(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!)