Thursday, July 28, 2011

Dinner With Muffin

Last night was night two of the kids being in Folsom with Grandma. The night before consisted of a romantic evening full of Kevin working on the garage renovations and playing X-Box and me cleaning the bathrooms and closets. Last night neither of us was totally into going out but we went out because we felt like we should; what a waste to stay home on a night where we have a free babysitter! So off to the Hibachi grill in Gonzales we went. It was my first time to any such place and I loved having an option right there in our little parish. The decor was perfect and when we walked in they asked the question we expected "Would you like to sit at the grill?" Why yes, of course we would! We were seated right and had an organized (American) waitress. There were other people there but they weren't right next to us. At first. We were there five minutes when the waitress asked a young lady if she would move to sit on the other side of her family, thereby freeing up two seats at our grill seating area. There went the single chair spacing between me and another person. Have I mentioned that I don't like to sit on top of other people while I'm eating? This applies to my own family, much less people I don't know. This was a test of my comfort level. Isn't one of the joys of having your kids gone being able to not have people in your space? Yet here came another couple and they were to sit next to me. They were very nice looking and smiled sweetly but didn't start talking like we were friends. We soon found out, however, that it was the man's birthday. He was embarrassed (as I believe all men are required to be per the Man Handbook) when his girlfriend pointed this out to the waitress and later the chef. It was a night of excitement... Kevin caught his flung vegetable perfectly but alas, I did not. Our chef was the perfect Oriental stereotype. I wonder if he REALLY talks like that or if he's out of some Hibachi training school? And who on earth decided making balloon animals for children with a hot grill in front of you was a GOOD idea? Also, how do you find people that can cook and make balloon animals? The sushi was great and the food was yummy. I learned how to make fried rice. Then it came time to sing happy birthday to the birthday boy. For the first time in my life I sang happy birthday to someone sitting a foot away from me and we got all the way to the "Happy Birthday, dear______" before I realized I had no clue what this man's name was. I knew he had gotten his girlfriend a dog (Chug- very cute) but not his name. You can't say "Happy birthday dear randommanatmytable" so we all paused. It turned out his name is Muffin. So happy birthday, dear Muffin! I did not expect to eat dinner with you but I am happy we got to help you celebrate your birthday. I will think about you as I eat my leftovers today. I hope that you get a lot of use out of your crown made out of a balloon.

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