Schwank

In preparation for the day we all get our $ together and rent our own island, I've become a mystery shopper for high-end restaurants and hotels. :-) OK, that's not actually the reason, but I'm still pushing for the island thing.

I used to mystery shop in college, but that was only for one nice restaurant in College Station (that's nice, like I used to think of nice...not nice like the places I'm evaluating now) called Cafe Eccel and Church's Chicken. This is not at all the same experience. But I digress. Last night, C and I got to go eat at a hoity-toity (C wants me to use the term "Schwank") place in Dallas. This was fun for many reasons, the first of which is the fact that we were allowed up to $145 on the meal. that's right, $145 on a meal. So we had to dress up a bit in order to appear that we might actually be able to afford such a meal. And I guess I did ok on that, bc when B saw me he said, "Mom, you look rich."

Another fun-ity of the evening was that we were to arrive separately so that I could, alone, evaluate the bar. Now our instructions were to get there between 8-9:30 and meet up at the bar. I'm wondering, how many married couples have circumstances forcing them to arrive separately at a place like that at that time on a Saturday night? I guessed that anyone noticing might think we were having a clandestine meeting. So there I was, sitting at the bar and waiting for my secret tryst to begin. At this point, I was both rich and sinful.

My job was to inquire the bartender about an "interesting summer drink." This was, in particular, a challenge for me, because I could not know LESS about the subject of alcohol. I guess I pulled that off, too, though, because the bartender was all ready to fix me "The Perfect Summer" when I told him that on second thought, I'd just have tea instead.

After Clay finished with the valet service and perused the grounds for a bit, he came in to find me and had trouble. This was another fun part for me, because I believe he may have begun to panic, thinking that I had left with some strange man who hypnotized me with his worldly charms in my 10 minutes alone in the bar. :-) After all, I DID look rich....and alone. But we found each other and went on to enjoy items from each course, as if we had not a care that there are, in fact, starving children in Africa. The food was simply delish, as I imagine the two men who were holding hands in a quiet corner booth would describe it to you. Here's to me doing a good job on my report so that we can evaluate a schwank hotel next time, as I am certain that will provide us more bloggable fun.