I vividly remember it like it was yesterday. An entire Saturday during my childhood spent doing manual labor in our large yard in Eugene, Oregon. We did everything from pulling weeds, mowing the lawn, raking leaves from the five apple and two pear trees, tending the garden and trimming the hedges. All that hard work for the small reward of eating dinner at the fast food chain Taco Time. My parents were (and still are!) smart people; have us help out and work hard all day in the yard with the measly bribe of what amounts to one small burrito.
But, I fell for it every time. I guess as a kid, you will do *almost* anything to get to eat out. Understand that having dinner out was ALWAYS a treat for me. Growing up I wanted anything but Gujarati (Indian) food for dinner which we had pretty much every day. I can only now appreciate all the hard work my mom put in to busting out a multiple course, healthy, Gujarati dinner from scratch every night of the week for us.
Taco Time