Waffles (wof-uhs) and Peanut (pee-nuht) Butter...for dinner

New low? Nah. Lazy? Hell Yeah. But let me explain. It seems like everytime my husband has to travel for work, Murphy's Law kicks in and my job explodes. I am then left  running around at my job like a dog in heat trying to get everything done before the witching hour of...5:30PM. Ideally, 5:20PM. I realize that is basically some people's lunch hour. But when I am playing single mom and am forced to do the pickup and drop-off for daycare, 5:30PM is getting dangerously close to all but guarantee Jenson will be the last kid to be picked up from daycare. GAASSPPPPP. Images of Fievel (JENSON) singing "Somewhere out There" runs though my head and then my mind immediately moves to Self-flagellation...which is generally not a great idea...but never is there a time where it just seems like the most reasonable next step.

Well last night was one of those nights. I found myself sprinting (OK walking VERY fast) down treacherous patches of icy sidewalks in heels and ripped tights (not a fashion statement I might add) to go get my kid once I subwayed it back to Brooklyn. Thankfully, I could keep my whips in the drawers as Jenson was not the last kid in the entire school...but most definitely he was the last kid to be picked up in his class. And I got to meet his new teacher who had just started that day and I will now be forever judged in her eyes as "the mom who puts her JOB BEFORE her kid."

By the time we got home I couldn't have cared less about dinner. Ice-cream is what you want? WHICH FLAVOR? HOW MANY SCOOPS? OH AND YOU'D LIKE TO TRY COKE ZERO? NO PROBLEM.  It was just a long day. And I need to mention that long day started with me applying shaving gel to my left armpit because I thought I had grabbed the spray deodorant. Oh, and I was applying while wearing my black dress. There is photographic evidence but I'm wearing a nursing bra (because apparently I have given up on life and I still have not bought normal bras even though I stopped nursing my son in August) and my Spanx are hiked up to an embarrassing level. Just take my word, the day got off to a precarious start. 

So it was Trader Joe's waffles and a jar of peanut butter that was served. And lets be real, is there anything better than spooning heapfuls of peanut butter into your mouth from the jar? Let me answer that..NO. Jenson agrees too. We passed his blue spoon back and forth and ate out of the jar together. And then because I felt like he should really have something more substantial, I busted out the multi-grain (multi-grain people) waffles and the jar of NATURAL Vermont syrup. Sorry, Mrs. Butterworth's we've moved on from your high fructose syrup ways. I found myself wondering why I have not been eating waffles daily for last few decades.... because they are so damn good. Perhaps it's time to turn a new leaf. But in all seriousness, I give mad props to all the single moms because it just isn't easy. Especially when it comes to meal-making after a long day. But do you know what is easy...Peanut Butter and waffles for dinner. 

LOCATION: Home, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

Vinny's of Carroll Gardens

Happy Monday! We're switching things up a bit here. As in video switching up. All this writing about food had me thinking that maybe (just maybe) people (OK, my mom) wanted to see some of these posts come to life. So we kicked off our inaugural Furst Bites video post at Vinny's of Carroll Gardens.

There was penne vodka pasta, Jesus statues and a virtually empty restaurant...because were were dining at 4:45PM. It was all very rock 'n' roll people. What I realized when I was editing is this post should really be about how toddlers suck the fun out of eating out. There I said it. I swore I'd never be like "those" parents who NEVER take their kids out to eat  because that is just lame. But I am slowly coming around to the lame side of the fence. After inhaling mass quantities of pasta and eggplant parmigiana at unnatural speeds, we left without paying the bill because we were just that frazzled. I also learned that my twelve years of Catholic schooling has been for naught when I pointed out "Baby Jesus " to Jenson and my non-Catholic husband pointed out it was actually St. Vincent. Big oops. 

But the good news is dining with a toddler is great for sobriety as I could barely finish one glass of wine and we were home before 6PM with a whole lot of drinking to do couch side. So things weren't all bad. 

LOCATION: Vinny's of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn