Well the description for this 'forum' does say it's for us to have fun too. So I thought I would make you smile with a description of my 'evening out with friends' yesterday... so here goes.

I feel like a bit of rag this morning - went out for a meal with friends last night and we were five adults and FIVE kiddiwinks (ranging from 2 to 13).

The adults wanted to go to 'the goat place' where I took them last year - that's >'Il Capretto'< an agriturismo near to where I live. Problem is, such places DO NOT HAVE A WRITTEN MENU!!! They 'tell you what the 'specials' are, and then there are their regular dishes. So - yes you've guessed it - utter chaos reigned - only ONE Italian speaker (moi), four other adults who needed an explanation of each dish, and FIVE kids who all moaned incessantly 'cos they didn't have chicken nuggets and french fries ! First they all said 'we'll have that' then they all said 'well, perhaps not'....

Result? One frazzled translator and one waitress (the owner's wife) getting more confused by the minute and almost pulling her hair out - poor soul. In the end she and I decided to sit and chat while 'they' sorted out what 'they' wanted!!!

The result for the kids brought a smile of utter disbelief for everyone in the restaurant - pasta al pomodoro with grilled potato slices! AND they asked for separate plates and dished them up TOGETHER on the same plate. HTG the other diners and the waitresses were staring in utter disbelief....

But wait for it... it didn't end there. The adults wanted a 'tagliata' each (a large, thick steak that is cooked whole on the grill in a skillet and then sliced at the table to finish cooking from the heat of the skillet. That comes with grilled roast peppers, courgettes and potatoes, so when they saw how nice it looked they ordered a large dish of penne al pomodoro too - to eat with all that!!!

I know I shall NEVER live that down at Il Capretto... but hey, at the end of the day, they spent a fair bit and they WILL go back there. Even the owner laughed and said (quietly) to me "Bring them back whenever you like - they've kept us entertained all evening!"

But, it was a great evening and nice because the sides of the restaurant were all wide open and the kids could play on the slides etc. in the garden, so we got a 'bit' of peace.

All in all - a great evening - full of laughter and good company! Not to mention the free home made cream Limoncello at the end!

Chissà che ne penserebbe Gualtiero Marchesi degli "abbinamenti" proposti dai tuoi amici?

Luca

I can almost imagine the chaos. I have 13 grandchildren. I have eaten out with 8 or more of them at one time..most under the age of 12.

Its hard to keep them happy in american restaurants (that dont have chicken nuggets on the menu). I could only imagine, trying to take this group someplace where they didnt understand the language, and dont have their personal "gormet" foods.

I have taken some of these kids out..and offered to take them to the restaurant of their choice. Ya know what their choice is 9 out of 10 times? Burger king. Sigh. I have eaten more burger king than I would like to admit..lol..and I dont even like it.

It sounds like you had a good evening, tho...very entertaining...and at least the kids could leave the table and go play somewhere. That was a plus..lol

I remember how when the kids were small we would hate to go out anywhere..who would control them and what fun would WE have? After a while we started thinking it was best to get them used to being out socially so once a week we made it a point to go out for dinner. We went everywhere from the least expensive to the most expensive restaurants and funny enough, they always behaved! But of course, like all the other kids, they only ordered chicken and fries. At one point Jesse would rate the restaurant by how good or bad the fries were! We usually got away with paying anywhere from 40 to 60 dollars for a night out which really wasn't bad for a family of five.

Two years ago I had quite a surprise when we took them to one of our favourite restaurants. My oldest decided to order a 8 inch steak and double grilled chicken breast with salad, a baked potato and a real drink other than water. Jen decided she would have French Onion Soup along with her meal, and Jesse decided fries and chicken just weren't going to cut it anymore so he and his sister ordered appetizers as well. Then they ordered from the adult menu...

At the end of the night, total bill came to $356.20! The meal was amazing and they ate everything but needless to say that was the end of eating out on a regular basis.

Oh Carole I would have loved to have been a 'fly on the wall' sounds like you all had a marvellous evening.

Must be truthful an admit we didnt often go out for meals when the children were young - too busy working - but on the few times we did go out what we couldnt understand and had a laugh about later was they always chose fish and chips --nothing unusual about that, only this one fact - we had a Fish/Chip Shop where they could have had fish/chips anytime they wanted!
Good memories to look back on and I bet your friends will always remember the lovely night out they had with you Carole.
Emmy