The Birthday Dinners Continue

I spent my first Furlough Friday doing absolutely nothing productive, and felt really guilty about it because I was supposed to at least have the house cleaned before Mo & Lo arrived.  It didn't help that Mo got here early, but at least I was dressed, and she was tolerant of my continued tidying.  

Mo & Lo and I went to BASIL to celebrate my b-day, and I realized that I hadn't been there in a few months.  I had really missed it, and didn't even care that I had Thai food at a business lunch the day before, because I had been really wanting to go to BASIL.  So we ate our yummy food (we are loving the salad with its touch of coconut flakes).  I had Tom Yum soup for the first time and LOVED it.  No wonder I have so many friends that like this stuff!  It's like Filipino Sinigang.  I absolutely had to have my go-to dish, and we had a noodle dish, and all was happy and well.

Mo wasn't feeling her best, so she went home and Lo and I went to see "Slumdog Millionaire."  We enjoyed the movie very much.  I didn't want to eat my m&m's for much of the movie due to some very unappetizing scenes, but I really liked the story.  I like stories about love and destiny anyway, but this movie had a way of telling the story with flashbacks and I liked that a lot.

The next day, Kathie and I went to Todai for Japanese buffet (she had never been, and I was craving Japanese food).  While Kathie was in the restroom, one of the waiters went around to the tables to let us know that the lobster had just been cooked, and we should hurry up and get some before it was gone.  Luckily, Kathie returned to the table shortly thereafter, and we were able to get some lobster.  They had fresh crepes available for dessert, and I opted for strawberries and bananas in mine, with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and a drizzle of chocolate sauce.  Mmmm....

We went to the movie theater and only saw one movie playing at a convenient time for us.  Since neither of us could remember what "New in Town" was about or the actors involved, we went to Guest Services to view the synopsis and realized that it was the new Renee Zellweger/Harry Connick, Jr. movie.  We were going to go ahead and watch that, but then realized that "The Reader" had started just a few minutes earlier, so we opted for that instead.  Kate Winslet is amazing.  The story itself was quite intriguing.  Neither Kathie nor I could figure out where the affair was leading to, and I kept thinking in my head about a plot point that I thought had been involved.  Then I thought, "Isn't it *this* movie?"  Then it happened and I felt better.  I also had forgotten that my Joseph's bro was in this movie, and when Ralph Fiennes was shown on screen, I almost blurted out loud, "That's Joseph's brother!" but thankfully refrained from my wackiness.  The movie was very well done, and I had guessed what the kid had been in denial about early on, but that didn't make it less emotional for me.  I'm always affected whenever Auschwitz or any concentration camp is shown as it reminds me of a tour we took when I was on a choir tour.  That particular tour made me appreciate my life as an American when I was an idealistic college kid...but that's for another post someday.  Anyway, I was right to avoid this film when I wasn't feeling well last week.  It's quite depressing, and also uplifting.  Does that make sense?  There's also a lot of nudity.  LOTS of it.  So if you can handle all of that in one movie, by all means, go.  I now want to read "The Lady With the Little Dog" by Anton Chekhov.  Maybe you will, too.

So it's February now.  Time to celebrate other people's birthdays.  Thanks, again, everyone, for such memorable evenings.