The Friday Five, 11/17/23: 5 things I've been up to this week

This week has been busy: we were in Houston from Saturday to Tuesday, which was a lot of fun except for a bit of rain, and I've had events and other things all week as well. Tonight I think we are just going to take it easy, since yesterday we went to Detroit for an event.

Christmas tree at the Fisher Theatre
Christmas tree at the Fisher Theatre

What I've been up to this week:
  1. Houston. We were there Saturday to Tuesday but managed to squeeze in a good amount of sightseeing. On Saturday, we had dinner with a friend of my fiance, and then on Sunday the three of us went to the Texas Renaissance Festival together—check back next week for a dedicated blog post on that. On Monday, it was raining so we ended up at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and had dinner at Taste of Texas, a fabulous steak place, and then on Tuesday, I got to check out a Buc-ee's for the first time, and then we headed back to Michigan. 
  2. Seeing Mrs. Doubtfire at the Fisher. I had high expectations for this, because Mrs. Doubtfire is one of my favorite movies, but they did a great job updating it for 2023. It will be at the Fisher until November 26, and you can find out more at my blog post here.
  3. Yelp event at Two James, Detroit. Last night we headed to Two James Distillery for a Yelp event, which paired Dwaar Chocolate bars, out of Keego Harbor, with Two James liquors. I hadn't been to an in-person Yelp event since January or February, at Portillo's, and it was nice to see a lot of familiar faces. The liquors were good too, especially with the chocolate, and we also got a baking kit to take home from a bakery in Southfield, which I have been to another time for a Yelp pick-up event. 
  4. Seeing movies. Last Friday I saw Priscilla at the theater, and liked it a lot; I'd probably give it 4/5 stars. I will say I liked Elvis, with Austin Butler, better, but this one of course focuses on Mrs. Presley, although The King does play a big part in it and in her story. On the plane rides this week, I watched Jules, with Ben Kingsley, which was a weird movie but memorable—I'd give it 3.5/5 stars—and then Blackberry, which I thought was interesting. AMC is releasing Blackberry as a three-part limited series this week, apparently, and added 15 minutes of scenes to it, so I may have to rewatch it, too. 
  5. Eating good food. Taste of Texas was probably my favorite Houston place—they're unique in that you can pick your own steak, and then they put a tag in it so you know it's yours when it cooks (see pic below). They're also great for special occasions—both this year and last year we went for our dating anniversary, and they will take your picture and give you a printout of it along with a nice card. Other meals on the trip included a ginormous corn dog at RenFest (seriously; about two feet long, we split it and could not finish it ...), breakfast at Whataburger (I love the honey butter chicken sandwich), and a few others. 
6-oz. filet with truffle butter, and Brussels sprouts, at Taste of Texas, Houston
6-oz. filet with truffle butter, and Brussels sprouts, at Taste of Texas, Houston

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