next door to the very good greasy spoon, Fat Ernie's, a place we are known to lurk in every so often.

The Cactus Cantina has really good food! The menu states, 'If you can't go to Mexico, we'll bring Mexico to you.'


The salsa and guacamole are made fresh. The chips come out to your table warm. I ordered something from the "Real South of the Border" portion of the menu. It was the Teocaltiche Plate ($9.95). It was basically chunks of pork meat simmered into a special blend of spices. It came with rice, beans and tortillas. Sooooo gooood! My boyfriend ordered the #4 combination (9.95), which consisted of a chile relleno, beef enchilada, beef taco, rice and beans. That chile relleno was excellent! I loved that small bite of chile relleno almost as much as I loved my whole meal. It was that tasty!







Everything was to our liking. The manager was our waiter and he took excellent care of us. This is definitely a place we will come back to. If not for the chile rellenos, then definitely for the guacamole!