Dear Liza,
Last night, we went out to dinner with Auntie Katie and the Cousins! We met up at Pastini, a nice Italian place on SE Division. Since Grandpa Nelson wanted to have some wine, we took a Lyft car through the rain.
Pastini is an informal, family sort of place, with really friendly wait staff. They offer fun Children’s Menus and will make changes to dishes as needed for picky eaters, and make sure you have boxes for your leftovers of their generous servings.
The Children’s Menu, in our case, served as blank pages for drawing on. Jasper and his Mom drew a Pokemon scenario and Kestrel and I decorated spirals.
Being a certified picky eater, Kestrel got Perfectly Plain Pasta. I love that such a thing is even an option. I enjoyed half my lasagna (the rest will be lunch today) and Auntie Bridgett brought home half of her giant chicken artichoke salad.
After dinner, Jasper navigated us through the neighborhood (he is good at that, at almost ten years old!) to Fifty Licks, an ice cream parlor with unusual, subtle flavors. Auntie Bridget and I shared a horchata cone, Grandpa Nelson had a chocolate milkshake (he had skipped dinner, not being a fan of Italian food).
We enjoyed the sweets and conversation as the kids read the wall, which is covered by hundreds of Tintin comics.
By eight o’clock, the rain had stopped and we all hugged and walked to our own homes. It’s a little more than a mile from Division Street to our place, but after such a yummy evening, we had lots of energy.
Love,
Grandma Judy
Dear Liza 