Dinner With James

James and I went out to dinner at the Hog's Breath Cafe in the city, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. James had decided before we went that he didn't want to order of the kid's menu. He wanted to eat "grown-up food", so he got the rib and steak combo, which consisted of a small rack of baby back ribs and a sirloin steak plus sides. I nearly cracked up when the waitress asked him how he'd like his steak cooked, and he answered with "Crispy, please!"

He handled the steak well, but the ribs confused him. I showed him how to cut them to separate the ribs, and he had no problem, but after all the coaching from his mom about good table manners, he was a little freaked out when I told him to eat the ribs with his fingers. It took a half a second for him to get over that, and within minutes his fingers and most of his face was covered in BBQ sauce. Because that's how you eat ribs!

But enough about James. This blog is supposed to be about me, me, me. I had ribs with "cajun" rice, salad, curly fries, and three beers. Thanks to having a light breakfast (an apple) and a reasonably light lunch (turkey and ham sandwich and some rice crackers), plus a little activity (walked to the park down the street before lunch, and walked around the city with James both before and after dinner), I ended up okay for the day.

But far more important than the food was that James and I went out and had a good time hanging out together. He enjoyed the meal, was really proud of himself for eating "grown up food" and not ordering off the kid's menu, and he thought it was really cool to stay out late and walk around the city at night. Sometimes it's really hard to make your kids happy, and the harder you try, the more screwed-up it gets. This was not one of those times.