The Meat Mountain

My youngest son told me that the only thing he wanted for his birthday was a Meat Mountain from Arby's.  Teenage Son has been online lately researching "secret menu" items from different restaurants and this thing, which comes with every meat on the menu captured their imaginations.

How often can you make your little boy's birthday dreams come true for ten bucks? He did get a couple of other things, but I'm sure this is the present that's going to stick in his memory.

I called the local Arby's to make sure that we really could order this thing, then we went onto Youtube together and watched videos. There are a lot of them.  (According to people who've weighed it and done the math, this enormous thing actually has less calories than a  lot of other things my boys are likely to eat and costs less than buying several smaller sandwiches. Not that I was fussing over calories or cost when it came to this once in a lifetime splurge.)

It turns out that a Meat Mountain is just about enough food to stuff a fifteen-year-old and a ten-year-old, with a couple of sample bites for their mom. According to the boys, "a different meat flavor dominates every bite" and "Oh God, it's even better with Arby's Sauce!"   I'm so glad I bought him that sandwich.

I'm guessing that the moms who are all excited about providing their children with experiences instead of physical gifts didn't have this sort of thing in mind. But it works for us. After lunch, the boys spent the afternoon swimming (he's finally tall enough for the water slide!) and climbing the rock wall at the Kroc Center.

Sorry the pictures aren't great, but I really wanted to share the story.