Date Night

Yesterday was the first morning since giving birth to The Sprout that I have woken up with a slight hangover.  Chef and I had our first date night in seven weeks and it was like being in the twilight zone.  It had been so long since I was only surrounded by adults and had hours of time just to waltz around town.  Chef let me pick how we would spend our evening.  I told him two words, "Dinner and a drink."


We first went to Indigo Alley.  It is a little bohemian wine and beer spot with this beautiful little courtyard that has the most incredible walls of jasmine.  The vine was on the verge of bloom, like at any second the thousands of white buds could burst open and envelope the world with its gorgeous potent scent.   I wonder if it bloomed this morning?


This weekend is Shrimp Festival here...Fernandina Beach is the birth place of the modern Shrimping industry and every year hundreds of thousands of people descend on our tiny island and downtown like locusts.  It is one of the larger art fairs in this region of the country, and shrimp is on the vending menu to say the least.  Sheri and Mike, owners of Indigo Alley, were readying themselves for the masses which  roll into town Thursday for the kick-off parade. 


Chef and I sauntered up to the bar and I ordered a glass of a Malbec Rose and he had some sort of specialty beer.   We spent an hour there, helping Sheri set up their little upstairs as dining space to accommodate the party...all the while brainstorming about a possible supper club concept.   It was one of the quainter moments of living in a small town, going into a little bar owned by friends and in our little downtown and spending a little time helping each other prepare for a festival.


Next we strolled down the street for dinner at Cafe Karibo, which is one of our favorite restaurants here. We had a great meal, and washed it down with a delicious Pino Noir from Portland, Oregon.  The chef there formerly cooked at Prune, one of our favorite restaurants in NYC.  How she ended up here I have no idea...but  I plan to find out! She unexpectedly sent out a slice of guava cake that was to die for.   "Just a little something I have been working on."  She said.  There is nothing better than unexpected dessert.


I was giddy after eating it, and after three glasses of wine...I suppose... starved of adult attention...I told her that I needed more lady friends and got her phone number.  It may have come across as an act of desperation, but she was very gracious about it.  As I finished my last glass of wine I looked at my watch.  It was not even 9 pm.  I told Chef that we had to stay out to a least 9:30.  As the words left my mouth I realized how lame that sounded...I am still in my 20s for crying out loud.


We decided go get another dessert at Espana...our other favorite restaurant on the island.  We settled down at a little table in their garden for a piece of Tres Leches cake and the most incredible flan.  Chef and Roberto, the owner of Espana have wine and dine competition...who can spoil the other the most when eating at each others restaurant.  It is a game in which I am glad to be Chef's point man.  Roberto filled our glasses twofold with a delicious port. Needless to stay as we left I was feeling a little tipsy.


Thus the hangover the following day.  Oh, Lil'Bit and The Sprout took no pity.  The Sprout crapped herself first thing in the morning...all up her back and then as I changed her she peed all over me, and our bedroom rug.  Lil' Bit started the day with a terrible case of the boo hoos and ended it with a busted lip.


But it was so worth it.  To eat in a restaurant and be able to hold a grown up conversation uninterrupted, and leave without a single bit of food smeared on my shirt, and to go to a bar for a drink, hell just to go to a bar period.   It was beautiful.  We didn't have to go to the big city for a great time, nope.  Our little po'dunk town did just wonderful.  Cheers to date night!  It is worth a thousand headaches!