Wow, two days in a row!

Okay, so I'm actually back again. I was surprised to look out the window this morning and see some snow on the ground outside. It's a half-day at work, being that today is New Year's Eve. Today at work I only have a couple of complaints (divorce and support) to file at the Clerk and then make a couple phone calls.

Last night was nice. Ileana and I wanted to go out to eat. So we first walked to Erawan, where I was hoping my friend Laddie would be working. But since she wasn't there, we left and walked to Grace Tavern. But there weren't any open seats there. So we walked a block down South Street and decided to give L2 a try. We walked to the dining room in the back, which had sofa benches with dark red satin all along the walls. There was swing music and other 1940s-sounding music playing. The room was dimly-lit and there were large framed paintings of portraits of women on each wall. The vibe was somewhat Eastern European or perhaps Parisian. So we had hopes that it would be a good meal. Things became a bit disappointing right off the bat when the waiter said that they didn't have many wines to choose from. Of course I wanted malbec, which they didn't have. So we had to settle for two glasses of merlot. Then when Ileana ordered a pasta dish, the guy came back and said they didn't have pasta! and that she would have to order something else. Despite his explanation that they had been closed for five days for the holidays, the idea of such a sparse menu seemed preposterous and shoddy. To top things off, when I got my chicken parmesan, the red sauce was so thin that I think they must have bought the sauce on sale at Shoprite. We really enjoyed the atmosphere (music and ambience) and the appetizers (pita with hummus and shrimp wrapped in bacon) were good enough for us to enjoy our time there. But everything else was disappointing enough that we decided that we're never going back there.

After wrapping up the check, we decided it was still too early to go home. So we walked another block down South Street to Ten Stone. We had a couple rounds of beers: two Palm Belgian Ambers for Ileana, and one Palm Belgian Amber and one Hoegaarden for me. I watched the Sixers-Kings basketball game while we talked.

Well, I hope you have a wonderful New Year's Eve tonight. Be safe. And may the new year bring you good health and happiness!