James' work party

Last night was James' work party. They had a dinner at the Raddison Hotel in downtown Salt Lake, and then we all got tickets to go to the Jazz/Trailblazers game. I was really looking forward to the party, because I would finally get to meet the people James works with and be able to put faces to the names that I hear about.
We didn't know what they would be serving for dinner, and so on the drive over, we made a pact not to let each other get the salmon, if that was an option. Why, you ask? Time after time, we both keep thinking that salmon is good, only to remember, when we eat it, that we don't really like salmon at all. Not 20 seconds after we made our pact, James says, referring to salmon, "unless there is some sort of sauce on it, if it's swimming sauce, maybe I'll try it" to which I responded "yeah, and it is supposed to be really good for you..." then I came to my senses and said "see what just happened there? We can't let that happen. We're already trying to talk ourselves into the salmon...we are so weak". We decided no matter what, NO SALMON!!!
Well, we got there and sat down, and James introduced me to some of his work people. Then the president of the bank stood up and welcomed all of us, and said that dinner would be buffet-style, and we could help ourselves to whatever we wanted, and excused us to eat. We made our way over to the buffet table and James nudges me and says "Look, they have salmon, and it looks like it's swimming in some sort of cream sauce..." I said, "don't do it, you'll regret it." We made our way through the line and came to the end where they had a selection of meats...somehow we both ended up with salmon on our plates. We looked at each other and just shook our heads. We sat down to eat, and it turns out, the salmon was really good...better than the prime rib and the chicken (we tried all three). I can't remember...do we or don't we like salmon?
I also have to mention that I had a "Survivor" moment with the prime rib. James had gone to get us dessert, and I put the last bite of my prime rib in my mouth, only to discover that it was ALL gristle... I couldn't even chew it, I tried. So I sat there with a dilemma: We had cloth napkins, so I couldn't really spit it out into the napkin, and I was at a table surrounded by people I didn't know, and I was trying to be on my best behavior, so spitting it back out onto my plate was definitely NOT an option, but keeping that thing in my mouth was making my stomach turn. I'm really picky about the texture of my beef...if I'm at home, I cut around fat veins, and if it's the least bit tough, into the garbage it goes. Well, I sat there, trying to act all cool, while deciding what to do, and then I thought "hey, just pretend that you're on Survivor and that this is a reward challenge, and if you do this, your team wins." Stupid, I know, but it worked, and I was able to somehow get it down, and more importantly keep it down. I keep saying that I need to get out more, but on second thought, with my poor manners, maybe I should never leave the house!!
Well, we had a really good time at dinner, and then we headed over to the Jazz game. James, having grown up in Southern CA, is a Lakers fan, and I can't seem to get too jazzed (get it, jazzed) about professional sports. We were amidst a sea of avid fans, and all the two of us really cared about was enjoying our ice cream (sound familiar, dad?) People were booing, and cheering and getting really into it, and James and I were just having a good time being with each other without the kids around. Then, during one of the timeouts, they had a short blurb sponsored by this restaurant: Costa Vida. A little bit of background: while James and I were at BYU, we, like so many others of our time, developed what I like to call a Cafe Rio "habit"... not an addiction, mind you, simply a habit. Cafe Rio is this restaurant, not really fast food, not really a sit-down place, but really good fresh food. They classify themselves as a "mexican grill". Anyways, we are passionate about our Cafe Rio. It is as much a part of our BYU experience as our actual classes were, and we spent many a date night there, as well. Well, shortly after we left BYU, this new chain of restaurants started to pop up called Costa Vida. Their food is very similar to Cafe Rio's, but we pretty much hate them...we are Cafe Rio purists. With us, you either like Cafe Rio, or Costa Vida...you like good, or you like evil...catch my drift? Anyways, back to my point, this ad comes up for Costa Vida, and suddenly James and I feel like jumping to our feet and booing. In fact, we did boo, just not very loudly. We looked at each other and laughed. There we were, at a close, relatively exciting game, and the thing that really excites our passion is an ad for the arch enemy of our favorite restaurant...we are a couple of wacky nuts. It's a good thing we found each other...