Wednesday, August 01, 2007


(pardon the glare from the sun in this pic of McKenna. It's of her trying some squid sushi--aki--which is integral to our story for today.)

Summer Thing to Do #6

Any of you remember my Summer To-Do List that I came up with at the beginning of the summer? One of the things on my list was to “Try Two New Ethnic Restaurants.” (You can see my entire list back on my June 22 post.)

The girls and I took advantage of one of the last “free” days until school starts (Delaney has a softball tournament tomorrow through Saturday, Sunday we are getting together for a family birthday, and then next Monday through Wednesday will be dedicated to buying school supplies and trying to rest up for school starting that week). So, we used yesterday as the day to try out an ethnic restaurant (alas, it looks like it will just be one restaurant we tried, instead of two; but at least we did part of the plan!)

Now, to really appreciate this outing you have to understand that Delaney is a VERY picky eater (the only meat she eats is chicken and steak, and she eats no veggies); she is not going to be the child who volunteers to try something new. McKenna, on the other hand, will try anything once (she likes calamari, oysters, broccoli and any other assorted vegetable; we even talked her into eating Spam once!). Sydney seems to be following more in McKenna’s footsteps and especially likes spicy food (at six months, she sucked salsa down at our favorite Mexican restaurant on a regular basis). So, I felt like this might be fun adventure, perhaps with the exception being Delaney. But she surprised me and said she was wanting to try something new!

We decided to go to a Thai restaurant, thinking it would at least be somewhat related to Chinese food. Our other choice was a new Indian restaurant that I have heard great things about; our plan is to try it next month!

So…Delaney got the Chef’s Special (which was thin noodles in a brown sauce with chicken; it was similar to what she eats at Chinese restaurants and she did much better than I expected). McKenna had a sweet and sour dish, and I tried a Green Curry Chicken that was really unique but tasty. My favorite thing from the meal was the Coconut Soup, which the girls did NOT like (Delaney said it stunk and Sydney pushed the bowl away). But I thought it was delicious! The restaurant also served sushi, so McKenna decided to try some since she’d had some before with her Dad. She obviously had not had squid sushi before, though, because she did her best to LOOK like she was enjoying it but gave up after two very creatively-acted-out bites.

Our review?

I loved the soup, the spring rolls, and the curry chicken.

Delaney and McKenna both thought it was pretty bland.

McKenna agrees that squid should only be eaten fried.

Sydney loved the noodles and rice! But did not like the chicken, and spit it back into my hand. ugh!)

And they ALL agree that eating with chopsticks makes anything better.

My advice? Get out and have a culinary adventure with your children and let them try something new. I’m a big believer in exposing my kids to new things and this was a fun activity!


After we had our Thai adventure, we went HERE for dessert. All I can say is YUMMY! And for those of you who have one near you, you might want to know this—on Tuesdays you can buy one kids creation and get one for free. We had a white chocolate with strawberries mixed in, and a cake batter with oreos mixed in—both for under $3!

The culinary adventures continued tonight when Gary and I got a chance to go out all by ourselves and have a couple of pina coladas. We knew we’d have a hard time finding any time for a date in the next couple of weeks, so we had to get one in while we could!

And then…when we came home from our date, Sydney ran to me and announced:

“I know how to be a princess.”

(She had started by telling me that “McKenna knows how to be a vampire,” since she and McKenna had been wrestling and her sister had, indeed, been acting like a vampire.)

I asked Sydney, “How are you a princess?”

“I dress up in a fancy dress and then dance.”

And there you have it…

Another true “Life with Cheryl Wray” day.

And how is your week going so far?

(Tomorrow we are up at 5 am and heading out to the ASA—American Softball Association—national tournament with Delaney’s team about two hours away. We have opening ceremonies and then two games tomorrow against teams from Texas. How we play tomorrow will determine our schedule for the next day. The tournament could go until Saturday for us, if we can keep winning. Wish us luck!! And, of course, I will give you updates!)

19 comments:

Adrienne said...

LOL! Great post! Glad you guys are trying something new!!!!

Wendy said...

I love Thai food...We have a great Thai restaurant here. We tried fried tofu a few weeks ago. Uh talk about bland.... YOur girls are so cute. Loved the faces....Have fun at the tournament this week...

Linda said...

At least she tried it. I will eat almost anything but would have to draw the line at the squid....
Anyway, love the princess comment. she is a funny little girl. Fun post... have a day filled with goodness.

TK Angels said...

Ok- now I am the one who is the picky eater and I'm not sure I would try Thai. I may try it if the opportunity arose *smile*

Glad the kids tried something new. Maybe I can learn from them

Take care,
Love,
Terri

Anonymous said...

Wow, that looks like so much fun. What a great idea! :)

I loved the pictures.

Phats said...

Sounds like a fun adventure for sure.

I am like Delany for sure chicken for me please. Love the desserts though.

We start school in 14 days :(

Melissa said...

you are making me hugry again!!
Love Thai food. Pad Thai is my favorite. I usually get it spicy too!!

Have fun this week...

Leah said...

I've always been afraid of Thai food. It smells so bad to me! Glad yall had a good time!

Anonymous said...

Okay, your girls are braver than me any day of the week. Ha ha!

Cheryl Wray said...

Adrienne--It was fun!
Wendy--Although I can eat tofu, I'm not a big fan of it either. lol
Linda--She is a nut! She just keeps us entertained with the things she says! Thanks for the sweet wishes for a good day! We did have a good one!
TK--It's always fun to try something new. I'm a big believer in it! :-)
Crazy--Thanks!!

Cheryl Wray said...

Phats--I am the dessert fan in our family! I pretty much have to have one after every meal!! We start school in just eight days!! ugh!
Melissa--I wanted Pad Thai, and they didn't have it for some reason!
Leah--LOL! The girls did think some of it stunk! But a lot of it was still good!
Gin--LOL You are too funny!

Adriann said...

I love Thai food! William will try anything and most times like new things. The portions looked pretty decent.

Good luck on the tourney!

~grey said...

I can't believe that you start school in August??? let alone next week (already) WOW!!!!

My daughter goes back to school... September 5th

My daughter will NOT try anything new, or different. My son on the other had will try anything. He loves all types of food. Especially Indian food. But he says nothing compares to the food he had in India.

Andrea Frazer said...

I want to go!

Michelle said...

she sounds more adventurous then me! I don't think I could stomach the thought of even tasting sushi, let alone squid sushi! My brother ate squid when he was stationed in Japan; yuck is what I say!

I wish we had a cold stone near us - the cloeset one is almost an hour away.

Dawn Bibbs said...

Alrighty...I think I'm gonna have to side with Delaney on this one. I am NOT one who likes to try new things. If I can't say it, I ain't eatin' it...lol. If you were to see me in person, you'd wonder which meals I had in fact missed in my life...hee hee. But I am a VERY picky eater. AKA...a creature of habit.

But I do WISH I liked to try new things. It makes my case very hard to fight when telling Jayla that she at least has to TRY new things. Guess she did get that from me, huh? But at least I DO eat more than mac & cheese or Ravioli for breakfast...hee hee.

Hope you guys have a great weekend. Have fun!

Loreluca said...

How awesome that you are getting to do sooo many things in your todo list! I should try other than noodles when it comes to Thai food, but my family is just soooo difficult when it comes to food! Only Cesar and I will eat anything, the rest are just too picky!

AngelConradie said...

i love introducing damien to new stuff- and luckily for me he's always game!

Gretchen said...

We need to spread our culinary wings, as well. Great tip. Nice picture of you, too.