a movie and dinner

I have a project for 2008 that, alas, has sort of failed already. Conrad is NOT a movie person, but I love him anyway. My goal for 2008: get him to a movie once a month. Not on average, but once each month.

We missed out on February.

I gave him a break last month, though. Instead of a movie, we attended Theatre Sports on Granville Island. I have to make some things easier for him.

In any case, today was a movie day for us, and late this afternoon we met CGat Navy Pier to see U2 3D. You know, I like U2. I have never loved them, but I've liked them. I actually didn't really know what Conrad thought of them, but oh well, he was along for the ride. And in the end, we all rather liked it. The 3D (my first time - I'm no longer a 3D virgin) was a great addition, and I knew almost every song in the film. I was impressed by how the band alone played the concert - no coterie of back up singers and instrumentalists and dancers. Quite enjoyable.

Conrad liked it too.

With that good start to our evening, Conrad offered to treat us to dinner at his choice of restaurant. He later confessed to me that he wanted to celebrate the bonus he just received, and this was a nice way to do it. Over to The Lobby with us, and we settled down to a very good dinner there.

We shared seared scallopswith Fuji apple as a starter, then moved on to a nice Pinot Noir and some good meals. Courtney's lamb was so tender,Conrad's salmon had a tasty streusel-like topping of hazelnut,and my chicken came with bacon.Bacon makes everything good, right? Of course! That's why we also shared an order of roasted Brussels sprouts with more bacon! Too bad that photo was blurry.

We opted not to order dessert and asked for a cheese plateand a half bottle of a California Syrah. At this point we were rather happy with the evening, and then the watistaff came along, cleared our plates, and set down more cutlery. We looked at each other like, "Ummmmm?" Presently, two plates of desserts as featured at the chocolate buffet were set down, with compliments from the restaurant.

You know, it's funny. Service was a little shaky, not bad. We had noted it wasn't exact or polished, but we weren't at all bothered much. If we're cynical, we see the dessert treats as a way of apologizing for what they may perceive is dissatisfaction on our part. Maybe we shouldn't be cynical, though. Maybe they just wanted to offer us a nice treat. The end result, though, was us effusively praising our server at the very end for such a fine evening. And it was. Ending on a high note, as it did, you know we'll want another movie and dinner night with CG before too very long!

finished shopping!

Well, sort of. A wee bit more to go, but we really knocked off the last major presents tonight! I met up with Conrad at his office at around 4:30, and we soon set off from there. The result? Gosh, but we're worn down, and those darn Macy's bags really cut into your hands after a while!

All of this was delightfully mitigated by dinner out at The Lobby in the Peninsula Hotel. A lovely space, and we've enjoyed it a number of times before. The menu has changed, but we made do just fine.

Conrad started with scallopsand a glass of a California Chardonnay.

I opted for the salad of arugula, Marcona almonds, roasted squash, and shavings of Manchego cheese.With this I had a glass of Naia Rueda.

We each had the pork loin for dinner,
and even better, shared a dish of Brussels sprouts roasted with smoked bacon.Mmmmm. Conrad opted for an Oregon Pinot Noir while I had a white Burgundy.

We could have been bad and eaten dessert, but we sort of behaved. Sort of. We each had a glass of a nice, lush California Zinfandel (Conrad finished mine for me). And when the bill came, it came with a dish of little cookies.Nice!

The Lobby is such a lovely space,

and it feels luxurious just sitting there, admiring the lights outside.
After that it was a moderately funny comedown to find our taxi trapped by fire engines right outside the hotel!No matter, we made it home, and once this blog is up, to bed I go!

chocolate buffet at The Lobby

Two things I know about Conrad:

1. It can be difficult to surprise him. He's sharp.
2. It's even more difficult to find gifts for him. He doesn't want a lot of things, and if/when he does, he can afford to go buy them, so he does. Don't even get me started on the whole Coach wallet affair from a few Christmases ago!

It was our anniversary yesterday, and, of course, it's his birthday today. He knew something was afoot, but what that was, he didn't know. At all. I didn't hide from him that we had plans, but when I told him that we were having dinner at home last night before going downtown, well, he really had no clue at that point.

HA!

I got him onto the Red Line and downtown a little early, then dragged him window shopping both to kill time and to mislead him a bit more. And then, at 8:30, we made our way south on Michigan Avenue. Even as we bumped into Jim and Dan on the corner by the entrance to the Peninsula Hotel, he still didn't know what was going on. He probably had a few things worked out as we headed in to the hotel with them, but he didn't know everything. My gift to him: arranging for 6 of his oldest, closest friends (and a group we hadn't had all together in quite some time) to enjoy the chocolate buffet at The Lobby restaurant, my treat.

He was surprised, and delighted. I have mostly given up buying Conrad things. Giving him experiences is easier!

Paul and Allanand Bryan and Johnwere already seated when the four of us got to the restaurant. Jimand Dancompleted the group. And me, of course!

Half of us shared a bottle of a fine Australian Cab-Shiraz, Jim ordered a scotch, Paul went with port, and John and Bryan each tried a chocolate martini. Once drinks were ordered, we made our way to the round table covered with the amazing display and started helping ourselves.

Jeph will be a little disappointed that I didn't get a huge number of detailed photos of the spread. 20 different treats (we didn't count, that's the number the waitstaff told us), most of which were chocolate. A few were prettier than they were tasty, but heck, when you can go back for more, you just get the good ones again!




Conrad and I agreed (which is a little odd for matters related to chocolate) that this was the best: the chocolate and pistachio roulade.I think it was Paul who described it as being like really good Ho Hos. I think that's a compliment.

And just when we were beginning to consider a third (yes, third) trip up to the desserts, out came birthday cake for Conrad. And that, plus a glass of wine, capped his evening!

My one (constructive) criticism: it would have been perfect if they'd had some thing chocolate and peanut butter on that table. Yes, I know, bad of me to gripe about it. As if I was hard done by last night! We came home hopped up on sugar and quite content, indeed.,

The Lobby

I got home from work and almost immediately turned around. The snapper I'd taken from the freezer last night hadn't thawed, and I was feeling lazy. Happily, Conrad is an enabler in situations like this, so a quick browse of Opentable.com (and if you're not signed up, why the heck not? Come on people!) later, we were getting ready to head down to Michigan Avenue. Dinner at The Lobby in the Peninsula Hotel beckoned. I duly showered and decided to wear my light blue khakis for the first time. Sales at The Gap are a lovely thing sometimes. Gads but I'm such a big homo.

The Peninsula is supposedly the hotel where all the stars stay, but at 6:30 on a Friday night, the The Lobby was a little quiet. A lot quiet. Ah, no matter, it's a big airy space with lots of light from the wall of windows overlooking the Shanghai Terrace restaurant, and we were able to have an enjoyably quiet conversation. Conrad got to order wine - I still have a few weeks to go - and asked for an Oregon Pinot Noir. I launced myself into the breads set out for us, and we debated our menu choices.

We've been eating very very lightly lately. Low cards for Conrad's dietary needs. Tonight I made up for it, indulging in some bread in each course. Smart idea. Conrad and I decided to order appetizers but switch halfway through, so it was a spinach salad for me - it included some roasted tomatoes, heart of palm, asparagus, and a crouton slathered with a green olive tapenade. His was a bowl of wok roasted mussels. I think he had the better choice, for while mine was certainly a pleasant bowl of roughage, his mussels floated in a fragrant, piquant broth that had bits of garlic and lemon grass in it. Springs of thyme and a few thin rings of red jalapeno offered clues to other ingredients. I was glad to switch, enjoy the juicy mussels, and especially enjoy dipping a slice of his garlic bread into the liquid.

I think I liked my dinner better, so let's call this meal a draw. Conrad ordered the grilled salmon. I thought it rather a plain fish - I think it was Atlantic salmon, an inferior fish to something like a good sockeye - with nice sides of tomato and olive relish and sauteed spinach. He liked it, though, and washed it down with a second glass of the same wine. Mine was the roasted monkfish: crispy topside, floating in a crab pot-au-feu broth that wasn't at all spicy as promised but was more than tasty enough regardless. Alas, only one crouton to sop in the soup, drizzled lightly with rouille.

No dessert for us. There was a buffet of chocolate treats just set out nearby, and certainly they were lovely, but we behaved after indulging through dinner. I DID have rabbit food, on the other hand, so kudos to me. No, I musn't joke, I really liked the salad, simple as that.

What then? Over an hour spent browsing at Borders. And now home to cap the night with, well, this. LOL. Well, there are worse ways to spend a night!