A post in which I have dinner out

Well for being so organized yesterday, I did a good job of pissing half the day away today.

I got up and knew I needed to get in the kitchen, but I really wanted to go to the flea market. I rationalized that I needed fruit for my lunch next week, plus apples for the apple cobbler I'm doing for the camp out. If I could luck out and find some locally grown apples, they would not only be better than the ones from the grocery store, they'd be cheaper. It was a great flea market day. I didn't find any glass, but I did find a new glasses case for my prescription glasses (the old one was coming apart and looked awful). I also found a beautiful peacock-fan style brass fireplace screen for $5!! I had only asked how much it was casually, expecting it to at least be $46-$60. Even though it is a reproduction, that is a steal. Needless to say I snatched it up. I went to see the gourmet food lady. I was hoping she would have some sea salt, but not today. I did get some veggie bullion cubes for cheap though. I figured with Thanksgiving coming up I always need them, and they don't carry them at the store near my house. I bought a bag of Indian River oranges for fruit for next week, and found some lovely locally grown Golden Delicious apples that just smell like heaven to use for my cobbler for the camp out. On the way home, I stopped at a couple of yard sales, just for the heck of it, but there wasn't anything but junk.

Eventually, I headed back to the house and wrestled all the stuff in. Jason called and invited me out to dinner tonight; he's going out with a bunch of friends. Of course I said yes. I was thinking I have plenty of time and can bake tomorrow. I then got into the kitchen (finally) and started working on my pound cake, the first thing I was making. The batter turned out gorgeous, but then I screwed up the cooking time and messed it up. I was pretty pissed about that. It would have been perfect if I hadn't done that. I'll have to bake another one tomorrow. I wanted to vet a new pie crust recipe I found online because I want to do a bottom crust for my cobbler, plus I needed to use up the last of the white sweet potatoes, plus since I was doing all this baking that Jason couldn't eat, I threw a sweet potato pie together. It turned out pretty, but we'll see how it tastes.

After that I got cleaned up, took to the sofa, and waited for Jason to come for dinner. He was running late, and tired after his match this morning. He lost, unfortunately, but it was a four hour match (!!) so I think he was probably at least a little glad to be out of it. It was OK, we had plenty of time. He was going to be here at 5pm, and we weren't due at the restaurant until 7:30. I laid up, and did a bit of elfing for Dad while I waited.

When Jason showed up, I found out that he wasn't just having dinner with friends. This was a reunion dinner with a bunch of people he went to high school with! Ugh. I was also going to be the only date anyone was bringing, I found out later. So I felt rather trepidatious about going, but he assured me it would be OK.

When we got there, he and the girls immediately launched into reminiscences in which of course I could take no part. But they were very nice, and the did include me in the conversation as much as they could. I found out more about what Jason had been like when he was younger - apparently he was quite the prankster, and frequently got the others in trouble. I really liked Tracey, who sat across from me. She enjoys cooking too, and I really enjoyed talking to her about recipes and stuff. We were at Sassafras downtown, and just like the time I took Mom there for her birthday, the wait was interminable. I think they have chronic kitchen problems there. We were sitting near the kitchen tonight, and it looked as if it might be too small for the restaurant. It was over an hour before we were finally served. The food was good, but it's a very noisy place too, and to me it just isn't worth sitting in that cacophonous dining room for so long waiting. I tried to interest the group in coming back to my place for coffee and pie, since we were so close, but there were no takers.

After dinner everyone split up. One of the girls had a date join her later in the meal and she went off with him. Rodney, who was there, was trying to interest the others in a pub crawl, but at that I drew the line. I wouldn't have minded Jason going with them, but they would have had to drop me at the house first. It ended up only Tracey was going with Rodney. There had been some drama because he had invited a guy to come to dinner tonight and they guy stood him up. We wished them well and headed home. Jason told me he didn't mind not going, and I took him at his word.

By the time we got home, we were full, tired, and ready for bed. Jason collapsed on the bed, worn out from tennis and all today. I popped Sunset Boulevard in the DVD player and joined him, but we were both so sleepy we were asleep before much of it had played.