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Monday, January 30, 2012

Mrs. Chatterbox's Guest Appearance


Mrs. Chatterbox here. Mr. Chatterbox is driving me crazy! You might think it’s because he’s pedantic, and lecture-y, etc. But, the truth is I enjoy that element of his personality. I think that’s what drew me to him at the tender age of 16!


Now, 43 years later, I think he feels guilty about how things turned out in our lives. You see, I was the one who wanted to be a writer. I even had a pen name prepared…Chris Barrett, one that I thought would escape discrimination against women. But, the Chatterbox feels that I sublimated my dreams so his could rise to the top. Maybe so. But my truth is that HE is my dream, as is our marriage, our life together, and our son. I never had the real courage it takes to put yourself out there, bear the slings and arrows (see, cliché) of criticism and continue to move my dream forward. I have sublimated nothing but have enjoyed his ride all along. But, enough about that gracious and giving crap I am selling you. What’s he driving me crazy about?


He wants me to be a guest blogger every now and then. He feels that there are some subjects out there that I feel a certain passion toward and that I should write about them. So, here goes:


Recently, we attended a dinner at a local restaurant with our “birthday club.” The birthday club consists of our best friends, their daughter and on occasion her boyfriend. We allow that each birthday person can pick the restaurant and we will all go merrily along and enjoy the food. This is correct, mostly. This time, it was bit of a bummer and it was chosen by our dear friends’ daughter.


Now, we support her choice completely…who are we to say that the birthday person should choose a cheaper place? No one really wants to go to Red Lobster, or Olive Garden and feel like a gourmand. And that brings you to one of my passions.


I consider myself to be a “foodie.” I like cooking shows, cookbooks, and blogs that deal with food. I like kitchen gadgets and Le Creuset and stuff like that. Mr. Chatterbox has seen to the purchase of quite a few of these objets d’art for me. This past Christmas saw me unwrapping several cookbooks from Mr. Chatterbox and CJ (our son). I happily peruse those cookbooks all the time.


This time the restaurant was a southern Italian restaurant, named after the chef’s grandmother with whom he had many happy food memories. He even wrote on the menu that he remembered many Sundays with his grandmother cooking and the family joined together for a meal. Lovely. I buy into that stuff all the time.


We really would have done better to go to the Olive Garden. The food was over hyped, pretentious and not what we all thought we were ordering. Our waitress was superb, chirping blithely about the great food and me teasing her about a gym membership coming with employment there. Once served, however, it was not really good. Oh it was foodie enough…garbanzo beans with a balsamic vinegar strewn over the beans, lots of garlic, lots of pretention. Mr. Chatterbox ordered the lamb ragout, only to receive a pasta dish with “lamb” flavoring, not the steaming chunks of lamb that he fantasizes about. I ordered two appetizers for dinner and was embarrassed to receive the cheese plate as my dinner that would have served five but mostly consisted of toasted bread and some tiny cheese hunks and that constant balsamic drippage.


I guess I am the pretentious one…I thought my foodie passion would carry us through a delightful evening. Wrong. It was very expensive, very drawn out and we had to park in a real sketchy part of town, right by a sad strip joint.


Olive Garden, anyone?

19 comments:

  1. Splendid idea...I shall look forward to reading your posts Mrs C.

    SP

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  2. Sorry your restaurant outing was a disappointment. If you like food and reading about it, Mrs. Chatterbox, you may want to check out my Sunday posts! I usually review a restaurant and include photos!

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  3. That's the joy of Birthday dinner, trying something you might not on your own. Sometimes good, sometimes not. Sorry.

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  4. Before I read this post, I would have sworn that the best place to find authentic cuisine was in the immediate vicinity of a strip club. Now I know better.

    You have a great writing style -- if your cooking is half as good as your writing, I can see why the Chatterbox is Chubby.

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  5. Very nice to hear what you have to say -- and good for Mr. Chatterbox for including you. It's so disappointing when a restaurant lets us down. My husband and I have experienced that for two years in a row -- on his birthday. I just hope this year I have more success ...

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  6. I started eating Mediterranean this weekend and loved it. Garbanzo beans are delicious when they are in the form of Falafel.

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  7. You're a great writer, Ms. C. Please commandeer the 'puter more often. My wife is a foodie, too, and I'll admit she's expanded my palate a considerably, for which I'm grateful. I even watch some of those cooking shows she watches out of the corner of my eye. Sorry your dinner was a bust, but, hey, it could have been a keeper. You just never know. Better luck next time. :)
    S

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  8. The food at the strip club was probably better and you get a show!

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  9. CJ... does that stand for Chatterbox Junior?
    I'm a bit of a foodie. I absolutely hate it when chain or franchise restaurant food surpasses local places run by families.

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  10. The way hubby chatters on about your cooking, you have a right to be miffed with that repast. Hey, while you're here, slip me your address. I can be at your house in time for dinner.

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  11. I LIKE Oliver Garden!

    But I love both your and your husband's writing. Please join us more often, Mrs. C.

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  12. Oh, i hate when what is supposed to be a great restaurant turns out lousy.

    Glad you agreed to guest post.

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  13. Well done, Mrs. Chatterbox. Never mind the guest posting. You need to start your own blog. :)

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  14. Urm, think I'll pass on Olive Garden, which city is it in, though, don't want to avoid the wrong one! :)

    I am pretty sceptical about any restaurant that is really expensive, actually. I suppose they are selling mainly dreams of being in grandmother's kitchen in rural Italy etc, so they had better deliver on the dreams at any rate. At least import a few authentic grannies to hobble around with the plates....

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  15. Well, he may be driving you crazy trying to get you to blog, but he's offering us a treat. May you cook up many a more blog post for us, whenever he can urge you into the kitchen.

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  16. Glad to hear from you Mrs. C. There's nothing wrong with having high expectations and then being disappointed. I like to pick the "seedy" looking places and having low expectations only to have those blasted out of the water!

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  17. Oh, I hate being disappointed by what I expect will be a really good meal, only to find that it was nothing special at all.

    Try again. :-) Different restaurant next!

    Pearl

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  18. Wow! Did that evening go downhill or what? A cheap strip joint in a bad part of town ... Holy Friojoles Batman! Well, hope things are better next time.

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  19. LOL funny! I like Mrs. Chatterbox! Being a foodie means you have high expectations of the eatable masterpieces that you create and that others create also. You EXPECT the best when you pay $$$$, you crave excellence so it can feed your soul...doesn't always happen, does it. I hate Olive Garden, and all those chainy restaurants, but if you just need consistency, they are the best to fill your stomach. Happy foodie Day! Laurel

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