A Concert and A Romantic Supper

Saturday, January 14, 2023

Keith played the annual family concert with the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra today. It is an afternoon concert every January – free for everyone. There was a very nice turn-out. I enjoyed watching one toddler just walk up and down the aisle during the entire first piece (all the pieces are pretty short – catered to small people). His mom sat down and watched him, too. It was a good call. Where was he going to go? Up and back, up and back. He watched the string players with quite a bit of interest when he was closer to them. The last piece was Tubby the Tuba, a narrated bit about some sections of the orchestra not being very nice to the tuba. Keith had caused a bit of a fluff last night when he assumed that the tuba player would be up front for his feature song. The (temporary for this concert) conductor thought it was odd to have the tubist come to the front. To further confound the conversation, the tuba player was surprised he would be put in the front. Um. What? “Here is a song about your instrument. Please stay in the back where no one, especially the children who do not know what a tuba looks like, will see you,” said no one ever. He did come up front and got a lot of attention and appreciation, especially from the children.

After the matinee concert, we drove to Chippewa Falls for dinner at the Wissota High Shores Supper Club. We made a reservation at 4pm, when they opened. We got there about 10 minutes early (after killing a bit of time at the concert venue). There were several cars already in the lot, with people waiting. By the time the doors were unlocked at 4:01, there were about 15 people standing at the door. The restaurant was definitely full by 4:30. There were big windows facing Little Lake Wissota (please remember Jack Dawson from Titanic was from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. He mentioned it to Rose when he told her how terrible it is to be in icy water, saying that he had been in Lake Wissota in winter once and it was bad and all [foreshadowing!!]. Fact check: Lake Wissota is manmade and was not made yet when the Titanic sank. Darn!) and it was very pretty. The picture of the day was some of the trays (there were more!) of glasses ready with garnishes for old fashioneds. I thought it was great.

The big feature here was a 50+ item salad bar. I cannot remember the last time I had a salad bar opportunity. I really enjoyed my salad. Keith had cottage cheese with fruit cocktail on it, and beets. He was so happy. These are NOT things I like, so he does not get them often. He had prime rib and I walked on the wild side and ordered something other than tenderloin – NY strip. Everything was very tasty. Our waitress was very mediocre. She disappeared a lot, then popped up and asked things at strange times (Will you need a to-go container? not too long after we started eating). I asked Keith to compare it to Diamond Jim’s, then realized I really don’t want to try to compare all the supper clubs we visit. (He said Diamond Jim’s was better.)

I tried for a romantic-remember-the-night-we-met-40-years-ago conversation and Keith was nice enough to play along. I have always asked him what he was thinking when he proposed, and he always says he can’t remember last Thursday so how could he remember way back then, and I accept that. Tonight, I asked about when we met and he was so nice! He made stuff up! It was sweet and I liked it.