The Good With the Bad

Just got back from date night with Andrew and am feeling much rejuvenated. We went to dinner at one of our staple restaurants in Salt Lake, Charlie Chows Dragon Grill. That was the bad, disappointing part of the evening. 10 years ago it was a great place to eat. My uncle, David, and I would frequent it for lunch quite often while we worked together at McLeodUSA; we were both in love with their Imperial Chicken. Ah, so yummy! And the chocolate dipped fortune cookies were a slick finish. Last time I was at Charlie Chow's, I thought the Imperial Chicken tasted a little different, so this time I ventured away from my staple dish and tried a nice, safe sweet and sour chicken. I have to tell you that I may have enjoyed it more if I hadn't seen our waiter wipe his nose with his hand just before he picked up our plates from the serving bar. Andrew went with his favorite, the Dragon Grill, which, for anyone who's been to Mongolian Grill in the Portland area, is pretty much the same deal. So when Andrew's snot-handed plate was delivered, I decided his food smelled excellent and forked a piece of chicken for myself. Or maybe it was beef. Heck, for all I know it was cat or camel, because something was definitely wrong with that meat. So aside from the bad food and the unsanitary waiter, (who also couldn't drag himself away from his cell phone or the t.v. at the bar long enough to notice when our food was ready in the kitchen), the place had an odd smell. Like bathroom mixed with cruddy old building that's desperately trying to qualify as "historic" to avoid a date with a wrecking ball. So, after we got a doggy bag, because our kids will eat anything, Charlie Chow's joined Old Country Buffet, Applebees, Biaggi's and a few others on the list of places we never need to eat again. I'm kind of still in mourning over the whole thing. But on to the next part of the date!
After dinner we went to The Joseph Smith Memorial Building to see "Jospeh Smith; Prophet of the Restoration", go figure! The movie has been out for years, and my dear husband has never gotten to see it. So, in we went and were met by a sweet, elderly missionary who informed us that the film was not being shown tonight due to technical difficulties. I had a slight "well, crap" moment because I've been trying to get Andrew to see this movie for ages. But then the dear missionary told us that the film was being shown in the North Visitor's Center. So we speed walked over there to catch it in time and I'm glad we did. I was such a good reminder of everything that is important, and here's the kicker; it made me miss my kids. Yep, that's right, I missed them. Now I'm home and I'm over it, but it was nice while it lasted. And another perk was that Andrew has a cold and was sniffing through a good part of the film, so everyone around us must have thought that my big, tough husband was crying. (Sigh...so sweet!)
Now that we're home, (and Andrew's gas is reminding me over and over again how wonderful dinner was), I just have to say that we need to get out more often. I can't even find a hint of the me that was wishing for death on the kitchen floor just yesterday. (See previous post...well, one of them from yesterday. I don't know how to do that cool link renamed thing.)


Good-bye, Old Friend