Sunday, May 3, 2009

A Wedding Carol

A couple of co-workers and I went out on Saturday night to celebrate a birthday.  Since they both live in the La Crescenta/Montrose area, we decided to go out somewhere near their houses.

Dinner was at Cafe Sole in La Canada Flintridge.  The restaurant is in a little strip mall next to the Regal Cinemas, where we were going to see a movie.

The restaurant is small, but they also have seating outside, which is where we dined.  Bread with olive oil/balsamic vinegar is placed on the table, as well as some tomato & basil topping.  I did like the tomato & basil (bruschetta-like) topping, and ate way too much of it. ;)  I ordered a glass of wine, and the Pappardelle dish, which was the ribbon pasta with Italian sausage, artichokes, and marinara sauce.  I liked the taste of the dish, but felt that there was too much sauce or too much of a taste in the sauce that I didn't want to have all over my pasta.  My companions enjoyed the salmon special, which was on top of vegetables, and had capers; and the shrimp linguine special, which had asparagus.  I prefer other Italian restaurants in the area, which are also close to the theater, but this is really, really close to the theater, so if you'd rather have the convenience, then it's fine.  I don't really recommend the red sauce, though.

We had decided to see "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" due to the timing of the movie, and the fact that the birthday girl is not into sci-fi/action stuff.  This is why I wanted to see Wolverine the night before, since I knew that I wouldn't get to see it on Saturday.  I figured that I'd probably see this movie on HBO or whatever later on, but it was Girls Night, so I dealt with the whole Chick Flick decision. 
  • People are rude at that theater.  One gal ANSWERED her cell phone & talked to whomever from her seat instead of leaving the room.  I was so busy being distracted by the people in back of me to talk to her, though.  The woman and the man with her gave commentary, which was funny when I thought it was just during the previews.  But no.  She kept going, and it was LOUD.  She got shushed by one of my friends, but didn't stop.  Then I turned around and asked her to please be quiet, and my friend reinforced it, but still they continued.  I couldn't take it anymore, so I picked up my stuff, apologized to my friends, and moved up several rows.  Mind you, I could still hear their laughter from there, but at least I didn't have to hear EVERYTHING, and could actually pay attention to the movie.  My friends joined me, so we were still all together.  Had the theater been full, I would have gone out and talked to an usher, but I don't know how helpful that would have been.  They were pretty busy that night.
  • The film was a cute twist on "A Christmas Carol," with the main Connor Mead being not so Scrooge-y with his, um, assets.
  • Jennifer Garner's dimples are too cute for words.  
  • Matthew McConaughey played quite the cad, but I enjoyed seeing (through the girlfriend ghosts) why he was that way.
  • Michael Douglas looked like a creepy lech in those sunglasses, but I guess that's what he was supposed to look like.
  • Lacey Chabert's bridezillaness made me wonder why the brother was marrying her in the first place.  I saw no chemistry there, but they weren't the center of the story anyway.
  • The Ghost of Girlfriend Past was hilarious, as well as the vehicle they used for traveling through time.
  • I've been a bridesmaid/maid of honor several times.  At none of those ceremonies did I expect the bride to set me up with someone for wedding weekend sex, or whatever they called it.  Were my friends just not doing their job, or is this a new thing?  
  • Fun chick flick, predictable of course, but most rom-coms should be.
All in all, I had a fun evening with my friends. I think I'll suggest another theater next time, though, especially if it's on a weekend.  Ugh.

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