Spurned

Spurn me once, shame on me. Spurn me twice, I'm starting to wonder if it's personal.

I have a desire-hate relationship with a restaurant right now. I'm not even sure if it's a love-hate relationship since the "hate" part comes from the restaurant that has spurned me twice now.

I exaggerate...which is, incidentally, one of those words that I'm eternally thankful for spellchecker seeing as how I obviously don't know how to spell it. Ever. (kind of like "weird" and "apparently")

I digress. Kokomo has your basic American chain restaurants that are all lovely in their own way and basically all offer the same thing with some variations--Applebee's, Outback, Chilli's, Texas Roadhouse, etc. Okay, there's quite a bit of variation between Chilli's and Texas Roadhouse, but still, it's not like you don't already know exactly what they offer before you go.

And within the last mmm....year or so, there have been two exotic new restaurants that have opened up waaaaaay on the other side of town from us (which means a) about 2 minutes from the in-laws and b) about 3.5 miles away...really far, I know). Ben and I used the prom last May as a chance to have one last wildly fantastic date together B.A. (before Abby) at one of the joints, a rather posh (for Kokomo standards), modern place called The Quarry. And, they definitely offer a menu that isn't your standard Applebee's fare (again, not that there's anything wrong with that...I rather enjoy Applebee's). Ironically, the other new establishment is located almost exactly right next door to The Quarry.

This is where my desire-hate relationship begins and sadly, ends. It's like the awkward 13-year old girl who has a crush on the exotic quarterback senior who doesn't even know that the 13-year old exists. I'm the awkward teenager; The Olde Oaken Door is the big stud quarterback. It's an intriguing place simply because it's a family style restaurant, and I've never experienced that in a restaurant before. I'm not sure why it's really that exotic, seeing as how it's how I eat every day (you know, communal bowls of food in the middle of the table and two people fight over the last roll...incidentally, I can easily war with myself over bread, so when I say "two people," I very well might mean me). But never have I feasted a la family style in a restaurant before...how exciting! how unique! how different! I must try it.

Months ago, again, B.A., I tried to enlist the help of the in-laws to join us so that we can witness the family style experience in a group rather than a two-some. Alas...that never panned out. And then, I had an invite to join a group of lovely teacher buddies for a retirement party at...The Olde Oaken Door! Victory! Defeat...I gave birth two days before this extravaganza, which resulted in me being, ironically, directly across the street in the hospital while this shindig took place without me. Fast forward 6 1/2 months...Christmas date! (Sidenote--Ben and I started a tradition our senior year in college where we go on a Christmas date where price is not really a factor and we go somewhere where we wouldn't otherwise likely go and revel in the luxury of a credit card and two-full time jobs, throwing sense and 403Bs (the teacher equivalent of a 401K) to the wind.)

Christmas date...where do we want to go? We're dropping the little one off at the grandparents for a couple of hours, and in order to utilize our time most efficiently, we should try to stay within a few minutes of their house. Aha...The Olde Oaken Door!!! Granted, this isn't quite my fantasy as it's just going to be the two of us instead of a noisy, happy family/group, but still. I can just envision the fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Oh yum. I love fried chicken and the last time that I had it was literally 2 1/2 years ago, June 15th, 2007, for a catered rehearsal dinner. I remember weird things (look no spellcheck this time!).

Anyway, long story almost over--the restaurant isn't open on Mondays and Tuesdays, which we didn't know until we pulled up on a Tuesday night in eager anticipation. Denied again. I'm starting to think that the restaurant doesn't even know that I exist. Breaking up is hard to do. Off to the pasta restaurant we went. Spurned.