dec. 2: restaurant moment.

We're pretty hard-core carnivores over here.

We really like meat. A lot.

I could probably subsist on steak and vegetables as my only meal the rest of my life and not get tired of it. Steak is just good.

Which brings me to our best restaurant moment this year. I am thankful that we had restaurant moments! 2009 was a pretty comfortable year for us financially, and we were able to do more in the area of entertainment and dining out than we have ever done. Ever.

My husband was working on a project in Charlotte from November of '08 to March of this year, so I traveled back and forth with the kids every week to be with him. We would spend Wednesday evening to Sunday afternoon with him, then head home for school on Monday through Wednesday. We really enjoyed living in Charlotte, almost as much as we enjoyed living in Nashville the year before.

One of my husband's co-workers suggested we try out a restaurant in the city called Chima. It is one of those Brazilian steakhouses. We went one weekend in January and thought we had died and gone to carnivore heaven. There were so many different cuts of meat, and the gauchos (waiters) just kept coming with more. The meat was very well-cooked and succulent and delicious. Also delicious was everything on the salad bar, and the appetizers, and the wine. Pretty much everything was delicious. We liked it so much we went again a month later with a friend. I tried to get a good photo of the place on my iPhone, but it didn't really work out, as you can see above.

I ended up signing up for Chima's email club or service or whatever it is, and they sent me two $25 gift cards in the mail. I was psyched, until I found out that the Chima in Atlanta had been closed. So, yeah.