Friday night we went to see Wicked getting my groomsmen together for the first time since the wedding. Rusty came up from Richmond with Meredith, and Chris had been here all week with Jess. I initially wasn’t happy the tickets for the show (even though it was 6 seats together) before I found out about the tremendous demand for the show. It sold out in record setting time, and tickets were going for astounding prices on eBay.
We went to Marcel’s in Foggy Bottom for dinner. They offer a three course pre-theater menu for $48 each that includes complimentary limousine service to and from the Kennedy Center. That sounded good to me, and we tried to get there around 5, but Rusty ran into horrendous traffic getting here, and I didn’t beat him by too much. Chris and Jess were on time, so they staked the table out, and we rolled in around 5:25. Plenty of time.
I wasn’t that into the fixed price menu and ordered off Chef’s tasting menu. I had:
Seared Diver Scallop
Yellow Wax Bean Risotto, Red Wine Reduction
Dover Sole
Fondue of Leeks and Tomatoes
Braised Veal Cheeks
Served with Natural Jices, Fried Capers
Roasted Duck Breast, Puy Lentils
Duck Confit, Pear and Tarragon Sauce
with a Belgian beer. Very excellent meal, perfect amount of food, the duck was amazing. Jill did have the three course meal, had a mushroom soup, a stew and a Crème Brulee she described as her favorite ever.
We had to catch two separate sedans over to the Kennedy Center and got there with a couple minutes to spare. Although Jill and I went to the restroom ourside the theatre (mistake, plenty inside) and got to our seats about a minute before the lights went down. The show was fun, just wished I had gotten better seats (we were dead center, but at the very top row). I had listened to the soundtrack, but you don’t get the whole story from the soundtrack, so a lot of it was new to me. Still, a fun evening. Afterwards, I took Chris and Jess to get their luggage while Jill went home with Rusty and Meredith. We stayed up a little while chatting, then all went to bed.
Saturday we slept in, the hosts a little later, but we’d been up until 4 Thursday night and needed a little assistance so we could make it through Saturday. I made omelettes for everyone while Jill got to use both coffeemakers, then she took them in my car to Wegman’s to explore and get some part supplies while i relaxed a little and read the Wednesday to Friday papers.
We got ready and went over to the Matsutake Japanese steakhouse at 6, where we were joined by Chris’s brother Tim and his wife Debbie, and our friends Mel and Scott. Everyone had been at our wedding, but they hadn’t all met before. Dinner was very good. I elected not to get appetizers (though Jill split edamame with Rusty and sushi with Mel) and just went with filet mignon and lobster on the hibachi (along with some sake – Jill ordered plum wine and steak and scallops).
After dinner, Tim and Debbie went home (not night owls) and the rest of us went to our place. We chatted for a while, then pulled out the board games, guys against girls in Cranium, then individually in Apples to Apples. Both a lot of fun (and reminding us we need to resurrect games night). We were joined later by our friends Dave and Hannah and Sandy and her friend. We brought out a good pile of food and ended up going through most of it (and a good deal of alcohol, including three bottles of champagne, two of which had been in our fridge for – err, I don’t know how long).
We watched Dick Clark’s show on TV (he didn’t look that great, but he got through it, and that counts for something), and kept going for a good while. I think the last of the guests left around 2, and we stayed up with our sleeping over guests another hour and change.
Today I got up a little earlier and made waffles for everyone. Rusty and Meredith got going back to Richmond after brunch, and Chris and Jess watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with us. Now we can go see the new movie – if only Jill wasn’t going home next weekend. Maybe we’ll make it before it leaves theaters. One thing I checked before we started – I had the DVD and a recorded copy of the hi def version from HBO and a-b tested them. Interestingly, the HBO version is a pan and scanned HD version to fill the screen, while the DVD is the original screen version which has small black bars at the top and bottom of the screen (confirmed they do that here, some side by side comparisons here, good explanation of aspect ratios here).
We watched most of the extras on the DVD before I couldn’t stand it any more and switched to the Redskins/Eagles game. To my dismay the Skins were down and stayed that way going in to the half, when I took Chris and Jess to Dulles. They flew Independence, for one of their last flights if the news is correct. I turned the radio to the game on the way home, but the Skins were still down even though they scored again. But later in the third quarter and the fourth, the defence forced turnovers, including Sean Taylor’s return for a TD after Phillip Daniels forced a loose ball.
I grilled a couple steaks while Jill made a salad, then we caught up on Alias. Some good eps, cannot believe what her mother is doing. Jill’s working tomorrow so she’s asleep. Actually I need to make some hours up tomorrow as well, but I’m sleeping in first.
Debbie sends along apologies. They would have preferred to at least stop by your place after dinner, but Debbie took a fall earlier that day, and has cracked her tailbone.
It was great seeing you guys and meeting Illa.
That’s ok, we’ll get her next year.
Likewise on the visit – let’s flip in March!