three sisters

yesterday, my co-workers invited me to join them for lunch. they were going to a little cafe called “three sisters” and apparently it was tortilla soup day. i am a big sucker for tortilla soup (i had actually brought leftover homemade tortilla soup for my lunch!), so i jumped at the chance. we’ve never gone out for lunch together and it was fun! they ordered tortilla soup and sandwiches and i ordered the “hot beef lunch special” and when the waitress left, they said, “you didn’t order the soup?!” then i was told that it was lovely and creamy and delicious (i had only held back because i figured i’d have too much food if i was already ordering the hot beef) and although it wasn’t a “pretty” soup (“it’s served with a dollop of sour cream and i think the secret ingredient is velveeta” said one co-worker) it was realllllllly good. so, i asked the waitress to bring me a cup of the soup and it was, indeed, delicious. it’s much thicker and creamier than my recipe and the flavor sort of reminds me of the cheese dip at my favorite mexican restaurant in oklahoma city. yum! then, my lunch arrived and it was a pile of delectable roast beef chunks on white bread, cut in half and smothered in brown gravy with a side of mashed potatoes and a “vegetable” (corn was the veggie of the day. somehow that feels like cheating.). waaay too much food for one meal, so i, virtuously, ate only one half of the sandwich, half of the potatoes and half of the corn and saved the rest for a later day (although i’m not sure what effect time will have on gravy and white bread…). then, as i was happily realizing that i’d made it through the meal without over-eating, my co-workers revealed the final surprise–three sisters is famous for pie! i went to look in their cooler and they had cherry pie, banana cream and coconut cream. i love a good cream pie. we didn’t have many cream pies when i was growing up (my family tends more towards fruit custard pies) and i have the same affinity for them as i do for pudding cups (something else i never had growing up, but which i love and only occasionally indulge in). smooth, creamy, thick and delicious. so, i ordered a slice of coconut creme pie. i have no idea why i thought i had to finish the whole slice (didn’t want to carry two leftover containers?), but i made a valiant effort and finally (wisely) decided to stop when i still had about 4 bites left. (i did end up taking home two styrofoam containers). that was some really good pie. real whipped cream on top, sprinkled with toasted coconut, thick, coconut creme filling with shredded coconut laced throughout …. oh man. i may need to go back sometime just for the pie. the whole experience was sort of like the tortilla soup–thick, creamy, delicious, not necessarily “pretty” (think, homestyle diner where no one is super concerned about interior decoration–at least not more recently than the 80’s) but definitely worth repeating.