Paul's Fish & Chips Birthday

"Let truffles, horseradish and fennel rain upon me!"

Paul and I looked at each other and snickered.  Apparently Falstaff wanted to be pelted - but we didn't have the stuff he requested. The actor was doing a great job as the egotistical and cheesy Falstaff - so much so, it was tempting to punish the character for being such a jerk.  

Anyway, aside from all the intentional and fitting hamming, there was fabulous singing and lovely costumes.  Opera Nuova was definitely an economical way to get a taste of opera.  (Now, they just need to do the Ring Cycle a.k.a Paul's Favourite.)

So was our fun and musical start to the extravaganza that was to be Paul's Fish & Chips birthday*. 

After the opera, we retired for a short break (and Coconut cuddle) before heading over to Brit's Fish and Chips for dinner. 

Steph ordered chicken.  The rest of us stuck to fish and chips. 

Taking advantage of the side order of bread on the menu, Paul and Jackie made "chip butties". 

After dinner, a little time for play.

Then (though the deep friend Mars bars were tempting) cake!

(Right: No girlfriends!)

Brit's was certainly helpful and friendly, making sure we had enough space and providing cake plates and forks.  We wanted to leave them with some cake... but it was mostly gobbled up. 

Not long, after we all headed out - right in time for some rain.  More birthday extravanganza to follow.



* Not familiar? Think of it as a "Champagne Birthday" with a British twist!  Yah...we made it up. 

In which Lana finds she may be an adequate date...

"When it comes to cheating, duping, to thievery,
It is always good, upon my word
To have women with you."

~ from Bizet's Carmen, translated by http://www.aria-database.com/translations/carmen.txt

It's Wildrose weekend in Calgary; Darren, Christiana, Ryan, and others are competing. Meanwhile, Lana is headachy, driving in the downtown area with Angela looking for "Open House" and "For Sale" signs. Good news: there were lots. Bad News: I was skeptical and not in a good mood.

Not the best beginning to the highly anticipated evening at the opera with Jenn. But after going home, working on some grooming (3 piece suit!), emerged in a somewhat better mindset for the night. And that's when I got lost. Awfuly lost. Terribly, horribly lost. I only had to ask myself how many times I've been to her house and still not know the way to sink into a stupor. Finally I after circling the area too many times and still not seeing her house, I called. Jenn was good. She said she was going to step outside so I can see her. And that's when I struck out the second time by driving right past her.

I was loosing points fast: Compounding my lateness with complaining about my day (at least I remembered to compliment on how lovely she looked... but forgot to take a picture)

We had decided to try out Fiore's for dinner (I had a coupon!). The bread was nice with lots of grains and such, but they charged me for my hot water with lemon! The outrage! Overall the experience was o.k. but in no way better than Chianti's (which it had been marketed as being so).

We were making good time, and made it to the Jubilee in time with only one minor left-turn related mishap...

Jenn: Look out for the pedestrian!
Lana: Good call.

Once there, things went pretty well. Carmen - which Lidia was shocked to hear that I had not seen - was filled with recognisable songs including the one that I've identified forever with tango. The dialogue was hilarious. Though I'm not sure if it was intentional... or merely a new interpretation. The ending, was satisfactory in Jenn's eyes, was frustrating for me. I could only think that I was very proud of Carmen (she was never untrue to herself even in the face of death), but in the end I couldn't sympathize with her or with Don Jose. Anyway, it was good. There was also some nice intermission time for us to people-watch (guy in top hat!) and for me to stretch and dance in the aisles (you can take the girl out of the ball room...).

The show didn't end until past 11 p.m. so it was too late for dessert. I took Jenn home and joked about improving one's wardrobe with creative driving.

With an ice cream coupon in my wallet I managed to weasel in a second date! I guess the points balanced out. Her laughing at me helped.