I had a {parenting} moment

This past weekend Jason had the opportunity to go to/speak at the M3 Summit in Atlanta. The conference was touted as the man's BlogHER, and I can honestly say I was thrilled that he was going to have a slice of the fabulousness it is when you are good friends with your twitterblogger friends. But, it also left me in an interesting spot. Home. Alone. With the 2 kids.

I know a lot of moms that do this weekly or a few times a month. I also have a good friend who's husband is on his fourth deployment to the middle east - and is going to be gone 9 months total. And honestly? I don't know how you all do it. I'm going to make myself feel better and say that you must have more of a routine down or something, because in all fairness, I almost lost my shit this weekend. 

Last week Rock On Mommies posted about disciplining your children, and I am SO right there with her. But my question is WHO are these moms that can tolerate their kid's bad behavior without screaming or time-outs? What are they on that they can calmly ignore the tantrums? And, where do I get some?

Blame on all the recent changes in his life, or being overtired, but Saturday did not start off well for Lucas. Within moments of waking up he was crying about some toy not working. He perked up a bit after breakfast, so I thought I could run into Target and get a few much needed items like toilet paper and milk. Well, we never even made it past the $1 aisle. 

Between Zoe refusing to sit in the cart and Lucas not putting down some Styrofoam sword, I was already on the edge. Then Lucas takes the sword (that I had told him 6 times to put down) and smacks his sister on the back with it. While I did need to get things, I made the parenting decision to leave the store immediately. I picked Zoe up and grabbed Lucas' hand and started to walk out of the store when he flopped on the ground and started kicking like a 2 year old. I was mortified. I grabbed his arm, pulled him up and walked out the door and through the parking lot all while he was screaming at the top of his lungs "OW MOMMY, DON'T HURT ME! YOU'RE GONNA BREAK MY ARM! MOMMY DON'T HURT ME! DON'T BREAK MY ARM!"

On the verge of my own tears, I put both kids in the car, slammed the doors closed and stood there taking deep, "calming" breaths. Repeating to myself "I can do this, they are MY kids, I can do this" I go to get in my car and I look up to see a Mom with two kids staring at me. I then realized that this woman was in the $1 aisle with me moments before, and had actually followed me out of the store. I looked back at her and she looked away, as if she was looking for her car, and it hit me - she was worried for my kid's safety and had followed me to see if she needed to intervene. 

What, a bitch. 

In my opinion, I did the best parenting move I could do. All parenting books tell you to follow through with your threats and remove the child from the situation when they are having a meltdown. I resisted the urge to yell at her "OH DON'T TELL ME YOUR KIDS NEVER HAVE HAD A MELTDOWN AT TARGET!" and I just took another deep breath, drove home and put my kid in the biggest time-out he's ever had. 

But it got me thinking about Theresa's post and the question of when did it become a bad thing to discipline your children? When did any and all parental disciplinary action become synonymous with being abusive?

Lucas and I had a long talk and the rest of the weekend was salvaged. While the milk and toilet paper had to wait until Jason got home on Sunday, I still stand by parenting decision - because it was MY decision.

And I'm the parent, goddammit. 

iPhood: Chef Rich Sweeney's R Gang Eatery

A few months ago at the San Diego Influence Awards, a few of us from the San Diego "Momfia" totally accosted the cutest guy in the room and tried to talk him into letting us adopt him and make him an honorary Mommy Blogger. Theresa from Rock on Mommies and I then spent the next few months internet stalking Aaron Hier (or @AHizz as he's known by his adoring fans), like a bunch of 12 year old's would stalk Justin Bieber. Yes. It was kind of pathetic. But our efforts paid off in the end... and a few weeks ago we got the invitation we were waiting for.

One of Aaron's best friend's is Chef Rich Sweeney (of Top Chef Season 5 fame), and just last month Chef Rich opened his new restaurant, R Gang Eatery, in Hillcrest. Being the Top Chef uber-fan that I am, I was THRILLED when Aaron invited us to dinner at San Diego's hot new restaurant and got downright giddy over the propect of meeting Chef Rich in person. 

Drinks and Apps

We began the evening with R Gang's signature cocktail, the "Prickly Pear Margarita". With habanero-infused vodka and pear lemonade, this drink was definitely "prickly" - and that chili flavor hits you in the back of the mouth as you swallow. Of course, it didn't stop me from DOWNING mine. For the appetizer, Aaron ordered us the portabello fries. Now, I'm not a huge mushroom fan, but I am a huge fan of fries, so I gave them a whirl. And politely had to stop myself from scarfing up the rest of the plate and leaving none for my dinner-mates. 

Dinner

While both Theresa and Aaron had the fab looking burger with TATER TOTS on the side (yes, TOTs, which almost swayed my decision) I decided to go with something a little different. I had a hard time deciding between the Mac n' Cheese and the Chicken Curry Pot Pie, but thanks to the suggestion from our totally a-dorable waiter Terence, I went with the Chicken Curry Pot Pie. And I was SO HAPPY I did! While apparently the burgers at R Gang are good enough to turn a vegetarian into a meat-loving sinner, the pot pie was more unique in its flavors and was very well seasoned. Oy, how Tom Colicchio of me to say...

Dessert

Now, if you are as obsessive about Top Chef as we are around here, you may remember Chef Rich's shining moment - when he was asked to pack his knives and go for making S'Mores for the Foo Fighters. And as a nod to his last night with Padma, you better believe that there are delish S'Mores for dessert at R Gang... along with banana pudding with homemade Nilla wafers covered in chocolate, and strawberry rhubarb cobbler. And yes, we did order all three. NOMNOMNOM.

The DISH.

The food, the drinks, the adorable waiters all put this restaurant high on my list. But really, I was a bit star-struck and could not get over how amazingly gracious Chef Rich was. When things slowed down a bit, he took the time to hang out with us and talk to us about his Top Chef experience. Being the TV whore that I am, I was practically squirming with excitement. 

First thing, the thing I know you all want to know. Yes, it's not just your television: Padma is smoking hot. Rich said there was something about her...she is fabulous in every way. He also said that Gail has the most amazing palate he's ever met. He said you could put a pinch of something in your dish and she would catch it. Tom was hilarious and had a great personality, and Toby Young, who can come across as the harshest of the Top Chef judges, was actually a really great guy. Chef Rich also had nothing by praise for his fellow contestants, and told us that they are kinda like a fraternity; only people that have been on Top Chef can truly understand the experience.

Rich answered our questions about where they went after they packed their knives ("Elimination Island", a secret location where the eliminated chefs are sequestered until the regular season wraps up shooting) and talked about how hard it was not to be able to tell your friends and family where you went off to for 5-6 weeks - even after coming home. 

Chef Rich was honestly one of the nicest people I've met in a long time. He was open, sincere and the type of guy you would want to sit back and have a few drinks with. We talked about his love of bacon, and I tried to impress him with my Bacon Cupcake/Bacon Toffee achievement, which he immediately topped by hinting at the BACON MADNESS that he's perfecting for his new brunch menu, along with chicken n' waffles and his build your own Bloody Mary/Maria option. Drool.

The evening was a blast, and while in the beginning Theresa and I may have wanted to adopt Aaron, now we are just hoping he and Rich will adopt us!

 R Gang Eatery

3683 Fifth Avenue - Hillcrest

Dinner Tues-Sat 5-11PM & Brunch Fri-Sun 9A-3PM