For Sandy's birthday Wednesday, she, Kathie and I went out to dinner. We went to a restaurant called 1171, which opened recently. Kathie'd been there for another birthday celebration, but it was the first time for Sandy and I.
The decor was modern and warm, the service was friendly without being smothering. They had Hendrick's gin, so I had a very good dry gibson, straight up. (Thanks for driving, Kath.)
The food was excellent. Sandy and I had appetizers; she ordered escargot, I had scallops and polenta. The others had salads that were so big, I got to help with those. For dinner, I got butternut squash risotto. I've made risotto before, but it never turned out to be as good as wonderful as I'd heard it should be. This was. There was the option of adding a piece of protein, and I got a piece of ahi tuna, rare. Yum. Sandy had homemade spinach fettucine with scallops and shrimp, and Kathie got braised shortribs.
After splitting a decadent chocolate dessert, we left the restaurant in time to see the beginning of the lunar eclipse. We opened Kathie's moon roof so we could watch it on the way home. By the time we got back to my house, it was about half eclipsed. It was beautiful to watch. Strange that the edge being eclipsed seemed to have a fuzzy, ragged quality. It looked like a mouse was taking bites out of the side of it. Kathie speculated that it was because the surface of the Earth, which was causing the eclipse, is irregular. Maybe the ragged quality was caused by the shadow of the Andes or the Himalayas. I don't know, but it was neat. It started clouding over after awhile, so I gave it up, but it was great while it lasted.
Nice of the moon to do that for Sandy's birthday.
[Image from Garden Detective]
Thank you for sharing that beautiful experience! My sister SC moved with her new boyfriend into a house on Moonlight Drive that night and watched the eclipse from her new deck.
Posted by: LC | February 22, 2008 at 02:22 PM
You sound like you would be a great friend!
Posted by: Juanita La Salle | February 23, 2008 at 10:57 AM