Wash out

The build up to this weekend's Memorial Day festivities was exactly as you'd expect for late May: hot and muggy with occasional bursts of rain. We were hitting the ice cream truck on a daily basis early in the week, and the sprinklers came on for one gloriously summery afternoon at SGP.  Carolina was a bit hesitant to get her feet wet at first, but within the hour I found her scooping (and drinking--ick!) cups full of dirty water from the emerging drainage pool.  Of course, all that heat and sunshine wasn't here to stay and by Thursday, things were heading for a rainy finish to the week. Which is really too bad because our friends Julie and Dawn have been planning the heck out of the Memorial Day Fair at the park which was slated for Saturday. But by the time I was running errands on Friday morning, they decided to go with the rain date on Sunday since the forecasts weren't looking good. And considering how wet, cold and windy today ended up being, they definitely made the right call.

So instead of hitting the fair today, we opted to use our family time for a quick drive to Roosevelt Island where we hoped the sprinkles would hold off for a little longer, but to no avail. It started pouring rain as soon as we drove by the park at the southern end and that sealed our fate--off to brunch in Astoria at Strand Smokehouse.  Nacho has been reading up on a few local places to try and this was our first outing. I'd give it big thumbs up for having plenty of space and a family-friendly vibe, but the brunch menu was extremely limited. I got the Sunnyside Up (a fitting name, I thought) which was two eggs over pulled pork and grits. Unfortunately, I was pretty underwhelmed with these stiff, bland Yankee grits and the pork was swimming in some kind of oil that didn't really enhance the flavor. The girls got the only things I thought they might eat which included congealed mac-n-cheese and a huge stack of rather tasteless pancakes which came with more pulled pork.  But hey, Carolina tried it at least, so that wasn't a total waste. I hate to sound so negative on the food since Nacho really enjoyed his beef spare ribs and both beers we had (mine a maple porter and Nacho's wheat pale ale) were delicious. But I think it will be a while before I'll go running back. Maybe then they'll have a little more variety and they might even need those ceiling fans running that were whipping cold air down my back. 

It probably also didn't help that Carolina was a beast to get in the high chair today. After two restaurant outings yesterday--Bareburger for lunch followed by Casa Enrique for dinner after LIC Kids--it was probably too much to ask for her to sit through yet another meal. Elisa was going a little nutty too with her overdose on root beer, and I was looking at Nacho wondering why we couldn't be dining alone. We're so close to enjoying these casual adventures, and yet, we're still not there. But if practice makes perfect, then we must be getting close to not just surviving restaurants but enjoying them. At least that's what I'm hoping. And since today was a total wash out weather-wise, our misery had plenty of good company. The restaurant was filled with kids and even a baby's birthday party that got moved indoors from Socrates Sculpture Park. So we weren't alone in searching for some place--any place--to take the kids. And in that respect, we did good.  Hopefully the sun will come out again tomorrow morning so we can finally celebrate our Memorial Day Fair and the rest of this holiday weekend. I know I'm going to be there helping out and remembering that hot, muggy weather of years past that sent me running inside for the A/C after a couple of hours. Maybe tomorrow we'll last a little longer. We'll see.