eating out... and weekend plans

in the past week we've eaten out twice (unusual!)

on sunday we went to the Mawson Club with geoff's mother and aunts. we chose it because of the kids play area.

the meals were more expensive than we would usually choose and quite disappointing really. more disappointing is the service and the fact it took 45-50 minutes for our meals to come - including nuggets and chips for the kids! how hard are those to cook? thank goodness we'd ordered when we arrived instead of waiting for g's family to come (as they were an hour late - that would have meant the kids wouldn't have got lunch til virtually 2pm!)

the cake and coffee on the other hand is quite nice and VERY cheap (though i suspect i wasn't charged for everything i'd ordered this time around lol) . so after being there for coffee twice we've decided it's definitely the place for a morning / afternoon tea catch up but not for a meal.

it's very nicely presented though, the kids love the play area, and it's only $6.50/60 for 3 years membership.

last night we went out to jimmy's place in dickson. we decided not to go to the usual (pho phu quoc) and let ryan pick where he wanted to go. his criteria was the place that was brightest lit LOL

anyway, we were both a little disappointed. the food was nice enough, i wouldn't say it was horrible, but it certainly wasn't great, especially for the price. the meat tasted like cheaper cuts tenderised with bicarb though it was tasty and the portions were large. the kids ate mostly rice (with a bit of beef -rory- chicken - emelia- and broccoli -ryan- thrown in so they were happy enough). they are so gorgeous the way they try to eat with chopsticks! they manage to do quite well too, considering they can't hold them properly lol

eta: i've just come across this thread which may be useful for canberrans ;)

this weekend i plan to cook:

• those bran muffins
• beetroot and carrot dips and foccaccia for lunch one day
• a big slow cooker full of spag bol sauce
• and maybe a slice or cake for the kids
• apple mustard relish
• crumpets