Surprise Date Night

The only thing better than date night is "surprise" date night. The weekend plans were already set. Or so I thought. We were going to enjoy Furlough Friday with our friends Danica and Mia, followed by dinner with the families (theirs and ours). Saturday was shopping for cold weather clothes (can't freeze in Japan and Washington!). Saturday evening was dinner and a movie, otherwise known as a date...with my friend Lena. But wait, what's this? The Pommerenks have offered to have Gabe over? Spending the night even? Sold! I couldn't whip out the iPhone fast enough to let Lena know of the change of plans. Had it been that long since we'd gone out? Probably not. But around this time of year (excessive school events, holiday fundraising around every corner, Boy Scout this and Boy Scout that...) I've been feeling lost in all the 6 year old social events! What about me?! (yeah, yeah...I'm an only child...what do you expect?) After a day of shopping (what a perfect Saturday we had!), we came home to get ourselves ready to go out without the kid. Dinner and a movie...why get creative now? After seeing countless commercials about "Paranormal Activity" , I decided I really needed to find out what all the hype was about. We attended an early, expensive movie ($10!) at Ward, followed by dinner at MAC 24/7.

A few brief comments on both:

The movie:

I enjoyed it. It was simple and to the point. It wasn't gory or overly ridiculous like most "horror" films are. It was definitely reminiscent of "The Blair Witch Project" . Low budget. Seemed like a "reality movie" (as opposed to all those "reality" t.v. shows). The two main characters did a really good job. And I don't even know who they are. They weren't famous before, but my guess is this movie will bring them their 15 minutes of fame. My only real complaint was the wicked witch sitting behind us. A few comments to your movie going partner is one thing. A dumb, ongoing commentary on every action and non-action in the film? Enough to drive any sane person mad. So imagine how upset I was? After a good 45 minutes of biting my tongue, I finally had to "shhh" her. Needless to say it was not taken very kindly. A few cross, wildly inappropriate words were loudly whispered to me while she proved my point even further. After her rant, she must have felt she had done all the talking she could do and was actually quiet for the duration of the movie. Thanks in part, I'm sure, to the dagger looks from the guy she was with--and Isom. Thank you honey.

The restaurant:

The decor and the dessert were my two favorite things about this restaurant. I want to go back because I feel I made an error in ordering. Have you ever done this? Maybe I read it wrong or assumed/visualized something completely different in my head. Or maybe it really was just... not that great. Either way, we had crab cakes, shrimp, and calamari. You might think---how can you go wrong? Well, it was fried. Again, you are thinking, "how can you go wrong". Well, it was just too much. Too much seafood. Too much friedness. Too much batter. I would have needed to drink at least three beers to really navigate through all the fried seafood. But, seeing as how I drank my fair share for the year, on Halloween, I wasn't at all interested in drinking anything over one cocktail---even on date night. Thankfully the appetizers we ate (oh, yeah, I still ate it all) as entrees were followed by two incredible choices for dessert. If you make your way into Waikiki to go to MAC 24/7, eat these desserts! Order them first if you have too...you can always take your entree home in a doggy bag. Devil food peanut butter cup and the peach/berry cobbler. I am not a fruit person (this may be the most shocking thing about me) and Isom isn't a dessert person...we lapped them up.

Surprise date night was a success...despite chatty Cathy in the movie and frightfully fried food at dinner.