Now wait a cotton-picking minute!
1. While we three usually go out together, there are occasions when I go out with one or the other, usually when the odd one out has something else going on, such as Menolly's game group. There are also times when the two of them are out doing retail therapy and take a meal together without me. What got spent at Matt's the other evening was less than the equivalent bill if I were to take Menolly to Oto for sushi on some evening when Dam-sel had other commitments.
2. Of what we ordered, Menolly would only have deigned to partake of the oysters, the dessert, and (only maybe) the wine. Her taste in seafood encompasses raw just-about-anything (even sea urchin, which I won't eat), deeply-cured fish such as belly lox or whitefish heads, and whole lobsters (she can give master classes in how to disassemble and miss no edible scrap). She is unenthused about pretty much anything else from the sea...which is a shame, since there are few better places for fresh seafood than the Seattle area.
Counterpoint: There were plenty of other choices on Matt's menu for the evening. We were just being shellfish...
3. Menolly gets plenty of extra dine-out opportunities since I frequently take her to lunch after her medical appointments...and she is not a soup-and-sandwich luncher by any means.
[grumble] I can't believe I have to defend taking my wife to dinner! [/grumble]

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Avoiding a double-post fault and getting back on topic:
Last night, with Dam-et visiting for the holiday weekend, Menolly grillled bratwurst for the four of us and I made broccoli-cheese tots to accompany them. Tonight, I am grilling a rack of baby-back ribs that will be served with BBQ beans and a tangy cole slaw. Dessert will be grilled pineapple basted with rum and brown sugar.
Love prevails.
~ Tracie Mckinney-Hammon
Change is not a process for the impatient.
~ Barbara Reinhold
Courage!
~ Dan Rather