I remember when I was a young growing boy maybe 10 years old and with my Marquis-family going to a nice restaurant like uh Zorba’s or The Sole — not that Applebee’s shit !!! — I would ALWAYS, say ::: “Mom, I didn’t have much to eat this afternoon,” which may or may not have been the truth, “and I’m extra hungry tonight, so I really hope you’ll let me order an Appetizer or get something for Dessert on the menu…” and she’d probably say, “You’re not getting Dessert…”, and then my Dad would say “You’re probably -not- getting Dessert, none of us need it, or you’d have to split it with your brother…”

I was bigger and older than him, but he’d get half… 50/50

And this is when I discovered how delicious that Shrimp are…

Justin didn’t always like Shrimp, maybe because they reminded him of Crayfish which would pinch his fingers at the beach, or I’d throw one down in his bathing-suit netting lol, sorry…

But, anyways, he didn’t always eat a big Shrimp in a three or four piece, usually four-piece, Shrimp Cocktail… And there would be Mom and Dad and I splitting the four shrimp I would have expressed my love for the little creatures and the sauce on the way to the restaurant, now guess who sometimes got TWO !!! — I would drool saliva, salivating, getting a whiff of spicy Cocktail Sauce in the air, at our table, and that Wasabi taste it would give my tongue like a strange type of Ketchup… much, much better than Ketchup

If there were only three Shrimp, Mom would cut one in half and use her fork to put some cocktail sauce on her plate… to swipe the Shrimp over it and eat the crusty crustacean… MOM WOULD GIVE ME SOME BECAUSE SHE KNEW I LOVED HER AND SHE WANTED TO MAKE ME HAPPY !!!

oh THE BREAD — There would be a basket of buns before the Shrimp came, and Justin would eat a whole one with not much butter, Mom put it on the bread for Justin…

So I’d have maybe a whole shrimp and a half, or two, if four came — there would be an option for (3) or (4), the Appetizers on the Menu… And I would love how they lived underwater but were usually pretty dry, lacking wetness especially at the Sole — they didn’t let them soak !!!

Since I always wanted a shrimp cocktail — and not a side-salad – I would order a Caesar salad to eat leafy greens and stay thin for an entree ((( lettuce is cheap, so’s chicken )))x— I wouldn’t have a steak too often, except for Chuck’s that had a salad bar ,

At Chuck’s I couldn’t get a shrimp cocktail unless I wanted that to be my dinner, which I remember not filling me up… and Mom would  just shake her head and say, “No, you can ask the waiter/waitress for more bread or more water…”

Thanks Mom lol

And if there was popcorn I couldn’t get an appetizer-  it didn’t make sense to-

So four (4) shrimp would arrive at somewhere like The Ground Round next to Spag’s we’d go to the Sports/Athletic “warehouse” that was up in back of the main store where I bought a metal bat and cleats for baseball,

But at the Ground Round with the clowns I’d eat a couple big shrimp and a Caesar salad with stupid croutons…

This lasted for a while with seafood Shrimp being a starter, but eventually Mom and Dad would say, when I was in like 5th or 6th  grade, “Our restaurant ‘total-bill’ on the bill is too high and you can’t get the shrimp”… when Dad was still at Coz and the addition was being installed to the house ,

This introduced me to Mozzarella Sticks… and Mom wouldn’t have one, or maybe she did, and Dad would have either a whole one, or half and give it to me… I loved the crunch and the chewy cheese — now I have string cheese in my fridge…

Anyways, I remember Friendly’s in Auburn ((( but without Dad, he got home too late ))) when Mom would take Justin and I to the Auburn mall where I’d look at new sneakers and baseball hats in Olympia ,

If we were at the Auburn mall we were probably going across the route-12 to Toys R’ Us — there was a K.B. Toys in the mall but the video games were ALWAYS $5 to $10 more expensive there, and the action figures, G.I. Joe, Mask, Transformers… K.B. Toys was next to Sears and they had the video games that Toys ‘R Us was waiting for more copies…

They had those tags in the plastic sleeves-  you’d take a 5”x7” piece of paper with big bold print and take it to the register where a locked room of video games and electronics were kept because of people stealing…

Remember the Huffy bikes were all locked and chained to the racks ???

I had the same bike as Jared when we were young-  nowadays every bike comes with “shocks” that Mom and Dad were “shocked at the price” of my $650 Schwinn Timberwolf with Quad-10 Roxx Shocks, shocks — their cheapest set — I don’t mind that ,

I remember all the Contessa Shrimp “Primavera” freezer-bags that they’d coat the raw, grey Shrimp with a garlic butter that would melt when put on the stove, and it was such a fattening meal, at Shepherd Hill I would come home and make one, and eat half, then put the rest in the fridge to eat with dinner !!!