Celebrate!

Thursday was a busy day of dining out experiences. David was downtown singing for the Rotary luncheon of bigwigs at the Hall of Mirrors at the Netherland Hotel (nice work if you can get it -- he shows up, sings, leaves, and gets paid for a full shift). He blew off lunch there to meet me.

Hall of Mirrors:

We met in my building's lobby: (While it says PNC bank on top, I don't work for them). I work in the annex, the low building at the left)

We headed for Tiffany's to find a present for Alex. Alex turned 23 on Thursday, which doesn't seem possible, but -- there you are. I bought her the Venetian Link Bracelet, which turned out to be the perfect choice -- at night in the right light it sparkles as if it were diamonds.

After Tiffany's we went for a quick lunch of wraps at Roly Poly -- not exactly Tiffany-esque, but much better than a PB&J at my desk.

After lunch, we walked back to my office and he came up to see where I work. He was wearing his dress uniform, and looked very impressive. Of course, he had the gun and the taser and all the rest of the weaponry, too, which I could have done without. Oh, well.

He walked back to his car, and I went back to work. At day's end, I ran home, picked up a couple of things of Alex's and drove to her apartment to pick up Alex and Justin for dinner.

Alex decided that Pekoe's birthday is the same as hers, so she bought the silly cat a birthday present.

A fish.

In a bowl.

Swimming.

The cat is scared of it.

Dinner was costly, but delightful. The place was Nicola's Ristorante, a hip place located in Over the Rhine in an old car barn for the incline cars from streetcar days. It's a pretty special place, with fabulous food and the possibility of spending as much as $400 for a bottle of wine. We didn't do that. We had the three-course tasting menu, with wine.

The waiter brought us water and bread. The bread selection was a work of art. The bowl was about eight inches across, and was filled to at least eight inches above the top of the bowl.

There was enough bread for a table of ten people. There was a huge variety -- probably 20 different things -- and the variety was interesting. There were little one inch pillows with a filling we couldn't identify, cracker-shaped flatbreads with cucumber or tomato or onion slices baked in, slices of cake-like herb breads, crusty rolls, dark bread, light bread, you name it. Inserted into the pile of bread were reed-like breadsticks about 18 inches long. It looked like a flower arrangement. Beautiful. And delicious.

The waiter solemnly intoned that he wouldn't bring the first course until we had finished all the bread. Alex believed him.

After the bread, they started us off with complimentary champagne.

Before the main courses, they brough out a complimentary (not even on the menu) tomato and basil pudding and butternut squash soup with goat cheese. Then it began:

Seared scallop "Spiaggia" with sauteed shiitake mushrooms, Mache salad, Parmigiano Reggiano and brown butter vinaigrette; Wine: Sauvignon Blanc Alto Adige, San Pietro, 2006

Crispy Potato Gnocchi with four cheese fondue, truffle oil and truffle shavings; Wine: Rosso Piceno Vigna Piediprato, 2005 Umbria

Skinless Peking Duck Breast Confit with seared Grade A Foie Gras, pinenuts and raisin sauteed spinach, celery root puree and jus; Wine: Bardolino superiore Santa Lucia, Veneto 2006.

Justin got a little drunk from the four glasses of wine. The wine was good, and he drained his glasses. Alex and I tasted.

I really enjoyed the Rosso Piceno Vigne Piediprato - it was rich and dry and velvety. I thought the Bardolino was way too acidic, but Alex and Justin liked it. It was interesting that we had such different opinions.

For dessert, we shared an order of gelato -- hazlenut, french vanilla and pink grapefruit sorbet. Yummmmmm.

Then, the waited appeared with one more scoop of gelato, this time dutch chocolate, with a candle for the birthday girl.

When we finished, we had been at the table for nearly three hours. My credit card groaned, but I'm sure the waiter was happy with his $45 tip. He and his cohorts were amazing. Each time we were served with a new plate or glass, three servers appeared and every plate and every glass arrived simultaneusly. The choreography was precise.

As we left, Nicola, the chef, appeared from the kitchen to thank us in his beautiful Italian accent. A wonderful experience, all around.

The meal was reminiscent of Alex's 13th birthday, when a friend took us to Cincinnati's legendary Maisonette, now gone, to celebrate her arrival as a teenager. That meal ended up costing my friend over $400, much more than I spent at Nicola's. That night, Alex drank some of the champagne, and ate snails and marveled at the service and the elegance of it all. I think a monster gourmet was created that night, because she's now a foodie.

It was quite a night, and Christmas will be a little less expensive this year as a result -- but it was worth every penny. Both Alex and Justin really appreciated the experience, and the conversation was a delight. It sparkled like Alex's bracelet.

Alex had a great year -- being recruited by Harvard's theater for her internship, the great work she did there, her graduation from college, being recruited by her theatre company (and how they love what she's done for them!), her involvement at both the local and national level of her college's alumni efforts to revive Antioch College. She's flown my nest and is on her own and is being responsible and happy and so grown up. I'm very proud -- did you guess? The evening was an attempt to show her how very proud I am.

Her father phoned her, a day late, to wish her a happy birthday. But he did phone. I don't expect him to spend money on her. He doesn't have any money to spend, and never has (never a penny of child support), but perhaps he could have sent a card, or come to visit or invited her to his house for dinner. In the past twelve months, he came to her graduation, had her sing at his wedding, and hired her to show houses for an afternoon for an auction he was running on a foreclosed housing development in Kentucky. So in twelve months, he's seen her face to face maybe three times. Grrr.

Friday I indulged myself. I bought a new TV. Circuit City sold me the floor model of a 26" Sony for about $100 less than the usual price, with the same warranty, and it's wonderful. I had been resigned to getting cable or satellite, but I don't think I need to now.

I'm a PBS or Netflix person. In the analog world, I had Cincinnati PBS and a very fuzzy Kentucky PBS, plus CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, and a couple of local independents (with a lot of infomercials). Now I have CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, and a couple of local independents PLUS 2 Cincinnati PBS channels, 4 Kentucky PBS channels, and 5 Dayton PBS channels. So from two PBS stations to 11, I'm in heaven. And of course, all the channels are crystal clear. Bye-bye, analog.

Yesterday's class in Yellow Springs was again an inspiring and electric afternoon. I presented my findings on the role of women as expressed in the Qur'an, and told of my plans to contrast that with the teachings of the Haditha and Islamic traditions next week. We read some Old Testament stories in both the Qur'anic and Biblical versions to see the differences, which were subtle, and talked a lot about current Islamic behavior.

One of our class members lived in Bahrain for a couple of years and has some interesting observations. He's taking the class to better understand his experiences there. He knows nothing about the the Qur'an, or the Bible either, for that matter, so he's learning both of the traditions at once and has great questions that inspire fascinating discussions.

I'm so glad I signed up for this class. It's worth driving 150 miles each Saturday to do it.

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