Perception of "Normal"

We have eaten out quite a few times lately and haven't mentioned the delicious foods that I have recently tried. Still continuing with my "resolution" of ordering different foods even if we go to restaurants that we are very familiar with. I don't have pictures of the foods since the camera on my phone is quite less than fantastic.

   *After we got my new car, a bunch of Michael's family was in town (who I hadn't met before - the 8 of them had gone to Disney and Universal the days before, celebrating a couple birthdays) and we all went out to dinner that night. Fortunately for Michael, we went to Bahama Breeze. I got the Buttermilk Fried Chicken, which was laid atop my mashed potatoes "island" with a lemon sauce and black bean/corn salsa "moat" around it. 

    *Sometime ago - two weeks ago, I think? - we used a $5 coupon at TGI Friday's. Michael normally orders the NY Strip (steak), but without noticing, I have been ordering pastas and chicken a lot. That night I got the Bruschetta Chicken Pasta. The balsamic glaze was different. We also shared a piece of Chocolate Peanut Butter pie. It was soooo good.

   *Last Monday, we celebrated our new jobs by going to Uno's. I had a $10 off coupon that night. Michael got steak and I got the Herb-Rubbed Breast of Chicken with cranberry rice and mashed potatoes. It wasn't as much as I thought it would be, but both of our meals came with a breadstick that made me wish I was eating spaghetti. I bet they would get even more business if they gave a free breadstick basket to each table. Their breadsticks were different from Olive Garden though.

   *During the week I received a romantic text message from my sweet husband saying "Shnooks, I love you. We need a good date night. How is Saturday for you?" (Oh, how I blushed!) So last night we went to J. Alexander's. I thought about getting the salmon, as I did last time - I recommend it - but its a tad pricey, so I ventured out with the Rattlesnake Pasta (shown in photo & including chicken). It was an unnecessarily large amount - not even one of those menu items that has a "half or full" portion option. I ate until my jeans felt tight and my plate still looked like it hadn't been touched. The waitress even told me "oh yeah, they did recently increase the portion size to some of the meals". This paragraph here is what the title of this post is based around. The upside is that I will have pasta to keep me full for the next few days!
   *In the "Oh Happy Day" Paris blog that I was obsessed with last week, she told a story about how a girl who had lived in Paris her whole life, went to America for about a month and gained 25 pounds! Simply because the portion sizes here are outrageous.. I'm glad that I am now able to control myself most of the time.