I had a wonderful afternoon on Saturday.

Jason and I went to Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa is a really odd place. Like it looks normal, but it has these weird undercurrents. Kinda Twin Peaks-ish as Janeane Garofalo put it. So, we went up there in the early afternoon. It was a really hazy day, which added to the weirdness of the city.

Jason’s a big fan of the Peanuts comic strip, so we went out to the Charles M. Schulz Museum. It was pretty cool. There were tons of original prints on display. There was also this special display of all the tributes drawn by other colleagues in the comic strip industry. It was really neat. Some of them were actual cartoons that ran during May after Schulz’s death. Jason and I were really impressed by this big card that had been created by the artists on The Simpson’s. They each drew little sketches and had notes. There was one of Homer lying on his back on the roof of a doghouse. His legs and arms (and fat) are hanging over the sides. The caption bubble reads: “This is harder than I thought.” A lot of the artists wrote notes about how they were influenced by Peanuts. For a lot of them, they wrote about how Snoopy was the first thing they started doodling as a kid. It was a pretty impressive tribute. I, personally, was really struck by this strip of Charlie brown. There are 5 frames. In the first frame, Charlie Brown finally gets a note from the red-haired girl. In the second frame, he finally kicks the football. I don’t remember what the next frame was. The 4th frame was Charlie Brown looking all perplexed. And then an angel flies down in the last frame and says, “You’re in heaven, Charlie Brown. You’re in heaven.”

So, after the Schulz Museum, Jason and I had an hour or so to kill before our dinner reservations. So, we went to the mall. There were so many teenagers at this mall. It was pretty obvious that the make-up of this town was more working class. And that the mall was really overrun by teenagers. It was so crowded, yet in stores like Banana Republic and Ann Taylor Loft, only a handful of customers could be found.

Dinner was at this restaurant called Capri. The owner is actually from the island of Capri. He was this really friendly man in his late fifties. He greeted all of his customers personally (and affectionately). The food was wonderful.

We started with Sauteed mussels with garlic, tomatoes, and olive oil. It came with a toasted slice of a baguette. The sauce was tomatoey, but not too sweet or tart. The presentation was excellent, with all the mussels pointed upward on the plate.

We then had our entrees. Jason ordered the rabbit. I ordered the veal. The veal was delicious. 4 thin slices of veal were cooked in a marsala sauce with what they called wild mushrooms. I called them white and shiitake mushrooms. The sauce was flavorful without masking the flavor of the meet. They were served with a side of diced potatoes (that were a little boring) and vegetables.

Jason’s rabbit was excellent. 3 large medallions of rabbit stuffed with herbs. We expected it to taste gamier, so it was a pleasant surprise to find that the herbs covered that flavor nicely. Some bites, however, were too full of oregano. It was matched with a side of light, fluffy polenta and vegetables. We had a glass of Merlot which complemented the food nicely.

Service was so-so. We had one of the worst tables in the house. Next to the bar, and near the kitchen. It did give us a nice view of the rest of the restaurant with its dim light and large windows onto the quaint downtown street. The set-up of the restaurant was nice. 1 deep red gerber daisy was on each table along with a bottle of olive oil and a small candle.

So, that was dinner. YUMMY! Then, we proceeded to go see Janeane Garofalo do stand up over at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts. Everyone in Santa Rosa is white. But, besides, that, it was a great show. She was funnier than I had ever seen her (considering that she kinda flopped on SNL). She got a standing ovation. It went a little long. The guy who opened for her, Zach Something, was pretty funny too. I had never seen stand-up before, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

And, honestly, more than anything, the highlight of my day was just getting to spend it with Jason. Yes, you may barf and gag now if you so desire. But, we don’t get to spend too much time with each other during the week because we’re both so busy (especially me!). So, yes, it was nice.

I had quite an enjoyable weekend. And going to sleep last night at 9:45 was great too!

Oh, and congratulations to Hung and Fanny!