Outsmarted

Happy Mother's Day!  Today we ate lunch at McAlister's for the third week in a row.  Since learning that both ministers and children eat free on Sundays, we have been going there a lot!  And today mothers got a free dessert!  So our family (us plus Drew's parents and sister's family) ended up getting two free adult meals, three free kids meals, and three free desserts.  We (or Drew's dad) paid for four adult meals.  Pretty good deal!

All was well with Evangeline until she saw my mom's free cheesecake.  Without doubt, Ev's favorite food is cake.  She's never had cheesecake before, but it looked an awful lot like cake, and had the word cake in it, so she wanted some.  But, she wasn't done with her mac and cheese.  Unlike cousin Elizabeth, Evangeline rarely eats all her food. 

We told Evangeline that she could have a bite of cake when she ate some more of her mac and cheese.  And then the power struggle began.  For a good ten minutes the four of us (me, my mom, Drew's mom, and Kelly) held firm: no cake until a bite of mac and cheese. Ev cried.  Whined.  Pouted. Pushed away her bowl.

Then Drew came back to the table with a piece of cheesecake and immediately gave her a bite.  I was horrified!  Drew is more stubborn than Evangeline (and anyone else I know!) and he always wins the "finish eating this before that" battle at suppertime.  WHAT was he thinking?

After her first bite, Ev immediately wanted, "more, please."  Drew said, "take one bite of macaroni."  She quickly shoved some in her mouth.  Another bite of cheesecake.  Now, two bites of macaroni.  Before we knew it, half her mac and cheese was gone! 

So, who outsmarted whom?

Scratch Cracker Barrel off the list

Every Friday night we meet my parents for dinner.  It's really nice especially now that my dad is in Jackson during the week and we don't get to see him very much (though more than when we lived in Pearl River County).  Two weeks ago we went to Cracker Barrel and had a great time.  In and out no problems.  Tonight, not so much.  You know it's a pretty bad eating experience when you're at a restaurant for nearly two hours and still don't get a chance to eat!

First off, they told us it'd be a 10 minute wait.  Ten minutes turned into 35 before we got inside.  After we were seated and ordered our drinks (which took a good bit longer than usual) we waited and waited and waited.  We finally asked for some cornbread and biscuits because Evangeline was clearly getting hungry.  An hour after we first sat down we got all of our food (including the bread).  Evangeline scarffed a few bites down quickly then promptly started throwing up!  She has a problem where she throws up occasionally at meals and it is compounded by her eating quickly which she did tonight because it was 7:30 and we'd been there a long time!! 

Drew caught the puke and therefore lost any kind of appetite he may have had.  So, we loaded up into three to go boxes and headed out the door as quickly as we could.  Oh, and I asked for my tea to go and was told they didn't have any at the moment.  :( 

Drew said that we're running out of places that we can go eat in Meridian.  Pretty much La Pinata and Western Sizzlin are all that's left.

The only bright spot to the evening was that I randomly ran into one of my former co-workers from PRC, Martha Cox.  I had one those, "that really really looks like [Mrs. Cox]" moments and even texted Joni to ask her why Mrs. Cox would be in Meridian.  But, it definitely was her and we had a fun time catching up!  She asked if I was ever going to teach again and I said that I was planing on returning.  She was very encouraging and said that's where I need to be.  Those who know Mrs. Cox know that's a compliment.  She's one of the best teachers I know. 

Evangeline is happily eating the rest of her "bak bak" and "noodles" at home.  Maybe I'll eat after she goes to bed....

Baptist Casserole

There's a lot of things (and people) we miss about Henleyfield, but one of the things we miss the most is Ms. Betty Burks' "Award Winning" Baptist Casserole.  The "award" came at Drew's Top Chef themed 30th birthday for Best Entree.  He knew it was gonna be the winner before he ever put a bite in his mouth!  Baptist Casserole is Ms. Betty's staple dish at every NHSBC function and everyone loves it!  She was always sweet to make sure that I took Drew home the leftover casserole after Ladies Luncheon and it was a special treat for him.  It's been a good six months since he's had some, and when I mentioned possibly making it, he was more than excited.  He even set the meat out to thaw for me!  I put on Facebook that I was cooking it and got several inquiries as to what it was (though no one from New Henleyfield had to ask!).  So, I'm going to borrow from my friend Tammy's blog idea and post a recipe!  This will probably be the only time you get a recipe from me!

Baptist Casserole

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1 cup sour cream
8 oz mozzarella cheese
2 T butter
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1 roll crescent rolls

Brown meat and drain.  Add sauce.  Place in 9x13 pyrex.  Mix together sour cream and mozarella cheese.  Spread over meat and sauce mixture.  Top with crescent rolls.  Pour melted butter and Parm cheese on top.  Bake at 375 until bubbly.

Lessons learned from McDonald's

         Today was an interesting Sunday because we didn't have any plans after church for lunch.  Normally, we eat with Drew's parents, but they were out of town today.  So, we decided we would just go out to eat the four of us.  But, somewhere quick.

          Initially we planned on eating at McAlister's because kids can get free.  I went there Friday night with my parents and it was empty to the point of me wondering how they stayed in business.  Well, I guess they heavily rely on their Sunday church crowd because they were PACKED.  So packed, in fact, that upon pulling into the parking lot Drew announced "We're not eating here!"  Drew is not the kind of person who likes to wait for food.  So, we went across the street to the somewhat empty parking lot of Pizza Hut only to learn that they do not have their buffet on Sundays (which probably explains why they were empty- another man was leaving without eating there for the same reason as us!).  

           So, we decided to go to McDonald's.  We splurged and instead of ordering off the dollar menu, we decided to get combos!  Evangeline was thrilled to be able to play in their play area, even though she is way too young.  One sign says its for ages 3-12 and another for ages 4-12.  I think the point is: teenagers and adults stay out!  Poor Evangeline could only crawl around the bottom of the slide, but she had a good time while waiting on her daddy to bring her some "bak bak" (chicken nuggets) and french fries.  

           Drew and I each ordered the Angus Bacon and Cheeseburger combo.  Sounds yummy, right?  Yeah, not so much.  Drew ALMOST complained because his two pieces of bacon looked more like one piece but thought better of it, probably because he knew it'd do him no good.  Evangeline ate half a chicken nugget and most of the ice out of her cup. And, they ran out of ketchup.  I didn't know McDonald's could run out of ketchup.  I guess it could be worse. They could've run out of fries.  THAT would've been a disaster worth complaining about.  

           While watching Evangeline play I noticed two signs saying "Register for your child to win a FREE birthday party at McDonald's.  Drawing the 15th of every month!" Then it had a long list of things that went along with the party like 10 happy meals, a cake, a child's toy, etc.  Even though Evangeline's birthday isn't until January, I decided to register.  Drew asked, "Isn't she too young for a McDonald's party?" to which I pointed out that you are never too young for a free party, and he agreed.

           I went up to the cashier to ask about how to enter the drawing.  She had no clue, so she asked her manager, who looked confused and then said, "Oh, we aren't doing that.  You might as well take that sign down."  I returned to Drew slightly bummed, but mostly amused, and told him what she said.  Two minutes later the manager came in to rip the signs off of the wall.  As we left, I pointed out a third sign in front of the cash register.  Drew took it and handed it to the manager, smiling.  

            So, lessons learned at McDonald's today:

            Lesson #1: The McDouble on the dollar menu is just as good as the much more expensive Angus burger.

            Lesson #2: McDonald's can run out of ketchup packets.  When they do, they just run up to Piggly Wiggly and buy a thing of Heinz and give it to you in a little bowl. (Or, at least, this is what we assumed they did).

            Lesson #3: Don't trust every sign you see. 

            Lesson #4: Instead of a Happy Meal, next time we are just ordering Evangeline a cup of ice. 

            Lesson #5: Now we know why everyone was at McAlister's. 

Oh, and a shout out to our church member, David VanDoren, who is working on redoing all the cabinets at McDonald's.  They look GREAT!