Time machine

Tonight I went back to high school. Liz Phair played at the Fillmore and Jim won tickets to the show through Alice radio, so that was our Monday night. I was not a Liz Phair fan in high school, but as she played her set, I realized that I vaguely recognized half a dozen or so of the songs. And suddenly I was transported back to the days of flannel shirts and Doctor Martins, the heyday of Fiona Apple, Sarah MacLaughlin, and Ani DiFranco. Very strange.

It was also strange to see my peers singing along with the songs and screaming in adoration. Don't get me wrong--the venue was awesome and the show was pretty decent, too. I was just surprised at how diehard her fans were. They LOVED her. The girl in front of me screamed, "This is the best show I've EVER been to!!" I guess I was a little younger than the average attendee. I was more of the late chick rock era, circa Alanis Morissette. But I definitely knew who Liz Phair was. I just didn't realize that it was the 15th anniversary of her debut album. Or something like that. I didn't even know that the tour was to celebrate the 15th anniversary. Oh well. We definitely got our money's worth.

For dinner we went back to Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe. That was NOT what I had in mind at all. I was hoping for something new, or at the very least, a restaurant in San Francisco. But Rudy's we went. We got different food this time, sharing a quesadilla with grilled veggies and the sweet potato fries. For our mains, Jim went with the nightly special, chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and veggies, and I got a crunchy Asian tofu salad.

To my surprise, the sweet potato fries were shoestring. I thought they'd be beefsteak cut. They were light and yummy, but ketchup didn't really go with them and they needed some sort of dipping sauce that I didn't get. I still ate a bunch, though. The star really was the quesadilla. It was really, really good. The veggies were a great touch, and the pico de gallo was super fresh with very sweet, ripe tomatoes.

My salad was really good. It had lettuce, green and purple cabbage, sprouts, red bell pepper, avocado, fried tofu, and sesame seeds. The sesame vinaigrette was really good and had some heat to it. The portion size was huge, and I wasn't able to finish it, but that was probably more due to stuffing my face with my half of the quesadilla and too many fries. The Shaking Jessie didn't help, either.

Jim's entree looked like the epitome of greasy diner food. I don't think Jim liked it all that much, although he didn't dislike it, either.

Anyway, we had a fun evening. The show was fun, and it was certainly a different Monday night than I'm used to these days.