two hour dinners

Saturday night my brother-in-law and his wife offered to watch our 3 kiddos. It was very much out of the blue and DH and I jumped on it. So it was arranged, we left their home at 7 o'clock that night feeling light and free.

We went to a Moroccan restaurant in their neighborhood that was very quaint and slow paced and delicious. It was such a treat to have an uninterrupted conversation with each other, and to eat our food at the proper temperatures. They served us Moroccan Mint Tea all night and it was so tasty. The dessert was simple slices of oranges with rose water, cinnamon and poppy seeds with a little whipped cream on the side. So yummy! The tables were all private, with curtains on all corners, so you didn't see any other patrons. We thoroughly enjoyed our four course meal, splitting each course, and feeling perfectly satisfied when we left. A two hour dinner that was filled with conversation and laughter.

Unfortunately, the Tea was black tea and therefore contained caffeine and I was up all night. I watched many reruns of "Mad About You" and caught up on some "MASH". I finally crawled into bed at 5 a.m., ready to sleep. My whole Sunday was zombie like.

Now let me tell you about the two hour dinner that took place tonight. We were gathering at a good Italian restaurant with DH's family to celebrate one of his brothers, who turned 50. There were only about 25 of us and it was a mix of small children and old folks. After an hour, we were served food. Meanwhile, Fefe would not leave my lap and had several near misses of spilling ice cold water all over me. Kiddo and Spikey were poking and punching at each other and repeating each other and really just aiming to drive me insane. Please remember, I've only had about 3 hours of sleep...It was so loud, we were shouting to talk to DH's poor parents who were sitting next to us, down on the end, surrounded by other children. It was nice to see Nick, (the birthday boy) and he was very gracious and thankful for everyone showing up, but at the end of the two hour ordeal, I needed a glass of wine and an aspirin. Too bad I could have neither.

And that is two very different dinners with my DH this weekend.