a friday night ritual

many years ago, my dear college friend came to the chicago area to visit her brother, sister-in-law and nieces. to make a get-together easier, i drove the short drive from the city to visit her. at the time, this city slicker did not have suburban living on the brain and had no clue about any of the chicago burbs. but upon arrival, i fell in love. we lunched at this adorable beer garden covered with brightly colored patio umbrellas on a beautiful sunny day. we got coffee on main street and we shoe shopped at a cute little boutique. i went home singing my praises.

several years, a condo and one baby girl later we began to yearn for good schools, grass and a place to teach above mentioned girlie a place to ride a bike. yes, folks, we began to search for a little plot of grass in the burbs. and this my friends is how we came to live in la grange... you know that little town with boutiques on main street (a short walk away from our front door), a coffee shop, and cute shoes to boot.

and to keep the love alive with how i fell in love with our town, we dined at that cute little beer garden every friday night. well, not ever friday night... because there are a handful of months where that sweet little garden is covered in snow... but you get the point.



i loved the ritual. each friday e and i (and then eventually e, d and i) would meet daddy at the train and then go to palmer's for dinner. the fare is less than fancy, but it was always enjoyable. it was a nice ritual. it was predictable. it allowed me to have one day where having no plan for dinner was the norm and it allowed us to start the weekend off with a little bit of good family relaxation.

and on our last trip to palmer's, my heart was nostalgic. i knew i would miss this little life ritual.

of course, we couldn't just let the ritual die- so we reinvented it. now, our new calli ritual is to get sushi take-out from a little spot around the corner. we don't dine out much with three babes under the age of 6 (you remember the thanksgiving "i do" incident, don't you???)... so this works for us right now. and then there's the fact that it is delish!

so tonight, this is what we'll be having for dinner...