DATE NIGHT

Nah! We really don't call it that. We're too old school, I guess.

Anyway, we decide to break loose and go out tonight. Dinner at an upscale steak place and then a movie--Hereafter with Matt Damon, (CA has a coupon! I hate coupons, but they do work.) Only thing, on our way there I note that the coupon has expired. CA is incredulous. He read it wrong

Alternate plan is a chain steakhouse, which will remain nameless because we love it there almost every visit and will go back. We get right in--there's a two-top in the bar. After a few minor waitstaff blips we peruse the menu and settle in with some warm bread and salad. Eventually our entrees arrive--a burger and fries for CA and glazed pork tenderloin with garlic mashed potatoes, and skinny green beans for me.

Except, my first bite of the pork is a disappointment and then the green beans are greasy (?!). I try another small bite of the pork before commenting to CA. He reluctantly tries a bite... He offers to trade his burger for my pork, but I insist now that I've adjusted my taste expectations I'll do fine.

 Except, I don't.  I can't eat the pork. It tastes "off." I've had food poisoning twice in the past and have promised myself I will never again consume questionable food. I enjoy the garlic mashed potatoes and stoically eat the greasy and undercooked green beans. I'm not going to complain; I've had enough to eat. I over-served myself on the bread and butter.

When it's time for the check, the waitperson asks about all the meat on my plate. No, I don't want it wrapped and reluctantly tell her that it didn't taste right. We wait awhile for our check and when it comes, she's deleted charges for the pork tenderloin. I demure. She insists. We tip her well and explain that we come here often and will come back.

CA drops me off in front of the movie theater because it's started to rain a bit. He continues on to find a parking spot--just the perfect spot, I'm sure. He'll scout it out thoroughly. He's driven that way. A bit OCD...

Hereafter is sold out. Life as We Know It is sold out. Red (I'm not even sure what this is about.) is sold out. We won't be spending $20 at the movies tonight.

We drive home and CA settles in with his book and I channel surf. After quite a few false starts, I find something interesting on HGTV. Halfway through the show, there's thunder and lightening outside, and inside cable and lights flicker three or four times and then the lights stabilize, but cable is out. I wait patiently--just like the blue box on the screen asks of me. I wait, and wait, and wait...

Then, I find my book and settle in to finish reading Lowcountry Summer by Dorothea Benton Franks. Lightweight, but entertaining.

I've told CA that donuts for breakfast might erase my memory of the failures of Saturday night.