Guess Who's Coming For Dinner?

We had dinner at friends' house tonight. An enlightening experience! There are two things in particular that make me say this.

One is the fact that the entire meal consisted of items my kids normally will not touch with a ten-foot pole (onions, green peppers, tomatoes, rice and salad) and yet they went back for seconds, thirds, fourths.... And as they practically shoveled the food into their faces they exclaimed things like, "this tastes like Heaven!" and, "sorry Mom, but this is really awesome"-- as though apologizing for the fact that they hate everything I serve them (not far from the truth, actually) and wish they could just eat at this family's house forever and ever. (Oh, if wishes could come true....) How did my friend do it? I am speechless and in awe. And needless to say, I asked for the recipe.

The second thing I noticed is that my family of four eats more like a family of 8. I always feel bad for people who are lulled into thinking that they have invited a group of manageable size over to share a meal. FYI, we will eat all your food. And when we are through, we will ask if you have anything else you could possibly feed us 'cause, um, we're still hungry. So you will have to bring out the box of crackers you were saving for the big game Sunday night, and dig in the refrigerator for some cheese to go with it. And, do you happen to have any sliced turkey as well? We like to make cracker sandwiches. Thanks.

In fact, it was hubby who went over to the stove and picked up the pan of food and said, "can I just finish this off?" Yes, darling, I'm sure nobody else wanted it anyway. Oi....

On a positive note, since the kiddos enjoyed dinner so much we didn't have to endure any embarrassing commentary from my...too-honest little boy. That would have been a whole other post in and of itself. But thankfully this family knows us well-- and happens to like us regardless. Even if we try to eat them out of house and home within the span of dinnertime.