New Favorites and Old Favorites

When I think about fine French cuisine my mind does not immediately travel to Huntington, WV. While I have never been to France and consequently have no points of reference there, my mind at least travels to my native Canada and to a wonderful bistro in the DuPont Circle area of Washington, DC. But I am also not one to dismiss an ethnic offering just because it is not in a typical locale. If that were the case, I truly might think that West Virginia is devoid of tantalizing opportunities. To the surprise of many, West Virginia has some great restaurants. I know I’m always eager to see who Candace Nelson reviews next on her blog.

Le Bistro is one of the offerings near the Pullman Square complex in downtown Huntington and a favorite of my mother-in-law, who is such an excellent cook I sometimes wonder how she can even tolerate eating out most of the time. I ordered a plate of chicken salad, fruit, and breads, sort of a deconstructed concept. Everything on my plate was delicious. At the same time, there was ample sharing between Chris and his mother. There was nothing that would not be described as outstanding on anyone’s plate. I am so excited to return next time we visit Huntington because their menu is adjusted weekly to include new recipes and ingredients. Menu selections are very much tuned into the season. While we had been up to celebrate Thanksgiving, the Thanksgiving meals were hardly memorable compared to the perfection at Le Bistro. I’m not exactly a foodie, but I hardly have a figure that would imply I don’t enjoy eating.

After a divine meal we parted ways from Chris’s parents and turned our sights on the highway home. Though we had been on something of a geocaching streak so we decided to find an easy geocache on our way out of town. I picked C-N-C Challenge: Favorites, a challenge cache requiring that each person logging it as a find has found 10 caches whose favorite points total 4700. We didn’t need 10 caches to do this, we only needed five. At the time we found the cache our list looked like this:

Points - GC Code - Cache Name
2237 - GCK25B - Geocaching Headquarters
  788 - GCEB2 - The view of an “Honest Man”
  714 - GCK12J - Last stop for a weary traveler
  561 - GCM1C - Table Rock Earthcache
  553 - GC33NAZ - Evolution of the Rest Stop!

Total Favorite Points = 4853

We were feeling just a little chuff about the ease of satisfying the requirements. So much so that when Chris stepped away from the guardrail the cache was hidden in there was an audible ripping noise as he tore a hole in his brand new corduroy pants. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or both. There aren’t words to express how much we dislike shopping. In light of the draft in his pants, we focused on the drive back to our home and our cats.