A Night Out

The fam and I headed out for a nice night out this evening before I head back to work. Well, if you consider pizza and Chuck E. Cheese a “night out”. Of course we hate the Chuckster’s pizza. We opted instead to hit up Dewey’s first. Where I swear you can find perfect pizza. Both babies behaved themselves. John insisted on letting Zach try a hint of lemon, though I tried to tell him that the citrus was too acidic for Zach. Well, I’m wondering now if babies can taste sour, because Zach wanted to eat the lemon wedge instead of making the requisite funny face and turning away. I know they can’t taste salt before a certain age, so who knows.

And then we headed to B&N, where I picked up a complete anthology of Jane Austen. It makes me feel dirty to buy her books in such a way, but I cannot wait to get lost in the vastness of all of it in one book. Now I have to make the confession that I have never read Jane Austen. Not Pride and Prejudice. Not Emma. Not  Persuasion. I know it’s awful. But I am going to fix it all starting tonight. But at least I didn’t just watch the movies and pretend I know all about her works. I never even watched the movies. That would’ve been even sluttier than cheating and buying all of her books under one cover.

And then we went to see Chuck. What more torturous experience than to hear Justin Bieber songs piped over a PA in the voice of a mouse? But Zach looked on from his stroller while Evan and John played. I did find the coolest arcade game EVER in the form of the giant Operation. Evan spent $25 in tokens to win a whopping $3 worth of prizes, but the point is to have fun and he did. I can only take that place in small doses and today was just right because hardly anyone was there. Code for not many screaming children, no long lines, and no worries that I am going to turn my head and Evan was going to go missing or something equally terrifying. Actually, the last time we were there, there was this really creepy guy sitting in a booth by himself, watching all of the kids play. Who goes there without a kid???? And so we haven’t been there in some time since then. But no Chester the Molester tonight.

So now Zach, exhausted by the stimulation of the evening, has gone to sleep before we even had a chance to fully clothe him in pj’s. Poor kid is just in his onesie. Evan is finishing up his homework and will soon be heading to a niv=ce bath and bed. John, though he doesn’t know it yet, is going to serve me a bowl of ice cream and brew me some coffee while I dive into my foot-thick book. And I may just get a back rub while I read. Life really can be good.

How's That Burger, Ev?

It's been a food revolution in our house since the first of the year. John and I are trying to live a more healthful lifestyle, and with that comes diet changes. Of course this was all fueled by my desire to feed Zachy the most wholesome, nutritious way possible. Which got me thinking about what Evan eats. And ultimately what we grown-ups eat as well. My father-in-law has a girlfriend we really like, and she has become a vegetarian. Hearing the impact this has had on her also served as inspiration. Although John and I are too carnivorous to take that plunge just yet, we have decided to skip the red meat as much as possible. And so I--dunh dunh duuuuuunh--bought ground turkey instead of ground beef at the grocery store.

So tonight, John and I worked together to prepare a meal of which I was rather proud. I took the ground turkey and mushed it up with some diced onion, garlic, and a little pepper and made turkey burgers. Served on whole wheat buns, of course. For side dishes, we had fresh corn and fresh green beans. I was amazed at myself. It was all delicious, though the beans.....Well, the beans had a different texture than the sodium-laden, butter-drenched canned ones I normally eat. I liked them, but it will take some getting used to. The burgers were actually really good. Yay, us!

So I hand Evan his plate, fully expecting a meltdown. The brown-ness of the wheat bun alone was enough to induce panic in my eldest child. I mean, we feed him wheat bread, but have to buy the white wheat to trick him. This bun was unabashedly wholesome-looking. And he has been in fear of the ground turkey since I bought it. And then the beans? O.M.G. But I was pleasantly surprised. He picked up the burger and took a bite. Ha. Hahahahaha. It went like this:
"How's that burger, Ev?"
"MMMMMMMM. It's gooooo-ood!"
"Well guess what! It's turkey!"

He started crying. He actually started crying. Suddenly the "Gooooooo-ood" burger was disgusting, vile, the nastiest thing I could possibly have given him to eat. He gagged himself. He started to throw a tantrum. And when I calmly told him that he didn't have to eat it, but that it was dinner for the night and I would not be cooking anything else, I thought he was going to die. Bu then something happened once John and I made it a non-issue. We looked away, and he cleaned his plate. And then asked for seconds. Hmmmmm.

So while all of our palates will have to adjust to the changes we have made, it is now something I think we can do.