Turn the teachers loose with a few gallons of Margaritas on the night before a holiday and watch out! Our "book club" gathered at Rancho Alegre, the Cuban restaurant that is one of our favorites and the tequila began to flow. Our group included a Minnesotan, a Hawaiian, a New Yorker, and good ole Southern gals. It had been a stressful four-day week leading up to the Veterans Day day off from school. We needed to relax. And we did for a while...
The only drawback to Rancho Alegre: this building has concrete walls and floors and high ceilings that make things very loud. In addition, there were six children there whose parents were on cell phones and otherwise too preoccupied to realize that the little urchins were running around between tables and stomping on the stage with their tiny boot heels.
The book clubbers mentioned quietly to each other that the children should stay at their tables. They needed to be under the direct supervision of parents who were not so preoccupied that they were oblivious to the havoc being wreaked by their precious little ones. We stood it as long as we could and then suddenly one of our group (guess which one) stepped up to the mother (who by this time was laughing and clapping gleefully at her children's antics) and asked her very politely to take them back to their table. The mother meekly complied with the request.
Behind us was a young man who had been talking on a cell phone the entire time he had been in the restaurant. He turned out to be the father of the two little boys who were still on the stage creating a ruckus. When his order came, he walked up to our table and announced: You must be Republicans! We were caught off-guard and didn't really know how to reply to this statement. He never realized that he was talking to a bunch of teachers who were just plain tired of disciplining KIDS!
When we left, the owner (who had been looking aghast throughout the antics of the badly-behaved children) thanked us for taking the discipline into our own hands. I'm sure he'd been having visions of broken windows, broken crockery, and a lawsuit or two as the kids tore around and around through the restaurant.
http://www.ranchoalegrecuban.com/
Note: The book club may or may not have read a book when we get together. Even if we have assigned ourselves a book to read, after a few Margaritas we sometimes forget that there is a book to discuss.
Great food/bad behavior
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This is the fried whole Tilapia, with lime, rice, plantains, and black beans. Just the right amount of crunch in the skin and juicy meat just below. |
The book clubbers mentioned quietly to each other that the children should stay at their tables. They needed to be under the direct supervision of parents who were not so preoccupied that they were oblivious to the havoc being wreaked by their precious little ones. We stood it as long as we could and then suddenly one of our group (guess which one) stepped up to the mother (who by this time was laughing and clapping gleefully at her children's antics) and asked her very politely to take them back to their table. The mother meekly complied with the request.
Behind us was a young man who had been talking on a cell phone the entire time he had been in the restaurant. He turned out to be the father of the two little boys who were still on the stage creating a ruckus. When his order came, he walked up to our table and announced: You must be Republicans! We were caught off-guard and didn't really know how to reply to this statement. He never realized that he was talking to a bunch of teachers who were just plain tired of disciplining KIDS!
When we left, the owner (who had been looking aghast throughout the antics of the badly-behaved children) thanked us for taking the discipline into our own hands. I'm sure he'd been having visions of broken windows, broken crockery, and a lawsuit or two as the kids tore around and around through the restaurant.
http://www.ranchoalegrecuban.com/
Note: The book club may or may not have read a book when we get together. Even if we have assigned ourselves a book to read, after a few Margaritas we sometimes forget that there is a book to discuss.
Great food/bad behavior
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