Bliss! Joy! Salmon!!

voltee ♦ February 10, 2011 ♦ 2 Comments

Item: Dress Color/Fabric: Blue/green/purple, silk Designer: Max Studio Where Purchased: A consignment shop in Perrysburg, Ohio Years Owned: 1

I had a lovely evening last night. I had no rehearsal for anything for the first time in what feels like months, and so Nate and I went on a date. It was our first proper date since Spain. On second thought, I guess that it wasn’t really all that proper, as I was wearing yoga pants and running shoes. I didn’t get home from work until 7:30, and was too hungry to worry about proper attire.
In 45 minutes, I ate more than I have all week. Combined.
It was magnificent.
We really don’t go out to eat all that often, because Nate likes to cook and is very good at it. Which is a wonderful thing, but means that our kitchen constantly looks like a tornado went through it.
So going out to dinner is a much appreciated treat.
Of course I started to think about the last fine feast we ate together (outside of the many multitudes in Spain).
It was in July, our tenth wedding anniversary.
Ten years!
In one thought, it feels like a blink of an eye. And in the next thought, a deep ocean of time has passed.
A decade of marriage.
I remember thinking about what it would be like to be married, and the tenth anniversary seemed like such a milestone. Monumental.
In actuality, there was little circumstance, and hardly any pomp.
We didn’t get each other gifts, because we were saving for Spain.
We didn’t have time to write elaborate cards in the secret language of the heart.
We were simply too busy, both working full time and rehearsing for The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
But we at least eked out a few hours for dinner.
I wore this dress for the first time. It was something I had picked out with my mother at her favorite little consignment shop, and even though it was new, with tags, it was a fabulous deal. I find consignment shops are hit and miss. Sometimes you unearth little diamonds for the price of a piece of coal, sometimes they ask for $20 for a used Old Navy sweater. It’s odd.
Anyway, I put on the dress, moving quickly, since we had to be at rehearsal, and these shoes, which I love:

I love the chunkiness and architectural curve of the heel, and the vividness of the green.
I asked Nate where we were going.
“I was thinking of trying this place in the Entertainment Book, Louie’s Fine Dining.”
A little bell started ringing in my head.
First, I wasn’t that excited about the idea of using the discount book on our Epic Anniversary, but I was willing to cope, since we were saving for Spain.
Two, I am a little scared of places that put ‘Fine Dining’ in the title. That’s one of those things that should go without saying. If said, I tend not to believe it.
“Maybe we could just go to Le Canard,” I suggest hopefully.
Nope. Nate had his heart set on Louie’s.
We used the navigation system to find it, and it looked like it was very near to my work.
The bell in my head gathered intensity.
“But I’ve never heard of it,” I say warily. “If it was good, shouldn’t I have heard of it?”
Nate clung to his hope, saying that it was probably a hidden little gem.
Then we found it. In the Holiday Inn.
By this time the bell in my head had turned to an actual siren. I did not want to go to a restaurant at the Holiday Inn on my tenth wedding anniversary. Not to sound snobbish, or anything, but, no.
We ended up at Le Canard after all, and it was perfect. We opened the door, and were transported to a cozy cafe in Paris. I had vichyssoise, and the most meltingly delicious salmon I’ve ever had.
Dinner magic.
A few weeks later, we did brave Louie’s. It was not bad, except for a moment when an employee came out of the kitchen and grabbed some carrots from the salad bar with his bare hand.
Fine dining, indeed!
Now about this dress. I know there are wrinkles, but try to look past them. If I wear it again, I will steam it. Which, ok, might put a damper on the wearing it again thing. But it’s sweet, and a nice little summer frock. Hmm.

**This is pretty, but I’m not in love with this. I can let this one go. Any takers?