friday night dinners

 Last Friday night, Graham and I took advantage of my mum visiting to have an evening out sans baby and ate in the Hanoi Bike Shop.  This was our third visit.  It seems to have become our go-to destination any time a baby-sitter is on hand.  The food is freakin' delicious!  I do wonder if actually it's just really salty, but whatever their secret, it's darn tasty.  They make their own tofu on site and I don't know what they do to it but it's just out-of-this-world good, and I've had it a few different ways.  And, yes, I may be a vegetarian, but I'm not generally speaking a tofu freak.  And talking of vegetarianism (I know I've blogged before about trying to introduce a wee bit of fish/meat into my diet) I have actually ordered and enjoyed a chicken dish in the Hanoi Bike Shop once.  I think all their food is probably just yum-yum delicious, which is why it's so good that you can order a few different small plates and taste loads.  

Incidentally, that is my new haircut.  I got it done that day and did it on a whim (walking in off the street with no forward planning) so I still didn't know what I actually wanted.  I let the hairdresser decide what to do in the end and was fairly happy with the style he chose.  It's not the most exciting of hairstyles really, but I had got to the point where any style would be an improvement and it looks a bit more me now that I am in charge of washing and drying it and it sits a good two inches shorter and wider!

Back to Friday night dinners.  After the Hanoi Bike Shop, we headed to Nardini's and bought some ice cream.  We ate it en route to Kelvingrove Park and then sat on a bench doing absolutely nothing for a while.  Heavenly!

This Friday night's dinner also involved a trip to the park for Graham and I, but this time for a picnic with Dulcie.  I was excited to find peas in the pod that day and resorted to underhand measures to try to get Dulcie hooked on them too.  It worked...up to a point - she chews them up and then spits them out mostly, but she is excited to pluck them from the pods and shouts, "Peas! Peas! Peas!" a lot.  

I ended up getting surprise last-minute leave from work this weekend, so there has been lots of family time including four (count them!) picnics.  Awesome!  I feel so much more like me now I've had a bit of time with Graham and a bit of time where I am not either working or in sole charge of a toddler.  I can't wait for Dulcie to start nursery (though of course there is some trepidation) so I can have some family time most weeks.  Just 2.5 months to go...  That said, my work have rejected the hours I proposed (noooo!) but I'm hoping they'll accept my plan B, which still leaves me with some weekends off, though not as many as I'd hoped.  Fingers crossed...

And this photo shows the post-swimming, air-dried, in-need-of-a-wash version of my new haircut!