Restaurant Review: Ayur-Shri (Way kid friendly!)

So I don't normally "review" restaurants but we had such an amazing experience tonight I felt compelled to let you know about it. If you live anywhere near the southcoast of Massachusetts you need to check out Ayur-Shri. It is a cute little Indian restaurant on Route 6 in Dartmouth Massachusetts near New Bedford. Whenever we visit my parents in New Bedford it's a constant issue of where we can eat as NB isn't the most vegan-friendly place in the world. We normally end up at No Problemo Taqueria which is AWESOME but it's nice to mix it up sometimes. Not only was Ayur-Shri really delicious and authentic Indian food that's on par with pricey places we've tried in Boston it's also WAY KID FRIENDLY!!!

We walked in on a Saturday night at 8 PM with our family and our BFFs Uncle Will & Aunty Jill and instead of being met with eye rolls we were asked if we'd like to sit in the "family room". We were not forced it was a choice which was nice! Of course we took them up and were directed through the dark restaurant to a small room with four or five tables in a well lit back room. We were far enough from the regular dining room that we didn't feel self conscious about Sierra's giggling or Tozzle playing. Not only was the family room an awesome accommodation but without asking they brought her a small plate, small spoon and a paper cup w/ lid and straw. The waitress was patient, nice and very attentive despite being in a back room with no other customers.

Some photos I stole from their website since like I said we went pretty late and it was dark.

Being kid friendly was totally the winner for me at Ayur-Shri but in addition they are also super vegan friendly. They had a clearly marked vegetarian section on the menu and also had little icons indicating which things had dairy in them and also another icon stating "Can be made dairy free upon request".

My dinner + my beer :-) BOTH AWESOME!

Like I said this is not a restaurant review website but I felt the need to let anyone in that area who has kids (or perhaps vegetarian / vegan diet restrictions) know that they should totally check this place out for a great night out with your family full of great food, awesome service and 0% scowls at your loud toddler! -Craig


Links:

• Website
• Twitter
• Facebook

Cute kid video of the day...

Are YouTube Ads just NOT targeted at all?

DISCLAIMER: Sometimes when Sierra is upset in the car I let her watch YouTube videos. GUILTY AS CHARGED. If letting her watch the Sticky, Sticky, Sticky Bubble Gum, The Bus Song or The Duck Song (her three favorites) once in awhile means not having a screaming toddler while in bumper to bumper Boston morning traffic then so be it. ANYWAYYYY...


So something I've noticed a lot is how un-targeted the ads are. What makes YouTube think that someone who wants to watch "The Bus Song" 4x in a row wants to see an advertisement for Shock Top Beer? It's gotten to the point where I don't think YouTube is even an OK thing to let her watch these videos on. I've seen ads for sexual and violent movies, Trojan condoms and this morning the beer. Google is normally pretty on-point with their targeted ads (for example I always get ones for soccer, portuguese themed t-shirts and tattoos) but the Google-owned YouTube just doesn't seem to get the same ad-targeting functionality. I'm not mad about this by the way, lets make that clear, it's my job as a parent to make sure my child isn't seeing things we deem inappropriate. This post is just a simple observation about the disservice they are doing to their advertisers. If they advertised "Baby Alive" or Cookie Monster Pajamas before these videos they'd probably have better luck getting my money. Sierra isn't begging me for orange flavored beer any time soon (I hope). Anyone else notice this??

It's official: My kid likes going to daycare.

In September we left the big daycare center we were at and switched to a small home daycare. You can read about the transition here. We noticed an instant change in "drop off time" from everyday ( for nine whole months): screaming / crying / pleading for us not to go to bearable half and half ratio of happy & upset (an improvement in my book!). Well March was the month. March was the month where everyday she is happy to go, says "Bye bye Daddy have a good day, Love you!" and waves as I exit with no issues what so ever. It's been a solid three weeks without one tear at drop-off. I don't pick her up at 3 but from what Lauren tells me it's gotten to the point where she doesn't even want to leave! On the weekends she randomly sings a song that goes something like "Gabbbbbie Maggggggie Gabbbbbie Maggggggie" and tells us she loves them. (Gabby is Sierra's daycare provider and Maggie is the other little girl at daycare). 

I am overjoyed that Sierra is in a place where she's feels happy, comfortable and loved. GO SIERRA! -Craig

In honor of my little independent woman here is today's Thursday Tunes: