Dinner and a movie

Fall break is awesome!

I started off the week being very studious, but it seems I caught the slacker bug at Pepperdine and since then haven't been as good. It's Friday now and I still haven't cracked open the Civil Procedure books. Well, there still is today so I shouldn't fret.

I meant to be very well-behaved (school-wise) each day so that I could have guilt-free, fun evenings. But yesterday, I got my haircut at Yamaguchi's which was divine (even saw Billy and he said hello!). So after sitting in a lovely salon for a couple of hours getting pampered and sipping on green tea (out of a real ceramic mug, too) it was hard to face Torts.

Plus, a friend and I had a matinee to catch! We saw Eastern Promises and it was great. I get the Viggo thing, big time now. He was smoldering, tattoos and all. And it wouldn't be a Cronenberg film without a scene where Viggo has to ward off two assassins whilst in the buff. And by that I mean full frontal, kiddies.

We then had an amazing dinner at Brooks, a newish place in Ventura. Yummo! This place was awesome. The design was simple and elegant and it seemed like all the handsome men in Ventura were working there (where do they come from?).

They started the meal with an amuse bouche (having only learned what the hell that is from Top Chef, I will admit to you) of tomato in a citrus vinaigrette. Lovely!

We shared a bottle of their private label pinot noir (we later learned that it was from a winery in Summerland). It was perfectly smooth and light and complimented our entire meal.

The menu was awesome. I tried the limoncello-steamed blue hill mussells to start, and they were very good. They added cream to the broth which was delicious and different, but rich as well.

I had the scallops for my main entree and they were perfectly cooked. It was served with a cactus relish, which I had to try since I have never eaten cactus before (Arizona is really getting in my veins, yeah?). I'm not sure what's it's supposed to taste like, so I'm hesitant to criticize it - but I was hoping the relish would be a little spicier. Also, the cactus was a little viscousy (is this a word?). However, despite these things, the relish and scallops worked well together and the mole vinaigrette that was drizzled on the plate helped to round out the flavor.

Then, I had the most decadent dessert known to man: maytag blue cheese cheesecake with a balsamic vinegar reduction. Sounds weird, right? No - it was delicious! It was mostly savory but there were a few hints of sweetness in it and it was incredible. I had to keep myself from licking the plate.

So, now I'm sipping coffee and have daytime plans again (beginning yoga class (!) and lunch with a friend). I'm sure I'll be able to justify the slacking today, as well. This is why we have a break I suppose - to have some fun and "recharge the batteries"? Well, that's what I'm telling myself.