Poland, a guy I work with who telecommutes from his home in Michigan, is actually in Chicago for a few days this week. His Michigan town is, according to him, pretty much a culinary wasteland, so he was eager to go out for a fancy meal. "I need this."

A few of us tried to take him to Avec, but it was too crowded. We worked on figuring out a different dinner option. One place was vetoed because Chris had promised to go there with his fiancee sometime. He was "saving it." I felt a bit guilty myself about going out to a fancy dinner without Sarah, since we've been having trouble finding time for nice dates for ourselves (for the record, she told me not to worry about it).

We finally settled on Gioco.

Poland: This was actually my wife and I's favorite restaurant when we used to live here. You guys can order whatever you want, but I'm going to really go for it.

After lots of good food and wine, Poland pulled out his phone.

Poland: What time is it? Oh... later than I thought. My wife wanted me to call her and walk her through the whole meal. So she could experience it too. I guess... I guess I'll take a picture of the empty plates? That would be good, right?