I've noticed a couple of things when we go to a restaurant with close friends. As we march in, there is a rumble in every stomach and we order food like kings. Bring on the drinks.... we'll have this....and that.... and of course the other. And "you betcha" we're going to order dessert tonight after our dinner!
When the food is finally served, after we all have overdosed on bread or tortillas (depending on which restaurant you are at), everyone is more interested in what the other people have on their plate. Nobody even looks at their own food! There is a sudden flurry of activity of hands armed with forks moving around and across the table to get a "taste" of everybody else's food.
Compliments like "Umm..... very tasty," "Yummy" are generously thrown around. By the time I get to my food, the hunger pangs are gone, the anticipation is over and the food, though good, never tastes as good as my neighbor's on the table. Maybe its because of the initial round-the-table food tasting frenzy. Sometimes I am tempted to switch my entire entree with my neighbor!
And now for dessert.... or maybe not! "I'm sooo full, I can't even think of dessert," is the general line going around the table. Then comes the check and there's a polite scuffle, as everybody wants to pay. And then some of us will go over the bill.... "Did we really have six daiquiris?" "Did we order two of these?" I guess we did....we were hungry!!
One thing I don't understand is why the bill is called the check. Maybe some of you can enlighten me on that. And then as the popular saying goes..."A good dinner is only as good as the talk that follows." And talk we can! Recently, at a dinner outing with friends, we were literally escorted out of the restaurant as it was past their closing time. So we hopped to another restaurant nearby (for coffee) that had late hours, and after a couple of hours we were escorted out of there too, as our conversation flowed well past their closing time!
One last thing, as we are talking about food & drinks. The other day I went grocery shopping and picked up lemonade. The label on it said--- "Made from artificial flavors." The next day I found myself in Home Depot to pick up furniture polish (I think it was "Pledge"), which also had a label on it--"Made from real lemons"!
Shouldn't it be the other way around?
.
