Thursday, February 15, 2007

Valentine's Day terminology

Since last week, Mike and I have been quietly planning a Valentine's Day. Mike had the day off, you see, so we actually could! But we ran into a problem over dinner last night about terminology, and I'm going to put it to you to help us resolve it. First, let me describe the evening.

We left the house at 4:30 to be in good time for 5:00 reservations at Ric's Grill in downtown St. Albert, as Mike had heard they had excellent steak. There, we were quickly seated, and our wonderful waiter Rob came over to take our drink orders, and informed us that the chef's soup was Cajun shrimp, and the chef's potatoes were parmesan and dill. We perused the menu, seeing many wonderful looking things, but finally decided on a crab dip for an appetizer, then starter caesar salads for both, and then Mike ordered a 6 oz. sirloin broil (medium rare) with wine and herb fried mushrooms and chef's potatoes, while I ordered handmade chicken cordon bleu with seasonal vegetables and chef's potatoes. Rob came back soon after with half a fresh baguette for us to snack on while waiting. Oh, divine. The crab dip was also exceedingly wonderful, and the caesars had flaked rather than ground parmesan on top. The main courses were fabulous. Mike couldn't get over the tenderness of the meat (he kept poking it with his fork just to see it yield), and my chicken was divine. Alas, neither of us could finish our meals, though Mike did see the end of his steak there in the restaurant, and we had the remainder packaged up to enjoy for lunch in the morning. I received an I.O.U. on my idea of going to Build-A-Bear to make a bear, which I've always wanted to do, until we are in Calgary first weekend in March. The store in Edmonton is in W.E.M., and going there makes Mike nauseous. Not the best way to follow up a wonderful steak dinner (though I admit, I was a little disappointed). Following this, we didn't go home right away, except a brief stop so Mike could pick up his wallet, which he'd forgotten. No, we went to Wal-mart, where Mike bought shoes and attempted to buy me the CD I'd been talking about at dinner (not released yet), and I bought Quick-Tax so I can start doing our taxes. At this point, we went home, and I attempted not to fall into a lovely food coma too quickly.

The problem of terminology is this: was this a date, or just going out? I believe that this was our fifth 'date' (I may be wrong on the number, though not by much... :) ). Mike, on the other hand, doesn't believe that we can date anymore, because we've been engaged for over a year. On the contrary, he believes the evening constituted 'going out,' which is something people who aren't dating anymore (i.e. those who don't really need to feel each other out and learn more about each other) do.

I still think it was a date. What about you?

5 comments:

Sheila

Hmm, that's a tough one. Nathan and I make "dates", just because otherwise we would never get around to going to see "that movie", etc. But I guess I think of that more like going out and spending time together. In my mind, for us to have a "date" it would require dressing up and going to a restaurant we haven't been to or something like that. But at the same time going to Ricky's for dinner and then a movie is still a date. So in short, I don't know. =D Nathan should comment, maybe he's got some brilliant insight about this...

Anonymous

The evening described by you qualifies as a date, I think. Going out would be dinner somewhere, because you don't feel like cooking.

Anonymous

Nah, I agree with Mike - I think it was just "going out".
(maybe it's a guy thing...)

Jen

Timo and I agree-- it's not a date when you're living together/engaged/otherwise see each other every day. In fact there's probably a rule somewhere that says if you know someone well enough to go to Wal-Mart to buy Quick Tax software with them after dinner, it's not a date... ;)

Nathan

I firmly believe that even a couple who have been married for 50 years can go out on a date. That said, the trip to Walmart instantly disqualifies the evening in question.

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