Restaurant: Monarch

5701 Main St
Houston, Texas 77005

I've been known to do weird things. Sometimes i wonder if i should be ashamed of myself. So my friends mini and cooper were celebrating their wedding anniversary and mentioned to a group of us that they would be having dinner at Monarch. Mini then went on to suggest that everyone join them since the dinner menu at Monarch is half off on Wednesdays. I told her I was down and ended being the only one from that group to go. I know. I'm weird. I mean there was another couple there that night but i don't think they knew it was mini and cooper's wedding anniversary. But seriously, mini and I both have the same mentality cos we both feel like we see our guys all the time as it is. I'm really not that quality alone time type of gal. I prefer group settings and group trips. Moving on to the restaurant, our table wasn't ready at our requested reservation time. 10-15 minutes wait is okay ... but 40 minutes for a restaurant like that is almost unacceptable. I had also read on their website that anyone who wore red would get a complimentary glass of red wine since February was heart disease awareness month. When our waitress came around to take our drink order, I told her I wanted whatever my red dress would get me. She looked confused so i explained to her about the complimentary glass of wine. She gave me some cop out answer and said she would check with her manager. She came back and said that the special was over in January. I smiled at her sweetly, knowing deep down i was dealing with lazy and stupid, and told her that i checked the website again and it said February and that she needed to honor what their website said. She begrudgingly says okay. I win. The wine tasted gross though so maybe I didn't really win. Don't matter though cos I will always fight for free-bies! The next horrible waitress act involved her telling mini that the menu changes daily according to what the chef is making. LIES! Mini has been there before and had ordered this rib-eye that is supposed to be on the menu. Well it wasn't on the menu that evening and we weren't sure why. After our waitress lied to our face, big poppa went out and asked a hostess if there was a different menu that had a list of their steaks. Turns out there was! The steaks are not part of the half-off Wednesdays but you could still choose to order it and pay full price. So i had to tell our waitress about it. Wutever. We just brushed it off and ordered our food and had a great time as usual. My pet peeve about servers like her is that I would rather them tell me that didn't know and have them go find out the answer instead of simply making something up. Cos you know what, if i think you're lying, i'm gonna double check your answer with another worker and tell you otherwise. You don't want to mess with me when i'm hungry. Haha. The food was super delicious. I ordered the pork chop and it was one of the best pork chops i've had in a long time. Turns out i had also ordered a pork chop last time i dined with the other couple that were there so now they're under the impression that i love pork chops. Food-wise, I think everyone really enjoyed what they had. Even the desserts were good. Mini and cooper, congrats again on your anniversary!

*food in order of appearance*
lamb chop lollipops on the bone
deconstructed ahi roll
grilled scottish salmon
ginger beef tenderloin
pan roasted sea scallops
cowboy rib eye
pork chop

Trippin': Jackson Hole - Snowboarding

This was my first time snowboarding after my one year involuntary hiatus. We did three days of boarding at jackson hole mountain as well as grand targhee. These mountains are no joke. Mostly blacks, some blue and barely any greens. What does that mean for me and big poppa? It basically means that we barely saw any of the mountain. The mountain here isn't as fancy as other places but rich people and celebrities come here cos it's so under the radar. There's no riff raff from all over the world, just your local riff raff which isn't even anything compared to the crap you see in Houston. For the first time in my snowboarding career, my leg muscles didn't hurt! Why is that? Cos I can carve baby! I'm not that good but I can do it and it just makes things soooo much easier. We were having such a good time that by the last day, we decided to try some small jumps. I was apprehensive about it at first and kept telling everyone that I didn't want to do it. Freaking buda was in my ear the whole time yelling DO IT DO IT! Ugh. I normally don't fall into peer pressure and wasn't about to this time but as I went down the mountain to set up so I could record everyone else, I went for the jump at the last minute. The jump didn't look that big but as you got closer it suddenly looked GIGANTIC. But I committed and ended up flying in the air awkwardly and landing hard on my arse. It hurt so bad that i did it again later. Haha. I love snowboarding but I also hate the aspect of going cos of all the shiz you got to pack and bring with you. Now that we have all our own gear it's madness trying to keep up with everything. There's the snowboard bag, snowboard, bindings, boots, helmet, glove, liner, thermals, pants, goggles. I feel like I always lose something when I get back home. Like years off my life.