Fine Dining

Today at lunch, Luke told me that his lunch was making him feel good, and that it was also making him happy. This was a nice departure from yesterday's lunch, when I made him an adorable ham and cheese plate, with the cheese cubes in a checkerboard pattern, and he told me, "That's cute, but I really wanted cheese triangles." After he polished off a popsicle for dessert, he said, "Momma, tonight you should make the BESSSSSST DINNER EVERRRRRR!" The pressure was on.

Around 5:00, I started gathering the ingredients for meatloaf. As it turned out, I only had about half of what I needed. I don't know about you, but when it comes to ground beef, I don't like to improvise. And since I had been challenged to come up with the "BESSSSSST DINNER EVERRRRRR", I was apprehensive to leave it to chance, so we decided to go out.

Luke made some guidelines before we chose a place. He requested that we eat at a place that had a booster seat for him to sit on and water to drink. It seemed reasonable enough. Joe's request was that we not drive far. This would limit our options, as this is small-town Mississippi, and the base is not exactly located in the heartbeat of the town. You'll see. I looked at the gang and requested that we not go anywhere nice because we were not exactly dressed for success. Joe was wearing a t-shirt boasting his membership in the 200-mile club of Balad, Iraq, which he earned by running 200 miles during one of his deployments. Luke, handicapped by male color-coordination blindness, was wearing a lime green shirt and olive green shorts. Oh heck, since I'm among friends, I don't mind admitting that this shirt is a pajama shirt...and he'd been wearing it since bedtime last night. George was in a white onesie, dingy from a day of scooting around the floor that I have yet to vacuum since moving in last week. Also, he had remnants of lunch on his face. As for me, I had a chip in my toenail polish. What, you think I'm going to really criticize the way I looked?

We drove off base, planning to go to The Little Kitchen, which is right outside the gate. The Little Kitchen is a greasy spoon kind of restaurant. It happens to be located in a doublewide trailer, with a singlewide trailer annexed off the side. They are known for their breakfast platters and for the Chinese food they make later in the day. I know, it doesn't make sense! Sadly, The Little Kitchen closes at 5:00, so it was a no-go.

We passed up on a pizza place located in an ancient gas station to get barbecue at a place a little further down the road. This barbecue place is located in a small clearing in the woods and operates out of a shed. You heard me right, a shed. This shed sits right next to a charred foundation of another shed--the one they used to operate out of until it burned down...when we lived here six years ago.

As we pulled up, I asked Joe if we could just get it to go. They have two picnic tables outside, but I didn't want to eat there. Trust me, I had my reasons, but let's just say that it was because they didn't have Luke's booster seat.

Joe came back out a few minutes later bearing dinner (and Luke's bottle of water), and we headed off to the base park to have a picnic. "Thank you for understanding about my not wanting to eat there," I said. "No problem," he replied. I explained further, "It's just that I think we were overdressed."

The barbecue was delicious.