cheers

My in-laws visited this weekend, which is always fun. (Really.) They arrived on Friday afternoon after an 8-hour rain-filled drive so we kicked off the weekend with happy hour. Bug loves happy hour particularly because he gets to do ‘cheers’ with his sippy cup. He quickly picked it up last year while on vacation and some things just stick with a guy…we’re convinced he was the only kid raising his cup at snack time!

My theory when having company over for dinner is/always will be to get some liquor in them before they sit down and eat my cooking. Works every time—twice this weekend, in fact.

The weekend was low-key and relaxed but Saturday we opted to go out for breakfast. Dining out with Bug is always a bit of a nervous adventure and we don’t do it on a frequent basis for a couple of reasons:

1. He’s 2 ½ and often acts his age.

2. With his allergies I can’t safely order off the menu and don’t feel I can trust a server when I ask whether there are eggs or nuts in __________ (insert any menu item here). Plus, there’s a chance that if I were to order something, Bug’s food would be prepared on the same spot where the guy-sitting-at-booth-in-the-corner's eggs were just being scrambled. We're trying to avoid that happening again.

We take Bug's food with us when we go to a restaurant so I packed his (already made) bacon, (previously toasted) English muffin, yogurt and grapes and put them on plates at the restaurant. He loved it because his plate looked similar to what everyone else was eating...and, yes, we did cheers at breakfast, too.

After we left the restaurant, I took the opportunity to add another item to my list of reasons why we should move to the Boston area: the law that was passed this year to make restaurants safer for people with food allergies. Even though my list keeps growing, I think we're staying put but I'll keep trying. And if we do ever decide to move I'll raise my glass--maybe even at that bar where everybody knows your name.