High on the Hejab

On Saturday, Jena and I ventured into Center City Philadelphia for a date, while a babysitter stayed home with the boys. It marked the first time since our move to Philly that we went out on a bondafide date (not including the time I took Jena to the Cherry Hill Municipal Court for a traffic violation).

We drove down to the Woodcrest PATCO station and caught the Speedline into the city, disembarking at the 8th/Market Street Station. (It's really nice to live in an area where mass transit is a viable option). We had tickets for a 7:40 movie, so we had a little bit of time for dinner. After passing on a couple options that had longer waits, we decided to eat at Aqua Cuisine, a Thai-Malaysian restaurant at 706 Chestnut Street. (Thai is one of our favorites). After a Satay Chicken appetizer, Jena had Kari Ayam and I had Sambal Udang. For dessert we had coconut ice cream, which was pretty amazing. We probably would have stayed a little longer, but we had to rush over to the Ritz at the Bourse theater, about three blocks away, to catch the movie.

Our date movie was "Persepolis," an animated film based on the novel by Marjane Satrapi. The film was written and directed by Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud. The movie starts in Tehran in 1978-1979, just before the Iranian Revolution. Presented from then 9-year-old Marjane's perspective, the film shows how the Iranian people agitated for freedom from the repressive (and U.S. backed) Shah, but their dreams turn into a nightmare when Islamic fundamentalists take over. The women in the country were forced to wear the hejab, a black head covering. Life is made even more miserable by the Iran-Iraq War. The movie ends with Marjane a 21-year-old expatriate living in Paris.

There has been a lot of Oscar buzz around this movie, and I hope it wins. It has already won the Prize of the Jury at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

After the movie we walked back to the PATCO station (passed Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell twice ... that doesn't suck!) and caught the Speedline back to New Jersey. We took bets to see if the boys were still awake, but miraculously they were both sound asleep when we got back.

A successful date night!