smothered in love

Tonight my absolutely amazing, handsome, talented, smart, funny, irreplaceable husband had an idea. You may be thinking: Wow, I bet this guy had a great idea! Well, all of you are sooo smart, also. It was a great idea. It was a fabulous idea. You see, today I did what any anal retentive, always have to do everything herself, self proclaimed martyr hostess does the day before Thanksgiving. I cooked ALL DAY LONG. And I wouldn't have had it any other way. I love to be the hostess and cook. I don't really care about decorating the house, which is weird, they usually go hand in hand. Oh, but cook. I am a slave to my stove.

Now, as you know, all serious chefs are tyrants in the kitchen. My prep cooks have felt my sting today. They have taken it in stride, even when I decided that we had to abandon the edible turkey place cards because they just looked to untidy at the hands of the 6 year old artist. Yes, holidays really are about me, not the children. They are just along for their ride. And to be scullery maids. No, I am kidding. I had a pecan pie made by Ella. A pumpkin pie by Harrison. Rachel made the cranberry sauce. Molly cubed the bread for the stuffing. Rachel cubed the cornbread. Ella and Molly peeled the potatoes for the mashed potatoes. Ella also made the sweet potato casserole.

hey wait, I think all I did was brine the turkey. And clean out places in the fridge for the stuff. Oh wait! I made the mashed potatoes. I don't even like mashed potatoes. tomorrow I will be the only chef, except for the corn casserole that I am leaving to Lucy.

Uh Oh, William didn't cook anything. But, he did clean the bathroom. I am sure we can put him on eating duty tomorrow and he will do just fine. I would say I would put him on clean up, but I *gulp* bought *gulp* paper plates! I know! i don't do paper plates! And I have done them twice in a month. I also did them for a baby shower in the beginning of November. I am not sure what this means. Next thing you know I will be throwing water bottles away like they are disposable. Or not reusing my plastic silverware. I shudder to think of the financial and environmental consequences of my wanton actions. I am living on the edge, baby.

So anyway, my point was to share with you my husband's great idea. Since I was busy cooking, he thought it would be fun to go out to eat for dinner. SMART MAN! We have this tricky thing we do. Applebees has happy hour from 3 until 7 Monday thru Thursday. Appetizers are half price. We go and only order appetizers. Yummy and economical. We ordered 8 appetizers and one regular meal that was around $12. ( a little blonde moment on Lucy and Rachel's part. Apparently we needed to explain a little more to them how a restaurant menu works, i.e. the appetizers are the items listed under the section marked "appetizers". We will work on that skill next time, baby steps, you know.) Anyway, we ordered all that and it was $38 before tax. Pretty cool, huh? Tuesday nights kids eat free, also.

So William decided to order the Nachos Huevos. I think that is what it was called, the name isn't as important as the ingredients. Here was the description:

Tortilla chips smothered in love

Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but we were pretty darn curious what love tasted like. so when the waitress came to take our order, William asked," What exactly is on the nachos?"

Her response,"Ground beef, beans, cheese sauce, jalapenos, tomatoes, lettuce, and sour cream."

Wow, Adrian was so excited. So many deep questions answered in one trip to Applebees. Love tastes just like a taco salad.

Any more questions? Just ask the Applebees Oracles. They pretend to be a copywriter in their menu department!