birthday plot

On Saturday night I was chatting with a couple of you (*waves*) and I told you that Brandon and I were going to go to Denny's for dinner. This turned out not to be entirely true.

Brandon said that he wanted to go to Denny's for dinner. This isn't as strange as it sounds; we are poor newlyweds, and we sometimes go across the street to Carrows, so I figured he just wanted a change. I asked if he was worried about being shot, but he didn't seem concerned.

Then, he suggested that we get dressed up to go to Denny's. "It'll be fun," he said. "We'll freak out the waitresses." I thought he was joking until he started going through his closet for slacks and a button down shirt.

I was still skeptical, but he kept telling me how fun it would be, so I went to stare at my closet to see if there was anything I could wear. Then, I noticed that he was putting on black socks and I knew something was up. This is the man that had to be persuaded to wear black socks to his WEDDING and who frequently wears white athletic socks with black slacks and black shoes to church.

So I tried to call him on it, but he wasn't going to give. We both got dressed up, got in the car, and he said, "I only know of the one Denny's -- down in Newport."

"No," said I, "there's one just around the corner on Harbor."

So he dutifully drives to the one on Harbor, but just as we reach Denny's he says, "Wow, it looks crowded. Let's go to the other one."

So we drive all the way out to the other Denny's in Newport. By this time I KNOW something is going on, but I don't know what. But then, he actually pulled into the Denny's parking lot and parked. I was very confused. We got out and walked around, and then he looked in the windows and said, "Wow, there's a scary homeless-looking person in there. Let's not go to Denny's." So we walked BACK to the car.

At this point, I was very hungry and very confused. We turned around, headed back in the other direction, and then finally, parked in front of The Golden Truffle: one of the swankiest restaurants in Newport Beach.

He had 7:00 reservations and was trying to kill time. The little sneak.

Anyway, the restaurant more than lived up to its reputation. I had roasted duck in a raspberry peppercorn sauce, and Brandon had Guinness braised lamb and we both had the blackberry shortcake with Irish clotted cream for dessert. Forget the birthday cake; I'll take that ANY day! So nice and such a surprise!!

Spend most of my birthday-day at church on Sunday for regular services and then a special evensong service. But I DID watch Labrynth, which my sister sent me, and then GoF which Brandon got me. Yay for cheesy movies!