family is always there – part I

My mom flew back home this morning and I miss her terribly already!  I am such a momma’s girl and we try to call each other at least once a day.  I’ve never gone a week without calling my mom since college!  I just feel so at ease when she is around.  I honestly consider home wherever my family is.  There is just nothing like family, and yes we all have our weird and dysfunctional relatives, including myself, but no matter what family is always there good or bad.  No matter what we may go through with friends, significant others, coworkers, etc, I always feel safe to know that my family will be there. 

It’s been really tough on me since my mom and step dad moved to NC almost 6 years ago.  Then, when I was still going to school at UNR in Reno, my grandparents also moved to NC in the same housing development as my mom.  Even though I was born and raised in Las Vegas, I don’t really consider it ‘home’ now.  Yes, I have Chris, but it’s not the entire package, just not quite complete.  Eventually I would like to live somewhere closer to my family wherever that may be. 

Ok, enough of the blabbering and on to the recap of my mom’s visit!!  We didn’t really have anything planned, and I had to work and go to class, but it was just so nice to spend the time.  I didn’t work on anything school related either, so now I have to bite the bullet and try to make it to the end of the semester which is approaching too quickly I’m afraid.

She came into town on Tuesday, but we didn’t really get a full day together until Saturday.  During the week I made some quick meals that I knew she would like, one of them being the chicken sausage broccoli pasta that is always requested.  I also made pumpkin pancakes for dinner one night and of course we had that lovely fro yo a few times :)

 

Friday night we decided to take her out to that cute little pizza place called Settebello.  We are enjoying this place more and more.

I started out with a limoncello cocktail which was a lot bigger than last time (and a bit stronger uh em!)  It didn’t go too well with the food, and I wished I would have had a glass of vino, but it was still good. 

 

My mom got the chianti and we shared a nice salad along with their pizza special for the week called Pizza Rustica with various cheeses, roasted mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and basil.  Yum! 

 

But I have to say my favorites of the meal were the desserts!!! 

They had a special pumpkin gelato stuffed into an actual frozen pumpkin.  I thought this was such a cute idea and the flavor was perfect.  Most pumpkin dishes I get don’t have enough spice or pumpkin flavor, but this one was really good.  The tiramisu was also outstanding! 

Next stop on our unconventional eating out extravaganza, was BJ’s.  I always enjoy eating here.  My mom and I started out with a taster of Pyramid Apricot Ale.  I don’t drink much beer, but when I do this is my go to brew.  I also love that you can order a 4-6 oz taster for only $1.75.  So you can try a bunch of different brews at a reasonable price, or just have a sensible portion like we did.  Portion control is key and alcohol always makes me want to eat more anyways.  I’m sure if I had a regular pint I would have had the whole thing, but just having it in a small, cute and tall glass was just perfect.

Avocado egg rolls are a great appetizer, just slightly spicy and filled with the luscious goodness of unsaturated fats!

I can never seem to order anything but the deep dish pizza when I’m there because it’s that good.  I could only finish 2 pieces because it’s so filling!

Plus I had to save room for this bad boy . . . the pizookie!!!  Oh yum yum!  There’s only one spoon there, but I assure you Chris and my mom helped too :)

I swear we didn’t eat the whole time, well, for the most part, ha!  We also got some good walks in, did some shopping, went to Red Rock Canyon and checked out the progress on the new Hoover Dam bridge.  This is what I do like about Vegas because there are great outdoor adventure opportunities not too far from the city.

I don’t want to drag on and bore you guys to death with a never ending post, so I’ll leave the active part of the visit for the next re-cap installment :)  Stay tuned . . .   

Hope you are having a great week!  It has turned quite chilly here in the desert brrrrr . . . and I miss having my mom around

Are you really close to a certain person in your family?