February 21, 2009 - Posted by danielle- 2 Comments
Well, I’d been thinking about posting a recap of our Valentine’s Day dinner at Zelo and then I ended up sick this week. Not sick enough to miss work, but sick enough that my enthusiasm for pretty much everything was decreased. Jenski asked about supper too. So, now that I’m feeling less runny-nose-y and tired, I’ll give you the menu and my impressions.
Overall, it was the best meal I’ve had out probably since our Anniversary supper last July. So, we were due for a good meal. And I think this one beats that one hands down. Thus, I’m hard pressed to come up with a meal that was this good.
Since we’ve been to this restaurant before, I remembered a little bit about the decor. But I’d forgotten how beautiful it is inside. When we walked in, I was struck by the colors and architecture, and the lights which were these wire shapes of different sizes (at least 4 feet long) that had other colored cubes and spheres inside them that had lights inside. They were really cool and unique. (you should click on the link to just see the photos of the decor which come up and rotate right away)
The menu quickly caught my attention, because they had lump crab cakes for an appetizer. Which we ordered right away along with a lemonade for me and a martini for HB.
It is funny to mention a drink, but since I don’t drink caffeinated beverages anymore, I usually really don’t like my beverage with supper very much. Now, there are places with good non-caffeinated drinks, but they are more rare than the wealth of ho-hum ones. This place had awesome fresh squeezed lemonade.
They served us warm bread with excellent soft butter, and then the crab cakes came out. OMG, they were so good. I really love crab. And these were lump crab cakes with no filler and very little material to even connect the crab pieces together. They were just incredible. I fell in love with crab when we lived in Baltimore, MD which is known for crab.
I ordered a salad with goat cheese and balsamic vinegrette. The goat cheese was soft and just sharp enough to complement the dressing beautifully. The greens were mixed organic baby greens and just delicious.
For my entree, I had sea bass (medium well) on a bed of farro mixed with cooked spinach. It was surrounded by a spicy tomato cream sauce that also had pieces of lump crab in it. This time, the crab wasn’t as good as the crab cakes, because the sauce diluted the flavor of the crab. But the sea bass, oh, it was wonderful! It had some spices on it that I couldn’t really place, but were definitely more middle-eastern than anything else. It was cooked perfectly and one of the best pieces of sea basses I’ve ever had. The farro is a grain, kind of like a barley. Mixing it with the spinach gave it a really great flavor.
I was getting relatively full at this point, but I really wanted dessert, because I remembered how good the molten chocolate cake was….
… so of course, I ordered it. To choose a tea, they brought out this tea chest that had a really clever design. It held large test tubes of tea (probably would hold 50-75 ml) so that you could admire the color and composition of the tea. I chose their special blend that had green tea, peppermint (an interesting combo and not one I’ve had before), and some other flavors – I don’t remember at this point. Of course, green tea has very low levels of caffeine in it, but I decided it would be fine to drink it. And it was. Just like before, they brought it out in a little iron tea pot on an iron trivet.
And then the cake came out and it all came back to me. It was definitely the best version of molten chocolate cake that I’ve ever had anywhere. And believe me, I’ve tried a lot. If a restaurant has it, and I’m ordering dessert, I always get it. Even cheesecake doesn’t beat it out. Although, speaking of cheesecake, I think I’ll make one for our B-days this year. HB’s and my birthdays are separated by one week, so we usually have 1 week of dessert between them. I haven’t made our chocolate chip cheesecake recipe in quite a while.
Like I said up front, the meal as a whole was just incredible. I think it might become one of the main restaurants we go to for special occasions. And just think, our b-days are right around the corner! (March 12th for me, March 5th for HB)
And that also means a Wii is right around the corner! 
It was a great way to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the music. This restaurant plays the one of the best mixes of music. Zelo and Outback probably play the most of the songs that we like. We heard the Beatles, Sarah McLachlan, Eric Clapton, and others that I can’t remember now that it was a week ago.
And HB and I listened to some Hip Hop on the way to and then variety of music on the way home from the restaurant. The Rihanna, the Shakira song – the one about the hips – Beyonce, Britney (yes, a new Britney song), Red Hot Chili Peppers, Greenday and I can’t remember the others again. It was a lot of fun!
July 13, 2006 - Posted by danielle- 7 Comments
Today is our 10th Anniversary of our wedding. I didn’t want the occasion to pass without marking it in some way on my blog, even if it is a little bit late in the day and many of you won’t see this until tomorrow.
I was thinking today about the day of our wedding. Periodically, throughout the day I’d think something along the lines of “10 years ago today, I was doing X at this time.” I have a pretty vivid memory of our wedding day, including the wedding ceremony and reception. For some people, it becomes a blur in their minds, but there are a lot of really distinct moments that I remember.
I’ve also been thinking some today about how HB and I have grown since then. Now, yes, our waistlines have both thickened, but that isn’t the kind of growth that I mean. Our relationship has matured along with each of us. We were 22 when we got married, and a lot has happened between then and now, and we’ve been each other’s best friend through it all.
I think that is the main thing I feel today. A strong love. A love that is even deeper and more meaningful than the love that I had on the day that we married. And a deep friendship. The very best kind of friendship.
February 14, 2006 - Posted by danielle- 7 Comments
Hi Everyone –
HB here. Danielle is going to be away from the blog for a bit wrapping up some things for her dissertation.
Don’t panic – all is well – and I expect you’ll see her back here in a week or so.
All the best,
HB
July 13, 2005 - Posted by danielle- 13 Comments
It is our wedding anniversary today.
Yup, nine years ago today. Lessee… about now (consulting time, going on 8:00 a.m.) I was probably watching episodes of Dr. Quinn that my mom had taped for me.
I was up really really early, couldn’t sleep from being excited, of course. And well, I had all of these episodes to watch, and who knew when I was going to get a chance to see them? What with our honeymoon and moving and all coming up.
Jump ahead to now. 9 years. Or as HB teases me “We’ve been married ELEVEN years! No, Wait, it must be TWELVE!”
He teases me, because he is a certified D.O.R.K. And well, I am too. And he knows it will make me smile and giggle and laugh.
And because after we’d been married 4 or 5 years, I could never remember how long we’d been married. And people would ask, and I’d either have to pause and try to do the math (Hey, you try to quickly subtract 1996 from 2003 – especially if you are still a few months before the date), or I’d just throw out what I thought it was. Um, 5! No, wait, SIX!
Anyway, our marriage just keeps getting better and better.
More inside jokes. Better understanding of moods, expressions… knowing when to tease and laugh, and when to hug and cry. But lots of teasing and laughing.
And cookies.
Lover you hunny bunny.
Happy Anniversary my big DORK.
-G errrrrrrr
February 19, 2005 - Posted by danielle- 4 Comments
Or is it?
There is a sense of urgency for HB and I this weekend. Without expressing it in so many words, I think we are both feeling like we have to soak it all in really fast to hold us over for the upcoming dry spell.
hmmm… a water and drought analogy?
But it seems oddly fitting.
Last night, he suggested we go out for breakfast this morning since it was a special weekend. I almost asked him what he meant by special. But I knew what he meant. I didn’t have to ask, I just smiled, and hugged him and kissed him.
So, while it is almost just another weekend. It isn’t really.
And what did I eat at this special breakfast, you might be wondering?
grin
My Favorite, of course!
3 blueberry pancakes and 2 chocolate chip, with a side of sausage, and tea.
I almost took the camera with us, didn’t, and then wished I had, ’cause the pancakes were beautiful when they arrived…
… and they tasted even better.
February 14, 2005 - Posted by danielle- 6 Comments
It all began the first day of our senior year of high school when I showed up at school with my new hair-do. I’d spent a large portion of the previous year growing out my bangs and hair, not so that I could attract guys, although that was a surprising benefit, but so that I would no longer have my 80’s Richard Marxish hair (as one friend so aptly named it years later). So, I arrived at school with this new look and caught HB’s eye. He came over, we talked, and I was surprised how attracted I was to him. What made the attraction so surprising was that he’d been around the entire previous year, and I’d never felt an inkling. However, at the time, he’d been dating one of my good friends, which made him soooo far off limits that I’d probably turned off my attraction radar with regards to him that year. Although there was that one time when I noticed his nice legs in his track tights…
Anyway, now that they were broken up and he was no longer off limits, I thought “hmmm… there could be something here.” But when I sought him out later and we finally got a chance to talk in more depth, I realized that he was pining for a different girl in our grade.
sigh
Regardless, we began sitting next to each other in British Literature, in the back of the class no less (and for those of you who know my preference for sitting near the front of the class, or seminar, or church service, you name it, you’ll realize what a sacrifice this was for me). We’d talk before class and share jokes and thoughts during class.
Our friendship was really cemented about a month or so after the school year began when I was at an after school activity tie-dying shirts and HB came and hung out with me. We started talking, and we just kept on talking long after the sun went down and everyone had left.
We became each others support when one was sick, or stressed, or having relationship woes. We were also together for a couple of assignments in British Lit. One of them was to memorize and recite a scene from Macbeth, which required several after school rehearsals together.
Another key moment was when we’d eaten out together and went for a walk afterward. We played in the puddles, splashing and splashing and laughing and giggling together. We had a conversation about the possibility of dating. But in the end, we decided that our friendship was too important to risk or ruin it by dating.
Around this time, I had a long conversation with my friend (his ex-girlfriend from the previous year) to get the good, bad, and the ugly. I took all of it with a grain of salt, but I began to look for some of the things that had been problems for the two of them. She gave me her blessing, so to speak, to date him if I wanted. But at that point, I definitely wasn’t ready.
During this time, we kept growing closer. We had numerous late night conversations about anything and everything, including but not limited to family, the past, beliefs, and religion. We gave each other cards about friendship and continued going for walks together.
The day before Thanksgiving break, he asked me to the Christmas dance, just as friends, of course.
Thanksgiving break and the time apart made us both realize how much we’d missed the other. And once we were back at school together, we talked about our surprise at missing the other so much. I remember it feeling so awkward, knowing that my feelings for him were deepening, but not knowing how he felt about me. Not wanting to put myself out on a limb by bringing up the topic of dating again, but being afraid that if I didn’t reach out and take this chance, it might never come again.
A couple of days later, HB emailed me a letter that brought up the topic of dating. I was so relieved. And thrilled! and Excited!
I, of course, told him I’d had similar thoughts and we went out on our first date that Friday. We walked, threw leaves at each other, and played on the jungle gym equipment. I can still remember the moment when we almost kissed. I’d been sitting, and it was getting close to curfew. So, HB walked over to pull me up. His mouth was about an inch from mine as he said something that I can’t even remember but was probably along the lines of “We have to be getting back.” And I probably said “yes”. What I DO remember is my heart racing and feeling his breath as he spoke and getting all tingly inside. I love that feeling.
It wasn’t until the following weekend, the night before the Christmas dance that we finally kissed. Talk about tingles. mmmm… The Christmas Dance felt like our first big date. I loved dancing with him. And still do.
Our relationship continued to grow, we realized we loved each other. I scared him by admitting that he might be “the one”, but he was feeling the same way, so it wasn’t all that scary.
We went to our senior prom together.
And how could I resist a guy who would flout convention and wear Chuck Taylors to our senior prom?
So, now you know the beginning.
That was 12 years ago.
And our love? It just keeps growing, and getting more and more beautiful as the years go by.
February 2, 2005 - Posted by danielle- 2 Comments
This is a picture of my supper that I made For Myself tonight.
Note that it does indeed have 3, count them Three!, things that require cooking. That would be cajun chicken, grains (i.e. not rice, but almost like it – from a box, of course), and broccoli. (that is cheese on the side, don’t be distracted willy-nilly by the cheese, please)
Ha! You doubting Thomases can just be quiet now.
For those of you unfamiliar with the teasing I have been receiving for the past, oh, 5-6 years, here is the gist, or the down-low as I like to say when I’m feeling particularly dorky.
When HB and I first got married (8.5 years ago), we decided that to evenly divide our household duties, I would do the cooking and he would do all of the clean-up. Well, I can’t even remember how long that lasted, because my mind has blocked that period of horror from my readily accessible memories. Anyway, it must’ve lasted a month or less. During that so unmemorable month (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, well unmemorable from a food standpoint, because after all, it was our first month of marriage and living together… ah, the memories…) where was I? Oh yes,
During that so unmemorable month of HB as the cleaner-upper, I’d pull a glass or a dish out of the cabinet and there would be this dried-crusty-food-remnant stuck to it. Bleck with a capital B… Gross with a capital G…. Nasty with a capital N… well, you get the picture. I’d show HB, the cleaner-upper himself, the grody glass and say something along the lines of “If you were given this glass at a restaurant, would you keep it or send it back?” And of course, he’d reluctantly admit that he would Not keep it, and that it was indeed gross. I finally couldn’t take it anymore and We came to the Joint decision (ahem) that it was time to switch duties and he would be the cook, and I would be the cleaner-upper.
Fortunately for us, HB has become a very good cook. A very, very Messy cook, but a Good cook. So good, that I decided that there was really no need for me to ever cook. ever. again. Nope. no need.
The part of this little division of household duties that has engendered endless teasing of me by my friends, co-workers, and Family is that HB loves me sooooooooooo much (wink, wink) that when he knows he is going to be out of town for a few days, he will make meals that generate left-overs for the number of nights he will be gone. Now, if that doesn’t say “I Love You” so much better than a big batch of roses, I don’t know what does. Do YOU? Well, I still like the roses, or the occasional surprise DVD, or bag of tea… but that is neither here nor there (although, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. HB? are you listening out there? I was talking about roses, multi-colored are so much better than all red, don’t you think? you know, a mix of yellow, pink, peach, white, with just a couple of red ones here and there. I digress. Although, you know after that first 5 years of marriage, you realize that sometimes strong hints are better than those thinly veiled ones… can we recall last year’s “Gee, for my birthday it sure would be nice to get tickets to see the Lion King” escapade? hmmm?)
Anyway, that is, he made the meals that made good leftovers if we were organized enough to think that far ahead, which was most of the time, but then there were those times I resorted to Lean Cuisine meals and Taco Bell (heavens, not at the same time, what do you think I am? crazy? well, only some of the time, I promise) oops, I digress).
Consequently, I have kind of made it my standard to not cook, or at the very least, not to cook more than one thing (i.e. soup). I am not really sure when I last made a meal that had 3 parts to it… hmmm…. it must have been that first month when we were married…
So, now you know the back-story of why when I set my plate on the table tonight, I said to myself “Geesh, you’ve Got to take a picture of this (even if it really isn’t all that stunning of a meal), ’cause they are not going to believe it without proof.”
Doubt no more, Thomas! (you know who you are)
grin
January 31, 2005 - Posted by danielle- 2 Comments
I hadn’t planned on writing this post today, but as I was walking from the train station to work, I realized how Good I feel. It may sound strange, but for the past couple of months, I have felt tired, and I do mean tired on every weekday (I usually feel pretty rested on Saturdays).
So why do I feel good?
Perhaps it is because for the first time in a couple of months, the sun has been up and shining when I’ve gone out to my car in the morning. You know what this means, right? This means it is going to continue getting lighter in the morning! And that fact, in and of itself, is probably a large, ginormous, reason that I feel good.
Perhaps it is because I expected to sleep terribly and be depressed. I had kind of decided this weekend that I wasn’t going to write about this next part, but here I am, writing anyway.
How to put this.
hmmm…
Well, basically, HB and I did some real soul-searching with regards to our careers and marriage and agreed that he will take a promotion that is requiring him to be gone from home for a week or two at a time, and then to be home, and work from home, for a week or two. He will continue doing this back-and-forth schedule for about half a year, until we can both work in the same city again. And yesterday afternoon, I took him to the airport so that he can start this new job. So, I was expecting to be even more depressed today than usual. Usual, meaning that I probably have a hint of seasonal affective disorder in that I get really tired and depressed in January, February, and March.
I expected to sleep terribly and be incredibly lonely, and while I am lonely, I am also very busy, so it distracts me from my loneliness. As for the sleeping, I went out and bought an electric blanket, now that I won’t have my lil’ heater next to me in bed anymore to keep me warm. And I slept remarkably well.
So, here I am, on a Monday morning, no less, feeling pretty chipper.
And I didn’t freeze my patootie walkin’ in today either, which has probably contributed to my good mood.
You know, I think that another (big) part of my upbeat mood is that I am excited for HB. He has needed more challenge at work for a while now, and he is definitely going to get it with his new job. So, part of my good mood, is I think, knowing that he gets to have this new opportunity.
Kinda nice, isn’t it?
January 31, 2005 - Posted by danielle- Comments Off
I hadn’t planned on writing this post today, but as I was walking from the train station to work, I realized how Good I feel. It may sound strange, but for the past couple of months, I have felt tired, and I do mean tired on every weekday (I usually feel pretty rested on Saturdays).
So why do I feel good?
Perhaps it is because for the first time in a couple of months, the sun has been up and shining when I’ve gone out to my car in the morning. You know what this means, right? This means it is going to continue getting lighter in the morning! And that fact, in and of itself, is probably a large, ginormous, reason that I feel good.
Perhaps it is because I expected to sleep terribly and be depressed. I had kind of decided this weekend that I wasn’t going to write about this next part, but here I am, writing anyway.
How to put this.
hmmm…
Well, basically, HB and I did some real soul-searching with regards to our careers and marriage and agreed that he will take a promotion that is requiring him to be gone from home for a week or two at a time, and then to be home, and work from home, for a week or two. He will continue doing this back-and-forth schedule for about half a year, until we can both work in the same city again. And yesterday afternoon, I took him to the airport so that he can start this new job. So, I was expecting to be even more depressed today than usual. Usual, meaning that I probably have a hint of seasonal affective disorder in that I get really tired and depressed in January, February, and March.
I expected to sleep terribly and be incredibly lonely, and while I am lonely, I am also very busy, so it distracts me from my loneliness. As for the sleeping, I went out and bought an electric blanket, now that I won’t have my lil’ heater next to me in bed anymore to keep me warm. And I slept remarkably well.
So, here I am, on a Monday morning, no less, feeling pretty chipper.
And I didn’t freeze my patootie walkin’ in today either, which has probably contributed to my good mood.
You know, I think that another (big) part of my upbeat mood is that I am excited for HB. He has needed more challenge at work for a while now, and he is definitely going to get it with his new job. So, part of my good mood, is I think, knowing that he gets to have this new opportunity.
Kinda nice, isn’t it?