The Commoners Go To Dinner

Alas summer is almost over.  Most of us have been back to our classrooms volunteering our time to make sure we are ready for the kids on the first day.  But we had to have one last TGIT (Thursday) and this was a big one.  We went to the big city of San Jose to a restaurant called Maggianos.

There are so many things that happened on this trip that I can't remember them all and definitely can't remember the order so these are the highlights.

 First of all we learned that the Damm Family Compound where we met so Rosa could kindly drive us is actually a ranch with a billboard.

It was like this sign only it wasn't neon and it said Ranch not theater.  I'm sure Kristen will have a theater built on the Ranch soon.

We met our waiter Frances-who I tried not to call 'Sinatra' and he was good.  We ordered drinks and told him we were teachers getting ready to go back to school.  He felt sorry for us.  Not really -he didn't seem to care.  He was probably happy not to have to sing Happy Birthday.

We got this deal on food.  Sosa is good at finding deals.  So for 26 dollars a person we ordered to share 3 appetizers 4 main dishes and 2 desserts.  The idea of this gluttony of carbs was enhanced by the fact that it was some sort of all you can eat deal-so I'm not sure how any of the courses ever ended.  Somehow our bill was more like 50 dollars.  I'm not sure how that worked but it's not time for me to do math yet.

Here's what we had so you know and can be hungry

• Italian tossed salad
• mozzarella sticks but square, thick, and yummy
• bruzetta
• monicotti
• Chicken parm
• Ravioli
• fettuccine alfredo
• cheesecake (which took 5 hours to cook)
• Tiramisu

That's not our table but it looks good doesn't it?
Beth had a lot going on that night.  She was trying to figure out how to take as much food as possible home with her. She was so busy trying to figure out how to order seconds but not eat them that she spilled her water all over the floor.  

Luckily only Rosa's foot got wet, but Frances was sure confused as to how Beth finished her water Ice and all so quickly.

Beth was on the subject of baseball and her son's team.  He's quite a prodigy.  He'll be playing for the Giants for sure.  He better be because it seems like every week we have to buy tri-tip as a fundraiser for his team.  You give Beth 25 dollars and on Saturday you drive behind an unmarked building to pick up your meat from some guy you don't know.  It's a great deal.

We always do it and Rosa was working a deal.  She would give Beth her Beats by Dre head phones in exchange for the 25 dollars.  I have these so I know it's a good deal.  Rosa showed us-well maybe not showed us but told us from a google search they sell for 100 dollars.  But she had a guy and these were 'given' to her.

Beth listened to them and immediately as predicted broke out into dance.  She had never heard Blurred Lines-let alone in the crystal clear Beats sounds.  

Since  Beth had never heard this song and the way it causes you to immediately start dancing.  This is a family blog-this is my favorite version anyway.  Take a 3 minute dance break and comeback.

Finished?  You feel great don't you!

Beth also enticed her with stories of motherly love and how the famous Casey still asked her to go out and pitch in their mammoth back yard baseball park.  Think Field of Dreams pretty much.

Casey's 13-that's sweet. Plus Beth is super woman to go out there an be able to pitch to an all-star like Casey.  Turns out by pitching she meant filling the pitching machine.

There were more funnies.  Like how we kept making Frances think that we were restaurant spies.  Like how we found out Kristen's future husband hasn't called yet because he was given the wrong phone number-maybe.  Like how we ate so much we almost exploded.

This summer has been good times all around.  One more TGIF and then it's back to school.