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The separation project on Saturday morning went successfully and I only ended up working until the early afternoon. I arrived at the house and put on my lumberjack hat to chop some wood for the chiminea. The plan was for Barrett to come over for a few hours and we hang out by the fire and catch up. What actually happened led to my being relatively broken yesterday and my weekend slipping yet further from my grasp. He showed up at the house around 4:30 with a chardonnay and a extremely fine bottle of cabernet for EL to accompany the big box of Godiva chocolates he brought her. For me, he brought a 1.75 liter bottle of Crown Royal Special Reserve. It was quite a surprise... daddy likes. We did start at the chiminea as originally planned. The fire was roaring and the weather was fabulous. I could have just stayed there sipping special reserve and listening to the crackling fire break the silence of my neighborhood air, but the majority decision was to get food, so we left. It was full on at Perry's... a couple of martinis over tiger prawn cocktail and jalapeño sautéed cherry pepper calamari led to a really tasty merlot, New York Strip, center-cut pork tenderloin, grilled Australian Rock Lobster tail, and Chateaubriand, Our meal was wrapped up with tableside flambéed Bananas Foster and EL's favorite, the Nutty DeAngelo (a deep cold frozen vanilla ice cream ball that has been encrusted with white chocolate and slivered almonds is placed on a plate striped with dark chocolate, a flambé cook makes homemade chocolate-caramel sauce in a pan tableside before firing it with brandy and adding a healthy dose of pecans, then pours the molten decadency over the super-frozen crusted ice cream previously described... words don't do it justice). We actually had some NY Strip left over, so even Éclair could share. By the time we returned homes, the chiminea was out and the temperature had dropped a bit, so Barrett and I took the party to the office upstairs. I think I actually made it to bed around 5:30 Sunday morning after we had killed 750ml of bourbon between the two of us (on top of the libations from earlier in the evening). I did it. I successfully dented my liver. So after a day of nursing my aches yesterday over the Colts whomping the Texans and suckling some Sonic tater tots in honor of my bro, EL and I rolled over to Urs and Sandra's because Markus was in town from Zurich and he was cooking Italian. He is the manager of a Italian restaurant there and he dazzled us with the best Italian food I've had outside of Italy. It was so, so good. He made a sort of homemade spread that had the consistency of pâté, but was made up of blended cheeses and tomato. His home batch of bruschetta was more flavorful than any I've ever tasted. The main course was similar to an eggplant parmesan, but so much better... wow. The rest of the gang enjoyed sweet vermouth or espresso after the meal as my tiredness caught up to me. I went into a deep coma as soon as we got home. The weekend was a blur of work and play. The best part was the time I spent with EL. I'm running a little late this morning and have an eight o'clock meeting for which I'll surely be tardy. I am at the mercy of the public transit system and there was a stalled bus in the HOV. c'est la vie. Have a good Monday.