20 Years: From Tom & Betty's to Bistro Aix

MJ and I went to our new favorite restaurant, Bistro Aix, for our wedding anniversary. I drank a 750ml bottle of 9% ale, so I’m relaxed. MJ drove home. Our wonderful dinner completely ruined the right-wing Obama/Israel/W conspiracy theory post I’ve been marinating for the last couple of days, maybe I’ll write it tomorrow. My wife is my best friend. It’s not even close. MJ and I alone on a desert island would be fine with me. It was the company tonight that made the dinner special. Okay, the ale greased the skids. Tonight was a microcosm of us. We enjoyed each other’s company while MJ tried to analyze it and I made jokes. For more than twenty years now, that’s the way it’s gone, MJ deconstructing every moment trying to figure out exactly what makes us tick and me going with the flow. We were remembering our early dates to Tom & Betty’s twenty years ago. It had just reopened in its current location after the old spot had burned down. Going out to dinner works for us. It’s all we need to align our yin and yang. Tonight we decided to be a little more pedestrian than adventurous as Bistro Aix. MJ got obscene amounts of sausage and cheese poured over penne. I got obscene amounts of sausage and cheese served on a pizza crust. The sausage was very spicy so our meals were the culinary equivalents to a couple of Slayer songs. There was zero subtlety to either one. I liked mine better than she liked hers, but I like Slayer more than she does. Strangely enough, our waitress got better and prettier the more beer I drank. At first I thought she was a little bit uppity, in a fine dining kind of way. By the time we were leaving I thought she was the best waitress I’ve ever had. I think it’s replaced Ruth’s Chris as our spot.