Friday

After a hard day's swimming in the pool, for at least three hours in 94 (f) water - Glorious!! Elsie had been over helping move the water around in the pool and none of us felt like cooking. So, as the dinner hour crept up, we played around with ideas of where to dine. Pattie's Bistro won out.

A good choice it was too. Each of us had something different. Dianna had pork chops with oriental sauce, Elsie had coconut shrimp, and I had curried snapper. Wow! All three items were absolutely delicious. Of course, we washed it all down with Belikin - tasty as usual.

And it was all ably orchestrated and served by Pattie's maitre d, Ivan. Wow! Doesn't that just sound so up-scale?

Our Host at Patty's - Ivan

One of the more different things about dining here in Corozal is the audio entertainment in each restaurant. The Chinese joints usually have the TV on, set to one of the Chinese cable or satellite channels. It's pretty much a given that the volume will be blasting away. Most of the others don't always have the TV on, but almost always have a stereo going strong, usually with the local mix from the radio stations. Again, set pretty close to 11 on the volume.

Last night, Ivan was tasked with entertaining his granddaughter, so we were treated to TV and cartoons (Lord only knows what). At least Ivan is concerned with his patrons, as he kept turning the volume down, and down, and down. Eventually, after the granddaughter left, Ivan cranked up the stereo, but kept the TV on, mercifully with the sound muted. At least he plays good music - most of the time.

What would have set the meal off in spectacular fashion was to have flan for desert. Flan, in case you don't know, is a rich caramel custard dessert with a layer of soft caramel on top, not to be confused with crème brûlée, which is a custard with a hard caramel topping. As is usual for Pattie's, no flan, no lemon meringue pie - in fact, no dessert at all. But, it's no big deal at Pattie's. In fact, we would have been moderately surprised if Ivan had told us he had something for dessert. That's Pattie's. It was enough that the meals were as good as they were.

Lot's of tourists eat at Pattie's. You can even autograph the walls there. We've been going for two years and have yet to take pen in hand. We always wonder what will happen when they have to paint.