Phantom (again)

Last Monday, our CFO received a call from our bank offering two tickets to see Phantom of the Opera on Saturday (1/9/10). She knew Brenda was a huge fan, so she asked me if I wanted the tickets. I called Brenda, and even though we had just taken the kids to see it, she said she would of course see it again. Stupid me for even asking.

We had dinner at the Himmarshee Bar & Grille prior to seeing the show. The dinner was very good, and a good pre-theatre dinner replacement for the River House which is closed. I started with the soup of the day which was "5-alarm" chili. The chili could probably be considered 2 alarms, it had spice, but wasn't uncomfortably spicy. It was also nice considering it was very cold outside. Brenda started with the crab cake, which also came with a nice salad. Four our main dishes I had the buffalo short ribs which came with a gouda mac 'n cheese with spinach and ham mixed in, the entire dish was very good. Brenda had a skirt steak which she also enjoyed. Brenda likes having dessert when we go out to a nice dinner, so the waitress talked us into a piece of carrot cake made by "We Take the Cake." The cake was good, but nothing really spectacular, and I was so stuffed after the dinner it was hard to really enjoy it.

After the relaxing dinner we trudged in the ~40 degree rainy weather (I swear the wind chill was in the low 30's) to the theatre. We arrived there between 7:30 and 7:45, so just enough time to get a drink, use the restroom and get to our seats. I thought this performance was better than the one we saw last week. I don't know if it was the excellent (free) seats we had, the lack of kids, or the evening vs. matinee performance, but it was nicer.

The kids spent the night with my Mother, and she brought them home this morning. Aside from playing Wii, and watching football, I have done absolutely nothing today. Sometimes that is a nice thing to do.