On the Border

Perhaps it's the fact that we both briefly resided in the Lone Star State that necessitates our affinity for Tex Mex. Regardless, Courtney and I have a specific place in a particular physical part of our hearts (the part that is actually our stomachs) for a great chain restaurant, On the Border.

My relationship with On the Border began to develop when my family moved to Charlotte, NC. (Wait, Sam -- is this another blast from your past?!? OMG.) There was an On the Border in a cute little shopping center (now a cute big shopping center) that was just close enough to our house to say almost audibly to my mother, "Mrs. Sayson, wouldn't you rather come here for dinner than pull something out of the freezer to slave over later? It's not even that expensive. I mean, come on, there isn't usually a line or anything. And your family likes it so much. Especially your daughter Samantha. Well actually she might be the only one of you who really likes it all that much, but she doesn't really mind that other people don't like it, so just go for it!" Easy.

And so it became a sort of family tradition that any time it was Samantha's turn to pick where we went to dinner or lunch or After-school Snack at a Restaurant, we went to On the Border. This became an increasingly frequent happening when we discovered the delicious bowl of yellow queso (see picture) that we could eat as an appetizer. Made those delicious Chips Made Of Half A Corn Tortilla Each taste oh so much better.

When Courtney and I moved to San Jose, we soon discovered that there is an On the Border about twelve minutes from our apartment. We immediately discovered our common love for the restaurant and resolved to go as soon as we received our first paychecks. When I was in college, I developed some severe cravings for and withdraw from On the Border because there wasn't really an accessible location (probably having something to do with the fact that OTB is a chain restaurant and I went to Berkeley...). My craving returned and persisted during that first month (two weeks, really) of teaching. As if the pride of getting my first paycheck wasn't enough, I am confident that we could not have celebrated more appropriately than that first roommate trip to On the Border.

We now frequent OTB on a weekly basis. We even have a movable post-it for our wall-sized calendar that we move to our next scheduled lunch date (Hot pink means "Roomie fun.").
We have our (usually Sunday afternoon) routine of arriving, making jokes about the awkward attempt at ambiance created by the Latino music being blasted by decorative rock-stereos as we walk to the door, commenting as we walk in that we should not have left our diamond rings and big screen TVs out in the open in our unlocked car in the parking lot (again, joke.), ordering strawberry margaritas & queso & tortillas while we peruse the menus and pretend that we don't already know what we want, eat, gossip, play Shoot Screw or Marry, make fun of the waiters and sometimes the other diners, fight over the bill, then drive home with our leftovers. All the while, the OTB employees are probably making fun of us for being "regulars." Today, we were especially suspicious of the employees laughing a little too much to our faces.

Courtney left an especially adorable note on my take-out box which could not be shared in a more appropriate place than this blog:

Sam Says...
"You know what they say... [hindsight's 20/20]"
"RELAX!"
"People always leave."
(and my personal favorite...)
"I know, we've already met."