Had a lovely evening with Lisa to celebrate her birthday. This year everyone else bailed and it was just the two of us. We went to a small Italian restaurant (Trattoria La Siciliana) on College Ave in the Elmwood, and I found it thrilling. This is one of those restaurants in which the chefs really pay attention to the presentation of the food, and every plate that came past me out of the kitchen was stunningly beautiful. I wanted to order everything, just so I could see it up close and admire its details. The lobster that went past was the most impressive. It towered high over a plate of pasta and other seafoods, claw and tail both waving and shining in the restaurant's yellow lights.

We didn't get lobster, though. We did get an order of crab to share, but I wasn't very impressed. The ratio of effort expended to gustatory enjoyment resulting was higher than is optimal for me to really enjoy eating something, I'm no otter: I prefer not to have to struggle with my food.

So we ate and talked and the waitress very kindly kept my water glass constantly full (always a way to win my affections). We couldn't finish our meals, though. Too much food! So I brought home some leftovers to eat tomorrow.

Then we walked home, mostly via the quiet side streets, though we also stopped by Ici on College Avenue to help ourselves to some fancy ice-cream. I'd never been there before, because it always looked too chi-chi. But I got a cone with a scoop of cinnamon-coffee (while praying that it wouldn't prevent me from sleeping tonight) and Lisa got a cup with cinnamon-coffee and another one with cherries and creme fraiche,. Like I said, pretty snazzy ice-cream.

The weather was being very kind to us, and we never had to pull out our umbrellas, not on the way there and not on the way back. Lisa did have a slight accident in which her ice-cream cup spontaneously leapt bodily out of her hands and tried to make a speedy getaway. Unfortunately, the result was that it landed ice-cream side down and sorta slimed Lisa's new winter coat along the way. But a bit of water, a paper towel, and a judicious scooping off of the unacceptable portions of ice-cream, and all was well.

When we got back to my house, Lisa and Shannon and I played a game of Dominion together. It was fun. I don't think I'd played it with 3 players before. We also talked and talked, and it was great hanging out with two of my favorite people.

Tomorrow: Trader Joe's (for cat food and orange juice), then to Ilah's on a mission to locate the wily Caruso.

And now I have a rather unpleasant headache, so I'm going to go relax and try to let the Aleve do its job.