about last night

while "about last night" is also the name of one my favorite 80s movies (stars demi moore, rob lowe, james belushi) i'm referring to how we rang in 2008. for 4 years now (excluding last year when we were in prague) kristin & i have made dinner reservations for two at 10pm at flemings. i think it was after our first new years together that we both decided that waking up late in the afternoon with a severe hangover is not how we wanted to start our new year off.

we would enjoy a nice dinner together, celebrate at midnight with a champagne toast at the restaurant, & then off to the house for bed. i think the first couple of years we did this we actually went to a party after we rang in the new year which would for the most part just result in the very thing we were attempting to avoid (waking up late with a hangover). so by year 3 we had perfected having a nice dinner, a champagne toast, & then home for bed.

this year we modified things just ever so slighty... we switched up the venue from flemings to vin bistro (www.vinbistro.com). it's a cool little restaurant next to kerbey lane that prides themselves on the wine & food pairings. kristin recommended vin after a night out with the girls there some months ago. we also invited another couple out with us - eryn & alex. we've known them for just over a year (i work with eryn - she's a graphic designer). they are very cool & interesting company & more importantly fun to hang out. they are actually getting married in april of 2008 in florence (where they met while studying abroad in college). anyhow, the company was great. eryn & alex met us at our place to visit with the new pup. i think eryn got a real kick out of payton - especially his ridge.

as for vin, it wasn't horrible & it wasn't great either. the decor at vin was nice & comforting. right out of the gates they warned us that they had run out of their fillets. eryn, alex, & i were all thinking fillets tonight too. eryn & kristin ordered wine & i went with a tito's & soda (wanted something other than wine tonight). kristin's wine actually tasted like a match stick so after she asked the waiter for a wine card & they didn't have one he offered to bring her a glass of something else. she went with a safe riesling (same thing eryn ordered) & all was well.

without the fillet the menu consisted of the usual sea foods: tuna, sea bass, halibut, & lobster. they were sporting a new years menu so chicken, lamb, salmon weren't on the menu last night. kristin, eryn, & alex all went for the sea bass. i was so close to getting the lobster when i caved for the tuna because it came with soba noodles (i swear the dish was made just for me). the sea bass was pretty nice. kristin & eryn didn't like the maple syrup that accompanied it. while alex finished his quickly i don't think he was a huge fan - just very hungry. i thought for sure that the tuna & soba were going to rock, however, the tuna wasn't that great a piece of meat & it didn't cut up very well & worse off it has some sort of bbq sauce like thing on it - oh well, at least it was healthy :) i forgot to mention the appetizer - the crab cakes were fantastic! lightly seared & almost nothing but crab.

the night was full of fun conversation. discussing '08 plans & goals. talking about our pets & other low key stuff such as movies, etc. we had some pretty good laughs throughout the night. we toasted at midnight with a glass of champagne & then eryn & alex came back to our house to see payton one last time & hear some more of thelonious monk's great jazz.

& that was our new year's celebration. 2008, i welcome you with open arms!