Thursday and Friday, Jan. 5 and 6
Thursday: I have another nice workout today, but I kind of have to keep my eye on the clock because I have another "first date" at 4 p.m. with another woman, and we've agreed to meet at a nice little bar/restaurant down the road from me for cocktails. It’s in Estero, about a 15 minute drive from here, at a mall called Coconut Pointe. It’s an upscale mall, but not top scale. There’s about a dozen restaurants to choose from, and she picks a place called Hemingway’s Island Gril. This turns out to be a much more"conventional" first date, with the usual conversation you would expect from people meeting for the first time. She also offers to drive me around and show me the neighborhood, but by this time it's dark and I don't see too much. But it's a nice gesture. We have a couple of appetizers together at the bar, but it's not enough to hold me, so i have a bowl of granola back at the condo.
Friday Jan. 6
Today I decide I don't want to spend yet another Friday night by myself, so I call the woman who dressed at Catwoman for the first date (actually she calls me in the morning after her shift to see how I am doing) and I ask if she would like to come over to my condo for dinner. This catches her completely off guard, and she is kind of speechless (for a change) but soon agrees. I also tell her to bring her work outfit, and that she can change at my place and just go to work from there, since it is so close.
I plan a menu for dinner that includes a salad, chicken parmigan with a side of pasta with red sauce, and for dessert I decide to do an orange cake, which I make from a yellow cake mix that if infuse with orange juice after it bakes and cools.
While the cake is cooling, I head over to the gym and do a workout. I get back to the condo and frost the cake with a vanilla frosting to which I add a brick of cream cheese, more fresh squeezed orange juice, and about a tablespoon of fresh greated orange zest.
My date arrives and around 7 p.m., and I have a fruit and cheese plate prepared, so I have her keep me company at the breakfast bar while I prepare the chicken and the pasta. I tune Pandora dot com to a solo piano channel, which is very nice accompaniment.
Thankfully, everything turns out fine, and my date and I enjoy a very nice dinner together. But something is askew ... she is extremely tired this evening, and not at all the playful Catwoman of three days ago. So the conversation is a little difficult. She dresses for work in the upstairs loft, and off to work she goes. How she gets through an 8-hour shift I have no idea, but apparently this is a regular occurence for her ... being dog tired.
There is a HUGE cleanup in the kitchen tonight ... it takes two dishwasher loads full. But it is worth it. Been a long time since I've had a Friday night date. I have TONS of orange cake left over, and enough chicken breasts to cook Julie a nice meal when she arrives on Sunday evening.
Expenses; Groceries: $30
Bruce
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