On the Town

My mom has been in town since Tuesday, waiting for this baby to get here. Unfortunately she has to leave on Wednesday to get back to work :(  So we hope this baby comes this weekend. It would be perfect, because then Russ wouldn't have to miss class. I thought I should fill you in on all the fun we've been having - Little Sister is totally missing out!

On Wednesday night my mom took us out to dinner on the town. She wanted to experience some of the local eats (and we did too! We haven't been to many local places since we got here!) so we headed down to Cannery Row. Luckily we had a dining guide from the hotel we stayed at back in November over Thanksgiving, so we had a starting point. We looked over a bunch of nice restaurants and finally decided on one - The Fish Hopper - that advertised having a kids menu. That means they don't mind if we bring our unruly toddler into their nice restaurant.

I decided that I wanted to try a crab. For some reason I was craving crab - an interesting craving for someone who has never really had crab before. I've had crab dips, but that's not exactly the same. 

So they brought me my bib and my half a dungerness crab. I pulled off one of the legs and started enjoying the buttery, savory meat. Then I tried to figure out how to open up the rest of the leg to get to the tender, juicy meat inside. I've never eaten crab or lobster or anything before, so I was sure there just had to be some trick to it, but try as I might, I could not get inside that stupid crab leg. Finally we asked a waiter if he could help me, and he took a look at my plate and was like "Oh, they didn't bring you a cracker." I was like, duh - that would help. So anyway, when I finally got my little crab leg eating tool and a cocktail fork, I went to town on that crab. It was de-lish. They even brought me a little bowl of hot water and a lemon after I was all done so I could get the crabby smell off my fingers. It was super cool. And yummy. I am definitely a fan of crab.

Another amusing part of our evening - My mom decided she wanted to try swordfish. None of us have ever eaten swordfish, so we were excited to try it. Well, the waiter brings our food, and we're checking out mom's "swordfish." It looks very pink, like salmon. We all try a bite. Wow, that's really good - tastes just like salmon! So my mom is 1/4 way through her "swordfish" when the waiter comes by with a panicky look on his face "I'm so sorry, ma'am, I just realized we gave you salmon instead of swordfish!" No wonder it tasted just like salmon! So they switched out her "swordfish" for REAL swordfish, which was pretty tasty. I have to say I prefer salmon, but at least I can say I've tasted swordfish, and it most definitely does NOT taste like salmon! (and it's not pink, either)

Vincente ate some chicken strips and french fries. The fact that he ate at all was very very exciting for us. Then he played with the seagulls that perched on this little walk way outside our window. Every time they would walk away from his window, he would say "Come back, passaro." (passaro = bird) Then he played with the little citronella candles on the empty tables. I figured as long as he wasn't touching the dishes laid out, he was fine playing with the candles :) Ha ha. My kid has an obsession with flames, but he knows they are hot, so he won't touch the actual flame. He just likes looking at them.

After dinner we tried to get a shot of us by the bay with the moon all shining and stuff. Our cameras weren't quite good enough (we needed a tripod or something to keep them still enough), but we did get some cool shots of the moon - even if Russ looks all weird and fuzzy.

Around the corner from our restaraunt was a family bar and grill place with live music and dancing. Vincente heard the music and just had to dance! It was adorable. He loves dancing. 

Our night on the town was great - and the best part? Vince went right to bed without any trouble.