My sister, Allison, and her husband stayed at our house on Friday night. As their Christmas present to us, they babysat LJ so that Kristian and I could have our first date night as parents. My suggestion of going upstairs to nap for a few hours was nixed, so we went to Tupelo.
Our family and Tupelo go way back. It all started when they catered our wedding. And then we went and had dinner with them the first time we toured the hospital where LJ was born. After I gave birth, my Dad’s GF brought me an order of jalapeno mac and cheese when she came to visit us on the maternity ward. Basically, they’re our go-to for special occasions. Partly out of sentimentality, partly because the food is just that good.
(It doesn’t hurt that so many people there know us, so we can pretty much always get a table).
The neighborhood where we live is a bit of a cultural wasteland. Malden itself has quite a few excellent ethnic restaurants, but none of them are within walking distance. And you can just forget about a local bar or coffee shop. Unless you want to count 17 Dunkin Donuts… which I don’t. Or the sketchy looking bar that our next-door neighbor warned us to stay the hell away from. Which… we are staying the hell away from.
Basically, we like our neighborhood a lot… but we don’t have a place where we could be considered regulars. So, we go to Tupelo. And we are always rewarded for our loyalty.
How nice is it to walk into a restaurant and be greeted with a hug from one of the waiters? (Answer: very). I caught him up on how LJ is doing, and we swapped pictures of our kids. I was informed that the photo that I use for my lock screen looks “like one of the photos that comes with a picture frame.” I can see it.
We ran into the owner, who’s a family friend. We caught up with her briefly, and she told us to make sure that we drop her name if we ever can’t get a table. Done!
We got a cozy little table for two, chowed down on some fried grits and toasted with beer (Kristian) and mulled wine (me). You know I ordered the entree that comes with a side of jalapeno mac and cheese (the best meatloaf EVAR). I was happy to discover that we have enough to talk about over the course of a leisurely dinner. I guess that’s an unintended benefit to going back to work. Extra conversation fodder.
We weren’t quite ready to go home after dinner, so we got all fancy and went to Target. There is nothing (nothing!) more romantic than picking out holiday M&Ms with your husband.
(Nothing!)
We got home on the early side, but I was missing my baby. I was also quite sleepy. This is the scene I was greeted with when I got home:
My sister rocked the both of them to sleep. If that’s not a successful evening of babysitting, I don’t know what is.
Because my parents have each been taking a day of daycare every week, I’ve been hesitant about asking them to babysit so that we can go out together. But, after remembering how nice it is to hold hands with my husband, I’m thinking that we need to go out together more often. We have quite a few people who’ve said they’d take LJ for an evening. I should probably take them up on their offers. Also, I’ve heard told the stories about people who will look after small children in exchange for paper currency. I should probably look into this.
