Stepping Out

To the aut Bar, for a nice early afternoon Sunday brrrrunch. Complete with a mimosa for Mouse and a bloody mary for meeeeee! (Are you supposed to capitalize drink names?) I was a first-timer at this particular bar/restaurant today. I’m starting to come full circle when it comes to restaurants. We used to eat out a lot when we first lived here, especially during the B. K. era when I was working 40 hours a week and the GG was working 60, 70, or 80 hours a week over at Chrysler Defense. I guess enough years have passed (32?) that I can post that. We ate at all kinds of restaurants in those days. We would walk downtown or head over to Megalopolis. Oh, and our fave Knight’s wasn’t around back then, there was a restaurant there but it was called Annie’s Dugout. Our fave go-to place back then was Mountain Jack’s! Especially when Grandroobly was down here to visit because they had a loverly gunfighter decor. And Grandroobly’s name happened to be Jack.

We didn’t stop eating out after the beach urchins came along. Actually, when there was only one beach urchin, it was pretty easy to go out. We went to Mountain Jack’s for my 31st birthday. Our three month old baby fell asleep as soon as we got there and she slept on the booth seat beside me until we were finished. As we bundled her up before venturing back out into the snow, the people across from us oohed and aahed. “We didn’t know you had a baby with you!” “Oh, she is really cute!” “She’s so small, is she a preemie?” (No. She wasn’t a preemie. My children were both ultra-healthy six-pounders.)

We didn’t stop eating out even when the beach urchins went through the seemingly interminable Picky Eater Stage. Yes. Anyone remember that? “My kids are never gonna be picky eaters. I will cook healthy stuff and they will eat it and they will always behave perfectly in restaurants.” Roight. My personal grail was that I would NEVER serve that fluorescent orange Kraft macaroni and cheese. I didn’t even like that stuff when *I* was a kid. Guess what I learned to cook and served about a billion times? Our restaurant habits during that stage were pretty darn boring. Breakfast and any place that served “kid” grilled cheese were okay. Exotic food? Not.

Nowadays… I love to cook from scratch. I am halfway good at it although there are times when I get distracted… That’d be a whole ‘nother blahg entry. A funny thing happened along the way. The Beach Urchins have both learned to cook and formed their own opinions about food. They are now quite adventurous and are also very conscious about cooking healthy foods. More so than me! Although I’m sure they have their french fry-type moments.

So now, I am re-discovering Planet Ann Arbor restaurants slowly but surely with the help of my Mouse. The aut Bar did not disappoint me. Wonderful food, ultra-friendly staff. “Would you like another drink?” Er no thanks, I have to drive home. And could we have boxes for the food we couldn’t eat?

The ambient temperature on The Planet Ann Arbor reached 40 (F) above today. I cannot tell you how good it felt to remove a layer or two.

One Response to “Stepping Out”

  1. Margaret Says:

    Great post! Glad you’re rediscovering your local restaurants. I thought my kids would “never” have tantrums because I was such a good parent. As you would say “Roight!” I laughed at that picky eater part and the mac and cheese. It brings back memories of many kid-friendly dinners!