We did something crazy the other night. We left the kids and went out to dinner. First date night with just the two of us at a restaurant in a year. And if I’m being honest, we did not do date night that much before the pandemic either. But I feel like we are on the precipice of a new age! Is this parenting with tweens?? Because I am loving it.

People think that it seems scarier to leave your kids alone in an apartment in NYC, but it actually feels safer because they are not really alone. We have a doorman we’ve known forever who knew they were alone upstairs and a downstairs neighbor who was on call if they had any issues. We were gone for about an hour and a half and they had no problems. They only facetimed once during the meal to say “Hi. What up.”

We went to Toqueville which for the last year has teamed up with 15 East, the restaurant next door, to create a truly lovely outdoor dining experience. It’s a large three sided structure that is open on one side, with white cotton sheets billowing for ambiance. There is considerable distance between table and it felt very  COVID-safe.

The restaurants combined their menus so the options were a variety of French-American and Japanese dishes. I don’t know if these restaurants serve the best food in the world or we just haven’t had a meal cooked by a professional chef in forever, but every bite tasted like HEAVEN.

Even better, Toqueville is normally a jacket and tie place and we got to eat in puffer jackets, sweatpants and hats, which honestly is a way better experience!