It’s coming up to our anniversary and hubby and I have been making sure we spend lots of time together recently. Every marriage goes through times when you are like ships that pass in the night- when he walks in the door just as you are heading out and there is the ‘kid handover’ in the middle, but lately I’m happy to say we’ve had some lovely quality time together, and last weekend was one of those times.
The children were staying at Grandma’s house so after I’d dropped them off, I went back home to change out of ‘school run’ clothes and see if he was home from work. Once we were ready, we went off to Frankie & Benny’s for a meal out, as I’d been sent a voucher to try the new Specials menu. We were both really hungry and everything looked lovely but we wanted a nice, filling starter so we plumped for the BBQ pulled pork potato skins.
The starter came with a pot of sour cream and as I didn’t need the whole amount with my skins, I saved the rest for my main- this was a genius move as my Philly cheese steak sandwich tasted awesome with it! The steak sandwich comes with fries and coleslaw, but with a bit of sour cream on the side too, it was out of this world! I’d recommend asking for a little pot of sour cream to enjoy with it – or just do what I did and save the one from the starter! Here I am enjoying my sandwich:
Hubby knew what he wanted straightaway, he chose the meatball Siciliana calzone. This was a meaty folded pizza- he has a physical job so when he comes home he needs feeding! This fitted the bill perfectly. Here he is eyeing up his meal…
We both really enjoyed the new Specials menu. There were other dishes like Ranch burger and Chicken carbonara bake plus the Cajun mushroom pizza also sounds nice. I think I’ll try that next time. I’d like to report back on the desserts but to be truthful, we were both so full after the two courses that we didn’t have room! The Specials menu is available from Sunday to Friday and costs £10.95 for two courses. To add a third course it is an additional £2.25 so we thought it great value and the restaurant was full.
What better way to end a couples night after enjoying a nice meal than to watch a great comedy and laugh together. This is exactly what we did when we watched the new movie that is coming out on DVD and Blu-Ray, This is 40. Here is the box:
The film is touted as a sort of sequel to ‘Knocked Up’, but I have to say I enjoyed it a million times more than its predecessor. We both laughed in recognition many times during the film, from the husband Pete (Paul Rudd) who escapes to the toilet with his iPad and won’t stop eating muffins, to the wife Debbie (Leslie Mann) who enjoys singing to A-ha and lies to the doctor about her age!
Here is a shot from one of our favourite bits of the movie:
In this scene the parents were called into the school office after the mother of a student complained that she’d been assaulted by the couple. They played it innocent and the other parent looked like a crazy person, cursing and shouting. I can’t do it justice here but it was freaking hilarious!
Another comedy moment that made us chuckle was when Debbie and Paul lock the door to get intimate and the kids start banging on the door for ‘Mum’! Paul shouts “Mom’s busy!” but the kids won’t stop yelling and banging – it’s like they have radar! It’s a scenario that many couples with small children will recognise!
Here is the whole family:
Also, don’t be tempted to watch the movie with your young children as I did! Kids like to watch kids on TV so I decided to let mine start to watch the movie when it came in the post but I soon changed my mind after the first few minutes when the first scene was Paul and Debbie getting it on in the shower! I had to swiftly turn it off and answer a “Mummy, why are they naked?” question!
We could totally relate to this film, and have been quoting it and laughing about it for days since we first saw it. I’ve watched it twice now, and will watch it many more times again – it has become one of my favourites. In fact, enjoying it as much as I did has made me want to go back to ‘Knocked Up’ and give it another chance, now I feel I know these characters better. But it may just be that on its own, it is a brilliant film. I have to admit, I was like this with Sex & The City. I enjoyed the second film much more than the first as I felt the storyline and characters were more mature and I related to their issues more.
This is 40 by Universal is a feel good, funny and very watchable movie for anyone who is approaching this big birthday! The DVD and Blu Ray are out to buy on 24th June.
Disclosure: The DVD and the meal out were given to me for the purpose of this review and all opinions are my own. Thank you to Universal and Frankie & Benny’s PR people who made it happen.
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