This month’s issue of Northern Virginia Magazine features three pieces involving our family. Most notably, Ge Ge was a dueling food critic with the magazine’s resident food editor and critic, Stefanie Gans. Featuring Ge Ge wasn’t an easy decision for the hubby and me. We’ve always known he’s a great eater, but we worried that at age four, he might not be ready to tackle a commentary about food. We warned Stefanie that Ge Ge could clam up, or maybe he would just decide not to eat on the appointed night out of stubbornness. Plus, the restaurant that she chose, Airlie Garden Bistro in Warrenton, Virginia, wasn’t exactly a hop, skip and a jump away from our house.

On the night of the dinner, Ge Ge and I loaded up into the car and inched along I-66 for over an hour and a half. Along the way, he peppered me with questions. “Are we going out to the jungle?” “Is this closer or further from Charleston?” “Do you think they’ll have dessert at this restaurant?” “How many deer do you see?” I answered every question, then asked more of my own, mainly to keep both of us distracted from the mind-numbing speed at which we crawled.