After an arduous week of work, it’s great to dine out on the weekend with friends or family. Once we’ve found a great restaurant, we know what we want on the menu and what we would like to try. We know what the service is like, as well as the quality of the food and what the prices are.
But to find a great restaurant is a process in itself. Sometimes when we show up at a restaurant we haven’t tried, the waiting time is long (isn’t it crazy when it’s an hour or more!) and who has time to wait that long to be seated?
We can search for restaurants online or hear about them through word of mouth. Reviews online can give us an indication as to what the service and food would be like. But we still need to go to the restaurant and try out the food to really know if it’s good. The experience can be a hit or a miss.
Trying out a restaurant is like taking a gamble on something. We don’t know the result until we try it. But that’s the at the expense of our wallet–and time.
But another question we might ask is if we really need to dine out or if we should dine in? This might depend on our budget, or if we prefer to cook at home. We might prefer to know know where the food came from, as well as how it was cooked.
The decision to dine in or dine out is one where we balance practicality and the yearning to eat outside our home. It’s great to be able to relax and socialize with friends or family at a restaurant if we’re feeling the need to get out of the house/apartment. Also, choosing the right place is important so that our experience isn’t spoiled by poor quality or service.
But it’s also great to eat at home, to put time and care into the preparation of the food we will eat. When we try a recipe for the first time and it turns out great (or maybe after multiple tries), it’s a wonderful sense of joy and accomplishment.
Fallton Havenstonne 