It rained all last weekend, so I couldn't get any yardwork/gardening done. Having no other plans, I was a little stir-crazy, so eventually my husband and I decided to go out.
Normally, "going out" is an event, budgeted and planned ahead. This is perhaps the first time in our marriage when we've had the money to even consider "going out" as an option when bored, and not as a special occasion.
We went to a new, upscale outdoor mall near where I work. There's a Whole Foods, several upscale restaurants, lots of upper-end shopping (Aldo, Williams Sonoma, J. Crew), and a big movie theater. We started at The Yardhouse, which featured a gazillion different kinds of beer. Between us, we sampled Dead Guy Rogue Ale, Arrogant Bastard, and Delirium Tremens. Clear winner: Arrogant Bastard.
For dinner, we went to Legal C Bar, which is the upscale bar version of Legal Seafoods, a Boston-area stalwart. We had some cocktails, and discovered Absolut Brooklyn. What does Brooklyn-flavored vodka taste like, you ask? (Not like asphalt and hipsters, which was my first guess.) Red apple and ginger, actually.
Then we had the raw seafood tower (oysters, clams, shrimp, crab legs). Of those, the oysters were, and always will be, the clear winner. I like raw oysters far better than I like raw clams, the crab legs were messy, and the shrimp--despite the waitstaff's assurances that the shrimp were fresh--were previously frozen and in fact were so cold they may as well have been still frozen. So now you know: when eating raw seafood, save your money for oysters, sushi, and ceviche. Skip the rest.
We wrapped up the evening with The Hangover II at the multiplex. (Not nearly as good as the original; but then, sequels never are.) A couple of weeks ago we saw Bridesmaids at that same multiplex; that's two movies in a month, and prior to Bridesmaids, I don't think I'd seen a movie in the theatre since...my road trip in 2009? Frankly, the experience doesn't do anything for me. It's $22 just to get in the door for the two of us (plus popcorn, since apparently my husband is physically incapable of watching a movie without popcorn); I'd much rather just wait for Netflix and watch at home for practically free.
But hey, the point is that $22 + popcorn is not the huge budget-buster it once was. Nor is a day of "going out," which, happily, was less expensive than I'd feared. Largely because I was mentally pricing beers and cocktails at New York prices ($14 each) instead of at suburban MA prices ($6-8 each). Even the tower of seafood for two was a reasonably priced $47, and not the $80+ it would have been in NY.
I guess there are some advantages to the 'burbs, after all.
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