the carrabba's effect

ver christmas break i went to lunch at carrabba's with my mom and sister ellen.

have you ever been there?

go.

go now.

order the chicken marsala.

it didn't really cross my mind that chicken marsala is made with marsala wine. not only do i not drink alcohol (ever), but i was 6 1/2 months pregnant at the time. and in case you didn't know, pregnant women are not supposed to drink alcohol. but the chicken marsala is that good people. it's worth risking fetal alcohol syndrome for. (okay, i'm kidding, don't go getting all mean commenty on me, it's just a joke. i recognize there is nothing funny about FAS and the joke may have been in poor taste. i'm leaving it. deal.) it didn't even cross my mind that i might not order that. there's nothing else to order. IT'S THAT GOOD.

in addition to our meals, all three of us ordered a specialty drink. mom and i got frozen mango lemonades and ellen got a raspberry one. one taste of that bad boy and i was hooked. i guzzled the thing down in a matter of minutes and thought,

"best drink i've ever had."

mom and ellen were slower in getting to their drinks. a few minutes after i finished my drink ellen tasted hers and said, "i think this might have alcohol in it?" my mom hadn't heard her say it and we all just kept eating and talking. a while later my mom tasted her drink and said, "i think this has alcohol in it." i started to laugh, and we took turns testing each others drinks. mine was long gone so we can't be sure...ellen's and mom's most definitely were alcoholic. i'm assuming mine was as well, since my mom and i ordered the same thing at the same time...i just drank it too quickly to notice.

so it turns out the only time i do imbibe is when i'm pregnant.

and man, was it goo-oood.

it might also explain why i yelled out "screw you, grandma!" during lunch so loudly that the ladies at the table next to us gave me shocked faces and serious maddogs. but that's a whole different story.