Wine, cake and a movie

I saw Water for Elephants with some girlfriends today.  LOVED IT.  I went in with an I-Already-Read-The-Book-so-the-Movie-is-Probably-Going-To-Blow attitude, but blow it did not.  The acting was good.  Who knew Edward Cullen had some depth??  (that's Robert Pattinson for all you non Twilighters, but he is and probably always will be known to me as "Edward"...poor guy)  Of course my favorite part was the animals.  I cried a few times over how the animals were treated, and if you have read the book, you know what I mean, but it wasn't quite as graphic as the book.  The ending is really good.  I cried at that too.  Did I mention I now want an elephant?

Matt and I went to church for a Good Friday service last night and then stopped at Bonefish afterwards for appetizers and wine.  I learned two important things during this visit...
 
1. The best seat is at the bar, at the end where the waiters/waitresses place their orders and where the bartenders place the drinks to be picked up.  I'm pretty sure I learned how to make at least a dozen of their specialty cocktails just by watching and asking the bartenders what they were putting in there.

2. Bonefish has a "reserved" wine list.  It's all fancy and you have to ask for it.  This couple walks in and sits next to us and ask for this list (all the bartenders already seemed to know who they were so I'm assuming they're regulars or something) and the bartender pulls out this fancy list with gold trim from under the counter.  Matt and I must have looked shocked because the couple starts telling us about the wines on there, which ones are good (like we could ever afford a bottle on there) and all about wine in general.  They even let us try some of theirs (if you're into wine, Black Chicken was what they ordered-it was pretty good).  It was all very interesting.  Matt and I have decided that now every time we go to Bonefish we are going to request the reserved list, look it over like we are contemplating, and then just say that although they all sound lovely, we'll go with the $20 Beringer tonight.

I made this cake yesterday for Easter festivities.  I highly recommend you make it to enjoy tomorrow if you have some time today or in the morning.  Although it took some time to do because of the different colors, you use boxed cake mixes, so it's pretty easy.  The presentation totally makes it worth it too.  You can just go to the Picky Palate and follow her recipe, but I am also posting it on my Recipe Blog because of course I tweaked the original recipe a little to make it healthier, and I doubled everything to make the layers thicker.
 

Picky Palate

The funny about the cake is that I specifically made it to take over to Cassie and Ross' Saturday night for a cook-out, but when Matt and I walked in from Bonefish last night and it was sitting there on the kitchen table pretty much begging to be eaten, so now we are bringing over a cake with two rather large pieces taken out.  Oh well.  It's the thought that counts.