Anyway, we headed to the climbing gym afterwards, which was only a couple of miles up the way. We haven't gone in months and were definitely a bit rusty. At least our memories aren't too terrible, since we got through the belaying test rather handily, albeit not perfectly. Jim called his sister between the movie theater and the gym, but she never answered, so it was just the two of us again. There were what seemed to be a million little kids running around. I later found out that they were there to get their cub scout badge for climbing and that there were actually only 20 of them. Climbing is probably a good fit for me, not because I have any natural talent for it, but because it suits my personality. Jim commented that I was being a stubborn Scorpio when I wouldn't quit a climb that was, admittedly, way out of my ability range. For the record, I did manage to get to the top with several rests and a couple of cheats. And while the piano dropped immediately thereafter, I have no regrets. We ran into a guy we used to swim Masters with. I mistook his daughter for the older one. Part of me hates running into the little swimmer kids, because it just ages me so much. I mean, the last time I saw her, she was maybe 9 or 10 and now she's got to be at least 16. She's clearly still swimming, as evidenced by her incredibly ripped shoulders.
Climbing is one of the few activities Jim and I do that we're about the same level. Usually he just blows me out of the water, so it's definitely a nice change of pace. In this case, we both had about enough by 4 pm, which worked out perfectly since we had 5 pm reservations courtesy of Open Table for Giardino's in Lafayette. The restaurant also happened to be in the Entertainment Book, and at the time, I thought we'd be getting a super good deal, since the 5:00 reservation was a 1000 point one.
We finished getting ready for dinner and arrived at the restaurant at 4:30. Jim was starving, and there was a Jack in the Box across the street, so guess where we went to warm up . . . two tacos for 99 cents and a large iced tea later and Jim was a happy camper. Jack in the Box is anything but vegetarian friendly, so I rarely ever go. The last time I was there, we were driving to Yosemite to hike Half Dome and you can always hold the meat on a breakfast sandwich. So I was more than a little curious to check out the tacos, which ended up being disgustingly greasy puddles of taco-shaped things.
Yep, I insisted that Jim blot when I checked out those suckers. Even so, I could see Jim's arteries hardening with every bite.
We walked back across the street and were the first ones in the restaurant. Our server Andres was actually Italian and super nice. Since we were the only ones in the place until after 6, it was some quiet, private time for us to relax and enjoy dinner, a huge deviation from the past weekend's restaurants. Jim ordered the frito misto for an appetizer, which was fried zucchini, calamari, and artichokes. Unfortunately they weren't segregated, so I only got to try a few around the edges, but they tasted pretty good to me. Jim actually preferred the fake version at Hungry Hunter. I saw Giada make calamari on her show, so I'm assuming that her version was more on the authentic side. Giardino's looked just like hers.
Our server also brought out some bread for us to snack on. This was the first time I've ever gotten toasted ciabatta at a restaurant, and this came drizzled in EVOO, which was so light and crispy--I absolutely loved it and ate 4 1/2 pieces! The sun dried tomato dip it came with was the perfect accompaniment.
For our entrees, Jim got the pumpkin ravioli, which came in a brown butter sage sauce. As per usual, it was excellent. I don't know if it's the butter or what, but every time we've had pumpkin or butternut squash ravioli out, it's been amazing. Not that I'm particularly eager to try my hand at fresh pasta, but we may have to do it ourselves someday. So as to not give you the impression that I'm anywhere near converting Jim to becoming a vegetarian, he asked for a side of prawns with his dinner.
I selected the Melanzana, which was basically eggplant parmesan, except this version wasn't breaded and deep fried before baked. It was very, very good. Even Jim liked it, which says a lot. The waiter switched our plates, so Jim asked for parmesan cheese on my dish. I honestly think he would have eaten it without noticing, had I not said anything.
After the tacos, calamari, ravioli, and prawns, Jim was actually kind of full. He probably would have passed on dessert, but they had a mixed gelato selection that I wanted to try (pistachio, spumoni, and vanilla). I'm not sure which was spumoni and which was pistachio, but I loved the green flavor. I always thought spumoni was green too, but the third flavor was brown and had almonds in it, so I was very confused. I didn't exactly dig the brown flavor, but Jim thought it was okay. It came out in a martini glass, and for dessert portions, it was nice and small, which was perfect, since my sweet tooth caps out pretty quickly.
We learned too late that we couldn't do both the Entertainment Card and Open Table, so we ended up just going with Open Table instead. Our server apologized profusely and offered us a free dessert our next time around. And there will definitely be a next time, because I really liked the place. In some ways, it reminded me of Villa Romano in Napa, which is one of our local loves. Besides, we still have the Entertainment Card to use.
On a high note, I think I've finally perfected adding photos to these entries. Nice!
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