Greek Therapy

So last night, we dropped the kids off at Nana and Grandpa's and headed out to a Greek restaurant in Astoria, Queens. Hello, Greek food. I love you! As soon as we got in the car, I immediately said "I miss the kids." There was eye rolling and a comment of "just drive!" As much as we really, really needed Saturday night out, I still missed them. Anyhoo.....

I searched this week for a place we could go that wouldn't break the bank, was out of our neighborhood and not touristy at all. I wanted a place that you would go time and again if you lived near it, but make a point of returning to if you moved to another town. I hit the nail on the proverbial head.

Agnanti. You are a keeper!

The restaurant isn't on the main strip. It's tucked away near Astoria park, with no other storefronts near it. We looked in on the kitchen from the street as we walked to the door. That to me, is important. If you're willing to let me look at the kitchen, chances are it's going to be clean and food that falls to the floor will go to the rubbish bin rather than your plate. That was the first sign this was a good place. The second was the number of Greek people eating there. The third was the fact that nearly every table from the time we sat down until we left almost two hours later, was filled with families, people on dates and friends out for a good meal.

We ordered lots of smaller dishes from the menu, instead of a salad and entree like the boring married people we usually are. So, we tried bourek, which is puff pastry filled with ground meat, stuffed grape leaves, tomato and herb croquettes, saganaki, a baked cheese dish that has the consistency of melted mozzarella, the nuttiness of swiss and the bite of feta. Then there was tzatziki, lovely garlicky tzatziki, made with real, thick, Greek-style yogurt. With all this food and wine, and an unrushed atmosphere, we had hot-married conversations about real estate! Flood insurance! And property taxes! I tell you, I nearly took my husband, right there on the table.

We talked about possibilities when we finally own a home, which we hope will be sometime in the next year or two and why cape-style homes just don't work for me. We talked about Sophie, and how proud we were to hear from her teacher that she is nearly a year ahead of where she should be in her reading and that she works very hard in class and is a joy to teach. We talked about Harry, train-crazy, adorable Harry.

In short, we talked. About things. In a complete way that we don't often get to do because one of us is usually rushing off somewhere or trying to get something done or the kids need help with something or they are fighting over the remote control.

It was simply lovely.

And for those of you wondering about a little brother or sister in yesterday's comments, you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?