Laughing Thyme Farm: Living the Dream

Last night we had a lovely family night together.  I had a gig at the Frisky Berry in Franklin.  (http://www.myspace.com/friskyberrycoffeeco)  It’s such a cozy atmosphere that I didn’t feel weird bringing my hubby and four children to my gig.  Something that is hard is when I bring the whole FAM-club thinking that it will be a nice place for all of them to come, then find out after travelling with them there that it isn’t at all.  I’ve had a few of those…..  Yeah.  That makes it hard to sing/play. 

BUT!!!!  Last night was one of those times that we “packed” up the whole family and brought them with us with that slim hope of the venue being children-friendly.  And we weren’t disappointed.  In fact, we weren’t the only family there.  The owner had HIS family there too.  I like that.  In fact, I like that a lot.  I wanted to stay longer after my singing debute there, but I could tell the kids were getting restless.  It was about 7:45 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. and none of us had eaten any dinner yet.  And I had a craving for…..

Ravioli.  I’ve had this strange craving for ravioli for a couple of weeks now.  So we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Buca di Beppo.  (http://www.bucadibeppo.com/locations/default.aspx?location=4302)  We also like this place because it is a family-style restaurant.  Our children can be loud and it doesn’t matter because there are other tables that are somehow louder than our large-lunged children.   Okay….and me too.   I’m loud too.  :) 

Anyway, the food here is YUMMY.  It’s “family-style” so the portions are large.  They say their “small” feeds 2 people and their “large” feeds 4.  This is untrue.  And in a good way.  We got a “small” Caesar salad that fed all of us an appetizer.  Arden didn’t like it, but let me tell you– I’m picky with my Caesar salad.  Usually I find it too salty or too bland or too just-plain-nasty or they didn’t put any anchovy in it.  The Caesar salad here was perfect.  There was even enough left over for Eric and I to have seconds.  They also give you bread for a starter. Tip: Use the balsamic vinegar on it.  Always the vinegar. Mmmm.

For our main course we ordered a “large” ravioli with meat sauce and a “small” Chicken Saltimbocca.  The chicken came with three decent-sized chicken breasts.  The kids shared one.  I ate 1/2 of one and Eric ate a whole one.  (Eric- who was full before the main course came to the table.)  The ravioli was the GOOD kind of ravioli, not the nasty-groddily-disgustingly soggy garbage that comes from a can.  I shudder now thinking of THAT kind.  Gross.  This is the kind in which each piece of ravioli is about 4×4″ and filled with fresh ricotta cheese and then slathered with a meaty marinara sauce.  Yes, my ravioli craving was satiated….sort of.  Now I want some more. 

Luckily I can have some more BECAUSE the “large” was so large that it fed all of us, plus we have some leftovers sitting in my fridge.  Guess who’s having chicken saltimbocca and ravioli for lunch today?  That’d be me.  THEN because we can’t go to Buca di Beppo without buying dessert, we stuffed ourselves miserably on some darn-good tiramisu.  Every time I go to Buca di Beppo I think that I’m going to try one of their other desserts, but I always ultimately go for the tiramisu.  It’s THAT good.  And yes, one order fed us all, PLUS some. 

It’s kind of $$$ to go to Buca di Beppo, but we always leave feeling that it was worth the money.  EVEN ERIC says that…..that’s saying a lot.  Trust me.  He said it’s like three McDonald’s eat-outs.  I’d rather fore-go McD’s forever if I can go to Buca di Beppo every few months or so.   We always leave very satisfied and full, with a doggy-bag to go.  There’s always a comfy feeling of family and good times shared together too-  a feeling of home-away-from-home.