table for two, s'il vous plait

~the light was golden~

Unexpectedly... We had a night to ourselves recently!

Both boys were accounted for and happy and not in our care, and although it's the crunch time of school looming upon us (me already in classes and the Mister about to start teaching 6th grade on Tuesday), we decided to go for it: drive down to Portland for the evening like two carefree, kid-less people! (Part of the date was the car ride together.)

Evangeline was adorable. I started with a lovely pear and endive salad with some bleu cheese---a total yummy delight of flavors. I had the steak frites (bien sur) that came with this delicious hen-of-the-woods mushroom on top and actually could have been the main dish of my meal. Our waitress/bartender was recently featured in this hipster publication. So we really felt extra hip on top of doing a really pretty hip thing like going out.

Besides for the notice required of 24 hours if you're going to order the Canard Presse, the bottom of the menu says "Unfortunately the use of cell phones causes our stove to malfunction."

::Thank you, Rickie, for the treat!::

Signs of life

Afternoon jumping. Leaping into spring?
Lilacs are budding.
Garden tools are re-discovered after losing their winter blanket of snow.
Then, in the purply dusk, the fog rolls in.

And sometimes, we get to go to the big city and be adults on a date for one whole night.

See, it's Maine, where you can be dressed up
AND wearing a polar fleece vest at the same time.

Eating delicious food (turnips glazed with a cider reduction sauce), and seeing one of our favorite essayists read in person, David Sedaris. (Here's a link to a Mother Jones interview with David.)
We laughed a lot.