"Chicken hearts anyone?"

It was a hard night for the vegetarian.

However, against all odds, she survived. There were plenty of times where she was about to throw down and give into temptation, but she resisted.

Wednesday night, the family went out to eat at Rodizios, a Brazilian steakhouse. It was on special occasion, for uncle Ron was in town and Sheridan had just recently recovered from a life-threatening illness. Grandma, Grandpa, uncle Steve, uncle Ron, Sheridan(step-mom), Justice(step-sister), and Dad were all present. Dad had warned me that we were going to a meat grill, but I didn’t mind, for I knew that a night with the Dolle’s was worth it.

And indeed, it was.

Whenever we’re together, you’re guaranteed a very fun and comical night. The dinner started out with Mmmm’s and Ooh this is good’s to be heard about every 20 seconds. My dad saw the longing look on my face, and had some sympathy. My “gourmet” foods that night consisted of deep-fried bananas, edamame, and some passion fruit ice cream! But I didn’t complain. The stories started flowing. I learned of my father’s adventures along with his brothers, consisting of fake ID’s and many other crazy things.

While trying to listen to all of the stories and conversations, I couldn’t help to notice that every time my uncle Steve would try to talk to my uncle Ron, about every 30 seconds or so he would get interrupted. My uncle Ron was like a shiny new toy! Everyone was fighting over him. And when they weren’t, Steve was getting interrupted by the waiters coming around and asking if anyone wanted a certain type of meat. It was pretty pathetic! But my uncle Steve had “his turn” a few days later when my dad went on his trip.

Another highlight of the night was the Bill Gates look-a-like sitting at the table next to us. The whole family was split between opinions based on ‘look-a-like’ or ‘small resemblance’. My dad pulled up a picture of Bill Gates on his phone and demanded that everyone looked from the phone to the gentleman, and then state their opinion. My family is so crazy sometimes :P! My dad never skips up a chance to show off his cell phone’s abilities, he thinks it’s the coolest thing!

My uncle Steve is so funny about my vegetarianism, he is always making fun of me! We all decided that I was going to make a “Garden Rodizio” that served gourmet fruits and vegetables from around the world. Not a bad idea, I thought.

Somehow, we got into a conversation about gourmet foods. Then the food “pâté” came up. I had no idea what it was, and when it was explained to me, I was far from impressed. We were all wondering why in the world it was considered a gourmet food. Did it make you classy if you were able to spread your meat on your bread? Sounds like caveman food to me!

Yet another highlight of the night was the group of 10+ bikers that came in and sat at the table next to us. While walking back from the bathroom, I noticed that one of the men had the tattoo “Justice” on his head. I told Justice and we started laughing about it, and then we told her mom. She got so excited. Sheridan is an extremely funny character. She loves telling stories and is very open to everyone about everything. She’s loving, caring, and has many cute quirks. Sheridan wanted to ask the man to get a picture of it, which sounds completely ridiculous, but like I said, she is open and outgoing towards all. The funny thing was that no one saw what the tattoo on the other side of his head said. When it was discovered, everyone was a bit taken aback and decided to.. well.. keep a nice distance away from the man. The tattoo said “Revenge”. Ron pleaded to Sheridan stating that he would like to “make it back to philly alive.” It was actually a pretty comical scene :P.

The night came to an end, and we began to pack up and leave the steakhouse. Of course, when we get in the car, I realize that I left my retainer in a napkin on our table. It surprises me how irresponsible I can be sometimes. I hurried back, to discover my retainer had vanished. I consulted the hostess, and she went back into the kitchen for quite some time. I felt horrible, I hate making other people pay for my stupid decisions. Finally she came back out, with my retainer in hand. As she handed it over, she stated casually, “I would wash it before you put it in your mouth..”. I was extremely grateful. It made me think about how kind it was of her to go through all of that work, just to pay for my mistake.

But, all-in-all, the night was a good one. I look forward to the next big dinner, hopefully with more family!