yummy to my tummy

Last night was Anna's last night in town till Wednesday. She'll be in Portland, Oregon at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting, presenting the research she participated in over the summer. She'll have five days of guided hikes, geological presentations, rooming with up to 4 other interested persons depending on the day, etc. So...

We decided to take the family out for dinner!

Originally the plan was to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings because I have a coupon for 6 free wings, but the Dodger game was last night as well. I called the restaurant to see how busy they were, and they were slammed. It would be at least an hour wait from the time we got there. Darn.

Earlier in the day, I needed to get gas in the van. I like to gas up at Sam's Club because it's usually cheapest there, and right next to it is a BJ's restaurant. Duncan had mentioned he remembered eating there, and why haven't we eaten there for a long time. So when we were considering an option B, I tossed out the BJ's idea. That was fine with Anna, so we loaded up the van with the kids and headed out.

Side note: I had a headache earlier in the afternoon that turned into a borderline migraine by early evening. I took pills a little too late, and the pain was ahead of the relief. Luckily it kicked in by the time we were at the restaurant.

We weren't sure what would be safe for the boys there other than we knew the fries weren't ok (Anna called ahead to ask if the oil used to cook the fries was also used to cook breaded items, and it is). So we stopped at the In-N-Out in the near by area for fries and hamburger patties (we had our own buns) for the boys. The girls shared an order of mini burgers from the kid's menu.

Anna continues to maintain her dieting efforts, and ordered a dinner salad that she said was pretty good. It was pretty big too. I continued my unofficial quest to find another New York Strip steak as good as the one I had at Texas Roadhouse in Arizona, by ordering the one on the menu at BJ's. It came with a huge baked potato. I remember having a steak the very first time Anna and I ever ate at BJ's years ago, and I remember it being quite good. Since then, every other subsequent time, we've been unimpressed... BUT, the New York was excellent! Great flavor, very juicy and tender. It was a joy to eat. That, with the baked potato and green salad was darn well close to a perfect meal. I washed it all down with a BJ's root beer and topped it all off with a root beer float to go. (After typing that all up, I'm ready for more.)

Funny story about the root beer float... It was pretty much determined that we wouldn't get a dessert because the boy's wouldn't be able to have any. As we completed our meal, I wondered out loud if they did root beer floats to-go. We shrugged. When the server came around to ask about dessert, Anna said no, and the server left to put our bill together. I didn't even get to ask about a to-go float. Anna's reply was something like, "Oh yeah, I forgot. Sorry." A couple minutes later, the boys needed to use the restroom, so I got up to take them. Our server was a couple tables over, and as I walked by, I asked about the float to-go. He said they do, so I said I'd like to order one. Our trip to the restroom was successful. Upon our return to the table, I can see that there is no float waiting for me yet, but that's ok. I sit down, and Anna's smiling at me with a "you're so busted" smirk, and says, "Uh-huh... root beer float huh?" I smiled back. Turns out that the server walked by our table after I mentioned the float, and Anna flagged him over to order a float for me as a surprise, and he said I already asked for one. I guess I foiled her plans. I stole her chance to do something nice for me. I said I'm too used to having to do nice things for myself; She better start upping her game. We had a good chuckle over it.

It was a good dinner. The kids were behaved, the food was delicious, and we shared a laugh.