what i did on my friday night

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posted by catherine / November 13, 2004 /

so, last night, as i mentioned before, tommy and i went to galileo to celebrate our anniversary. i'd been looking forward to the dinner for quite a while, and it didn't disappoint. well, it disappointed a tiny bit. i think perhaps my expectations were a bit too high - i was expecting the best italian meal EVER, whereas it was maybe like, the 10th or 11th best italian mean i've ever had. sigh. poor me.

we started off with some bread and tiny slices of what seemed to be panini - a ham+mozzerella one, and a spinach+olive one. we ordered a bottle of chianti, because 1) we know really nothing about wine, even though we like to pretend to, and we always like chianti as a fallback and 2) it was one of the cheapest bottles on there. the average was well over $100 for a bottle. also, the wine list was the size of a phone book. literally. they apparently have 4,000+ bottles.

for appetizers, i had little balls of goose meat, fried in a thin layer of parmesan, with tempura fried apple slices. tommy had an oven-baked sardine, stuffed with cranberries, nuts, and, er...some other stuff. for my primo, i had the most fantastic gnocchi, with pumpkin, pancetta, butter and sage. tommy had pasta with a duck ragu. the pasta courses were probably the best thing we had all night. for the secondi, tommy had manzo (which is like braised beef) with gorgonzola and, um...also some other stuff (i had had much wine at this point) and i had venison. it was a little tough, but the sauce and the flavor were great. for dessert, we shared a cheese course, which was completely underwhelming (very mild cheeses w/o any taste) and then a layered banana chocolate mousse thing, which was one of the most amazing desserts i've had. generally speaking, italian desserts suck, but this was incredible.

towards the end of our meal, two men in suits sat down at a table near us. i immediately noticed that they were secret service, because they had the clear plastic wire earpieces. oh my god, i thought, PRESIDENT BUSH IS HERE. or dick! someone! because i'm retarded around famous people, even if i hate their politics and think they are inept leaders, i started to freak out internally. i told tommy i was going on a stalking mission to find out who was in the restaurant. i just had to know. so i "went to the bathroom," which is what spies say when they're going to stalk someone. well, actually, i really did go to the bathroom, but when i was in there i got in a conversation with someone about my earrings, so by the time i came out i'd forgotten i was stalking a political celebrity. but as i walked past a private dining room near the bathroom, i FELT A PRESENCE. actually, i just looked over, because i am nosy, and i saw...CONDOLEEZA RICE. with a group of people. ordering italian food.

bitch, i thought, why aren't you out protecting me from terrorists? so i briefly thought about running full steam into the room, punching her in the throat, and screaming, "YOU SUCK!" but i restrained myself, miraculously. oh god, now that i've written that, the secret service is going to come a knockin at my door. honestly i thought about making some sort of scene, because then i figured tommy and i would get kicked out of the restaurant and maybe not have to pay the bill. so i'd be doing us a favor! but then tommy reminded me that i might get shot or end up in jail, so i decided against it.

post-dinner, tommy's friend scott and his wife lori came over. scott is an army medic, and has spent the past couple of years at fort bragg, i think? but they're leaving for ITALY on tuesday, vicenza to be exact, because they're being stationed there for three years. i am insanely jealous. anyway, the four of us decided to brave the elements and our post-huge-italian-meal-coma to go out to the velvet lounge and see full minute of mercury.

we got there early enough to catch the second opener, karmella's game. they're a four-person band from baltimore. imagine, if you will, a blue album era weezer, except they are like, 19 years old, fronted by a female keyboard playing vocalist, a female bass player, are all wearing catholic school uniforms, and are FREAKING ADORABLE. they were that good. i rarely bestow the weezer compliment, because they are one of my favorite bands of all time. i mean, i will admit i'm being excessive here - they're not the next weezer or anything - but they had great energy, put on an amazing show, and had catchy melodies. i was even moved to buy their cd, which i rarely do at live shows of bands i'm not familiar with.

FMHg was next, and i was a little underwhelmed, i have to say. most of their songs sounded the same (well, karmella's game was a bit guilty of that, too), and they didn't have the same insane, boundless energy. and the lead singer chick didn't have that great of a voice. but they weren't bad. all the girls in the band were gorgeous, so i can see why they've got somewhat of a following.

anyway - i'd suggest checking out karmella's game, and their website, which is pretty great. and i'd also suggest not taking out condoleeza rice in the middle of an upscale restaurant on a friday night. see, i practice what i preach.