the big day

I started my celebration yesterday by skipping off work at 3pm, and going to the mall with ukelele for some experimental clothes shopping. (I was actually a little bit late, and realized on the way that we had arranged to meet "at the mall", nothing more specific than that. Oops. We found each other pretty much as soon as I got there, though she had more time to worry.) She had a 30% off coupon for New York & Co., so we went there, and I tried on a bunch of skirts without liking any of them. I tried on a pair of stripey pants on a lark, and ended up liking them quite a bit. So I got them and a black shirt; I've resigned myself to the fact that I will always need to wear a black bra with the shirt. It dips lower than it seemed like it did when I tried it on. (I guess I could cheat and use a pin, too.) We also went into Banana Republic, because I don't think I had ever been, and man their clothes are nice. I'm a sucker for thick silk cloth. Pity they don't seem to keep anything above size 8 in stock.

I decided after shopping that I didn't have time to go home, so I stopped by the office to change into aforementioned stripey pants, and went to meet obra in Harvard Square. He treated me to a lovely dinner at Upstairs on the Square. I had the Carpaccio of Beef Tenderloin and the Roast Lamb Loin; we (and, it seemed, all the other diners) were sent a taster of some sort of fish cream soup that was strange, yet tasty. The main courses were late coming, for which the waiter and the maître d' apologized and apparently had words with the chefs. By way of apology, or because it was my birthday, or both, at the end of the meal they sent over some dessert wine and a couple of largish chocolate mints. They were both quite tasty, and made a good prelude for dessert.

Which was at Finale. I had never been there. It is strange to look at a menu and have a big selection of things I am potentially interested in. Distressing when they are all tasty desserts. But since obra was getting the crème brûlée, which was one of my front-runners, I went with the "Caramel Carnivale". Caramel mousse, with puff pastry, fruit in raspberry purée, chocolate dipping sauce, and instructions to get a little bit of everything on the fork for each bite. Extremely tasty, and there was no way I could finish it, so I took a little over half of it home.

So it was a quiet birthday, but nice. I figure I'll have a big going-away party when I'm closer to leaving, and that will be my "invite everyone to pay attention to me" event.