Make It an Easy Night

I went out for dinner with my husband and our two kids last night. I had asked to go out because I wanted something easy. I didn’t have it in me to make dinner; I didn’t want to have to clear a place for us to eat (see my post about balanced meals!); and I didn’t want to have to think about what each person might eat.

After I made my way across town collecting everyone from various afternoon activities along the way, we made a decision about where to eat. We set off in search of food. Although we got a later start than I had hoped, given that both kids had homework left to do, it still seemed worth it.

We arrived in the neighborhood of the restaurant we had chosen and began trolling for parking. I was becoming quite grumpy and unpleasant.I was tired and hungry and the ease I had imagined would come with eating out was not proving to be the case. My mood began turning more foul by the minute. We eventually found a spot in a municipal lot a few blocks away from the restaurant we had chosen. We paid for parking and started walking. By this point I was surprised my family was still willing to eat with me. About halfway to the Thai restaurant we had chosen we walked by an Indian restaurant. We were all struck by the delicious smells wafting out to the sidewalk and decided to change our plans and go in. Ironically we had a) parked near another Indian restaurant we love and had chosen not to go there and b) were now eating at a restaurant which has its own free parking. We were seated instantly and were immediately pleased with our choice. The restaurant was nicely decorated and our seats near the window were quite comfortable. The waiter was kind and attentive. And the food was delicious! While it looked pretty rocky there for a bit, it turned out that my eat out plan was a success* after all.

*with apologies to my kids for the added stress of having to stay up late to get homework done and to my entire family for having to deal with Hungry Mom prior to the meal.