Date Night

Dinner and a Movie

is still my favorite date night.

Whether as a teenager or a mature ( hum 51 yr. old) woman I still get

excited about going out.

A Golden Globe nominated movie with an actress I love like Natalie Portman

(who I’ve admired since her performance in  “ The Professional”)

add to that  dinner at a new French bistro,

throw in a visit to a book store

and it’s the perfect evening!

This is not just an ordinary theater at the multiplex….this is the

Madison Art Cinema

that features many of the movies you wouldn’t get to

see in the usual theaters like foreign and small independent films.

This movie is getting wide acclaim so this movie Black Swan will be seen nationwide but

I still love the ambiance of this small town movie palace in Madison, Ct.

So many old theatres like these have closed up and have been inched out by the

Mega theaters with their 12+ movies playing at all times.

It’s sad really.

Do you still have a small independent theater near you?

The movie was incredible,  dark and mysterious. Maybe too dark

for some but I well worth seeing in the theater.

Our next stop was to be Bar Bouchon but our reservations were an hour after the movie ended

so we headed to

R.J. Julia

another “independently owned” store.

Rare in the land of Barnes and Nobles, Borders

and Amazon.

Kind of like the “Little Shop around the Corner”  in “You’ve got Mail”

with big bad Fox Books lurking around the corner.

remember

F

O

X

Love that line.

Can’t  believe I finally got to use it  :)

Thank goodness there is no “FOX” bookstore coming around the corner but

when a large garden center closed down the next town over there were rumors of a

large book chain setting up.

Turned out to be just rumors…..good thing!

Madison prides itself on supporting it’s small shops and entrepreneurs.

It’s what makes Madison so special and why so many want to live here.

R.J. Julia

Which by the way attracts its own bit of celebrities for book signings.

I only took a few pics of them on their walls.

There were tons all over the store.

One of my favorites shows is Cake Boss…..love Buddy.

……and Hubbies favorite Chelsea Handler from Chelsea Lately.

I know, I don’t get it either.

That’s our friend Joanne (who is a writer herself) …she’d probably kill me for showing you this picture

but she doesn’t read my blog…. so it’s OK.

(I think I’m safe)

I’ll admit I don’t read novels that much…..or at least not

for a long time. I know that’s bad ( not very cultured of me) but I just can’t find the time.

So I headed for the coffee table books.

You may have heard of the famous Bunny Williams.

I had heard of her name but not as much as recently.

(then again how do you not remember a name like BUNNY?)

She also owns 2 stores in NY city

Treillage

specializing in garden furniture and antiques.

Just the other day I caught her house and gardens on CPTV.

All I can say is WOW WOW WOW.

(aren’t you impressed with my vocabulary?

…..a writer

…… I am NOT)

No wonder she’s famous, but not at all pretentious like you might think.

Makes mistakes like all the rest of us.

That was good to know.

  

This was a book called “NICE HOUSE” …..that’s all I remember.

Didn’t get the authors name…..(bad bad bad!)

oh wait found it….. Samuel G. White and you can buy it HERE.

I thought this would be fun to show you because it had a photo of a house in Old Saybrook.

It’s not over the top like some of the others in the book.

It’s in South Cove so I may have to do a drive by sometime.

It only showed that one photo and no interior shots…..DARN!!!!

    

Then suddenly I saw a name that looked vaguely familiar.

How do I know that name????

Then it came to me

of course this is THE

Vicki Archer!!!!! of French Essence.

   

Filled with the most scrumptious, romantic photographs of the south of France,

her home, gardens and her life.

         

You can find it

HERE

            

            

          

I could have spent even more time in there but everyone else was ready to go.

So we made our purchases and off we went to….

Bar Bouchon

The atmosphere inside was just so French bistro

and even better then I imagined it would be.

It was crowded… but isn’t every good restaurant? and it added to the ambience.

I had  Mussel for an appetizer and the Seafood Bouillabaisse for an entrée.

Don’t even remember what everyone else ordered……I was more interested in

what I HAD!!!!

The best meal I’ve had in a long time.

It’s no wonder you need to make reservations weeks in advance.

We were having so much fun that I didn’t take that many pictures.

One thing we certainly do with these friends is

Laugh

Laugh

Laugh

         

Joanne playfully showing off her prize in her Gateau de Roi.

Tradition in France calls for a trinket to be placed in the cake….sometimes a small plastic baby

but seeing as that wouldn’t go over well in this country ( lawsuits about swallowing plastic toy)

they opted for the next best thing…..an almond.

She’s wearing her crown but you can’t really see it.

She made the perfect Queen for the evening.

Great food and drink, book shopping,
excellent movie and laughs with fun company.

It doesn’t get much better then that.

I hope the start of 2011 is going well for all of you!