quivey's grove needs to invest in couches for its patrons

last monday during our firefly/perkins evening, jon and i discussed moving date night out of its original monday slot. why? well, at this point, both of us work sundays which makes mondays our new sundays. and i don't know about you, but sunday evenings are intended for mega relaxation and relatively early bedtimes. plus, when the daily page's monday offerings are the same every week (i don't mean to be a snob, but metromix doesn't highlight the same activities every monday night), i get frustrated with the city's lack of creativity and feel unsupported in my attempts to embrace madison.

and so, we moved date night to friday night so that we can enjoy a relaxing monday evening (i.e. right now) and experience more of what madison has to offer on a night when it actually has more to offer ...

voila. that's the quick update.

so friday afternoon, jon calls me up at work and asks me what time he can pick me up for our night out. i love being asked out. it's something that i really appreciate now that we've been for this long. he wanted to know what time i'd get off work so he could make reservations accordingly.

i love when guys make reservations. like i told jon's roommate the other day, a man with a plan is irresistable (in most cases). there's something particularly wooing about feeling like a guy has thought about you and paid some attention to the details of the evening before you've even gotten into his car. i love it.

anyway, jon made reservations at the stone house at quivey's grove. i'd been to the stable before, but the farmhouse was known only to me as the place my sister and her husband got engaged, so i was pretty excited. of course, i was overdressed (it was just nice black pants and heels, but the friday night crowd evidently rarely wears heels) but i'd rather be overdressed than underdressed. and while i'm sorry for jon that he was wearing clothes not purchased at REI, i can't help but enjoying dressing up every now and then.

it was a busy evening at quivey's grove what with two late-staying rehearsal dinner parties upstairs, so our server - a late 60s-ish woman who evoked images of mrs. claus - apologized for the bit of a delay in taking our order. but she was so charming that if i had at all felt perturbed with the wait, i can no longer remember because her service was that good. jon and i later wondered how quivey's grove managed to attract this sort of employee ... all the waitresses (i don't think i saw one waiter) oozed a warm homey charm. impressive.

because jon had been checking out the QG website earlier, he already knew about the $25 three course meal. the deal entitled you to one glass of riesling or capital brewery's oktoberfest, an appetizer, entree and dessert. that, my friends, is one heck of a sweet deal.

we both chose heavy german meals (warm potato salad, sausage and cheese sampler, pork schnitzel, apple streudel, and rasberry torte) and were immensely satisfied. i highly recommend it.

of course, my full belly put the cabash on the remainder of the evening's agenda. jon had hoped we'd visit the high noon saloon (where, sadly, i've not been yet) to check out madison's local music scene, but my full belly had pushed me closer to exhaustion. we instead spent what little was left of the evening with my roommate and her visiting sister.

the takeaway? an eventful evening requires small courses. and remember to treat quivey's grove like thanksgiving and find a couch soon afterwards for your post-meal nap.

so much good food

Now that both Mary and I are part of the working world we love lazy night more and more. We both have Mondays off thanks to being part of the strange church work week. I personally love having a day off when most people work so that I can run errands and just relax while most people are sitting in their offices wishing the weekend could be a day longer.

After doing some random shopping around town and having lunch with my brother we transitioned into date mode, whatever exactly that means. I had been commenting over the last week that I was in the mood for some good Chinese food and we had both wanted to check out the Firefly after reading/hearing about it from others. So around 7:30 we arrived at what I have come to understand as a fashionable Chicago hour to eat dinner. To go too early is to risk eating at the geriatric hour but too go too late is to act against all dieticians.

My first impression was a good one as the place was packed for a restaurant on a Monday in Madison. Mary pointed out some small things they should consider to make the room feel more welcoming which is why she will be so good at her new job.

After sitting at the bar and experiencing rather indifferent service we were seated. The meal itself was excellent. It began with I think snow peas that you ate the peas and put the pod in the provided bowl. Mary ordered the stir friend green beans and I don’t usually like green beans but these were amazing.

For entrees Mary ordered the Kung Pao chicken which upon arrival looked different then I had ever seen Kung Pao chicken but it too was excellent. If you enjoy spicy food I would recommend it. I had the macadamia nut chicken and like everything else it was great.

My only real issue with the Firefly was the service. I have lived with a few servers so I know that Monday nights are despised so maybe that was it but small things like water refills or asking how things are were all a bit slow or did not happen at all.

After dinner Mary wanted to go for dessert or drinks so we headed towards the capital. But as we were on our way we were talking about how we seem to already be in a rut of going to the capital square so we did the most natural thing one would do when tired of trying to be too metropolitan. We pulled a u-turn and headed to Perkins for some of their nasty and yet warm memory educing coffee and the every wonderful chocolate chipper and pie.

And so went the rest of our date night, sitting in a booth reliving high school memories and watching the place get busy around 11 pm with regulars and high school students.

I went home happy and I think a good five pounds heavier. (that is not really me, I have more hair)

date #7 or date night sleepwalking

i know this isn't the place for talk of the day to day, but i feel like i must preface this entry with a little backstory ...

so tuesday afternoon, i was offered a job. wednesday morning, one of my new bosses asked me if could start the following day by attending a conference in illinois. i agreed, on condition that i would be able to return in time for friday night's napoleon dynamite themed junior high barn party in stoughton. i made it in by 8 p.m., stayed out till 11 or so, crashed, woke up early again to drive out to blackhawk's new building site for a tour, return downtown to pick up my little sister, and head out with her and jon to minneapolis (stopping for lunch at jon's parents' house in eau claire) for jon's sunday participation in the twin cities marathon. and that's just the nutshell summary of the past week ...

so needless to say, come monday, we were both flat-out exhausted. and because daytime napping is within the realm of impossibility for me, i was still flat-out exhausted come monday evening. so jon's evening activity was exactly what we needed.

jon chose porta bella for dinner, located just off of state street on frances near library mall. i'd been there before on a few first dates (based on my own and others' experiences, i think it's the place a guy takes a girl when he's really interested in the relationship) and always enjoyed it. but since it had been easily 6 years since i'd been, i was feeling game for the plush, velvety embrace of porta bella's rich italian atmosphere.

when dinner came, i sleepily ordered a diet coke, and listened as carefully as possible to the evening's specials (which, of course, i can't remember now. actually, i don't even know if i heard them the first time). jon and i agreed to order and share the pasta scilliano (spinach fettucine topped with italian sausage, green peppers, onions, and tomato sauce) and an 8 oz. steak special. evidently, both plates entitle you to a salad or soup, but in my sleepy deliriousness, i somehow communicated that i'd like to split jon's salad with him (i vaguely remember jon chuckling as i miscommunicated my order. boo for laughing at weary, overtired people). but i'll tell you, DO NOT get your own salad. ONE salad is plenty for two people. I swear, it's just like the Cheesecake Factory - who can, no, better yet, who should eat that much?

anyway, the food came rather quickly. whether this was because we arrived around 7 p.m. on a monday night we may never know, but the privacy and intimacy of the place separates you so much from the other customers, that you don't even feel tempted to see who's getting their food the fastest (and besides, it's my opinion that dining out should necessarily be a slow event. if you want fast, try mcdonald's).

our server was courteous, very kind in responding to my exhaustion by repeatedly coming to replace my empty glass with a new one filled to the top with little diet coke bubbles. the experience was lovely, intimate, and filling. jon and i agree on giving porta bella B+/A- (the steak wasn't ridiculously fabulous, so that lowered it a few notches. and much as i enjoy the cozy interior, there are a few interior design touches that could be tweaked to update its old-worldliness a bit). overall, really great.

afterwards, we took a walk up state street to steep and brew, where (gasp!) i've actually never been. i was an espresso royale junkie in college once cafe assisi closed over on gilman and state. and the steep and brew crowd always appeared a bit intimidating to me (the number of older men reclining in their metal chairs on the front patio, massaging their goatees, and staring into the eyes of passersby was enough to propel me towards any other coffee shop in the neighborhood). but monday night was quiet and the cold had most likely moved creepy men indoors and out of sight, so jon and i popped in to grab a drink. the baristas are great - everything a college-age campus coffee person should be. so me with my hot apple cider and jon with his americano (jon would like me to give props here to steep & brew for serving americanos at the same price as their coffees) went out again into the on-again, off-again rain and spent the rest of our evening out walking around the capitol and talking.

we headed back to my house, determined not to put in a movie we'd just end up falling asleep in front of, and sat on the couch facing each other chatting. just an hour later, i woke up to my roommate grinding coffee beans. turns out that even if daytime napping is out of the question, nighttime napping certainly is not.

and with a kiss goodnight and goodbye, date #7 quickly ended in sweet dreams.