Big Friendly Vegan

This weekend saw my mother's 65th birthday and the corresponding surprise party. My sister organised it and since my mother likes seafood, she organised a party at a seafood restaurant. An expensive seafood restaurant. My wife, kids and I are vegetarians. Hilarity ensues.
It turned out to be a very nice lunch in many ways. My mother got a big surprise and we got to see the kids behave themselves at a restaurant. In the end my wife and I had a garden salad (I specifically said to the waitress "No dairy, no egg, and no dead things". Some restaurants have a weird idea of vegetarian) which cost us a stupid amount of money and then we had some chips for main, as did the kids (with the obligatory sauce). My middle daughter ate the chips with her fork(s) since she was so thrilled to have two forks and two knives. I don't think she has ever eaten chips with a fork before, but it was nice to see her take an experience with both hands and go with it.
To give you a idea of the quality of the seafood at this place, after the appetizer and entree, almost nobody ordered seafood for main (including my mother). Going to a seafood restaurant and ordering lamb is a good indictment of the bill of fare at Lugarno Seafood. It seems that developing a reputation means you can jack up your prices and serve ordinary food.
In the end it was a nice party for my mother. My sister learned that expensive isn't always good. My kids wore pretty dresses and didn't tear the joint up and what is better, they stayed at grandma and grandpa's house over the weekend.