It’s been more than a year since Janeen and I went to the movies — having seen “We Bought a Zoo” a few weeks before A was born. So when I surprisingly got a day off for President’s Day as part of our newly bargained contract, we decided to go to the movies. Unfortunately we were left deciding between a Nicholas Sparks film that Ebert Roper described as “nuttier and cornier than the snack-food aisle”, a Zombie-ish movie (“Warm Bodies”) and Identity Thief. We went with the latter assuming it’d be the least risky. So after a tasty Indian lunch we used up the last our our AMC gift care we got as a wedding gift (2+ years ago…)

It was about what I thought it’d be: amusing, laugh-out-loud-funny in parts, and largely forgettable. But it was fun — and felt a bit decadent – to go to the movies in the middle of the day with my lovely wife. I’m guessing that now that A’s in school we’ll be back before a year — esp. when we have 4-day weeks in the summer!

Among the amazing, thoughtful, over-indulgent wedding gifts our friends and family gave us was a gift certificate to the Paramount Grill — a nice restaurant that we’ve occasionally had brunch at but is just a little pricier than we’d normally spend on a dinner out. For our first Date Night as a married couple we shared:

Toasted panna rustica, roasted garlic and sweet red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, olives, warmed chevré and extra virgin olive oil, and

Red Snapper with garlic mashed yukon golds