A Blog-Worthy Night, Says Gabe

(*For the record, I encouraged Gabe to write this post, since he is the one who insisted it be written. He responded that he did not have the patience and that the recording of noteworthy things in our life was my arena. So here we go...)

Last night, Gabe and I went out. Unlike most of our nights out, we weren't wearing jeans, we didn't sit at a bar, and we weren't home by 10p.m. Those facts alone make it a blog-worthy night!

We went to a grand opening of a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Wilkes-Barre. For anyone who's never been there (which is probably most people as the place is fairly new and though intended to be an entertainment destination, it isn't quite yet) the place was pretty impressive. Valet parking, a shiny new casino with about 10 or so restaurants and bars, a few shops, and of course--about 500 million people. There are no hotels there (yet) so Gabe and I deduced that most of these people are probably semi-locals. But, back to our night.

Although we had the baby-sitter lined up a week in advance, we didn't get reservations until Thursday, which meant that on Friday I realized that I needed to come up with something dressy to wear on the spur of the moment. Never a good situation for me to be in. Sure, I could have gone shopping but that would have meant giving up an afternoon at my friend Jenn's pool...which I wasn't willing to do. Since most of my dressy clothes are pre-G3 (meaning, purchased before the summer of 2006) there was a good chance that I wasn't going to find anything hidden in the depths of my closet that both fit well and was "in".

Gabe of course, simply threw on a suit (kudos to me for making him buy a new one last year). I was pleasantly surprised to find that my white pants FIT, I had a pair of heels that I forgot about, and several shirt options. None of them were super-dressy but it was nothing a pair of diamond earrings and some cleavage couldn't dress up (thank you, new Victoria's Secret bra, for giving me a porn-star uplift:) Anyhow...with both of us decked out in black and white, I declared us matching in the way that famous people match when they hit the red carpet, you know, like Posh and Becks. Gabe responded that I read too much People Magazine.

Back to the night. Like I said, we had a great time and below are several points to be noticed...

1. The food at Ruth's Chris is expensive. Really expensive. There was an appetizer that was $110...yes it was seafood, and yes it was intended for a large group but really. $110 on an entree is pricey, in my opinion, much less an appetizer. We both had wine (sickeningly sweet for Gabe and a nice dry chardonnay for me) and steak. The meals are a la carte, so we had sides of tomato and mozzerella salad (very good) and asparagus. I had a New York Strip that might have been the best I have ever had. Gabe finally had a chance to sink his hungry little teeth into a Kobe beefsteak...and he was satisfied. Gabe is rarely satisfied when it comes to food, so this was refreshing to hear (especially in light of our 3-figure bill.)

2. Our waitress stank. Not literally, of course, but she was the kind of waitress who hovered at all the wrong moments, disapeared for lengthy periods of time when we needed her, and made a lot of dumb mistakes (which would not have even caused us to bat an eye if, say, we had received our water and wine within the first 20 minutes of sitting down, which we didn't.) But it was opening night, so we forgave her.

3. In typical Lindsay fashion, I took a lot of pleasure out of people-watching our fellow diners. Behind us was an older couple who at first I assumed must have been married forever, but after watching them realized they must have been on a date. Very cute. In front of us was a multi-generational family who waltzed in dressed in t-shirts and ballcaps, very excited to be there. You just know they hit it big in the casino and came to Ruth Chris's to enjoy some steak. And my favorite couple, to the left of us, was a really cute young couple, both decked out in freshly ironed plaid shirts. The both wore glasses and were really excited to be there. So excited, in fact, that when the man cut into his bubbling steak it splattered all over him. Not to worry, his wife/girlfriend was quick as a fox and whipped out her Clorox pen. Remember that commercial where Kelly Ripa dabs her husbands shirt in a restaurant, proving that the Tide Pen will remove stains? And it fits in your purse? Okay, this was JUST like that, only it went on for like 5 minutes, despite her furious application technique. They both took the preserving of his shirt VERY seriously, and I couldn't help but snicker. Gabe told me I was mean but since our own steaks came at that very moment, we changed our focus.

4. All bathrooms should have the rotating plastic toilet seat covers. Seriously, all of them.

5. The Wheel of Fortune slot machines prove yet again to be a source of luck for Lindsay (and I generally have bad luck when it comes to things like slot machines, lottery tickets, the weather, etc.) But once again I perservered and got to spin the wheel and won $142!! Very exciting.

6. I've said it before but I will say it again--I really think getting out like this (maybe not this calibur, but "like this" meaning just the two of us doing something adult) is so terribly important. It is so nice to just relax, talk, drink, and enjoy myself without having to worry about anything. Not to say I didn't think about my little monkey many times during the night. I texted the babysitter twice, and felt a little sad on the way home that I didn't get to say good-night to him. But its just nice to get out and have a night of adult fun once in awhile.

So, the overall assessment of the night--one which saw us dressed up, spending a sinful amount of money, drinking fancy wine and eating Kobe beef--is an astounding A+!