Mermaids and Catching Fire

My husband and I went out to eat on Saturday.

This was a very grand moment for us. We love going out to eat, and haven't gone to a restaurant in months. But we had a bit of extra money and wanted to treat ourselves. Plus we had a $25 gift certificate.

So we headed to restaurant in Fayetteville called Mermaids. Not a franchise, so if you don't live around northwest Arkansas, you're not gonna be able to go. Sorry!

But let me tell you about what we ate. First, we got the fried lobster fritters. Yum. Bite-sized, tender morsels of pink and white lobster in a crispy, golden shell. Ah, so good. Next we had the Soup of the day, which was a very rich shrimp bisque. Dinner was served with rolls and a salad. I got the tuna special, which was a fillet of tuna covered in a Marsala sauce glaze on a bed of fettuccine noodles and a side of shrimp. Um, yum!

That wasn't enough, of course. We had to get dessert after that. My husband got a brownie and pecan ice-cream concoction while I got a chocolate ganache with lots of raspberry sauce poured over it. (I even asked for extra raspberry and got it.)

I daresay we may have found my new favorite restaurant. I can't wait to go back.

I also finished reading Catching Fire over the weekend, so I must say a few words about it. It was great, really good, and I can't wait for the next one. But I was slightly disappointed in two things (NO SPOILERS. I'll be a bit vague on details, but I'm not going to give anything a way): 1) The setting. I wanted to see something different from her. It felt too much like a cop out. 2) The love triangle. This, of course, is subjective. I've picked out who I liked in the love triangle, and it bugged the dickens out of me anytime she showed any interest in the other character. To the point where sometimes I wanted to just put the book down. Yet I know there must've been other people rooting for the exact opposite. That's gonna happen. But still, disappointing.

Finally, the use of present tense began to wear on me. I ignored it for the entire first book, but by this one, I found myself having to correct my reading because some things I automatically read in past tense. This book is really good. But I think I will avoid other books that right in present tense.

Just my thoughts and opinions. Read the book and make your own opinions.