A post in which I eat until I hurt

Work was work. We finally got the motion granted yesterday for me to appear by telephone at the settlement conference – good thing. The guy did show up, which amazed me, but it was an absolute waste of time. He came in with no attorney, basically to poor-mouth the judge and tell him that he wasn’t able to make an offer for settlement. The judge was most solicitous, taking him by the hand and leading him through the process as you would a child, basically. Oh course to hear this guy speak, he sounded like he just got off the boat from the old country and had no idea how court proceedings worked; this despite the fact that he had owned his own company, etc. We did make an offer to settle, which made us look better in front of the judge, but he refused any offer of settlement, telling the judge he was going to “borrow some money” to hire an attorney and mount a counter-claim suit. So it was an hour and a half on the phone, on my time, for nothing. But at least I didn’t have to go to California for that nothing.

After the call was finally over, I had already heard from Fran. She was waiting for me at the hotel. With the fact that it was so late, I was starving, and had worked out four days this week already; I just skipped the gym and went to pick her up.

It’s always good to see Fran. We rode by Carraba’s because I figured I could get my scampi and pasta fix there, but there were 8,000 people on wait, as usual. So we went on over to the Peppermill. I love the Peppermill. But it’s hella expensive. Of course I wasn’t paying the check. When we walked in there was a wait, but the sommelier came up to greet me and shake my hand – he remembered me from the last visit. I was flattered, and I could tell Fran was impressed. It isn’t often you get greeted personally at one of the nicest restaurants in town!

We proceeded to eat as if it was our last meal. We started with a couple of Cosmos, and the moved to stuffed mushrooms that were quite good. Next came a spinach salad they had updated for summer with fresh bananas and strawberries. I love their spinach salads, and have been known to come in and just get two of them to take home for supper. I like the winter version better, but it was still quite good. We ordered a bottle of Pinot Noir that was recommended, but not as good as some I’ve had. It got a bit flat and metallic tasting later in the bottle. For my entrée I had lobster thermidor, because I had always wanted it and never eaten it. I was pissed at myself for not getting it the last time, but I was on a kind of date and didn’t want to get the most expensive thing there. It was very good, but very similar to seafood newberg, another of my favorites. The lobster was 2 pounds! It was huge! It was served with some haricots vert (that really should have been blanched or steamed before they were sautéed, they were a bit tough) and a gorgeously delicious orzo in a tomato cream sauce that I would LOVE to be able to make – I suspect it was made like risotto, on the stove top, reducing the cream sauce gradually with the pasta in it. Lovely. Of course for dessert we had the bananas foster, my very favorite dessert. I ended up finishing Fran’s because she just couldn’t eat any more. I myself was starting to feel like Mr. Creosote from Monty Python’s Meaning of Life by the time we left. We had spent four hours in the restaurant, drinking wine, talking, taking smoke breaks, and of course eating.

We went back to Fran’s hotel and talked by the pool until 1am. I got all caught up on her life (well the big parts anyway), and she was mostly caught up on mine. It was a lovely evening. I went on home because tomorrow I’m taking her to the Anderson Jockey Lot!