Cinderella syndrome

I've had a bit of Cinderella syndrome this week. We were planning to go to a ball last night but, since I've been seeing an osteopath to treat a damaged disc in my back for the past four months, I finally conceded about ten days ago that the ball wasn't going to happen. It would have meant buying another ball dress. (I've worn last year's dress to a couple of balls now - time for a change.) Not being able to dance, and watching all our friends dance the night away (like we did last year) isn't my idea of fun and, ultimately, the ball would end up just being a waste of money and a disappointing experience for my sweetie and I. Woe is me!

So, what to do instead? Staying at home doing chores is not for this Cinderella! Friends of ours were in a similar situation; she is recovering from a hip operation and, along with her partner, was feeling that the ball just wasn't going to work for them. We decided to get our tickets refunded and go out to dinner together instead. We chose a fancy restaurant (which doesn't take bookings, but we figured would be easier to get a table at on a Sunday night) and planned to meet after they had been to the Wellington Phoenix football game. (And what a game it was - the Phoenix ended their drought to beat top-of-the-table team 6-0! Our friends arrived super-hyped.) The only problem was that, upon arriving at the restaurant, we discovered that they don't open Sundays! Our next choice was closed for two weeks (reason unknown), and so it was third time lucky.

We dined at Plate Restaurant, slightly out of our usual range. We perused the menu over a bottle of Spy Valley 2008 sauvignon blanc - a lovely, passionfruity taste to it. I settled on an entree of seared salmon with a tomato and mozzarella salad with basil lemon pesto. This was a delicious taste combination and the mozzarella was real, ie not of the over-yellow variety synonymous with pizza toppings. My main dish was a minted lamb rack, cooked medium rare (unusual, but still tasty). The waiter tried to tempt us mandioca fries. However, his description of it being a vegetable which was a cross between potato and celery couldn't convince us. Still, we learned something new tonight!

The entertainment for the evening came in the form of our friends spotting the referees from the game at a table near us. They felt the need to apologise (but didn't) for the comments they'd yelled at the ref during the game, and much giggling followed. On our way out of the restaurant, they came across members of the (losing) Gold Coast football team in the foyer, including star player Shane Smeltz, who had formerly played for the Phoenix before defecting to the opposition. Says friend to the Gold Coast goalie: "that was a great game". Replies goalie: "not for us, it wasn't". Friend takes foot out of mouth, but she can't help flashing a cheeky grin back at him. For us non-football people, it was more than a little amusing to see our friends disintegrate into star-struck fans before our eyes.

And maybe next year Cinderella will go to the ball!