avocado8

Celebrity Thai

A few decisions Al and I made in the past month (namely, to put the Beaner to bed at a regular, earlier time each night; to spend less money on frivolous things; and not to sit in traffic needlessly) have meant that we've been eating out less lately. Probably the colder weather also has something to do with it, as we're less inclined to walk to restaurants in the dark when it's 20 degrees out. We've been eating pretty well from the pantry and supplementing with a few key ingredients from Trader Joe's, which means we've been able to stick to our schedule and our budget.

Tonight, however, we decided to go out for a meal. I was craving pizza but didn't want to drive to New Jersey to visit King of Pizza (both because it would violate the 'sitting in traffic needlessly' rule and because I was craving a different kind of pizza), and below-freezing temperatures and stiff winds meant a walk to that coal oven place on Walnut was out, too. When you don't want to drive, don't want to walk, and especially don't want to walk with the stroller, eating out can be tough. Eating in was tricky, too, since we weren't in the mood for any of our delivery regulars.

I finally hit on the idea of driving to Manayunk. It'd be driving, yes, but against traffic. It'd probably mean paying for parking, true (which would negate any bridge toll savings), but we'd have several restaurant choices, and we could get in a little walk without having to take the stroller. The universe smiled on this idea by giving us street parking and a table at Chabaa Thai Bistro without a reservation. (Wait, what happened to the pizza craving? Well, once Manayunk came to mind, I knew I'd jump at the chance to have Thai fried rice with shrimp if it were in the offing. And if it weren't, I was sure we could find a pizza place.)

We ended up sharing a YUMMY, YUMMY meal of fried rice, Pad Thai with tofu, Tom Yum, and a fried tofu appetizer that was meant for the Beaner but which I and Al ate most of. The Beaner loved the rice, the noodles, the "pickles" (i.e., cucumber slices), and especially the shrimp. He tried the soup but immediately made a very sad face and said, "I don't like the soup, Mommy! I DON'T LIKE THE SOUP!" When I tasted it for myself, I realized why: like all tom yum, it had a strong lemongrass and kefir lime flavor, but this one was also spicier than most. It had a serious kick. As a bonus, the first serving of soup they brought us was made with tofu instead of shrimp, and when Al mentioned the error, the waitress asked if we wanted to wrap up the tofu version and take it home. "They're just going to throw it out anyway," she explained. We said sure. (Yay, lunch for tomorrow!)

The Beaner was very well behaved during dinner, thanks to my handy Finepix, with which I entertained him until the food came, and to the food itself once it arrived. He knelt in his own seat (as usual) with a cloth napkin tucked into the front of his shirt and happily fed himself. Dinners out are so much nicer when there's no Beaner-wrangling involved, I must say. It's possible that dinner out seemed special to him, too, after so many meals at home lately.

The bonus of the evening (as if great food, free parking, no traffic, and a well-behaved two year-old were not enough!) was that as I was putting on my coat and gathering our doggie bags, a really cute woman came over and said, "Lori?" (At this point Al and the Beaner were already downstairs.) I'm afraid I stared blankly at her for a moment, possibly with my head cocked to one side, until she introduced herself as Girlfiend. I said "oh, HI!," of course, and then I asked, "am I that recognizable? Or was it him?" (and here I pointed to the chair that had, until recently, been occupied by the Beaner). She said she was pretty sure when she saw us that it WAS us, "you know, with Flickr and all." I remembered that she'd commented on my previous post about Chabaa, but I hadn't put two and two together when she'd said it was her "favorite restaurant in the neighborhood" and deduced that she actually lived in Manayunk. In any case, I thought it was incredibly cool that she came up and introduced herself. I love meeting people I only know online; it's fun to put faces and mannerisms together with online personalities. (Sometimes they match, sometimes they don't.) Girlfiend, I hope to run into you again sometime—maybe even on purpose! Oh, and I love your hair. :)