Mother of the Year

Let me start by saying the food tonight was really amazing. Really, it was. And the service was great and my family was treated with respect. That said, we never should have gone to this restaurant tonight.

Why?

BECAUSE IT IS INAPPROPRIATE TO TAKE YOUR BABY TO DINNER AT A BAR!!!

In our defense, everything leading up to our choice to go to Sweet Fingers in San Leandro tonight made us believe that we were going nowhere other than a restaurant that also served alcoholic beverages. Their website, the fact that we bought a gift certificate from Restaurant.com, and the Yelp reviews I scanned all seemed to scream "Yes! You can enjoy all our Caribbean classics with the entire family!"

However, as we walked up to the door, my inner self started to panic and something was telling me, "You are about to make a horrible mistake." This was further confirmed when we walked in and smelled something that, how shall I say, immediately gave me the munchies.

We were greeted by a "hostess" who was, not surprisingly, confused as to why we were even there. And over the course of the next 2.5 seconds, Grant and I had this entire conversation using only our eyes as communication:

Me: Um, this is a bar.
Him: I know.
Me: We are the only people here!
Him: I know.
Me: We are the only white people here!
Him: I know.
Me: And it smells like pot in here!
Him: I know.
Me: What do we do?
Him: I don't know.
Me: Do we bail? We can't bail. Oh my God, everyone is staring at us.
Him: I know.
Me: We are terrible parents.
Him: I know.

So I said the only logical thing I could think of.

"Do you guys have high chairs?"

They did. One. It was broken.

But we stayed. Me in my cowl neck sweater, Grant in his western shirt and Converse sneakers and my very blond, very blue-eyed, VERY vocal 7-month-old baby boy. In retrospect, we probably should have left. But if we had left, we never would have gotten that amazing jerk chicken. Or the brown stew with lamb. Or a rum, sorrel & ginger beer cocktail.

Or a contact high.