Women never dine alone. When they dine alone they don't dine.

(Henry James)

Well, I can see Hank's point, because my idea of cooking is either scrambled eggs, quiche, or throwing something in the microwave (yes, usually a meal that was made in a food factory and then frozen so that I could heat and eat.) But Hank doesn't know that I also make it a point to take myself out for meals every once in a while. My favorite place to "dine alone" is an Italian Fish bistro about seven minutes from my house. (Yes, it truly is about seven minutes if you take the highway--I know this because there is also a movie theatre in this shopping center and you dear blog readers probably already know that promptness is not an inherent Sarah Louise trait.) (Yes, I do sometimes drive too fast. Yes, I am very lucky that I haven't gotten a ticket for speeding for over ten years. Yes, I am trying to watch my speed as a February resolution.)

At this bistro, the waiters treat me like a queen. I generally bring a book or a notebook (depends if I've done my homework for my writing class) and just dine. It is very nice to have a handsome youth bring me ice tea refills. I think one of the waiters remembers me, because even if he's not my server, he'll ask if I want something, like butter for my bread, or is everything all right. He's brought me more ranch dressing, for instance.

*****

But last night, I really dined. I wormed my way into an invitation to BJ's house, where every Wednesday they have sumptious meals and invite folks who are new to the OD. It sounded like too much fun to be missed, and it was! I got compliments on my shoes, my blog, and I was able to express my strong opinions on things like the fact that I HATE it when people say a movie is "cute." Why, because then you don't want to see it, asked Garret (yes, I now know a person who shares a name with the type of apartment I live in.) No, because those are generally the movies I love (chick flicks are generally described by the general population as "cute") and I think it's an insult to them to use such a non-descriptive four letter word. This is a conversation I have at the same pitch and fervor as this one: the "book is always better than the movie" comment. No no no! Sometimes, a screenwriter or director will catch the essence of a really bad book or even a mediocre book or even a great book and either a) make it better than the book ever was OR b) take something from the book that I never would have seen which makes me want to then read or re-read the book. For me, it's like different translations of the same text. Most people just read the NIV. But if you read the Jerusalem, the RSV, the KJV, the JB Phillips, you get more out of a verse or passage. It further educates you to the richness. I often will watch the movie first, to see if I want to take the time to read the book. Okay, I can't think of an example. But I love love love the Disney live action Three Musketeers (the one with Donald Sutherland's son). I should own it (why don't I own it?) but finally I got around to reading the book. Which I probably would not have otherwise done. And I discovered that I love Dumas. (Who cares that the book is so different?) A movie is two hours. A movie is a short story. You can't take a full length novel and expect to fit all the nuances into a two hour movie unless you hope to bore them to death with four hours. Okay, since it's my blog, I get to say, it's time to post a picture of one of the things I had at the meal I had last night.

(this is where you would be seeing a picture of amazing apple pie ala mode.)

Yeah. Um. Blogger and I are having a fight right now. It doesn't want to upload pictures while I'm in IE and I am not switching to Foxfire just to make it happy. I have places to be, like!

Update: I thought linking to Garret's blog would be easy, too, but it has eaten up 10 mins (well, maybe 7.5) so just deal. There's a picture of the pie.

(One of my therapists, tomorrow is her last day because the funding for her position got cut.) (Yeah, it sucks. She's a real sweetie.) (So I'm going to have my last appointment with her at 10.) And then I'm going to get fitted for contacts!! (Why, Sarah Louise, have you never had contacts before?) (Well, actually, thanks for asking, I have. And I'm fine with glasses, but when I care for babies or when I have to do "face rhymes" like

Brow Binker -- point at your eyebrows
Eye Winker -- pull on your eyes
Cheeks Cherry -- pull on your cheeeks

my glasses get in the way.)

Yes, I know I still have not blogged about Lauren Winner, but you'll just have to be patient. Alright, I'll give you this: last night, after my sumptious meal and pie, I had coffee at Tazza D'Oro with a new friend, another Marian (but she's not a librarian). We met at the Lauren Winner retreat. We talked about how much we'd like to be Lauren's friend, she's so cool. So I'll leave you with this, an excerpt from my notes from Saturday, and you'll have to trust me that there's more where this came from:

"Lauren and I have the same kind of watch. It makes me feeel we are kindred. I wonder if hers too was a gift. She is wearing black fishnet nylons and even though that doesn't really match the me I am right now, I want to go to Kaufmanns and buy black close knit fishnet stockings and black leather mules like hers."

Yes, I have a monster crush on Lauren Winner. Don't tell her, though!