It was a convenient time to have the family together, and it was combined with a required trip. The best thing was I felt like I got good value, largely since it was lunch and not dinner, so that goes a long way toward making it OK. But what felt the best is that it sort of fits into the budget since I realize we can eat out only SOME of the time, so we need to cut pretty deeply into our old habits. I had a feeling of being more in control since I have been scrimping more and more the last month, so a rare treat seems reasonable. That said, I know that we have lots of trips coming up that are VERY expensive largely due to eating out, so I need to keep this rare. And voila, when it is rare it is more of a special treat, as opposed to more of an everyday occurence. I still have a long way to go in improving our family's cooking and eating in capability, but I like baby steps, not wholesale change.