Soccer Night

The boys had their first soccer meeting tonight. Winston is in the 4/5 group, and we know no other families although we did meet one mom (Carole) and briefly espied her child (Charlie). Simon is in the 6/7 group where we do know a few families, one of which has a kid on his team. Much easier to be a soccer parent when you don't have to introduce yourself to parents you've never met before and likely will never see again.

Upon checking in with the coach, the boys were each issued a “jersey” (a long-sleeved T-shirt in their team color—W: forest green, S: black—and a number—W: 5, S: 1), which they promptly donned. They’re pretty excited to kick the ball around with some other kids. It’s clean living for Saturday mornings. This week, both of their games are at 11 a.m. so we have plenty of time to go to the Farmer’s Market beforehand.

Between the two “team meetings,” John and I took the boys to Snuffy’s Malt Shop for dinner: Snuffy burgers for the parents (w/ cheese, tomato, bacon, lettuce) and cheeseburgers for the biddle boys, a chocolate shake split between the boys and the dregs for their parents, and fries for all my friends. The boys love Snuffy's, mostly because it has a crappy, candy-filled arcade game filled that always offers a prize so everyone's a winner. The parents hate this place because they make the hamburgers on a par with fast-food restaurants, and you pay extra for sides, which always amounts to an enormous bill.

Simon and I are on a mission to identify the best fries in the Twin Cities, starting in St. Paul. So far, we’ve tried one restaurant—Snuffy’s—and I put it at the bottom of my list. The fries were flabby and pale, slightly pathetic. Simon, however, thought they were good. Bless him.

Reading: At lunch: Kristin Landsrup’s The Book of Story Beginnings; in the den: Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s The Shadow of the Wind; from the library: Mark Kurlansky’s The Big Oyster

Eating: tomatoes, corn, zucchini

Watching: anything in the dvr queue (Gilmore Girls, House, Bones, The Closer, Molto Mario, No Reservations)