It was apparently the happening dinner item on tonight’s menu in Irvington, anyway…

For the sixth year in a row, I was hosting my poor deprived friends from SW without sidewalks in their neighborhood for our annual ‘eat dinner, drink wine, take kids out trick-or-treating Halloween extravaganza.’ And earlier in the week, I’d had lofty ambitions that included a lamb stew made completely from Saturday’s farmer’s market haul.

Uh – my ‘work from home’ day went so far afield that I bailed on the stew, figuring I’d order take-out pizzas from Pizza Schmizza instead. I was congratulating myself on placing the order early – 4:30 – only to watch my projected end date slide on by as a horde of folks came in to pick up their pizzas instead.

Not only did those people order earlier than I did, but they also came bearing discount coupons – the same coupons I keep seeing in my mailbox, only to file away and promptly forget about.

Damn – I’ll need to filch a hell of a lot of Twix bars out of my daughter’s candy stash to make up for the fifty bucks I just dropped on dinner tonight. Next year? I’ll put my political conscience aside (not to mention my taste buds) and do the ‘two for Tuesday’ Dominos deal instead…