Early May Round up

Recently we've enjoyed several local offerings.

We had lunch late last week at Yen Ching in Peoria, which was great, as usual. I'm still stuck on the lo mein with chicken, but I subbed the sizzling rice soup for the typical lunch soup offerings. The lunch special price is so reasonable, I don't blink at the extra cost for my favorite soup.

We made our usual weekly stop in at the Hofbrau in Peoria during the work week, and also made it in for the Saturday lunch special, homemade corned beef hash and eggs.

Saturday night we had the sis and bro-in-law over for appies (a nod to my Colorado pal Kim) and the wine 'o the month. To prepare, we picked up two of the baked brie wheels from Maria's in Washington. Encased in some buttery, flakey pastry, served with green apple slices drizzled with honey and topped with almond slices, the brie pockets were delicious, and we scarfed them all up.

We also had a chance to check out the Mother's Day Brunch at River Station in Peoria. There were plenty of food choices in the offering, and everything was very good, including our service.

After the brunch, we headed to Lakeview Museum in Peoria to catch the last day of the William Morris glass works exhibit. Heading in, I thought it would be neat, but I was very impressed with his works. I especially enjoyed the beautiful colors of the glass vases and bowls that were being lit from the bottom.

We've become fairly regular at Gracie's in Washington, for cocktails and food. Sometimes there's a bit of a wait, but we've not been disappointed. We finally tried the deep dish pizza, and found it to be salty and excellent (salty food is mouthwateringly delicious to me, but if you have an issue with high blood pressure, you might think twice before ordering the deep dish with pepperoni). It also made some great leftovers for dinner a couple nights later.

I also recently enjoyed lunch at Walt's Dos in Peoria with some friends. We all ordered some Mexican entrées and enjoyed chips and salsa while our food was being prepared.

Today, with a picture perfect day in the offering, it occurred to me to stop downtown and check out the street vendors for lunch options. I ran into some friends, and had a great grilled chicken breast sandwich topped with grilled onions from Willy's Tamale Factory. The day was so nice, I took the opportunity to jaunt down to the Ice Cream Shack and have a butterscotch sunade with crunch topping while sitting near the old shade trees. It was a welcome respite from the daily grind.