bigger is better...

...said Ritu to the sommelier at the winebar that we went to tonight. This was a completely ridiculous statement to make, which is why I love her as much as I do. For the curious amongst you, the result was a shiraz from southern Australia which, while good, reminded me that I am not as fond of shiraz as one might think.

But, I begin my discourse too late in the day. The day really started with my arrival at the office at eight a.m. (technically it started an hour and a half before that, but given my sleep-deprived state, I do not remember the drive to work as sharply as one might wish). Through some judicious pruning of my schedule, I had almost four hours at my desk today -- a small miracle, given my normal calendar. I made good use of the time, even though nothing I could do today could get me fully caught up on everything that I must get done this weekend.

I successfully escaped the office at 5:30pm and met up with Terry and Natasha to see "Julie and Julia". I will blog about the movie more tomorrow, but the short take is that I adore Meryl Streep, I always wanted to be Julia Child, and now I just want to play in the kitchen and make my delicious boeuf bourguignon. I parted ways with them at eight p.m. so that I could make my way back to the evil city, where I had every intention of crawling into bed.

But, I just barely miscalculated my return, and found Adit and Ritu still in the apartment when I came home, which enabled them to successfully peer pressure me into going out. I changed abruptly (into a black corset-y dress from BCBG over grey tights and black flats -- I'm upgrading my personal style), and we caught the MUNI over to Cav wine bar. This is the wine bar where I went with Adit and Vidya on the first night of my leave of absence a year and a half ago, so I had fond memories. I mistakenly ordered the gnocchi for dinner -- the gnocchi itself was delicious, but they topped it with tomatoes, corn, and chive flowers. The tomatoes were good, but while the corn was tasty, I don't think it belongs on gnocchi -- and the chive flowers were just strange. The dish was good, but not as good as the dish I got last time I was there, so that was disappointing. However, Adit, Ritu, and Ritu's friend Stephanie ordered a cheese plate, and from what I tasted of their selections, it was all totally delicious.

I stayed firm to my convictions, however, and parted ways with them after the wine bar -- they were on their way to a party, but I'm in desperate need of sleep if I'm going to fully unpack, plan the sales conference, and work on my book this weekend. Wish me luck!