Sisters

The Port St. Joe lunch scene is funny. Please allow me to give you a breakdown of the restaurants we have and the people who frequent them. As a note, these are not in order of preference.

1) Sisters Restaurant - a local cafe that serves one hot meal and a salad/sandwich menu. Good food, even better sweet tea. Free dessert with any purchase. Clients range from the social "elite" as they like to think of themselves, to the working-class roofers.

2) Peppers - the quintessential Mexican restaurant. Standard Mexican menu and quite good. Quick and easy lunch for business people if you don't mind smelling like an armpit all day. Clients are mostly 8-5 workers: city, county government, teachers, etc.

3) Provisions - a local grill/bistro/cafe with an upscale special of the day. Very impressive salads and sandwiches. Clients are mainly the "I don't get dirty at my job" people. Bankers, Insurance, Tennis moms, etc.

4) Sunset Coastal Grill - the only "finer" dining in the city. A beautiful location, building and view. Nice menu and very broad. Seafood, sandwiches, salads, platters, etc. Clients are mostly older. Not too many working business people as it takes up the full lunch hour to the minute. Some menu items are really really great, while others are a bit lacking.

5) Dockside Cafe - the restaurant at our local marina. It's basically outdoor dining - well sorta. The menu is limited. Things are served in baskets or plastic picnic plates. It's a great place if you've just come off the boat and are a drinker as it has a very extensive bar. Very pricey for what you get.

6) Great Wall - the local Chinese buffet - enough said. Clients are people who like buffets.

7) Fast Food - including Subway, McDonalds, Burger King.

I may be missing a few, but this just about sums it up. So, every place I have listed is typical restaurant. Either seat your self or someone will do it for you. Sarah and I really like to go to Sisters. A great family owns it. It's really good food. It's clean and friendly. Here's where I get confused......

Some people that go to Sisters "help themselves" to whatever they want. We'll call them the "helpers". They make their own drinks, get their own refills, get their own desserts, etc. Sarah and I don't do this. The owners and workers do not see these "helpers" as an annoyance. It almost seems like it is welcomed. I don't know if your supposed to just act on this entitlement yourself or are you supposed to be given the go-ahead. Sometimes I feel awkward thinking that the owners think that I'm demanding to be waited on. I'm not. I'd be perfectly happy getting everything myself.

So I got even more confused today and almost embarrassed because while Sarah and I were waiting for someone to get our drinks, this guy walks up to the drink station and says, "which one of these is sweet and unsweet?" He was clearly asking about tea. The owner pointed out which one was which to him and then he said it......"my mama didn't raise me to be waited on."

I felt like he was looking at me saying it. Kinda like..."Get off your butt and fix your own drink." I mean, I don't want to act like I own the place. I don't see a ton of people being "helpers", in fact, it's only a small group who do. Meanwhile......as we're waiting for someone to bring us dessert, one of the wait staff comes over and say, "did she get your dessert order?" I said, "yes". Then she says, "you know, if you need something you can just get it yourself or yell at us and we'll get it".

Panic!

Have they been talking about us because they think that we think we need to be waited on hand and foot? Was one of the owners like..."can someone go tell those two pretentious 20-somethings that they're mama don't work here and if they need something they can go get it?" I mean......my mama doesn't work there, but the only restaurant I've ever felt that entitled to do that in is the one we used to own. Sigh.

So now, I'm more confused than ever. If I start becoming a "helper" are people going to say, "why are they helping themselves?" The place is much too busy at lunch to ask for direction on the level you must reach before you acquire "help yourself status". I don't know what to do. We eat there about once to twice a week. What do I do?

I'm certainly not above doing it. I mean, I'll help myself. It'll actually save me $3.00 on a tip, right?

What would you do?

Simple Update

Just to let everyone know, I've moved on from myspace. I'm a Facebooker these days. Myspace was fun for a while, but part of me always felt like I was on some shady website and I kinda felt dirty about it. I've had a facebook account for quite some time, but never did much with it. So now I'm up and running with friends and everything. Sarah really convinced me to move on. I feel far more sophisticated using it - lol.

Nothing much to report today. Yesterday was our Lunch Club day. Every Wednesday, there's a group of us that meet for lunch. We typically eat on the porch of the TDC building. It's screened-in with ceiling fans, a restroom, a kitchen, WiFi Internet and it's overlooking our bay. It's been way too hot to eat outside the past few times so we've moved to Sarah and Amanda's conference room. We've been meeting for a while now, but now we've added a new element to the mix. Now, each person is responsible for making lunch on their week. We sorta started the trend by bringing pizza one time. Then Marcy reciprocated and brought pizza the next week. Amanda made a chicken spaghetti the next week and it's been a great rotation of fun ever since. Yesterday was our day again and I roasted some chicken and brought salad makings: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, croutons, craisens, pine nuts, cheese and homemade ranch dressing. It was yummy. Marcy decided to bring an appetizer and dessert of pretzel crisps, hummus and lemon cupcakes. She also brought our friend Suzanne. It's Marcy's week next week.

Marcy really isn't much of a cook (she says) so next weeks menu should be interesting. Marcy, if you're reading this, please do not bring potato soup. It's much too hot for soup. Amanda said that she's thinking about making a veggie lo mein for her next time. This is fun! It's fun conversation, healthy eating and friends. If you're local (in PSJ) and want to join us, you may submit an invitation request to: mwwuwf@hotmail.com obviously, your request will be discussed among the Lunch Club and must receive a unanimous vote for acceptance - LOL. Upon acceptance, you will be given your lunch schedule.

Reality TV is alive and well at our house now that all the good shows are back. Now before you start being judgemental about our TV watching, please understand that we don't watch anything until Celie goes down for the night. Praise the Lord for DVR!!! Some of our favorites include: Flipping Out, Project Runway, My Life on the D-List, Shear Genius, Runs House, Tori and Dean and John and Kate Plus 8. Soon to be making a debut is: The Hills, Real World Challenge, The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency and American Idol.

sigh.

Other than that, everything is going well at our house. Celie who is 5 months old is sitting up all on her own, eating well, teething (yuck), playing with things, putting everything in her mouth, laughing, being alert, using an abacus, learning her prepositions (and how not to end a sentence with one), learning fractions, and most importantly her chromatic scales. She is a busy bee and has been a hoot to watch learn and grow. Her eyes are starting to turn a different color from the green-grey they were. It appears that they will be brown - our little brown eye'd girl. Lord have mercy she's cute. Her hair seems like it is getting lighter. Not sure there. I can't wait until she can get her hair cut into a little bob!!!! maybe with a side bang? Not sure. I think it should stay short until it all grows in together. I'm not one of those parents who's like..."I can't cut her hair yet, sob, sob, sob."

I'll try to be a better updater - I promise.

Peace!