v-day, wan-style

i had yesterday off for president's day and completely forgot that it was monday. haha! i totally forgot to blog. oh, well.

the wans had a very, very low-key valentine's weekend.

the teen was at her dad's, even though she'd just been there the previous weekend - i think she needed a break from us. ha! s'okay, though. i'm just glad that she's getting to spend some quality time with him when she's there now, and actually enjoying herself.

on friday, we just hung out at home, eating subway sandwiches ($5 footlongs, yo!) that i'd even had a gift card for. free dinner! love that. and then the ILs came over and we sat and watched the opening ceremony of the olympics together. but of course, i fell asleep before the cauldron(s) were lit - why is it that shit is happening in our own damn time zone, and we still get stuck having to watch a recorded version, hours after everyone else? it's so stupid. it's not like they never show anything in real time, like the academy awards. gah.

i spent saturday hanging out with the bean at home and sneaking in a sewing project while she napped (more on that tomorrow). the hub was off bonding with his dad and brother wan at the shooting range, doing the macho-man thing, and when they were done we all piled into the ILs' tahoe and headed out to pasadena for dinner. this is where we went:

muahahahaha! while i'd been off at a junior league meeting during the week, the hub and the girls had gone to roscoe's for dinner. i was so stinking jealous, having eaten pizza and salad at the meeting. and then when he was telling his folks about it, who'd never even heard of the place, he decided to enlighten them further, and that's how we ended up at the house of chicken & waffles.

the bean was pretty excited.

brother wan and i both drooled over the sight of this drink on a passing tray, and flipped through the menu to figure out what it was. it's a "sunset" - freshly squeezed lemonade topped with colorful, sweet fruit punch. so yum.

i'd strayed away from my usual #9 (yes, i have a "usual" - wings and a waffle, the "country boy"), having skipped lunch and suffering from growling tummy-itis. i decided to go big (explaining my gluttony by saying i'd share it with the bean) and had the #1: 1/4 of a fried chicken and two delicious waffles. oh, yeah.

random: so, know what's funnier than the bean saying her version of "fire truck"? when she tries to say "dump truck." OMG, i've gotta get that on video. i thought i was going to explode with laughter when she said it, as the hub just shook his head in disapproval.

back to the food: roscoe's macaroni & cheese is really, really delicious. so delicious that we ordered 3 bowls of the stuff:

and when we were stuffed silly, even brother wan had leftovers. i laughed as he marked his container, which would normally be easy prey for his roommates. i had to admit, this would probably work at least once on me.

on valentine's day itself, we got up and went to church. it was a pretty normal sunday, and after having lunch with the ILs (yeah, we do a lot of eatin' together, it seems), we headed home to let the bean take her afternoon nap. and, uh, we might have joined her in that little venture.

with the teen opting to stay at her dad's another night, we accepted an invitation from the ILs to join them for v-day dinner down at the beach. and when the ILs head to newport for dinner, it's always at the same place:

yeah, yeah, i know - going out for valentine's dinner is ridiculous. there's a long ass wait, the service typically sucks ass, and the food is usually overpriced and not that great. but i wasn't about to turn down a nice drive down to the beach, and i love me some seafood.

as always, there was a fairly good-sized crowd waiting for a table at this no-frills but reasonable and reliable joint. but we killed time at a nearby bicycle store, watching the bean run around and perching herself carefully on one of the little-kid bikes. when the novelty wore off, we took a seat at the long benches outside the restaurant and munched on appetizers - clam chowder and cups full of shrimp and crab cocktail.

the wait wasn't too bad, and when we were finally seated, the bean sat in her chair and watched the guys in the kitchen, working their asses off:

i always order the same thing here: grilled shrimp on a skewer, with bacon (of course!) and served with their yummy potatoes and some sliced tomato.

having filled her belly with soup, the bean got bored quickly and didn't want to sit still. i was struggling with her a bit when the waitress came by and got her attention. obviously, she's seen this scenario once or two thousand times before, and she brought over three of those little paper cups that are used for serving condiments.

"look, bean (she'd been paying attention and knew her name)! see if you can pick the right one!" and she put the cups on the table, covering one of the ball-shaped crackers from the container on the table.

one of the oldest tricks in the book, modified for amusing little kids in a restaurant, and it worked like a charm.

and now i need to make sure i keep a set of this stuff in my bag for future use. yay!