It's Valentine's Day.
How do I know this? I have red roses on my dining room table. Sent to me by my mother.
Because her first date with my dad was on Valentine's Day and she wants me to call her and congratulate her on staying together for so many decades. To encourage me to call her, she sends me flowers on Valentine's Day.
It's quite odd.
Today I'm taking apart my youngest daughter's room and putting it back together. This involves trips to Home Depot. I'm walking around looking at everyone wearing red and I'm thinking, "Heart health? Cancer? Why the red?"
Not til I got in the car to go home did it hit me that the reason so many people were lined up outside Olive Garden and Red Lobster in their red shirts was because it was Valentine's Day. Mmmm. Red Lobster for a romantic date. Right after Home Depot. Yikes, I'm a snob. (On the other hand, there was no line at Applebee's. Some one's got standards.)
4 comments:
I stopped at the grocery store at about 3pm this afternoon and was surprised to see that there were still a lot of people perusing the floral department and lingering over the red-frosted cupcakes.
Is there something more inherently romantic about Red Lobster and Olive Garden vs. Applebee's? (Have never eaten at RL, and haven't been to either of the other two since college.)
Have no idea.
Of the three I'd be slightly more likely to go to Olive Garden I think. Applebee's is just out of the question for romance, and Red Lobster seems, um, old.
Frozen seafood deep fried doesn't really scream "Forever Yours!" But then, I'm a snob.
Funny thing - where I was from, going to the Olive Garden was a fancy thing, back in the day. They had tablecloths, and wine, and a hostess stand. (Of course that was back when there were no Olive Garden commercials. If a restaurant had a commercial, we knew it was, by definition, NOT fancy.) When the Barnes & Noble came to town, it was the fanciest thing any of us could imagine. We felt so high-brow. This was back in the late 80's and early 90s, but the phenomenon still exists: a few years ago when my niece - who's mostly lived in rural Indiana - visited, I took her to Starbucks and it was A Very Big Deal. She saved the napkin, and she talked about that mocha like it was the most gourmet thing ever created.
Anyway, my guess is that for some people, Red Lobster is a really big deal. (We took my sister there after her high school graduation. A pile of king crab legs was the height of decadence. Well, and shouldn't it be, when you think about it?) But it's seriously NOT romantic. If you picked up some food from there and brought it home, that would be more romantic. It's less the food that's the problem, than the atmosphere. Kitsch on the walls and unlimited breadsticks. Ugh.
See I think eating food someone else made is the ultimate of romantic. I don't care if it's a teenager with acne handing me a Fatty Burger. If I didn't have to plan and cook a meal (and listen to anyone complain about my cooking) it's a holiday.
I need to get out more. No, I need to get all these other people in this house out more.
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