42. Lent with Charlie Trotter

A funny thing happened back in 1981-82 when mortgage interest rates were 18% and inflation was rampant and we changed to lower-paying jobs and we ended up accidentally owning two houses. On a budget so tight that if I found a dollar I rushed out and bought potatoes, I began dreaming about dressing like Princess Diana.

With only a week to go in our Lenten Experiment, and with the automobile industry crashing and burning and unemployment soaring, I'm having a similar kind of dream. It's Friday afternoon, and I want to go out to dinner. Not to Adelle's or Pad Thai etc or Cafe Galicia, though I love them and can't afford them on this regime anyway.

No. I want to go to Charlie Trotter's.

In my dream, Mr Neff will have the Grand Menu and I will have the Vegetable Menu, or vice versa. We might as well share and taste everything. In addition, we will each order the Wine Accompaniment. The website avoids telling me how much this is all going to cost, but from readers' comments scattered across the internet, I gather that it will be at least $600, tip and tax included. In other words, more than my entire Lenten Experiment budget.

Maybe I can save money by borrowing one of Princess Diana's old dresses...