Country Mouse in the Big City

As promised, here is my follow-up regarding dinner Monday Night.

You will recall that I had a terrible day dealing with PG&E and my crying fit. Well, after they were all gone, I was feeling MUCH better and was bound and determined to enjoy my dinner at Sam's friend's, and now mine, Fabrice and Sophia's house in celebration of Fabrice's birthday. Sam and I decided that we would go in together and bring a nice bottle of wine, so she told me what kind to get and I went trekking through the 'hood to locate BevMo. It turns out BevMo is less than 2 miles from me, which I haven't decided if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I wander around BevMo with my note of the kind of French wine I am supposed to get, looking like a big dork, but not quite as crazy as the homeless guy getting the MadDog 20/20 who was the other customer at the time. I locate what I need, get a gift bag, pay, and head out for home.

After running home and changing into jeans and opting against the 4" killer boots for shoes that are slightly less dangerous, I played with my hair and all the various products that go in said hair (wax, paste, gunk, and clay). I then walked the short 5 blocks to Sam's house.

She and I determine that it is a lovely evening and that since Fabrice and Sophia are about 1.5 miles away, we'll just walk to there place. I mean, that is one of the benefits of living in the city, right? Neither of us considered the fact that we are living in a city of hills, and not your wimpy hillocks, HILLS. And, of course, our destination is at the top of one of these hills. About half-way through the walk Sam and I are kicking ourselves for not bringing along a cork screw because we were pretty certain that Fabrice really would understand if we cracked the bottle of wine before we actually go to their place....

Eventually we arrive at the summit. The other guests are arriving at about the same time, thank God they were all pretty much European and work on a different clock than my Midwestern upbringing which would have considered arriving for dinner at 8:30 as being very late and actually eating at 9:00 or later just crazy. There was wonderful jazz playing in the background and great wines being poured. Lot's of laughter and kisses and greetings, and all these people made me feel so very welcome in their world.

We sit down to dinner, which started with mussels and sausage, then moved to roasted lamb stuffed with goat cheese and basil (I think), and topped off with what I call a banana split birthday cake (banana cake, whipped cream, fresh strawberry all layered together). The wine continued to flow freely as did the conversation.

Most of the folks at the table are quite the world travelers, so they were all regaling one another with their experiences and mostly the funny trials and tribulations that happen with traveling abroad. It was a great evening, relaxed and friendly.

As things were wrapping up, around 11:30 on a school night, Sam and I determined that we were not looking forward to the walk home, even though it was going to be all downhill. Luckily, Sam had the brilliant thought of asking for a ride from one of the folks with a car. And even better, these nice gentlemen didn't give it a second thought to schlep us home.

All in all, it turned out to be a wonderful experience and this country mouse is truly enjoying all the aspects of San Francisco life!!