I sent the text to my dear wife Karen at mid-afternoon, figuring she’d warm to my suggestion when she’d find a moment to peek at her iPhone 6 at her job at SMG.
How about keeping the meat loaf cooling an extra day in the fridge and taking a run out to celebrate Cinco de Mayo?
Text arrival tone.
Yes, dear.
Karen had a margarita on her mind, her text enthused.
Have I ever mentioned that our friend Lori has given my dear wife the nickname Margarita? No, not solely delicious drink directed, but also because Karen’s middle name happens to be the beautiful but apparently hard to remember Marietta.
But I digress.
She pulled into the driveway of our cherished Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, came in so we could retreat to the backyard for a few minutes of play with Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle, and freshened up so she could continue to be way overdressed compared to my shorts and T-shirt. I threw on a baseball cap to sharpen my look a tad.
Off we went three blocks to James Street and Chadwick’s.
Yes and yes.
Bartender Beth said hell, yes, she was ready to make a special margarita for Karen. Her pour from the bottle of Beringer’s Cabernet Sauvignon for me was pretty darn great as well.
Consider Margarita unwound.
It was a good call on my part, this trip to our local sports bar for Cinco de Mayo. The crowd was thin on a Tuesday around the start of the 7 p.m. games, but Billy the owner was manning the kitchen, and Beth was her fun and talkative self, and the couple sitting to our immediate left joined in the conversation, too.
Hot from Billy’s kitchen.
We eyed the bar food menu thoroughly before deciding on a share-’em combo of cheese quesadilla and sweet chili chicken wings. Our friend Michelle texted Karen that she was on her way to join us. Then her cousin Jason texted her that he was on his way to join us. That gave us two of the four founding Martins of the famed winter Martin Fest, we explained to Veronica and Dave as they smiled about that hootenany that runs in the downtown parking lot the same time as the official Syracuse Winter Fest. If they remember, I have a feeling they’ll show next February. Jason and Beth know each other, it turns out. Of course they do.
Click on any photo for a description. Click on the bottom right photo and hold for an enlarged slide show.
We were home in plenty of time to spend another couple of minutes in the backyard with Ellie B without worrying about disturbing Good Neighbor Tim and his Wonderful Wife Lorraine across the fence. I knew I was in Loud Mark Mode. Or maybe Karen had reminded me.
The meat loaf awaits a normal seis de Mayo Wednesday night.
Did you do anything to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, and if so, what? Do you appreciate a margarita, and if so, which is your favorite brand of tequilla? Which is your favorite photo, and why?
Mark Bialczak 
Yeah, that sounds like a yummy Cinco! 🙂
LikeLike
We had our good time, Rachel.
LikeLike
What a gorgeous middle name, Karen. I’ve never heard it before. Lovely. I mistakenly put a pork shoulder on the morning of cinco de mayo…so I stopped by the store on my way home and we had it on corn tortillas. A margarita for me, as well. Sounds like y’all had fun.
LikeLike
Good scrambling to make a Mayo out of the pork shoulder, Aud! I am impressed. I will pass your kind words regarding Marietta on to MDW Karen. 😉
LikeLike
The solo of Karen is my fave, as much as the one with Karen and the DC cherry blossoms! I’m more of a beer gal but I’ve become a margarita connoisseur since moving to the southwest, yum! I celebrate every May 5th as my son, John Paul’s, birthday ❤
LikeLike
Wow, Happy Birthday week JP! 🙂 Margarita fist bump.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Chadwicks…with a pool table in the back, right? Fun place! Looks like you guys made the right choice. 🙂
LikeLike
That’s it, Debbie. You remember. Great Tuesday night. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I pretend I’m a pool shark when I go in there. But I’m not. Then I’m embarrassed and have to leave.
LikeLike
It doesn’t seem to be too shark-infested these days. Maybe the billiards bunch has moved elsewhere, and you can be the queen of the green felt!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Did not celebrate……but did notice your DWK happens to keep looking younger. What the heck! 🙂 It must be the season, the drinks, or the happiness! 🙂 Cheers!
LikeLike
I think it’s all three for MDW Karen, MBC. Good photos for her, I agree 100 percent. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
p.s. love the title
LikeLike
Thank you, title queen. 😉
LikeLike
this looks like great, festive, fun, mark. mg was working so we celebrated with a sombrero wearing and card and corn cake mini-event at my house. i do love margaritas and most any food in the mexican family, and i prefer cuervo, though i can’t drink tequila alone anymore after a trip to mexico )
LikeLike
Wow, you crammed a lot of info into this comment, Beth. Sombrero wearing and corn cake. Margaritas and Cuervo and going to Mexico alone! That’s all quite exciting to me. 🙂
LikeLike
Glad you and Karen enjoyed Cinco de Mayo Mark!
We had way too much going on here to add on more activity; Alberta had a provincial election and the Progressive Conservatives lost their 44 years grip on our province. Also, our beloved Calgary Flames played the Anaheim Ducks on our home turf and won! They lost the first 2 games in Anaheim, so now they have to win 3 out of the next 4 – no pressure there! ❤
Diana xo
LikeLike
Root root root for the beloved Flames, Diana. I don’t know enough to speak of your politics, but my Islanders lost to the Capitals, so now I am free to root for your Calgary team. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh I’m sorry to hear that Mark, but we gladly accept you as an honourary Calgarian! 😀
LikeLike
Your wife is gorgeous!!
LikeLike
I did good, right, Nancy? Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looks like you guys had an awesome time. 😀
LikeLike
Yes, it was fun. I hope you had a good day as well, Teela.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was a good day Mark. Thank you.
LikeLike
Love the photo of “Margarita” with her Margarita. Lately I’ve seen folks order the overturned Corona bottle inside the goldfish bowl-sized Margarita. I’d pass on that one. Looks like a good time up North.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wouldn’t put a beer inside a mixed drink, Kerbey. Spoil them both! But that’s just me. Yes, Margarita was surely a queen for the evening with her namesake drink. Good cinco. Now she’ll go back to her usual beer, I am pretty sure, a fruity drink once in a while to change things up. 🙂 Yes, up North it was good.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Karen with her blue dressy blouse on made me smile back at her photo. That was my fave! I also enjoyed a taco salad and a strawberry margarita. I considered for a little bit, getting one of the cervezas with the cute printed ponchos on them. I asked a guy if he would let me have his ‘beer’ poncho. I brought it home and also, want to tell you I was given a necklace, which reminded me of Mardi Gras. I met one of my coworkers from work, (female, shucks!)
LikeLike
Well good for you celebraing with cerveza. Look at you talking a man out of his been poncho, Robin. Sly devil. 😉 Necklace, too. You made the most of your Cinco de Mayo. Hooray!
LikeLike
I just love tequila! Love tequila! Mmm, tequila! Yes, I will drink lots of margaritas this summer, usually on Fridays. No, we don’t do anything for Cinco de Mayo, but we do our local Mexican place most Fridays.
Is your wife even prettier with a margarita in hand, or is that just me?
LikeLike
She was aglow with her namesake drink in that hand, indeed she was, Joey. I think your summer Friday plans are pretty darn unbeatable, by the way. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks — all through the fall and spring semester, The Mister is in school (on top of work) so he gets his cerveza on Fridays, and I drive, but in the summer, I am with the children, and I get the tequila 😛
LikeLike
You have the best master plan, Joey. Safe and sound and happy.
LikeLike
What fun! I forgot all about the 5th until later last evening! Glad you had a good time. ❤
LikeLike
It was needed, Colleen. 🙂 Thanks. I hope you and Ron raised a toast after you remembered. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Tonight. But, that works! 😆
LikeLike
had to look this up – so mexico beat france – I never knew that!
LikeLike
And the celebrate all around North America. We don’t need much of a reason, Rachel.
LikeLike
Our next almost national celebration is The Eurovision Song Contest! And today we went to the Polls.
LikeLike
I remember the Eurovision Song Contest from your posts last year, Rachel! Hooray!! And the polls are always eventful, yes?
LikeLike
The polls will prove to be eventful! Your memory is excellent! This year we have a new country taking part in the contest- take a guess at which it is?
LikeLike
Mark, you and Karen are just the sort of people we love meeting at the bar – fun and talkative! We went to Ruby Tuesday for dinner, sat at the bar and split appetizers in lieu of entrees. I drank a Penfold’s Shiraz, and my husband had a few Blue Moons. We managed to engage a few other patrons in a game of Trivial Pursuit since we’d brought along the cards (only) from the ’60s edition. Glad you had a fun Cinco de Mayo!
LikeLike
That’s a great idea, Kate, bringing along the TP cards to stir the conversational pot. Way to enliven you Cinco de Mayo. Karen and I are Ruby Tuesday fans, too, by the way. Reasonable prices, nice atmosphere. Good drink choices, my friend. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I did not celebrate Cinco De Mayo this year. Life gets in the way of living sometimes. I’m not much for drinking mixed drinks and tend to prefer my liquor neat. I don’t drink enough tequila to really have a favorite although I suppose Jose is the one I’m most familiar with. When I’m out I’m more likely to choose whiskey than a mixed drink.
LikeLike
Here’s to neat whiskey, alady. Cheers to you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, Mark, Cinco de Mayo celebrations in Syracuse! Times have sure changed since I was last there. We, here in LA, could go to Olvera Street, but typically don’t. I applaud Karen’s margarita. Cheers to you and Salt City!!
LikeLike
Cheers back to LA, bethbyrnes. It wasn’t exactly citywide wee-ha here in the ‘Cuse. But we did our best on James Street. I didn’t know you had a Salt City past, by the way. Cheers. FYI, Karen is an LA Woman.
LikeLike
Oops, did I miss Cinco de Mayo again? I am sure there will be lots of celebrations going on in downtown Los Angeles this weekend but I have other plans. ¡Salud!
LikeLike
And to you, too, Ros!
LikeLike
Oh man! I would have joined you guys in an instant! Mr. B had a night meeting so I ate my chicken burrito and drank my wine in the comfort of my couch all by my lonesome! We did have a wild weekend though, so I guess it was okay to stay put. 🙂
LikeLike
I would have invited you if I’d known, Mrs. B. Sent the limo!! 😉 Now I must go see if you wrote about the wild weekend. ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
As a matter of fact, I did. 🙂
LikeLike
Glad you celebrated, because all we did was go to Denny’s for breakfast. Oh, wait, we did go to our $5 movie, that was fun.
LikeLike
Now I’d say a $5 movie on Cinco de Mayo is pretty perfect, Dora. 🙂
LikeLike
Margarita or meatloaf sounds like a no brainer to me. Plus meatloaf is usually better the next day anyway after all the flavors get to intertwine.
LikeLike
Yes, meatloaf is good left over, Gary, but I always eat it all the first night. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, not really big on the Cinco de Mayo although it is my cousin’s birthday. Sounds like a fun one for you though. I like the pic of Karen and friend and other friend (and by that I mean the Margarita). My friend had a baby and actually named her Margarita, not Marietta, but Margarita, full on. Interesting choice.
LikeLike
I like the name, Marietta and Margarita, both. Make that three, Marissa, too. Three M’s in Mayo. Happy birthday to your cousin. 🙂
LikeLike
As I’m reading this, I just realize that my cousin’s name is Margueritte! Yes, they are musical names, and thank you Mark!
LikeLike
🙂 Music to my ears, Marissa.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Karen is a beautiful lady. Looks like a fun evening was had by all.
LikeLike
Thanks, CM. Some would say I married up. 😉 We had a great Cinco de Mayo.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like a good time. 🙂
LikeLike
You betcha, mx4!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Chicken wings look good. The ones around here are all overpriced and undercooked. Every time you show food, I miss CNY. Please don’t take any delicious pictures of pizza.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The first thing Billy told us when I said I was going to order food was: Don’t order pizza, my pizza oven is not working. You lucked out here, Scott. Chadwick’s makes good pie for a bar.
LikeLike
I didn’t do anything special for Cinco de Mayo – just some house cleaning. 🙂 I like the first picture of the two drinks mark – very classy.
LikeLike
Thanks, Paul. I like to catch the drinks before they are drank. Drinked. Drunk. Drunken. Sipped by my dear wife Karen and I.
LikeLike
This Cinco de Mayo I celebrated by coming home from the hospital. Today, I celebrate Seis De Mayo by reading your post, Mark. Please don’t loudly ask me to choose my favorite photo, Mark; I love all of them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love your recuperative powers, I state loudly, Ann. Amazing what modern medicine did for my friend. That was a great Cinco de Mayo in Boston.
LikeLike
Well, do I really have to say that my favorite photo is of dear wife Karen Margarita holding up her drink? She is so pretty!! And I love, love, love your blog title. Quite clever, you are, Senor B.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you, Barbara. And I pulled that title out after several glasses of wine for the Cinco. Oy. Not quite the drinker I used to be, the more Senor this B gets.
Yes, my dear wife Karen is lovely in her Margarita state. Thanks for noticing. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Definitely beats meatloaf! Although I am sure the meatloaf will be delicious! Lol
LikeLike
The meat loaf will be darn good tonight, dray. I am happy to eat anything my dear wife Karen prepares, really.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Smart man and correct answer! Lol
LikeLike