I'm full

I just got home from my parent's house. I'm hopped up on the caffeine needed to make it through the four hour drive from Little Rock. I've come home to an attention and tuna hungry cat and an inbox full of emails.

How did the weekend with the folks go? Great. However, I'll never again answer the question 'What do you want for your birthday dinner?' with the words 'Surprise me!'

I arrived in Little Rock with a nearly full stomach. An afternoon of snacking with good ol' mom didn't help to reduce it any. This was a serious error in judgment on my part because where the took me out to dinner pretty much demands that you fast for three days before making a reservation.

Here in Tulsa, there's a place called the Flying Roll. You sit down and order your entree and every few minutes, someone comes around with a huge bowl of a different side dish (okra, blackeyed peas, etc.). Their namesake comes from the rolls that they'll toss to you from across the room.

The place my parents took me to, Gaucho's, was just the opposite. The only things on their menu were side dishes. They have people come to your table every few minutes with a different kind of meat skewered on a sword, and they cut you off a piece. I had ten different kinds of meat from five different animals. Just when I thought I was gonna burst, out came my birthday dessert: Chocolate Creme Brulee. Needless to say, I left the restaurant walking like Fred Sanford, and unable to take in a complete breath because my full stomach was compacting my lungs.

Today, my mom made my favorite dish for a family lunch: Lasagna. It was so wonderful, I stuffed myself to the gills for the third time in as many days (including the lasagna at Hideaway on Friday night...call me Garfield if you like, I loves me some lasagna). I was so glad my nieces were both tuckered out from playing at the lake all weekend, and wanted to just hang out with me. I attribute my being alive at this moment to the fact that weren't begging me to play with them outside.

Before I got on the road this evening, my folks made me a care package of some of the meat from their freezer. So, I'm gonna continue to be stuffed for at least the next week. I guess next year for my birthday I need to ask for elastic-band stretch pants.