Even more well-fed

The last few days in Champaign-Urbana has been about spending time with R and plenty of eating.


One of the best things I've had here has got to be the ribs at Texas Roadhouse. Yes it is a chain with branches across the country, but man that is seriously good food. This is the first time I ate ribs with a knife and fork. Just a slight tug to pull the bones apart and the meat just falls off the bone. It is that tender. And the sauce... I'm not a BBQ sauce fan with many of them being rather too sweet for me, but this was just right.
The mash in the background was also really good with bits of skin and potato in it, and the portion was just right too. Not pictured is the other side of my choice, green beans.


R had the other popular choice - prime rib. It's so popular that it's sometimes sold out before 6pm. Yes you heard me right. The place opens at 4pm and being the kiasu Singaporeans, we were there just after 4. Mind you, we weren't the first customers as there were two other tables already filled and more behind us waiting to be seated. We had learnt our lesson when we tried to get a table on a Saturday afternoon around 5, and there were at least a good 30 people already waiting. We hightailed it out of there (having sat through a three hour commencement without a proper lunch, my stomach was whining).



And I cannot forget to mention two other things: The bucketful of peanuts sitting at the edge of each table to munch on with your cheap beer and $1.99 margarita.
The soft and warm (and freshly baked?) rolls with cinnamon honey butter. Gorgeous.
And generous too: we asked for a takeaway box for the two remaining roles we couldn't finish and the waitress came back with another basketful (and more butter) so we had extra to take with us.


Texas Roadhouse
204 North Country Fair Drive
Champaign, IL 61821
Phone: 217-355-9901




In the past week we've had Mexican food, Italian and made our own sushi, including one with crispy bacon and grilled asparagus - yummy!
Movie choices have also been somewhat food-related, with the sweet Waitress leaving me hungry for some pie (luckily there was some pumpkin pie in the fridge). Keri Russell plays a waitress in a pie diner in small town America who has a gift for making pies such as:
I Hate My Husband Pie
"You take bittersweet chocolate and don’t sweeten it. You make it into a pudding and drown it in caramel…”

Watching Waitress in this country means that I can easily pop out and get some more pie later today. Be warned, those of you watching in places where pieces of pie aren't within such easy reach, you might have to do some baking.

I learnt only after the movie that the director/screenwriter/actress Adrienne Shelly was murdered last October in New York City. So unfortunately, this is her final piece of work.