If you're looking for some tangible evidence of the recession, it's all around -- especially at the supermarket, where prices are going up and the net weight of the products is going down.

But if you have kids and order off the kids' menu when dining out, you've got proof right on your child's plate, where the recession and narrowing margins are making their mark, causing food to vanish.

I first started noticing these changes when Pizzeria Piccola cut the kids pizza in half. I tried to tell them that just making a smaller pizza might be a better idea. Maybe people wouldn't even really notice it was smaller. After all, it's not like we carry tape measures with us. And, if it got a little smaller, most would understand why. Times are tough.

But faced with a half moon of dough, sauce and cheese my kid asks every time, "where's the other half of my pizza?" And I see other kids asking the same question of their parents, too.

At Culver's, kids' meals come in a paper bag with a coupon for a free scoop of custard and another token. These tokens could be redeemed for little gifts or free kids meals (which is what we used them for).

On a visit there a few weeks ago, we found that the two tokens have been downsized to just one (the scoop of ice cream one).

At Alterra at the Lake last week, we ordered the kids' grilled cheese and found that the half a cookie that is part of the meal has itself been cut in half. Kids now get a quarter of a cookie with their meals, despite the fact that menu claims the meal comes with "a cookie" (which is only 25 percent true). Of course, I'm not sure I want my kid to have an entire cookie, anyway.

But again, why not make a smaller cookie and give the kid the whole thing?

My co-worker Maureen Post also has noticed that Alterra now only offers skim milk and half and half at its condiment stations. So, I guess that's the way in which adults -- or at least the adults who want 2 percent milk -- are paying the price.