"By Hays Code standards, this is practically racy."
A very pleasant date night Matt and I had last night, with new experiences all around. (Get your mind out of the gutter, you).
I decided I want to go somewhere outdoors for date night, imagining something like gazing upon new, beautiful vistas from a park bench with my love. I knew Callahan State Park was nearby, so I looked it up, and we went after work.
It wasn't quite a looking-at-scenic-views sort of park. It's got more meadow and farmland than most, being centered in the middle of Framingham, which is itself suburban. But it's mostly trails, and not so much with the park benches. I was not exactly dressed for hiking, either, and so we went as far as I could in Birkenstocks and skinny jeans.
It was exercise. It was good. I would like to go again when I am more appropriately dressed.
For dinner, I claimed a Groupon for Pantry, the restaurant in The Verve Crowne Plaza on Rte 9 in Natick. We showed up earlier than our reservation because our outdoors adventure was cut short, but as we were the only ones in the restaurant when we arrived, they didn't have any trouble seating us.
I admit, my first response to the place was somewhat hesitant. The fact that it was empty bothered me, as did the fact that the waitress didn't seem to know what a gin and tonic was. ("Would that be from the bar?" she asked us). Certain aspects of it were gimmicky, too--old episodes of Julia Child on large screen TVs, popcorn instead of bread, and water served in vintage-style milk bottles.
But the food did not disappoint. The Groupon was for an appetizer, two entrees, and a dessert. For an appetizer we chose a hummus plate, which sounds boring, but which was quite good, with fried chickpeas on top, and a bit of a lemon-y tang to it. I ordered the pasta carbonara entree, which came with a whole egg cracked over the top, and was as rich as it should be, lightened just a touch by fresh peas. I finished maybe only a third of it, before I was forced to concede defeat and leave room for dessert. We choose a cheesecake dessert, and I loved the preserved cherries served on top of it, although the cheesecake itself wasn't terribly notable.
We finished at Pantry and got home early enough for a movie. As we had been intending to do for some time, we rented The Thin Man (1934).
(I admit, we in part decided to watch this based on the fact that we've been bingeing our way through the Thrilling Adventure Hour, and Frank and Sadie Doyle from Beyond Belief are clearly made on the Charles model).
I guess you could call this film noir? I mean, it almost has to be, doesn't it, since it's based on a Dashiell Hammett novel. But the tone is a lot lighter in general than other film noir I've seen; Nick and Nora Charles drink and banter their way merrily between the bullets and occasionally accidentally solve a murder mystery. It certainly has the enforced gender roles of film noir, but those are the just the gender roles of early cinema, so there's not much to say about that.
Three of my favorite moments:
- Nora showing up to the bar where Nick has been drinking for most of the evening, and asking how much he's had to drink. When he tells her six martinis, she orders the waiter to line up five more martinis in front of the one she's already drinking.
- The "I do believe the little woman cares"/" It's just that I'm used to you, that's all" exchange.
- The scene at the end, with the camera panning away from their *gasp* shared bed to focus on their terrier Asta, covering his eyes with a paw.
Anyway. We liked it so much we immediately ordered the box set of all the Thin Man movies. And Double Indemnity. Because that's how Lise and Matt do.
I decided I want to go somewhere outdoors for date night, imagining something like gazing upon new, beautiful vistas from a park bench with my love. I knew Callahan State Park was nearby, so I looked it up, and we went after work.
It wasn't quite a looking-at-scenic-views sort of park. It's got more meadow and farmland than most, being centered in the middle of Framingham, which is itself suburban. But it's mostly trails, and not so much with the park benches. I was not exactly dressed for hiking, either, and so we went as far as I could in Birkenstocks and skinny jeans.
It was exercise. It was good. I would like to go again when I am more appropriately dressed.
For dinner, I claimed a Groupon for Pantry, the restaurant in The Verve Crowne Plaza on Rte 9 in Natick. We showed up earlier than our reservation because our outdoors adventure was cut short, but as we were the only ones in the restaurant when we arrived, they didn't have any trouble seating us.
I admit, my first response to the place was somewhat hesitant. The fact that it was empty bothered me, as did the fact that the waitress didn't seem to know what a gin and tonic was. ("Would that be from the bar?" she asked us). Certain aspects of it were gimmicky, too--old episodes of Julia Child on large screen TVs, popcorn instead of bread, and water served in vintage-style milk bottles.
But the food did not disappoint. The Groupon was for an appetizer, two entrees, and a dessert. For an appetizer we chose a hummus plate, which sounds boring, but which was quite good, with fried chickpeas on top, and a bit of a lemon-y tang to it. I ordered the pasta carbonara entree, which came with a whole egg cracked over the top, and was as rich as it should be, lightened just a touch by fresh peas. I finished maybe only a third of it, before I was forced to concede defeat and leave room for dessert. We choose a cheesecake dessert, and I loved the preserved cherries served on top of it, although the cheesecake itself wasn't terribly notable.
We finished at Pantry and got home early enough for a movie. As we had been intending to do for some time, we rented The Thin Man (1934).
(I admit, we in part decided to watch this based on the fact that we've been bingeing our way through the Thrilling Adventure Hour, and Frank and Sadie Doyle from Beyond Belief are clearly made on the Charles model).
I guess you could call this film noir? I mean, it almost has to be, doesn't it, since it's based on a Dashiell Hammett novel. But the tone is a lot lighter in general than other film noir I've seen; Nick and Nora Charles drink and banter their way merrily between the bullets and occasionally accidentally solve a murder mystery. It certainly has the enforced gender roles of film noir, but those are the just the gender roles of early cinema, so there's not much to say about that.
Three of my favorite moments:
- Nora showing up to the bar where Nick has been drinking for most of the evening, and asking how much he's had to drink. When he tells her six martinis, she orders the waiter to line up five more martinis in front of the one she's already drinking.
- The "I do believe the little woman cares"/" It's just that I'm used to you, that's all" exchange.
- The scene at the end, with the camera panning away from their *gasp* shared bed to focus on their terrier Asta, covering his eyes with a paw.
Anyway. We liked it so much we immediately ordered the box set of all the Thin Man movies. And Double Indemnity. Because that's how Lise and Matt do.