Thursday evening Margaret and I made plans to go see Charlie St. Cloud. The movie was at 7:35, so we decided we better eat beforehand. It’s very important not to go see a Zac Efron movie on an empty stomach. When Margaret got to my house, the conversation went a little like this:
Christina: So, are you in the mood for anything specific?
Margaret: No, not really. What are you in the mood for?
Christina: Um, you know I only ever say Chick-fil-A or Mustard Seed.
Margaret: Mustard Seed.
Christina: Let’s go.
Approximately 7 minutes later we were stuffing fresh bread in our face and deciding on a bottle of wine. We quickly chose Nobilo, a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, and scanned the specials menu. My rule when I eat at the Mustard Seed is that I have to get something I haven’t had before. Our server, Lauren, said “Take your time. Pickles is whipping something up for you guys right now.” PICKLES? All I heard was pickles. Apparently “Pickles” is Jonathan’s nickname, but that wasn’t what he was making. He surprised us with a Saffron Tuscan White Bean Bacon Dip with Pita Slices.
The dip was warm and creamy with a little bit of parmesan. The bacon and paprika gave it a bit of a smoky flavor. A little bit later, Lauren brought out another surprise. This time we got a salad: arugula with lump crab meat, red onion, and feta with an aged balsamic and truffle oil dressing. What a fun ingredient combo!
While we munched on that, I remembered that August 19th was National Hot & Spicy day. I figured I should choose my entree accordingly and went with the Southwestern Torte: tortillas layered with chicken, vegetables, black beans, monterey jack cheese, and salsa.
Holy moly, I was in love. This was really different than anything I’ve eaten at the Mustard Seed before, but in a good way. It was like fancy Mexican without a pound of oil. The tortillas were soft towards the middle and crunchy around the edge of the torte. I loved the green salsa too.
Margaret went with a special: Spinach, artichoke and ricotta stuffed eggplant over pasta with a tomato basil sauce.
Halfway through our meal, we realized Zac Efron was going to be on the big screen in 5 minutes. Uh oh. In fear that we might miss a shirtless scene or even just a millisecond of his face, we skedaddled right out of there. (We paid, I promise.)
Luckily, we walked in just as the movie was starting. I pulled out my tupperware of brownies and bag of pretzel m&ms (I’m serious) and we made ourselves at home comfortable. Andrea, who had met us there, looked at me and said “Wow, I’ve never seen anyone bring brownies to the movies before.” Um, yeah…who does that?
Not even 10 minutes into the movie, Margaret and I were just about crying. I wasn’t bawling, but at 3 different scenes, I felt my eyes welling up and I may or may not have shed 2 tears. The movie itself was pretty good. I won’t ruin it for anyone that hasn’t seen it, but I will tell you that ZAC EFRON IS SO HOT. I don’t care if he’s 22 (almost 23!) years old or that he has a gf, I still love him. Yes, love him. So much that I shamelessly snapped a photo of an extra-large Zac on screen.
Margaret said, “OMG, just google him!!”
After the movie, we went home and drank too much wine. Spanish wine = crazy dreams…about Zac Efron. I woke up thinking we were dating. Then I did something borderline psychotic and/or hilarious: faceinhole.com.
