Beck's Prime

We're gonna party - like it's your... oh, wow, how easy it is to trick people into thinking this is a Fitty-Cent blog.

Yesterday was the first of Beck's many 29th birthdays, and I think we pulled it off in pretty solid fashion. SHe went to the hospital in the morning to visit her "new boyfriend," apparently a horse who's really cute and nice and only occasionally tries to bite and / or kick her. Do you see how easily I lost that competition? It makes me cry. So after her A.M. tryst she came home to reliable me, and she opened her birthday presents. I got her an update for her MasterCook software, the Brokeback Mountain DVD (review pending!), and a copy of Diana Gabaldon's 6th book of the Outlander series (something, incidentally, to which I am morally opposed, that something being the sex-romp-time-travel-genre, but apparently I am all bark and no bite, unlike her new horse boy-toy, and I caved to her wishes). My parents got her a gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma and an ice cream scoop, about which she was psyched. So good times in the gift-giving department.

We headed to IHOP for Brunch and stopped for coffees on the way at Black Diamond, and I think I have found the sweet elixir of the new millennium, the white chocolate iced mocha. Beck was quick to point out that the drink was so removed from the traditional coffee aesthetic that I may as well be drinking a milkshake, to which I replied, "So What?" Somewhere, Miles Davis is smiling. And probably shooting up heaven's version of heroin. Anyhoo, brunch was great (I don't think we've been to IHOP since we've been in Massachusetts), and we came back to nap the afternoon away. We made reservations for a 5:00 dinner (we so hip it hurts), then skipped out on our reservations and went to Naked Fish instead.

Naked Fish was excellent. The Westborough version of this restaurant has a very cool dark ambiance and plays great traditional South American music. Hearing the Spanish-speaking vocals reminded me of eating at restaurants back home, and when I mentioned as much, Beck replied, "In a good way?" And if you're in the know, you realize that she just unintentionally made one of the best jokes ever. If you don't get it, or are feeling left out, well now you know what my average high school Friday night felt like. Nyet Jones, providing vicarious experiences since 1978. Beck had rainbow trout and a mojito, I have diet cokes and fish and chips. I think beck's mojito was supposed to be a tangential homage to a mint julip, in honor of the Derby yesterday. Awesome stuff, and we skipped out on dessert in favor of...

Shoops and Whirls! Great dinner, and we stopped at Stoops and Squirrels on the way home for a soft-serve dipped in chocolate and a chocolate-Peanut Butter Cup Flurry. If you don't know, Soups and Girls is just like Minnehan's in Conesus, only exactly the same. After ice cream, we came home, took the pups for a walk, and watched Brokeback and then a little Mad TV, which actually managed to be quite funny. I somehow got Beck to enjoy her birthday in total, forcing her to stay awake until 11:50 and watch some stunningly dumb comedy courtesy of Tom Hanks and the SNL cast. And then to bed. Beck heads out to Rochester today for the next three weeks, and it remains to be seen whether I will survive an encore of pseudo-bachelorhood. So I'm glad we got to spend a nice Saturday together. (Awwwww....)