A Little Work, A Little Play

This morning started with both Helen and I spending time on our phones.

Helen spent about 2 hours catching up with her sister Natalie in Traverse City, while I interviewed a restaurant owner about her new coffee shop for an article I'm writing for the Northern Express.

Sarah Dalgliesh has opened Crow About It Coffee and Cakes at the intersection of US 31 and 4 Mile Rd. I talked with her about 30 minutes and got lots of information about her new business. I'll write it over the weekend and send it to the Northern Express Editor Bob Downes, who said he'll stop by and take some photos. It feels good to do get back into the writing groove. The last assignment I did was my monthly casino entertainment column for the Booth papers. That was written about a week ago.

Helen told Natalie about how great the Vegas weather is compared to winter in TC. It sounds like Nat is getting really tired of dealing with snow, ice and frigid temps. She's always welcome to move to Las Vegas...

I finished my interview around 1130 and made lunch for us - chicken salad on rye for me and a cheese sandwich on fresh pita bread for Helen, who then began doing a load of laundry.

I headed over to the Suncoast to see if my luck was continuing there. I spent about an hour in an up-and-down blackjack session before leaving down about $30. I drove over to the Red Rock Casino where I bought in for $100 and went thru another up-and-down sort of session. Never got really hot, but still managed to eke out a $70 win there.

So for the day, my profit was $40. Not great, but enough for dinner.

We opted for takeout from Helen's favorite restaurant - The Cheesecake Factory. She ALWAYS gets her favorite salad, the BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad that comes with avocado, chicken, tomatoes, grilled corn, black beans, cucumber and romaine lettuce, all tossed with a special zesty ranch dressing and topped with fried onion rings for crunch. My dinner was Louisiana Chicken Pasta, that comes with four large chunks of parmesan-crusted chicken served over bowtie pasta with mushrooms, peppers and onions in a tangy New Orleans sauce. The bill came to $33, including tip.

The portions from the Cheesecake Factory are so large that we'll be enjoying the leftovers for dinner tomorrow when the adventure continues...