From The Mouths of Babes

As told to me by My Sister The Dentist...

Recently, my three year-old niece started school. There was a little boy who was kicking, so after the teacher was alerted, a couple of days later, my brother-in-law went to school to have lunch with my niece. My brother-in-law (who looks like a slightly smaller, much tidier version of Hagrid from Harry Potter, and who wears two or three earrings) sat down next to The Little Kicker, who looked up at him and said accusingly, "Why are you wearing earrings?"

My brother-in-law explained that he liked them, they were jewelry, etc. and then The Little Kicker said, "I thought only girls wore earrings."

My brother-in-law said, "Yeah, girls....and pirates."

The Little Kicker's eyes went round as saucers and his voice softened as he said, "Ohhhh. Ohhh. Do all pirates wear earrings?"

My brother-in-law said, "Only the real ones."

Kicking problem solved.

From The Mouths of Babes

As told to me by My Sister The Dentist....

Recently, My Sister The Dentist was at home with her three year-old daughter. My Sister The Dentist was doing an old Cindy Crawford workout tape and her daughter was watching and sucking on a pacifier. Somewhere through the workout, My Sister The Dentist stopped (I assume huffing and puffing was involved) and said, "This workout is hard!"

My niece took her pacifier out, looked thoughtful for a moment, and asked, "Is it hard for Cindy Crawford?"

Restaurant Review: Cinema Grill, Indianapolis, Indiana

I love dinner and a movie, so one of my favorite places to go for a great date night with Leo (or a family fun night with the kids) is Cinema Grill, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Cinema Grill has been around for a long time - not necessarily as a restaurant/movie theater, but "back in the day," it was Greenbriar Cinema, which was a fantastic place to see movies that were just slightly past being "new" at a huge discount. Today, the revived cinema features a full-scale restaurant that you can enjoy while watching a brand-new flick.

When you enter Cinema Grill, it's not the most impressive place. I suspect that the current owners haven't the necessary capital to remodel the place or even to quite maintain it. But if you can set aside the fact that the decor is a bit worn and nothing is quite new, what's most important is that the food is yummy and the prices are reasonable.

We recently visited Cinema Grill to see "Despicable Me," which was one of the most delightful films I've seen in quite some time, and definitely a movie I highly recommend if you're looking for a sweet movie with plenty of giggles.

One thing that I like about Cinema Grill is that their menu features plenty of options for weirdo eaters like me (you may recall I'm an ovo-lacto-pescetarian). I've enjoyed the almond-crusted tilapia quite a bit, and Leo has sampled their burgers and found them more than adequate. And their kids menu features reasonable portions at a reasonable price. A note of caution: if your young one is looking for pizza, the small-sized appetizer pizza may be enough for a little one, but is an inadequate portion for a teenager, as we discovered when Jay ordered this item and was still a bit peckish. The one food item I have a problem with is their popcorn, which itself is fine, but with the butter, takes on a slight chemical flavor.

Cinema Grill is a fantastic option for dinner and entertainment in Indianapolis, and well worth a try, especially if you have kids. They won't care about the less-than-new decor, and they'll have a great time doing something different.

Kid Stuff: The Great Taste Test Competition of 2010

Recently, while watching "Top Chef," Leo and I decided we should try our own version of the blindfold taste test. In this test, chefs are blindfolded and have to taste various foods to try to identify them. Leo and I decided we ought to try this and see how sophisticated our palates are. But then we realized it would be way more fun to do this with the kids. Here's how we did it:

We went to Whole Foods with the kids and split off into teams. Each team had $5 to spend on fruits, vegetables, nuts, or sauces, and anything we already had in the house was fair game. The kids picked out and weighed their own produce, and took everything to the checkout to pay, and Leo and I chose our items and paid separately. 

The food items the kids chopped up for Leo and me to test.

When we got home, we created score sheets on the computer (the kids like using WordArt in Word) and Leo and I went upstairs while the kids prepared their items. If you have younger kids, I'd recommend splitting teams so that there's one parent on each team who can supervise chopping. Then, the kids covered up all the dishes and called us downstairs. We were blindfolded (thank you, American Airlines, for the sleep masks from Business Class, which turned out to be perfect for this game) and in turn, given spoonfuls of each food to identify. 

Beware: eating a large spoonful of onions isn't the most fun you can have, and it stays with you. :D

After Leo and I did our taste test and our scores were tallied, we sent the kids upstairs and prepared their test. We were all surprised at how well we did, which makes me wonder how the chefs on "Top Chef" can do so poorly, but then, I think part of our success had to do with how many items that were already in our kitchen were used - I know my ingredients pretty well, but given an unfamiliar ingredient or given something I didn't already know I owned...I'm not sure how well I would fare.

In the end, the kids definitely won, and a great time was had by all. Give this one a try in your own home - it's a lot of fun!