An amazing evening

Last night, we went out with friends. They arranged the evening and we went along with their plans knowing that it would be a delightful evening. Malcolm is the lead guitar player and organizer behind Metaphor -- one of the band's that Greg is in. We have dined at their house a couple of times -- they love food and love fine food so it's always a fantastic treat.


We met at Chez TJ in Mountain View -- about an hour from here. This is a very, very nice restaurant that just got a Michelin Star. That is rather an amazing accomplishment given how far off the bright lights of San Francisco it is. We knew it would be a wonderful (and crazy-expensive) dining experience but we threw ourselves into the experience and simply enjoyed it. I mean we enjoyed it. The company was wonderful. Malcolm and his wife, Eileen, are delightful, funny, kind. They have two daughters a few years older than our kids (their youngest is a year older than Ruth). We always enjoy their company. But the food. . .

I've spent the last half-hour looking for images because I thought it would be tacky to take my camera in and photograph all the food but I really wish I had (or at least taken pictures with Greg's camera phone camera). I found a few images to give you an idea of the type of food {here}. The food was truly the most amazing flavors I've ever had. You read food descriptions of subtle blends of flavors, elegantly presented dishes, wines that combine beautifully with the food. I had no idea what any of that meant before. Each bite was sublime. This was not food presented for it's snootiness factor . . . it was meant to be savored. And, we did.

The other thing that was so amazing was the service. The staff was wonderful. The food was brought out and explained as it was given to us. The staff was friendly and thoughtful and we never felt stupid or awkward. One funny moment came when the waiters cleared the table of the palate cleansing sorbet between one of the courses (it wasn't always sorbet though). The sorbet was served on oversized child spoons -- the kind with the handles that curve around in a loop. It was fun and elegant and we picked them up and used them as spoons. We missed that they had also brought us little small spoons. Everything was cleared without comment and we got a good laugh when I pointed out that we'd all missed that one. Although we all agreed we'd have felt pretty silly eating from a spoon with a spoon.

After dinner, we hurried to the Flint Center in Cupertino and got into our seats just moments before the show started -- phew! It was something completely different from the dinner. We saw An Evening with Colin and Brad. These former stars of Whose Line Is It Anyway did the most amazing evening of comedy improve. Some of the games were from Whose Line and some were not. It was delightful. We were glad to be well back from the front where there was no risk of being called up on stage. We laughed until our cheeks ached. Delightful.

We came home to an empty house as the children spent the night with my inlaws (bless them!). It was very nice to wake up this morning and feel that I had no responsibilities. A true vacation day . . . tomorrow will be soon enough to finish all the gawdawful chores that I've let pile up around here.