Who Knew Sharp Metal Objects, Raw Meat and Boiling Oil at Your Table Could Actually Be a Good Idea?

I took Danelle to one of our favorite restaurants for her birthday tonight, The Melting Pot. Her mom was nice enough to watch the kids, who are still young enough to enjoy sleepovers at Nana's house.

The first time I ever went to a fondue restaurant was our first anniversary almost 16 years ago. When Danelle suggested it my response was, "Sounds good. Where are we going to eat afterwards?" I had no idea that sort of meal could actually be filling and satisfying, but all those little pieces of meat actually do add up to something substantive.

Then after we had kids we grew to appreciate another aspect of a fondue dinner -- how "adult" it is. And I don't mean that in a Skinemax way. The multiple courses, the liesurely pace as you cook your own food, the complete absence of crayons. It's nice to have a meal out that's not a race to see what gets to the table first -- tears, pee or the check.

They had an incredible salad that we always ordered that was essentially just a big plate of mushrooms and a sprinkling of lettuce with a special garlic & wine seasoning. It was taken off the menu, but they'll still make it when ordered. I love outstanding service to long-time customers like that.

Danelle got a little When Harry Met Sally with dessert tonight and asked to substitute dark chocolate for milk chocolate. Dark chocolate always make me thing of this kid I took Home Economics with in 8th grade, Billy Rivers. Dark chocolate made him sick, and he hated Home Ec. So on days he really didn't want to be there he'd bring one of those little Hershey's dark chocolate miniatures, eat it right at the start of class, puke a few minutes later and get sent to the nurse. And lucky me got to sit at his table.

Fortunately there was no puking tonight, though I think we were both stuffed enough to want to. Just a nice meal and good conversation with the woman I love, and nary a bendy straw in sight.

My Field Trip to the DAM

I'm not a huge art guy, but I like a little culture once in a while. So I went to the Denver Art Museum yesterday to see the Inspiring Impressionism exhibit with my mother-in-law.

Editor's Note: My mother-in-law is actually very, very cool. Moved here from Texas when we had our daughter a few years ago. And she's an artist herself. And she's a DAM member, so I got in free. So quit snickering.

The exhibit had a couple of works by Claude Monet, who's always been my favorite painter for no particular reason. Like I said, I'm not a huge art guy. He's my wife's favorite artist, too. Her mom says that's because impressionism is so "approachable." I think that's her way of saying that it's like the Coors Light of art movements. Thanks for shattering my carefully crafted self-view of being somewhat cultured, Nana.

The exhibit was pretty neat. I liked the concept of showing impressionist paintings next to earlier works that may have inspired them. That provided some nice context.

After we were done with that exhibit we went and checked out the rest of the museum's new building. There were some things I liked, such as a painting of aspens from the Herbert Bayer collection on the lower level. On the one hand it must be pretty cool to have an entire museum collection of your works. On the other, it must say something when they put it in the basement.

There was also a piece of art by a guy named Robert Irwin that was pretty interesting. The best thing to call it would probably be a sculpture, except it wasn't just the physical piece itself that made it art. It was hung and lighted in such a way that it cast some really intriguing shadows that were part of the work. The museum labeled it as using acrylic for the medium. I thought they should have said acrylic and light. Maybe that's why I'm not a curator.

There were, of course, some things that I just couldn't relate to. Like a piece titled something like "Large Red Slab" that was -- you guessed it -- a large, red slab. And some sort of video that included sound effects and dialogue from Star Trek with footage of the artist, a young kid and some old guy on a moonscape set. The old guy was lip synching to a female voice. The whole thing reminded me of a Sprockets skit. I guess these would be like the Achel Trappist Extras of the art world.

The lesson, if any, is probably that art is subjective. There's nothing wrong with working that part of your brain once in a while and wrestling with what makes something "good" or "bad." The exercise has value regardless of your conclusion. Unless, of course, it makes you miss the UEFA Champions League final...

Yes, I'm still bitter about that.